Placemats and stuff

I do like making some things for other people, especially when I'm working with nice fabric. I started by tearing all the placemat sides into the same size for the print and the other side.

Then I sewed them right sides together along the long sides, using different coloured threads for the different sides.

I like to work like an assembly line, so after I sewed all the long seams, I pressed them all open. This made the seam flat for when I turned the mats right side out.

Once they were right side out, I pressed the long seams flat.

Then I pressed the raw edges of the short sides of the mats under so that they lined up for top stitching.

Doing it this way meant that I didn't have to line up ALL the edges and I could get a cleaner line along all four edges for the top stitching. I then top stitched all the edges very close to the seam or the opening (as the case may be). I also stitched in 5/8 of an inch from the outer edge, to give the mats more substance. I decided to go with a flat placemat and not a quilted one. It's a choice. All of my own mats are quilted but I think the flat ones are more elegant.

Here they are. I made all the napkins and used up every inch of that fabric (they are large napkins). Then I made the reversible placemats in the two colours for the two different recipients.

My cousin had asked for a tea cozy so I pulled out one I made but don't really use (I nuke my tea when it gets cold). I thought it would look nicer with a rounded top so I drafted a template for that.

I only needed a little bit of seam binding so I cut a strip of fabric in several diagonal pieces using my self-healing mat and rotary cutter and stitching them together.

This recipient wanted a burgundy colour scheme, so I machine quilted the two fabrics together with the burgundy on what was going to be the outside. It's always surprising how long that takes!

I put a little loop for a pull on the top and stitched the seam binding on one side by machine.

I stitched the second side of the seam binding by hand, so the machine stitched line would be hidden. I think it looks pretty good myself.

I think I'll still make some potholders because I have some scraps left over but I'm already wondering what project to do next.

Prom dress continues, stuck at the zipper

Well, I thought I could fake the invisible zipper as I have done once before, without the proper invisible zipper foot, but I was wrong. sigh. Let's start where we left off last time.

I added the vertically quilted pieces to the back, where I needed a little extra width. They were quite a bit wider than I needed but I wanted to give myself wiggle room. I also noticed that putting the zipper in might be easier with the simply quilted piece, rather than trying to sew the zipper to all those layers of hair canvas interfacing, so I think that part turned out for the best.

I trimmed those pieces up a bit more and here, I am illustrating what it will look like once the zipper is in. I have been hoping this "fix" will look like a "design feature" and I think it will!

This is just one panel of how odd the construction of the skirt seemed, before I actually followed the instructions and sewed all four of the skirt pieces together.

Here is the dress, just hanging around the neck of my judy, which is why the skirt looks oddly wide (because it's not actually ON the judy). But it does look exactly like the pattern instructions.

Once the skirt is sewn onto the bodice, you have to press the seam allowance UP, into the bodice, so that it can get concealed by the lining. This is difficult because of the layers of interfacing that have to be folded up. So I decided to sew up the seam allowance by hand (instead of just pressing it up), taking some internal stitches here and there but also making pick stitches right through to the quilting on the outside. This is turning into a true couture garment, with all this hand sewing.

The instructions also called for understitching the top edge of the bodice as much as possible by machine, which I did. But it still tended to roll out so I pick stitched the entire thing around the inside, including the two "drape" pieces (the things that go around the neck to make the halter).

These pick stitches are all on the inside and never show on the outside.

So then it came time to put in the invisible zipper. I basted it all in by hand first (of course!). Then I tried cheating with a non-invisible zipper foot and couldn't get the zipper teeth to roll out far enough to give it the proper "invisible" effect. So now I have to call my sister (my niece's mother) and see if she has this foot attachment on her machine. If so, I can go over and first do a fitting and then sew it up. If not, I will have to go find one. But I'm almost done!