I've always liked how a square neckline looks on me, but I have problems with tops I purchase because the neckline is often too wide. My bra straps show. Not good.
I purchased this top last July but haven't been able to wear it for that reason.
I finally took the time to research how to make a wide neckline narrow. I found several methods, but this looked like one that would work on this particular top.
It took very little time to complete the alteration, once I found this method. The little tucks bring the sides of the neckline in just enough, and without messing with the shoulders or the bust, which fit me well.
I found a lone pink button in my stash that fits the bill for this casual top.
Here's what it looks like when I wear it.
So often, the hardest part for me to learn a new technique or fixing a problem is simply starting.
Bonus: Learning this technique brings me one step closer to my 25 Goals in 2025.
The zipper tab broke off my favorite fleece vest. The loop that holds the tab broke, not the tab itself.
After a bit of research, I decided to replace the tab with this product. The zipper can be repaired with no sewing involved. It was a little more expensive than a regular zipper pull, but it's a neat design that can snap onto the existing zipper -- in less than 30 seconds! Just make sure you get the correct size.
The directions look simple enough.
But cutting the existing tab off with the snips was not easy. I didn't have the strength to do it. Dale didn't even have the strength to do it. So I chipped away at the little metal part bit by bit using both snips and a hacksaw.
That took an hour or so, but I got 'er done!
Snapping the new zipper pull onto the zipper teeth took less than 30 seconds. It went so smoothly and quickly that I didn't get a chance for a photo of the process.
When I tried my vest on to see how well the zip works, my finger got pricked on something. What that heck is that? Is it a mistake? Did I get something defective?
It took me a bit to figure it out. It's a feature, not a bug. That pokey-outy thing can be snapped into that little indention. So I can pull the zipper tab up, say half way, then snap the pokey thing into the indentation thing and the zipper will hold in place ... sort of park itself where I want it to stay. Huh. I could have done without that feature. I don't need to poke myself inadvertently every time I put my vest on.
But look! Nice, eh?
That's another of the advanced sewing techniques I wanted to learn this year. Whoo-hoo!
Here's another of the advanced sewing techniques I want to learn this year: the rolled hem on the end of this scarf.
I found this slightly sheer heart-printed scarf at the Dollar Tree. It's sold as an infinity scarf, but I wanted to turn it into a simple long narrow scarf. I chose this particular scarf as my project because it's a super lightweight fabric and it only cost $.125. If my first attempt didn't go well, I can simply cut the scarf a little shorter and try again. It's not high stakes.
So first, I cut off the seam that fastened the two ends together.
Using the "silk" setting on my iron, I pressed out the wrinkles.
Then I squared off the cut edge with my rotary cutter and a ruler to make a clean edge.
I sewed a basting stitch 1/8 of an inch along the cut edges.
Then I pressed the edge over 1/8 of an inch.
I pressed the edge over another 1/8 of an inch, holding the hem in place with pins. I gave this a good shot of steam with my iron to hold things in place. The ends of the hem didn't want to stay put, though the steam helped quite a bit. But keeping the ends tucked in with fabric that frays so much was quite a challenge so I pinned to the very edge of the hem.
Since I had some trouble with the folded hem staying in place on the first end of the scarf, I used some spray sizing (sort of like starch, but formulated for lightweight fabrics) on the second end before trying the first 1/8 inch fold. I gave it another shot of sizing and steam before the second fold. I think it helped a little. I really had to take my time with this step.
It was finally time to snap on my new rolled hem sewing machine foot. At first, I couldn't get the needle to work correctly. It kept bumping into the sewing machine foot. I was afraid I bought the wrong size of rolled hem foot for my machine. Oh, no! But after fiddling with it for about 15 minutes, I figured out that if I lifted the front of the foot a smidge as I started the hem, it worked because as I sewed, the fabric coming into the foot would lift the front in just the same way.
