Show & Tell: While I'm Gone

We're about halfway through what will hopefully be a "farewell" tour to see family and friends. We just spent the last two days at my in-law's home, where my mother in law taught me how to sew. What a wonderful thing it is to craft a dress for a wonderful daughter! So for show and tell today, I want to show you pictures of the "firstfruits" of my sewing endeavors. Here's the one we made together (front and back views as best I could get pictures of them on my wiggly one-year-old!):






It's a size 2, so that she can get a lot of wear out of it.



Then I made this one all by myself last night between the hours of 7pm and 1am:

The colors are brighter in person than they are in this picture- it's a really fun dress... and though I made a few mistakes, I learned from 'em and that's what counts! (ETA: In case you're interested, here's the pattern for both dresses.)

Now, here are a few links for you to peruse and enjoy while I'm gone for a few days.
CULTURAL COMMENTARIES:

CHRISTIAN WOMEN'S INTERESTS:

ON THE HOME FRONT:

Happy reading and have a great week!

21 comments:

Allison said...

Wow! I'm totally impressed with your sewing! You just learned how and then made an entire dress in one night! That is truly worth some kudos! I've know how to sew for quite some time, but I'm easily distracted so it usually takes me a while to finish a project. I LOVE purses and have made a few that impress the heck out of people - you should try it - it IS fun! :-)

Congratulations on learning the new skill and have fun on the remainder of your trip!

heather said...

Your sewing is impressive-good for you! Also, my daughter is taking sewing lessons and recently completed her first skirt and she used the same fabric as the dress that you made-the multi-colored one. We got a kick out of seeing the same fabric for your daughter's dress. It looks great!

Serena said...

Wow! The dresses are beautiful! I love the fabrics! I am duly impressed! I thought this article was chock-full of good tips:
http://janelmessenger.blogspot.com/2007/05/frugal-friday-feminine-little-girl.html

I love the tip about making the bodice two sizes larger, adding ties, and making the skirt floor-length to stretch the use of the dress.

Good work on your sewing projects! You're off to a wonderful start!

Unknown said...

great job on the dresses!! i've always wanted to learn how to sew, but never seem to have enough time (nor someone to teach me... )

Jess Connell said...

;) Serena,
You are right-on-the-money! I read Janel's article a while back, and then re-read it last week before buying the fabric and patterns, so that I could use her frugal tips!

I was so glad to have run across Janel's great blogposts about frugality with sewing!

Blessings,
Jess

Musings of a Housewife said...

Jess, those are precious! Good for you.

Buffy said...

I love the second dress you made overnight. What a lovely pattern!

D said...

Darling Dress! Now I'm off to read some interesting looking articles...

mere said...

Nice job on the dresses, they're both adorable!

mere

Anonymous said...

I *love* those dresses! I need a little girl to sew for (or maybe I just need to convince the boys they need some cool printed smocks for art time ...)!

Janel said...

Those dresses are lovely Jess! Great job. There is nothing cuter than a little girl in a long dress looking sweet. :)

I love the idea of using ribbon for the ties. I never thought of that. What a terrific idea! I'll have to try that on one of my next projects. You learn something new everyday.

Glad I could inspire you...

Anonymous said...

Found your blog through Walk Slowly, Live Wildly. I come from a different faith and political perspective than you do. I followed a few of your links and want to comment on Blinded by the Sight.

Look at this chart of divorce rates by state:
http://www.statemaster.com/graph/lif_div_rat-lifestyle-divorce-rate

The ten states with the highest divorce rates are, in descending order, Nevada, Arkansas, Alabama, Wyoming, Idaho, Kentucky, West Virginia, Florida, Tennessee and Mississippi.

The ten states with the lowest divorce rates are (starting from the very lowest) D.C., Georgia, Massachusetts, Illinois, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, and Rhode Island.

In other words, the states with the highest divorce rates tend to be more conservative politically and have higher percentages of evangelical Christians.

No one knows exactly why this is so, but I believe that people pushing abstinence until marriage are unwittingly encouraging many immature young people to get married primarily in order to have sex with the person they lust after.

The human brain is still maturing even past the teenage years--many experts consider the years between age 18 and 22 to be late adolescence.

I respect people who decide to wait until they get married, or at least meet someone very special, before they have sex (I waited longer than almost all of my friends and was 21 when I lost my virginity).

However, I would not want to pressure my children to wait until marriage to have sex. In too many cases, that's a path to early marriage for the wrong reasons and, eventually, divorce.

Andrea said...

wow, Jess, I can't believe you sewed that dress after just learning! That gives me hope. Was it difficult?
Enjoy your time with your family. when are you leaving?
Blessings.

Michigan Redneck said...

I have read your blog for about a month now. I really enjoy the stuff you write. This is my first comment to you. Your blog if Very Christian and feminine. I want to congradulate you on learning to sew. What pretty dresses! Once you get to learn more you can modify patterns to be originally yours.
Also, great comment about Mike Huckabee!

Anonymous said...

Hi - I am trying to find an easy pattern for my mom to teach me how to sew my first dress for my daughter! Yours is beautiful! Would you mind posting what pattern it is? Thanks so much!

Jess Connell said...

Thanks for all the kind compliments! I'm excited that you liked them!

Andrea, The dresses weren't too difficult to make; my mother-in-law helped me know what to do each step of the way, but I did nearly all the sewing. For the 2nd dress, course, I did all of it. And I'm already on our trip right now... and will be gone through the middle of next week.

Barbara-
The pattern (which I used for both dresses) is Butterick #4172. Fast and easy-- I had to make a few alterations (I did a 1/8 stitch around the arm hole to make it look more uniform, rather than slipstitching it, and I stitched the ends of the ribbon so they wouldn't fray), but I found it to be straightforward and easy.
Good luck with your projects!

Thanks for all the kind comments, everyone! Blessings~
Jess

desmoinesdem said...

As a Democrat, I think Huckabee would be a formidable candidate for the Republicans. He has an inspiring personal story of overcoming obesity, and he comes across very well in interviews and debates. I truly can't imagine why so many people seem to prefer Giuliani, McCain, Romney or Fred Thompson.

Anonymous said...

http://liliesandthorns.blogspot.com/

I just found your blog. I am new to this electronic technology. But I think your blog will be visited by me a lot.

Michelle Maddocks said...

Good stuff to leave us with. The variety is wonderful, and so is your organization of it! I still haven't taken the test yet either, so maybe I'll be able to catch up with you while you're away. Be well and Go with God! :)

Anonymous said...

Hi Jess
Thanks for the article, A New Language of Sex. It is great. Song of Solomon is one of my favorite books. So romantic. It is nice to read something about sex from a Christian perspective, and not from a worldly one.

Sherry said...

I so loved to sew for my girls when they were little. I'm really going to have to buckle down and teach my remaining dd to sew--soon. I'm hearing the call to start sewing for my future grandchildren.