Make a Garment a Month Challenge - July 2015 plans

July's theme for Make a Garment a Month Challenge is to 'Sew Bookish'.  In other words, choose a pattern from some sort of book or publication.  Make a Garment a Month Challenge is a laid-back, supportive, encouraging group of ladies with an oh-so-sweet administrator in Sarah Liz, who allows great freedom for us to either follow the theme, or not.  This month's theme is right up my alley with my current love affair with all things Japanese sewing books so Yay! No problem here!  :)

I will again be making a dress from Yoshiko Tsukiori's 'Stylish Dress Book'.

This time it will be Patterm M.

A pretty, feminine summer dress requiring scalloped edged fabric.  I may do something different with the sleeves.

But scallop edging does not adorn my fabric because I could not resist this oh-so-pretty, 100% cotton, blue gingham with embroidered daisies recently purchased from Joann's during one of their 50% off sales....... 

.....so I am tatting my scalloped trim.  Hmmm, the photo below shows the more accurate colors of the fabric.  I love this fabric!

Anyway, back to the tatting.  I have modified a trim pattern in Rebecca Jones' book 'The Complete Book of Tatting' by deleting the picots on the chain thread to make it look more 'scalloped'.  The picots on the ring thread will be where I hand-stitch the trim to my fabric.

It has been a looooooong time since I tatted.  In fact, I think I thought I'd forgotten about it until I happened to see a young lady recently, who I'd taught to tat when she was a teenager..... and she told me how much it meant to her, and that she still pulled out her tatting shuttles every now and then just so she would never forget the skill.  How cool is that?!  I didn't have the heart to tell her I'd completely forgotten about teaching her to tat..... just smiled and and gave her a hug.  :)  But this touching encounter served as a great reminder, as to how we never know how we may touch others.  Humbling.  Anyways..... it also served as a great reminder to me that I should bring out my own shuttles and see what I could remember.  Soooo, here's what I've done so far.  Am thinking I may only add the tatted trim to the front neckline..... not the entire hem.  We'll see.

Thought I'd share a glimpse of  my current project I'm calling the Monet Dress.  It's Pattern A, also from 'Stylish Dress Book' by Yoshiko Tsukiori only this time I'm adding pockets.... with french seams.... a new skill to learn to add those two techniques together.  Another difference is that I gathered the neckline as per the pattern, instead of pleats like the Pointillism Dress.

And a picture, below, of what has been keeping me busy!  The garden has been producing abundantly this year!  This is a photo of our 12 4' x 8' raised beds full of yellow squash, zucchini, banana pepper, green pepper, dill, basil, kale, purple hull cowpeas, acorn squash, butternut squash and cucumbers.  *Whew*!  We also have a large in-ground garden bed full of tomatoes and okra, as well as a pumpkin patch, blackberry patch and a fig tree.

Happy Sewing Everyone!