Stencils from China

Dear All,

Greetings from Beijing China! After 14 hours of flying with a vomiting son, we are finally starting to settle in here. Thankfully I have met some wonderful women who have taken me under their wings and showed me around. I have yet to plug in my sewing machine. To be honest I'm a bit terrified that when I do my machine will blow up or burn out. I took my machine in before we moved and made sure it could and hopefully would convert to the 240 voltage. Maybe tomorrow I'll work up the guts to do it.

I have heard tale, but yet to go, to the fabric market. I've got to work out someone to watch my kids first because once I start browsing the narrow stalls crammed full of fabric I am likely to forget to keep a sharp eye on them. On my last trip to the grocery store some lady walked over and picked up my son and started to walk around with him. In a one child nation a very pregnant lady with two kids in tote is quite the spectacle. We are usually pretty good sports about it, seeing we are guests in their country, but I did refuse to have our photographs taken by a man this morning as we were walking to the park. I'm sure the photos taken of us at the swimming pool will be an instant China-YouTube success.

Looking forward to next month, thank you to those who have submitted stencils for our "Take and Make" project, but we are in need of more submissions if we are to reach our goal of one stencil per day. So please, keep them coming. I have really enjoyed having a sneak peek at all your creativity. Email submissions to dearpresserfoot@gmail.com.

Much love and dumplings,

Rian

Inspiration

When I was looking thru the new arrivals on the Anthropologie website I came across this light speed blouse. Doesn't it look just like a shorter version of the maternity or not frock?

Now that I have a waistline again I think I may need to whip up a short little top like this to wear with skinny jeans and ballet flats in warmer weather.

Maternity or Not Frock : Ruffles

After seeing lots of ruffles on Anthropologie models I decided to add some to my frock to dress it up a bit.

You can do it too, and here is how:

1- I wanted the ruffles to have diagonal plaid just to add a bit of interest, but it is not necessary to cut this on the bias as I did.


Cut multiple strips of fabric 4 inches wide (two inches if you fold it like I did here) and at different lengths. I made my lengths 20", 15" 10" and 6" (i later added one more at 3").


2- Take one strip and fold right sides together. Stitch a 1/2" seam allowance along the top edge.

3- Turn right side out.


4- Tuck in both outer edges by 1/2". Press whole strip. Edge stitch two short sides.


5- Change stitch length to a long basting stitch. Starting at one end on the top edge stitch the length of the strip at 1/2". Do not back stitch. Leave strings long on both ends.

Put a straight pin in both ends.

6- Wrap the long strings from the basting stitch on one end in a figure eight pattern around straight pin to secure.


On other end hold top string and then push the fabric towards the other end (the figure eight wont allow it to run off the edge) to gather the ruffle.

7- Once it is the length you want the ruffle to be secure the open end by doing a figure eight around the other pin.
8- Return stitch length to normal and stitch on top of basting stitch, backstitching at both ends, to secure the ruffle.

Repeat for all ruffles.

9- Now that you have all of your ruffles ready to go start pinning them on the front of your frock starting with the longest one right along the neckline. Make sure that it is centered.


Topstitch ruffle onto garment about 1/4" from neck edge.


10- Repeat with shorter and shorter ruffles. Each lower ruffle should tuck up underneith the top ruffle by about 1/4".




Once all of your ruffles are sewn on, press and clip strings. It should look something like this.

Now try it on, upload a pic to our flickr page and wear it out somewhere fun!

April's Project: Take a Stencil, Make a Stencil

I was so flattered by the requests I got for my tie stencil. Of course I didn't come up with the idea of the mock tie on a little boy's T, but I did freehand this one. Freezer paper stenciling is really fabulous! I don't know who figured it out, I would have thought the wax from the paper would melt into and ruin the fabric, but would ever did figure it out is a genius. As an addicted crafter I am always thinking of new things to freezer stencil. So, April is the month! With your help I want to try to offer a free stencil everyday of the month for everyone to download. The only rule is that the stencil does need to be your own creation, no borrowing. Just email your original design to dearpresserfoot@gmail.com with your name, blog address (everyone deserves credit) and a photo of the finished project (if you have one). Remember too that stencils aren't just for freezer paper. We welcome any stencils, be they for freezer paper, apliques, paper crafts, etc. To get the party started download my tie stencil (pdf). So remember, this is an interactive project, so if you take, please make sure you also make.

Maternity or Not Frock : Making the Tie

Here are some easy directions for making a tie like the one I made for your frock if you want.




1- First take your excess fabric and cut a long strip that is about 4" wide and 75" long (you may need to sew 2 strips together for your 75" length)

2- fold right sides together, sew at 1/2" seam allowance all the way down the length of the strip.


3- Use a safety pin and turn the entire strip right side out and then press.

4- On both ends of the tie, push 1/2" of unfinished edges inside so that it makes a nice box on the end. Press.


