McCalls 6741 Quick and Easy

This worked up quickly for daughter-in-law Sheryl.  We had done the muslin last year and she had purchased the fabric but then it was put aside for warmer weather.  The fabric is a pretty peachy sherbert swiss dot and the lining is a bright aqua light weight cotton.  The dress has princess seams as well as a center front seam that ends several inches below the neckline so it can stay up or fold back to reveal the blue lining.

There are pockets in the princess seams which made Sheryl very happy!  This version had short cap sleeves which we eliminated and just hand stitched the lining to the fashion fabric around the arm. 

The dress needed very little alteration.  I eliminated about 1 inch in two different spots through the pattern before cutting since she is just 5 feet, and as you can probably see, there is a very small hem because of the fullness in the skirt.  So if one is on the taller side you definitely want to add some length before cutting!

Cool, breezy, comfortable and pretty for these hot days!

Slan

Steampunk

Something for young nephew.  Pillow is machine embroidered with designs from Urban Threads - Steampunk Alphabet for his monogram and Steam Motifs arranged on either side .  I love the designs from Urban Threads as they are very unusual and a little on the edgy side.  As you can see from the close ups, the detail is exquisite.  I did think the build up of threads was a little excessive.  I'd have to work with them more but on the compass rose, I thought some of the layering of stitching was a little bit too much.

The pillow is 18" x 18" and was embroidered on the Majestic Hoop.  I've owned it for a while now but this was my first time using it.  It worked perfectly eventually.  I say that because it took me a long time to figure out that the design had to be transferred directly from my computer to my machine.   Using the USB, which is my preferred method, just didn't work.  I kept getting an error message that 'the color block placed on both sides of the hoop was not allowed."  It took me most of a day to track down a solution which worked perfectly.

The other problem I had was completely my own doing.  For those who haven't used the majestic hoop, it stitches out one side first and the you turn your hoop for the stitching on the other side.  While it was stitching the first side, I tugged at the fabric in the hoop a bit to straighten it.  Big mistake because when I turned the hoop, the design didn't completely line up and I had to do a fair amount of editing to get them lined up.  There is still a spot in the middle of the "J" that I'm not really happy with.  Why I didn't realize that earlier is beyond me. 

The back has a hidden zipper and on the flap is a vintage clock face and button. 

Slan