Needle & thREAD

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Hello! Sewing this week is dedicated to making tops for the girlies. When I wandered through the stacks of fabric stashed in the sewing room, my eyes were riveted on my Anna Maria Horner shelf. My heart has so been with Anna these days. As she mourns the loss of her mother, she awaits the birth of her daughter. What better way for me to spend the day praying for her than to delight in those lovely voiles I'd set aside for "something special?"

    I admit I'm a little nervous. Voile is definitely slippery and the cutting took longer than usual. And it's a bit "fancy" for everyday for Katie, but she loves the fabric and there was nothing else I wanted to sew. Nothing in the world. Won't you all pray along with me for her?

    Reading? We're all about Shakespeare. I'm taking my Shakespeare Fridays plans (there's a detailed reading list if you click the link) and coming alongside Christian while he does a college Shakespeare course. I'm really, really excited about this because all my kids are the perfect ages to make it work. Pictured above are some of the books for Christian's class. His textbook is Screening Shakespeare. He's reading Othello, Hamlet, Much Ado About Nothing, and Midsummer Night's Dream. And he's watching these movie versions (some of which aren't going to happen for my little ones;-):

Much Ado About Nothing

Hamlet

Othello

A Midsummer Night's Dream

 

from Shakespeare's Storybook

I've long loved my own Shakespeare plans and I'm so happy to be revisiting them. This is Christian's last few months as  part of our learning community before he heads off to college, so why not make it a Shakespeare Summer?

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What about you? Reading? Sewing? How do you keep your kids reading through the summer? 

needle & thREAD

I have no sewing to report this week and really, no reading either.

I've done a lot of this:

{photo credit: Karoline}

head on one of those awesome cozies, inhaling essential oils and trying hard to clear my sinuses. 

Regardless of the state of my head, I do have a small sewing task to complete today. I need to sew these patches on these jerseys. The jerseys are made of that wicking athletic polyester. The patches don't have any sticky backing or anything else exceptional about them. Both the patches and the jerseys are irreplaceable though, so I'm open to advice about the proper way to do this. Would someone tell me exactly the right way to sew these on to the sleeves? (And yes, I now have given away the ending to my State Cup post. But I'm still going to write it up;-)

What have you been up to? I think I have another day on the couch to just click around. What's happening in the sewing world? have you seen any great ideas? New fabrics? Fun inspiration? Please pass it along:-)

needle & thREAD

I love to sew with Oliver + S patterns. For over a year now (almost two years?), I've been telling you I learn something new every time I use an Oliver + S pattern. I've lost count of the times I've used the free Popover Sundress pattern for both girls and dolls. So, what new could there possibly be to learn?

This time, I adapted the pattern for Katie (#1 new thing: adapting a pattern to size up). The pattern stops at an 8 and she's a 10 or a 12. Then, I shortened it to make it  a tunic (#2 new thing: shortening a pattern into something else entirely). I had the new pattern all drawn and ready bright and early on sewing day. Three hours later, Katie still couldn't decide on fabric. Those straps take a deceptively large amount of fabric because they're cut on the bias. We don't have a big selection of solids. Actually, you're looking at the only solid color we have. And Katie has grown so much that a yard of main fabric isn't enough for her, even for a top. So, we must have unfolded and re-folded everything in the stash before I suggested this Ladies' Stitching Club fabric (#3 new thing: sewing with a border print). I learned that I should have eliminated the curve in the hem when using the border print, but it was easy enough to fix at hemming time. I also used French seams on this one, not a new skill, but one I haven't used since Cari thaught me 21 years ago on a christening own. I remember thinking they were so cool back then!

I really love the finished product. I think this top will be darling with capris in the dog days of summer. Katie is delighted. As I rearranged the girls' clothes for the seasonal shift this morning,  I recognized that we are coming very, very close to the end of Katie's little girl clothes days. This makes me so sad--for her and for me. I wish there were a teenaged equivalent of Oliver + S and that both mothers and daughters could love sewing clothes together well beyond the elementary years. 

I picked Kristin Lavransdatter off the shelf last night when I went down to retrieve my copies of The Great Gatsby. (Notice how suddenly it's cool to read Gatsby? It's in demand in this house and there are no copies in the library.) Several years ago, there was lots of chatter about Kristin Lavransdatter. I bought a used copy and started to read. I couldn't get into it at all. I learned that I had bought a bad translation. I bought a much better translation, but never got very far. We'll see how it goes this time.

