Stupid question? April 12, 2013

 

 

 

 

 

 

We’ve all heard that there is no such thing as a stupid question…. but we all know that there really is.

 

Or “Ask a stupid question; get a stupid answer.”  which is probably more accurate than the first line here.

 

As a homeschool mom, I get all kinds of questions all. day. long.  Some really good ones, some that are just part of schoolwork and then there are some questions that you really have to wonder about…. “Child, did you just seriously ask me that?”

 

I am notorious for asking stupid questions though (just ask my husband) – some I don’t expect answer’s too, some are honest questions that I probably should know the answer to, but don’t.  And since no one wants to answer them, I’m left wondering.  Sometimes, that can be a very bad thing….

 

 

 

I remember once in high school, asking someone what the piece of paper was that came with my car tags every year, “You should know that by now.” and they walked off.  About 10 years later I found out it was the registration for my car and I had been throwing it out all those years not knowing.

Should I have known?  Probably.  But if no one tells you, how do you find out?

 

Which is why I always, always answer honest questions, no matter how stupid they sound…. I may answer with a giggle, but I answer none-the-less!

 

I’m not talking rude questions here…. “Are you done having kids?” asked the Sears appliance woman.  I just looked at her in dismay?

 

I thought of this the other day when my oldest came home from school and was telling me about his day.  He was talking about his new Business Statistics teacher.  He had dared ask a question in class and the teacher began a 15 minute lecture on how stupid the question was and told him he obviously needed to go back to pre-algebra.  Nice – what is the school paying you for again?

Thank goodness he has a tutor who actually does her job!  In spite of struggling with math, he’s top of his class, no thanks to a teacher who thinks it’s above him to answer questions.

When he went to class the next week, he ended up showing his teacher how to use his own calculator.

 

If there is any point here, it’s that there really are dumb questions, but as long as they’re honest questions – answer them.  At some point in time, you’ll have dumb questions too.  We all have them.  And they all need to be answered.

 

 

Questions?

 

 

 

1/4″ at a time March 23, 2013

 

 

Not so much a sewing lesson I guess, but sometimes getting to know a new tool that can save you time – thus money is nice too.

 

 

 

 

This little tool is called a 1/4″ hem roller (you can actually buy them in different sizes I believe, but not by much).  You would use this for napkins, sheer fabric hems, some curtains.  Places you’d see both sides of the fabric so you want as little hem showing as possible or as light weight as possible.

 

You can do these hems by hand, but trust me, as someone who has done this by hand on yards-and-yards of a hem – get the foot!

 

You need to start out by doing a quick, very close to the edge straight stitch.  This keeps the fabric from stretching as you sew with the roller foot and give the fabric something to roll around so to speak.  You’ll want to leave the thread tails for something to hold onto to pull the fabric through in the beginning since it won’t want to feed by itself.  It’s also useful at the end so you can keep the fabric feeding through the foot and won’t pop out.

 

 

 

 

Attach your nifty little foot, set the needle to just barely catch the fabric curl (it’s about a 3 on my machine) and feed the long threads you left through first.  If you just set it under there, it sort of self feeds itself into the foot.  Do make sure that the thread from the needle and bobbin are fed through the bar AFTER the curl or the fabric won’t go anywhere.  You’ll have a lot of thread coming out the back of the foot – it’s ok, you’ll cut it off when you’re done.  Set the foot down right before the fabric and start the fabric through.  You’ll want to start slightly before the fabric, but not much.  Pulling gently letting the fabric curl through the foot.

 

 

 

You can see it curling itself here.

It works best for me to pull (very gently) with my left hand and guide with my right for this.  You’ll want to play around to find the “sweet spot” for guiding the fabric in that get’s the best roll.  It’s usually slightly to the left for me.  If it’s a long enough piece of fabric you can just hold your hand in one spot letting the fabric slide through.

This is what will come out of the other side.

Sorry for the bad photo.  Odd angle.

It ends up being very neat and clean if you do it right.  You may end up with a few spots where it didn’t tuck the fabric all the way up and you’re left with a slight raw edge.  You can go back through with small scissors and cut those spots off – being careful NOT to clip the folded edge of the sewn fabric.

