>Fiddler on the roof

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I am busy working on this production be back as soon as possible I hope to show photos from the play so you can see what I have been up to.  Over 50 different players in the play and I have made bits and pieces of every persons costumes.  Just a bit busy!

>HS101: Swiss Entredeux to Gathered Fabric and ribbon weaving

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I am using big needle and bright thread to accommodate the tutorial in yours please use the threads from the supply list.  Because using such big thread and needle on such fine fabric causes issues with the tension of my machine and maybe yours too.

How to judge amount of fabric 2 to 1 ( fabric to entredeux) is always a nice ratio I like to add 1/2 inch so I have a little on each end that is not gathered to go into the seams

• Make 2 rows of basting(gathering stitches) Place them 1/8 and 3/8 inch from edge to gather.  
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• Pull on one thread to  gather being careful not to break the threads spread the gathers over thewhole length of the stitches
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• to lay the entredeux such that the edge of the entredeux lies between the two gathering stitches.  The red lines on the right in this photo are to show where the bottom gathering stitch is and wear the two new sets of straight stitches are to go.
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•  stitch in the ditch ( witch means right next to the entredeux stitches (see photo if confused) fabric should be right side up  entredeux right side down (in other words right sides together) and entredeux on top
• L:2 
• I made a mistake in mine I was supposed to do another row of stitching here 1/8 of an inch away from the one next to the entredeux I forgot to then I trimmed and realized it  so with yours make sure there are two sets of lines of sewing 
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• trim next to last one
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• Zig zag over the edge you just trimmed to hold it all together
• W:3 
• L1
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• Press entredeux with the seam pressed towards the fabric
• turn to front of work 
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• and zig zag into the entredeux holes and over the seam to secure the seam on the back to stay behind the fabric This is supposed to be real tiny stitches they just look big in the tutorial for the example so you can see it
• W1.5 -2 use which ever you need to to get into the hole of the entredeux and bearly go into the fabric
• L 1
• Remove basting thread
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• Stream press the holes should disappear from the basting thread.  Your thread should be the same color as your fabric.  As you can tell mine left a residual it your threads match your fabric that will not be seen.  As mine was such a screaming color it left damage.   But even with that said they are almost impossible to see here too.
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See how on these you can almost not see the basting thread marks and this one was not steamed.

This entredeux lends itself to ribbon weaving as youcan see the holes in the first one in the second they are filled with two colored ribbons this is a way of adding more detail and color to your item with out  having to add a real expensive embroidery brightly colored insertion or by doing embroidery.  Use a big eyed crewl embroidery needle to do the weaving. Your work in the weaving should look neat on the front and back do not let the ribbon twist.  This one was steamed and the basting thread marks are gone.

>HS101: Entredeux to Fabric

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Use DMC heirloom sewing machine thread when doing this for real and needle size#60, #65 or #70.

For the sample I will just be using normal sewing thread so you can see it easy in the photos and it will be a contrasting color for the same reason.

prep work

1.  Cut 1 piece of entredeux  and one piece of fabric the same length
2. Prep by starching and pressing the fabric and entredeux (using clean iron, and clean board, also use spray starch)

How to

W=0
L=2.0

1. DO NOT trim the entredeux
2. lay entredeux and fabric right sides together with fabric on the bottom
3. Sew a straight stitch to the right of the entredeux making sure not to go into the hole 
• In this photo the entredeux has already been sewn to lace from another tutorial please don’t let that through you.  You are looking at the straight stitch to the right of the entredeux .  The blue line of stitches is the one relevant to this tutorial.
4. trim edge off of fabric and entredeux trim to about 1/8 inch

W=3.0
L=1.0

1. Zig zag the raw edges together do not go into the entredeux only go into the stitching line and over the raw edge to encapsulate it in thread and keep it from unraveling ( no stitches should have gone into the hole of the entredeux)
• Once again only pay attention to the bluezig zag stitxhes
2. Press seam allowance toward the fabric  the second one is shown in the correct colors to use for this fabric and entredeux
• this is from the front of the work

W=2
L=1

1. on right side of fabric using a narrow zig zag stitch over the seam that joined the entredeux to the fabric the second photo is showing what it would look like if the lace was not attached yet

Shown here with correct thread

>Part 5b:1940s baby slip lavendar crochet details

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Here is the baby slip I made to reproduce the one in Part 5.  Now when I say reproduce I am not making an exact copy of the original the pattern I am trying to keep the same size and all that.  even though I hated that the original had snaps I used them to try and keep that the same if I make it again in the future it will have mother of pearl buttons at the shoulders.  But the embellishments as you have seen I am taking a little liberty with since I get to keep them.  This one originally had just sc around the neck area in all white and a pink 3 round crochet trim at the hem.  The white part was so it would not show through the dress above it (my assumption on that one other wise I have no reason to explain that).

