A crafty Birthday gift! Embroidered felt birds

A crafty blog post

Every once in a while I like to do some embroidery needle crafts. Garment sewing is my true love but I do like to just create! One area that I enjoy is doing some embroidery. I have a pillow that is an embroidery WIP for a couple of years now!! However, this time I turned to the birds!

 

My granddaughter just turned 6 and she really enjoys handmade items. She loves to know that someone is making something for her and doing it with their own hands. When I make her clothes she knows that I make them with love and she takes joy when she wears them. She sees many people in her family and school creating. This is something that is an important family value. I grew up that way, my daughter grew up that way and now my granddaughter is growing up that way. It is lovely!

Due to the pandemic the options were limited for birthday celebrations- we came up with the idea of a socially distant picnic with our good friend Liz in Grant Park. V loves getting together with friends of all ages and was so happy to be having a picnic in the city.

For her 6^th birthday I decided to create for her 6 little birds that she could play with and enjoy. I did a google search and found this book- Folk Embroidered Felt Birds by Corinne Lapierre. I purchased my book from Nancy’s Notions and it was as a kit with a pack of very nice wool felt. You can also purchase directly from Corrine Lapierre’s website in the UK or from Amazon.

The templates or patterns are located in the back of the book but you will need to make copies to cut them out or use tracing paper to cut them out since they are layered and on both sides of the page.

Song thrush made up in purples

Robin

Modified Goldfinch- i made him double sided and added a 'breast gusset' to make him fatter.

I made 6 of the 20 birds -   Song Thrush, Blue Tit, Robin, Goldfinch, Puffin and Dove. I made a few changes. For the single sided hanging birds, I made them double sided and added legs. The directions were all very clear and worked great except for the Puffin. There seems to be a pattern piece missing and the directions were not as clear on this one. I saved him for last and just sort of made up the missing parts as I went along. SO if you get this great little book just don’t start with the puffin!!

L-R Robin, Dove, Song Thrush, Goldfinch, Puffin and Blue Tit

Each bird probably took about 6-8 hours to complete from start to finish depending on how many pieces and how much embroidery was needed.

Such joy and happiness in her smile!

Victoria really enjoyed opening these lovely little birds and I certainly enjoyed making them! I think that I will have to make some for myself J

Do you enjoy other crafts? I’d love to hear about it!

Happy Sewing and Happy Crafting!

 

Metamorphic Reversible Dress review

Metamorphic Reversible Dress

I have had my eye on this cute dress from Sew Liberated for a while now. Something about it just struck me as being soft and lovely and comfortable! The reversible nature of the dress is also quite fun. I admit to have been being curious as to how they managed the technical construction of the reversibility.

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I purchased the pattern and the fabrics from Oak Fabrics, a local Chicago online retailer. The fabrics are both Ikat woven and so very soft and amazingly lovely to work with. Making this as a reversible dress meant that I really did not need to worry about lining.

I do want to talk a little bit about the actual pattern. I started with making a muslin of the pattern as is out of the box using my measurements to pick the size. The pattern is drafted well, all notches match and this went together just fine. I think with no darts and being meant as a layering garment that it worked out pretty well but not the fit that I like.  (unfortunately I did not take any pictures of this!!! And have already re-used part of it so not possible) I made the decision that I wanted to be able to wear this as a standalone summer dress and not as a layering piece and that the lack of bodice shaping would bug the heck out of me! The main block that they use is very different from my body. Instead of going through the process of completely changing the Sew liberated bodice I just used my own base darted bodice pattern.  My bodice uses double darts and when I laid out the pattern I made sure to place the darts between the rows of squares and the darts just disappear! I am pleased with how this turned out.

Can you find the double darts???

I used the same skirt pattern pieces and I used the directions that they provided for most parts- particularly the ‘reversible’ burrito portion. I know how to do this burrito method and I have used it in other areas but for some reason my mind just doesn’t want to hold it The directions included were nice to refer to and this is the first time I have done it for a sleeveless bodice.  It does require a bit of coaxing, tugging and pulling so taking into consideration the fabric type is important. If this was a more delicate fabric, I would have done it differently.

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I do want to point out that the line drawing that is included does NOT match the actual dress. So if you use the line drawing as a technical line drawing to evaluate the pattern then you will be disappointed. I did a google and Instagram search for images and to see how others have made the dress. The project photos from Sew Liberated are very accurate.

Line Drawing above and photo below from Sew Liberated web site
and are official pattern drawing and photo

The differences really have to do with the waist seam location, bodice length and the lower peek-a-boo area.  Yes, this is picky but it is misleading. The actual dress has a shaped waistline seam and is more of a raised waist. More similar to what I think of as a baby doll or a low empire.

I finished this dress just as Chicago was totally shut down from rioting and then I got sick. I was hoping to get photos out and about with the family but that did not happen! Now, I am just finishing up a couple weeks of isolation and finally feeling well again. So photos were taken on my balcony using my phone as a remote.

I really like the ‘square’ side of the dress. I like the contrasting patch pockets and the peekaboo at the bottom. And I think it just looks better! The zig zag stripey side is nice as well. However, it is not as pleasing to my eyes. The stripe does draw my eyes horizontally and nothing to break it up.

This dress is slightly shorter than what I usually make. I am actually showing my knees! Gasp! I did take some pictures of me sitting so that I could see how it looks. No flashing and the bodice stays in place nicely as well.

Both sides have pockets. What I am calling the front side- the black ikat squares have simple patch pockets. The reversible side, zig zag stripe has inseam pockets. I really think the reversibility is fun! It would definitely be quite useful when packing for vacation J

As you can see in these photos I made a reversible mask as well. In Chicago we are being told by the local government that if you leave the house you need to wear a mask. Not everyone complies but I do think it is important to be safe and to keep other people safe and matching masks are just fun!

I am really happy with this dress! I wanted a fun summer dress and it fits the bill perfectly. I really like the photos of people using the dress as a layering piece. It is not a look that I usually do, I always sort of feel sloppy when I try it. Maybe I need to keep trying or maybe it is not a look for me…. Something for me to think about and play with.

Next up on my sewing table and list is working on playing with some tunics based off the Style Arc Daisy Designer Tunic. I have already made 2 and now I am playing with other ideas. Having fun exploring this :)

Happy Sewing and Be safe!