Hem-ming No Way!

hemming a pair of pants.  sounds like a simple thing!  and it probably is unless YOU ARE ME.  i do not have  many talents but one of my best is making the simplest of task 10 times harder than it has to be.  i'm so good at over thinking things, if it were an Olympic event, i would be accused of doping.  and so goes hemming pants.
there are really only 2 things i've ever wanted to learn when it comes to sewing

• how to make a basic quilt
• how to hem a pair of pants

it is not for lack of googling or pinning plenty of how-to's.  it is because of mulling it over waaaay too long.  so nacho & i had a challenge this weekend:  he bet he could finish the dog lift before i hemmed these pants i've had for at least 2 years!  it was a trick!  and it worked! it got me off my butt & those pants hemmed.  and you know what?  it wasn't that bad!  are they perfect?  no!  could they be better?  yes!  BUT are they done?  definitely.
i started with a very short but insightful YouTube video.  i then promised myself not to think about it & just GO.  i'd already decided how much to take them up by simply putting them on & trying them out with 2 different heel height shoes yesterday (sorry no pic of that cuz it was super exciting).  i folded the fabric under & pinned it a number of times until i got it just right.  as she mentioned in the video, i then took the iron & ironed on this new/future hem line.
i took the plunge when i got out my seam ripper & broke the seal seam on this project (sorry for the blown out photo).

you can tell they used some sort of ribbon trim for the hem underneath. lovely but no one will see this so i wasn't too crushed to get rid of it.  it made sense a little later however.  

i unfolded everything & here you can see my new/future hem line in yellow.  as she said in the video, i determined the old hem line to be just under an inch, so i decided to just call it even & lob off 1" of fabric (the blue line). 

notice my 1" starts after the "ribbon".  what you don't see underneath is that's really where the fabric ends. it does not go to the far edge of the ribbon.  i decided to start my 1" from the edge of the fabric & not that ribbon trim.  and this is where i just had to jump.  without any 2nd, 3rd, or 4th guessing, i cut straight across at an 1" from the bottom.  you have no idea how much guts it took for me to do that.  i literally had to take a deep breadth and say "Go!"

after the drama was over, i simply sewed a Zigzag stitch to secure the edge from fraying like she mentioned in the video.

finally it was on to the reason we all came here...hem those babies!  so with my final hem line already ironed in place, and my raw edge secured with a zigzag stitch (that's the stitch you see below), i did a straight stitch all the way around to finish the hem.  and this is where i realize that ribbon was a nice finishing touch - you can see the raw edge to the left of that zigzag stitch below.  i know, it will be underneath, who will know?  but this people is how i over think into getting nothing done.  but this time, i will live with it & moved on!

and i was done!  except...i forgot these pants are lined (palm2forehead)!  this part i just estimated.  i figured i'd taken 1" off the pants, so 2" off the lining would be plenty.  and that gamble paid off.  i cut 1 1/2" off the lining fabric because i wanted to roll them under 1/4" then roll another 1/4" for a clean edge, even though it would not be seen, but you never know!  i finished that off with a zigzag stitch as well since the lining is a shinier, slicker fabric & more likely to fray.  apparently something about a zigzag stitch is good for securing those edges if you don't have a serger, which i don't.

and that, as they say, is a done hem!  not perfect, but done.  i only had a couple of glitches that, in true me fashion (ha no pun intended) almost tripped me up (my bobbin ran out of thread in the final stretches of my last lining & i'd accidentally cut through 2 layers of the pants fabric on one leg when trimming it), but i soldiered on!  and i now have a pair of 2-year old pants that can finally be worn.

and you know what that means.....now i have to make a quilt! hmmmm

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Paw-fect Stocking

har har!  get it?  "paw-fect"?  a little dog humor!  i thought that might ease the transition into another gap in posting.  didn't even notice it after that little joke did'ya?

yes, it's been a couple of weeks since posting but we were busy visiting The Fam down in Florida & then getting our Christmas on at the house!  i decided to revive an old tradition of my mom's - putting the decor up right after turkey day!  but since we were in FL for turkey, it had to wait until this past weekend.  but i am proud to say i have all my holiday goodies up & time yet to create more if i choose. yeah me!

and on that note, i spent Saturday working on a project that i actually meant to do for last year - new doggie stockings.  i had never really been a fan of the 1st two iterations of stocking for our kids & had planned to make new ones last year.  in true ME fashion, i bought all the supplies and......they sat!  so after putting up all my decorations last Friday, i was hanging the existing stockings & remembered those supplies sitting in the box.  out they came & to work i went!  i got my Pinspiration from this