This does take practice, but’s well worth the time and it’s well worth the $20 for the foot!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A little perspective here folks! February 16, 2013

 

 

 

Sometimes it’s nice, and necessary, to think back to times in your life when you really did think you weren’t going to make it through – and obviously you did, since you’re able to think back to that time!

 

I’ve had plenty of these moments and sometimes I’m even thankful.  Now that I look back on most of those moments they seem so small and not worth worrying about, but each one was a bit harder than the last, almost like a building block.  There are some that were more than minor and were actual life and death situations, so the worry was actually warranted, most however were not if I could have just kept it in perspective of what really matters.

 

 

 

 

 

Earlier this week, after a very long day, I was seriously wondering how much longer I could keep this pace, keep juggling all the chaos, keep arguing with the insurance company?  I ended up purging my entire long day to some poor, random woman at the third-born’s practice… that was until he came limping off the field injured and in a tears.

I thought my head was going to explode.  That would have been messy – and I really didn’t feel like cleaning that up!

 

You know you’ve completely lost it when you’re talking to yourself…. AND answering!  But hey – in the end, Me, Myself and I managed to muster up some perspective on the things that were happening and we’ve decided that we can handle it!

 

Me: “How exactly will we feel about this situation in 10 or even 20 years from now?  Will we still be upset?

Myself: “Of course not!’

I:  ”Panty-waist!  Get over it!  (Sheesh – I is harsh!)

Me:  ”So in several years, the fact that the third-born runs like Quasimodo, that the second-born refuses to wear his headgear and we may need to glue it to his face, that the fourth-born has used the ENTIRE case of the months worth of chicken broth and then left it out on the counter over night and that the first-born has only a few months left in the house and has no idea what he’ll be doing when he leaves, won’t matter?  Is it really that easy?

Myself:  ”Yup!  Think about it – are we still panicking over our two-year-old climbing out the second story window?  Or about how we’re going to pay for the next car payment?  How about the hubby graduating?  Nope – we’re not!  It’s over with, and this will soon be too!”

Me: “You’re right?  Hmm – I like this!”

I: “And yes, we still may own “that house” in 20 years and yes, it *still* may not have a first floor.  But hey – we have two homes, don’t be a cry baby!”  (Wow – I is really mean!)

Me: “Hmm – again right.  But now I don’t seem so stressed about it?”

 

 

 

Oh – you know you do it too!

 

Yup – I’ve completely lost my mind.  But at least I’m in a good mood and putting things in perspective.  I’ll see you in 10-20 years!

 

 

 

 

Seams to me…. February 3, 2013

 

… it’s time to start sewing!

 

 

I’m going to use a pair of pajama pants I recently made to show you the basics of putting an item together.  This is a step above a pillow, dog bed or pencil skirt, but still very, very basic.

 

(This will be a long one. Click on any picture for more detail)

 

I showed you last time the “notches” you need to cut out to make sure you have matching pieces and have the pieces put together the correct way.  Here you can see them matched up.

 

Then pin.  Pin every few inches.  The more slippery and difficult the fabric, the more pins you’ll want.  I have mine set here about every 2 1/2 or 3 inches.  I could have gone closer, but the fabric tended to stick to itself.  This will be the inside seam line of the bottoms, down the leg.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Click to see the spacing.

 

 

 

Once you have it pinned, place the fabric under your machine, laying it next to the seam allowance line you want (usually 3/4″) and lower the foot.  Only AFTER you’ve lowered the foot do you want to remove the pin, but do NOT sew over the pin!

 

 

 

See those numbers next to the foot? Those are the lines that help you measure your seam allowance – how much fabric will be on the inside of where you have just sewn. If you’re not sure which line is which, take a ruler and measure with the needle down, from the needle to the allowance line you need. You can mark it with tape if you want to remember the line you need. *Don’t forget, if you change the needle position, it will change the seam allowance measurement lines.

