Lizzy House Glam Clam Quilt

Earlier this year, I had the good fortune of taking a class from Latifah Saafir on her Glam Clam quilt. Yes, I already made a Glam Clam quilt for my daughter back in 2014, but I wanted to make one for myself. I also wanted to take a class from Latifah, as I had long been an admirer of her work. I backed her Kickstarter campaign, and was itching to try out my new Clammy ruler. The class did not disappoint. I learned how to use the new ruler, was introduced to using "registration points" instead of the tabs from the old templates, and got to hear a few stories behind the motifs in Latifah's new fabric line, Grafic. It was a really fun day.

  

For this quilt, I broke into my beloved Lizzy House stash, which I had been saving for a special quilt. There were several different designs covered in the class, but since I wanted to make the classic version again, I cut all my fabric beforehand. Cutting the clams with the ruler was so much easier than cutting them out by hand with the old templates. (On my first Glam Clam quilt, it felt like I spent more time cutting than sewing, and I had to take breaks because it made my hand hurt.) Since I arrived at class ready to go, I was able to sew a little more than half of my lap sized quilt during the class. I finished the piecing the next month at my mom's house during one of our sewing days.

It took me a few months to get up the courage to quilt this, as the last lap sized quilt I quilted wasn't very fun. Since I knew this would be a couch quilt, meant for cuddling, I keep the quilting light and simple: vertical lines two inches apart. I had fun with it and used a light blue thread. This quilt is currently being used and loved and is one of my favorites. 

The Glam Clam pattern is fast and fun, and I already want to make another. Latifah just updated the pattern in her shop, if you interested. (This post is not sponsored. I just love these quilts.) 

Mini Pearl Bracelet Bettine Dress

I am a big fan of Lizzy House’s fabric designs, so when she announced a dress contest using her fabrics, of course I had to participate. (My Chasing Butterflies Myrtle Dress was ineligible because I made it before the contest was announced.) Even though you could use any Lizzy House fabric, I wanted to try one of her new woven substrates. After much deliberation, I decided on Mini Pearl Bracelet Double Gauze in Periwinkle, as I knew it was a motif, substrate and color that I would enjoy wearing. The dress pattern was harder to decide on. It had to be simple enough to make in time without stress, cute enough to be a contender for the contest, and comfortable enough that I would actually wear it after the contest. I settled on the Bettine dress by Tilly and the Buttons, and was not disappointed.

This double gauze was a dream to work with. I took my time and slowed down to enjoy the process. I used French seams whenever I could. I did stall at the facings for a little bit, as I really don’t like interfacing. I did, however, like that the facings are stitched down nice and secure and out of the way. The pocket bag technique was new to me, but quite easy to follow along. Hooray for pockets!

My dress turned out a little more “blousy” up top because my bust measurement is between sizes, and I went with the larger size. I also graded up another size at the waist to make it match up with the skirt. Speaking of the skirt, based on the examples I saw online, I added 3” to the length. I am glad I did, as it would have been too short for my taste otherwise. Even with grading out to a larger size in the skirt, the hem feels a little constrictive occasionally. Okay, it’s only constrictive when I’m running after my five year old. It’s good for all my grown-up activities.

Next time I make the Bettine dress, I’d like to go down a size on top, and make it out of knit fabric, which should be fun. All in all, I am super happy with how this dress turned out and look forward to wearing it all summer long.