Source: familyfun.go.com via DeNacho on Pinterest

my colors are a bit different - i went with a dark brown trim, but here's how it all went down!  i started by free handing the paw pattern (my printer refused to cooperate).  i'm also so cheap the type of person that likes to recyle, that i didn't want to waste another piece of paper just to get the end of the paw.  instead, i just continued cutting past the paper to create the round end.  i also cannot draw stick figures so this was probably the most stressful part for me...drawing!

 i then cut out the pad parts from brown felt.  yet more free handing & stress!

i then sewed the pads on using the embroidery floss & just making it up as i went stitch-wise!

then i created the "sandwich" that the tutorial advised.  i got a little confused here because of their wording (their "dark" fabric was my "light", etc.), but i finally got it stacked correctly.

notice the dark & light fronts & backs are stacked "back-to-back".  so the liner pieces (aka dark) are  placed rough sides together, furry side out.  then the outside (aka light) pieces are placed on each side of those with furry side out!

 then more hand stitching with the embroidery floss down one side & up the other.  without stopping or cutting the floss, then stitch across the opening side of the front, then the opening side of the back.  obviously if you just stitch across, you'll stitch it closed & that's okay if your "kids" have been bad & you have no intention of filling their stockings - hear that Baxter, no more drinking out of the toilet!!!

i finished my stockings off with a twine hanger.  i have plenty of twine laying around from gardening & just rolled the top cuff down & make-shifty sewed a twine loop in place to hang them from.

okay, i actually sewed the twine on the wrong side.  i had my other stockings leaning the other way, so i went back & sewed a 2nd loop to keep it in line with the others.  you know what that means?  i don't have to commit to hanging it one way or the other!  suprised?

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Punch List

oh my dog! some times you just have those weekends where, for no explanable reason, you get lots of stuff done! i don't know what happened to us this past weekend, but, whatever it was, i liked it! i always have my list of things to get accomplished written out for Fridays and i never get any of it done.  this last Friday was no exception.  instead of working on an endless ToNotDo list, i took Baxter over to my co-worker's house for some socializing work.  after we got back home, i had no motivation to do anything that i'd put on my list during the week.
however, for some strange reason, Saturday was a different story.  Nacho & i did our usual Sat morning breakfast at the Greece & when we got home, boy did we hit the ground running.  for me it was a deep cleaning Saturday.  we get a LOT of those wispy cob webs around here & i'd ignored them long enough. so my intention was to vacuum everything above eye level.  i did just that, but then it somehow led to more.  so here's just some of what we accomplished.....

Venting

Nacho proved me wrong for once!  he got this finished up in about 2 weeks

yes, we now vent to the outside!  horray!  so technically, the kitchen/dining remodel is complete!  i will post a full before/after soon!  this sets us up for the roof redo that we've been needing for some time. can't wait!

Wine Storage

i'd originally posted the bulk of this project here, but it was nowhere near complete at the time.  the steps have long been painted but i never did line the bottom drawers & get everything set up for storage.  check that off the list as well.

this is still by far one of my favorite items in the remodel.  and yes all of that is wine we drink with the exception of 1 empty bottle that is a placeholder!  i did add the verticle corks at the back of each bottle to prevent the bottles from sliding back & so far it's worked great!  the bottom drawers actually have room for 2 rows of wine & each drawer has room in the very back for 1-2 empty bottles.  i plan to keep those handy for that placeholder function so that bottles don't roll around when there is an empty slot.  and yes, Graffina is my current favorite right now - i have 3 different years of it. yum-o!  oh, and if anyone can find me a consistent supply of The Show Cab, i'd greatly appreciate it!

Sealed

okay, this i actually did Friday morning, but i'd been on Nacho to apply a layer of Tung oil to the bamboo counter tops.  why i didn't just do it myself to begin with, i'll never know.  but that's done now as well!

Trim

oh god how we hate HATE hate painting trim around here.  let's see with the kitchen/dining remodel, we had 10 windows to trim out & Nacho did 1. wonder who did THE OTHER FRACKING 9??? oh yeah, that would be me!  i am a saddist!

but it's done finally!  i did also manage to take some time to put 1 more coat of gloss on our bedroom window.  the photos above are the spare bedroom/office & they were dying for some attention.  anyone notice the lovely screen patch in the first photo (check out the right screen).  yeah, that's sticky Cling Wrap that's been taped to the screen on both sides using packing tape.  we can thank Baxter for that nice little remodel.  he wasn't getting enough of a breeze through his hair so he made a minor modification.  well, until we get it fixed.....  i must say, as much as i loathe painting trim, i do love how it looks when you're done.  i spent tonight putting all the hardware back on.  note to self/everyone:  it really is worth your time to remove all that hardware & don't bother taping the windows off, just come back with a razor blade after.  both those tips are such time savers!

