Project 29 of many. . .

It makes sense that while walking over to the pool to score some free rosemary sprigs from the apartment complex's landscaping for dinner, that I would pass by a perfectly good piece of trash sitting beside the dumpster. Of course, I had to bring it home with me, it had potential written in dust all over it. 

Three yards of fabric and a stick of staples later, I had myself a new chair.

Project 28 of many / Child 2 of many . . .

Sometimes things crash into one another.

Today is the 2 month anniversary of when we found out about the loss of Benjamin. Sometimes my heart aches so badly that I don't know how I am expected to go on. Then Jonathan wakes up and I regain some perspective, but the ache is still there.

About two weeks before we lost Benjamin our pastor preached a really great message on Gods Love. This sermon brought Romans 9:20-23 to my mind and I began to get images in my head of a piece of art work that I just had to do. I went out and bought the paper right away, and then put the project off. I hadn't stopped thinking about it. I thought about it everyday, I just didn't know how it was going to work. The idea was the earth as a broken, clay vessel being worked over in a pair of old hands.

Sometime after the initial idea and before I did preliminary sketches I had a dream that my baby was dead inside of me and that the feelings I had been feeling in my stomach were phantom kicks. I woke up and felt my stomach, but my stomach was flat and I was suppose to be 18 weeks pregnant, I couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong. I eventually fell back asleep.

When I finally sat down to the the preliminary sketches, the concept had changed. The earth was now a womb. But a broken womb/broken vessel. This is the image I wanted to incorporate, only without a hand sticking through. The only hands would be the surgeons, and they would have holes in them. I would say these sketches took place around the end of June.

The womb idea eventually subsided and I went with a pitcher, that was actually a head, but also the surface of the earth with people growing out of it. Two days ago I finally put everything together.

I wish that the circumstances that allowed this piece to be created hadn't been as they were. I do find comfort in the idea that I was being prepared for the trial that I was about to face, and that I now have a picture that reminds me of Gods sovereignty.

The other verses included are Psalm 73, Isaiah 64:8-9 and Isaiah 54: 11-14

Project 27 of many. . .

I had to take a break somewhere in the middle of the project 26 and do something that I could get done quickly to help me cope with the fact that I was only half way through a 500 hour project. . .

I made this apron for the other Mrs. Williams. It had two matching pot holders that went with it, but I don't think I took a picture of them. 

I've been on a bias binding kick lately. . . somebody watch me closely or you may come over someday and notice that I've glued it around my fridge or something crazy like that. 

EDIT:
Just received a photo of the pot holders. 

Project 26 of many. . .

I was somewhere on the canned goods isle when my phone rang about six months ago. I'm happy enough when Suzy calls me, I was through the roof when I heard she wanted me to make a dress for her to wear at her wedding reception in August!

The design process began with a series of sketches, which we slowly widdled down to this one:

Silk organza dress with gathered bias cut strips radiating from waist. Sheer organza overlay at shoulder, with keyhole at back neck and cap sleeves. Separate silk organza net crinoline

The dress that was picked was likely the most time intensive of all the sketches, so obviously it was one of my favorites. Having never done anything like this I was very excited about the project.

I think that 9 times out of 10 the fabric that I chose for a project is out of stock. The same was true with this project. The first thing I did was dye 10 yards of silk organza. To do this I used my trusty tamale pot and 6 bags of tea that I let seep for ~3 minutes. I then pre-wet the silk and let it sit in the pot for 45 seconds. The result was the perfect off white.

I cut 60+ 1" bias strips for this dress and then ran two rows of gathering down each side. I think in the future I will see if I can find a company that will do this for me. Keeping organza on a perfect bias is . . . really tough, but mostly really time consuming.

I discovered the wonderful fabric seen above on this project. It is a silk organza net and it is fabulous. I would describe it as a lightweight horsehair canvas. . . but obviously in silk. It was perfect. Without this fabric I would have had to use something nasty like nylon tulle (shudders) to give this dress body. . . no, I would never have done that. . . the dress would have had 30 layers instead of just 5.

Another thing I experimented with on this dress was creating a lapped zipper ending in three separate layers of fabric with french seams. On top of this was added a singular bias cut ruffle. Add to this the fact that I thought I was going to do an invisible zipper, so I only at 1/2" seam allowances to work with, not 3/4" . . . meaning I had to sew on an extra strip of fabric (you can see this on my sample above - there is an organza strip running next to the purple) on somewhere. In the end I think this strip was a good thing as it reduced some bulk at the waist.

I love making buttonholes by hand. These ones were a little tricky because of their very small size and the fact that I only had 1/4" of space to work in. The buttonholes you are looking at right now probably appear twice as large as they actually were.
On a side note, I also love sewing 1/4" bias organza binding around the edges of fabric that loves nothing better than to come unwoven in your hands.

Lapped zipper disappears when zipped up all the way.

Here is the dress almost done. It is missing the cap sleeves, which needed to be draped on the wearer and the uppermost row of gathers.

This is a picture of Sarah modeling the headband that I made out of braided organza strips. I am now completely obsessed with flat 8 cord braids. I love them because you can sit down and watch a movie and get a project done at the same time (this is also why I love hand sewing).

Here comes the bride. . .


These fab photos are taken by Avia Photography out of Columbia, Missouri, who did a wonderful job of capturing Suzy's festive fiesta themed Columbia reception (how appropriate that I dyed the fabric in a tamale pot. . .). Check out their blog.

Do you have a dress in mind that you are just itching to have created for you? Give me a buzz, I'd love to work with you on it! caitlyn.m.williams@gmail.com

The Big One

Making party invitations. Until last night, when I started to make Jonathan's invitations for his 1st birthday, I had completely forgotten how much I use to LOVE making invitations. I think it might have been the best part of the party for me. I thought I was so tricky with the printer, I'd print one half of the invitation out, turn the paper upside down and then print out the other half. . . a couple of "tricky" paper folds and viola! I had one snazy looking party invitation! Once or twice I might have even had colored ink in the printer.

I did not do any folding on these invitations (well, except for the envelopes). I used an X-acto knife and found a great love in my heart for this dude. . . I have no idea how he does that. In a world of crickets, I prefer my sloppy circles I think. . .  Such a nice "homeaid" look. . . 

 Ummm, so these are adorable.

If you decide you cannot live without these, or something else on this site. . . hit this link and say that I referred you!

To your fleece be true. . .

This is the second year that I've gotten to make this sweet little girls outfit for the line lead. Isn't she adorable?! This summer she brought home two blue ribbons and one red ribbon. The ewe was in heat for the state fair, so we won't go there. haha! 

I'm already starting to think about the plan for next year, and I am super excited because there is a younger sister who is going to begin next summer, so I get to make two outfits!