Michaels Bundle

Here's the 2nd of 3 posts this week. The last one will be tomorrow then I'm out of the picture til at least Sunday. Wednesday is a holiday here in Quebec and I booked off Thursday and Friday in order to fit in a quick trip to New Brunswick.

Ann & Diana - I'll be passing through about suppertime both Wed and Sat ! ;-)

First a Q&A - actually, one question from Faye about my piping foot. I don't have a piping foot (actually I do have one for my serger, but I only thought of it AFTER I'd finished both dresses LOL)

For the Pink dress, I used my Kenmore's regular zipper foot. It's a really square, clunky, metal foot and you can't sew really close to the cord of the piping.

For the Butterfly dress, I used another foot, it has a vertical edge on the right hand side and I just sewed from the right side of the fabric leting the piping ride along the inside of that vertical edge. I think it's my 1/4" foot, but don't quote me. It worked really well.

My singer has one of those plastic, narrow, pointy zipper feet that would probably work well enough, but again I only thought of it after.


Sooooo, I received my Michaels bundle last week. It was shipped on Jun 9 and I received the delivery notice on Jun 16 - ONLY 1 WEEK ! I was expecting at least 2 weeks, shipping to Canada is NOT fast.

Now I need some help/advice. (and all of the problems, questions, mis-expectations are the result of my own inexperience, not Michael's fabrics)

I got a 15yd bundle of the cottons, which includes, cotton, linen, silk and variations of them - how do I tell what is what - is there a way ?

I also, for some unexplainable reason, expected a cotton bundle to be all shirtings. What is it they say about assuming things ?! I have 5 pieces, 3 twill and 2 shirtings. But now I have to figure out what to do with them, I'm sure the twills are too heavy for shirts. I will say, the colors are great. When you order bundles, basics are a safe way to go. There isn't a piece here that I won't use just as soon as I figure out how to handle them.

And how to care for them. Do I bite the bullet and throw them all in the washer ? (This would be where I need the advice)

Every piece has some sheen to it, which makes me think they're not all cotton, but probably/possibly blends. They are all generous cuts, all 3 yards except the brown shirting (4 yards).

Here's what was in the box.



Clockwise from to left - the Twills first
Kind of a medium blue, the twill is pretty fine


Navy blue, herringbone (?) twill, yeh navy blue, really dark, this was the flash from the camera


Cream twill - the weave on this one is larger than the first blue one, and it is quite susceptible to runs, there are 2 pulls in it now, but near the selvage so I can work around them. Will not be able work with this with my rings on !


White shirting


Brown shirting (this one feels fabulous !)

2 more dresses for J

It was another busy week at work so at home there were lots of bits of things but no great accomplishments. I only posted once last week - I think I'll spread the bits over a couple of posts this week.

The biggest thing this week is the sundresses for J.

I'm not going to review them because they're the same NL6908 as the first one and I only made a few changes.

1. I made a size 3 this time.
2. Her mom asked for the view with the ruffle - the pink version is View B with a ruffle and a bit of white piping
3. The butterflies are View A with lime colored piping but no ruffle.

It was my first attempt at piping and ruffles. Both were a pain in the neck and I'll need more practice.

The two dresses:

The back(s):

Butterfly piping:


Pink ruffle:


These are all packed up to take to work tomorrow. They leave on vacation Wednesday, so the dresses were done in plenty of time.

Weekend wrap-up

Saturday was the summer version of 'girls' day out'.

Two girlfriends & I spent the day in downtown Montreal and Old Montreal.
Families were deserted mid-morning and we didn't get home til about 11pm.

Generally, we spend a couple hours window shopping and this year we got lucky. We all found pieces we liked.

I have to say though, this sewing thing got in the way of a very enjoyable browse. I was very aware of exactly how everything did NOT fit. Shoulders, swayback, etc. etc....... Until we went into the very last store, I was feeling really disappointed. Then I found a skirt and a couple of tees I quite liked and they fit ! Some swayback issues on the tee but none on the skirt (I don't think - I'll see once DH takes a pic for me)

So, here're the 2 pieces...

The skirt is cotton, very full with a wide yoke and fully lined with a lightweight cotton (batiste ?)
The tee is very dark, chocolate brown with a pattern stitched in the bodice.
I didn't really like the brown tee with the white skirt although my friends did. It did, on the other hand, go really well with the orange M3341 I was wearing at the time ! And not much goes with that skirt - so - bonus.


A close-up of the bodice pattern.


The skirt is really wide and comes below my knees.


The front placket is actually full length, and hides working buttons all the way down.
Are these pockets, welt pockets ?


Close-up of hidden buttons.


Sunday, I cut out 2 more sundresses for J. I haven't finished them yet, but will post pics once they're done. Off to work on them now - on these, an assembly line technique works great !

I Missed it ! :-(

Oh boy, I was watching my blogoversary button pretty closely and STILL missed it - my first post was June 3, 2008, a year ago plus 8 days - apparently a reminder button is not enough LOL !

But, THIS one is my 100th post !!!!!! Who'da thunk I could write 100 posts - most anyone who knows me wouldn't be surprised that I could talk that much, but write them ? Color me surprised.


Also color me very happy.

The followup on the sundress is that J LOVES it. It's just 'like a princess Mommy!'

Yes, she would like another one. I'll make a size 3 next time, this one is quite big for her but I don't think she'll part with it long enough for me to take it in. So, she'll grow into it and I'll make a couple more to fit now.

I guess it was a success :-)

New Look 6908

This is a bit late but it was my Sunday afterrnoon project. I only hemmed it last night though, so am only posting it now.

A friend at work has a little girl (J) who I really want to sew for. She is in a size 3 so not quite yet at the Burda childrens' sizes. Most of their kids patterns are just a bit bigger than that.

Anyway, on Saturday I was at Walmart and saw a couple of remnants that looked like they would be cute sundresses for J. Last week, her Mommy mentioned that they need sundresses for the summer but she hadn't yet found anything she liked.

I liked these 2 fabrics so I picked up NL6908 and made this one up over the weekend.

HOPING that they'd like it. This fabric was not at all what I expected. All rolled up in the remnant bin, all I could see was the blue portion. Once I unrolled it, there were 6 different stripes across the width of the fabric. What to do ? It's still cute, so I made it up.


Pattern Description: Girls' sundress, top & pants...I made view A - the sundress with the tie at the neck

Pattern Sizing: 3-8 (I made a 4 but I think my little one is only in a 3 - it may be a bit big)

Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it? yes

Were the instructions easy to follow? yes, so easy I made stupid mistakes - LOL !

What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern? No dislikes, it was very easy. I'm hoping the sizing is forgiving, the back is just elasticated and while I made a size 4, I used the elastic length for a size 3.

Fabric Used: Cotton remnant from Walmart

Pattern Alterations or any design changes you made: None

Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others? If J likes it, I'd love to make her some more as well as the tee & pants in this pattern.

Conclusion: It's a very cute sundress for a little girl, & I have another bit of cotton ready, if she likes this one and once I find out if this actually fits.


Update - it's a hit with Mommy ! Now I just have to find out if it fits and get a pic to post. The second piece of fabric is blue with butterflies. J loves butterflies so she should like this one.