25 Years Ago And Still Today

August 21, 1988

We were practically babies.

He had just completed his Masters Degree

in electronic music and recording engineering.

 

I had just turned 21, three weeks

before the wedding,

and was working as a home furnishings 

specialist at Laura Ashley.

 

We were so completely crazy in love with each other.

 

Don's father and he had started to

build our little love nest,

or "Bunny Hutch" as we called it,

over the garage on their property.

 

Don's 25th birthday

was 4 days before our

wedding day.

 

I made my gown and beaded my shoes

and my mother and I made the bridesmaid's

and flower girl's dresses.

  

Don's mother and I sewed about a hundred

white covers for the folding chairs for the reception.

 

We were married at
Menlo Park Presbyterian Church,

on a perfect Sunday afternoon.

 

My father walked me down the aisle,

while Vivaldi's "Spring" was played

on flute and pipe organ,

and then he preached the wedding sermon.

 

During our ceremony,

my love accompanied me on guitar,

while I sang

"My Romance". 

Our wedding supper reception was held

in Don's aunt and uncle's back yard.

His Greek aunts made the delicious

food for the buffet,

all the while carrying on their hilarious "arguing."

(This is still one of my very dearest memories of the day.)

 

Our friends and family shared tears

and laughter

and joy.

Our marriage was prayed over 

and blessed.

And it was a good day.

 

Over the last 25 years,

we have lived a lot of life,

inhabited many houses in several states,

served the Lord and His people in numerous churches,

made A LOT of music,

given birth to our beloved India,

journeyed to China to adopt our beloved Ahnalin, 

prayed through many crises,

and seen many miracles,

packed around about a ton of fabric (!!)

and

dreamed many dreams.

We are still very, very much in love.

I have been blessed with the very best man.

My "Hot Rockin' Hubby" is still the man of my dreams.

God has blessed us so much.

 

Happy Anniversary my dear Don.

I can't wait to see what the next 25 years hold.

A Birthday Dress For Ahnalin

Ahnalin had a birthday.

So, of course, she needed a new dress.

Because who can resist this face?

She wanted the dress to be in her
favorite style sundress.
I don't use a pattern for this style,
as I just cut it based on her current measurements.

And she wanted me to use this
Cath Kidston napkin, that Grandma
bought at a garage sale,
for an apron sewn onto it.

We both love the apron look.

She picked out this vintage 1930s green
rick rack

and the yellow
floral fabric for the sash
and hem band from my stash.

And the Beatrix Potter
buttons were on a card that was dated "1976". 

She was very happy with her birthday dress!

 And of course!

Birthday girls get to lick the beater for the Kitchenaid mixer.

And they get to blow out candles!

Sometimes, they even receive beautiful bride
dolls as birthday presents!

Sometimes they get their very own
little tiny watermelon.

Sometimes they get free scoops of ice cream
at Baskin Robbins.

Ahnalin was very blessed because Grandma Barbara 

and Grandpa John came for the weekend.

You see, Grandma Barbara's birthday

was on Saturday! 

So we had lots and lots of birthday!

I made this pillow for my mom (Grandma Barbara).

And Ahnalin used my embroidery machine 

and made this fleece scarf her.

Grandma loved these gifts,

but I think her favorite was the chocolate fudge cake

with Nutella frosting and coconut that I made for her

from scratch.

Oh it was so good!!

All in all, we had a wonderful

birthday weekend!

Happy Sewing!

Sivje

Sewing For A Royal Baby

It came!!

I am so honored and excited to share with you

that I was a contributor to this beautiful book.

This book was the "baby" of 

the amazingly gifted

 Kathy Barnard and Amelia Johanson.

The lovely dress on the cover

was created by my friend Janet Gilbert

who just launched her own smocking website!

 Janet-Gilbert.com

I get chills seeing my name printed there.

I really do not feel I belong in this group of designers.

The contributors to this book are the most 

gifted in the field of heirloom sewing!

Do you see whose names are also there????

This book is filled with gorgeous designs,

complete with patterns on a CD-ROM in the back.

My tiny contribution was drafting a pattern

and writing instructions

for a pair of antique lace booties from

this photo.

These were my samples.

I made them from lace and cotton batiste.

But the original antique lace boots in the book

photo were made from a lovely silk.

The pattern for these little booties is included

in the CD-ROM in the back of the book,

and includes 3 sizes.

I am just so very thrilled to have been 

a part of this book. 

You can purchase it 

at the 

Martha Pullen Company 

and

Amazon.com

There are patterns for several dresses,

little boy suits,

bubbles,

booties,

bibs,

bonnets,

coverlets and other accessories,

and even 2 christening gowns!!

 

The patterns ,

 embroidery designs,

and heirloom construction techniques

alone are worth much, much more than the cost of this book. 

But the photography and inspiration are priceless!

I have only taken photos of the pages,

so the actual book pages are not blurry like

my photos. 

All the photos on the pages here, 

except for my two bootie samples,

 are from the book,

and are the property of Sew Beautiful and F&W Media, Inc. 

