I've Landed....

After a swirl wind summer, I have landed in my new house. So much has happened since I was last here - new house purchase, family death, ankle surgery, parent's 60th wedding anniversary, starting work on new house, getting old house ready to hit the market, death of family pet, packing the house for a move, and moving.

My ankle surgery was a success as in from constant pain to no pain.  I would do it again in an instant.  The sell of my home in PA happened much faster than expected.  It was on the market for 6 days and then had a 30 day closer.  I have been running non-stop since mid-June when the surgeon said I could take my boot off my foot.  I am ready to sit down and relax but it's not quite time yet.  There is still lots to do.

Here's a glimpse at my new sewing space:

It's not a great picture and it doesn't feel like a large room but I'm going to try to make it work.  When the previous owner's furniture was moved there were holes in the walls to deal with and lots of crayon drawings.

The one thing about moving is you get to see just how much stuff you own.  It has been a real eye opener for me.  I need to sew sew sew and quit collecting.  Currently, I'm working on furniture layout and trying to get organized.

How was your spring/summer?

Happy Sewing!

Seam Rippers and Life....

Seam Rippers?  How often do you use one?  How often do you think to replace one?

I have been working on a quilt for the past year that requires me to use my seam ripper a lot.  Granted, I always have two seam rippers just in case one does a vanishing act.  Because of the amount of ripping I have done in the past year, both of my seam rippers have been present - one at the ironing board and one at the machine.  What do you do when both of them do a disappearing act at the same time?  I searched desperately for them because you only notice that seam ripper is missing when you need it.  I have no idea how two disappeared at the same time.  Fortunately, it wasn't too late to run over to Michael's and pick up more.  Yes, I purchased two more seam rippers.  When I returned home, I found one of the missing seam rippers.  So, I didn't bother opening either of the new seam rippers that I had purchased.  Fast forward a couple of weeks and the disappearing act has returned and I open one of the seam ripper packages.  Folks, I'm telling you the difference is night and day between the old seam ripper and the new seam ripper.  They were the exact same type of seam ripper.  So, what was the difference? The old one is dull and the new one is sharp.  You don't have to work as hard to use the seam ripper.  Lesson learned, I hope.

Now on to Life...I was going to start a new series but I wasn't sure that I would be able to keep with it on a regular basis.  Life is happening in a good mostly way. We've purchased a new house 1000 miles away.  My current house needs to be ready to put on the market by August.  The new house needs work done to it before we can move into it.  This means that there will be a lot of traveling back and forth.  In the middle of this, I'm having surgery on my ankle which means no flying.  This means all the traveling both and forth will be via car for me until I get clearance to fly again.

So, with all that, I've decided to take time off until all the dust settles on this new adventure.  I haven't lived near family in over 25 years.  It will be a good adventure. Have a good summer and fall.

Happy Stitching!

Fitting Dresses...Hem Difficulties, Part 15

Continuing with the "Fitting Dresses" booklet from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Hen Difficulties

Pleats at hem line spread and sag.  On a skirt with one or more pleats, the hem line and the lower pleat edge may not be turned on the straight of the goods.  In other cases, the tops of the pleat insets may not be properly tacked in place.  Or the waistline may be fitted so loosely that the weight of the pleats pulls the skirt down from the waistline unevenly.  Or the dress may be so tight that the pleat spreads (figure 26, A).

Often rehemming the pleat inset corrects the sagging.  When the pleated section extends part way up from the bottom, tack the top of the section to the skirt or reinforce it by stitching on the right side.

On a straight pleated skirt or one with inverted or side pleats, if the sagging sections of the pleats at the waistline or yoke line until the pleats fall straight and do not spread (see figure 26, B).  Or, if the seam allowance permits, lower the other sections of the skirt from the top.

When necessary, tighten the waistline by taking up extra fullness at the seams or in hip darts.  This holds the skirt up in the proper position.

If the skirt is fitted too tightly, let out the side seams to give additional width.

Hem line is uneven.  An uneven hem is often due to poor cutting, or making a waistline too loose or a skirt too wide at the hips.  Sometimes the trouble is that the belt to be worn with the dress was not put on before the hem was marked.    In such cases, refit the dress at the waistline or hip line, and the mark a new skirt length.  It is well to let a dress hang, to stretch out, for a day before marking the hem.


This is the end of this series.  Hope you enjoyed it.

Happy Sewing!

Kitchen Towel....

I've been having a lot of fun with my knitting.  I know I should be sewing but I do have a monthly knitting group that I go to and always need a little project for it.  Here's my latest completed project:

The completed towel is about 10" wide by 13" long, I think.  This took a couple of months to complete and made for great conversation at the knitting group since everyone loved the way the stitches.   For me, it was a freebie from Knitpicks but it is no longer free.  Here's the link for the Dish Towel Set just in case you might be interested.

I think I will make another one in the reverse colors.  It will make for a nice take along project and I will be needing one of those in the next few weeks.

Happy Stitching!

Machine Applique...

It's been a while since I talked about the monthly sewing with my sewing buddy.  It was my turn to decide last and I picked machine applique.  Who knew there was so many types of machine applique?  I found The Crafty Quilter and she had tutorials on machine applique.   So, here are the types of machine applique that I chose:

1.  narrow zig zag

2.  satin zig zag

3.  blanket stitch

4.  blind hem applique

The first three were fairly easy to do.  The fourth one, we never quite able to get it right and finally gave up.  Here is my stitch sampler:

Starting at the left:

1.  narrow zigzag - the settings used are .9L/1.5W, .5L/1.3W, .4L 1.0W.

2.  satin zigzag - the settings used are .5L/3.0W, .4L/2.5W, .3L/2.0W.

My machine had different types of blanket stitches.

3. blanket stitch #11 - the settings used are 3.0L/3.5W, 2.5L/2.5W, 2.0L/2.0W.

4.  blanket stitch #15 - the settings used are 2.0L/2.0W, 1.5L/1.5W.

5.  blanket stitch #19 - the settings used are 3.0L/3.0W, 3.5L/3.5W, 3.5L/4.0W

6.  blind hem - the settings used are 2.5L/0.5W, 2.5L/.8W, 2.5L/1.3W

My samples have already been stitched together but here is what they look like:

The narrow zigzag is in the upper left hand corner and the satin zigzag is in the lower right  hand corner.  I really liked the narrow zigzag. The upper right hand corner and the lower left hand corner are both done with the blanket stitch.  This also has very nice results.

The blind hem applique ended up not working well.  I think I need to do a little more research and practice before giving up on it.  Has anyone tried this type of applique?