I started with the needle going through all layers of the hem at the edge of the scarf. Needle down position. I took a couple stitches as close to the edge of the fabric as possible. Then I manipulated the fabric into the "corkscrew" part of the rolled hem foot. That is tricky! I used a stylus and a pin to lift the fabric gently into place in the corkscrew. Then I sewed s-l-o-w-l-y. Once placed correctly, the foot helped keep that tiny hem rolled in just the right position to make a teeny hem.
One trick I figured out to help the fabric stay in that corkscrew was to hold the fabric feeding into the foot at a slight angle. That way the fabric didn't inadvertently slip out of the foot.
The fabric did stretch a little as I sewed (probably due to that extra angled feeding), so the end of the hem overlapped the side a tad. I just cut if off.
At the starting end, before the fabric was fed into the foot, there were a few missing stitches. This little scarf could have survived just fine without them, but since I'm in the learning phase, I decided to thread a needle with one of the leading threads and hand sew two or three stitches to finish the hem off nicely.
Results! The inside/back of the rolled hem:
The outside/front of the hem:
I must say ...I'm am very very very pleased with the result! In past years I tried to learn to do this, always with pathetic results. I just couldn't get the fabric to stay in the corkscrew. But using a lightweight fabric, staystitching, using sizing and steam, and pressing well made all the difference. I feel like I've finally learned this technique and will be able to replicate it.
Halleluiah!
I used this video to help me learn the technique. It doesn't say anything about staystitching or using sizing. Those were my ideas wrought from experience.
Perhaps you recall my Valentine Cat that I stitched last month. 'Twas a quick little project to stitch, and I pulled the supplies for the finishing process together quickly, too.
Then Margaret did a Margaret thing. I had to stop for a number of weeks to figure out the next step. I knew I wanted the gingham fabric to line up on the front of the pillow. But if I sewed strips of fabric along each side of the stitching as I usually do, it would make me nuts if the gingham didn't line up correctly.
So I had to stew on it.
A couple days ago the answer came in a flash -- applique it on the front of the gingham. Duh!
So I used interfacing on the inside of the front panel of the pillow so the light gingham fabric could have the heft to hold the applique. I used fusible web initially to attach the stitching to the front panel. Then I reinforced it by stitching it in place.
Next came the decisions regarding trimming the appliqued piece to make the edges look tidy. Finding a coordinating ribbon of a pleasing width took far longer than expected, but I finally got there.
Then it took several attempts before I figured out how to miter the corners of the ribbon around the stitching. I'm super pleased with myself for a first try at mitering this way. The corners are relatively neat and the stitching on the edges of the ribbon is straight.
Learning to miter corners using my sewing machine instead of by hand stitching is one of the advanced sewing techniques I wanted to learn this year.
I inserted a zipper at the bottom of the pillow so that I can store the pillow cover flat when it's not in use.
(And LOOK how well the gingham matches on the bottom edge!)
The back has the same sweet heart gingham as the front. I even managed to get the orientation the same on both sides -- hearts up!
The Valentine Kitty is in place. It's about the only Valentine decoration I have up so far.
For the second purse I finished yesterday I utilized the same striped pattern, this time with a variegated purple body, interrupted with a pink stripe.
The rim of the purse, the outer edge of the strap, the flower and the closure all use the same pink. I added a purple center for the flower. It makes for a nice contrast.
And inside? It's lined with psychedelic butterflies flitting around on a light purple background.
I hope to donate these crocheted purses and 8 jigsaw puzzles to Bags of Love tomorrow. I hope all the gifts bring a little joy to a kid who is having a rough time.
After taking a couple months off, I'm back to crocheting some purses for little girls that I'll donate to Bags of Love. This time I repeated a striped pattern that I did back in September 2024. I think it looks quite sweet with the main body in white confetti yarn with turquoise accents. It's not nearly as bold as my red purse.
I chose a light turquoise button for the center of the flower. I also added turquoise rows to the strap to create a stripe.
I created a loop that surrounds the flower to hold the purse closed. Inside, a fun coordinating fabric. Is that a Paw Patrol character?
I was able to finish two purses today, so will share the other one soon. I hope to make at least 12 purses this year as one of my 25 Goals in 2025.