Return of the Tarp Curtain

so i did finally get my sewing machine back a couple of weeks ago. and remember whe i modified that existing curtain to add a liner to it for use in the bedroom?  guess what?  i don't like it and i've changed my mind.  i know, simply shocking.  but i never did get rid of the old Tarp curtain!  you know what?  it's rough, but i really do like it!  so since the office/spare bedroom didn't have a good blackout curtain, just an old sheer from Pier1 way back when, i put Tarp curtain back up in here.

for some reason, i still like this curtain best. i like it so much, i'm changing my color scheme when we redo this room so i can keep this curtain. crazy i know!  i think the true test will be if Moser can sleep in here without the street light peaking through!

A Little Extra

and with the old Pier1 sheer i had in the office coming down to make way for the Tarp curtain, i had a tension rod with nothing to do.  so i borrowed from a popular Pinterest idea & repurposed that in our laundry room.

i'm going to revamp that room some day too so you will have an idea of just how small that space is.  it is my ultimate homage to organization and/or use of every square inch humanly possible!
actually this is not all we got accomplished.  we had a couple of other small items that made a big difference (or not):

• Nacho pulled the dining slider door & cleaned out the track. i do wish i'd gotten a picture of this. the door was so bad that i often had to put all my weight into it just to get it to open the entire way.  he said it was amazing the amount of sand that had accumulated in the track.  i think in the 11 years we've lived here we might have cleaned that thing once.  that is on my annual ToNotDo list now!
• i attempted to organize some speaker wire behind the couch.  why i have no idea, it will never be seen.  suffice it to say, those Command strips that seem like such a great idea on tv, not so much in my house. fell right off the wall.  i ended up using the plastic nail thingies that electricians use when running wiring to fasten the wire to a floating shelf so i could at least get them off the ground. certainly not photo worthy.

so, not exactly earth shattering, change the way i live stuff, but certainly changed the way i feel.  anyone else getting things off their punch list these days!

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Cushion for the Tush-ion

i cannot believe it has been 2+ months since i've posted anything on the kitchen!  really!  THIS was the last post i think i did. i am failing at so many of the Must Haves of a Good Blog!
so i'm making a goal (not a promise cuz a goal gives me an out):  i will do 5 more post on the kitchen "reveal".  number 5 will be a "finished" post with some before & afters.  no really!  it will!  even though we are not technically finished: 2 more items that stick out in my mind right now.  so....

post 1 of 5:  bench cushions

i know i said in an earlier post that i found a great tutorial at SewMammaSew on how to make your own bench cushions.  and i just knew i could do it myself!  then i pulled a very typical ME.  i read and re-read her post until i talked myself out of it.  also, i needed these cushions done for a cookout that we actually had back in May for Nacho's hockey team victory celebration - they won their league division or whatever!  so this was the weekend before Mom's Day.  that's how long they have actually been done!  nothing like putting a post off eh?
well, suffice it to say, we so many butts riding on the line, i didn't want to take any chances & i actually (head ducking below the monitor here) paid someone to do these for me.  i know i know!  besides, my sewing machine is still in the shop - yeah, cuz that would have made a diff!  i used a local upholstery guy but did stick to my guns & used the shower curtain material that i said i would.  thank goodness i bought so much because i can't find this shower curtain in Target anymore.  so here they are!

not only did the upholstery guy love the pattern, but he thought the use of a shower curtain was genius!  i'd come up with that idea before seeing the SewMammaSew posting, but she certainly solidified my choice!  he did such a nice job & assured me they would hold up fine, certainly until i change my mind AGAIN & decide on some other pattern that i love - i won't even link to the other shower curtains at Target i'm in love with now.  thank goodness i don't really know how to sew or we'd be buried in pillows right now!
i do have some material left over and when i finally get my sewing machine back, i really am going to sew the back pillows myself.  i think i've proven that i'm not afraid to sew a few envelop pillows thanks to Shannon over at Madigan Made!

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More Like It

that last curtain panel, while super awesome magnificent, didn't quite fit in the bedroom. but it was my practice! i took an easier path for the next curtain. i have not been having any luck finding curtains that i like. all the patterns that i have found & liked have actually been shower curtains. shower curtains seem to be my go to product lately - you'll see why in a few weeks hopefully. but i did finally find a panel at Lowe's that, while i may not be in love with it, i can live with it. it is not lined however, so i used a plain black shower curtain from Target to sew in as my liner.

first i laid the panel out on the floor & then put the black "liner" on top of it so i could cut it to size.  to hold it down, i used a boxer that i just happened to have on hand!

i found that laying everything out on the dining table was actually a little better because moving my current "weight" was difficult after she fell asleep. so once she decided to end her shift, i got back to pinning.

my photos don't do it justice.  i'm really bad at this!  but i'm sticking with it & finally got it all pinned & ready to sew!

i won't bore you with all the details & photos because i'm still having some tension problems, but after some pretty sketching sewing, i now have a fully lined curtain panel to keep the sun out & the zzzzzz's in!

