Today I Made A Dress For You

Today was a beautiful day.  The temperature was perfect and there is just enough breeze that my windchames played little tunes that at times I thought I recognized from my childhood....row, row, row your boat.

This afternoon we will have our first Charlottesville SewAlong…during the same time the Annual Dress A Girl Tea Party will be taking place all the way across the country in Arizona....200 people will be in attendance there. In other parts of the country today other volunteers are making dresses, at churches, in social halls, at schools, and at homes.

In a country far from here a mother is smiling at her little girl wearing a dress that was lovingly made by a Dress A Girl volunteer. And there are other little girls waiting for their very first dress. That is the little girl that I am sewing for….the little girl without a dress.

I think about these little girls a lot. I can picture them in my mind, I hold them in my heart, and I want to reach out and say "today I made you a beautiful dress."

13 days of Blog-less-ness

WOW has it really been 13 days since I posted on my blog?

I received a HUGE box of dresses from Debbie, my Dress A Girl friend in Richmond. The colors are bright and cheery and it was literally like opening a box of sunshine. I am in awe of her generous and loving spirit. I Below is a sneak peek of Debbie dresses.... I removed them from the box and sat them on my ironing board for a quick photo...look at all the colorful fabrics and ties?  This wasn't a group project...this was all Debbie's sewing.

A number of people have signed up for the SewAlong. I am so excited that I am having difficulty focusing on things that really need to be done….like this blog.

Jeanne donated a large box of plastic beads to Dress A Girl. We talked about what we could do with them and came up with the idea that beaded bracelets might be a project that some group might be willing to take on. As luck would have it, I met Monica who is the leader of a scout troop that very afternoon. They were searching for a project!

I have been working on a strategy to make the new Dress A Girl labels easier to see on dark and printed fabrics and I think I have discovered a way. I have ironed a continuous row of iron on stickers onto a piece of grosgrain ribbon and then cut them apart with pinking shears. I will report back the best way to attach them.

Meanwhile I have a sewing machine that is calling out to me from the other room. I need to get started on some dresses. I have so many ideas!

Have a peace-filled day and keep your umbrella close by…it looks like rain.

Panties Here, Panties There, Panties Everywhere

Yesterday I was all about panties.  I went to the Goodwill and purchased some t-shirts.  I walked down row after row of shirts stretching them and found about a dozen that I thought were perfect.  When I got home I tossed everything in the washer and sat down to review the tutorial.

The unisex panty pattern that I chose was from Etsy (link below).

http://www.etsy.com/listing/62428988/boy-cut-brief-unisex-underwear-pattern?ref=sr_list_2&ga_ref=auto&ga_search_query=girls+underwear+pattern&ga_search_type=handmade&ga_facet=handmade

After the t-shirts came out of the dryer: I removed the sleeves and set them aside, I removed the neck band or collar and tossed them, and then I cut the shoulder and side seams.  I took the main pieces front and back, and pressed them well.  Since the pattern was one piece and I planned on making multiples I made a posterboard pattern so I could trace the pattern onto the fabric.  I cut these pieces out by hand.

Using my rotary cutter and stretchiest fabric I cut out all the bands.

After I cut everything out I assembled them using a stretch stitch that both seams and over casts the edges.  The tutorial that comes with the pattern is excellent and well worth the investment.  And look at these darling panties! 

What do I have on the agenda today?  Panties of course!

Tired of Looking at Myself

I am tired of looking at myself everytime I open my blog.  So I swapped my profile photo for this one of my Aunt Viola. She's cute and makes me smile. 

Vi posed for this photo 85 years ago when she was around 4 years old.

Maybe in the future I will go back to my old profile photo but for now I'm lovin' this photograph.

You're Invited to Sew-Along

Imagine a World where Every Little Girl

owned at least One Dress….

What if that dress was made by you?

You are invited to attend a Sew-Along on

Sunday, May 22nd at 1:00

We will be making simple Pillow Case Dresses

so bring your sewing tools and pillowcases!

Les Fabriques will furnish sewing machines for us to use

and a 15% discount for materials used for dresses.

There is something for everyone to do even if you can't sew. 

Location: Les Fabriques

1895 Seminole Trail

Charlottesville, VA 22901

(at their new location across from Lowe’s)

Questions?

You can contact me Karen at DressAGirl@charlottesville.net or

Carla at Les Fabriques at design@LesFabriquesInc.com

Check us out on Facebook Dress A Girl Around The World - Virginia

Come Sew With Me

Last Monday’s interview isn’t generating as much interest as I had hope. The Dress A Girl interview was on three television stations and it ran on the evening time slot and then again in the morning.

I have received two phone calls- one was from a woman with beads that she thought we might be able to use. The other woman wanted me to make dresses for the flower girls in her wedding scheduled for June 2012, and that is pretty much it.

Tho I am happy to have caught the eye of at least two people I would be less than honest if I didn’t admit that I was disappointed.

However with that said I have met some wonderful people all of which I have really enjoyed talking to. I have found that people are quite receptive to a conversation so I am beginning to think a television spot might not be the best way to reach out to the ‘caring community’ that I live in.

May 22.… Les Fabriques a local fabric store is sponsoring a Sew-Along for Dress A Girl. Maybe I 'll call the local paper to see if they would be interested in coming to the Sew-Along.  I hope to meet a lot of new people.

I am still finishing up my dresses for the Dress A Girl contest.  I will snap a photo before I send them off. 

Wish me luck!

RIP My Old Iron

It happened yesterday.  My iron died.  One moment we were ironing away and the next time I went to pick it up it was luke warm and fading fast.  I stopped what I was doing "I need an iron, I can't live without an iron."  I hopped in my car and headed into town.  I was a woman on a mission.

I have not had a lot of luck with irons. I had a Rowenta but that wore out after only a year and a half, then I went with a Black and Decker it had a short life as well.  I finally gave up and bought the cheapest iron I could find...a Sunbeam.  It lasted just over 6 months.

I don't know about you but I sort of have relationships with my appliances...my sweet toaster who doesn't object when I jam 4 pieces of bread in to two slots, my vacuum that had sucked up legos and my boys underpants when I was too tired (or lazy) to pick them up, and last but not least my iron. 

I don't like my appliances to break and I don't like buying a new ones. 

My first stop on my quest for a new iron was a local fabric store because I had a 50% off coupon, but the girl as the register said "you obviously didn't read the fine print, irons are not included." I left the Simplicity iron on the shelf because I wasn't 'in-love' with it anyway.   I headed over to Lowes. 

Lowes had three irons, two of which looked like vintage irons of the 60's, the other one had an inch of dust on it and the label on the bottom of it has permanenly bonded to it.  So I jumped in my trusty VW and headed to Bed, Bath & Beyond...And there it was The Shark!  Reasonably priced, sleek, self-cleaning....yep this was an iron that I could learn to love.

I stuck it under my arm, wandered to check out, and headed home.

When I got home I bagged up my old Sunbeam and carried it to the dumpster.  Rest in peace my old friend we made yards of beautiful bias tape together.  You'll be missed!