Easter Dress take 2. The Class

A Few months back I made the Oliver + S Birthday Party Dress and I thought it was so cute I had to teach a class on how to make it.

I had 3 talented, beautiful and hardworking students show up for the class.

By the end of class they had each made there very own adorable little dress.

This is Cheryl’s.

Her grand daughter is going to go crazy for those pink glittery butterflies.

And here is Cara Lea’s.

Her daughter especially loves yellow, so we adjusted the pattern a bit and added the hem facing to the outside of the dress. Clever, I know!

And can you believe how fabulously her buttons match the fabric?

Happy Sewing

~Melisa & Cordelia

Easter Dress Take 1

Some people have little girls in their life. And sometimes those lucky people like to dress their little girls up in cute dresses for Easter. So I’ve decided to teach a series of classes on making beautiful Easter dresses like this.

This is the Oliver + S Birthday Party Dress, and I’m here to tell ya it’s darn tooting cute!

It’s got adorable little pleats down the front which are held in place with a little tabby and button detail. YUM!

And it buttons up the back. Cuteness.

But my all time favorite part about this dress in the hem facing. You can make it out of contrast fabric and it is such an easy way to make the inside of the dress as beautiful as the outside.

Now that’s an Easter dress!

Check back tomorrow and I’ll show you the dresses my talented students made!

Happy Sewing

~Melisa & Cordelia

Tie Fest

As you may have heard, The Brother Hart is getting hitched in a few days, and as the loving sister I am, I have agreed to do some sewing for the wedding.

Like for example I made all the men’s ties. That’s 7 ties people. Well actually 8 because I had one get terribly screwed up in the final stage and had to start all over again. But we won’t talk about that.

My tie making journey started by laying out and cutting the fabric. I got really lucky and found a stripped fabric that matches the wedding colors pretty darn well.

Then after a little stitch stitch here and a little steam there I had a tie!

I lined the inside with peach taffeta and used some rickrack for the little tie holder thing. Does anyone know the technical term for that thing? Do people actually use them? I don’t wear ties, nor do any of the men in my life with any regularity, so I’m a little unclear on the concept.

Confession time:

 

Hello, my name is Melisa Hart. I am a fashion designer and I don’t know how to tie a men’s tie.

Seriously, after several failed attempts I had to look up directions online. It didn’t help that Cordelia was barking orders at me the whole time.

“I said OVER, not UNDER! OVER!!”

Here they are all lined up.

 I accidentally have one with the stripes going the wrong way.  But that's OK, I'll give it to The Brother Hart and pretend I did that on purpose.  You know, to set him apart from the rest cause he is special.

 The one with the wider stripes at the bottom is intended for The Papa Hart.  That was totally intentional. 

  Aren’t they cute! I love em and think the men will be dashing.

Happy Tie Making

Melisa & Cordelia

THE STAMPINATOR....

I decided I NEEDED a stamp of my logo.

I can’t tell you exactly why, but I felt it was a necessity. I knew I would find tuns of uses for it.

So I got online and ordered one and it came in the mail the other day, and let me tell ya, it’s a thing of beauty.

Seriously.

Check out that smooth casing.

 

And it has a picture of the stamp on top.

 

I love this thing and I’ve been using it to stamp EVERYTHING!

Like the back of the note cards I’ve been making.

And fabric so I can make labels to sew into my garments.

And the box the stamp came in so I wont forget what it looks like.

 

And my junk mail cause I needed something to practice stampin' on.

 

And my arm.

So I can pretend I have a bad-ass, tough guy tattoo. Now all I need is the motorcycle and some leather pants to go with.

Happy Stamping,

~Melisa & Cordelia

In honor of Heather Bailey’s March of the tools, I have decided to share with you my all time favorite sewing machine foot. This sucker's gold and will save you a lot of pain and suffering, so you should listen up and then go treat yourself to your very own.

This is it.

 My all time, number one go to foot. For my fellow Bernina owners it’s a number 10 foot, and for the rest of you, it’s the Edge Stitch Foot.

What makes this foot so fabulous you may be wondering?

Well I’ll tell ya.

It has this great little guide built into it, which makes this foot extremely handy when you are trying to edge-stitch or do a decorative top-stitch, or sewing a patch pocket on, or for sewing binding.

