My Granddaughter

August 11,2010

Hi everyone! I have'nt been on here lately, had alot going on. I've been sewing for my granddaughter, that's her in the picture above. I've been trying to get a few outfits done so her brother can take them home with him when he leaves in 2 days.

Like I said that is my granddaughter in the picture, and you can probably guess that she is a wild one, by the pose that she is making. She's 4 years old, yes she's big for her age, and she has to take after her daddy, cos her momma, my daughter, is only 5'3.

They moved to Oklahoma a few months ago, her dad's in the army, and so they took 3 of my 5 grandkids with them. The other 2 from my son live here, she's the other granddaughter that I sew for.

Anyway I made her this outfit and sent it to her, even put her own name on the package, and her mom said she was thrilled with it. This is the same outfit I talked about a while back the I made her cousin out of the same material, so they would have matching outfits. She called to tell me that she loved her new clothes, and she wanted me to send her a picture of her cousin so she could see her in the outfit to.

I was saying ealier that I was sewing a few outfits for her brother to take with him, he's here with his dad for the summer, and he's going back in 2 days, so I wanted to make some new clothes for him to take with him, and save me money on sending them in the mail. Of course I could have had all summer to do this if I had thought of it then, but I just thought of sending them with him a few days ago, so I got busy. I have managed to make her another capri set, nightgown, dress and finsihed a skirt today.

I have to say I really miss her and her brothers, every time she gets on the phone she'll say"I come to your house now", she does'nt quite understand that she's not a few miles away anymore. She is a handful, but she's a loveable handful.

I just wanted to share my graddaughter with ya'll, a grandma's right to brag.

dsthreadsdownsouth out for now.

Granddaughter's b-day

July 29, 2010

I haven't been able to get to my blog in awhile, been kindof busy lately. My granddaughter had her birthday this past Sat. she turned 8 years old. That's her, of course, in front of her cake. She had it at the community pool, and it was a good day for it, since it was probably at least 98 degrees outside.

Now I don't even like wearing a bathing suit in front of my family, and you know family are'nt going to ask you when and how you gained 20 lbs. or why the top of your legs look like jello, no not your family. So anyway, like I said COMMUNITY pool, meaning people that go there all time and probably spend the rest of the time in a gym, by the looks of their legs, no jello there. Not to mention that she invited girls from her school, which meant that the moms had to come, not much jello there either.

I knew that I was'nt going to wear a bathing suit, so I had some pretty light green material that I was wanting to make just a sleeveless summer dress out of, yea, so my arms flap a little in the wind to, I wanted it sleeveless anyway. I made the dress thinking I could wear it to the pool/b-day party and still stay comfortable, not cool, but not miserable either. WRONG.

I want you to visualize a cool pool of water in 98 degree weather, and knowing the whole time, while your sitting there sweating like nobodys business, that you can't jump in head first and just stay under until you can't hold your breath any longer. It would have felt so awesome to jump in and not care that I would have been the only grandma in the pool in her green summer dress.

All in all my granddaughter had a great time and after all it was her day, and we grandmas like to see the kids having fun.

Ya'll come back and check me out again soon.

dsthreadsdownsouth out for now.

The Technology Age

July 21,2010

I have to tell you that I'm not impressed with the new technology of this era. I can figure out how to use a sewing machine and make really cute clothes, and they fit which is always a good thing. I can drive an 18 wheeler, a big semi-truck, that's what I was doing when I got laid off almost 2 years ago. I can raise 4 kids working at Burger King making less than $7 an hr. But to work a computer or a camera with a "disk" has driven me over the edge.

I have spent all day trying to get into my blog site, simply because the computer did'nt "remember" my password for me? If it knows almost everything about me, can tell me "hi" when it starts up, WHY can't it remember my password? If you make the mistake of signing out and not telling it to remember your username, you are really in BIG TROUBLE.

Of course when you go to sign back in it asks you for both of these 2 little words, but 2 very important words, obviously, and if you can't remember 1 you can't find the other one.