What are you sewing and reading this week? I am eager to hear!

What's on your summer reading list? Do you have a summer sewing list?  Or are you embroidering? Pulling a needle with thread through lovely fabric to make life more beautiful somehow? Would you share with us just a single photo (or more) and a brief description of what you're up to? Will you tell us about what you're reading, also? Would you talk sewing and books with us? I'd love that so much.

    Make sure the link you submit is to the URL of your blog post or your specific Flickr photo and not your main blog URL or Flickr Photostream. Please be sure and link to your current needle and theREAD post below in the comments, and not a needle and theREAD post from a previous week. If you don't have a blog, please post a photo to the needle & thREAD group at Flickr. 

       Include a link back to this post in your blog post or on your flickr photo page so that others who may want to join the needle and thREAD fun can find us! Feel free to grab a button here (in one of several colors) so that you can use the button to link:-).

needle & thREAD

{Sorry this is late; my model needed a little extra beauty sleep before her photo shoot this morning.)

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Good morning!

I've got real quick sewing update for you. I made Karoline a popover sundress. It turns out that it did, indeed, take about as long to make as the doll one I made last week. I have fabric all cut and ready to make Sarah a matching one today. Katie and I talked about how cute it would be to make summertime tops out of the same pattern, just hemming them at about a high hip length. Unfortunately, the pattern stops at Size 8. So, I'd have to re-draft the pattern on my own for Katie. I'm mulling the possiblities, doubting my ability to modify, but swaying with her earnest pleading. It looks like Leisl did draft it, but I don't think it's out there anywhere...

I'll report to you next week.

My reading this week is re-reading. I never finished the book study of The 10 Habits of Happy Mothers or the one of Mission of Motherhood. I'd like to finish both in the next few weeks. So, re-reading it is!

What are you up to? Stitching? Reading? Tell me about it!

Needle & thREAD

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    I guess that just before Lent Karoline heard me say that I was going to make Easter dresses during Lent. All through Lent, she insisted that one of her Lenten "sacrifices" was to be making dresses for her dolls. She spent a great deal of time in the scrap basket, twisting and turning and pinning scraps to make clothing. She also spent a great deal of time begging me to help her make "real" doll dresses. I had every intention of making dresses for dolls to match the girls' Easter dresses. I just didn't get to it before Easter.

    Yesterday, I was operating on very little sleep--just days and days of deficit. I planned to push through it to super-clean my house and get ready for Frist Communion festivities this weekend. Instead, I delegated a few housekeeping jobs, sewed with Karoline, and binge-read Heaven is Here. Have I mentioned that sewing with Karoline is really just an excuse for me to have her on my lap so I can inhale her sweetness? 

    It is.

    It occurred to me as I was sewing for a doll that this pattern takes just as long for a doll as for a six-year-old girl and I have some girls who need clothes. So, I think I might make my girls some dresses to match their dolls, too;-)

    And the book? I couldn't put it down. I'd take a picture of it by I handed it to Mary Beth at bedtime and I'm pretty sure she fell asleep on it around dawn. Best part of homeschooling is all night binge reading...

{Warning: there is an incident of religious bigotry that is sadly aimed at Catholics. It's clearly a product of the author's ignorance, but, there it is.} 

    What about you? Sewing? Reading? A little of both? What's on your summer reading list? Do you have a summer sewing list?  Or are you embroidering? Pulling a needle with thread through lovely fabric to make life more beautiful somehow? Would you share with us just a single photo (or more) and a brief description of what you're up to? Will you tell us about what you're reading, also? Would you talk sewing and books with us? I'd love that so much.

    Make sure the link you submit is to the URL of your blog post or your specific Flickr photo and not your main blog URL or Flickr Photostream. Please be sure and link to your current needle and theREAD post below in the comments, and not a needle and theREAD post from a previous week. If you don't have a blog, please post a photo to the needle & thREAD group at Flickr. 

       Include a link back to this post in your blog post or on your flickr photo page so that others who may want to join the needle and thREAD fun can find us! Feel free to grab a button here (in one of several colors) so that you can use the button to link:-).