Tween Church Ready

mall-purchased dress, Nana made purse

There have been so many must-do projects in my sewing room that I’m way behind in clothing my granddaughters.  Ten-year-old Laurel has outgrown almost all of her church clothes so we shopped at the mall.

Clearly she is a “tween” now and  not our little girl.  The mall is definitely where it’s at for clothes now.  The good news is that it frees me up to sew for 19-month-old Vivian Rose.  I have had to search  hard to find the silver lining in that black cloud called “growing up.”  Whew, I tell myself!  I needed some help.

But as always, even with ready-to-wear,  some sewing was still required to pull the outfit together.  Before Laurel went to bed Saturday night, we added the white flower but she really wanted a purse for the outfit.

The lacy heart design is from the Let There Be Love collection by Kreations by Kara. The monogram font is from the 2007 Internet Embroidery Club alphabet by Martha Pullen.

She wanted one that would hold her inhaler, a handkerchief and hair brush.  A 6″ x  42″ scrap of heavy linen was lying on the cutting table  along with huge piles of other remnants from earlier projects.  I was lucky that was on top because it was just perfect for the body of the bag.  Had it been buried a little deeper, I might not have found it until the big Spring Sewing Room Clean Up.

Kreations by Kara‘s  heart and a simple monogram were quickly embroidered, a piece of iron-on batting was applied to the back of the linen an a scrap of white pima cotton was used for the lining.  The zipper and ribbon were in my stash so in no time at all, the purse was finished.  She loved it.

Then I moved on to her shoes.  The straps of her new sandals cut into the top of her foot but there wasn’t much extra length on the strap.   By picking out the stitches, repositioning the fold-over as far as possible, and resewing the strap together, the 1/2″ gained was enough to make her sandals comfortable.  I used a #100 needle and polyester thread.

I wish I had gotten a photo of her dressed and all ready for church.  But Sunday mornings are always so hectic that I don’t think about photos until after we have taken her home.  Maybe next time.

So why have I been so rushed?  In the past three weeks this is what I have done:

• 2 comforters for 5-year-old grandson Alastair’s new bunk beds (one double,one single
• 6 turn tube pillowcases to match the comforters
• a kindergarten rest mat
• new linen valances for the living room
• hem turned up 8″ on a very challenging curved skirt on a dress for Vivian Rose
• worked up three lettering designs for a fabulous young doctor/friend
• worked up design for Operation Christmas Child dish towels. Eight of these will  then be embroidered for the local director to  hand out to her team leaders.  Soon–I’ll get to them very soon.
• serged and removed 4.5″ from twelve (yes 12!!!!!)  132″ tablecloths for a friend who was hosting a huge birthday party for her sister
• embroidered a Christmas stocking

There must be more, but that’s all I can recall now.  So for now, I am FREE  AT LAST!!!  Off to cut out another Children’s Corner Jane for Vivian Rose.  Yeah!

So have you all been doing fun sewing or MUST sewing?