Janey Jumper

One of the classes I took while at Fabric Fest was lined garment construction taught by Lindsay Wilkes of The Cottage Mama.  The pattern is available here.  It has lots of options to make it customized.  For sake of time, we made the least complicated version in class.

This was a great introduction into garment sewing—no zippers—and the dress is absolutely darling.  My daughter has worn the dress every.single.day since I got home, which warms my mama heart!  When it’s cold out, the dress is cute paired with a cardigan, or you could accessorize with a scarf and fingerless gloves knitted by your aunt…either option looks great for bike riding in the driveway.

I can’t say enough about how much I learned in this class!  My daughter picked out fabric, which I brought with me to Las Vegas, and I finished the entire dress within the 3 hour class including taping together the pattern from the pdf download, cutting the pattern pieces, and sewing it all together. 

The red ribbon, rick-rack, and gingham button are all Riley Blake notions I picked up at one of the booths on the sales floor of Fabric Fest.  It took some time, but I was able to track down someone with red thread who graciously let me use it to sew on the ribbon trim so I could have it completely finished before I left Las Vegas.  Quilters are the nicest people!

Don’t forget to enter my Fabric Fest loot giveaway here.   Have a wonderful day!

Guess Where I Was! {plus a giveaway}

Last week I had a little adventure…

Yes, my sweet husband let me out of the house for four days of sewing bliss in Las Vegas!  Fabric Fest happened to coincide with my birthday, which is about the best present a quilter could ask for.

One of the highlights of the week was meeting Amy Smart of Diary of a Quilter.  Hers was one of the very first sewing blogs I ever followed and so for me it was like meeting a celebrity.  She taught a class called “Scraps, Scraps, Scraps!” which was so much fun and helpful.  I made a basket that just happened to match my outfit that day (totally by chance).

I enjoyed making it so much that I made one at home.  I changed the design a little by adding scrappy piecing, handles, and an embroidered label.

I just crazy pieced (is that even a term?) a bunch of scraps I had leftover from a quilt.  I cut dresden plates from all the big scraps to hopefully use one day for another quilt, and then I used all the little bits to make the basket.

I included some pink because I will be mailing this along with some other surprises to a friend.

And the generous folks over at Riley Blake sent me home with some goodies including a jelly roll for my birthday.  I thought I’d share some of the loot with a lucky reader.  If you are the winner you’ll be receiving this cute “emergency thread” set from Coats & Clark, a set of 10 Clover Wonder Clips, and an Ashbury Heights jelly roll.

Just leave a comment on this post to be entered.  I will ship anywhere, including international.  I will be doing a few more posts with some other photos and various projects I made at Fabric Fest, so I’ll be waiting to pick a winner until October 1st.  Good luck!