A very colorful skirt.

I made this skirt out of denim and 5 fabrics that are the same print just in different colors.
The top is just a plain darted skirt. The bottom is pleated. The front of the pleats are black denim and the back pleats are the colorful cotton.

The picture is of me in New York City just after Christmas.

Ugly Quilts

I learned how to make quilts at a very young age. They are a lot of fun and can be as easy or as hard as you like. But my favorite quilts I have ever made is what you call an Ugly Quilt. I do not have any that I have made, because I have always given them away. But this year my mom sent me one for Christmas. It is so warm and cuddly I love it.
Also this year I found out why my mom always called them ugly quilts. In the 70's when the Relief society was asked to make quilts for homeless people, they got busy and made some amazing quilts. But the quilts they made were so well made and beautiful that the homeless shelters were having problems with the homeless selling them. So the shelters asked the sisters to make them useful but ugly.

We as a family gave away lots of quilts over the years to many people. Some of them we made to look good and others were just out of what we had, but all of them were made from the heart and all of them will keep you warm. After all sometimes and an ugly quilt is all that is needed.

So one year my brother and I got creative and composed a care guide for the ugly quilts that we often sent out as Christmas Presents.

USE & CARE GUIDE FOR AN

“UGLY” QUILT

1. Remove Quilt from wrapping.

2. Examine quilt carefully.

Notice: This is not a work of art. It is not to be used to cover walls. Wallpaper was invented for that purpose.

3. Use the quilt.

a. Wrap up in it & watch “The Big Game.”

b. Throw it on the floor and let the kids play on it.

c. Take it camping.

d. Use it for a picnic.

e. Take a nap in it.

4. Machine wash in cool/warm water when it gets dirty and/or smells funny.

WARNING!!!!

If this product is not used for the purpose for which it was created, it will loose it’s value and become completely worthless.

Different Style Same Dress

I made a dress for my daughter when she was really little. I found a stretch velvet shirt and a taffeta size 00 dress at the thrift store and combined them. It was when I lived in New York City and the fabric store was too far away for trips to often so I usually recycled clothes from the thrift store that was right down the street.

The fun thing about this dress is I gave it to my sister in law when my daughter outgrew it. But, about 3 months ago she gave me back all of the baby clothes that I had sewn for my daughter, and had let her use for her kids. My daughter need clothes for her my size doll and all of her baby clothes worked great. A couple of days later she came out of her room wearing this dress as a baby doll top with leggings. It fits her tight but it is really cute. So not only is she in style but it is really cute.

My Favorite Type of Sewing

I love to sew little girls clothes in fact over the years I have definitely spoiled my daughter by sewing her lots of wonderful clothes. Here are two of the dressed that fit her right now, going down the runway at the Mesa College Fashion Show.

Her favorite by far was the rainbow one. I loved sewing it I took an insane amount of time to put all of the ribbons on but it was worth it. The weaving of them in the front was really interesting, but the underskirt is what took the time. Also I have been surprised on how well the polyester satin has worn. It is not true satin is is more like a costume satin but it has survived a lot and still looks really good. I made it a year before this picture was taken and it has already been washed a few times and played in a lot.
The other dress is made out of a glittery velvet and cotton skirt that has some glitter on it. She says she does not like the sleeves which are really just ruffles. So she does not wear it as much as she does the other one. I actually made if from a dress she found at the thrift store. So I did not have to find lining that matched or a zipper. There was also a big fabric flower that was already on the original dress. So I just re-used it. The skirt is from new fabric. I love to make clothes out of thing that already exist. I will have to do a post just on things that I have remade.

I need to keep track of my sewing Projects.

I have been sewing for many years, and I have a tendency to forget what I have sewn. So I thought that this blog would be cool to keep track of what I have sewn and also let my family and friends see what I have been doing. So here is my blog and I hope you like it. I think that I will post a few things that I have sewn before this, but mostly I will be posting new things. My favorite time of year is Halloween, because I love making costumes. Here is a picture of me in my corpse bride costume I made this year. It took me a week to get up the guts to cut a beautiful wedding dress is half. I bought it at a thrift store for $10 but, I still had a hard time destroying it. I bustled up well and looked really cool with a new bodice and my black bodice that I made for a my witch costume a few years ago. The addition of torn up lace was a plus to in the bustle.