Autumn Dresses

Happy Fall, everyone!! 

I'm loving the change in the air from summer to autumn!

 In the high desert there isn't much foliage that changes color in the autumn, but the light takes on a gentler hue and the air sweeping down the mountain is crisp and clean; something welcome after the smoke season.

Here was our view in early September:

No, this is not a volcano, much as it looked like one.

It's a thunderstorm perched above an active fire. Can you tell where one ends and the other begins? 

It's hard to see, but the location of the fire is right behind that pointy butte there.

Thankfully we escaped during some of the worst smoke and went north where it wasn't so bad.

But take a look now, in mid-September. I'm back home and lovin' the vivid colors, though it's a little hazy in the distance this morning. 

Alright, I will move onto something other than scenery. I know this is a sewing blog, but I enjoy sharing pictures of God's amazing world with you. I hope you enjoy looking at them.

I've sewn a couple of dresses for the start of the beautiful season.

The main fabric of the first is a beautiful, burgundy-brownish red. In more poetic words, it reminds me of an old-fashioned, faded, currant-wine colored print you'd see a woman wearing in the pioneer or Wild West days of the 1800s.

This fabric is pared with a floral-on-white fabric that narrowly misses coordinating, but works nicely in a dress in my opinion.

The other dress is just the opposite! I used the burgundy fabric as an accent for the flowers-on-white print.

Rather than fuss with darts for bodice shaping, I took in a little (tuck? knife pleat?) at the bottom of the bodice. It was a lot easier than figuring out darts, let me tell you!

I even managed to line it up with the pleat in the skirt.

This is the hem. I'm not used to embellishing my hems a lot, but I do like the effect of the lace trim above the ruffle. It makes it look more old-fashioned, in my opinion.

On to the white dress:

~Front~

~Back~

I did a yoked design for this dress. This is another instance where I didn't have to engineer darts, instead shaping the dress by gathering the bodice above the bust and attaching it to the front yoke.

Since we've been on the topic of autumn I might as well throw in another subject related to it. Decorating! My grandma took me to Hobby Lobby last month and I feasted my eyes on their aisles of autumn decor. Ooh, so beautiful...and some of it was quite irresistible...

...like these sweet light-up pumpkins. It's amazing how a little LED light or string of fairy lights in your décor piece transforms it to be something interesting, something you want to look at every time you enter the room. It also ups the cozy factor 100%!

I learned how to make the fabric pumpkins from my grandmother at Homeliving. Here's another of her pumpkin tutorials.

 

Hope you've enjoyed reading - if anyone out there is still following this sporadic blog. I hope, as always, to keep to a blogging schedule that is more sensible, but isn't that what I was hoping last post?

Until next time, onwards and upwards!

-Lillian

Prairie Tea

 Hello readers,

I want to thank you for continuing to visit my blog, even though my posting has become sporadic at times. I really appreciate your visits!

I am putting on Afternoon Tea for the ladies at my congregation near the end of this month. The theme is Prairie, and my mother and I had fun gathering old-fashioned and old-fashioned-looking items from our stashes for some of the décor. 

We both love the pioneer look, and the tarnished and worn style is "in," so we were in luck. Out came the faded and well-used quilts, the poor McGuffey's 5th reader who has been handled by five children in my family and looks none the better for it (but lots more prairie-ish!) and the ruffled dress and eyelet-trimmed petticoat from my closet. 

(Note: We bought this reprint brand new and now it looks like an authentic antique!)

A trunk, obviously being packed for a young schoolteacher who is migrating West, but who still clings to a bit of feminine refinement in spite of her destination being rough and dusty. The trunk and the dress form below will likely fill a corner of the room. 

This is a jumper I sewed awhile back, embellished with a blouse my mother made, fine lace and satiny-trim, and a prized possession from back when I put on my sunbonnet and made my brother "walk to school" with me so I could be like Laura and Mary:

my very own cameo pin.

This is the invitation, and the base for some of our colors and themes. That being said, since patchwork and calico are quite prairie, I have departed from my base colors...a lot...to use any fabric that looks soft and pretty and old fashioned and suits our purposes. 

I plan to overlap the smaller pieces and put them down the middle of the table for a table runner. I was also thinking of loosely braiding some larger yardages together and running them over the table runner. It will add another dimension to the table decorations and capture another side of the prairie look.

 For the party favor location, I'd like to take some wood slats and lay them across a side table, and add a bunting to the front of the table or a quilt angled across the top. The party favors can be arranged on top. Speaking of party favors, we haven't completely hashed out what the little "thank you" bags or boxes will hold (we haven't figured out whether they are bags or boxes either, haha) but I know I want them to hold a white-chocolate-orange-cream scone in them and a tea bag among other things.

 

Speaking of scones and tea...

So far, I have cut the scones out, and they will live happily in the freezer until we are ready to bake them the day of the tea. I also made the strawberry orange thumbprint cookies and am working on the lemon roulade. I am using a lot of recipes/ideas from Tea Time magazines - my favorite inspiration for affairs of tea and dainties.

to God be the glory,

Miss Humphrey

From Prairie Visions: The Life And Times Of Solomon Butcher

Time for a Christmas Dress!

 Hello all,

I'm finally back with a project that I'm excited to show you: a Christmas dress! 

This dress took portions of two days to make, and the sewing process was very smooth compared to many dresses I've wrestled with! 

I apologize for the lesser quality of some of my photos. I think I'll switch over to a new camera soon.

The dress features a long, full pleated skirt. 

I top-stitched ~4-5 inches down the front pleats so the pleats would not flare out in places they were not wanted :)

The sleeves turned out VERY puffy, so I put a tuck in each one to gather in some of the excess and shape the sleeve. I remember first noticing this style on a dress that my grandmother had made, and was inspired by it. 

Making a tuck like this is very easy - turn the sleeve inside out and sew the two layers (front and back) together, vertically, near the edge of the sleeve. 

When you turn the sleeve back right-side-out, you'll have a cute sleeve tuck. 

For the collar on this dress I was inspired by this blouse. I like the idea of a collar that is sewn into the shoulder seams instead of wrapping all the way around the back of the dress. Instead of the collar ending in a charming tie however, I pulled the ends down into the waistline.

To God be the glory, 

Miss Humphrey

Regency Easter Dress

 Hello all,

My mother and I went to Joanns last month. I think I was looking for quilt fabric, and she was going to make herself a formal skirt. We weren't looking for anything too expensive. 

But all because of Budding Romance, we ended up walking out with quite a bit of fabric. It was none of my fault, I assure you!! ;)

This regency-style jumper is made from another adapted E-pattern. My mother had used the pattern before and altered it to be a jumper, but this was my first time sewing it.

The fabric...Oh, it is sweet! So sweet, in fact, we had to have the whole bolt to make matching Easter dresses.

With another blouse

What did you all do for Easter? 

to God be the glory,

Miss Humphrey

Edwardian Skirt In Denim

Hello all,

My mother and I made matching jean skirts recently, using this Edwardian pattern. 

(A Note to the Interested: This is an E-pattern. My mother recommends finding someone who sells the paper pattern, unless you have a free evening to spend wrestling with your printer and the printed pattern, which has to be taped together.)

The original (unhemmed) Edwardian length of the skirt was beautiful...but impractical for the everyday use this skirt was destined for.

...The hemmed version...

The skirt is gored, with a narrow waistband. It has a placket in the back.

Finding one of my favorite blouses to match it was icing on the cake!

to God be the glory,

Miss Humphrey