Sewing 101 Week 4: Love your curves

Welcome to week 4 of:

Sewing 101

If your a sewing newbie, please check out week 1(envelope pillow)  week 2 (easy bubble skirt)  and week 3 (french seams).  I've structured this series, so each week builds on previous weeks' lessons.

 Today we are going to make a sweet little petal skirt and talk about the importance of clipping curves. 

 As always, you are going to need 2 measurements:

 the waist and the desired length of finished skirt.

Step 1: 

Cut 2 pieces of fabric 2 X waist wide and  length +2 inches long.  For example, I want my skirt to fit a 16 inch waist and be 7 inches long, so I cut each piece 32 inches wide by 9 inches long.  I used 2 different fabrics, but you could also use 2 of the same if you wanted to be really boring :)

 Step 2: Find some sort of circle to use a pattern (glass, jar,etc.) I used 1/2 of a large Easter egg. Using your sewing marker trace it along the lower edge.
Step 3: (not pictured) sew up the side seam of piece of fabric separately.

 Step 4: Place the pretty sides together (one inside the other) and stitch along the scalloped bottom edge with a 1/4 inch seam allowance.

Step 5: With a sharp pair of scissors you are going to cut from the edge of the fabric to as close to the seam line as possible with out cutting through it ( don't cut through or it will make you swear).  Make sure you cut all the way to the point of the scallop.

You need to do this anytime you cut any type of curved edge (collars, necklines, armholes).  If the garment has a gradual curve, your clips can be further apart.  If you don't clip your edges it will look all wonky.

 

Close-up shot

 Step 6:  Turn skirt inside out an press. If your scallops, aren't looking good, go back and clip some more.

 Step 7: Topstich.  I think topstitching makes something look much more polished. I lined my fabric up with the presser foot on my machine and sewed very slowly, so it would look even and pretty.


Step 8: Do the waist band the same as in week's 2 and week 3.


Admire your work:  If you used 2 different prints-it's reversible!

Good Luck!  I'd love to see you creations.


(I am not sure how, but didn't realized I used the same fabric as last week until I was writing this up-now I feel smart)

To see where I link up or to add your party, please click here.

Can "liking something on FB " really save the world?

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Pfister for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

I'm sure that we all see status like "If you or someone you know suffers from________ please like this status".  While that may raise awareness for a particular cause-it doesn't do anything to solve problems.
Here's an actual Facebook campaign is actually doing something.  Just by heading  to the Pfister Facebook page and clicking "Like" you can raise $1 for the Friends of Pfister campaign site.
You've all heard of Pfister, they have been offering a wide variety of great plumbing products for over 100 years. You probably have several Pfister products in your home. Pfister is teaming up with Rebuilding Together to raise $20,00.
Rebuilding Together is a non-profit organization that began 30 years ago in Midland Texas.  It's goal is to provide critical home repairs, modifications and improvements to America' low-income homeowners. They provide these services at no cost to these families.  Rebuilding Together is a great grass roots organization that has been tremendously successful.  They have completed work on more than 100,000 homes across the country. They have enlisted the help of 3.4 million volunteers and have delivered more than $1.3 billion in market value in the past 30 years.
To earn $1 for this great organization, you can either like them on Pfister Facebook page or provide your e-mail address and zip code.

Carrots!

The front porch was needing a little touch of Easter.  I was inspired by Uncommen's kitchen table.  I just free-handed carrot shapes onto fusible webbed back fabric and ironed them on my pillow panels.   The greens are just made from long strips of 2 shades of green fabric. Just for fun, I top-stitched the carrots (b/c nothing says fun like top-stitching).

 I found this image at the Graphic's Fairy (It's from Alice in Wonderland).  I saw the coolest technique over at Salt Tree. She just ironed  freezer paper to the back of fabric(to add stiffness) and sent it through the printer.  I had very low expectations (today it took me 3 tries to print out regular paper) but it worked! So gonna do that again.

 Happy Easter!
To see where I link up or to add your party, please click here.

This was featured at:

Linky #35 Will Craft for..Nikycole

Hello Everyone! My name is Veronica and I blog over at Life In The Thrifty Lane where I share crafts, DIYs, home decor, recipes and much more!

 Last year I also opened an Etsy shop called NIKYCOLE (named after my daughter's nickname). I started by selling magnetic tie backs for curtains and than added hair accessories and little gifts such as bookmarks, pushpins sets, wine charms, and so on!

When we moved to our new house my daughter had curtains in her rooms that my SIL gave me but no tie backs. My husband is not a fan of making holes in the wall so I came up with the magnetic tie backs.

They are a fan way to "accessorize" your curtains and I love to make custom made orders to match your home decor.

