Out with the

 old broken  plastic brown sewing box, the latch was broken and if you lifted it up by the handle..."stuff" could fly everywhere.  I have had that sewing box about 50 years.  I think I got it for Christmas one year. 

 In with the new...also a Christmas gift from Far Guy.

All organized...I hardly ever use it but I have it just incase I need to hand sew something.  The crayon and colored pencil boxes from Michaels sure come in handy!  AND the best part is nothing will go flying everywhere. 

Who ever heard of a sewing box without a scissors??  I do have razor blades and a seam ripper!  I am sure I can find a scissors someplace for it.

We had a quiet day Friday, most everything is put away from the move.  I did a bunch of laundry and cleaned the bathroom.  We had salmon/pork burger no bun, baked potato, salad and raspberries for supper. 

Far Guy is maybe(knocks on wood)...maybe a tiny bit better. 

Far Side

Friends who sew

I can manage a decent hand stitch with thread and needle.   Sewing with a machine is a whole other adventure.   One of my problems is that I don’t like to measure. Ha!  Eyeballing fabric just doesn’t work.   I have always had good intentions…but I think I might be too old to learn to sew properly.
Anyways I am thankful for friends who sew.  When they say they have sewed all day and into the night…I think…wow…sounds more like a prison sentence to me.

Gifts from Henny Penny who is an awesome seamstress.

The cast iron pot holder is wonderful!  Thank you Henny Penny!
My neighbor/friend down the road Jo is also a seamstress.  She amazes me with her creations!
 
This is a way cool bag with a top that snaps open and shut. It is called a snap bag or metal measuring tape bag.  It is the perfect size for my Ipad and a few other things!  To open the bag you just pull on the triangles.
I am not sure how these gals come up with all their sewing ideas…

Sewing Challenged

Far Guy went shopping.  He bought some new pants, with cargo pockets for his new fancy smancy phone.  After the pants were washed they needed to be hemmed.  IF he would wear his cowboy boots all the time they wouldn’t be too long.

He lugged down the sewing machine from it’s box upstairs…I reminded him that the cardboard box is not as sturdy as it was 43 years ago…it is really his sewing machine….he bought it.

I had to buy some thread the same color as the new duds. Some pants had to be cut off and then hemmed..one pair I just tipped the hem over once and sewed it.  Far Guy asked me if I shouldn’t be measuring?  Well if he wants them measured vs eyeballed he should take them to a real seamstress.

Now instead of looking at men’s cute butts I am looking at the hems of their pants.

Far Guy’s sewing machine is not as old and rusty as this one…but it is 43 years old…a Sears Kenmore  practically an antique…if it were a car it would be in mint condition with only a few miles.

Mikey’s Baptism

Yesterday was Mikey’s baptismal day.  The gown fit perfectly.

He liked the feel of the gown and kept putting it in his mouth.

Maddie our Granddaughter and Mikey our Great Grandson

Mikey with his parents.

He was very good during the ceremony, he just looked all around…and kept stuffing the gown in his mouth.

Here you can see how wrinkled the gown was.  I have a bit of fabric left not much but perhaps enough to sew a bib!

I brought the gown home to wash and iron it and to pack it away for the next great grandchild.

This was originally my wedding dress December 20 1969

This repurposed gown was worn by Mikey on October 8 2017 on the ocassion of his baptism.

All sewing was accomplished with the help of my good friend and neighbor JoLynn.

Ongoing Projects: A Gown

For a very long time I have been wanting to do something with my wedding gown.  It is 48 years old this year.  It has been in several different boxes over the years, it finally ended up in the Cedar Chest upstairs. 

I bought a pattern for a long baptismal gown for a baby several years ago.  It has been on my “to do list.”

I finally took it out of hiding on May 31st.

It was very wrinkled.  Far Guy said “shouldn’t you iron it?”

Nah…

I will take a photo of it outside…maybe it will look better.

Nope still wrinkled.  Well I wasn’t going to iron it just for a photo.  After all I was going to throw it into the washer in cold water and hope it would hold together and not be just a bunch of unreconizable threads.

Deep breath.

It worked…it held together..now into the dryer keeping my fingers crossed.

That worked too.  Now to rip out some seams.  I called Jo and said “Got a seam ripper?”  She said “Sure what kind of trouble are you in now?  I will be right over.”

We ripped out seams and pinned the pattern on that first afternoon and cut out all the pieces.  The second afternoon we sewed some of it together.  The third afternoon it was all done except for some by hand stitching. I finished the hand stitching yesterday!  It was an adventure. Niether of us want to do a repeat anytime soon.  Jo is a much better seamstress than I am.

 

It is a baptismal gown and a cap.  I need to get blue ribbon to string in the cap for the ties instead of white.  Far Guy hauled out the ironing board and I pressed the entire gown….my old iron is practically an antique but it worked well enough to get out the wrinkles!

The skirt of my gown was just perfect to make the skirt of the baptismal gown.  I wanted an old fashioned look of a really long gown. 

Hey Mikey your baptismal gown is all done on June 9 2017!

I am so glad this project is done.  Many thanks to Jo for going along this sewing adventure with me!

My Mom Sews

My Mom is a wonderful seamstress. She sews, she has a sewing room and everything, a fancy sewing machine and a serger. She even has a cutting table, and a dress form. She has a room full of fabric and never passes up a fabric shop. Her ironing board is set up continually in her sewing room. She always has a hundred projects going at once.

I have none of this machine sewing know how. I do have a sewing machine. I would much rather hand sew something than drag out my machine..which is stored in it's original box..upstairs. My sewing prowess began in high school when I was going to flunk Home Economics sewing..my Mom saved my project..but she only got a C. Later in life, when I was pregnant, I bought some material to make some maternity tops..I sewed the sleeves in backwards..I cried. When the girls were little I tried to sew them some flannel nightgowns. The girls looked so pathetic in them I threw the gowns in the garbage and cried. I still have the remnants of some of my sewing projects upstairs, pieces of quilts..started..never finished. Beautiful patterns for wall hangings..that I would love to sew together..but I know they will never turn out the way I want them to. Part of my problem may be..I hate to measure anything..and apparently just eyeballing something doesn't work in the sewing world.

My Mom always comes to my rescue. I needed new kitchen curtains.. I designed them in my head. When I went over to pick out the fabric from her "store" ..she had four or five matching fabrics for me to choose from for the lining. She sewed them..she didn't like the way they turned out..the Loons in the pattern were not swimming evenly across the material. She whipped up my valence in no time flat. I like it... Want to see some before and afters??
Before: The old flannel ones that she sewed for me, about six years ago. I whined about my sewing skills back then also.


After: A simple valence, lined of course, the buttons are old treasures, some from my Grandma D and some from one of my Mothers old coats from years ago. No, the buttons do not match..they are all individual and unique. Kinda like me:)