All the way from Japan

When E returned from Japan, he brought me these very fine but strong hand sewing needles and a new red Clover seam ripper. I am ever so pleased! I'd asked E if he'd look and he found a sewing store in a mall, looked around it until he found both the needles and the seam ripper. I'd taken a course online at Pattern Review that said Japanese sewing needles are good. These are super. I'd learned through Cidell's blog that only in Japan can you get Clover sewing tools in red. In North America, they're white. The Red seam ripper works great -- so well that I think my old one has been dull for a long time.
Thank you, E, for the great gifts!

When all else fails, improvise!

Finished the second edition of this Burda ruffled summer dress in time for the local fair. The first edition is on the left, the second is on the right. While the first edition actually looks
fine in the photo, the jersey material for the top was too casual for the satin-like skirt material. The fine knit used in the second edition is slightly tye-died and has a light pink lining. All was going well, until I top-stitched the neckline. I discovered I'd committed that great sin of not changing my sewing needle frequently. So there was a few runs on the left hand-side of the neckline. In 10 minutes I was leaving to take the dress to be judged at the local fair. I then remembered a flower left over from a hat for J. So I sewed it on with a bead over the runs. Apparently the judge found what was behind the flower, laughed, said it was a good idea and still gave the dress a blue ribbon!

Meet "Caty" the Caterpillar

Two and a half weeks ago, I was dealing with the various creatures who were demolishing a rose bush and came across five fuzzy caterpillars. J and her little friend adopted them. The friend took three and they were later eaten by her puppy. J's two we put in a square Glad container. But instead of the plastic top, I pulled out a scrap of pink tutu netting and we used it as a screen over the top. (How handy a fabric and notions stash is!). J named them Caty and Paty. After a few days, Paty turned into a cocoon -- such a small one -- about half an inch long. it's hard to take a photo. Caty, however, has thrived on hollyhock leaves and has grown to be more than an inch long. We're all enjoying watching his progress and wondering how long Paty will be in the cocoon.

Wonderful Wrappings of Fabric

Found the fabric to replace the top of the seven-ruffle dress below in Gala Fabrics in Victoria. I searched them out because of good reviews on Pattern Review. They were also having an amazing sale, so with the aid of a helpful Gala staff person named Karen, I purchased a few other pieces. Then I asked if they could mail it, since our car was very packed with four people, dog, camping gear, etc. They obliged and it was all nicely packaged with plastic and paper so it didn't cost as much as if it was put in a box.

J helped me unwrap the package. We looked through the fabric and then she quickly picked out what I'd found for her (Which made me think I'd chosen well, since she'd been with Grandma and Grandpa and not with me when I had my fabric shopping adventure). It's a blue polyester sheer fabric with stars on it (for only $1 per metre so I got 2.5 m) My intent was to make her another princess dress with it, as she'd asked. But now I'm wondering if she'd have as much or more fun with it as is. The left-hand photo shows her with the material wrapped around her. Instant princess dress.

Well, that fabric was fun so then she found the two fabrics for the ruffled dress' top -- the pink knit lining and the purple tie-dye mesh. In the right hand photo she's twirling around with the purple fabric and we'd tied the pink around her to hold up the blue sheer. I'm really happy that J enjoys fabric so much.

I was also grateful for the help of Karen at Gala. I showed her the photo of the dress and she found the purple mesh and the pink lining -- both of which match the skirt. Ironically, as does happen, the lining was more expensive than the outer layer. The purple knit mesh was on the clearance table.