Made By Rae

Liberty Tie Top

Rae — Wed, 16 May 2012 15:22:07 +0000

Another spring top today! Made with Liberty cotton lawn purchased at Purl and the same pattern as the Hello Pilgrim dress.

This one was completed just before leaving for New York a few weeks ago so I wore it over to Purl to buy some more Liberty as a reward. Not sure why I felt that making one top meant that I should buy enough fabric for *two* more tops, but I did. I get irrational around Liberty*, what can I say?

I shortened the dress pattern and left off the pockets and sleeve caps, using some bias tape to finish the armholes instead. The tie is longer and I like it this way. This shot is an attempt to show the shirring in the back, not sure how successful I was since this fabric seems to refuse to be photographed.

*There seem to be two schools of thought when it comes to Liberty fabric. The first group is comprised of persons who cannot comprehend what on earth could be so special about a fabric that you would want to pay $35-45/yd for it. I must admit that was pretty much my line of thinking a year ago (read this post for evidence). The second type of person is the one who has drunk the koolaid and fallen hook line and sinker for Liberty. This person does not see any reason NOT to buy as much Liberty as possible. The only reason this person does not buy more Liberty is because they have already taken out the second mortage on the house to finance the current stash, you get me?

I’m not quite to that point yet, but I have to admit, there is something about this fabric that is really amazing. First of all, it feels so silky soft. The patterns are so subtle and classic, but as you look at each one it’s like you see more and more. I guess I can’t really explain it. It’s craziness, I know.

It looks like May is just going to be a big party

Rae — Mon, 14 May 2012 22:08:45 +0000

I have a bunch of fun stuff on the radar this month that I’m excited about:

First up, I’m participating in the Vintage May series over on Skirt As Top at the end of this week (as in, better go write the post after this Rae!). There’s a fun Flickr pool for you to add your “vintage” creations and play along.

I’m also excited to be a judge (and a sponsor, too) for the Skirt Week competition over at Crafterhours this year, so if you’ve been wanting to make a skirt, either for yourself or your kid, go enter it in their awesome competition. More info here.

And I’ve decided it’s high time I see what all this Quilt Market hubbub is about. SO. I’m headed to Kansas City later this week for Spring 2012 International Quilt Market. I’m super excited. Every year in the past I’ve been a little bit (OK, so maybe ALOT) jealous of all of the Cool Kids who are going, talking about going, or posting about it after they come back. So this time I’m pumped that I get to go…and I really hope to meet some of you there, because that is WHY I leave my sewing room month after month, and get on a plane and travel all the heck over the place, for reals. Are you going to be there? Let me know!!!

If you’re near Ann Arbor and have a crafty business (or are thinking about starting one), I’ll be participating in a panel presentation as part of the Makerwork’s Crafting the Small Business series this summer, and registration runs through the end of May. It’s going to be really amazing, with the first part of the series focusing on vision for your business, going all the way through setting up shop and marketing. GOOD STUFF! Click for: Registration info and event information

Finally, I’ve alluded to teaching a few women’s clothing summer classes here in Ann Arbor, and we are still in the process of working out the details…but we’re CLOSE! If you would like to be informed about those classes as soon as it becomes available, sign up for the SE Michigan Crafter Meetup newsletter, which we’ll be sure to shamelessly spam (OK not really. But a little.) once we have a schedule and are ready to go.

Motherhood

Rae — Mon, 14 May 2012 19:54:27 +0000

I hope you all had a lovely weekend! For those of you who celebrated Mother’s Day yesterday, I hope it was lovely. I received this adorable little hand-painted birdhouse from Elliot along with a homemade card that slays me every time I look at it. To you maybe it is just a couple of stick figures. But it’s GOLD to me, y’know, PURE GOLD. You might also notice that he (or more likely, Mr Rae) had to tape it back together prior to delivery due to the fact that his stinker of a sister took a scissors to it while no one was looking. There were tears. It’s all better now though.

Speaking of tears. I can’t talk about Mother’s Day without mentioning two very dear friends of mine for whom motherhood has been especially difficult this year. One of them is a friend whose baby, little Max, passed away in utero just days before he was due to make his arrival last July. And another friend with two young children who doesn’t know if her breast cancer (that has now spread all over her body, brain, lungs…) will allow her to see her next mother’s day. It seems unlikely. My heart breaks every day for these two amazing, brave women and I try not to underestimate the power of my prayers.

I am so blessed with my two babes. I don’t think it’s wrong to feel so joyful while celebrating Mom’s day with my family and at the same time feel a sadness for my friends. Life is hard, man. I feel like I’ve learned that more this year than ever before. I am more and more aware, as I post here, of the fact that life is tough for many of you as well, maybe because of loss, or sickness or worry or whatever. I hope that this doesn’t sound cheesy, but I just want you to know that if yesterday was a Booger for you, that I was thinking about you as well. As much as a virtual-online-person can, which I personally think is alot.

OK! And now…back to my regularly scheduled (and usually happy if not a wee bit sarcastic and snarky) programming…

The dwarfs make another appearance

Rae — Thu, 10 May 2012 19:49:51 +0000

Edited: This post was originally entitled “Snow White makes another appearance,” in reference to the fabric used, but as Snow White doesn’t actually appear anywhere in this post, I changed the name.

This morning I decided it was time to take on another challenge. I made this Charlie Tunic with the leftover fabric from my Snow White top ages ago and she’s been refusing to wear it for weeks. There was chocolate involved. And as you can see I emerged victorious.

We are both wearing our tops today!!!

She occasionally, briefly, wears things I’ve sewn

Rae — Wed, 09 May 2012 19:41:28 +0000

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Do you ever accidentally put two fabrics together and it totally works? One day I set these two fabrics down in the same stack and it was meant to be. The grounds for both fabrics happen to match perfectly and so do the purples. I love how these look together. I’m not sure what I did right to get her to put the dress ON — there’s currently a backlog of about six other garments I’ve recently finished for her that she absolutely won’t wear (even when full-scale mini-marshmallow bribery is being attempted) — but she did and that’s what’s important. It was kind of her to indulge me on this one. Even if I had to chase her around with the camera (hence the sheer glee that follows in these photos).

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Pattern: Charlie Tunic, made into a dress with the add-on (both are available from my pattern page). It’s big on her, this is a 3T and the pattern runs a bit large and the girl runs a bit small.

Fabrics: Good Folks by Anna Maria Horner and Far Far Away II by Heather Ross, buttons found in this Etsy shop.

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Speaking of getting her to wear things that I’ve made, if you’re one of my pals on Twitter or Instagram (yes, yes, le sigh, I caved to Instagram…) you’ll have already seen that she now wears without complaint the pink bonnet previously loathed and hated. Oh, how I WISH I knew what on earth had changed!!?! She just decided one day that she’d wear it, and that was that. Ah the joys of having a 2 year old.

I know many of you are sensitive to my “Pinterest issues” (thank you!), so I thought I’d mention that all of these pictures of Clementine are all fine to pin if you’d like. Thanks everyone!