Featured Fabric Friday

It’s time for another Featured Fabric Friday!

Today I’d like to share with you this darling vintage piece.

This festive fabric came from a mill located in Hoboken NJ. I don’t know exactly how old the fabric is, but the mill closed in the 1940’s so we know it’s been around at least 70 years!

 Oh my!

If only I look that good in 50 years!

What can you do with it you may be wondering?

Why not pair it with another dear fabric and create a cheerful apron?

It's vintage fabric, so I had to throw in some vintage silk ribbon and buttons.  It was the right thing to do.

Don’t forget to add a sweet little ruffle hem cause it finishes things right up!

Happy Sewing

~Melisa & Cordelia

Featured Fabric Friday!

Welcome to a new segment I like to call Featured Fabric Friday.

On this segment, I will show you one of my favorite fabrics from Stitchology, and then share an idea or two of what YOU can do with the fabric.

Sound like fun?

You know it does!

So let’s get started!

On this Featured Fabric Friday I want to show you this amazing scrumptious rose wool boucle!

Delicious I say, and what a unique color for wool!

But what can you do with rose wool you ask?

Well, why not consider making a Baby Cakes cote for your favorite little girl?

My Favorite Part of the coat is the curved yoke on the front and back.

Or maybe it's the pleat in the back.

Then again, it might be the lining.

There are too many things to love about this coat!

Happy Sewing

~Melisa & Cordelia

Put a Bird On It Christmas Style

All my life I have dreamed of a bright pink Christmas tree. Only I could never justify spending the cash on something so tacky.

Until now.

 Now I have a fabric store that is just the perfect home for a bright pink tree, so I fulfilled my dreams and got the pink tree.

After setting it up and covering it with folded paper fashions, I decided it was a little naked, thus I made it a skirt.

 I don’t really go for the traditional Christmas designs, and when you have a pink tree you need to do something a little unexpected, so I covered my tree skirt in felt flowers and, you guessed it, birds.

 Cause birds make things purty.

 If you don’t believe me, watch this video.

I Do say, the bird skirt dresses the tree up nicely!

Now this is something I can proudly display in my store window!

Happy Decorating

~Melisa & Cordelia

Sugar Plum Apron

“You can never have too many aprons” is what I say.

Cause they are cute, easy to make, fun to wear and charming.

So I made myself a new apron for Christmas.

I call it The Sugar Plum Apron because it is sickly sweet with its peppermint candy looking motif and contrast ruffles.

I love this design because it has a high shaped waist that is flattering on my figure.

I wanted big pockets to hold lots of stuff so I added a little bit of elastic to the top edge to help hold things in and to give the pocket a ruffled appearance. I also added a contrast ruffle and binding because it was the right thing to do.

A contrast ruffle hem completes the look!

I was too lazy to sew ties, so I used some 1 ½” wide grosgrain ribbon instead, and I do say, it does the job nicely.

Now Cordelia and I are all prepared to cook Christmas dinner---if only we cooked---which we don’t.

Correction:

Now Cordelia and I are all prepared to awkwardly, but stylishly, linger around the kitchen while someone else cooks Christmas dinner!

Happy Cooking!

~Melisa & Cordelia



Little Black Dress Class

Confession:

I have been a little behind on making my class samples.

I know it’s hard to believe, but I, Melisa Hart, did not finish my sample for The Little Black Dress class until this weekend.

Woops.

The important thing is that it was finished a good 3 days before the class!

I decided to use the Colette Peony pattern for the class because it is a simple dress that is versatile and easily adapted to challenge more advanced students but simple enough for near beginners.

Personally, I have a handful of Little Black Dresses already, so I decided to use gray linen for my dress.

The dress has a sweet little boat neckline which is flattering to many figures.

It also has these cute little sleeves with just a little bit of gathering. The pattern also comes with an option for a longer sleeve which I love!

But the best part about the dress is that it includes inseam pockets that are great for stashing your keys or lipstick when you wear it to the office Holiday Party.

Yep, I’m officially a fan of this dress!

 I can’t wait to make it up in one of my Moda Cross-weve fabrics. Perhaps a red one? Mmmm. That will be a delicious little number!

If you want to make your very own Peony Dress stop by Stitchology to sign up for the class or to pick up your very own pattern.

Class times are Thursdays December 1st, 8th and 15th from 5:30 PM to 8:30 PM

Or

Friday’s December 2nd and 9th from 10AM to 3:30 PM.

We Can’t wait to see you there!

Happy Sewing!

~Melisa & Cordelia

Christmas Flower Skirt

I just got this great new skirt pattern in the store so I had to give it a try.

First I went shopping. It was tough to pick my fabrics, but I finally decided to go with a Christmas-ish theme.

Then, with just a little snip snip here and a stitch stitch there, I had 11 bias bound petals.

Throw in a few more snips and stitched and you end up with an adorable little girls skirt!

Adorable I say! Just look at those petals.

How can you NOT love this skirt?

You can’t.

I loved the skirt so much I wanted to put it on display but people get weird when you leave half-clad dress forms laying around the shop so I needed a top to go with it.

After a quick trip to target and a little finagling with ribbon I had this cute Christmas tree blouse.

Put them together and……..

...Wait...

...For...

...It...

 

Voila!

A cute and easy little holiday outfit!

How precious is that?

Sooo precious.

Go make one!

It’s fun.

And, if you need some help, I will be offering the petal skirt class in the New Year!

 Mark your calendars, you’re not gona wana miss this one!

Happy Sewing

~Melisa & Cordelia

How Crafty Girls get Organized

Lately I’ve been in great need of a bit of organization in my life. I’ve been offering so many classes at the new store that it proved tricky to keep track of what classes I was teaching when. So I made myself a calendar.

 A ginormous chalkboard calendar to hang over my check out counter.

To make the calendar I started with a piece of chalkboard cloth (you can find some at Stitchology if you are inclined to make a calendar of your own).

I spent some time with my super long ruler carefully marking straight lines. Then I came in with a little fabric glue and rick rack to make the spaces for the days.

Once the glue was all dried up I printed out the days of the week on paper and glued to the calendar.

 To finish up I printed out numbers and month titles and attached them to Velcro so I can move them around and switch them up each month.

And Voila, I have a super cool, super versatile, super big calendar to help keep me organized!  And the best part, each month all I have to do is wipe it clean with a damp cloth and start all over! 

Plus it's fun to decorate.

I herby crown myself Queen of the Crafts.

I mean that literally.

I plan on wearing this fabric crown I made daily.

You may call me Her Majesty if you wish, although it is not required.

Although it may help score you a discount on your Chalkboard Cloth

Happy Crafting

Melisa & Cordelia