Dress Renovation! Plus a Sweet Fabric Find

 Hello all,

Thank you so very much for stopping by the blog today! 

I have discovered a fun way to use my creative sewing energy. I have begun to rescue clothing items I've sewn that were uncomfortable or dissatisfying in some way, and give them a second life. 

My first renovation project was this pink dress. I probably made it 1-2 years ago, and it needed some help. The idea of hydrangea fabric paired with eyelet deserved a second try! 

What was wrong with the dress:

The collar was crooked. 

The waistband was crooked.

The sleeves weren't crooked, but I didn't care for them.

What I changed on the dress:

I replaced the collar with a simple facing. Another time I might attempt a sewn-in collar. I had better success with a detachable collar, like the sailor collar in my beach dress post.

I re-did the waistband. I unpicked it and re-used the material to upgrade it.

I replaced the sleeves with fun, eyelet cap sleeves. 

I replaced the ties in the back with a strip of elastic.

I apologize for the poor quality for a few of my photos!

The back

After doing this dress renovation, I think I'll keep going with some of the other dresses in my shelf. There are a lot of them waiting for me :)

Before I end this post, I wanted to show you some new fabric I found at Joanns...I intend to turn it into a cute summertime garment!

Isn't that a gorgeous print?

to God be the glory,

Miss Humphrey

An exciting end to my project...

 Hello all,

I have another circle dress to show you! If you remember, I showed a sneak peak of the fabric in this post, and I finally got around to sewing it up recently. 

It was a project I worked on for awhile, and I would say it's definitely success from a failure...this free-hand/homemade pattern dress was NOT working out for awhile! A change in design and some prayers later I am really happy with it :) 

I used the sash and sailor's collar in this photo from this dress.

The bodice is lined.

I do apologize for the finger-printed mirror;) 

My grandma says that ruffles are my signature. Maybe they are! I love a good bit of eyelet lace!

This is another no-zipper dress. Unlike the earlier version of this dress that I was working on, it is very comfortable and easy to get on!

The 2/3 circle skirt was cut too big for this particular bodice, but a few carefully placed pleats worked well to fix that problem. Free-hand sewing can be very frustrating...and very rewarding!

I did a simple puffed sleeve, gathered at the bottom by elastic.

to God be the glory,

Miss Humphrey

How About Some Beach?

 Hello all, 

I apologize for this post being late!

I decided to show you my beach dress this time. I made it free-hand last year, and I like the end result.

Makes me want to do some beach dresses in different colors!

I'd also like to experiment with a different collar design.

 

The collar is separate from the dress. It is attached by a hook-and-eye in the front of the bodice. I like that I can take it off when I want to wash the dress.

I also like that the collar covers my zipper closure.

In case you are curious about the sleeves

 

 

What have you been creating recently?

 

to God be the glory,

 Miss Humphrey

 

The Easiest Circle Skirt I've Ever Made....

 Hello all,

Happy May! I thought I'd show you a neat project I did recently. How would you like to see a skirt made out of a tablecloth??

My neighbor bought the tablecloth and gave it to me along with the idea to make it into a skirt. 

I cut a hole in the middle of the tablecloth, and a straight line down to the hem to make a seam; that way I could insert an invisible zipper. My favorite part of a tablecloth circle skirt is the fact that it is pre-hemmed!

There was not enough material left for a waistband...but similar fabric was to be found in my mother's stash. I did a narrow waistband, inserted the zipper, and I was DONE!

With a belt

Isn't this cheery fabric?

Hopefully you enjoyed this post...keep checking back! 

Thanks so much for visiting the blog...I really appreciate your views and comments.

to God be the glory,

Miss Humphrey

A Spring Scripture Tea...

 Hello all,

Well, I had a busy weekend! How would you like a tea party report?

