Monday, February 9, 2009

Sewing Again!

We're sewing again!!!!!!!

The tension on our machine was messed up, and the manual for the sewing machine up and vanished into thin air (how does that happen?), so...we had to stop for a while. Mom recently went hunting online and found and downloaded a pdf copy of the manual on the Internet. Praise God!!! Why pay $10 when you can get it for a Baptist price--free?! (chuckle)

On Friday Mom got the sewing machine working properly. Yay! Then we both worked on the darts on my dress. They were such a PAIN! I do not like darts!!! They have to be just so or the dress falls weird.



Mom and I worked on my dress again this afternoon. I'm very pleased with the progress we made! We got the darts ironed, and then I got the shoulder and side pieces sewed together. It's actually starting to look like something now!



Then we started working on the middle piece (the inset) that joins both the side pieces together. Mom and I were looking through a bag full of ribbon when Mom pulled out a beautiful sea-foam green ribbon. I wouldn't have picked it out, but once I saw it with the material I really thought it looked nice. It blends nicely with the green leaves on the cloth and looks pretty without jumping out at you...being really obvious.







I pinned it temporarily just to get an idea... I like the way it has a peasant/colonial look while still looking pretty and elegant.



Then I worked on sewing some bright-colored thread in the places on the inset where we would need to attach the ribbon later on. For some reason transferring the pattern markings didn't work too well and we found that hot pink thread was more visible.



And Mom and I lightly tied the thread onto the cloth. Sewing certainly requires a lot of attention to little details. I guess that's why it's mainly women who sew. (chuckle)

Then I sewed the two inset pieces together at the top...



And Mom did this neat thing so that the top (neckline) would have a nice finished off edge. And we were done for the day! It was time to clear the kitchen table and work on dinner. The two side pieces of the bodice and the inset are finished. Next we have to work on tacking the ribbon on and then sewing the three pieces together into one complete top...and then come the sleeves...and then the skirt...
Y I can't wait!!!!! =)
I'll keep you posted!

5 comments:

Naomi Ungry said...

Hooray! I was going to ask you in my next email how your sewing is coming along, Hannah, and here you answered it beforehand. =) Wow, the dress looks very detailed! I hope progress continues without hindrance now that your machine's fixed. That can be extremely trying. (sigh) Oh, I can't wait for you to have it finished, Hannah! It will be such a special dress.

Well, I've set aside my quilt restoration for the time being. I've resigned myself to the fact that I'm going to have to go about it another way. All that work for nothing... =( (sigh) I want the quilt to survive another 20 years at least, so I might as well do a lasting and satisfactory job. =) It'll be worth it! In the meantime--until I get motivated to begin again--I've been knitting a shawl. I'm almost finished! Just another three more hours of work, I think.

I love you, sister! May God bless and keep you each day!

Naomi

Hannah said...

Naomi, sorry to hear about the quilt. I bet the shawl will be beautiful though. You'll have to tell me more about it in our next email. Sorry I've gotten so bad about writing lately. I'm going grocery shopping with Mom today, and then she wants to work on my dress more when we get home. I wanted to write you today, but I think it's going to be yet another BUSY day. Tomorrow things will be less hectic. I'll try to write you then, ok? =)

Love you, sister!

Hannah

Alisah said...

Cool! I can't wait to see the finished product! I'm Glad you were able to get the machine fixed!

Alisah

Anonymous said...

That is a funny line about the baptist way... Free. LOL, I've never heard it but that is certainly how I operate anyways. Is this still the practice dress? If not the green ribbon does coordinate real well.

Hannah said...

No, Vanessa, this is the real dress I'm working on now! I know. I really like the green ribbon too! =)