I wanted one color and not two colors.  I sort of failed there.  As I was using antique size 50 crochet thread with a handmade size 16 steel thread crochet hook with what I thought was pink but as I worked through the ball I figured out that the outside of the ball was sun faded from time.  So it went darker to a medium lavender color.  Not what I originally wanted but am fine with.  So if you look close you can see a little pink at the hem and none at the neck as I did the hem first and all the pink was used up in that area.   I don’t usually mind things like this I figure it just gives character to the piece.  the first picture in this post is true to color the hem color detail is way off in the last photo  the colors are not that extreme or I would have torn it out.

 

I wanted the neck area to have picots every four sc.  The other difference is that the original also had a crochet edging at the hem that was.

original pattern

special stitches

shell
3 dc, ch 5, form sc in third ch from hook, chain two, 3 dc in same space

round 1: sc
round 2: *dc, ch 2,* repeat with 1 sc skipped on the first round do this all the way around making sure to end with an even number of spaces
round 3: *shell in ch in space, ch 5 sc in 3rd ch from hook chain 2* repeat
around

My version of pattern

special stitches
shell
3 dc, ch 3 form sc in third ch, 3 dc in same space

round 1: sc
round 2: *dc, ch 2,* repeat with 2 sc skipped on the first round do this all the way around making sure to end with an even number of spaces

round 3: shell in ch in space, *ch 3, sc in 3rd ch from hook , skip space make shell in next space* repeat all the way around cut and finish thread

>Part 5:1940s baby slip pink crochet details

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This is the second slip I have yet to make a reproduction but I have made the pattern already.  Simple just two pieces.   Almost no damage on this item.

I was sad to see snaps on it.  Functional as they are most do not consider them an heirloom closure but when I make the re-pro I have not decided what I will do yet stay true to the original or place buttons here instead. 

 

I will be doing a picot esdge around the collar and arm openings as I like it better than just the single croceht turned edge  .

The hem has a much nicer edging than the top of the piece so I will be coping that part.

>Part 4:1940s baby slip pink details

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There are three slips this is the first one up.  I have already repaired it and made a copy of this item.  I will show those later today.

 

The crochet edge is used instead of a rolled hem.

You just crochet right through the cotton batist.  It is a simple edging 8 sc followed by a picot and repeat.  I like the scolloped detail of the hem.

There isn’t too much damage to this slip there is a hole at and by the neckline.

There is a tear at the hem line.

>Apron drawing….Sew Mama Sew

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I have an apron tutorial posted on Sew, Mama, Sew for their month of hand sewing. They have also posted an introduction in the contributors section. The apron is meant to be for children over seven years of age as it has real long ties that can tie in front on little children and they can carry lots of stuff in the four large pockets it has. It also works nicely as a big persons apron for clothes pins or any thing else you can think to put in large pockets.

If you want to make the above apron get yourself over to Sew Mama Sew and get all the directions .

The apron is hand embroidered but there is a little bit of machine sewing (about 5 mins of that) on it at the waist band which is easily done by hand I just was focusing on the chicken scratch more. So I think it passes as hand sewing and then some as that is what most of it is. Because I made this apron for Sew Mama Sews special hand sewing month I decided I would give it away as a reward for their readers and my readers

Rules

Sorry there are rules. It is to hard to do this without rules. Plus some of the rules make it funner for me. I want some funny stories for all my hard work. I got 5 hours of sleep in 3 days working on this

1. Entries must be posted during the month of August 2009 and the first week of September2009 till the 6th drawing is on September 7th
2. The comment must be to this post and have either your favorite apron story or a your favorite story about hand sewing that happened to you or people you know nothing made up please funny would be nice (also this is a family blog no bad stories please)
3. You do have to leave a way for me to get a hold of you too. Any one who doesn’t leave a link to either an email, blog or flickr account or some other way of getting a hold of you will be disqualify as it is to hard for me to track down people otherwise.

Good luck and Happy sewing

>Free Antique pattern library on Internet

>Here is the link to a page full of lovely old old patterns in crochet, tatting, and knitting and other things as well. There are thousands of patterns available through this link.

>Revisiting the felt ornament

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A few years back I posted this tutorial. It always seems to be popular this time of year, so I will bring it back up for people to see and use again.

>Just a few links to patterns

>These are patterns you can buy and these are free patterns. Just thought I would share; if you didn’t already know of these sites, they are great.
These are old-school looking patterns for clothing and aprons and things of that sort.