Last year, or maybe in 2023, I found this lovely tablecloth at a thrift store. It's a large oval made of a nice heavy damask fabric. I bought it to convert it into a round tablecloth that would fit our dining room table.
Then the math happened. I know I've mentioned it before, but sometimes getting the measurements correct gets away from me. It's a bit of a problem for a crafter. Last October I finally bit the bullet and cut the oval down to a circle. It worked. Whew!
I wanted to see if I could finally learn how to do a rolled hem using the specialty foot on my sewing machine. The idea is that you carefully wind the edge of the fabric into the spiral of the foot. As it comes out the other end, the fabric edge is folded over twice and is perfectly lined up with the needle to get a very narrow rolled hem.
I did some practice runs using the remnants of tablecloth fabric, but I couldn't get it to stitch consistently. I'm pretty sure it's because of the fabric's hefty weight. So I'll save learning that technique for another time. Realizing that my original idea wasn't going to work, it took me two more months to come up with my next plan.
What I wanted most was to have the tablecloth's rounded edge nice and flat, with no ripples. A fabric circle is both on grain and on the bias. Part of the edge is nice and firm (on grain) and part is stretchy (bias). That's been my ongoing problem trying to sew with fabrics cut on a bias. The hem gets all wobbly due to the extra stretch.
So I started with a staystitch 1/4" around the edge of the tablecloth. I pressed it well on that basting line. Then I folded and pressed, folded and pressed, being very careful not to stretch the edge. I gave it a lot of steam. Then I pinned it in place keeping the pins very close to each other. I didn't want anything to move.
I set the speed of my machine to "slow" and really took my time as I sewed.
I used my clear zipper foot with the needle set to the left position so that I could sew very close to the top edge of the hem. I also got out the seam guide attachment. The guide attaches with a screw to the machine and you can adjust it left and right. It helped me keep the folded edge of the tablecloth exactly where I needed it so that the stitching remained even at the top of the hem.
Those techniques made all the difference. The hem came out beautifully! And look! I got the math right! That's the ideal amount of fall off the edge of the table.
This is going to look wonderful when I want to be fancy.
I think the damask is beautiful with my delicate china pattern and cut glass goblets and serving dishes.
What do you think? Shall I use it on Valentine's Day for a quiet dinner with my sweetheart?
p.s. I inherited the china plates and teacups from my mom. But the matching teapot, sugar bowl, creamer and quite a number of other serving dishes were purchased for an incredibly low price at ... a thrift store! I'm still on the lookout for inexpensive matching salt and pepper shakers and the lipped plate for the butter dish.
It's a tradition for me to embroider an individualized ornament for each new grandchild. For Melody, I cross-stitched baby feet. For Annie, an owl. Jodie didn't have anything in particular in mind and encouraged me to use my imagination.
Abby's nursery is decorated with a goat (kid) theme, so I jumped into that idea. I found this adorable image online and used it as my starting point. I chose a slightly different color scheme, and sketched a little Christmas stocking hanging from the goat's mouth instead of the tin can.
I designed the back myself, using an old-fashioned compass to draw the circles. I used my own handwriting for the lettering ... but not until after I spent more than an hour trying to figure out how to do it on the computer and coming up short - and frustrated. I finally decided "done is better than good" and went with the less professional-looking version.
I used some scrap fabric as the ground cloth. I think this might actually be a piece of an old bedsheet. It was quite thin, so before I started stitching on it, I ironed on a piece of fusible interfacing. The interfacing is translucent, so it's a bit hard to see in the photo. But if you look inside those blue lines the edges are visible.
Then I did a floss toss, choosing goat and Christmas colors.
The stitching went quickly, once the designs were transferred onto the fabric. I embellished the back with two tiny red buttons.
I decided to finish the ornament using these "Finishing Forms." They work much like covered buttons. A thin layer of fiberfill/batting is laid over the convex side of the form. The stitching is laid on top of that. The fabric is stretched to the back side of the form and glued in place.
Then the two stitched pieces are glued together along the edges. Finally, I covered the edge of the ornament with a braided cord, adding a hanging loop at the top.
