Sewing With My Sister

Just some pictures for now. :)

~Bessie

Fall Inspiration

I was watching BBC's lovely version of Wuthering Heights last night and was struck at once by the wonderfulness of Cathy's jacket.  

Oh my goodness!!!

Isn't that just gorgeous?  I love everything about it.  Especially the topstitching on the collar edge and back seams.  It looks so homespun and cozy.

The sad thing is that there is no way I will be able to wear anything like that this fall. :(  Sigh.  I think I will try and make it anyway.  I am very inspired.  

Are you getting excited about fall/winter sewing projects?  

Have a lovely weekend!

~Bessie

Upholstery, Camp, and Snowflakes

There is an old man named "Pops" up here in the mountains who does upholstery.  Yesterday I asked him if he would be willing to teach me and he said YES!  

I am excited.

Not only will it be a great skill to learn for my own upholstery needs, but it also has the potential to be a nice side business once I have the baby and can't teach anymore.  Whoop!

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Last week Davis and I worked as counselors at a kid's camp.  It was a blast!  One of my favorite things about camp this year was that I got to teach an embroidery class.  There were four girls in my class, and they all LOVED it.  I can't tell you how many times I heard, "This is my favorite class!"  I don't think it was because of me, necessarily, but because they loved learning how to sew.  

There was one girl named Jackie in my class who looked like she would be the sporty type (that's what I pegged her for, anyway), but who was a total and complete farm girl.  She actually already knew how to sew, and sewed a lot of her own clothes!  Jackie told me that she wants to own a farm when she grows up and keep horses and pigs.  The embroidery pattern she choose reflects these desires. ;)

Another girl in the class, Anna Katheryn, was a pro at embroidery right away.  By the last day of class she was making beautiful Chinese knots on her design.  I was impressed!

Victoria kept saying that "This is hard!" But she did a great job with her lovely roses.

Rosa was very quiet, and made a lot of progress on her daisies by the end of the week. 

It was such fun!

Oh, one more thing before I sign off.  My cabin name was "Snowflakes", so I made each one of the campers her own small snowflake pillow out of felt.  I love, love, love how they turned out!  I am planning to do a tutorial here on the blog this fall/winter. :)

These are some pictures of the unassembled pillows.  I forgot to take a pic of the finished product.  Sorry!

Alright, lots to do today before my first students arrive.  I am off!  Have an awesome day!

Bessie

A Couple Old Sewing Machines :)

Old White Universal Super ZigZag sewing machine from the mid-60's.  In perfect working order--$20 at our local thrift store!  I love the color of this one.  Very retro. 

This is the Sears Kenmore model 48 machine I picked up over the weekend in Alabama.  The first picture is not the greatest portrayal of the machine's true color, which is a pale, icy purple metallic.  This baby was manufactured in '63-64.  We paid $12 for her. :)  She runs great!

I am planning to use these in my home studio for teaching and/or sell them to students who can't afford new or expensive machines for a really low price.  Out where I live, most people are not in a place to invest in a good quality new machine, and so many of the cheap machines are just that--cheap, and cheaply made.  These older machines are excellent, sturdy, and hard workers, and you can pick them up for next to nothing.  Plus, don't they just look awesome? :D

Do you own any vintage sewing machines that are close to your heart?  Do you prefer your vintage machine to your modern one, or vice-versa?

~Bessie

Oswald Chambers 7/11

A few tidbits from my reading this morning:

"Whether it be eating or drinking or washing disciples feet, whatever it is, we have to take the initiative of realizing Jesus Christ in it.

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The aim of the spiritual saint is, 'that I may know Him.'  Do I know Him where I am today?  If not, I am failing Him.  

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I am here not to realize myself, but to know Jesus."

I forgot how much I loved Mr. Chambers. :)

Have a wonderful day!

~Bessie

More Patterns Up...:D

Lot's of cute 1950's McCall's like this one...

~Bessie

Holiday Travels

Davis and I took a little road trip over the weekend.  It was high time for a road trip--it had been about six months since our last one!

