Tag Archives: wedding

Like Father, Like Son

My boys

I wanted to make a tie for Caleb for the wedding and then I thought to myself, why not make one for Bill as well? I’ve had this nifty Alexander Henry dragon print lying around for ages, and I thought it would make a nice tie. I like the scalloped design in the background.

tie close up

I already reviewed the Burda Osman Tie pattern I used for Bill’s tie in my post Holiday Gifts: Necktie.  I went ahead and left out the tie interfacing/interlining as I did in the last version, again this was quilter’s cotton, though not as heavy as the pirate ship cotton from the last post.  Bill commented that he really liked the way the tie tapered a little in the middle, it made tying it easy and made a nice looking knot.  All in all, the tie took me about an hour to make. Easy Peesy Lemon Squeezy.

tie close up  tie close up  tie close up

Caleb’s tie was even simpler.  For his, I used the Ottobre Designs Boys Tie Pattern. Once again, take the time to copy it out nicely onto pattern paper – you’ll thank yourself later.  Note that Ottobre Designs does NOT include seam allowances, you will have to add your own (don’t forget!), depending on what you’re most comfortable with. I added just a quarter inch, standard quilting seam allowance.  The toughest part of this pattern is turning the whole tie tube inside out after you’re done  sewing. I don’t know why I have such a hard time turning tubes. I have any manner of tools to help me with this task and they never seem to work right. I always end up picking the tube out with a pin! At any rate, that is really, really the toughest part.  I promise. If you have a little boy, I encourage you to make this tie!  The tail end sticks out because Caleb kept “adjusting” it. In truth, I think he liked it that way. The tail is a little short to put inside a keeper, I might lengthen the pattern next time so the tie will be long enough for a keeper. 

Burda Osman Tie Pattern: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ out of 5. Easy, free and yeilds professional results.

Ottobre Designs Boys Tie Pattern: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ out of 5. So easy and free as well, but it needs to be a couple inches longer.

Isn’t he a cutie pie? Yes, I’m biased.

Caleb

PS. Yet another To-Do-list project down!

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Wedding crafts

Wash stand - bubbles, flowers & programs

My friend, Valerie, got married this weekend on the beautiful grounds of the Oatlands Plantation in Leesburg, VA. Helping her devise items for the wedding was quite a treat. This was one of our “concoctions” so to speak.

We found this amazing vintage washstand at Chartreuse & Co, a monthly vintage tag sale up in Fredrick, MD. There’ll be a post on that soon too.  Inside the upper bowl are little bottles of bubbles, and in the bottom, flowers floating in water.  The side pockets were designed to hold the programs using all materials I had on hand – linen from my old kitchen curtains, some embroidered linen upholstery samples that worked with the colors and floral designs on the invitations and brown grosgrain ribbon.  Pretty, no?

Wash stand - bubbles, flowers & programs  Wash stand - bubbles, flowers & programs  Arrival at the ceremony

P.S. This is a To-Do list project.

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If You’re Going to San Francisco…

Altar quilt

Be sure to bring a quilt.

So I have these two friends.  And they are good friends.  And for the last couple years they’ve been living in Frankfurt, Germany.  I missed them. A lot. Last May, I guess it was, we got a call from Frankfurt that they were finally going to get married!  Hip, hip hooray! 

In September, they returned stateside for a short stint and began planning.  May would be the date, California would be the place; in a lavendar field not far from Davis.   My husband and I were asked to do a reading:

i carry your heart with me
by e. e. cummings

i carry your heart with me(i carry it in
my heart)i am never without it(anywhere
i go you go,my dear;and whatever is done
by only me is your doing,my darling)
                                                      i fear
no fate(for you are my fate,my sweet)i want
no world(for beautiful you are my world,my true)
and it’s you are whatever a moon has always meant
and whatever a sun will always sing is you
here is the deepest secret nobody knows
(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud
and the sky of the sky of a tree called life;which grows
higher than soul can hope or mind can hide)
and this is the wonder that’s keeping the stars apart
i carry your heart(i carry it in my heart)

Fast forward now to January when the bride requested that I make not one, not two, but THREE quilts for the wedding ceremony.  What could I do but oblige?  I mean, these are goooooood friends, after all.

We shopped for fabric, designed, cut and sewed together two lovely, traditional (in pattern only) table runners, but the pièce de résistance was left up to me – the altar decoration. 

I looked at tons and tons and tons of pictures of California and the rolling hills and lavender fields in California and even in France.  I printed out my favorites, cut them apart and pasted them back together again to make what I felt was an interesting, if not quite accurate, representation of the wedding venue.  And then I re-made it in fabric.  And the whole time I was sewing, I was singing … 

“If you’re going to san Francisco/Be sure the wear some flowers in your hair…”
The altar

I didn’t, by the way, wear flowers in my hair.  Feathers worked better with my dress.

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