New Sewing Fun!

This is my new sewing fun! A fall dress (size 4) and a vest and pants (size 3) in corduroy. Again the trick with the vest is getting it turned from the wrong side out after sewing most of it together. It's tricky, but I was a little more adept at it this time.

The dress is made a a cotton-polyester blend so it will be a little warmer this fall. I had two comments from people who said it looked like a "prairie dress". It has a yoke with 3 buttons in the front which was very easy to put together.

Enjoy your sewing projects because Christmas is coming very soon and the projects will come in handy.

Made With Love As Always,

Karen

Winter Vest

I had asked myself just what I could do with 1/2 yard of leftover animal print and here was the answer. A warm, cozy and lined vest in a children's size 4. It turned out a little large for it's size, but I still had enough material left over from this project to make a small one in a size 2.

The lining is made with a washable synthetic and the entire project takes approximately 4 hours for an experienced sewer. The tricky part is when you sew it inside out and then turn it right side out through the shoulders and down to one side. I had to be careful not to rip out the seams as I teased it through the shoulders.

I had the option of putting buttons on it, or a ribbon tie, but I opted out on the ribbon and haven't decided about the buttons. It might keep it on my granddaughter longer, as I've heard she like to undress herself now. Ether way, it is a cute and fun project for those who don't have days to sit at the sewing machine.

I used Simplicity pattern #2874 which also has blouse, dress and pants patterns as well as the vest. It's a very versatile pattern.

Made With Love As Always,

Karen

Welcome to my new Made With Love By Karen blog!

I hope you like my new look! Everything you see here has been hand made with love and care. Please feel free to leave a comment or ask questions.

Thanks for your interest in my blog!

Karen

Embroidery And "Bugs"

As you can see I somehow managed to load my pictures in backwards and have started with the "Bugs" instead of the embroidery. I thought this cute flannel material would make adorable pajamas for my granddaughter. It's made with three little bug buttons on the bodice that are not seen too well beacuse they blend into the bugs on the fabric. There are two more in the back for closure. The pants are made with an elastic waist that can be easily adjusted for size.

The embroidery is the new green quilt block for my granddaughters crazy quilt. The bow on the yellow roses is made with gold metallic thread. The entire project was made using a single thread instead of three. This gave the roses a more textured appearance while still giving them depth. It was difficult to do, but with practice anyone knowing embroidery techniques can do it. This project was made with an iron-on transfer pattern while the colors can vary according to taste. I hope you enjoy your own projects as much as I'm enjoying mine! Happy sewing!

Made With Love As Always,

Karen

Victorian Embroidery Quilt Block

This is the second quilt square I've finished in a long term project to make a crazy quilt bedspread for my granddaughter. It's going a lot faster now that I've learned most of my techniques. Putting the crazy quilt pieces together is the biggest challenge, since I use invisible thread (yes, it's real!) to hide the stitches while I'm putting the embroidery in. My next block is already put together and I'm working in different shades of green. It has yellow roses in the middle of it, as opposed to the sleeping bunny in the middle of this quiet blue square. Each square seems to take on it's own personality from the color I'm working with. I'm looking forward to doing the red blocks and seeing what develops! Have fun with your projects!

Made With Love As Always,

Karen

"Zebra" Jammies!

Here they are! The flannel "zebra" jammies I've been working on. These have been a fun project and the real challenge wasn't the buttonholes, it was the small, size 4 armhole. After easing (gathering) the sleeve, it didn't want to set in there right. But after adjusting the sleeve a little, it fit perfectly. The pants were very easy because they have an elastic waist and all I had to do was thread it through and decide what size I wanted and then sew the elastic together. I had to remember to tack down the seam allowaces so the elastic wouldn't get caught on it. You can do that by basting or using fusion material.

This was Simplicity pattern # 3987. I buy them online through Simplicity and end up not having to pay retail price. Also, Simplicity doesn't charge shipping on their patterns.

Enjoy your sewing and crafts!

As Always,

Made With Love By Karen

Fun With Flannel

This was a fun flannel project done with some material given to me and a size 3 Simplicity pattern #5382. This is a multi-size pattern that will last until size 6 and has a lot of variations.
I chose the short sleeves because of the amount of material and the pre-gathered cotton eyelet lace for it's softness. The bodice has a facing that covers all the gathering on the inside and it's very soft against the skin.
Other notions include a pearl button, 1/4 inch elastic for the arms and thread.
This pattern was very easy to sew with my home sewing machine. I'm sure my grand daughter will enjoy this on the cool nights in Alaska. I reccomend this pattern for anyone with a moderate sewing experience. Have fun sewing!
As Always,
Made With Love By Karen

Christmas Jumper

This is my latest project, a jumper made out of cotton material with 1 1/2 yards of lace around the hem band. Sorry the picture is a little faded, I'm not a great photograher, but am still learning.

This was only 1 1/4 yards of material and there were several options in the pattern. There is also a hat pattern if you have the extra material, or pants. I had fun putting this together with a 10 inch black zipper and cotton polyester thread. Click on the picture to get a better detail of the print. These fun and easy patterns are available from different sources, but I choose to use Simplicity pattern #5936 with the lace addition optional (not included in the directions). To add the lace, simply attach it as you're adding the hem band and finish following the directions. Happy sewing!

As always,

Made With Love By Karen

I finally finished this sweater and got the photo ready to upload. This was a medium difficult project and I don't recommend it for beginners. I'm getting it off in the mail soon to my son-in-law. Enjoy!

A SPECIAL PROJECT

This is a very special project that doesn't look like much yet, but if you use your imagination you can see my son-in-law's new sweater emerging out of it. I have the left side and the back done and am working on the front. Remember, it'll need sleeves, and ribbing and then the finishing around the neck. This is a one size fits all pattern, so David, you'd better start eating if you want to wear this!
Made With Love As Always,
Karen

Catching Up Time!

It's been a while since I caught you up on wat I've been doing. Aside from writing a very long saga, I made an afghan for my daughter & son-in-law that live in Alaska, and I made some more rosaries (8 to be exact) for a friend. It's kept me pretty busy. Now I'm starting a sweater, but don't have a picture ready yet. I do enjoy making things with my hands and I hope everyone tries something.

Made With Love By Karen

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