One lucky reader will win this adorable set up push pins:

For the entries (enter as many or few as you'd like):
1. Link up a project (1 entry/ project)
2. follow my blog: http://lifeinthethriftylane.blogspot.com/
3. follow me on FB http://www.facebook.com/LifeInTheThriftyLane
4. Heart my shop: http://www.etsy.com/shop/nikycoleshop
5. follow me on Twitter https://twitter.com/#!/lifethriftylane
6. Like my new FB page https://www.facebook.com/PolkadotOwlMarket
7. Follow Tales of a Trophy Wife by: :


The most viewed link from last week's party was: Tousled Day's Circle Skirt.

Good Luck! Remember you only need to add your e-mail if you'd like to be included in my weekly reminder e-mails

Kill Garden SLugs Naturally

My garden is full of snails. I knew someone who used to put out beer in pie plates to kill snails and so I googled how to do it.  I found out that they are attracted to the yeast in the beer. Since I don't drink,  I googled to see if you could use plain yeast to kill snails and you can!  

Here's what you need.  You don't need to be exact at all, but here are some approximate measurements:

2 cups warm water

2 Tb sugar or honey

1-2 Tb yeast

2 Tb salt (optional)

Basically you need enough sugar to feed the yeast so it will grow.  It should get all foamy. 

 I also read that snails/ slugs are attracted to the smell of honey, so you can add that too.  I've tried both and didn't notice a difference and sugar is a lot cheaper.

Some sites also said to add salt.  It will kill them, but I don't think snails could climb out of my little death traps, so I don't add it.

After your mixture gets all foamy find some containers, I used this small glass jar, but you could use whatever ( bottom half of a juice or soda can, an old laundry soap scoop, baby food jars etc.). 
You are going to completely bury the container in the ground so you don't want it too big, but you want it deep enough that the snails can't climb out. 

NASTY!

I've been doing this for a week.  The first day, I got about 6-7, and now there are only 1-2 every few days.  I just empty the traps and add some more mixture.

Cheap, easy, and chemical free!
If you have some extra beer lying around, you would just substitute it for the yeast mixture.

To see where I link up or to add your party, please click here.

Winner! and Features

 

Random.org picked #60. Congrats to The Brown Eyes have it!  You win $20 credit to It's Sew Cute Boutique.  Please contact her at her shop (here) to tell her what you'd like.


As always, there were lots of great projects linked up.  Here are some of my favorites:





<center><a href="http://trophyw.blogspot.com/"><img border="0" src=" http://i1111.photobucket.com/albums/h480/trophyw/NEWFEATURED.jpg "/></a></center>
Little House int he Big D worked super hard on their yard, but it looks great. 
The Messy Roost made this adorable mason jar Easter baskets. 
Rae Gun Ramblings, gave us an awesome tutorial how to do royal icing  transfer.
 
A Couple of Craft Addicts: used some modge podge and glitter to make some scuffed shoes fabulous.
Hope to see you back here at 5:00 for another great party.  This week's sponsor is: 

Chinese Taco Salad

 

I'm sure that are your kids shun sweets and fats and beg for fruits and veggies, but it's a struggle around here to get the kiddos to eat any for dinner that doesn't come with a toy. My kids will eat taco salad, and so I decided to try the same idea, but with Asian inspired ingredients.

Ingredients:
Meat sauce:
1 lb. ground turkey
1 chopped onion
2 Tb. Soy sauce


Salad:
Cabbage
Carrots
Peppers
Peas
Chow Mein Noodles
Mandarin Oranges
You can really add anything you like: water chestnuts, mushrooms, pineapple, beans, sugar snap peas, onions, rice, quinoa, etc.


Dressing:
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup Splenda
1 Tb rice wine vinegar
1 Tb sesame oil
1/4 tsp ginger (optional)

Serve w/ chopsticks-because that makes it more fun.

My kids enthusiastically chowed down and even went for seconds and thirds.  It gained a very high place on the "make again" list.  


We tried to think of a fun name for it. Maybe "Chaco Salad"? Maybe Ninja Taco Salad?


UPDATE: I sent the leftover w/ the hubby for lunch and he actually texted me to say "I'm surprisingly a huge fan of the Turkey Chaco salad." In 16 years, it's the first lunch that has been text worthy. 




To see where I link up or to add your party, please click here.

A Family Tree 40 years in the making

I saw this idea on  Pinterest.  It was originally a way for guests to sign in at a wedding, but I thought it would be a great gift for my in-laws 40th Anniversary.

The tree is looking pretty bare.  Since we live all over the country, We just added our thumb prints.  I mailed the ink pad with the canvas, so other family members could add their thumb leaves when they go and visit.

I bought a "gallery canvas"  instead of the normal one to make it a little more special.  It worked best to stack a few books under the canvas before painting and adding our thumbs. I free handed the tree and used my Cricut and contact paper to make the stencil for the letters.  

And yes my father-in-law's name is Elmo.  My husband should have been Elmo III, and I'm grateful his parents decided that was a family tradition laid to rest.

My parents just celebrated their 40th a few months ago and this is what I made them (read about it here)




I guess I have another 10 years to think up something fun for their 50th!


To see where I link up or to add your party, please click here.