While this summer has been a bit depressing (thanks, pandemic), I’ve been super busy with a number of projects, especially sewing. At the end of May, I decided to take an online class with the Martha Pullen Company. Never heard of Martha Pullen? She is the Martha Stewart of heirloom sewing and lives in Alabama. She had her own sewing show on PBS for years. Knowing I am a fan, a friend who works in textile archives gave me a tour of Mrs. Pullen’s collections. Inside each archival box was a fabulous creation of Martha Pullen or an item she purchased while in Europe or at estate sales. She collected works from around the world so she could recreate them, and she did so quite successfully.

The class I’m registered in consists of a number of projects, each varying in skill and techniques. Some of the projects I dreaded and others I was excited about. What’s funny is that when I actually made them, I found I really liked some of the new techniques and they weren’t so bad after all. I think this is true for a lot of projects — daunting and somewhat unfamiliar, so we put off trying. Then when we are forced to, we wonder why we didn’t try it before.

Here are a few of my finished projects, including this sweet little dress. Having three boys, I didn’t make any dresses, so this was especially fun for me. New techniques included curved piping (I still hate it, sorry), using the buttonhole attachment on my machine (why did I resist trying this – it’s awesome), and ric-rack trim on the bottom to create a scalloped hem. If any little girls come my way, I would love to make more of these dresses.

This is a super soft, flannel doll quilt with chenille hearts. New techniques included making the chenille (yes, you read that right – I made the chenille and loved it), shaping the chenille, working with pre-quilted batting, and creating a diamond pattern to quilt the lower half. Applique was used for the heart insets.

The sample quilt provided in the instructions had many blocks, but we only had to choose four and show off the new techniques learned. I’ll admit the squares I thought would be a breeze turned out to be super frustrating! The needle broke, the thread broke, the bobbin thread nested, it curved instead of staying straight, etc. Once I cut the fabric too short and didn’t realize it until I had a great sample and had to start over again. The one square I thought would be hardest was the easiest and I will definitely do it again. Making sharks teeth (lower left square) was pleasant and very satisfying. I’m glad I learned this technique.

Maybe my favorite overall project so far is this baby quilt. It’s made with super soft cotton batiste for the white fabric and baby blue gingham on the other. I thought this would be easier, but again, I learned something along the way and will make this again. Hopefully this will be a class I teach one day. There is machine embroidery on each corner and the batting is white cotton flannel. It’s made with a template circle and each circle sandwich is sewn and then sides folded to create a cathedral window look. The hardest part is making sure the exact points fold over to meet the next piece correctly.

Last, but certainly not least, is the party apron. Again, I have sewn things I actually wear out in public, so this project didn’t seem too difficult at first glance. In truth, this is a heavy apron because I used so much glue on it to stabilize the ric-rack and in some piping areas. I’m fairly sure it will not wash out, but you know, there was a point I didn’t care if it was held together with superglue. Multiple fabrics were used (all cotton). While there weren’t “new” techniques to me, there were definitely new ways to incorporate these. I’ve made ruffles before, but this was a looong strand of ruffles for the bottom and it was suggested we use our sergers for this. I had a talk with my serger and he refused to work on the project. He’s an old school machine and is really only willing to serge things that will not be seen later and agreed to work on the ends as long as I folded the hem up. I was able to use a new foot that made a beautiful, tiny hem. And I purchased a knock-off gathering foot for my Pfaff to help with the ruffles. I will use both in the future. Again, I had to make my own piping and bias cut some of the trim. The hardest parts were keeping everything straight and knowing which pieces to sew to which so that the back of the apron didn’t look like a string-fest. I admit I didn’t follow all the directions on this as I wasn’t happy with the sides being tucked over. I added a bias strip of the yellow polka dot fabric to the back sides for stability and looks. I’m glad the “party” is over for this apron.

I’ve got two more projects to go and fingers crossed, will pass to become a certified teacher. Please share what you’ve been working on this summer and your plans for the fall too. Thanks for reading! Hope you stay well! — Beth