So after most of the day typing in anything I think could possibly be right, I ended up changing both 2 little important words, and here I am.

Now on the camera with the all important disk. I have 2 of these all important disk, 1 I use for taking pic. of the family etc, the other I use to take pic. of my clothes that I make so I can share them with you lucky people. Did you know that these cameras donot tell you that a disk is not in the camera, but they still take the pic. and it is in the camera SOMEWHERE?

I had an order to make a appliqued jumper, purse, and 2 little boys shirts, I took the pic. so I could share them with you, they turned out really cute, took the pic. and went to download them and guess what? You got it, no disk. Now I'm guessing that I can plug something into my camera that plugs into my computer, and I will be able to download them. Now all I have to do is find the pages in the manual and try to figure out what they're talking about, while they're trying to explain to someone who knows very little about TECHNOLOGY.

In closing I would like to say that I do enjoy being able to communicate rather quickly on the computer, and I do like being able to see my pic. before I have to wait to have them developed, but my sanity is thinking very hard on sending me over the edge so I won't care about either one.

I hope everyone has a great week ahead of them, and I really hope someone out there in cyber world can relate to this, or I'm in big trouble if I'm the only one.

dsthreadsdownsouth out for now

Exciteing news

July 15, 2010



I'm afraid I have'nt been posting here recently, but I've been trying to get some of the projects done, that I've had started for awhile now.



I have to say that my daughter-in-law is one of my biggest fans. She's always telling me that my clothes are worth putting out there for the world to see and enjoy. I love to sew and love seeing the end result, but it's taken me awhile to think that other people would see them in the same light.



I kiddingly call her my "market manager" because she comes up with different ways that I should try to get my clothes "out there" but it's kindof hard for me to approach a total stranger and talk to them. I don't do the small talk thing very well, I'm afraid.



So she called me the other day and said that I was to get together some of the clothes that I have finished , because she had talked to the lady who fixes her hair and she said she would "showcase" some of my outfits and see what kindof response will come of it.

I had 10 outfits that I picked because I could'nt decide on only 2 or 3, well my daughter-in-law could'nt either, so I said I would just let the woman pick, well she could'nt decide either, she said they were all so cute, so she ended up keeping 8 to put around in her salon.

I'm hoping that it will lead to more orders and at the very least more exposure for sure. I will keep my fingers crossed and keep ya'll updated.

dsthreadsdownsouth out for now

Clemson Tigers VS Carolina Gamecocks

July 7, 2010

For anyone who lives in the south or watches college you know what I'm talking about. These two college teams are South Carolina's rival teams.

I told you in a earlier post that I was gonna tap the college market with some college logo outfits, will this is my first "batch".

On the top of the page is Clemson Tigers, my husband's long time team, especially for football. It's a little girls top with button shoulder flaps, and the pants are capris with lace around the hem, just to give it a little girly feel even though she might be going to the big game, she can do it in style. I also found some ribbon that has tiny bull horns on them with the saying "Go Team" so I made a bow and put it on the shirt and pants.

The second picture is the Carolina Gamecocks logo. This is the pillow case dress, only this one is tied on the shoulders instead of the back. I've talked about these dresses before, but it's so versatile, it can really be worn until it gets to short, then can be worn as a little shirt, also can wear it in the winter with a little shirt under it with tights on the legs.

I have to say that the little pants are not blue they are purple to match the purple in Clemson's colors, but my camera is giving me fits lately, none of my colors seem to be the true color.

So that's it for now.

dsthreadsdownsouth out for now

July 6, 2010

Hi everyone! I hope everyone had a safe and happy 4th of July! We had a very quiet day here. For the first time in a long time we were by ourselves. My daughter and her 3 kids are in Ok. right now,so of course they could'nt be here, actually 1 of her sons is here in town to spend the summer with his dad, but they had plans with his family, anyway my other 2 grandkids were with their folks hanging out at home. Me and my husband went to the local "flea market" and looked around and then went to Walmart. I discovered that a Walmart here in town still had material, most of them are doing away with it, and went SHOPPING.

