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Sewing Things That Seem Like A Waste Of Time But Are Really Lifesavers!

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  I’ll start this by saying, when I have my sewing time, I want to be able to produce something awesome at the end of that time. I don’t want to ‘prepare’ to sew … I want to sew! But all good things need preparation, and your best garment needs prep work.    Sewing a muslin   Definition: Sewing a test garment out of something other than the fabric you purchased. Use an old sheet, or just plain muslin, although that’s kind of a pricey way to go.    I’ll be honest, I did not do this for the longest time. I thought it was a waste of time and effort. What it actually is, is a waste of the fabric you purchased, which can be kind of expensive. Do you really want to cut up that 4 yards of silk and find out the dress does not fit you? When I finally realized that – bells rang, and I had an ‘aha’ moment!!   So, now I collect old sheets from whoever is getting rid of them, I buy them at the thrift store, I save my own old sheets and use those to make muslins whenever I want to sew a new pattern.
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Not Quite Enough Fabric

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 Do you keep some fabrics forever? They are just so pretty you don't want to cut into them? Yeah, me too. Well, I finally figured out that I'm not getting any younger, and I can't take them with me, so it's time to start using them.  I found a wonderful blouse pattern called Patina from Friday Pattern Company  It sews up quickly and fits well and looks good. So, I pull out one of the prints I've had for 10 years :) and decide that today is the day. The problem? I almost don't have quite enough. After I cut it out, this is all I had left!  Normally, sewing patterns have a 5/8" seam allowance. This is really quite a bit of room if you need to fudge something in order to make the fabric stretch. Then I remembered this particular pattern has a 3/8" seam allowance, which is not a lot of room! But I'd already laid it out. So I did some finagling.  This is the end of the back yoke, with the 5/8" seam marked. The problem was there was a small bit cu
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What I'm Sewing

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 Lately, I've been making rope baskets. Have you seen these? They are really so fun to make, and it's a quick and easy project to do, and you end up with lots of bowls. I'm finding that I use them for just about everything. Here's a few pictures of some I've made -  The colored baskets have fabric strips wrapped around the rope, which is really braided clothesline rope, and the light colored ones have no fabric. I love the natural look of those plains ones. Click on the picture to make it bigger.  Those are only a fraction of the bowls I've made, but I figured I'd gotten enough practice and it was time to make a BIG basket :) And here it is!  If you compare the basket to my iron, you can see how big it is.  The next thing I made was a 'bedding refresh' of my granddaughter's doll bed. It was a nice enough bed, but the bedding was awful. So, I made sheets (it didn't have sheets), pillows, a new canopy and blanket. The first picture is Before. 
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Making Buttonholes on Dark, Busy Fabric When You Have Vision Difficulties

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 Wow, time flies! Seems like I just posted last week, but I guess not.  So, today I'm going to talk about buttonhole markings on a dark, very busy fabric.  I made a blouse that has buttons up the front and two buttons on the cuffs. Even just sewing  seams, or top stitching, I had a difficult time seeing it well. So, when it came to making the buttonholes, I was concerned.  Then the light bulb turned on, and I got out the washable stabilizer again. I think I'm going to have to buy more of it.  But before that, I have to share how my 'new' machine makes awesome buttonholes. I have always had trouble with buttonholes. The ends are not always even, the length is not always the same, even though I measure and mark.  I think the buttonhole maker is so cool, I even did a video. The first thing you do is unplug the foot pedal! So, the following is all done without use of the foot pedal. No hands, no feet involved.  Ok, now on to marking on this darker, very busy fabric. I cut 1
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How to Thread Your Sewing Machine When You Can't See Very Well

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 Good morning and Happy Saturday! :)  I've had to come up with some different ways to thread my machine since I started having problems with my vision. And then I got a new sewing machine that had a needle threader, and I was so excited about that one feature! The needle threader worked twice, but never again. :( So, it's back to my ingenuity. (Like I'm the only person who figured these two things out!)  One of the vision problems I have is a lack of depth perception. So, when I'm looking at my presser foot/needle area, it all looks flat.  If I'm sewing with dark thread, I hold a little piece of white paper behind the needle.  If I'm sewing with light thread, I hold a little piece of black paper behind the needle. It works really well.  The second thing I do is use a hand-held needle threader. All the hand-held threaders say they work for hand or sewing machine needles. But they only work for your sewing machine if you pull the thread from the back.  You need to
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  Welcome to 2022!  So, this is the plan. During the last year I've been rethinking how I do projects. You know, start something wonderful, get tired of it, shove it in a box and start a new project. Nope, that process is over with. I'm being overrun by UFOs!  This is not my New Year's Resolution, I don't do those. This just happens to be the timing. Like I said, I've been rolling this over in my mind for the last year. And I actually started doing this last week and so far I have one completed quilt and one quilt top complete. More on that later.  The other thing I want to cover is tips for sewing when your eyesight is no longer what it was! My eyesight has changed quite a bit, I have a difficult time threading the needle, and my needle threader doesn't do its job. So, I created my own! It's also hard to tell darker fabrics from each other, so I figured out a way to deal with that.  Eyesight Sewing Tip #1:  I was having a hard time seeing the dark blue fabr
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