Upcoming Classes at Martha Pullen School of Art Fashion

During the February 2012 Martha Pullen School, I will be teaching two pre-day classes.  On Monday, I will be teaching "Fitzgerald the Food-Fighter" bib class.  As with all of my applique classes, I teach the applique techniques in the first part of the class and then we work on a "real" project.  In the techniques portion of the class, I have a practice kit that the students will work with to help them learn how to turn corners and go around curves. During the afternoon session, the students will applique "Fitzgerald the Puppy" to the bib.  They should be ready to attach the bias binding by the end of class.  If you've ever been to a Martha Pullen School, you know that in most classes you leave with an unfinished object.  In my classes, my goal is for you to finish or be almost finished when you leave!

My second class is a two-day class in which we will be making this "Red-Hot Roosters" outfit.  I am very excited because this is the first time that I have gotten to teach garment construction as part of my project!  On Tuesday morning, I will once again teach my appplique techniques to the students.  If I have any repeating students from previous classes, it allows them to have a refresher course!

Tuesday afternoon, the students will cut out their pants and applique "Bernard the Rooster" to the left pants leg.  On Wednesday, we will start out the morning altering the Sew Beautiful Wrap Dress pattern to eliminate the button closure and add the drawstring waistband.  By the end of Wednesday's class, the students should be complete with both the pants and top!

  

Ollie the Ornament Dress - Part 2

In my last blog, I covered how I did the front of my Ollie the Ornament dress.  Today, I’m going to show you how I did the back of the dress.  Remember, I chose a pattern that buttoned down the back.

• On a large piece of paper, draw a left back and a right back using the original pattern piece.  I used my ruler to draw the straight edges and short dashed lines to draw the curves.
• Draw the seam allowances (long, black dashed lines) and the center back (solid, blue lines) lines on both pattern pieces.

I wanted the curve on the front of the dress to be the same curve I used on the back of the dress.  The back curve goes in the opposite direction so that it is a mirror image on the backside and matches at the right side seam.

• On each of the back pattern pieces, match the front pattern piece’s center front line to the center back line and transfer the curve to each of the halves.  This is the dashed red line shown in the pictures.

At this point, I always debate with myself which side are the buttonholes supposed to be on?  I remember hearing “Girls are right, boys are wrong”, but I’ve seen it both ways! I put my buttonholes on the right half of the back jumper. 

• To make them easier to work with, cut the paper in half so that each pattern piece is on a separate sheet of paper. 
• Overlap the two back pattern pieces with the right pattern piece on top of the left pattern piece.  Match up the center back lines, bottom, and neck edges.  Temporarily tape the two halves together.
• When you do this, you will notice that the two curves do NOT match at the center back.  Tweak the overlapping curve on the right pattern piece so that it will match the left side’s curve.  This is the dashed green line shown in the pictures.

I used this same technique for the right side seam.  As you can see in the picture, it took me three tries before I got a curve that I liked.  The upper red curve would have worked, but I wanted to make it easier to add piping between the layers.  The blue curve is the one that I will use.

• Once satisfied with all of the curved lines, cut the upper half of each of the pattern pieces away from the bottom half. To make sure that I laid out/cut out the pattern correctly, I labeled both the upper and lower halves of both of the pattern pieces to indicate the right side of the fabric.
• Along the curved edge of all four pattern pieces, I made a note to add the seam allowance when cutting out the fabric. Please, don't forget to do this - otherwise, your halves won't fit together properly.

Remember that you can click on each picture to see a larger image!  I hope that you have found this helpful.  If you have any questions, please send me an email!

Ollie the Ornament Dress

Whenever I make new sample garments, I always try to do something new and/or different.  I don't like doing the same ol' thing!  Because of this, I usually have requests for me to explain what I did. That's the purpose of today's blog.  For the Ollie dress, I started with a basic jumper pattern.  I chose one that buttoned down the back (e.g., Children's Corner Charlotte, Bonnie Blue Designs' Madison); however, you could use one that buttons on the shoulder (e.g., Children's Corner Lucy, Bonnie Blue Designs' Holly & Hunter).  Here's how I modified the pattern.

• On a large piece of paper, draw a center front line.
• Tape the original pattern's center front line to this line on the paper.
• Draw one half of the pattern onto the large piece of paper.  I use my ruler to draw the straight edges and short dashed lines to draw the curves.

• When finished drawing the first half of the pattern, flip the original pattern to the other side of the line.  Repeat the process of drawing the other side of the pattern.
• Remove the original pattern when finished.  Draw the seam allowances.

• To shape the curves, I used starch cans because they were handy. They happened to be 3" circles.  Place the cans in the desired pattern. 

• Draw around the edge of the cans to form the basic curve pattern.

