Happy Holiday's

I just wanted to drop a note and let you all know I'm headed out of town for 5 weeks. I'm not sure if I'll have time to post or not while I'm away. Holiday travel and visiting family is next on my agenda.

Happy Holiday's!!

Hemming Jeans - keeping the original hem, Method #2

As many of you may remember, I made a post a few months ago on how to hem jeans keeping the original hem . If you have forgotten, you can check it out here.

I have hemmed a few pairs of jeans that way and really like the outcome. However, it does take a bit of time. So today I tried another method for hemming jeans and keeping the original hem at the same time. I thought I would share:

Step 1:
Try your jeans on to decide exactly how much you need to take off. Divide that number in half and fold jeans up (bottom will be wrong side out). I took 3 inches off my jeans, so I folded them up 1 1/2 inches. Pin around both pant legs directly under the original hem.


Ste 2:
Use a zipper foot to sew a seam next to the old hem line. Do not catch any of the old hem! It will not lay correctly.


Step 3:
Iron your seam flat. Do this by laying your hem down and extra fabric up.


Step 4:
Once your hem is pressed flat, top stitch above the hem (the upper side of your first stitch line). This will give your pants a more finished look and will help your hem lay flat.


Step 5:
Cut away the extra fabric. You can zig-zag stitch the unfinished edge to help keep fray in check. I did not do this in the picture.


Finished!

I tried this method out on a pair of jeans I wanted to wear today. It was very quick! Can't beat that. The finished look is okay, but I still prefer my first method's appearance seen HERE . You can be the judge and pick the method you prefer! Good luck and enjoy those new pants!

Lengthening a Dress - adding a hem

Here's a method to lengthen a dress if the hem doesn't have enough seam allowance to let out. By adding fabric to the end of the dress you can get the exact length you want.

(Dress before with additional fabric pinned to bottom)

Decide if you can unpick the original dress hem or if it will need to be cut off (ex. the hem folds can not be ironed out.)

Find desired fabric. Make sure to align seams with dress seams when sewing together. In this case there were lots of different sections to the dress.

An important factor is how the dress curves at the bottom. Cutting a straight rectangular piece to add on will not work. Make sure you take into account the original curve of the dress so you can recreate that when adding fabric to the bottom.

Additional embellishments might be useful to tie in the added fabric. In this case ribbon and matching buttons were sew on.

Brand new dress with a new look - yet long enough for desired length!

Free Holiday/Christmas Image Downloads

With holiday spirit in mind, I was browsing online the other night and found this awesome blog. I was getting some idea's for cute Holiday Crafts. I am now working on some cute cards with these images. I thought I would pass on this new find. :)

(Just click the link of the right hand side --> to get there.)

Happy Holiday's. Thanksgiving is part of the "holidays" right?

GPS Cover - Garmin Nuvi

Recently my husband was given a GPS because of his upcoming travels (interviewing for residency programs). The Nuvi didn't come with a case! After reading this blog I decided it wouldn't be too hard to throw something together to protect the screen/device.

I simply made two little rectangular bags, stuck padding in between them and closed the top off with bias tape. Walla!

Our Nuvi - or Eunice as she goes by now - is going to be all over the country in the next few months! She packed and ready to go.