I hope you purchase this gorgeous book

for yourself and enjoy every lovely detail.

Happy Sewing!

Sivje

The New Slipcover For The Old Ugly Sofa- Part 3

Hello again!

I am finally getting around to posting Part 3

of "The New Slipcover For The Old Ugly Sofa".

If you are just happening upon this post,

you can read Part 1 

HERE

and then Part 2

HERE.

Part 3 is all about how I made the

new cushion covers.

 Happy Happy Me!!

As I showed in Part 1,

I had measured around the circumference of the 

cushions for the boxing measurement.

Part of this boxing would include the zipper.

 So the zippered portion of the cushion cover would

have to be in two pieces.

The original (ugly) cushion covers had the zippers

measured to 30 inches, 

so I just used that same measurement.

For each cushion, I cut 2 pieces, 

each the length of the zipper.

 Then I sewed them together with a 

basting stitch and pressed

the seams open.

I cut the length of the zipper roll

and made sure I had a zipper pull on it!

I had to be careful not to zip that pull off

before I stitched the ends closed.

I pinned the zipper under neath the seam. 

Then I sewed the zipper in place using my zipper foot.

As I got close to the end of the zipper,

I carefully opened up a few inches of the seam

with my seam ripper. 

Then I lifted my presser foot with the needle still down.

I very carefully pulled the zipper open and past

the presser foot.

Next, I sewed the long boxing piece to

the zipper boxing panel, on each end.

I reinforced this seam and top-stitched it

for strength.

This boxing panel was the length of

the circumference of the cushion,

minus the zipper panel length,

plus about 3 inches for seam allowance

and a little zipper protection.

Then I tried the whole boxing strip on the ugly cushion. 

This is the zippered panel. 

After I tried the boxing panel on the cushion,
I was able to pleat the excess fabric over the

end of the zipper, to create a protective 

fold over the zipper head.

This will prevent that zipper pull from rubbing and

wearing the other fabric out.

After I got the boxing the correct size for the cushion,

I pinned the piping all around both edges.

Notice the cut ends of the piping on each side.

I stitched the piping all around and then left

the ends unstitched.

Where the piping overlapped, there was  

an excess of the piping cord.

So I pulled it out and cut it off.

Then I folded the excess piping fabric and 

wrapped it around the other side of the piping.

The cut ends of the piping cord met I could 

lay the piping fabric over them.

Then I was able to pin the piping down

and stitch it together with less bulk.

Once the boxing was all finished and piped,

it was time to wrap the cushions.

 

 

Uh wow.

Lets just get that covered, shall we?

As each of these foam cushions was actually

in pretty decent shape,

I decided to just wrap them with 

fresh batting.

I didn't even bother taking off the current cover.

As I wrapped them tightly, smoothing out the wrinkles,

I pinned the edges in place.

And then I stitched it all in place,

with a doubled thread for strength.

I wrapped the corners and stitched 

them down to the sides.

I cut 6 identical rectangles,

each the dimensions of the cushions plus 

1 inch on each side for the seam allowances.

  

Then I put the boxing on the wrapped cushion, 

wrong side out,

adjusting the zipper panel to the

correct edge of the cushion.

I opened each zipper a few inches so 

that I could unzip it to take it off 

once I was done pinning the top and bottom on.

Using the piping seam as a guideline,

I pinned the top and bottom seat panels

to the boxing.

This is the inside of the front edge of the cushion.

Each corner will end up being slightly rounded because 

of the wrapped cushions.

I pinned it to fit snugly.

As fabric fibers relax from being sat on,

the cushions can get sloppy looking.

I wanted it to fit cleanly so I made it tight.

After I pinned it all the way around, 

I reached into the unzipped area and 

unzipped the rest of the cushion.

Then I VERY VERY VERY carefully

pulled the pinned cushion cover off 

of the wrapped cushion.

I say very carefully because those sharp 

pins stabbed me so many times on this step!

Then all that was left was to 

sew those cushions together!

Once again, I used my zipper foot,

stitching on the piping seam to get

a snug seam for the cushions.

 After I sewed on the piping seam,

I ran another row of stitches,

1/8" away from the first row,

as reinforcement.

I didn't even trim off the 

excess fabric from the corners,

as that extra fabric provided a little more stability.

I turned the covers right side out!!!!!

  

And then  I stuffed those wrapped cushions back into 

the completed cushion covers,

and zipped them closed.

I covered a few old down throw pillows

with some plaid fabric from my stash,

and added some of the leftover 

sofa slipcover piping. 

Then I jumped up and down and did a gleeful

yet embarrassing happy dance!!!!!

Much whooping and hollering

and loud raucous singing took place at this point!!!

The old ugly sofa was completely hidden

and in it's place was exactly the sofa I had 

dreamed of when I bought the fabric

all those years ago!!!!

Thank you for bearing with me

for these 3 long posts.

I hope they have made sense

and maybe even helped you

drum up the courage to take on the

daunting task of making a fitted slipcover

for your sofa. 

Next up, 

Back to school sewing!

Happy Sewing,

Sivje