I love finding bargains, and when you can buy material at great prices that is just as good a quality as the fabric stores, I say why not spend some money, so I did. All total I probably got 20 yards of material, and some other sewing notions. The funny thing is my husband told me I should look on the computer for Walmarts in the surrounding small towns and call and see if they still had material, so I did, he does have some pretty good ideas sometimes, and the Walmart 2 blocks from my fabric store is where I found they still carry it. Never knew!!!

So we went shopping, then came home and my husband got ready to leave, he's a truck driver so he had to go to work. He's usually gone only 3 days at a time so it's not to bad. That was our excititng holiday weekend.

I wanted to go to the flea market to check it out to see if anyone was selling anything close to the clothes I'm making, I'm thinking of taking them there to see how it goes. There was nobody selling any new stuff, mostly used, and only 1 booth was doing that. So I'm getting them ready and will probably try it this weekend.

The first little outfit here in the pic. is an outfit I made for my daughter-in-laws niece. It turned out really cute. It's just a simple tank top with a ruffle on the bottom and the capri pants. I love the material for the top, it's very summery and bright.

The second picture is the USC Gamecocks dress that a neighbor of my daughter-in-law wanted me to make. I actually made 4 dresses for her daughter and a friend. This is the back view, she wanted the bow to tie in the back. I took a pic. of the front, but it was fuzzy and I have already taken them to her, so the back will have to be it.

Now that I'm done with hers I'm going to get busy and make some more for the gamecock fans, and I can't make gamecocks without making Clemson, the rival of the gamecocks, and my husband's long time college team.

As always anything that you see here can be repoduced, or if you have an idea e-mail me with it and we will see what we can come up with.

dsthreadsdownsouth out for now.

Flowered Tier Dress

June 28,2010



I've noticed from reading some of my own earlier posts that I have repeated myself by starting out with saying "I wanted to share with you" so I'm not going to say that this time. I'm just going to invite you to take a look at what I made over the weekend.

I saw this dress made up in a neighborhood fabric store that I get some of my sewing notions at and thought it was the cutest dress, so I bought the pattern and some material and here it is. I actually did'nt get the material there, she's a little store and does'nt really have to much variety in fabric and is a bit pricey for me sometimes.

I was happy with the end result, all though I think the material was a bit to "dressy" for an everyday dress, this material would be considered more of a special occasion, I think. I think it would really be cute, and everyday ware, in a simple cotton design. You can't really tell from my pictures, but the material is "sparkley" with silver little lines running all through it.

The dress has 3 tiers on it, completely lined and zipper in back. This is a size 8, but once again it can probably be even a 10. This pattern was kindof different, in the fact that you made each tier individually, then the lining and then you put them all together, and finally put on the bodice, the top, of the dress.

To change the subject a bit, I live in SC, a huge college football supporting town, SC gamecocks, and that is what I'm going to be focusing on for the next few weeks, or how ever long it takes me. I have a friend of my daughter-in-law who asked me if I could make her daughter a dress with USC, University of South Carolina, symbols on it. So I got to thinking since college football is so important in our town, that I have possibly been missing out on a huge market, so I'm going to be experimenting in that area. Because my husband is a huge long time Clemson fan, I can't leave them out, so I'll be doing things with that also. I'll be doing dresses & the purses that I showed in previous blogs, all with the college themes on them.

So I hope you enjoyed the dress and come along with the new adventure, and I will keep you posted on my progress.

Dsthreadsdownsouth out for now.

What I've been working on

June 24, 2010

I wanted to share another boys shorts outfit that I made awhile back. If you notice the shirt is out of the same material as the other boys outfit, but the shorts are out of khaki material. They are pull up shorts with the side flap pockets. I like this short pattern alot better than the one I made out of the denim. This is a larger size, boys do grow up and need clothes, it's a size 10, according to the pattern, but it could possibly even fit a size 12.

I just wanted to give another option to anyone who may be looking or interested, and I have to say I do like the look of these shorts. Hope you enyoy and have a great day.

dsthreadsdownsouth out for now.

