My Copy Cat Outfit

It has been one of those days when everything (and I mean everything) goes just a smidgen off.  I wanted to show the skirt and top that I had purchased at FIDM a couple of weeks ago.  But I couldn't rotate the photo for the top, so please just imagine the adult version. It was a tube top with allowances for the breast.

The Scholarship store had a rack outside and on the rack were items that were imperfect at two (2) for a dollar.  Being a person that  has a very hard time passing up a bargin I stopped.  There were about 15 skirts that looked just like the one above but much, much longer and the top was (I think) a cutoff dress.  The bottom of the green tube top was just whacked off with big scissors.  The top of the skirt was gathered with elastic.  Just like the tube top.  I really like the color combination, so I purchased it with the intention of making my granddaughter Lucy a Anthropologie look alike.  I thought that would only be an afternoon of work.

The top had to be completer dis-assembled.  I could not cut the fabric because I needed all the pieces to reassemble in the mode that provided her with capped sleeves.  I always enjoy climbing mountains and it took about three days to finish.

I hope that she will enjoy all the colors.

Oh, by the way I had help from Chester.  I couldn't persuade him to go away!

Homage to Georgia O'Keefe

My First Successful Amaryllis.   Happy Valentine's Day.

Doggies Everywhere

My "Puff Chair"

I like the comfort of my "Puff Chair".  It is very comfortable.  But, after about two years I get tired of the fabric and the fabric gets tired of me (it shows wear).   Now here is the hard part, finding the right fabric to cover the original cushions.  I bought this fabric several years ago, I bought about two other fabrics for the same purpose also.  I bought fabric for my future "re-fabricing". Then I brought it home and spread it on the chair and leave it there for about a day.  Fortunately I get to purchase these choices at FIDM because each choice has to be 3 yards of 60" wide fabric.  It gets to be pricey if I purchased anywhere else.

This is the fabric that won the contest.  It is a cotton with a diagonal thread running through every 1/4".  It doesn't hold a wrinkle and is very comfortable.  The other fabrics will go to GoodWill.  It is hard to hold onto a large bulk of fabric.

I sewed the new fabric onto the original cushion cover.  I also put an additional piece of foam into to two parts of the chair.


I made the foot stool first.  I made it first to see if I liked the finished looks.  I did enjoy how it looked and then tackled the chair.

Making the cover is a small job compared to stuffing the cushion into the cover.  The last time I did this it took me about 1 hour to stuff the foam into the cushion.  I was sweating and calling to the sewing gods to help me.  I won a favor because when I made a workout cushion for a friend, the man at the shop told me of a trick.  I asked him for a tip and he told me to cover the foam in a plastic bag.  Well, I used the large garbage bag and the cushions went in so much faster.


P.S.  The cats took ownership of the chair before I could even try it out!

The Challenge of an Apron

Who would have thought that an apron could be so hard to make?  I didn't when a friend said that she would like me to make her an apron.  I thought, hey, a couple of hours at the most.  This woman likes her kitchen decorated with fruit.  So, I asked her if she wanted the apron with fruit.  Of course, she said yes. I was not going out to look for fruit fabric.  What was the likelihood of finding this "fruit" fabric except by chance.  I went to my favorite store, ebay!  I found lots of fabric and this looked especially wonderful.  When I received the fabric I was very pleased, it was just what I wanted.  I was going to give it to her for Christmas.  But she is a "big bosomed" lady and I did not really know how to compensate for this.  The first time I tried it on her I found that it looked horrible.  It took me a while to get the idea for tucks in the front but now it looks lovely on her.  I was just going to take the bib off of it and give it to her with the waist band.  Now she is very happy with her "company" apron.