The End of the Never Ending Bishop

I finished up the Never Ending Bishop this week.

Here's a closeup of the front:

And here's a closeup of the sleeve:

The colors are a lot truer in the closeup photos. I used the Ellen McCarn Ultimate Bishop pattern in size 2. The smocking plate is English Rose from the AS&E book Beautiful Bishops. I added about four extra rows to fill the design out a bit. I also added two extra rows to the sleeve smocking. I substituted cable flowerettes for the bullion buds around the edge of the smocking. They go a lot faster, and I was ready to get this little dress done. I decided not to embroider the sleeves, because I didn't want to interfere with the elasticity of the smocking.

I'm very pleased with this little dress. It turned out just like I envisioned it. Now all I have to do is fold it up in some tissue paper and put it in a box to send to my precious little niece in Georgia.

Then, it's on to this dress:

This little bishop is for a family friend. The poodles may look familiar. I used one poodle from this plate on T2. I've got the poodles almost done- they just need mouths, noses, bows, and of course, all those french knots to "fluff" them up. My top border is done, and I'm still considering how to smock the lower border. It needs more elasticity than the top one. There's going to be a lot of backsmocking on this one, too. I think when it's finally done it will be really cute.

Wow! I have a lot of work to do. This little dress is far from finished. I also have a blouse to work on for myself. I made a muslin of McCalls 5522 which turned out quite nice and now I need to make the real blouse. I'm just not feeling very motivated to sew this weekend. I may be able to get some smocking done. And I've spent some time playing with stash fabrics and "planning" projects, but I'm just not up to cutting or sewing right now. I'm kinda tired, and I'm thinking maybe I shouldn't try to push it. I start to make mistakes when I force myself to work on things that I'm not really in the mood for. I really don't need a sewing disaster this weekend, so I think I'll just take it easy. Maybe some planning and organizing will help me get motivated again.

The Never Ending Bishop Dress

I'm taking a break from the Temily pattern and I've been working on this:



I'm calling this the Never Ending Bishop Dress because the smocking has seemed to go on and on and on. I've finally finsished the actual smocking on the neck and the sleeves. If you look closely you can see where I've begun to make cable rosettes in the heart shapes along the bottom of the smocking. I'll add lazy daisy leaves to those and then I will make one large bullion rose in the center with some lazy daisy flowers and leaves on either side.

One good thing about this dress is that I decided to edge the sleeves with lace and smock them. What that means is that once all the smocking and embroidery is done and I start construction, there will be no finishing to do on the sleeves! A simple french seam from sleeve edge to dress hem will be all I have to do. No gathering, piping, or binding needed.

Sigh... I'm starting to see some light at the end of the tunnel.

T4- It's a Wrap

T4 is all done. I think it turned out pretty cute. It's constructed exactly the same as T3 with short elasticized sleeves and no topstitching. The Princess loves it and that is the true determining factor in whether it's a success or not.

I love the black and white gingham piping. It really pops against the green and pink. The Princess is all excited because she gets to wear the new top to school tomorrow.

I have one more Temily all pleated and ready to smock. After that, I think I'll give the pattern a rest and try something new:

This is Haley's Halter and Capri from Sew Beautiful magazine issue #107. I think this will make a super cute spring/summer outfit. It will need a short sleeved tee under it for school, but once school is out and the weather gets hot, this will be cool and comfortable. I think I have a red and yellow cherry print waiting in my stash somewhere...

And this is Toffee Apple from the latest issue of Australian Smocking and Embroidery (issue #81). These fabrics don't excite me, but I can see definite possibilities in the pattern. I'm thinking maybe leopard...

Alright, I'm off to pull some stash fabrics and start planning...

One Step Closer

T4 is one step closer to being completed. Actually, the smocking has been finished for about a week. I just haven't had a chance to start working on construction. This smocking design is "Flamingo" from The Children's Corner. I love this design. It's so simple, and yet I think it's very striking. I definately plan to use it again. Right now I'm leaning towards using this black and white ginham as my accent piping. I think a narrow strip of it will give the finished top a little flash. I guess we'll find out...

Okay, I'm off to put T4 together!

One More Time...

Yeah, I'm on a "Temily Roll," but so what? I'm using up stash fabric and building a spring wardrobe for the Princess! This is the next Temily incarnation. Say hello to T4:

I bought these fabrics together a year or two ago at my "local" Hancock Fabrics. I just fell in love with the print. Who can resist strawberries and ladybugs all on one fabric? And it's pink and green. It just screams summer to me. The pink dot print was right next to it and it's a perfect coordinate. Unfortunatly, I didn't use the fabric right away and it has languished in my stash all this time.