Lady Bug Denim Jumper & bag

June 22, 2010

Hi again. I wanted to share my latest project with ya'll. It's a denim jumper with a matching little purse with a ladybug applique on it.

I was trying to think of what I could make that would be a little different for a change, and while the jumper is not all that different, the applique certainly is. Also the little purse is made completely different than the previous purse I posted.

I had gotten this pattern thinking that the purse would be something that me and my granddaughter could do, if she decided she might want to learn to sew. I got the idea that she might want to learn to sew because she likes to create things, like going in my sewing room and cutting out pieces of fabric and then gluing them together to see what it can make. But she has never really said "grandma I want to learn to sew".

Got off track there for a minute. Anyway when I bought the pattern I did'nt realize that the jumper was part of the pattern. I had some denim left over, if you remember I bought a lot of it when I was in Fla. So I thought it would be cute to make the jumper and matching purse.

About my experience with applique, it is almost nonexistent, even though I love the idea and the concept of it. I did play around with it somewhat, but did'nt think it was something that I could do, or my machine, since I have just a basic machine. So when I decided I wanted to jazz it up a bit, I remember a friend in Australia telling me to just experiment and go for it, so that's what I did, and I have to say, I love the way they turned out.

The jumper it self is very easy and basic, with rick rack around the pockets and hem. The applique is done out of scrapes of material and zigzag stitches. The body of the lady bug should probably have been done it black, to give it more of a realistic look, but I did'nt think it would show up very good on the blue denim, and I loved the "pop" of the 2 toned oranges.

To be honest I don't think my camera does it justice in the pictures, so you'll have to take my word that it really does look good together. It's a digital camera, but it always seems to have a tannish hue in the pictures.

My husband keeps asking me who I'm making these clothes for, and I tell him right now for me, but someone will see something that I've made and say, "I have to have that " so until then I'll keep making what I think is cute and affordable, and it's what I enjoy doing.

As always thanks for coming by and taking a peek, if there's anything I can do for you please let me know.

dsthreadsdownsouth out for now.

My Scrape Purse

June 16, 2010

I wanted to share with you my latest project. As you can see it's a purse, could be used as a diaper bag as well.

I was at the fabric store, they have patterns on sale every so often, and I always try and go just to see what might jump out at me. I have to say that I have never looked beyond the clothes patterns, but this day I was'nt in any hurry, and started flipping through the book. I came across the crafts in the book, and this purse pattern was so cute, I had to get it and see what it would turn out like. I say "turn out like" because not all patterns turn out like you imagine them to. For reasons unknown to me, the cutest picture on the front pattern does not always end up as your final project. It really is trial and error, and old saying , to let you have a hint of my age.

Anyway I had the pattern for a couple weeks, I was working on other things at the time I got it, but a couple days ago I came across it again, and decided to finally make it. I wanted it to be kindof bold, something I usually don't see me doing, so I went through my left over material to see what I could come up with.

The whole bag is made form scrapes of material that I had left over. My daughter-in-law bought the material, shh, we won't tell her that she paid for my new bag, I made both my granddaughters a top and capris out of it.

The bag has 2 pockets in the front, one has a snapped tab over it, also has the bow, and the back also has 2 pockets. The inside is lined and also has a pocket, the linning is green, it matches the green of the purse, but I could'nt get a good picture of it, so you'll have to take my word for it, and it also has a pocket inside. Every piece is interfaced, it gives it more stability, and body. If I make another one I would also put interfacing in the solid pink around the top. I did'nt call for it, but I think it would make it sturdier also.

It could most definitely be used for a diaper bag, on a day that you don't have to take the whole nursery. We don't have any little ones right now, so a purse it is. I think it would really be cute in denim, for the older girls, but being summer I thought this turned out really cute.

As always anything you see on my blog, or if you have something in mind but don't see it here, just contact me here or e-mail me and we will see what we can create.

d.sthreadsdownsouth out for now.