*GASP*

Woohoo! I did it. I actually did it. I just sewed a ball gown. A civil war ball gown made out of taffeta. I remember telling myself that I would NEVER sew a ball gown. Much too complicated. And I would never sew with any thing that was slippery. No silk, no taffeta, no satin. Nothing like that. I was quite sure that I would mess it up. And then Sara gave Grace, Linnea, and myself some taffeta for ball gowns. Great! Now I had to use that slippery stuff. I came up with every possible excuse as to why I couldn't do it. "The fabric was too slippery." "So what? Figure out how to work with it. And hurry up."
 "The material was too cheap looking. It might shred and then it would have been a waste of time." "Well you'll never know what it will do if you don't use it. Hurry up and start sewing." As you can see, my sisters were not going to take  "no" for a answer. So I began with Grace's gown. She had bought a simple pattern from Period Impressions. So we washed the fabric and began to iron it. That was were I hit my first "speed bump". This taffeta was 100% polyester. I took the iron and placed it on the fabric and....... it melted. My room stank of melting plastic for two days. Okay, lesson learned. Do not use your grandmothers 15 year old iron that is no longer adjustable. So I bought a new iron that had settings that worked and started over. Got it ironed and I told Grace to start cutting the material while I got the machine ready. Problem was that I had never done this kind of thing before (as I've already said) and I didn't know that you couldn't just cut it out like you would with regular old cotton. First you have to layer the material with tissue paper so the material doesn't slip and come out in funky shapes. So we re-cut the fabric and got ready to sew it. It was a lot easier than I thought that it would be. The hardest part was figuring out how to fit 180" onto a waistband that's made for some one with a 26 1/2" waist. We ended up doing a triple box pleat all the way around. Half way through sewing the bodice together Grace held it up and said "You know what? I think this will actually work and that it will look quite nice." Thank you for the encouragement Grace. All the way through sewing this dress Grace was right behind me, encouraging me. So now, almost 9 months after I first started on this project, it is finally done.
                                                                       
                                                        

The front of the gown.

Back of the gown.

Close up of the front.

Close up of the back. We are eventually going to add lacing to the back. Half of the girls like it as it is now, with hook and eye closures. Grace really likes the look of the lacing.

Gown from the side.

The antique lace that we dyed to match the binding, which we also made.

                
One ball gown done,three more to go. And all before November  17. I better get movin'. :)                                                   