 

 

Sew this piece together, slowly going down the leg, removing the pins as you go before you reach them, but getting close.  Don’t push, pull or yank the fabric.  You most likely won’t even need to hold the back of the fabric for this type of project.  Just gently guide it through the front, letting the feed dogs (the jagged little bars under the presser foot) do their job.  (Turn the handle a few times with out fabric and you’ll see them move)

*Do NOT throw your pins randomly to the side, there’s no hurry and you can stop the machine to look where you’re putting them.  Have your pin cushion, magnet or box next to your machine to place them in.

You say “Well duh!  Of course, that’s what I bought this cute little pin cushion for!”  I spend a lot of my teaching time “catching” needles shot off by nervous first timers.  I promise, stopping the machine to place the needles back where they belong will pay off when you *don’t* step on your needles!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PRESS, Press, press!  You will most likely spend more time at your iron, than you will actually sewing – trust me.  It will pay off!

Flat seam, open seam wrong side, open seam right side.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Before pressing.                                                                                          After pressing.

 

 

 

Now pin the inside…. crotch for a lack of a better term.  Tucking one leg into the other, outsides touching each other.  One leg should be inside-out, the other right side-out, tucking the right side-out into the inside-out leg.  Pin together matching notches again.

Also, at this point, the notches showing where the back is may not show up as well (especially if you use a serger).  Make sure to mark it, however you choose to mark it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PRESS, Press, press, again.  First the seam flat to sink the stitches in.  Then, with the seam open on the wrong side.  Then, with the seam open on the right side.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now that it’s all sewn together and looks like a pair of bottoms, we need to hem them.  That is, make the bottom look nice and protect the raw edges.

Measure, using either a slide ruler like I have here, or a ruler, tucking 1/4″ inside and then 3/4″.  Pin about every 1 1/2″ – 2″.  After you’ve pinned, sew it down using the measurements to the side as before OR using the edge of your presser foot to keep your line steady.  Again making sure to remove the pins as you sew and to not push, pull or yank on the fabric.  You’ll distort your hem.  You may need to hold it a bit taught at this point, but there should be very little tension on it.  (Just enough to make the seam straight, not enough to make the pins shift)

 

 

The presser foot is only there to hold the fabric for me while I pin.

 

 

 

 

 

Sewing very close to the open edge as possible while still catching it.

 

 

 

PRESS, Press, press, again.  Make sure to press the hem down.  Once on the wrong side,  once on the right side.

 

 

Now – for the hardest part.  The waist band.

After measuring out how much elastic you need, either by using what the pattern calls for, or by bringing it around yourself and taking about 3 inches off, depending on how tight you like your britches.

I usually like to use 1″ elastic or larger for my waistband, I think this is also what was suggested by the pattern.  This means you need to make your seam at the waist about 1/4″ larger than your elastic.  1″ elastic = 1 1/4″ hem allowance.  1 1/2″ elastic = 1 3/4″ hem allowance.

Start pinning.

 

 

Notice the pin at the back seam. This is to make sure I can find the back easily while I’m working with the bottoms and to remind me not to sew up the hole I’m leaving for later.

 

 

Sew all the way around, leaving about a 1″ – 2″ opening to put the elastic inside.  Use the same technique as you did with the hem.  Either measuring by the lines on the side or using the edge of your foot.

 

 

 

 

PRESS, Press, press, again.

 

 

To insert the elastic you don’t have to have any fancy tools.  If you have one, use it.  If not – a safety-pin works perfectly.  Make sure it doesn’t easily open though or you’ll drive yourself nuts.  I really like to use diaper pins because they’re made to be stiffer and less likely to pop open.

Make sure to pin the opposite end to the bottoms so you won’t lose the elastic in the waistband as you’re feeding it through – did it twice once.  ONCE!  Now I know better!  Pin it.

 

 

 

 

 

Push the safety-pin through the pocket.  Pulling the fabric, pushing the pin, until the pin makes it all the way around and comes back out.  If your pin opens inside, back the elastic up a bit and you should be able to close it again while it’s still inside, being careful not to pin the fabric as well.  If it’s too stubborn, you may have to pull it back out and restart.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You can pick which way you want to sew the elastic together.  It won’t really matter once it’s inside the waistband pocket.

 

No need to make the joining pretty, it will be inside and you’ll (hopefully) never see it again.  I prefer zig-zag.  Make sure to get both edges of the elastic to make sure it doesn’t unravel and go over it several times to make sure your pants won’t *POP* and fall off later – never good!  Unless that’s what you’re going for?