But now I'm ready to use it. As you can see, I've already pulled some floss colors. I think the green floss will pop against the pink insert, but I'm not so sure about the pink floss. I haven't decided on a smocking design, either. I don't want to fall victim to analysis paralysis though, so I might have to just bite the bullet and start smocking something. I can always change it if I don't like it, right?

I haven't chosen a contrast piping fabric, either. I want to take a look at some black and white gingham, which would definately be an unexpected pop and might highlight the black in the ladybugs, but I also have a deep emerald "blender" fabric (you quilters know what I'm talking about) that might look nice, too. We'll just have to wait and see. Maybe I won't use piping at all. I think I have some dark green rick-rack around here somewhere that might look nice in those seams.

And I may as well go ahead and admit, this is not the last Temily. I have one more already cut out. I might take a break after that one, but we'll see. I figure as long as I'm using stash fabric, I should just go with the flow and keep sewing!

I'm Ready For My Closeup

Here is a closeup shot of the smocking on T3.

And here is the graph. (My graph shows half-space rows rather than full space rows.)

Start at the bottom with the aqua, and center a row of full space 3-step trellis. Then add the orange 3-step trellis right on top of the aqua.

Work a row of 1/2 space cable wave in aqua right above the trellis row. Then add another row of 1/2 space cable wave in pink right above the aqua. Reapeat the design as many times as you like with a half space between each repeat. When you get to the top, add an extra row of orange cable wave and then an extra row of pink cable wave to finish it off.

Easy as pie.

T3

Mission accomplished. Temily #3 is done!

And it's a success, if I do say so myself. The Princess is pleased and has already requested to wear it to school tomorrow.

I think the contrast center panel looks great. In fact, I have another one ready to go already. I made this one pretty much exactly like the poodle version, except I didn't do any topstitiching- don't think it needs it- and I made short sleeves. I asked the Princess what kind of sleeves she wanted, and this is what she requested. Plus, I thought the short sleeves would take us through the spring and summer. Now I need to make some shorts or capri pants to go with it.

Alright, I'm off to sew some more. So far, this stash reduction thing is fun!

Temily...Again!

That's right! Another Temily! And the best part is: all these fabrics are from stash! I wanted to try a Temily with a contrast center panel and this is what I've come up with for my first version. The stripe is, of course, the center panel. Look how beautifully (and straight!) it pleated up. The dot print will be the main fabric and the aqua swirl will be the contrast piping. You can also see the floss colors I've chosen to complement the fabrics. The smocking design is my own (the same one used on my original Temily) and as soon as I get it drawn up, I'll share it. I have plenty of these fabrics, so I'm thinking if this turns out like I hope it will, I'll come up with a design for matching shorts or capris. I think that would make a cute outfit for spring, and it would use up more stash fabric!

A Little Bit More Arabella

This is a closeup of the smocking, yoke and collar on Sweet Arabella. See what I mean about the smocking colors being off? Looking at it now, I wish I had gone with darker colors. But, it's done and it's time to move on to another project. I love the ruffled collar. Believe it or not, that ruffle is a full 45 inch fabric width.. per side! I can't wait to make another one!

Here's a closeup of the sleeve. These little sleeves have just the right amount of puff at the top and ruffle at the bottom. I usually prefer a bound sleeve, but this sleeve makes me want to make more.

I can't wait to make this dress again. I will use a different smocking plate to switch things up a bit, but I just love the collar and sleeves. The Princess loved it, too, and that's what it's all about- isn't it?

Sweet Arabella

Sweet Arabella is finally done. I can't believe I started this dress back in October and it's taken me two and a half months to finish it.

It turned out pretty well. I'm very pleased with the smocked sleeves and the ruffled Peter Pan collar. In fact, the Princess and I are already negotiating a fabric choice to make another similar dress.

The only thing I'm not really happy about is the smocking colors. It's the craziest thing, but even though each of the three floss colors coordinates with the fabric beautifully, individually, something about the combination of floss colors is off. The teal and the purple seem to blend together to read as a turquoise blue, and together they make the wine colored floss seem too bright. Ah, well. The dress is finished, and I learned something about choosing floss colors. The fabric that I'm thinking about using for the next version has a much brighter and simpler color scheme which will make choosing floss colors a lot easier.

My sewing mojo has returned and I've spent a very busy weekend cutting, seaming, and pleating. There will be smocking this week! In the coming weeks I will be sharing two bishop dresses, three new Temilies, a BSY, and the new high waisted skirt that McCalls just released. My brain is just swimming with ideas! And I'm expecting the new Burda and the latest issue of AS&E in the mail any day now, so hopefully the excitement and the motivation will last a long time!