DrEAMi! #22

This month was another squirrel month! How about you?

This green bird feeder is the best deterrent to squirrels stealing all the bird food. Kind of like Island Batik challenges and their deadlines making me put on blinders and NOT follow the squirrels!! Do you see how she puts her paw on the step where the birds perch? That closes the little window to getting at the bird seed inside the house. Amazing, and the only one that has effectively prevented squirrels from pigging out.

I need to tell you a white squirrel invaded my sewing room this past month...

As you know, Dayna, my youngest daughter, is getting married...today! (Yay for scheduling posts.😉) When I took her to Traverse City, Michigan, I wanted to give her some meaningful gifts. She hadn't had, didn't want, a shower, so taking her there was a part of my gift; the others were the quilt, my RSC2018 quilt, she'd commented on on Instagram that she'd like to claim, a gift card to the Canadian store Home Sense, and a small makeup case for her big day. I had planned to cut up my own wedding dress to make it, and give her some of the very expensive lace I'd bought to edge the hem and the bodice for her bouquet.

back view with train down

The lace is hand-stitched all the way around the hem.

On the cutting table ready to start slicing...

I thought I could incorporate the full-length lace sleeves, making an overlaid makeup bag much like the bodice of the dress.

Gorgeous no? Where my wrist is is the lower edge of the sleeve, a lovely scalloped edge.

I don't know what came over me, but the tactile sense of that lace evoked all kinds of memories of that day in August, 1980, and well, long story short (the full story is in my previous post) I could
not
do
it.

Okay the squirrel was still nibbling at my brain and I had to do this, so I dug through a plastic tub where I have some odds and ends of lace, and found, not in the container, but beside it, a half yard or so of lace. This isn't from my wedding dress, but I think I used it to make potpourri holders which would put its age at about 25 years old. Then I recalled that Island Batik had given us a yard of basic colours in Box 2, black white and grey. The white was gorgeous and perfect. The lace overlay took it to another level. In no time at all I had my makeup bag.

It's a simple envelope design and the tutorial I basically followed is here.

For the lining, I found a scrap of 100% silk, very expensive, which I'd bought at The Bay for a dress I made before I had kids! This lining, besides being beautiful, luxurious and butter-like, is a nod to my mum, Dayna's nana, who liked bags and purses "with a bright lining."

I used Hobbs Thermolam as the batting. It's perfect, thin but has loft as well. It closes with a magnetic closure, and my mmm! quilts label is on the inside of the bag. The daisy lace you see along the top edge of the bag? It's from my veil. Yep, I cut it off. The headpiece part of the veil is actually my mum's that she wore on her wedding day. It will be 60 years old in February 2019. 38 years ago, for my own wedding, my mum's headpiece was my borrowed item; I replace the netting and edged it with the daisy lace. Dayna loved this little bag, and said she can even slip her phone inside as well. We didn't have to worry about that when I was married in 1980!

I made a test bag first before I cut into the batik and lace. This one is another satin, a piece I'd bought several years ago to make a camisole I think. It has a batik lining, but I don't know what company of batiks as I bought it at a quilt shop in Windsor this summer. It's the palest of pinks you can imagine, with the odd splash of a bit deeper pink.

Bella was the overseer for this first bag.

The combination of satin and batik works really well.

This one has a small piece of lace I cut out of the scrap I had left from my dress. I machine appliquéd it in place. The tag is on the outside as you can see.

I used a magnetic closure on this one as well, and edged the top of the pouch part with lace from my veil. This one will go to Brianne to use on the wedding day.

It makes me happy to think that my girls will be using makeup bags I made them for this special occasion. It remains to be seen if I get one made for myself...I have a plan...

Let's see what squirrels you pursued this past month!

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