 

 

 

Tuck the elastic back in and sew it up just like the rest of the seam.

 

No pressing.

 

 

You now have a pair of pajama bottoms.

 

 

 

 

What ever your beginning project, these steps should cover most of what you’ll be working on.  Points to remember -

 

• Make sure to keep your eye on the seam line, keeping it straight.  If you start to go crooked, slowly come back to the correct allowance.  If necessary, go back to where it started to curve and start again.
• Don’t sew over your pins, or fling them randomly.
• Go slowly for your first projects.
• No one started out doing this perfectly and just about anything can be fixed!
• PRESS, Press, press!  You’ll thank me for it.

Surfing life’s waves January 27, 2013

I’ve been trying to blog for a week or so now, but without sucking everyone down with me into the weirdness that has been our life these last few months.  As things drag on with “that house”, the upcoming move…. the loss of the dogs…. and the appliances…. and the renters…. and doctors appt’s…. and now an unsure date for the return of my dentist man, I’m starting to even ignore myself.

 

I can either succumb to what seems like overwhelming circumstances, become bitter, mean and grouchy or I can do what the good Lord is intending and learn from all of this making me the awesome imp He’s been working towards for thirty-some-odd years now.

 

We all know that I’m dying to learn to surf (ok, maybe not dying but I *really* want to) so a surfing analogy works best for me to describe what has been going on in my head for the last month or so…. follow me please as we take a walk through the pictures in my brain.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I hold on to my board while the waves get bigger and faster as they come to me, knocking me off each time.  It get’s harder to pull myself up and out of the surf with the weight of the water and salt sticking to my burnt skin.  My tired muscles from pulling myself up over and over and the usually friendly sun, suck what little energy I have left with each wave.

With one last-ditch effort I pull myself up on my board and lay on it for a while, feeling the still frequent waves pass under me while I catch my breath during a lull in their strength.  I turn to see others in the distance still being knocked over, going under, walking away, leaving.  I could do this too.  It would feel so good to just walk away, mumbling under my breath that it’s all too hard.  I’m tired.  This isn’t fun any more.  The sun is too hot, the water too cold.  The salt is hurting my eyes.  There’s too many people.  The boards too heavy.  I have no one to help me.  There’s too many waves and they’re so big that I can’t see passed them.

I turn my head to look out into the surf and see someone riding a huge wave – they’re amazing!  Totally wish I could do that too – AND make it look so easy.  As they come in, they see me sitting up on my board watching, probably looking like a half-drown kitten.  They yell something to me, but I can’t hear them over my own discouraging thoughts and the waves crashing in around me.  Swimming over to me, they ask if I’d like a little help? 

Well ya!  I want to surf that way too!

We swim out to where the waves start.  Holding my board to keep my feet steady and shouting out just the right advice that seem’s to be exactly what I need to hear, the next wave comes.  With them holding on to me, this time, I glide – it feels so perfect!  All of a sudden the water feels satisfying against my salted skin again and the sun gives me energy like it did before.  I still shake, and wobble, even fall, but I hear their words behind me that tell me what to do next, to keep steady and holding out their hand when I need help up.  Not only do I have their advice – but they’re encouragement too!  They point out what I do well, what I could improve on.  They remind me how great the water is again.  

From this, I become more steady on my own, with each passing wave I feel stronger and more confident, but always referring back to those words, to this friend, to this time.  Knowing how to ride out the big waves makes the little ones seem so easy now and seeking out the next big wave, exciting – so I can learn something new.  

It wasn’t the waves, the ocean or the sun that had changed, it was me.  Becoming stronger and better able to see through the sting is what makes the ride worth while.

Knowing what I know now, when I see the others around me falling, struggling, going under, I will be able to swim to them and show them how to be steady through the strongest waves.  I can cheer them on.  It’s no fun to be on the water alone; I want to stand as many people as I can on their boards so we can share the fun back on the cool beach when the sun goes down.  With a beer in our hand, a fire in the sand and music in the background we can share our stories like warriors of the past.

 

 

 

 

 

Surf’s up!