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Curtain Call

my biggest hurdle this last year++ has been Motivation.  i'm just not motivated to do anything - personally or professionally - but then you got an ear full of that already.  no worries, not that kind of post this time!

so i find little things to do that hopefully, eventually, will kick start me out of this "whatevers".  and sometimes i actually do get something done!  this time it was a Curtain Panel.  like my Envelope Pillows.

i got this inspiration from House of Hepworths.  but 1st: my ONE panel did not turn out near as nice as Allison's, but i didn't intend for it to.  2nd: continuing in my tradition of "not wanting to waste anything", i made mine out of an old drop cloth.  a drop cloth that had been used & still had paint on it!

i used as my template (cuz i'm not brave enough to start from scratch), what else?  A LINED CURTAIN PANEL!

so really the question becomes, why would i bother to MAKE a curtain panel, when i already HAVE a curtain panel?  that's a good question!

anyways!  i laid my perfectly good, lined panel on top of the crappy used drop cloth & cut out my estimated size.  unlike my Template, the new crappy panel was not going to have grommets, it was going to have a pocket for the rod cuz that's what Allison was teaching! for my liner i used, what she used, an old flat sheet!  it was good enough for Allison's project, good enough for mine - and it was this or Goodwill!

a little hard to tell here because it's really the same color as the painter's tarp.  but man has that new kitchen floor come in handy!

so i did as Allison instructed & folded the sides in 1/4" once then twice which equaled 1/2" total & the top 1/4" once & then 3" after that.  and here's what it looked like:

nice huh? yeah, i liked her photo better than the one of mine that i never took, but trust me, mine really did look like this with the writing & all.  i'm guessing her's was MUCH easier to fold & iron because IT WASN'T A PAINTERS TARP!! ugh what was i thinking? actually, it wasn't that hard, but it was a bit rough on my iron

i'm tellin' you, that is some gunkification on there.  i had to stop twice to use my iron cleaner goo & boy am i glad i have that on hand.  polished it up like new!

then i laid the sheet on top of the "underside" of my tarp panel & tucked it in under one side (the left) & then again under the 3" top.  i sewed up the side, stopping just before the 3" section because remember, i'm going to have a rod going through there.  i turned the fabric and then sewed along the bottom edge of that 3" top.

i was amazed too how much it looked like Allison's at this point!  then i just trimmed up the right side, like she said, tucked that in under the tarp edge & sewed up the side.  one thing i did do that Allison opted out of was to sew across the bottom.  my current panels are not sewn across the bottom & they tend to separate when the air turns on since our vents are right in front of the window.  when all was said & done, i ended up with this

so no it does not work in the room at all if i'm trying to match anything & yes it does need to be hung higher. but i thought this was a pretty good start! and here's the best part:  it actually took me almost 5 days to make it! yep, 5 days!  i started on a Friday and ran into some serious machine problems.  i think i mentioned on the Envelope Pillows that i was having some issues with my machine.  they got much worse on this project!

my bottom stitch was completely knotting up. top stitch looked fine. i could not figure out what was going wrong.  i spent most of Saturday and all of Sunday doing nothing but adjusting tension settings & sewing on scraps & could never figure it out.  eventually i took the thread i'd used on the Envelope Pillow & tried some practice stitches with it - even though i had issues with the stitch length being weird, i didn't have knotting.  and that was the culprit...thread.  i had bought Button & Coat thread which WAS NOT meant for this machine.  so back to the sewing store i went to get Heavy Duty Denim/Jeans thread.  and there you have it, my stitching magically improved.

but let me tell you something......i learned SO MUCH about that machine.  of course now i have to take it back in to have the tension reset because i mucked with it so much it's out of whack! but man i learned a ton!  and isn't that what this is all about?  NO I TELL YOU NO!  but that's what it became about!  i actually learned what that little knobby/button thing is on the top of the machine over the needle area - it adjust the pressure of the foot so i could get over thick sections like that overlap in the upper right of the photo above.  yes sir!  i learnt it.

