a week of sewing, but not much pink...

I did have a bit of time for RSC18 this week, but not really any *fabric related* pictures to show...

 

Tuesday my daughter had a dr. appointment, and we went over to hold down the fort for her while Little Mister was napping.

after he woke up from his nap, C was happy to help me as I trimmed some scraps into 3" squares. (I use mainly the 3" squares for my RSCing...) he's such a goofball, and we love him so much. his personality is really starting to come out, and we enjoy watching him grow and learn.

often times, I'm busy sewing for my girls (especially at the change of seasons) and thought I'd take a moment to share some of that sewing now. my girls and I wear dresses/jumpers/skirts everyday, and find that besides being modest and feminine, they're comfy, cool and easy to work in. B (on the right) is modeling one of the aprons I've made. I find it's impractical to make (many) separate work dresses and town/church dresses, so they each have several aprons. they wear their apron while doing chores, working in the garden, or for......

 

the apron covers their dress nicely, and keeps the dresses from wearing out too fast, or getting stained.

I know a friend of a friend who has gotten older, and is downsizing and moving into a MIL apartment with her son. apparently, she had quite a bit of discretionary/disposable income, because she had HOARDS AND HOARDS of fabric that she was wanting to get rid of.

a friend and I agreed to help out. (aren't we generous? ha!) the woman wanted $1/yard, and how could we say no? (can you even believe it?!) all the fabric is good quality, quilt shop fabric (really, no JoAnn's or Wal-Mart in sight...) and most is greater than 2 yard cuts; some are 4-6 yards.

 

admittedly, some of the fabric is dated, some is ugly, and most of it is in dark(er) colors. BUT: for $1/yard, my friend and I like to say that we can live with a whole lot of ugly!!!

 

so, besides the blessing of enhancing my stash, and having more fabric for backings and what-not, I have lots and lots of fabrics for dresses (and nightgowns, not pictured) for my girls.

 

and A and B have gotten quite eagle-eyed in finding the brighter/more beautiful fabric in the stacks to find dresses for themselves.

we've done this fabric acquirement at least 4 times now, (with another boatload coming sometime in June!) and each time my girls pick out several pieces of fabrics that they like for dresses. I have them set aside, and labeled. when it's time for new dresses, they can choose what they'd like for this season.

 

(I have begun to "limit" the pattern choices, though, after a few notable duds. I do let them choose one "special" dress for the season, with the understanding that most of their dresses will be from a basic, serviceable and practical pattern.)

 

 

 

not to mislead you, all these dresses were not made this week! I did do 4 of them, but it's a simple pattern, (available here) I have an overlock (serger) and i finish all the raw edges before sewing the dress together. it goes together quickly, and I love how well it fits them, and that it's a dress that looks nice on them, and is a "big girl" pattern, not too frilly or impractical.

 

and, as seen in one of the above photos, B is really coming along nicely with her Carpenter Star quilt. she's only 10, but really motivated (and enjoying) the process of making this quilt. I'm glad that i'll have at least 1 daughter who likes to sew- the other 2 find it very frustrating... usually sewing skips a generation, so I'm happy that B likes to sew. I have the old Singer that I learned to sew on as a teenager, and it's nice to have company in the sewing room.

 

that's it for this week. thanks for stopping by! click on over to see more RSC pink. it's a rainy Saturday morning, so I'm headed up to the sewing room to work on some of my pink projects, too!