Inspired by Pink Lemonade

You know when you see something that catches your eye and you can't forget about it?  That's the way I feel about Pink Lemonade Boutique and her divine bags.  Lisa is the artist behind Pink Lemonade and I found her blog and website a couple of months ago and was really intrigued with her use of fabrics (mostly Girlfriends, Freshcut, Flea Market Fancy, some Alexander Henry) with natural linen.  She has a great eye for colors and patterns.  She also uses a lot of quilting in her bags and her sewing looks meticulous.

Thus the dress for Olivia, my daughter, (oh, have I mentioned her before?) from Freshcut by Heather Bailey with natural linen.  She has a little knit dress that has three panels, so I just copied that.  However, I should remember to cut a non-stretch dress just a tad bigger- it is a bit of a struggle to get it over her booty!  Once it's on it fits very well.  I love the way the linen really makes the fabrics pop.  And I can't resist a flower button.  My sewing, on the other hand, is not meticulous but I think the dress is darling and she is always in motion, so no one will know.

Then I was so inspired, I decided I wanted to make a matching jacket and quilt it.  Quilters everywhere are snickering, but I just realized that quilting fabrics gives them body without the stiffness of interfacing.  Okay-- some of us are slower to catch on than others.  So I layered some linen, low-loft batting and another Freshcut pattern and starting quilting away.  I did a diamond quilting pattern made much easier by the quilting guide that came with my machine (you put the guide foot on a parallel stitching line so you can follow it for the current stitching line).  Someday when I'm more confident I'll do a more modern freehand design. I am binding it in a Freshcut stripe and used my Bias Tape Maker and I love it.  We got those in about a month ago and I hadn't used it yet, but it is fabulous.  It produces a perfectly folded tape and it really didn't take any special talent.

The jacket needs the sleeves put in, which I'm dreading, so I worked around them as long as I could. The sleeve holes need to be adjusted, but I'm so scared to start cutting.  The jacket may rest for a few days but it must be done by Thursday.  More on that little bit of excitement later!

Comments

[Lisa Clarke]

I love that process - when something inspires you, and you go on to make something completely different, but equally as terrific.

I love the dress!

[Laverne]

The Dress! It is so cute!

Be sure to show us the jacket (when finished) on the model. Olivia! She is so cute!

[rohanknitter]

Super super cute dress!

[Lisa]

Well that looks pretty meticulous to me! I'm so glad you were inspired, thanks for visiting my blog and commenting, I'll be visiting yours and checking for your pretty creations!

[erin]

Very cute! I love the solid stripe in the middle.