Sale!

I had a question from a customer this week that got me to thinking!  She asked me why I never "ran a sale" even though she has purchased sale items from me at the Martha Pullen School.  It's because behind-the-scenes software changes are required for this to happen.  I can change a price on an item, but it will not be flagged as "on sale".

So here's what I've done.  For a limited time, I have changed the price on several of my appliques from $12 to $6.  I hope you enjoy the treat! Happy Shopping!

Looking Forward to Sunny Days!

I can't wait for Spring to arrive so that we can have more sun-filled days! I am definitely a "solar-powered person"! Last week during our 4+ days of gray sky and rain, I brought the sunshine and Springtime inside by working on this fun little dress for a class I'm teaching at Thimbles in Hoover, AL. I started with the Jacqueline pattern by The Children's Corner; I modified it to have a 3" wide band at the bottom of the skirt. I chose to use a combination of Lilac and Apple Green Pique from Fabric Finders and made my piping from Fabric Finder's Black and White Striped Pique.  I attached a Black and White checked ribbon directly above the hemband seam.  I then appliqued a set of my Bright Lime Green Gingham Delilah the Daisy flowers on the front of the dress.  To continue with the Black and White accents, I stacked Black buttons on top of White buttons and used them on the center of the yoke and down the dress back.

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!

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.

Sweet Christmas Dress

After the creation of the new Irving the Santa appliqué, I needed to construct a sample garment on which to display the new appliqué. I selected the Lauren pattern from Bonnie Blue Designs. This pattern has been revised and replaced with the Bailey pattern in the Bonnie Blue Designs pattern line. This picture was taken at a recent photoshoot - didn't Maggie do a wonderful job!  Thanks also to Chel'den's for allowing us to use their store since it was so cold outside.

I wanted to share with you the collar technique I used. I began by tracing (with a washable pen) the collar pieces onto white pique fabric. Don't cut out the fabric at this point. Interface the wrong side of both collar pieces. Place another piece of the pique fabric (lining) with the wrong sides together under the collar fabric. Sew the two layers together on the seam allowance line specified in your pattern. Cut a long enough bias strip to go around the outside edge of the collar pieces. For the width of the bias strip, I cut it six times 1/4" (my planned seam allowance) plus 1/4 inch ease for a total of 1.75 inches. Fold the bias strip in half lengthwise with the wrong sides together. Match up the raw edges of the bias with the stitched seam allowance, easing in the fullness around the curves. Sew the bias using a 1/4" seam allowance. Repeat for the other collar piece. Cut the collars out on the original seam allowance line that held the two layers together. Flip the bias to the back of the collar and press. Whipstitch the bias to the back edge of the collar. With this done, apply the collar pieces to the neck edge and finish the neck edge according to the pattern's instructions.

I hope you will enjoy trying this technique. We've had plenty of days lately when the perfect activity was to stay warm indoors and to sew. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

What's new with us!

I owe you an apology, because I must admit that I am not very good at blogging! When I get to creating and putting new fabrics together, everything else on my "To Do" list starts sliding down the levels of importance. With that said, I wanted to share with you what I have been working on.

There are 4 new Ready-Set-Appliqués that have been released since the end of September. Ollie, the ornament, and Irving, the Santa, have made their debuts just in time for Christmas. The inspiration for Ollie came from my Merry Mischief Makers pattern. The pair of ornaments is just perfect for adorning your special one’s holiday clothing whether they are young or a little older.

Then on Irving I needle felted several of his pieces to give him a greater 3-D effect. I think you will be pleased with the new technique.

The third appliqué is a pair of chickadees, Charlie and Gladys. The names for these came from a godly couple who were very influential in shaping my siblings’ lives through their leadership in Discipleship Training.

The last appliqué is Montgomery the Mouse. He has a spaghetti-bias tail with a knotted and frayed tip that makes him so cute. He’s very special to me because he was named for my grandfather.

Merry Christmas from Olivia Anne Designs!

Mortimer the Monkey Outfit

As promised, I am going to talk about my "Mortimer the Monkey" sample garment that I used in a recent class.  I used Bonnie Blue Designs' Riley pattern (size 3) with a few modifications that I will talk about in just a minute.  But first - when I began working on this outfit, I tossed around several ideas on what to have Mortimer hanging from.  I wanted to create something that I hadn’t designed before. That’s when I came up with the idea to have him hanging from the letter “O” and to embroider “Olivia” on top of the letter.  I drew the "O" and then started looking through my stash of embroidery fonts and didn't find the exact one I was looking for - of course!  So I set off to search on the web and found the "Love" font on this wonderful site, called Embroidery Font Shop. 

