Retro Halter Top

I found some old patterns of mine...  circa late 60's early 70's.  Particularly a halter top I made and wore a lot!  If I find a picture of me wearing it, I'll scan it and post it.  It was one of my favs.

Here's the pattern:  Look $1.50!  (and a 31 1/2" bust??)

I decided to use my new pack of Rowan "Water" from Kaffee Fassett Collective fat quarters to make one up for my daughter, who turns 30 at the end of this month (but can still rock the halter top).  Happy Birthday Raine!

I made this top reversible (similar to the top I made for my granddaughter ~with the same green gingham fabric) and I STILL have 3 yards of gingham left...  

I used to make gingham napkins for the barbecue restaurant up the street (many moons ago) and I'm pretty sure this gingham is left over from then.  I just may make a set of napkins and who knows what else out of the rest.  But I like the gingham as a facing on this top, the greens compliment each other well.

It was fun was going down memory lane... my early days at sewing (and lets face it... when I could still rock a halter top!) and trying to remember what my sewing experiences were like back then.  I have to admit, using a 5/8" seam allowance seems a bit strange after sewing so many scant 1/4" seams while quilting.  

I still remember the fabric... a beautiful red woven print with lots of accent colors.  I made a peasant mini dress out of the same fabric too.  

But I don't much remember what I used to turn the ties right side out back then (maybe a safety pin?).  I do know my sewing techniques have come a long way since then.

And while the gingham is old school... and classic; the Rowan "Water" from Kaffee Fassett Collective is absolutely beautiful and fresh..

 I also made a mug rug out of my Kona white and more of the Rowan "Water"  selection.  I sandwiched it with some Insul-Bright, and did some channel quilting on the squares.  And I finished it off by binding it with bias strips I cut from the left-over scraps.  This was my first attempt at quilting and binding for quite a while.  While the block isn't technically perfect, I like it.  And I hope my daughter does.. :D

Three different prints from the "Water" collection were used for the top & the binding

Backing fabric...more from the "Water" collection

If it's the first week in June, it must be... da BOM

Here are my renditions of the two (BOM)blocks for June:  The Greek Cross, and the Octagon.  

This month it was all about getting my scant 1/4" down to a science. I measured my seams before hand this time, and pinned so all the seams matched perfectly.  I think I missed one seam, but didn't notice until I was examining the photos. 

[Add in note here: Amy Burg (of Craftsy's BOM) mentioned that half-square triangles on the bias are forgiving, so if your seams didn't match up just so, you could remove just the stitches around that seam and re-position.  So I tried it.  And it works!  My seams all match now on the Greek Cross.  I may have to check out my other blocks for mismatched seams now too.]

So it's been a skill lesson for me.  My blocks came in right at 12-1/2" with only minor trimming to neaten up the edges.  Hooray!

Greek Cross

The black Kona is my background fabric; the floral fabric is from my stash.

The green chevron was my son Ricky's pick, from the Boho Fat Quarter Bundle by Free Spirit.  I bought it at the start of the BOM,  just in case my stash wasn't cutting it  I freaked out and decided to totally copy-cat everything Amy did.  I love the chevron.

Octagon Block

Kona in black for the background and one fat quarter of batik.  Who doesn't love batik?  I have received more feedback on this block...(and every other block that has batik in it).  I think it's that 'glow factor' batik has.

I took daylight pics today ~ They turned out much better.

~*~

In other news, our family got to celebrate Raine's 30th birthday last Memorial Day weekend, because her wonderful hubby surprised her with plane tickets home to be with all of us!


We had a wonderful time with nearly all the family together, and a bunch of Raine & Ryans' friends.  The volleyball net was set up in the park, and I even got in a volleyball game or two!  There was swimming, barbecue,  celebratory shots, and lots of love and laughter!  It was fun! 

When I gave the halter top to my daughter for her birthday, I told her that I made a similar halter for myself 40 years ago (or more) from the very same pattern, and she loved it, and Ryan loved it.  He actually liked the gingham side best...   

I also gave her the Mug-rug to the Stars and gave Ryan a mug-rug I made for him with two bow-tie blocks... Ryan rocks bow ties (a lot) as you can see from their wedding pic above.  


