The blue dress

I read in a book long ago that you can sew clothes even if you have only fifteen minutes a day for it, if you just do one step each day.  The key is to leave the sewing area with everything lying just where it should be, ready for the next step the next day, so you don't have to waste any time finding your place again.That works for me.
Today, I was suddenly done!  I love it when I'm just stitching along, get to the end of a seam and realize that was the last one.
I even smiled at the camera (sort of).

I know this is the design in the illustration of "what pudgy ladies should not wear" but... but... I like it! 

Sarcasm or Irony

I recently saw a t-shirt that said, "Sarcasm is just one of the free services I offer."



I thought I was the sarcastic type, but when I looked up the word, I'm not!


Definition: 

SARCASM: a keen or bitter taunt : a cutting gibe or rebuke often delivered in a tone of contempt or disgust 2: the use of caustic or stinging remarks or language often with inverted or ironical statement on occasion of an offense or shortcoming with intent to wound the feelings

That's not me!  I don't ever intend to wound anyone's feelings.  Of course I do hurt someone's feelings, that just breaks my little heart… hahahaha. 
No, really.  It does.

There’s a better word for what I do.

IRONY: feigned ignorance designed to confound or provoke an antagonist : dissimulation : humor, ridicule, or light sarcasm that adopts a mode of speech the intended implication of which is the opposite of the literal sense of the words (as when expressions of praise are used where blame is meant) : a state of affairs or events that is the reverse of what was or was to be expected : a result opposite to and as if in mockery of the appropriate result *the irony of fate*

IRONY applies chiefly to a way of speaking or writing in which the meaning intended is contrary to that expressed on the surface *beset with confusion and humiliation he said in blunt irony, *I am certainly enjoying myself** but in a more literary or dramatic sense it implies a deeper perception of the discrepancies implicit in life and character or applies to the actual discrepancies (as between appearance and reality, what is promised and what fulfilled, what is intended and what achieved, what seemingly should be and what actually is), applying frequently to a situation in which what results is the direct, often tragic, opposite of what was desired, intended, or worked for *the dramatic irony of the play in which the hero intent upon the greatest good he knows achieves by his very pursuit of it destruction and death* *the patient had sought violent death, but, with the usual irony of life, it was the doctor whom sudden death overcame Havelock Ellis* *an irony of nature that our teeth, which decay so painfully while we live, stop decaying at our death, and outlast all the rest of us Leonard Woolley*
SARCASM applies chiefly to a type of humor intended to cut or wound, often employing ridicule or bitter irony *the satire has become in some instances sarcasm * and heavy sarcasm at that John Woodburn*

Okay, you were dying to have that distinction made, and the confusion cleared up, right? 

I think most people who say they are "sarcastic" are using the word incorrectly.  This is irony: 

Swimwear

We went to a water park recently and I was impressed with the swimwear... some people look carefree in their swimsuits but many looked uncomfortable and just wished they could be a little more covered up!  I saw just ONE girl in a homemade, modest swimsuit.  It looked just like a dress, but with short skirt and short sleeves, made of swimsuit lycra.  She was so comfortable and pretty! 
I decided my daughters must have this.
Bought four yards of nice textured lycra and started cutting.  I have this Kwik-Sew book with a whole bunch of patterns in it, patterns for everything and the book was only like $15.  I used the leotard pattern with short sleeves and just added a skirt, and the pattern for short shorts. 
It came out SO WELL!
I used the serger a lot which made it super easy.  The serger's differential feed means you can set it so the front feed dogs go a little faster than the rear, so the fabric's slightly gathered instead of stretched, and the seams come out perfectly smooth.  It's tough to make knit fabric come out smooth with a regular machine! 

REALLY talented is when you can hold it up and take the picture at the same time  :-)
I actually tried it on myself and it fits me too, just a little tight!  I'm going to get more fabric and make myself one too.  I'm not so important because I'm the one who's in charge of the group, not one of the swimmers...

The dress was too tight at first, because I cut it as for a swimsuit.  You don't want a dress to dip in at the middle back like a swimsuit does.  So I had to slice it open and add a triangle... now it looks just fine.  That's why I bought a floral pattern! 

All done...

Matching shorts. 

Andrea refuses to have her face in the picture  :-) 

Triune Biblical University site up

My latest project, Triune Biblical University  is online.  Check it out! 

the Pleated Dress Project

Big idea I just had to try  :-)
What if I evenly pleat across a width of fabric, sew along the pleats partway down, then cut a dartless bodice shape out of the pleated middle section and let the skirt form naturally?
Here's how it came out.

My calculations of how much to pleat in order to gather the full width into the width of the bodice pattern I was using. 

 

String Quilt Top Done...?

I thought it would be a lap quilt or something.  My husband said he liked it and was it going to be for the bed?  I thought he would hate it!  He's the tidy, organized type. 
Well it would look pretty cool on the bed, wouldn't it!  Just needs to be a little larger  :-) 

the free Round Ripple pattern written out

To my crochet friends-- would you try this pattern and see if I've written it out right? I'm not used to following written patterns (prefer diagram form) OR writing them! So I'm not too sure about this. But I got a request from someone who wanted to make one and can't follow my graph :-)
Would you let me know if you find a mistake? 

(EDIT-- I changed this post on July 8th, so that there's only one row of any that has a multiple of three!  In other words, one row of 3dc, two rows of 4dc, two rows of 5dc, one row of 6dc, etc) 

Chain 5, join w sl st to form a ring
1. ch3, 11dc in ring for a total of 12dc
2. ch3, 1dc in same space, 2dc in each dc around, for a total of 24dc
3. ch5, 1dc in top of previous ch3, *skip 1 dc, in next dc 1dc, ch2, 1dc, repeat around and join
4. sl st to next ch2 space, in space *2dc, ch2, 2dc repeat around for total of 12 groups
5. sl st over one dc, ch 3, *in ch2 space make 2dc ch2 2dc, in next dc make 1 dc, skip 2dc, in next dc make 1dc, repeat from * around, join with sl st
6. sl st over next dc, ch 3, dc in next dc, *in ch2 space make 1dc ch2 1dc, make 1dc in each of next 2dc, skip 2dc, 1dc in each of next 2dc, repeat from * around, join with sl st

etc... increasing one dc every other round, or if that's too many for your gauge, then every time the number of dc is a multiple of three, only do one round of that... hope that makes sense, it's what I had to do to keep my project from curling up :-)
Here's the page with the diagram... http://janelwashere.com/crafts/round_ripple.html

I started a thread crochet doily version...

Edit--I already think it should have only ONE round with 3dc!  It was starting to curl up.  I've ripped out this much progress, and I'm doing 4dc immediately after the 3dc row.  I'll post again if it works  :-)

(July 8th)  YES and here's the new version!  It's coming out perfectly now!