Once I figured out this part of the outfit, I measured the total length of the letter with the monkey hanging from it.  My top was not long enough to accommodate this, so I added three inches to the length of the top.  The front pattern piece was a cinch, but the back pattern was a little more tricky since this top has a curved hem at the center back.  To adjust the back length and still have the curve, I lined up the center back edge of the original pattern and shifted the pattern down on this line until the bottom edge matched up with my desired length.  I then used the pattern's original curve to draw out my curved hem on my longer pattern piece.

The pattern has the option of having a single or double ruffle for the shoulder ruffles, but a single ruffle for the bottom edge of the top and pants.  I thought that it would be a nice touch and add more color interest if I added a double ruffle to these edges also.  The original ruffle is cut 4" wide and folded in half lengthwise to end up with a 2" ruffle.  I cut my second ruffle 7" wide and when folded in half lengthwise, it gave me a 3.5" ruffle.  I layered these two ruffles on top of each other and gathered them as one piece.  For the pants legs, it took my 4 tries before I had the length of the ruffle short enough to gather down to fit the leg.  Here's my formula for this: I reduced my length by half.  For example, I made a size 3, which called for 76" of fabric for each leg.  Instead, I used 38" on each leg.  However, for the bottom edge of the top, I did not have to make any modifications to the length of the ruffle.

Finally, I really liked the look of the ruffles when they curved into the center back of the top.  So I decided to have the ruffle edges meet at the center front edge of each of the pants legs; then I placed a 2" covered button at this point.  To have the top ruffle and the pant leg ruffles curved as in the original pattern, I had to draft a new Ruffle Cutting Guide.

Where I've been...

I thought I would share with you where I have been lately, and what better way to share than to actually show you!  Last weekend, I was teaching at a wonderful quilt store, named Heart to Heart Quilt Shop, which is located in Trussville, Alabama.

The owners, Linda and Cindy, do a wonderful job of selecting fabrics and offer a wide range of classes.  I taught a mini version of my Introduction to Machine Appliqué class in the morning.  After this, we started working on appliquéing Mortimer the Monkey.

All of my students did an excellent job on their projects.  One of the ladies decided to applique her grandson's name using my  Alphabet Applique pattern, which you can download free from my website.  In her appliqué, Mortimer is hanging from one of the letters.  Next time, I will show you my sample garment that I used for this class.

Marlene the Frog

Last week I was able to spend some time with my sister, Mary Jo.  She was able to move into her newly built house several weeks earlier, but I was not able to be there to help because of my foot surgery.  However while I was there last week, we did the time-consuming and all-important task of moving and setting up her kitchen.  Any woman who has moved knows that this is one of the toughest tasks to do in a new home!  In the midst of the visit, I taught my Introduction to Machine Applique class at Heirlooms Forever in Tupelo, MS.  Since this was my first time to teach post-surgery, I made sure to take one of her barstools to sit on during class!

When I arrived home last week, I had an email from one of my students from the class.  Patricia had sent me pictures of a jumper she had made for her 3-year-old granddaughter after taking the class, and I thought that I would share them with all of you.  I think that she did a wonderful job - especially in doing the applique stitch around the Marlene the Frog's hot pink toenails!  I can only do these in a running stitch!  If you've made something from my patterns and/or appliques, I would love to see a picture of your finished product!

Appliqué Construction

Hi!

I really enjoyed having my sister (and her cat, Dusty) visit with me last weekend. Our cat, Ella, wasn't too thrilled about having another cat invade her territory, however. There were some growls and hisses, but they eventually learned to peacefully coexist (for the most part)!

While my sister was here, she helped me make 300 new Ready·Set·Appliqués! When I make these appliqués, I hand-pick the fabric and color combinations, add the fusible web to the fabrics, cut out all of the shapes, lay out the pieces, and then fuse these cute appliqués together for you. All you do is peel the appliqué off of the sheet, place it where you want it, iron it to your appliqué surface, and stitch around the edges.

Jo'D Marie the Pig and Mortimer the Monkey will soon be joining the rest of my Ready·Set·Appliqués on my website.