Cover Girl

Sewing for a Royal Baby

I have been sitting on my hands for a while resisting the urge to share this photo.  The photo is up on Amazon so I think it is safe to share now.


I made the cover! This is a book that will be out in a few months.  Amazon and other book sellers are only taking pre orders right now.

http://store.marthapullen.com/sewing-for-a-royal-baby

Talk about Eye Candy!   I absolutely love the styling of this photo. Well actually, I love everything in the photo.  I can't believe they found purple roses!

It is very obvious the work of Kathy Barnard and Jennifer of "Jennifer and Company".

I can't wait to see the rest of the book. I know that several well known and wonderful designers have also contributed to this book.

Happy Easter

I pray that you are reading this post with all your Easter smocking  and sewing complete.  If you still have your nose to the grind stone remember, "you can't really see any mistakes it on a moving child"!   

I take that back....YOU will see the mistakes but nobody else will (unless you point them out).

Sew Beautiful #145

I have been waiting for the newest Sew Beautiful to be up on their web site before posting these pictures.  It is still not up but I will go ahead.........

This is my latest creation in the magazine. I absolutely love this photo!

If you have your issue, you may notice that the title of the design is different from this photo.  When I am creating a design I usually give it a working title (or two) so that when I am exchanging emails with the Sew Beautiful editor we are on the same page.  One dress a couple of years ago had the working title of "The miracle dress" because it was a miracle that it got finished.


The title "Plum Wonderful" got ditched after we realized it sounded like a dietary aide! :-)




This is the cover of SB #145.

Just to give you a little detail on my design process, These were two of my rough smocking designs.     Last summer when I was down at Huntsville for the Martha Pullen's school.  Kathy B and I  spent our lunch time doing a show and tell. 

I showed her my designs and she showed off new fabrics and ribbons.  That is when we realized that my bottom smocking design looked like some fabulous maroon ribbon that they had just purchased.  Kathy knows that I love all things maroon! Gig em Aggies :-)

 We put it all together to create this!

Halloween Skirt

I have been sitting on my hands waiting to post this skirt, but I had to wait till it was shipped to my granddaughter.  I did not want her mom to see it on line first.

This was just basically rectangles with an elastic waist ........with a little trim  added for fun.

 The side seams of the bottom skirt (striped fabric) are sewn together and pressed open.  I then marked the line for the  orange ruffle.  The orange ruffle is 1 1/2 times the width of the skirt.

At first I did not have the black band on the bottom but the skirt looked like it needed an anchor.


The rick rack  is bright lime green (even though it shows up as yellow in the picture). I attached it by hand stitching the points.  I have a pet peeve about rick rack that curls up after it is washed.  I wanted to add beads to the rick rack points but decided to wait on that design feature until she is older.

To form the waist band, I pinned the right side of the top skirt (purple cats) to the wrong side of the bottom skirt(striped fabric). Matching up side seams of course.

Stitched around the top with a 1/2" seam allowance.  I then trimmed the seam allowance down to 1/4" and turned the top skirt to the front and press.

I used 1 inch buttonhole elastic so  the waistband casing is  stitched 1 1/4" down from the top edge and then top stitched 1/8".


I did not take a picture of it but there is a growth tuck hiding under the orange ruffle.

Now to wait for photos of her wearing it!

Elmo- Monkey Girl skirt

I am so excited about my friend Sivje Parish making her Sew Beautiful Magazine debut! She worked with me on an article called "Skirting Around"  You may know her through her blog Goose Girl Sews.   http://goosegirlsews.blogspot.com/





This is the cover of Sew Beautiful Issue #144. It should be in your mailbox in the next couple of weeks.

One of the skirts  Sivje made for this article is from her "Monkey Girl" Skirt epattern
http://goosegirlsews.blogspot.com/2009/04/froggies-flu-and-bluebird-of-happiness.html

After we had finished the article for Sew Beautiful, I wanted to make one of these skirts for my granddaughter.   She is now about 18 months and loves Elmo!

 I found a Sesame Street fat quarter bundle on line at the Fat Quarter Shop.  The pattern calls for just 4 coordinating fat quarters so I had more than enough.

http://www.fatquartershop.com/Sesame-Street-Fabric-Spectrix-Fabrics-Sesame-Workshop.asp



Here is my Elmo version of Sivje's "Monkey Girl" skirt.  I made a size 2 and used Buttonhole Elastic in the waist and added a growth tuck at the hem line so that the bottom band looks like floating hem.

This is my favorite part of the skirt...bloomers!

Of course being the ever indulgent grandmother that I am, her Bitty Baby had to have a matching skirt.  I reduced the 6 month pattern on my scanner until I had the right hip measurement for the bloomers. The t shirt was just something I put together using an old red t shirt of my daughter's

Her Elmo skirt is well loved and better yet it gets worn!

Congratulations Sivje!

"Design your own smocking plate" Challenge

I have been playing around with a smocking design and realized that there are several different directions I could go with the design. I have finished my design but am curious to see what you could  create!



Okay, you are looking at the basic design...Do you imagine Row 1-1 1/2  and 10 1/2-11  as a border?  Maybe you like the combination space between Rows 2 1/2- 4 1/2.

Can you picture in your mind adding some step trellis stitches to connect two different rows? Do you see negative space as the focal point of the design or something bolder?   Do you see hearts or stars?

Okay here are my rules if you choose to follow this challenge. ( I will not hunt you down if you don't!).

• You may only add to this design.
• You may change the center point of the design if you want.
• Color choices  and thread counts are totally up to you!
• If you send me your finished design I will post them to my blog

I can't wait to see all what you come up with!~janet

BTDTDDA

I want to show you something that made me laugh today.

Most of you know I do some work for Sew Beautiful Magazine.  I am usually working from first draft patterns. This patterns do not come with any directions.  I am the tester, the creator, the guinea pig.  So while I am constructing future masterpieces (I hope) I am making notes, in my note book and on the patterns.


I am working on several articles for future issues of Sew Beautiful and I needed to dig out the "Natalie"  sleeve pattern.

On the pattern I wrote to myself..... This is a flat cap sleeve. Do not join ends together. "BTDTDDA".


Can you guess what that stands for?

Been There, Done That, Don't Do Again. (dummy) :-)

 It is alway good when a past mistake or frustration can bring a smile. I pray that you can look back and laughs at something today~ Janet