What was I thinking?

A few years ago I had an event to go to so I started to make Simplicity 2588.

The pattern looked like a good idea but when I actually tried it on, I knew immediately it wasn't a good idea.Thinking at the time that if I couldn't wear it, I might give it to my sister who was a high powered executive that could probably put it to good use.  In my mind she didn't seem thrilled so procrastination set in and I put it away and out of my mind in the what was I thinking category.

Actually, I know what I was thinking.  I'm still a thirtysomething with places to go.

Last week I was invited to join the Every Size is Beautiful Facebook page.  The catch was that you are supposed to submit a picture of yourself in a little black dress.  Except for my unfinished dress from days gone by, I don't have one.  Thinking about it now, if I follow their ideology, I should finish it as is and be comfortable in it.  Not quite ready for that.

This inspired me to dig out the dress and re-style it into something else.  I have a few ideas and I hope to have it done for the opening night of Stacy's Athens theatrical debut in Oklahoma!

The Thrilling Conclusion aka The Butler Didn't Do It

I struggled with how to quilt the batik quilt.  I haven't done enough to know exactly what will bring out the best in my design.  After hashing out some different ideas with my go to expert, Marybeth I decided that I'd like to enhance the rooftop aspect of the quilt.

With a plan in place, I got out my new quilting sewing machine and dug in.

Straight lines around the hand dyes and meandering lines around the batiks.  Thread was another consideration so I chose to match the threads on the hand dyes and use a variegated gray on the batiks (most, if not all, had some gray in the pattern).

A hand-dyed binding made a great finish.

Now was the moment of truth. I knew Anita's  hand dyes wouldn't bleed; she takes great care when making them.  Adding three sheets of
eased my nerves a little but I was still nervous.

A cold wash on a gentle cycle later it looked like success.

The white sheet is the before wash. I can't imagine what the quilt would have looked like if I hadn't used those sheets.

So, without further adieu.  Here's the finished quilt.

I bought some fabric that you can use to make labels in your printer but after reading the instructions I was saddened to learn that you need to use Scotchgard so it won't fade in the wash.  I didn't have any and the local fabric store didn't have the right kind.

Time to break out my fabric pens and design a label.  This was almost as much fun as making the quilt.  I used some Zentangles around the border, printed the pertinent information and voila, a label was born.

On to my next project.  While I've started piecing a couple of quilts, I have some sewing projects that need to be done first.