Summer Still

We are having warm temperatures and are still in our summer clothes. Today the grass was so lush and the color so bright that I could not resist setting up a lunch table outside

The round tablecloth is made from a 50-inch wide piece of fabric.

The leaves on the ground are the old brown dried ones that are from last year, and so far the tree leaves are still green.  I am delighted that we have an extended summer.

On the back of the chair I have put a small blanket because I like the shades of color. The white really sets it all off.

The cup and plate set I found at Goodwill and hope some day to find more of these sets.

Restaurants around here use these paper doilies under the cups of coffee and tea to absorb any drips. It keeps your clothes from getting stained due to a drop of tea on the plate.  These doilies fit perfectly on a teacup saucer and are available at Dollar Tree.

The trees leaves are still green.

I have finished the bodice of the Garden Tour dress.

The fabric is from Walmart and is another Fabric Traditions, quite high in price, so I am buying it little by little.  When I finish this dress I am going to start on one for me.

The important looking antique book on the tea table is really a box which holds my tea-time treats.

I found these Melamine plates at an old fashioned dry-goods store and they fit in my picnic basket just fine, plus, the colors are good with this tablecloth.

This is the pattern I am using for the dress I am working on.  It is a German pattern and a lady at church who is from Germany translated it for me.  Neuemode USA patterns are available online but they have a few differences. For one, you have to add the seam allowance yourself.  The sizes seem smaller than the same size in US patterns, so I have had to add a piece of fabric in the back.

Things are still very spring-looking around here, which helps me stay enthusiastic about sewing summer dresses for the home.  

Several readers requested that I post the old patterns I use for the house dresses I have shown in previous posts.  This is one of them, from 1996. I use the v-neck without the collar. It is really a very shapely dress, although the pattern does not show it. It looks great on the models.

To make it faster to sew, I do not include the button opening on the skirt.  I make a seam instead. I cut the sides od the bodice larger, at least an inch, so that the garment is easy to pull on.  I also cut the facings simpler and do not use the ones shown on the diagram that are intended for sleeveless dresses.  I use sleeves from other patterns and I am learning to make my own sleeve designs, from an old book called "How to Design Your Own Patterns"  dated 1943 by Claudia Ein, which came from Goodwilll.

You can see how to make a variety of sleeves from sleeve patterns you already have, on Lillibeth's blog here http://thepleasanttimes.blogspot.com/2008/04/fun-with-sleeves.html or type in Fun With Sleeves on her search area at The Pleasant Times. She made doll dress sleeves by following the instructions in that book, for all the different sleeve styles.