In Sewing News Today...

Fabric Stash Busting

Pattern Review's fabric stash contest is over and Liz, the winner, managed to stash bust 110.75 yards of fabric. That is one serious fabric stash (I'm not feeling so bad about my stash right now) and an amazing job at stash busting!

The contest was the mid-year kick-in-the-pants that I needed to shop through what I have in storage containers. I'm happy to report that I stash-busted 13.375 yards of fabric during the course of the contest. And sew far this year, I have busted 63.06 metres (68.9633 yards) of fabric.

Woohoo!

Mending, Alterations and Repairs

This is the hem that I lowered on a silk dress that I can squeeze back into. I gained a few, more than a few pounds. I've lost ten! Twelve more to go. But I digress...

I was happy that there was about two inches to lower.  I did a roll hem instead. And then I repaired the side seams that were starting to stretch out.

Next up, I had to remove the decorative frogs on one of my favourite makes, McCall's 2465.

It wasn't because I didn't like them, this is the second set I put on this coat. And the second one that came apart. This time around I decided on something decorative and strong.

This item was a RTW sweater that I picked up many moons ago. On another remodel job I cut the sleeves shorter in order to remove the lantern sleeve hemline.  

I can't believe I ever thought those sleeves were a good look? But again, I digress...

When I made this alteration I didn't have a walking foot for my machine and decided to hem it by hand. This worked for awhile but soon enough the hem came down. And in a moment of laziness I used basting tape to hold it up. Just until I found the time to mend it. It has been about a year since that time. Yikes.

I stitched it up using my walking foot, twin needle and knit stitch. I thought that I would avoid the wavy action that happened after it was stitched.

It is in the laundry right now with hopes that the knit will reshaped without the wave feature. Fingers are crossed. Either way, it is nice to have this cotton knit sweater back in my wardrobe.

Three repair jobs are not bad for a gal that does not have a passion for mending.

In Other Sewing News... 

I've fallen out of love with the maxi skirt. I was wearing that outfit out in the yard this evening. Bad move as it was perfect for attracting weeds and I ended up with this mess along the hemline. These thorns were all over the inside and outside of my skirt.

I tried to remove them with a lint roller. Fail.

I tried to remove them by hand. Fail.

I even tried to remove them with tweezers. Fail.

Washing the skirt didn't do a thing except set them deeper into the knit fabric. I think this item has seen the end of the line. But that is okay, I learned a valuable lesson that maxi skirts were not designed for the great outdoors outside of the patio boundaries.

Well, that is all in sewing news today.

Happy Sewing!