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.

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.