A Dress Made Out of a Tablecloth

My sister has this great lake house in Minnesota that I love to visit. One of the best parts of visiting her is going to this awesome flea market close by. My sister knows me well and sent a package of stuff she found that she knew I would love - some vintage lace-edged hankies and tablecloth. My daughter took one look at the tablecloth and said, "What are you going to do with that? Make a dress or something?" To which I of course replied, "Why yes, I think I will."

I dug out this vintage McCalls pattern I had stashed away. Much to my delight, the previous owner had already made some sizing adjustments, so I only needed to make minor adjustments.

And voila! A dress made out of a tablecloth!

Giving woodcarving a shot

And now for something completely different... For my dad's birthday, my daughter had a wonderful idea. He has a beautiful backyard that he calls "Weber Park". My daughter thought he should have a sign for it. My son just took a woodworking class and had bought this set of carving tools and I thought, how hard could it be to make a sign? So I bought a piece of basswood (very soft and easily carvable).

 The first step was to make a paper template and gently press the outline in the wood with a pen.

Here's the outline carved into the wood.

Then I just plugged away at carving out the surrounding wood little by little.

 

And the final product, with a few coats of marine varnish to finish it off! He has since hung it up in his yard - I'll post a picture when he sends it.

Silk Scarf Tunic

Latest project finished! A while back I saw a tunic with a silk scarf print at an expensive boutique and thought, as I often do, "I could make one like that." I found a pretty silk scarf at a vintage store and bought some silk for the back and yoke.


I used Butterick B5217 for the yoke.

 

I'm pretty happy with the results. The colors are much more vibrant,   it's kind of a grey day and my camera is a little wonky.

Let's Get This Party Started!

I've been telling people that I'm going to start a blog for a couple of years now. I actually did start another blog a while back, but never got around to posting much, or telling anybody about it. So it's time I got this started for real. I'm thinking what I might do, since I have been making stuff for years, that I can get this started by not only telling you what I'm doing now, but showing some of the things I've made in the past.

Right now I have three projects going, and two others on the back burner (and about a thousand ideas going through my head). I'm working on two sewing projects: a tunic made from an old silk scarf and a dress made with items I picked up at a vintage store's $1.00 table. A couple of days ago I decided to make my dad a present - a sign carved in wood. I'll get cracking on taking pictures and posting these!