Marie Grace Designs

Big news!!

2012-01-26T09:29:12-05:00

I know, I know. If blog neglect were a crime punishable by law I'd be in big trouble.

But I've been busy. Really busy!

At least I finally get to tell you about one of the projects that's been keeping me so busy:

I've teamed up with Juniper Moon Farm and have designed a whole slew of patterns to go with one of their lovely new yarn lines Sabine.

I was so flattered when Susan Gibbs asked me to work with her on this project. It also meant a change from my normal focus on kids designs as all of the patterns for Sabine are for adult women. It was a nice challenge and great experience working with a whole team of people.

So why not have a seat with your morning cuppa and head over to see the preview of the whole collection and some more details at Juniper Moon!

A few things...

2011-12-19T14:27:23-05:00

I'm gonna guess that quite a few other people are in the same boat as I am... staring down the last few days before the big day and wondering where the month of December went. If you are one of the sane people who are sitting 'round with your feet up admiring your sparkly tree with a cuppa somethin' somethin' in your hand well then, my hats off to ya.

So here's my poor excuse for a blog post... basically a collective "here's what's up" list:

~ We're all sharing a cold. Bubba was miserable, which means I lost a lot of sleep and just about the time he started feeling better I started feeling worse. Motherhood. Not for the faint of heart.

~ I took my sick self and that somewhat better baby into town today and got the little mite's hair cut for the first time. Now he looks less like a baby and more like wee little boy. Boohoo. See...

~ I wanted to do a before and after sort of photo set up with the haircut but when I looked at the before photos I realized he was sport'in a big ole booger (see above) so decided to just give ya the after shot. You're welcome.

~ Tater's holiday dress will not be a holiday dress. It will be a sometime-after-the-holiday dress. Once I pleated the corduroy I realized I hated the way it looked. I'll be using the corduroy for something else and picking up some linen for a re-do. I figure it should be a nice project to fiddle with in that lull between the big day and the new year while the kids are all living off cookies and eggnog.

~ The big wooden project that needs to be done for the big day... wait for it... isn't done yet! Which means I'm spending late nights on the cold concrete basement floor in an effort to make holiday magic.

~ Bubba's Aran-ish sweater is still sitting here waiting for sleeves. I'm determined to get it finished up so he'll have it to wear for the rest of the winter. Part of the dilemma is that I'm undecided on the sort of sleeve/shoulder I want to do. I'm seriously considering epaulet shoulders otherwise known as "saddle shoulders as you go from the bottom up". Could be clever. Could be a disaster. I'll let ya know.

~ I'm finishing up a BIG knitting project that I should be able to tell you all about really soon. I've been sitting on this one for months!

~ For no reason whatsoever in amongst all this other stuff I began to knit a sock. Weird huh?

~ This is probably the last you'll hear from me until after the holiday. I have a ton of stuff to do and am still convinced I can get it all done in time. Must be the cold medicine.

~ Like so many other crafty bloggers I'll be back after the holiday with the rundown of all the secret holiday knitting/sewing/crafting I've been doing.

A very, very happy holiday to you all no matter what you celebrate!

Eat some sweets! Enjoy your family and friends! Stay warm and stay safe!

Sunday's Sewing?

2011-11-28T09:52:07-05:00

Well, it would seem I have a bit of a quandary when it comes to showing Sunday's sewing on Monday. See, this time of year a good bit of what I'm sewing on Sunday is gift sewing and I happen to know that certain people who are to receive those gifts read this blog. So...

no peeking for you!

So how about a quick run down of the last few days instead, a very busy few days...

This kid turned 8 and we had cake...

Then there was turkey.

Then there were friends with more turkey.

Then there was leftover turkey (pot pie!).

Then this kid who has been walking all over my house on his fat little legs...

he turned 1!

Yay!!!...

So we had more cake...

If you're keeping track that's 2 turkeys and 2 cakes.

And in between everything there was some sewing and some knitting and some editing and some online shopping and some movie watching and like 7 loads of laundry and crazy amounts of baking and there's this thing in the basement that Mac Daddy and I have been working on that I'll explain some other day...

And then I got this crazy idea to try to make an English Smock into a corduroy holiday dress for Tater because... well... I just want to see if I can.

So that's what I've been up to.

So... who else is stuffed with turkey and all wound up about holiday crafting?

O&S After School and how to not be professional...

2011-11-18T10:46:30-05:00

Its no big secret that I'm a huge fan of the Oliver and S sewing patterns. I pretty much stalked O&S on Twitter just waiting for the new fall patterns to be released a few weeks ago because I wanted this pattern. Here's our first go-round with the O&S After School Shirt and Pants:

As always, the instructions are clear, the details divine, and the fit perfect. I chose a baby wale corduroy for the pants, gawd how I love corduroy. Tater picked the fabric for the shirt out of my stash, just a piece of leftover calico.

The little off set button placket is just enough to be different without being weird and it all comes together nicely. That's the thing about O&S patterns... they all come together like a puzzle and by that I mean no matter how many little facings, pockets, and details there may be they all just click together perfectly like the pieces of a puzzle.

I will say that if you tend to not take copying all the little notches and marks on your pattern pieces seriously you may run into some trouble. This little shirt is easy to make but relies heavily on making sure you are using the right piece at the right time. Checking for the single and double notches will keep the yoke and lining pieces all where they need to be. Liesl has taken the time to make sure everything will match up easily so you should take the time to mark everything. If ya get a little lazy and don't take care transferring your markings you just may find yourself flipping lining and yoke pieces around a mazzion times while swearing to yourself. Not that I would do such a thing, ahem.

