Bishop Babbling

I'm sure you've heard the saying "if walls could talk"...If the smocked bishop dress I recently completed could babble it would have a lot to say!  This bishop, if it could talk, would have many memories to share, or as my son says "makin' memories".  When I look at this dress, I don't just "see" the craftsmanship, I see all the places I worked on it to complete it or rather the memories made while it was being constructed.

 

Daisy Mae, the name of the dress, was actually born at Martha Pullen's School of Art Fashion back in July while I attended Gail Doane's workshop.  The smocking wasn't even started when I left the school, but construction tips and techniques had been thoroughly covered.

 

So the bishop babbling begins as I feverishly tried to get the holding row completed in a hotel room the night before a flight so that I could smock while flying. I was able to remove the bishop from my blocking board and pack the dress into my carry on bag and stick the board in my parked car before heading to the airport. (Yes, you can carry needles and "kid" scissors-I didn't want to risk losing my expensive embroidery scissors) As I smocked on board a flight to NYC I had many question my craft.  A good way to share the art of smocking! Needing a break from all the site seeing ,  I continued to work on the dress in my daughter's apartment in Chelsea while waiting for her to finish work.

If the bishop could babble, it would also tell you that it visited Tennessee, my childhood home, and sat and looked at Old Hickory Lake in Nashville at my in-laws  home.  Riding in the car was a common occurrence and could be pulled out of the sewing bag only if the road was straight and not bumpy!

 

Most often, though, the bishop would tell you if it could,  that most evenings were spent in the hands of a woman with a passion for smocking.  Curled up on the couch with coffee and a fire, my "babies" on one side and sewing bag within reach.

Once in my sewing studio for construction, I remember the rainy day I worked on the garment construction, hearing the rain pelt the roof.  Or the squirrels running across the roof on a beautiful, clear winter day.

 

 After completion, the bishop could babble about being the star of a recent trunk show at the American Sewing Guild in Macon, GA.  The babbling of this bishop will continue once it finds a home with a special little girl to live with.  Maybe a future client? Perhaps my own grandchild a few years down the road?  A special Easter dress for that precious someone?  A Sunday dress that will attend Bible class?

Do you get "emotionally attached" to your projects?  When I see my creations, memories flood back of all the places I worked on that particular garment, who I was making it for, if it was a gift or custom order and the life I gave a piece of fabric.  A bishop can babble...just ask it's creator.

Sew happy,

Renee

 

Perfectly Organized Patterns and Projects

Are your pattern envelopes stuffed full of multiple sized patterns?  Do you have pieces of various patterns strewn in different places?  When you want a specific pattern can you find it?  What do you do with all these bits and pieces that won't fit into that paper envelope?  I have the solution...perfectly organized patterns!

I used to stick all the sizes and original pattern envelope and instructions into a ziploc bag.  That at least kept everything in the same place, but then when I got ready to do a particular size, I had to weed through all the different pieces to find the correct size.  That was until I met Gail Doane  this past summer at Martha Pullen's School of Art Fashion.

Here is what you do:

First, you'll need paper folders with the metal duo-tangs in the center, page protectors, a label maker or marker and either masking tape or painter's tape and your pattern.

[caption id="attachment_289" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Supplies needed for pattern organization.[/caption]

I purchased purple folders because that is my favorite color and I use it as my logo and theme color for Ney Ney's Stitches.  You could use different colors to distinguish between boys patterns and girls' patterns or yoke-style patterns vs. a bishop style pattern, etc.

[caption id="attachment_292" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Labeling the folder.[/caption]

Next, create a label with your label maker or a marker and tape to represent the pattern you are filing.  Here I'm using the famous Pascale from Sew Beautiful.

[caption id="attachment_293" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Labeling the page protectors.[/caption]

The next step is to count the number of sizes the pattern provides and add one to it.  Each size will have it's own page protector and the additional protector is for the original pattern/envelope and instructions.     For my Pascale pattern, I had sizes 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7.  So I had 5 page protectors that I labeled with each size in my pattern and left one page protector blank to store the original pattern.

[caption id="attachment_294" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Filling the page protectors.[/caption]

Then put the page protectors into the folder with the blank one first and the numbered sizes in sequential order.  Slip the original pattern and instructions into the first, blank page protector.

[caption id="attachment_295" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Adding multiple sizes to the folder.[/caption]

You will be able to see the pattern information without removing the pattern from the page protector!  Then place your multiple sizes in the correct page protector.  As I work on a particular project, I trace the size I need and store it.  The organizational freak in me want to trace all of them at once but I don't allow myself to do this if I'm working on a custom order or a timeline.

I started adding a post it note tab with a label on the "open edge"  to make it easier to find in my file cabinet.  (sorry no pics of this step)  The folder either goes to the file cabinet for storage...

[caption id="attachment_297" align="aligncenter" width="199"] File cabinet for storage.[/caption]

 

or into my project boxes for production along with all the necessary supplies for that project. (yes....they are purple too!)

[caption id="attachment_298" align="alignleft" width="300"] All supplies for a particular project.[/caption]

 

[caption id="attachment_299" align="alignright" width="300"] All supplies for a project stored in my purple boxes.[/caption]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for reading!  Hope this helps you organize your patterns and projects!

 

Sew Happy,

Renee