September 5 - 11,2011

Sorry that this post is a little late. So here it is. September 5 - 11 marks the one year anniversary of the Tri-county wildfires.  What started out as a small puff of smoke on the horizon would soon be the cause of a week long evacuation for our family and many others in this area. I remember the anxious and worried looks on Mom and Dad's faces when the fireman told us that it was highly likely that we could be evacuated. For the next several hours some of us were watching the news channel to see what was going on while others were completing chores while still others were trying  to get some stuff together just in case we really did have to evacuate. There was a suppressed feeling of anxiety. I thought that every thing would calm down in a matter of hours. The firefighters would get it under control and it would just be a rerun of the Dire mills fire that had happened in June. A big scare, worrying, discussing what we would take with us and where we would put the goats. But I was pretty sure that nothing would really happen to greatly disrupt the regular flow of daily doings at the farm. I sure was wrong in this thought. In a couple of hours it was apparent that this fire WOULD disrupt the regular flow of things here at the dairy. Mom and Dad started giving out directions and  Dad,Grace, and Timothy started to get goats in the livestock trailer and in the back of the blue van. Getting the goats in the vehicles was a hard task. Not only did we have to get them in there but Mom had to decide which goats were got out first and which we would have to get later, if we could. Some people were shouting "Get my goat ____" while others were yelling "Get the show girls out first" and yet others were saying "Get Sonnet and Liendoe out first". Sonnet and Liendoe were not feeling well so they left the property first. After that it was a race against the clock to get as many goats in the trailer and off the property and back again before the firefighters came and told us to leave NOW. In the end we had to leave almost all of our bucks and "dry" does. We let them into the largest pen we had so that they would have more room to roam. In between the trips to and from Blue Heron Farm ( where our friends the Segars lived and had so graciously allowed us to bring our goats) we were trying to pack those things that were important to us and that could fit in the cargo trailer and white van. The pasteurizer and other things that were associated with making cheese and things like that were first to be packed. Then it was every thing that you could cram in there. Saddles, sewing machine, hope chests, family pictures, the quilt that our great-grandmother made, family treasures, you name it we packed it all in there as best we could. After that we used every possible space in the van that wasn't occupied by a child,cat,rabbit or dog. After that we spent our time doing every thing that we could think of to make those animals that we couldn't take with us as comfortable as possible. We also spent this time to make our house as "fire proof" as possible. Which wasn't much. We put the garden sprinklers on the roof at full speed and hoped that that would help. We knew that it was time to leave when the police and fire fighters started to drive up and down our street making a lot of noise and making sure that there weren't any more people in the area. We drove approximately a mile away and parked in the drive way of a church while Mom and Dad had a discussion as to what should be done. Dad had been able to get back to the house after we had left and was in favor of staying there to see how things were going on. Mom didn't think that that was a good idea. In the end, after going to Sonic and talking for a long time Dad decided to see if he could get back to the house with Grace and Sara, while Mom and every one else went some where else (we didn't know where at that point) and get some sleep. We ended up staying at a Red Cross shelter that had been set up in a local church. The next morning Dad called and said that since it didn't look like there was that much smoke that we should come home. So after eating breakfast we piled in the van and headed home. As we were driving out of the parking lot I thought to myself "Well that was scary, and in a odd kind of way, exciting." It was some thing that didn't happen often and you didn't want it to happen often but when it did it sure did set your heart racing. We hadn't been driving for more then ten minutes when we had to stop. There was a police car parked in the road and a line of cars piling up behind it. "Uh-oh. This doesn't look good". Slowly we got to the front of the line. "I'm sorry ma'am, but you can't go any further. This area is under mandatory evacuation" the policelady told Mom. "But my home's back there!" Mom said.
"I'm sorry ma'am but I can't let you go back there"
"What about Bunting rd? Is that area also evacuated?"
"I'm not sure ma'am"
So we turned around and Mom began the search for a back road that wasn't blocked off. We searched without success. Mom finally and reluctantly admitted defeat in the search and we headed to Blue Heron Farm to milk the goats. The next week was a week that I and every one in our family and in our area will never forget. Every day was marked by some event that made it different from the day before. Every day there was smoke in the general area of our house. We tried not to think too much about it. We were able to get an idea from the fire fighters as to where the fire was. At one point my sister Katie and some of the other girls went to the JP's office to get news. Katie:Where was the fire now? Them: Well where do y'all live? Katie: On such and such road. Them: Oh it's pretty bad there right now. Which house do y'all live in? Katie described it. Them: Oh that house. Yeah it's all right.
I can only imagine the look on Katie's face. We found out that one of the fire fighters lives on our road and had been keeping a eye on the animals that we had had to leave behind. He had told the county animal control about our animals and they had been watering them and feeding them. We were so relieved and grateful. On Saturday most of the family went to market. As Mom says "It was a little bit of normality in an abnormal week." The next day we went out to eat with a family friend and his wife. As we were sitting at Starbucks with them, sipping our "dessert", Mom came at a controlled run from the other side of the room. "We're going home! We can go home! The evacuation is lifted for our area! We can go home!" Boy were we excited! Over the next couple of days we worked on getting all our things back to the farm. But it was a while before the smell of smoke left the air. And it was a while before we could settle down and stop being anxious that the fire might flare up again. But we were home.
God is very merciful to us.

