Curtains/shades

I had an order for roman shades but I put a twist on it and came up with these.  

 Just a plain straight shade with fairly thick fabric to block the suns heat in the summer.

 That folds up nicely to this curtain when you want to let the sun shine in!

*Note:  These are hanging from a curtain rod in my house and actually fit the windows they will go on.  These pictures were just for demonstration purposes!

Keep spreading the word that I love to sew for others!

Paper bag skirt tutorial

Mom G. got the girls darling J. Crew sweaters for their birthday.  I thought they would be fun with white skirts.  I looked around at different styles and decided on paper bag skirts.  Here is Mariah ready for Spring with her white paper bag skirt!

 Want to make your own?

Decide the length you want your skirt.  I wanted my girls' skirts to be11 inches.  Double this and add 1/2-1 inch for the seam (23 inches).  This is the length to cut your fabric.  Then double the waist measurement for your width (40 inches).  Cut a square of fabric using these measurements.  I cut mine 23" x 40".  Fold this fabric in half the short way (along the 23" side) and serge/sew the long edge to make a long tube like the picture below.  Turn right side out and iron flat with your seam on one of the long sides (not the middle).

 You can barely see my seam on the bottom of the tube of fabric.

 I used 1 1/2 inch elastic because I like the bigger waistband look but you could use whatever size you like.  To make a casing for your elastic, sew one seam about 1/2-1 inch from the top of the tube (along the long side).  Then lay your elastic below that seam to judge where your second seam should go.  Sew the length of your fabric again.

 Your elastic casing should look something like this.

 Thread elastic through casing.  Be sure to pin the ends so your elastic doesn't slip too far through.  (sorry about the upside down picture - not real sure why it's like that!)

 Remove your pins holding your elastic and sew the 2 short ends of your fabric tube together to create the skirt.

 Turn right side out and put seam in the back center.

 Make a smaller tube of fabric for the tie/bow.  I cut a piece of fabric 5"x48", folded it in half, serged the edge, turned right side out, and ironed.  Then cut then ends on an angle.

 Tuck the angled ends under and sew.

 This makes a nice finished point for your tie/bow.

 Find the center of your tie strip and sew it onto the skirt right over your back seam.

 Done and ready to wear!

Jeans to shorts

If you have boys, you know about holes in jeans:(  I try to come up with unique ways to patch my boys jeans which sometimes works and sometime not.  In the picture below the left leg shows one of my trials.  A large, sort of zig-zag stitch over the remaining threads of the hole.  This actually has a square fabric underneath it to help keep the hole together.  It worked for some holes and not for others.  I think it is best on small holes.  So when the warm weather came and some of my patches weren't holding, I decided for the next best thing . . . shorts!

I used the same technique as I did hemming jeans for Kelly on my earlier post.  This way you can keep the same hem.  It works best if your pant leg is straight all the way down (thigh width is the same as the ankle width). 

1.  Fold the jeans up to where you want your shorts to end.  Sew at the hem line.

 2.  Cut off excess fabric.  If I did this over I would cut a little further down and then serge or zig-zag stitch the edge because it tends to get stringy with wear and washing.

 3.  Iron the hem flat.

There are your new summer shorts!