5- Edgestitch (about 1/4") the entire tie on all four sides.


And now you are done. This is how it should look:

She has arrived!

I just wanted to let all of you sewing friends out there know that I had my baby on Tuesday afternoon. She is healthy, happy, and I just love her.



name: Alpha Rane Ward
weight: 7 lbs 6 ozs
height: 20 1/2 inches
biggest surprise: lots of long dark hair

ps I hope everyone is enjoying the tutorial for your maternity or not frocks. I can't wait to see them all. (I will continue to appear prego on this blog for the remainder of the month as I preblogged all of these)

Maternity or Not Frock : Hemming

The basic form of your frock is almost done. We just need to give it a hem.

1- First try it on right side out. It is easiest to use a friend or a dress form. Place a pin in the center front, center back, and side seam where you want the hem to hit. (use your measuring tape to measure from the floor to the hem line to make sure it is even all the way around.)

2- Add about 1 1/2" for folding and then cut off any excess.

3- With frock inside out fold bottom edge up 1/2" all the way around and press.

4- Fold up another inch all the way around and press and pin.


5- Edge stitch around entire frock, backstitching at both ends.

inside:

outside:

Good job! Your basic frock should be done now and look something like this. Next we will make some optional embellishments.

Maternity or Not Frock : Waistline

Your frock probably looks something similar to this right now (I know this doesn't look too attractive at this point). We are about to make this a lot better by simply adding a waistline.

1- The first thing you need to do is try on your frock inside out and take a piece of chalk or ballpoint pen and mark at center front, center back and each side where you want the frock to be cinched in. The easiest way to do this is to put on a belt where you want the elastic to go and just make a small mark underneith the belt at the designated spots.

tip - Since I am pregnant my waistline will hit just below the chest. If you are not expecting you may want to lower that waistline a bit so you don't look like you are pregnant.

2- Take a ruler and the same pen(make sure it won't bleed thru onto the right side of your fabric) or chalk and connect the dots around the entire circumference. (make sure this line is visible as you will be sewing right on top of it and will need to be able to see it clearly)


3- Take your elastic and cut a piece that is long enough to comfortably fit around the area you will have your waistline hit on your dress plus 1" for overlap.


4- With your frock inside out, pin one edge of the elastic to one side seam over the drawn cinch line and make a couple of stitches to secure in place.
Change stitch to a zigzag (the zigzag needs to be wider than the elastic as you will be stitching to either side of it, not on top of it).
Begin stitching a zigzag that hits on either side of the elastic right on top of the marked cinch line. Stretch the elastic as you sew and this will cinch up the fabric behind it. Continue to sew and stretch the elastic until you sew the entire circumference of the frock. Secure the other end of the elastic right on top of the first end. (sometimes this is confusing the first time you do it, but once you get the hang of it you will love it and use the method a lot in the future.)

Here are a couple of pics of the right side of the frock once the waistline is done:



Great job! It should be looking a lot better now. Next time we will hem the bottom.

Maternity or Not Frock : Sleeves and Side Seams

Now that your frock looks somewhat like a hospital gown with no side seams, we are going to sew those up and make the kimono sleeves.




1-First you need to decide how large of an opening you want for your sleeves. Kimono sleeves usually have a larger opening to create a nice drape, so don't be too stingy. Use a straight pin to try it out and see what you like. I made mine 8" from the shoulder seam to the bottom of the opening.

2- Cut a piece of bias tape 2 times the length you determined (so it will cover the front and back of the opening) plus 2 inches for wiggle room. So, since I wanted a sleeve that was 8 " tall I cut a bias tape piece that was 18" long.

3- Place the edge of the armhole fabric inside of the center fold of the bias tape just as you did with the neckline. Pin in place.


4- Stitch in place by keeping the edge of the bias tape right along the right edge of the presserfoot and move the needle over to the left. The stitch should be at about 1/2". (this is the same as you did on the neckline). The end result should look like this:

5- Repeat for other armhole.

6- With right sides together, match up side seams and pin. Return needle to center position and stitch a 5/8" seam allowance along each side starting 1" above where the bias tape ends to the bottom of the frock.


7- Use pincking shears to clip edges of seam allowance and prevent fraying (optional) and then press seam open.


8- Continue to fold the 5/8" seam allowance at the arm hole where the bias tape is towards the inside of the garment. Pin and press. (you will not see the bias tape anymore on the outside of your frock)
9- Move needle to the left hand position. Turn garment to right side out (you will be stitching on the top of the fabric). Keep the fold along the right edge of the presser foot and beginning about 1/2" below the end of the opening stitch all the way up and round the armhole.

Once you make it back to the bottom, stop, pivot, and stitch straight across the bottom to meet back up where you started.

10- Repeat for the other arm opening.

Your frock probably looks like a potato sack right about now. No worries. I promise it will get better. Next time we will be adding a waistline.