This is definitely going on the pile of tried and true O&S patterns and will be used again.

The general shape and construction of this pull on shirt has already sparked some ideas for a little customization. I'm picturing the O&S Indian Summer fabric from the new fabric line with perhaps just a wee bit of smocking under that buttoned yoke and maybe just a little ruffle somewhere.

The pants fit just the way I like... not saggy in the rump, not too wide in the leg, and the length is just right. I often have a hard time with pants patterns for Tater as she's got a slight build and so many times the pants are baggy but these are great without needing to adjust the pattern at all. The little patch detail at the lower pants leg is really sweet and Tater just loves it.

Bubba seems to like it too!

Okay, that's a lie. 6 seconds after I took this picture he was yanking on her pants, her hair, and everything else he could reach because he wanted up on the bench. Also, those are Tater's dirty socks under the bench.

Of course he succeeded and was quite pleased with himself.

Which is my flimsy segue for the second part of this post.

I've never been very good at being professional. I try to fake it but really I'm just not that good. Some designers/bloggers/crafters have great studios with lots of space and light and they're all organized and scheduled and whatever. Truth is, I tend to blog by the seat of my pants, which explains the dead silence here so often, and photo shoots that need to take place in the house generally require at least a little furniture moving.

Most of our walls are covered in book shelves and kids art projects so finding a clean backdrop is nearly impossible. My "studio" is a corner of the living room and right now there is a Bubba-proof baby gate panel stretched around the back of it to keep him from playing with all the electrical cords I have tangled up back there (laptop, camera charger, phone, sewing machine, full spectrum light, blah, blah).

We've gotten pretty creative from time to time but most often its the sofa that gets moved away from the wall in the living room and then we drag some other piece of furniture in temporarily. Today it was the bench from the hall that normally has everybody's boots lined up under it. Don't even ask me how much dried mud I found when I moved the bench. As soon as I'm done here I need to go clean the floor.

For some reason moving furniture always gets the kids all wound up. While I was dropping the O&S pictures from the camera to my laptop in my "studio" this is what was going on behind me. As soon as the pictures were off the camera I stealthily turned in my chair, just a little, and manged to capture a little bit of the action...

Sunday's sewing... on Wednesday...

2011-11-16T10:10:26-05:00

Well, its not really Sunday's sewing. Some of it is but really its more like a little some-here-some-there sewing. By that I mean in-between-baking-bread-and-chasing-a-semi-walking-baby sewing... after-bedtime and before-breakfast sewing... and a little maybe-he'll-nap-for-more-than-20-minutes sewing.

Whatever you'd like to call it those jackets are done!

Bubba's jacket fabric:

Doohicky Design's Fox Trails for Riley Blake.

I LOVE this fabric. It. Is. So CUTE!

Just perfect for my trail hiking, leaf crinkling, backpack riding little man. I have a nice chunk of the main fabric left yet so I'm sure it will get worked into another project very soon.

Tater's jacket fabric:

The Quilted Fish's Sugar and Spice for Riley Blake.

This is a much bolder print than I would normally choose but Tater really wanted it and it suits here quite well.

My favorite place for online fabric shopping is Fabricworm. Awesome fabrics, all the latest prints, fat shipping, and good sales! And if you're anything like me and you agonize over matching up fabrics for projects there are fantastic fabric bundles for you to choose from.

Pattern: Favorite Things The Little Hooded Jacket

I have had this pattern for years and used it over and over again. There's a stack of little jackets Tater has outgrown packed in a box downstairs. One thing I really love about Favorite Things patterns is the awesome size range. Here it is years later and I'm still able to use the same pattern for Tater and now for Bubba too.

Like I've done in the past I quilted all the outer jacket pieces before assembling and so end up with a warm, squishy, quilted jacket. Its not difficult to do but does add a lot of time to the project though I figure it is totally worth it. Another option I've done before is to make the jacket and the ling from flannel so its still really warm but doesn't need quilted.

I do wish I had paid a bit more attention to the print as I was cutting pieces for Tater's jacket as it would have been relatively easy to mirror the front sides with the print. I'm not real thrilled with that off center-chopped in half flower at the front zipper.

Speaking of zippers... I know lots of sewists are nervous about zippers but this one is truly really easy. It is simply sandwiched in between the jacket and lining and sewn right into the seam from top to bottom.

The pattern itself is clearly written and easy... only 1 sheet of instructions for the whole thing and that even includes little drawn diagrams. All the little details like flat piping, which you make yourself, add so much charm to a simple little jacket without adding a bunch of frustration.

And here's a real-life story for you...

See that sweet little fox up there on that sweet little jacket? He's so cute. Unlike the real-life fox that has been stalking around here. That one is mangy, has apparently damaged a back leg, and has been seen wandering around in broad daylight right out in the open. He was also holed up in the neighbor's barn for a while. We hadn't seen him in a few days and had hoped someone had seen him and put him out of his misery but yesterday around lunch time the kids and I saw him out the back window as he limped his way across our back yard. With Bubba on my hip I wasn't really in the position to take action so I sent him on his way with a few stomps on the back deck and a few choice words. I really hope somebody else deals with him so I don't have to.

Life is so ironic, no?