From us to you: Another pillowcase dress

Ages ago - back when I used to actually do some sewing - I wisely pre-made a number of items to give away as birthday gifts. It's nice to know that at one time, in the not-so-distant past, I was smart enough to think ahead like that.

Anyhow, one such item is this adorable little pillowcase dress. I didn't follow any instructions like I did on my previous pillowcase dresses and I think I actually like the result a bit better.

All I did was chop off the closed end of the pillowcase, cut some armholes with my rotary cutter, hem the armholes, fold over and sew down the cut top edge to make a channel for the drawcord, and feed in the bias tape I used as a drawcord. Okay...it sounds like more work than it was. Probably a 30-minute job at the most.

This little dress was given away just last weekend to an adorable little three-year-old. I hope she gets many years of use out of it - first as a dress and later as a top - that is the beauty of a pillowcase dress!

I got nuthin'

Just stopped by to show you the amazing project I've been working on lately:













What's that you say? There's nothing there? Yeah, well...that about sums up my creative endeavors lately.

Work has been crazy. It happens every October, yet here I am once again, taken by surprise that there's too much to be done in any given day. Rest assured though, help has been sought and I will surely survive to see November.

Beyond work, there was also a fantastic family getaway to Pender Harbour over the Thanksgiving weekend and all the preparation that goes along with such a journey: ferries to be booked, assigned meals to shop for, laundry to do, bags to pack, etc. And, yes, you did read that correctly. I did say, "assigned meals". I was responsible for a breakfast and a lunch as well as the broccoli and carrots for the turkey meal this time 'round if you should care to know. The assignments are courtesy of my mom (is anyone surprised?). I always used to get mashed potato duty, but we've been reassigned since my brother made a strong showing with some fancy pants mashed potatoes at a dinner a few weeks ago. That torch has now been passed to him (suckah).

This past weekend I've also been working on my next stroller-friendly walk article for Urban Baby and Toddler and Baby Meets Trail. Can't tell you how much I enjoyed the walks this time around. Abby's hit an age where she'll happily sit in her stroller while I power through the chosen route. As long as there's at least one playground or some wildlife to look at along the way, she's happy. You'll have to pick up the mag at the end of November to see which ones I'm writing about this time though.

Also eating up my time lately have been various selfish pursuits: reading and running. My friend Allie and I have taken up running again. It's been AGES since I ran on any regular basis so we're easing ourselves in. One day a week so far, and only about 2 km of running each time. Baby steps people. Baby steps. As for the reading thing, I picked up a collection of Jane Austen novels years ago and they sat unread on my shelf until recently when I picked up Pride and Prejudice. Loved it. Can't wait to track down the BBC production so I can drool over Mr. Darcy on film.

Thus explains my recent absence from the blogosphere. I hope to be getting on track with more regular posts soon. 'Til then.

Last minute sewing gift

Someone I've worked with a fair bit over the past few months up and got herself a new job recently. Boo. I desperately wanted to make her a little something as a going away gift, but time has been a wee bit crunched lately (hence my absence from the blog for over a week and a half). In the end, I whipped up some picnic placemats using a set of three linen tea towels I received a while ago from my aunt.

To assemble, I cut two small rectangles off one of the tea towels, folded and ironed down each edge (using one of the already finished edges for the top of the pocket) to form the cutlery/napkin pocket.

The placemat itself is just one of the tea towels folded in half. But before sewing its edges together, I positioned the pocket  in the bottom left corner by sewing down on three sides as well as three seams down the middle to make spaces for three pieces of cutlery and a napkin.

I used strips of fabric from the third tea towel to make the ties as well. The unfinished edges were each ironed toward the middle of the strip and the entire thing was then folded in half and stitched using a zig zag stitch. I then secured it to the right side of the fabric along the edge of the placemat. Then the tea towel was folded in half - right sides together - and stitched along three of the edges with a small opening left to turn the piece out.

To finish it off, I used a point turner to get nice crisp corners and topstitched a 1/4 inch seam around all four sides.

I still had a fair bit of the third placemat left so I cut two squares and made them into napkins by stitching 1/2 inch from each unfinished edge and fraying the edges.

The finished set took all of an hour to do and didn't require any new purchases. In fact, it probably would have taken me a heck of a lot longer and more money to go to the mall and pick out a gift.

As busy as I've been lately, it was a very nice feeling to take a step back, sit down at my sewing machine and create something for a person who will be sorely missed.