Basics: Flatlocking and our 100th Day projects!

Whoa.  Apparently, the 100th day of school is a big, big deal these days.  Okay, confession time:  I kind of dreaded this assignment.  We didn't do anything special for the 100th day when I was a kid, and really, who wants to walk around finding 100 different objects, sticking them to a piece of paper and watching them fall off?

I looked around the house and found a large piece of white paper, but my very serious artist explained he wanted a colored page.  Then I found construction paper, but he said that wasn't big enough.  (Some of the kids were using poster board, but it was too late in the day to make that happen.)  My attitude started looking up when I figured out that it didn't have to be a piece of paper, though -- fabric stash to the rescue!  Then Big Boy got jazzed about designing his own custom background.

Best Practices: Pin Perpendicular to the Seam

I have a confession to make.  With few exceptions, I am a perpendicular pinner.  Though you may find it counter-intuitive, I am unapologetic.  No matter what your grandma taught you, I'm pretty sure I'll have you converted by the end of this post.

Wanna take that challenge? 

Quick Fix: The V-Neck Dress

It all began with a smokin' deal on a V-neck dress -- a really sassy, bright, ankle-length sweater dress.  The problem?  It had a V in both the front AND the back.  I have narrow shoulders.  These two factors cannot peacefully coexist.  The shoulders kept falling down, exposing my bra straps and making me generally self-conscious.  It was a love-hate relationship.

This called for a quick fix.

How to Make 10-Second Prairie Points ... or in my case, dragon spines!

Prairie points have been around for eons, and many quilters use them to decorate the edge of a quilt.  But they're not just for quilts:  I used them this week to make the row of spines down the hoodie and tail on my son's Toothless dragon costume!

Like everything else, people have designed all manner of ways to make something really simple, well, hard.  For example, check out this tutorial for continuous origami prairie points.  I'm impressed -- it's really clever -- but I like the plain, simple way my mam-maw taught me.  And it takes -- literally -- like 10 seconds.

It goes like this...

Best Practices: Working with Fusible Interfacing

Fusible interfacing can do wonderful things for your sewing.  Depending on the type you choose, it can add stability, structure and even padding to your creation.  The varieties are endless:  Fusibles range in thickness...some are tissue-like and tear easily, some stretch with your knits, yet others have no foundation at all.  Instead, they're little more than glue pressed in a misty weblike sheet used to applique one fabric to another for quilting.  Though most fusible interfacings are manufactured in white, some also come in gray and black. 

As wonderful as fusible interfacing is, it can be a total pain to work with.  Here are some tips for avoiding common pitfalls and making things a little easier...

Tutorial: How to Patch a Pair of Shorts...(or most anything, really)

When Big Boy hopped off the school bus last week, I immediately noticed a quarter-size hole in his favorite shorts.  I asked if he wanted me to patch them, and of course, he said yes.  I'm tickled that the kids think it's no big deal that I can patch things, shorten sleeves or make them a pair of "comfy pants" (read: fleece) and let out the hem the next year when they're too short.  For once, being taken for granted makes me smile. 

Tutorial: How to Tea Dye Fabric for that Vintage Look

My eyes nearly fell out from all the research I did on tea-dyeing before I tried it for the first time.  A friend asked me to help repair his childhood quilt, and we needed to "antique" the new fabrics we purchased so the replacement blocks would blend into the vintage ones.

I wasn't crazy impressed with the recommendations I found online... Tea-dyeing is not an exact science, so the best advice I can offer is pay attention, don't walk away from your fabric during this process.  Every fabric will take dye differently.  Some internet methods will tell you a certain ratio of tea bags to water, while others will tell you leave fabric soaking for hours or even overnight.  Guidelines are good; formulas are bad.  You should definitely practice on swatches or fabric you care less about before you commit that $12/yd designer quilting cotton to the process.  (As me how I know...)

Sewlympics! Get a gold medal machine for the price of a little copper...

So you want to learn to sew, but you don't want to spend a fortune on a hobby you're not even sure about.  Let me show you how to butterfly-stroke your way to a machine worth its weight in gold medals for the price of a little copper.