Eowyn's Green Dress part Two

So it is three days past my deadline for sewing the green Eowyn dress.While I haven't gotten the dress made in the finer fabric  that I wanted to make it in I did complete the "test dress". I used fabric that I had in my fabric bin and it isn't the prettiest thing out there but this was a test run, right? I am very pleased with the out come. It is the first "fantasy" dress that I've made for myself that I really like. I fully lined the dress even though the pattern did not call for it. The fashion fabric is a deep purple, the lining is a pale yellow. Think butter yellow. The yoke is also made with the yellow fabric. The front of the underskirt is a flowered print on a pink background and the back of it is a mish-mash of  different fabric ends that I had on hand. It looks like a patchwork quilt. But you don't se the back so it doesn't really matter. :) I will post my notes and pictures of it in a later post so you can see what it looks like. Now that I know how to make it I can't wait to sew it in the fashion fabric.

Dress Forms

Mom and Dad are getting me a dress form for my birthday. Yeah! Woohoo! I'm so excited! I can't wait! A new sewing toy to play with. :) I've really wanted one and now I'm getting it. I was wondering if any one who reads my blog has any suggestions on which one I should get or what to look for. Any suggestions would be appreciated. :)

Eowyn's Green Dress part One

One of the many dresses that I want to make for myself is Eowyn's green dress from "The Two Towers". I decided that I would make it for my birthday. That would give me enough time to work on it at a leisurely pace and also make allowance for any mistakes that I might make. So I started doing research on it and looking for fabric. I soon realized that this wasn't going to be the easiest thing to make. There aren't any patterns that are exactly like the dress so I'd have to do some tweaking to the patterns that I already have. Simplicity has a pattern that is clearly made to look like the dress, but it is still not exactly like the dress in the movie. So I will use it as a starting point. But first things first. I will do the same  dress with cheaper fabric and make any changes that need to be made. This way I won't be as likely to mess up the nicer fabric that I'm hoping to get later on. So while the rest of the family is at market today I will be tweaking, cutting, and writing notes. What a fun way to spend the day. :)

Sewing

 As I said in my previous post the shed is more or less finished. So for the last month I've been sewing. I made curtains for the shed windows, a dress and shirt for myself and a skirt and shirt for Liberty. Now I'm gathering all the stuff that I need to make Timmy's birthday present. I can hardly wait 'till I have every thing that  I need and can start sewing it! I tried making the same outfit for him last year but I didn't like the results.The outfit doesn't match up with the picture in  my head or the picture in the movie. So I put it in my box of "in a pinch it will do" costumes. I'd tell y'all what it'll look like but I know that some of my siblings read my blog. :) Here are pics of the dress and shirt that I made for myself.

Simplicity pattern #3673

This picture shows the bodice darts a little better then the photo does. I made view C.

Front of the dress.

The back of the dress.

 I made this dress exactly as the pattern said to. I don't usually make the clothes to look exactly like the picture on the pattern envelope. I almost always use the pattern as a starting point for a completely different look. That is what I did with this shirt.

Simplicity pattern #2249

What the shirt is supposed to look  like.

The sleeves that I wanted the shirt to have.

 The pattern is for a short sleeved, tunic style shirt that zips up the back. The neckline is supposed to have a notch in it and there's also supposed to be a ruffle that goes from the neckline down the front of the bodice to the bodice/skirt seam. I had read reviews that said this pattern tends to run a size larger than what you measure. So I decided to make this a pull over shirt with no zipper, no "neckline notch", ties, and 3/4 length sleeves. These are the results of my alterations.

The front of the finished shirt.

The back of the shirt.

It looks exactly like I wanted it to. :-) Thanks Sara for modeling them for me!

My Sewing Room

One of my jobs for this year was cleaning the shed behind the house. I can now say that
it is almost done. It is close enough to being done that I've been able to do some sewing. Woohoo! The only thing left is to finish putting down the peel-and-stick tile. I don't have any "before" pictures. Even if I did I wouldn't post them. That's how messy the shed was. :) But I do have "after" pictures. So this is what the shed looks like now that it's been cleaned and organized.

My sewing space.

I plan to turn the table into a ironing board.

                                  The loft. This is where I keep the bins full of material
                                       and the sewing machines that I don't often use.  

Carlson family storage space. I'm thinking about putting some sort of doors on these shelves and then painting them with blackboard paint. Keep it looking neat and tidy while having a good use for it.