More Completed Pages

Two more pages completed this week!

There is a Wiggles theme for several of the pages in the book, but I am incorporating some other things that were a part of the JCs^2 childhood.

Like Disney's animated Barbie series, specifically, The Twelve Dancing Princesses.

Not your typical Barbie production and with music by Felix Mendelssohn, The Twelve Dancing Princesses is a lovely film, and Trinity, Lisa, and I used to watch it together every time Trin came for a visit. (I've got it queued up to watch this afternoon.)

The princess in the quiet book does not have blonde hair or any text (no room on the page), but I appliquéd a Disney castle and three beautiful ballerina princesses for the background.

Experimenting with the placement of the appliqués before stitching them to the page. I did the hair first because I had to be sure just how much space on the page it would take before I placed the other pieces.

I'm pleased with how it turned out. I have more hair decorations to add (Elsie Mae will be able to put them in her own hair) and I think I am going to shorten the yarn hair a bit - it's hanging well below what will be the hem of the finished page.

Overall, I am happy with how the Dancing Princess page turned out.

This next page, Flowers in a Vase, is a true family favorite and has appeared in almost every quiet book I have ever made.

Since I am incorporating help and feedback from family to make this book a collaborative effort for added meaning, I sent out pictures of fabric samples for the vase.

I included the flowers that would be in it to give everyone a better idea of how the colors would work with the sample fabric.

I don't "see" colors and how they complement each other very well

so I sent out several possibilities.

The unanimous response was the pink polka dots.

I appliquéd the vase in place, drew the greenery, added the text,

put felt on the flowers' backs (for added strength) and sewed buttonholes into them.

Lastly I sewed buttons onto the tips of the greenery where the flowers are to be buttoned onto the page.

The page is not done, though.

My mother used to help me make these, a real special added touch to the books. A talented self-taught artist, she created some pages for me to use (stay 'tooned; I'm working on one of those next) or added tweaks to others that I had not thought of.

She's working on the Flowers in a Vase page for an earlier book in the photo above. And here's another she made with me (we chose the same color for the vase!) with the tweaks she added.

Little buzzing bees with dashed flight trails!

I've got the bee appliqués on order and will add them as soon as they arrive.

I miss having her input and collaboration into this quiet book.

A pre Frozen ("Do you want to build a snowman") page that she helped with - she knit the snowman's scarf.

Four weeks left to work, three pages to make plus the cover, and then binding it all together. Oh, and I always make a pillow from the leftover fabric. 

 I think I will make that deadline with time to spare.

Stay 'tooned!

Meanwhile, Back in the Sewing Room

It has been a very productive week, sewing-wise. I've cut out and completed several 18th century bedgowns.

Despite the name of the garment, these were actually day-wear, a form of "undress" that you would wear until you put on more formal clothing for evening engagements and such. (I've seen around 4:00 PM in some historical documentation.)

A traditional English floral print bedgown. As Lisa pointed out, this is very reminiscent of the historical clothing my mother always wore. She loved blue and she loved flowers.

Lisa and Jessica at a historical event with their Granny Slash. (Called so because she signed her cards and letters, "Love, Fern/Mom/Grandma/Great Grandma.)

Bedgowns fit loosely and are either pinned closed or worn with an apron to keep them shut. This is one of my favorite block prints and I've made several bedgowns from it.

A customer in Kalamazoo wearing one I'd made and using an apron closure. (I love her red stripes and waistband as well as the red earrings and fichu accents.)

Me wearing the one I made myself and using a straight pin closure. 

This block print has elephants and cheetahs on it. In the 18th century, block printed fabrics were heavily imported from India where these animals were indigenous. So, it wasn't uncommon to find them on fabrics from that time period. 

I was lucky and discovered that one of Leslie's block print fabric suppliers was also offering a set of blocks for printing to his customers. 

The raised white edges feel like they are covered in rubber (which makes sense; that will keep the ink from permanently staining the edges.)

The depth of the block gives a good handhold for the person using it to print.

A close up of the elephant block.

A close up of one of the elephants on the bedgown fabric. That looks like an early 20th century football helmet on its head to me!

See what I mean? LOL

While I really like the elephant, my favorite block is the peacock.

I'm not sure what I'm going to do with these wood blocks, but I'm thinking that I might do a block printing project of some sort with the Pony Pals and Cowpokes during the holidays. We shall see.

Finally, I made a linen bedgown this past week. I have several pieces of linen fabric but I've hesitated to use them. Linen wrinkles easily and because it also frays badly, the seams need to be finished, a time consuming process.

This simple looking bedgown turned out to be a fight to make, all because of the linen fabric. 

Stay 'tooned for more on that.