Category: Sewing

I’m slowly getting back  into sewing, with small projects. Earlier today I made a sleep mask.

I used fabric that I’d purchased over a year ago. I originally wrote about it here. I also wrote about Disney’s Vicious Villian fabric, when my lovely daughter used some of it, when she sewed a pillow for her bed. She loves pillows!

 

I designed, cut out a pattern and started cutting. I started to pin the outside fabric to the ‘batting’.

See? It’s wool. It’s also a lint magnet. Thank goodness it will be hidden since it’s the batting.

I sewed the front to the batting.

I went back and serged the raw edges.

Time to add the tube to cover the elastic!

Sew everything together and turn it right side out.

It’s finished!

Earlier today, I made two types of soup; salmon herb soup and a vegetable & herb soup. The above picture us the salmon. My daughter inhaled hers. She said it was delicious.

I remembered to take a picture of mine, when it was almost gone. Whoops…

I hope you’re enjoying life!

You see this adorable dog? It’s Bella, our BichonPoo. She’s my shadow, incredibly affectionate, high energy and playful, but… she also has a dark side. Which is why, at times, she’s appropriately called…  demon dog. Bella’s still lovable, even when she’s being destructive. 😝 Thankfully, damaging things does not happen too often.

Earlier this morning, after my daughter had folded the clothes, that had been washed and dried, she pointed out this…

You see that? It’s a jagged tear! Guess who’s the culprit? Yep… Bella! A few days ago, when my daughter had folded the clothes, she had placed her clothes on the step to take them upstairs in her room. She forgot about them. Of course Bella didn’t… and that’s when she made her move. She pulled the shirt under the couch and started chewing. While we didn’t catch her in the act, we did find the shirt under the couch. I did not check the sleeves, but I did toss it back in the washing machine since she’d carried it off under the couch. No… under the couch isn’t dirty, but she had the shirt. We have another dog, Bentley, but… it wasn’t him. He rarely comes in the living room and he can’t fit under the couch. So yeah… obviously it’s her! Funny thing is, we didn’t notice the damage until today.

Here’s another view. Bella chewed the left sleeve.

I told my daughter this could be easily fixed. Yes… it’s a knit garment, but I do have a machine that I purchased exclusively for finishing seams on knitwear, it’s called a Coverstitch machine.

The first thing I did, to begin the mending process, was to cut off about two inches of the sleeve. Of course… I had to cut off the remaining sleeve also so the sleeves would match. The sleeves were a bit long on her before… but after hemming, it now falls right at her wrists. Perfect!

I chose the matching thread for my Brother Coverstitch machine. Thank goodness for Wawak. They have great deals on sewing supplies, because of that, I have numerous cones of Serger/Coverstitch thread. Their products are top notch, the customer sevice is excellent and the turn around time to ship items is quick and since I only live a few states away, I usually receive my orders within a few days.  Before using my Coverstitch machine, I tacked down the raw sleeve edges with a water soluble glue stick.

Since I had everything I needed, I began hemming. It didn’t take long to finish.

Here’s how the inside hem looks.

And here’s one final view. Done!

My daughter is thrilled that her shirt has been repaired and she gave Bella, ‘the look’. I did tell my daughter, that this is a valuable lesson for her to keep everything out of Bella’s reach. 😆

 

What’s cooking…

Two Saturday’s ago, I made an herbal homemade mayonnaise and the next day, I made potato salad.

Last tuesday, I made a half/half homemade sausage and vegetarian pizza.

The next day I grilled outside and made hamburgers and grilled veggies. To the burgers I added finely chopped squash, mushrooms, fennel, sage, green onion, cumin, cracked black pepper… and other freshly ground spices that escape me at the moment. My nephew ate two and a half burgers. He said, “Aunt Opal, these are really good!” My daughter had one.

Last week, while my nephew was here, we spent a lot of time outside. My daughter and I plan to do the same thing this week.

Later this week, I will be sewing. I will be starting to make at least one garment for me! I’m thinking of sewing a maxi sundress. We’ll see…

This week, I’m pulling out a few of my sewing machines. Why? I need to make a project bag for my swap partner. I still have not decided if I’ll add machine embroidery to the bag. It depends.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I’m using some of the loom woven fabric, that I created a few years ago. Thus far, this is my most favorite fabric that I’ve created.

 

Also on my “sewing task list” is creating a few shirts for my father. I haven’t made button down shirts in years; however, my interest was sparked when I saw an amazing paisley shirt created by Christopher Nejman. I mainly design/sew dresses and the occasional skirt.

The above book came highly recommended by Christopher Nejman (I’ve written about him below) a member of a Janome users group where I’m a member and also a few members of an Adult Sewing forum where I’m a member. It’s not “adult” because of the content. The group owner is Christian, it’s “adult” because that’s the only type of clothing that is posted there… clothing for adults.

But back to sewing shirts…

I figure my father would be the appropriate guinea pig. He has plenty of suits and shirts; however, I want to spice up his shirts a bit with some patterned fabric. You know I’ll be playing the daughter card; however, I will use colors that he does like. 🙂