the best/worst part - and this is not easy to admit:  i got so frustrated Sunday, that i got up, put my shoes on, walked out of the house, told Nacho simply "i'll be back." i then proceeded to go for a 2 hour hike where i had the most demeaning, self-criticizing, by invitation only, pity party you could imagine. i don't even know who that person was. and in the midst of that hike i remembered what i said when working on the Envelope Pillow:  My mom did not leave me that sewing machine, her PRIZED sewing machine, so i could quit.  and if she'd heard the way i was talking to myself, and i'm sure she did, she would have been so disappointed in me.  the image of my mom truly disappointed in me was enough to get me back to the house & back working on that machine & figure out what i was doing wrong.  and i did.  this curtain is not perfect, but it's done & that is more important, hence why i left all those knotty stitches in & decided not to redo them.  

and that little lesson, is what's gonna get me through this year, better than last!  thanks mom!

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the Envelope Please!

i have finally decided to get the sewing machine back out again. i have a motivator though, banquette cushions.  it seems i am the one holding the kitchen dining up from "Finished" since i don't have those done.  well huh?

a few years before my mom passed away, she asked if there was anything in particular that i wanted. i knew nothing about sewing then (and not really anything now), but i'd wanted her to teach me the basics, like how to hem a pair of pants or....make a pillow. she was too ill at the time & i never got that lesson.  but i did get her sewing machine & all her sewing goodies!  i took the machine in shortly after i got it & had it completely looked over & tuned up.  i've used it for a few small projects but have always been too intimidated to do any "real" project.  well that banquette is bound to change everything now isn't it?

i've collected a few sewing projects on my Pinterest SewIt board & one is for a Simple Envelope Pillow in 20 or 40 minutes.  i must say, this was the perfect project & one of the best written how-to's i have ever come across.  Shannon was right, it took me more than 20 minutes for each one, but it wasn't because she didn't make it easy to read & do.  i had a few machine problems that slowed me down, but i stuck to it got it done!

in my quest to reuse any & all things around the house, i'd used the center portion of an old chaise cushion to make the boxers a doggie bed/mat.  that left the bottom/foot piece & the top/mid pieces for something else.  so i decided to use the smaller foot piece for my envelope cushion experiment.  the fabric came from a large quantity i bought several years ago when i bit off a project too big - making a new futon cushion.  people, that is harder than it looks & i never finished it so i had a bunch of this fabric left.

So here's that dingy cushion

yuck! nast!  but hey, it's an outdoor cushion!  who cares!  and, i'm about to make it look like new thanks to Shannon.  about = 1 hour later!

now you can easily go check out her instructions cuz they are much shorter & i think her end product is much prettier, but here's my ugly duckling's transformation process:

Steps 1 & 2 = Measure
as Shannon instructed, i measured the Length & Width for my fabric adding about 5 inches to each.

Length - I added 7 to this to give me 35"

Width - I added 5 to this to give me 29"

i like how Shannon admitted adding lots of extra just in case. she's right, i'd rather cut fabric off after i'm done than not have enough.

Steps 3 & 4 - Fold & Hem

i folded the edges over twice like Shannon instructed & ironed them down then sewed along the edge to create a nice finished edge for the envelope back when done.

Steps 5 & 6 - Wrap & Sew

after sewing the edges, lay your pillow on top of your fabric, RIGHT SIDE UP, and fold one hemmed side over

then fold the other hemmed side over

Step 7 - Close It

with the pillow still in the "wrapping", use pins to mark where you want to sew down each side to close it up.  remove the pillow sew the left & right sides.  i did a back stitch over the hemmed overlap just to give it a little extra strenth.  cut off the excess after you're done sewing & turn it right side out.

there's the old ratty cushion in the background awaiting it's new home!  and here is the finished product!

Front

and Back with the overlap!

thanks to Shannon's "rather have too much fabric" mentality, i have about a 3 1/2" overlap on my 1st pillow. it didn't quite work out that well on my 2nd, but i managed to eeek out a little overlap & pretty much use the last large piece of this old fabric. and here are my 2 pillows that i'll be using on the chaise this summer!

i do have a couple issues to keep working on with my sewing machine. i think i have a tension problem because my top thread kept breaking on me multiple times.  and each time, i made myself stop, rip out the seam & start all over from the beginning. no shortcuts this time around!  i'm training myself to expect less than perfect, deal with it & try again!  but also, there is something off on my stitches.  like this

notice how uneven they are!?  i have no idea what is causing that, so i'll consult the ladies in my swim group. for now, onto more envelope cushions as the 1st round/draft of the banquette seating!

Mad Props to Shannon over at Madigan Made!  if it weren't for her awesome tutorial & pics, there is no way i would have stuck with this and certainly wouldn't be as charged as i am to start on the real cushions!

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