I had planned to do a tea for ladies at our congregation back in January.  Tea foods, fellowship, and the sharing of Scripture was the plan. 2:00 pm on April 22nd seemed so far off in the future...Ha! It snuck up on me, and two weeks ahead of time I started doing some serious planning. My mother jumped on board and we drew out ideas for tables...schemed about which people would enjoy sitting with who...and started shopping! In the week leading up to Saturday we did some cooking and crafting for the tea, and took a load of china/glassware with us to midweek Bible study. On Friday night my amiable eldest brother took me into town to set up tables and drop off the second load of stuff.

Saturday morning, my mother and I packed up the car (much easier said than done!!) and went to the Church building. Would you just look at how many supplies we thought we needed??

Note to self: Next time, take your grandmother's advice and have the tea party at home!

Things weren't going too bad. The tables were getting set, the food tucked away in the fridge. The morning was wearing away when we pulled out three tubs of silverware to sort through and find matching sets of forks, spoons and knives. 

BIG MISTAKE.

You know what? People don't even care about silverware that much! We should have forgotten about the silverware and started icing cakes and making salad.

That silverware (I won't blame us) caused our tea party to be 1/2 an hour late! And it could have been much worse. 

But the participants in the tea party were a lovely group of patient and enthusiastic women...I didn't hear anyone mention the late time! I did a fair share of the mentioning for them :)

At noon a friend from Tennessee who's on a trip to Oregon showed up, and we put her RIGHT to work. She was supposed to be kind of a guest of honor, and instead she spent hours and hours in the kitchen with us, doing whatever we needed! 

Speaking of buffets and tea, here was our printed schedule and menu:

One of our tables

(I apologize for the poor quality of the photo)

...The buffet being set up...

We shared our Scriptures after tea - the best part of the whole thing! and began on the arduous task of cleaning up (some of the guests were gracious enough to help!) We and our, ahem, *kitchen* guest of honor, were there until six o'clock putting everything back together. My amiable brother showed up again and took a load of supplies home, and we all retreated to the house on the hill to relax with our guest and her husband. 

We had 11 ladies come to Afternoon Tea. They all loved it and took a favor home. We included the plants on the tables as part of their favor. 

We are still eating on the tea party food, and enjoying it, too! We made WAY TOO MUCH, which makes meals very easy now! 

Oh, and do you want to know how to get in your exercise? Have a tea party away from home! My mother logged in 2 MILES of walking while loading/unloading the car and working at the tea!!

Hopefully, this gives you some inspiration to maybe have a tea party of your own! Just...whatever you do, ASK FOR HELP and budget in LOTS of extra time for preparation! 

Hope you enjoyed this post!

to God be the glory,

Miss Humphrey

Crafty Projects and Party Favor Ideas

 Hello all,

I usually post clothing-related items on this blog, but I am in the midst of a very busy Monday and I thought I'd just show you some other crafty things I've been doing.

I'm preparing to host a tea party at Church this Saturday, and I am working on some of the non-food items currently...like décor and party favors!

My mother and I went to Joanns and picked out some pastel broadcloth for table runners. I am working on sewing those up.

My mother got these cute gift bag kits from Stampin' Up! recently...they're perfect to hold party favors!

I have yet to string ribbon through the holes in the top, but that is the plan.

We decorated clothespins using stickers from Dollar Tree,

and adhered strong magnets to the backs of the clothespins. Perfect fridge magnet clips!

The gift bags will be filled with two chocolates, a clothespin, and some notecards. 

(the backs)

*********************************************

I found some finger-kitting yarn on clearance at Joanns. I had to snatch it up...it's in one of my favorite colors!!

My oh-so-soft scarf.

Our neighbor taught us how to make hexagons with fabric (English paper piecing). I'd like to make a quilt with these!

They are made by gathering a fabric hexagon around a smaller paper hexagon. The stiff, glossy paper from junk mail advertisements works well for this. Then you hand-sew over your gathers to secure them. You take the papers out once you're ready to use your hexagons in a project. Starching them first before you take the papers out is a good idea.

(the back)

Aren't those colors beautiful!?

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