See, all you have to do is line up the edge of the guide with your fabric, move the needle to the side a bit, let the guide lead the way, and, before you know it, you will have a beautifully sewn binding, or edge-stitch, or patch pocket.

So there you have it.

Try it, you’ll like it, and if you don’t feel free to send all complaints to Cordelia.

Happy Monday

~Melisa & Cordelia

The Knitinator

Haaaave you met Rosie?

“Hello Rosie,” says Cordelia.

“Hello Cordelia”, says Rosie.

Well, in case you haven’t met Rosie, you should probably fix that cause she is amazing.

“Why is Rosie amazing?” you may be asking yourself.

  I’ll tell ya why she is amazing.

 Rosie is amazing because, amongst other reasons, she knits.

And to be more specific she knitted me a super duper super beautiful super awesome sweater for my birthday.

That’s right, I have marvelously awesome friends with marvelously awesome knitting skills!

From now on, Rosie shall be known as,

Wait

For

It

The Knitinator!!!!!!

Lets take a closer look at my stellar sweater.

It has a zigzag pattern all around the center front, collar, hem and sleeve hems. Um beautiful!

But perhaps my most favorite part of the sweater?

These little bust darts.

How cute are they?

Super cute.

I love my sweater. As soon as I convince Cordelia to give it back I’m going to wear it every day. Every single day, for the rest of my life.  I don't care how stinky I may get, it'll be worth it! 

Thanks Rosie!!!!

Happy Birthdaying

~Melisa and Cordelia

Flower Girl Couture

As you may have heard, The Brother Hart is getting hitched and so I’ve been doing some sewing for the wedding.

Like for example, this weekend I made the flower girl dress.

 

Isn’t it cute?

I just know Lilly is going to have a ball twirling in this thing.

Especially once she puts her bright orange puffy petticoat on underneath.

Sister’s got some serious fashion sense.

I wanted a little detail in the bodice so I added a few pleats.

That’s why they call me the

Wait

For

 

It

The Pleatanator!!!!

I wanted to get a little more color into the dress so I used gray buttons down the back to match the sash.

And there you have it. A perfect little twirl dress for a perfect little flower girl! Yay!

Happy Twirling,

Melisa & Cordelia

March of the Tools.

Earlier today I was perusing my BFF Heather Bailey's blog and a few years back she started a blogging tradition she calls March of the Tools.
 What’s this you may ask?
Well, she spends the month of March sharing her favorite sewing, cooking, crafting, and playing tools, and she has asked fellow crafty bloggers to keep her company. I have decided to participate, so prepare yourself as I spend the month sharing some of my favorite tools!
Yay!


Today I'll kick off the month by sharing a Super Duper Top Secret Totally Confidential Sewing Tool.

I think.

I have given this much thought and have decided I can trust you with my secret.

I think.

I have decided that this sewing tool is so helpful and has saved me so much heartache that I should definitely share it with you, my wonderful readers.

I think.

So here we go.

Are you ready to see what the Super Duper Top Secret Totally Confidential Sewing Tool is?

Are you sure?

Can I trust you with my secret?

And can I be assured you will use this knowledge wisely?

You will?

Ok then, lets go!

Here it is:

That’s right, the Super Duper Top Secret Totally Confidential Sewing Tool is a glue stick.

Any old glue stick will do.

I use the cheep 10 for $1 ones I get at Pick n’Save.

You laugh.

Well check out some of the cool things you can do with your glue stick and see if you're still laughing.

It works well for basting ribbon and trim in place.

You just smear some glue on the trim,

Stick the trim where you want it,

Sew the trim in place and TaDa!

Everything is lined up where it should be.

I used my glue stick to make this card.

But they also work well on fabric too.

And, you don't have to worry about it gumming up your machine.
Trust me, I've asked the Bernia maintenance guys about this one.
If you still don't believe me, please call Ricardo at Ann Silva's. 
He'll tell ya.

If I’m going to use my machine to sew a button on I just smear a little glue onto the back of the button, place it where I want it and then sew away.

But you want to know my all time absolute favorite way to use the Super Duper Top Secret Totally Confidential Sewing Glue Stick?

It's fantastic for holding zippers in place as I sew them in.

Yep I use a glue stick every time.

True story.

 

So go get yourself some of these babies and see what other ways you can come up with to use them.

Happy Gluing,

~Melisa & Cordelia