the right side of the … pillow

With two Friday's in a row off of school I bumped "teach the girls to sew" to the top of my list.  This trumped "sew girls some new clothes" along with many other things, and is a trade off I'll happily make time and time again. 

1 of the 3 girls was over the moon about the day and the project.  She kept going and going, very much like a certain bunny, that is not the associated with a recent holiday.  Another girl came around once the machine started up and has since invited her teacher to come and learn to sew, with the lesson being taught by her, of course.  And my other girl, well,  she made it through and loves her pillowcase.  I think she's game to do more but she's not counting the days.

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At ages 6, 8 and 11 this project served as a great jumping off, get your feet wet, learn to line up edges and pin fabric together nice and neat, stitch some straight-ish lines, kind of project.  It doesn't matter that the lines are straight-ish, the case fits in the pillow just the same.  And I think the dreams are just that little bit sweeter on a pillowcase hand made, just for them, by them.

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G really went to town and decided that mom and dad needed new cases for the big anniversary gift (18 years married).  She was thoughtful of favorite colors and came up with the coordinates with very little interjection from anyone else.

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When it came time to sew the last case, she instructed me to write down all the steps to see if she could follow them and do the work completely by herself.  I did, but I also stuck around with gentle reminders and other helpful bits, and was completely shocked with the revelation was made that the case was for me.  I couldn't be more proud of all of them.

 

a POLKA party

We've got dots, "big ones, little ones, tall ones, short ones" (love Dr. Seuss!) lots and lots of dots.

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So, today I'm doing a comparison of all the polka dot fabric.  Maybe ALL is a tad too strong, I didn't include fabrics that are dotty but not JUST polka dots.  Strike that, I'm an equal opportunity dot lover so I've just snapped some more pictures!  Plus it looks like I forgot a couple, boy I sure am glad I made another pass looking for more dots :-)   So, get out your measuring tape and let's do a little dot-to-dot.

BIG DOTS

Big
The big STENZO dot (comes in lots of colors) is the largest polka dot we have, measuring 1 1/4"

French dot shown in Aqua measures 1 1/8"

Stenzo colored dots on white poplin are still big at 3/4"

TaDot by Michael Miller measures 7/16" (just under 1/2")

Busilis KNIT, shown in orange and yellow,  is 3/8" (smack in between 1/4" and 1/2")

SMALL DOTS

Small 

Busilis POPLIN is 5/16" (just over 1/4")

Stenzo KNIT dots (all excepting that one on the bottom in pink and aubergine are 1/4"

Small French Dots in Aqua and lime are also 1/4"

Stenzo pink/aubergine knit, Stenzo green/pink cord and Tiny Dots are all 3/16" (half of 1/4")

MORE DOTS

Dotsmisc Going down this picture one at a time:

Dream Dot: 3/4", 1 1/4" and a whopping 3 1/2"

Kaufman cord dots 3/8"

Vintage Dots1/2"

Meadow Dots 9/16" to outter ring of the larger dot and 1/4" for the supporting dot

Martini 11/16" and 7/8"

Happy Dots 3/8" including the outer ring of the "larger" dot and 1/8 for the supporting dot.

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My hope is that by seeing all these dots together and having detailed
measurements, selecting the right dot for your creation will be a snap!