Sewing repairs and Walmart

 Can Sewing be boring? 

The last 2 weeks has mostly kept me busy with  sewing repair work,

I hemmed 2 pair of slacks for my husband,
Serged around some towels to keep them useful for as long as possible,
I fixed a State flag
I sewed a button on my husbands dress shirt.
repaired1top  and 1 jacket for my daughter
I fixed binding and replaced Velcro on some lead x-ray vests
I darned a couple of favorite socks.  Does anyone do that anymore?

I reinforced some dog leads for my friends Dog grooming shop.   I also embroidered a chair back for her about a year ago but she has since moved her shop and wanted another chair embroidered.  I did this and then I wanted to cover the embroidery up on the back of the chairs because they are seen from the sidewalk, especially when you see I had stabilized one chair back differently a year later.  The fix was easy, I  just cut 2 red rectangles of scrap fabric, finished the edges and applied them with double sided tape so you couldn't see any extra stiches on the front.  The different red is not noticeable  through the window and now looks much neater.

 

 

 

The conclusion is that none of those sewing jobs was boring, it is nice to have a useful skill.  I did get a new top made this week as well as a skirt for my daughter.  I'll give you details later.

 

 

 

The Franklin Indiana Walmart has a fabric department again, it  includes thread, interfacing  and zippers.  There was fabric on both sides of the aisle.  I remember buying fabric for many out fits for my daughter and niece as well as some for my self.   I think that having fabric at Walmart helps beginning sewers as well as young sewers like those in 4H find affordable fabric in a place they are already shopping. 

 

Thank you Walmart.

 

 

 

 

I took this picture while walking in the woods recently.  These flowers were only about 3 or 4 inches high and a treat to see.  I am not sure what they are but it I find out I'll let you know.

Upcycle floral skirt

 I found this skirt in a thrift shop and fell in love with the colors.  It is a little redder than it appears here but it is a orange red, a very pretty color.  The skirt was too large and too long and rather shapeless.

I cut off the waistband

I  shaped the skirt making it narrower in the waist and hip area and taking more off the top.   I straightened up the right side seam a bit more than you see in the picture below then,   I serged the new front and back together.  I had considered using a real waistband and zipper but I decided that I wanted to wear the skirt sometime this year so I serged the top edge, turned it under and added an elastic waist.  I  saved a lot of time by using the original skirt hem by  opening the hem up on each side seam and re-stitching  after the sides were serged. 

Here is my finished skirt after about an hour of cutting and sewing time. 

 

 

 

My cost for skirt and elastic is about $3 but the important thing is I am happy with the results of  this upcycle project and it is no longer in my sewing room.

 

How about a chipmunk or two?

Even though these little mammals are absolutely adorable and fun to watch fill their cheeks up with food from the bird feeder,  they had to go.  They were digging holes in my flower beds and digging all the dirt out of the flower pots.  But the real problem is the holes they make by the house foundation.  I was really afraid that would do some damage so I have caught both Chip and Dale and transported them to a new very nice location a couple of miles from my house.   I think they will like their new home much better.

McCalls 6604

I won this really pretty pink gaze crepe fabric from Sew Exhausted  earlier this year and thought it would be a pretty spring blouse.  The problem was that January in Indiana is cold.

 

But now it is finally getting warmer (slightly) and spring is on the way,

 

 

 

 

 

So I made Mcalls 6604

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This top went together very quickly and would look nice in many different fabric types both knit and woven.

 

The scoop of this top looks more like the line drawing rather than the one pictured on the model.  I will raise the neckline a bit the next time. When I attached the binding I did not sew it down by hand on the inside.  I instead folded the binding in half, sewed it to the inside (wrong side ) of the neck then folded it to the front and topstitched.   This picture shows the binding and the front pleat detail.

 

 

 

I finished  the sleeves with a 1/2" double turned hem.  I wanted a deeper hem for the top but I did not want to use to much length so serged a 1" band to the bottom pressed the serging up and then top stitched the serging down.

  This is also faster than double turning the hem and gives a bit more weight to the hem than if I just serged, turned up and top stitched.

 

 

 

 

 

 

  The back shoulder area was also a little snugger than I prefer but it did not look tight while I was wearing it.  Maybe if the front of the top was brought up through the shoulders it would fix both the neckline and the back shoulder area.  I'll try it next time and let you know how it works.  I also wore this top on Easter with a pink skirt and was happy with the look.

 

I think I was able to make this top in about 1-1/2 hours  which is another reason to like it.