• Connect the curves either by drawing freehand or using a straight edge.

• Once satisfied with the curved line, cut the upper half of the pattern away from the bottom half.  To make sure that I laid out/cut out the pattern correctly, I labeled both the upper and lower halves of the pattern to indicate the right side of the fabric.
• Along the curved edge of both pattern halves, I made a note to add the seam allowance when cutting out the fabric.  Please, don't forget to do this - otherwise, your halves won't fit together properly.

You can have the curves on the front of the jumper only, or have them on the back side too, like I did. I will cover how I did the back of the jumper in the next blog.

I know that it isn't alway easy to see lines drawn on white paper in these pictures, but you can click on each picture to see a larger image.

Announcing the Arrival of ...

Martha Pullen School of Art Fashion is over, and I am back in full swing designing and producing new Ready-Set-Appliqués.  I have five new appliqués that I want to introduce to you.  Peter the Peapod is perfect for a newborn “Welcome to Our World” gift.  Delilah the Daisy is a seven petal white flower with your choice of a pink, green, blue, or orange gingham center.  You could use Delilah as an embellishment somewhere on your outfit or buy several and use them along the hemline of your garment.

Humphrey the Bulldog is available in maroon for those Mississippi State University fans or in red and black for those University of Georgia fans.  Humphrey would be a great addition to your game day attire to show your school spirit!

Rigsby the Robot is a whimsical appliqué with lots of buttons and beads.  He is available in green, purple, blue, or pink.  Finally, Betsy Bug the Baby Ladybug is out.  She is the smaller version of Ladye Lucinda.  Betsy comes in red with either teal, black, orange, or yellow.  As you can see, there are lots of new choices for you.  Happy appliquéing!!  

Bulldog Show 'n Tell

I have finally finished my sample garments for the bulldogs!  When I was picking out fabrics for my samples, I intended to put the Miss. State bulldog on Maroon twill, but it didn't have enough contrast.  I ended up putting it on black, but black doesn't always allow you to see all of the details in a picture.  So, I made two different jackets - one for Miss. State and one for Georgia.  Hopefully both school fans will approve of my color choices for their alma mater.  These are on my website along with all of the other new characters that I've added this month.  Take a look and let me know what you think!

 

Bulldogs are coming!

Many of you know that I am originally from Mississippi and went to Mississippi State.  Because of this, I have had many requests for me to add a bulldog to my collection - especially since I have had both Alabama's and Auburn's mascots in my collection for several years!  Well, I am pleased to annouce that "Humphrey the Bulldog" will be available in July!  I am in the process of making my sample garments as we speak.  When I have them finished, I will do a "show 'n tell".  Thanks for being so patient!

Tissue Cover Instructions

Those of you who have been in my classes know that I give out "goody bags" to all of my students.  Ususally these bags contain purse-sized tissue covers and tissues.  I thought that you might enjoy having the directions for the tissue covers. They really do make excellent gifts for your special friends. They are quick to make and so easy. So, here are the directions:

1. Cut a rectangle 5 ½” by 13 ½”.

2. With wrong sides together, pin the short edges together.

3. Stitch in a ¼” seam backstitching at both ends.

4. Press seam open. Turn the fabric sleeve with the seam to the inside and the right sides outward. Center the seam and press.

5. With the seam facing away from you, fold each side to the middle. Pin across the raw edges.

6. Stitch in a ¼” seam backstitching at both ends. Trim the loose threads and clip each corner.

7. Turn right sides out. Use a point turner to ensure sharp corners. Press flat.

  

8. Stuff with an individual tissue pack.

Customer Show 'n Tell

Over the last few weeks, I have received emails from several customers and friends where they have shared their creations with me.  I was so excited to see what they had done that I wanted to share them with you. 

Alli from Mississippi told me, "I won one of your mouse appliques at Martha Pullen's School of Art Fashion and thought it would be perfect for a little purse for my almost three-year-old daughter.  I used a pre-made linen bag and attached ribbon for the handle and cinches."  What a great job!

Rickie from Alabama wanted to learn the applique process so she took my Intro to Machine Applique class and the Jo'D Marie the Pig Applique Block class that I taught this month at Sew Bizz in Trussville, Alabama.  Rickie is a school teacher and took off from work just to have a little fun for herself.  Good for you!

If you've made something from my patterns and/or appliques, I would love to see a picture of your finished product and to share it here on my blog!

My First Color Ad!!

I decided that since we are starting a new year, I would change up my ads in the Sew Beautiful magazine.  So with the January issue, I am now using a color photo ad.  But best of all, I’m running a sale on the featured appliqué shown in the ad!  Each sale runs for 2 months.  All you have to do is use the ad’s coupon code when you checkout to get the discount.  I hope you enjoy seeing the different ways I use my appliqués.