How to make a ruffled pillow from an old dress:

(link and photo via Craftzine)

Yet another idea is to cut the dress into squares and make a quilt. In my case, a taffeta, shimmery bronze quilt. Might work with some other fabrics thrown in… And this would even make a great memento for the bride.

You can also alter the dress to be a cocktail dress, or something even less formal- but many fabrics used for bridesmaids dresses are a dead giveaway. If the fabric is super formal, how about a table runner or some dinner napkins?

If you’d rather skip all the work, there is also the Donate My Dress. They accept any formal gowns worn once (or so) to give to underprivileged girls who want to go to prom. Aww, so warm and fuzzy.

Three weddings in one week (including my own !!!)… it must be June! This was a gift I was able to finish in a few evenings. I seem to have a problem with colorwork- not that it’s particularly hard, mind you, just that my mind wanders and I’ll do the same two rows several times. Whoops. This pattern, however, is very easy, memorizes quickly, and produces beautiful results. It’s a simplified version of the traditional wedding ring quilting pattern of interlocking wedding rings. A functional memento- gotta love that!

I had a shopping spree at the MegaCraftBoxStore, and I purchased some Debbie Mumm Traditions in chocolate raspberry- a budget version of Noro Kureyon. It’s softer and has no knots. BUT it not only builds the typical wool-cheerio I loathe so much- it also unwinds and gathers as you knit (like another budget favorite, Homespun), which is AWFUL. I’m sure there’s some technical term for that I don’t know. Anyhow, the finished product is very soft and beautiful, but I’m wary of the yarn’s ability to hold up. Lesson: I may officially be a yarn snob.

THE PATTERN:

Materials: approx 150 of self-striping wool in worsted weight, size 8 straight needles, 2 yds decorative trim, 3/4 yd of coordinating fabric for pillowcase, 14′X14′ pillow insert, thread.

Wind 2/3 yarn into a ball- this is MC. Wind the rest into another- this is CC.

Using size 8 needles and MC, cast on 70 stitches.

Attach CC and begin working color chart as follows:

Repeat rows 1-10 SIX times. Bind off and weave in ends. Optional- with a H-hook, crochet a row of single crochet around outside of piece for a nice edge to sew into.

(The next part involves sewing, so if you’d rather skip that, you could use double the yarn, and make an all-yarn pillowcase.)

Since machine-sewing a knitted a piece is VERY ill-advised, begin by handstitching the decorative trim to the edges of knitted piece. I flipped a loop at each corner, like this:

At the end, do a few whip stitches to secure the two ends of the trim and prevent fraying.

Cut a 14′X28′ rectangle from fabric. Fold in half with right side out, and pin the knitted piece VERY CAREFULLY to fabric. You want to stretch it, but keep your lines straight and margins even. Ironing may help! Carefully sew a straight stitch through the center of each edge, skipping the corner loops. Then, fold fabric in half so knitting is inside, and pin around three edges. Using a tight zig-zag stitch, sew around outer edge, being careful again that your margins are even. Sew a few inches on the fourth side, but leave the rest unsewn. Flip the pillowcase inside out, insert pillow, and handstitch the unfinished seam. Use pins to fold an even line, and whip stitch the seam.

And there you have it!

So far, I love it. I’ve not had issues with stitches skipping or bobbins jamming that I’ve had with other machines. So add my beautifully working machine to my recent nesting instinct and you get… lots of curtains. My manual told me all I needed to know about thread tension and hemming techniques, and here are the fruits of my labors:

Morroccan Shower Curtain

I bought expensive fabric that I had to stretch across a pretty big space, so I decided to cut nesting shapes that I could sew into a tile pattern. I hemmed the edges, and added something new for me- grommets!

I made some peacock hooks by hot gluing a peacock feather to the back of each hook:

Using a paper template, I cut out 18 tiles of fabric, arranged them on the copper-colored fabric, and stitched around each edge. The fabric ended being perfect, because it was gathered around the stripes, which gave me room for error. Close-up of the Morrocco-themed tile:

Lesson here: it’s ok to splurge on expensive fabric for items you plan to use everyday.

Bedroom Curtain
This one was made from red silk dupioni. The fun part here was the beaded trim. Also considering adding some hooks on the back so that it can change into a valance.

Trim! Gives the curtain such a nice weight and drape:

Fun new tricks:
Blind hem tutorial
Sewing with trim

Here are my initial sketches… right away I was pretty sure I wanted to do some kind of cocktail dress- formal and girly.

My workstation:

The ruffles and skirt were the first thing to take shape. There was so much white fabric, I decided to do a circle skirt. Very easy- cut a circle, a waist-size hole at the top, then hem the edges.

The fabric I had for the top was a little more limited. I decided to do a halter top and use the highly cherished purple polka dot fabric for the ties on the top and skirt:

The rules stated that we should try to use as much of the fabric as possible. There was some of the white fabric left over and a bunch of scraps of lacy purple stuff. Inspired by my new Wabi Sabi book, I decided to sew the pieces exactly as they were as an overlay on the huge white skirt. The rest was made into some arm warmers, to complete the debutante sort of look I was going for:

AND THE FINISHED PRODUCT:

Things I learned:
1. I love this machine. It’s the best one I’ve gotten to work with which is good, since it is the only one that is actually mine.
2. I’m becoming a thread tension ninja. I never realized just how important this is to having fun instead of screaming expletives.
3. You can actually do quite a lot with somewhat unideal fabric. It’s all about figuring what works where.
4. Deadlines are my friend.

Photos by K are still being held hostage by his camera (i.e. we still can’t find the cord). Until it is found, enjoy these photos by Bruce Bollard! (link).

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