First destination was Nashville, TN.  We stopped at a Starbucks on the way, so I'll use this opportunity to share with you a reusable cup sleeve that I made a while back. :D

It is made of heavy-duty felt (about 1/4" thick!) and embroidered.  I have been toying with the idea of selling these on Etsy.  What do you think?

In Nashville we went to Dave and Busters.  It was my first time experiencing D&B, and I loved it!  We  had some coupons and limited ourselves to $20 each.  Personally, I think that is the way to do things at a place like D&B.  It is so easy to over spend at placed like that.  Plus, when you only have x amount of play time you value it more. :)  In the end Davis beat me with 1700+ tickets.  I only scored about 1000.  We redeemed them for some great junk prizes!

That evening we went to dinner at a neat little tap room called 12th South.  They had a live band playing, and much to my surprise and delight they started their set with an awesome Django Reinhardt piece!  I love me some Django.

The next morning we made a visit to the Belle Meade plantation.  

The Belle Meade plantation was the home of John Harding, his offspring, and their world renown thoroughbred horses.  I was fascinated to learn about Mr. Harding and his penchant for business.  He began his plantation in his 20's as a 250 acre farm with a humble log cabin.  Through his industriousness and keen business sense (he even went to far as to put a toll road through his property), within his lifetime his plantation grew to 5,400 acres.  One of the horses purchased by John Harding's son, William Giles Harding, is in the bloodline of nearly all of the best racing horses of the past century. 

The old stables were filled with a  really amazing collection of antique carriages.  The lighting was bad, so I didn't get many good pictures.  I know you can't see it well, but the one on the bottom reminded me of something you would see in an Austen-esque movie. :)  I really wanted to get inside and pretend I was Jane Eyre fleeing Thornfield after her wedding day was so dreadfully ruined.  (Anybody else love that story?)

Here is a picture of the Belle Meade mansion.  We took a guided tour through the inside.  It was beautiful!

Of course we had to have our picture taken in period attire.

Ok, so on to the the next part of our trip!  Once we left Belle Meade, we were headed south for Huntsville.  What is in Huntsville, you ask?  Thrift stores.  

Huntsville has some awesome thrift stores.  In fact, it is home to my favorite thrift store, which I don't think actually has a name.  It's one of those good ones that is not really affiliated with anything and is full of stuff and very cheap.

We stopped at one thrifts store that afternoon before we reached our hotel, where I found these gorgeous shoes.

AH!  $2.00!  I think they are from the 50's.

The next day we went to a good ten or eleven thrift stores and found some fantastic stock for our online selling venues.  I only took pictures of my favorite store, the one I mentioned above, so you can see how AWESOME it is!

Oh, and here is Davis in some great old suspenders...

My favorite finds of the weekend?  

This dress has a full circle skirt and those cute teardrop pockets!  Handmade from the 50's.

I love the unique fabric on this one.  Famous paintings. This also has a very full skirt.  I love the finishing detail on the inside--she finished all of the edges with self-fabric bias binding, not leaving one little bit of raw edge showing.  Also from the 50's.

This third dress is probably my favorite.  It is absolutely to die for.  Made of a very lightweight crepe like fabric (almost feels like paper) and fully lined.  Self-fabric buttons all the way down the front, and a lovely V-back.  Waistline stay and everything!  A beautifully made dress.  Very glamorous. 50's. :)

An old sewing machine to fix up!  I love the color and the see-through details on the dial.  Can't wait to start working on this baby!

The mixer on the right is one that I have had for a few years.  I found an identical model in a different color for $1 and had to buy it. :)  Now I can switch off! :D  They are old Sunbeam mixers from the 60's, and work great.

A milk glass bread pan!

A bag full of metal zippers.  Whoop!

And lastly a really cool retro humidifier.  My nose has been rather dry lately (I read that that happens during pregnancy), so I thought I'd try this baby out. :)

After a long day of thrifting, we made one last stop at my father-in-law's farm, where we got to see his beautiful gardens and meet his interesting neighbor Duane who has lots and lots of chickens and tried to give us a cat.

You are probably ready for this looong post to come to an end now.  So to sum it all up, we had a wonderful trip and I am very glad we went.  I hope you all enjoyed your Fourth of July weekend as well.  

Happy Monday!

~Bessie