Hopefully they will be sending me pix as we didn't have time to take one of Ryan's mug-rug, or see the halter top on Raine.   

My current WIP list include: 

• applying hook & loop tape to my many coffee cozies I made weeks ago;
• tweaking my serger so I can finish the lettuce edging on some tank tops I made for the g-baby girls; 
• and welder's caps.  Welder's caps?  Well I have a friend who says there is a great need for welder's caps, in all kinds of fabrics... (that appealed to me) so I'm going to see if I can put some together for him and hopefully they'll fit.  
• Oh, and I have some baby bibs I've been making over the years that are extra generous in size... just need to work on completing the last step.. the closures around the back side.  I'll post pics later on those.

I am still waiting to hear that my sewing machine is ready to be picked up...fortunately my old Pfaff 1471 has a new shiny power cord, and I'm back in business.  

Yesterday I stitched the two blocks for Crafty's Block of the Month-BOM... on the heels of learning that Amy Gibson, our instructor, unexpectedly found out she's expecting twin boys!  [Amy's blog: Stitchery Dickory Dock]   So there is much more excitement buzzing around her news than the blocks, (even though the blocks are fantastic) ... 

I know the range of emotions she must be going through right now.  I've been there ~done that, have the t-shirt (and the gray hair) to show for raising twin boys!  I'm smiling... but logistically you have just run out of hands, simple things instantly become monumental (try grocery shopping, feeding and diapering, laundry, and just holding your children's hands for instance!) and as my twins got a wee bit older... omg what one of those boys didn't think of, the other did!  And still do. But what a crazy wonderful experience it's been.

  

My kids... 23 years ago!
Raelani, Raine, Robin
RJ & Ricky (the twins)

RJ & Ricky  "the twins" today

Four generations of smiling faces at Raine & Ryan's wedding last summer.
Something to be said when your immediate family requires wide angle lens!

I wish Amy and Russ (and their two darling girls) all the joy, health & happiness these two additions could possibly bring!

~*~

Hope your day and weekend have been sew awesome!  

Flip-Flop Market Skirt

I promised to post the market skirt I finished over the weekend.  I should put "finished" in quotes... I think I'm going to add another layer of ruffles... somehow this one seems a bit shorter than I imagine my little granddaughter would be wearing now.  Hopefully I'll be able to see her (and her parents) soon...  I miss them oodles.

I'm not sure if I explained before... but I've been using up some pretty ancient stash to make these market skirts.  I love this light blue fabric, and I've been using it up.  However, there was a spot or two on the cuts for this market skirt, and I thought it wouldn't show after I got it together.  Wrong.  So I thought about pockets for a minute, and I remembered seeing some cute outfits with flip flops on the bottom of them, like a border.  I decided to give that a shot.  My son drew a flip flop shape for me, and I proceeded to cut out the shapes with my scallop shears...

I stacked the print and the blue solid, and basted the shapes onto the skirt with a machine basting stitch.  Next was outlining the shape with yellow embroidery thread, using my machine's blanket stitch (it could have been any stitch) to give the flop some shape.


Next was the fun part..  making the toe sling (or whatever you call the part that goes between the toes).


I have an assortment of trims I picked up at a sale..with the g-baby girls in mind, and one was blue sequins.  Normally I "save" this for some undetermined occasion and never use it... hence my stash!  This time I brought out the 'bling'.  I could have just stitched it down, but being playful with it paid off.

This is the length of trim I was working with.
I centered the trim across the foot, where I thought the toe-piece should go.

I used the button stitch on my machine (a zig-zag stitch set a zero length works too) and
 placed a straight pin over the top of my presser foot to sort of create
a 'shank' where the toe piece would be.

Here is a closer view of what I mean.

another view

After that, I removed the basting stitch and added another row of blanket stitches (this time in blue) to give the flip-flop
a little more ump and secure the outside ends of the sequin trim.

I AM seriously considering adding another ruffle to the bottom of this skirt.  I'm out of the cute yellow and blue fabric, I may have enough of the blue for another ruffle for the bottom... maybe I'll add some more bling... (or should I save the trim for something else???)  heh heh

UPDATE:  I did.. I did add another ruffle in co-coordinating fabric.