The Curtain Caper

I've sat here trying to figure out a snappy opening but I'm too pooped to pop or think.

This is the 6th pair of curtains I've had for this window. I have never covered the small window with anything but lace because it's so small nothing will fit there and look right. Anyway, I bought this fabric online and got a fantastic price at $6.95 a yard for higher end fabric. I love the fabric. It's a pink, taupe and white stripe and very pretty. I almost shot myself making them and this is the story.

You would think by now I'd be able to make something without ripping it apart...3 times. Yep, 3 times I took it apart. I wanted 4 panels out of the 7 yards I bought. I'm no fool. I know myself and I always buy more than I need just in case. And just in case applies to ME. First the rod pocket was too small and it wouldn't go on. Rippppp! So after sewing 4 lengths together for 2 full panels I thought it was too full. Ripppppp! So I ripped the seam apart and made 4 panels, very looooong panels and redid the edges after ripping out the rod pocket. Ripppppp! I spent several hours on Saturday doing this and while Sunday is a day of rest, the curtains sat there nagging—yep, actually staring me down and nagging—to finish them up last night because this morning I had to go to PT again and the carpet cleaner was coming.

I need a vacation at this point from just reliving this experience! Still with me?

Okay, so I flipped them over, meaning I forgot the top, just let it go, and restarted from the bottom now. But I kept one with 2 panels sewn together and the other 2 just on the rod squished tight so you can't see they are 2 panels (one on the right in the 3rd photo below.

Now, if you're confused, just think how I was this past weekend. A job that should have taken just an hour or so took me 2 1/2 days. If you've lost count of how many times I've ripped them apart, just trust me. Even I've lost official count. But if you come to my house and try to see the bottoms I just might have to kill ya. ;-)

Last night.

Last night

This morning. I really do like them!

I put the ribbon and rose back up there.

Closeup of fabric.

Very close up of fabric.

But one serendipitous thing did happen. While sitting and waiting for the carpet man, Mario, to finish I decided to redo a few things—plus wash some sheets, but that's another story. These 2 candlesticks were too large for the candles so I decided to stick some tissue paper down there. Lo and behold, it looks just like a ruffle around the candlestick. I'm impressed by my ingeniousness!


They now grace my living room table.
~*~

My Skill at Baking Bread~

I have never ever professed to be good at baking bread! I've even had a couple of different women in 2 different wards we've lived in try to show me how. I even have tried doing it in the bread maker. I had a box of a wonderful bread I made the other day to eat with some beef stew. (It was canned. Sunday is a day of rest for us so we do really easy meals.) I kept using a flashlight to look into the breadmaker to see how it was doing. I finally told hubs that it wasn't looking very good for my "domestic skill" of baking bread even with the help of an automatic appliance. Could it be that the box had been in food storage since about 2005 and the yeast had "gone bad"??? Below is how it turned out. If you laugh, DO NOT EVER VISIT MY BLOG AGAIN! I've tried and tried and this is what I get. We ate it, which is even sadder! It wasn't too bad just a bit......uuuhhhh, heavy(?). Your monitor is NOT distorted. The bread was about 2" tall! So I ain't Molly Mormon; adjust! *Sigh*........

Being Creative with Dress Making

First of all look at these shoes my daughter gave me because they were too big for her. (Shortest woman in my family but biggest feet!) Well, they fit my left foot just fine but the right one is just too big. *Sniff and sob*...... I made these adorable little bows for them and wore them to the optometrist the other day with dark blue slacks and a bright red blazer and did I turn heads!! I am not a fashion plate by ANY stretch of the imagination but I certain was colorful that day especially with a PINK shirt underneath the red blazer. But I think I'm going to have to sell these shoes on ebay!!! I've tried to find them in a smaller size so I could have one fit the right foot properly but no luck. I think I looked like a duck walking in to the optometrist's office in them but I got the royal treatment, I tell ya!! It pays to go "dressed" a bit even here in Idaho! *Smile*.......~*~

Day #1
I love this fabric. It's silky polyester in a true bright red with white polka dots. I needed 5 3/8 yards to make this simple A-line dress. I have that much.........but it's in 2 pieces. I'm going to have to get creative with it. So today I've pulled the cutting table into the living room (I still can't extend it in the craft/sewing room) and trying to figure out how I can cut it. It might be in there all day! Hubs will take me out to dinner tonight for sure as .................well, just because I'm telling him to actually! This is really taking a lot of thinking and creativity. Maybe I'll cut it off a bit higher above the knee, find another silky polyester in coordinating fabric and sew it on the bottom. I've been thinking of taking a ribbon and sewing it down the middle on a piece of fabric while twisting it as I go.

Then I found this at a fabric store and thought of using this as a ruffle around the bottom. But..........

Then things went awry and the "FUN" began! *Sigh*........

I've had this pattern for many years and it's a simple A-line dress. You can sash it if you want. Anyway, having made it several times I thought I'd just breeze through it with the modifications I mentioned above. When I got through cutting it out of those 2 pieces of fabric I had a lot left over and couldn't figure out why.

I put it aside for a day and then picked it up this morning (saturday) and began sewing. I knew I was in trouble when the 2 front pieces didn't match. I had inadvertently cut all four panels out the wrong way. No need to explain here just believe me when I say I messed it up royally! So what to do???? I made half of the dress with the right side out and the other side with the wrong side out. If you think this is easy to understand or even explain to you, I don't even wanna hear it, chicks. Try sewing all the pieces together and realizing you're using BOTH sides and......well, just trust me, it ain't easy!

Now, I hate to throw away fabric and a friend suggested making something for a child to wear and sell it on ebay to recoup my money. Nope, I love that fabric and that is all I could find. I called around to every fabric store in this area and beyond. I tried finding it on line. I went to a popular seller on ebay and websites looking for that fabric. None to be found.

Day #2
I also realized that if I used the "ribbon embroidery" fabric above it might look too weird. As if!! I had already started ripping the leftover fabric into strips because there simply wasn't enough to cut out any more dress panels. So I made a ruffle. So the right side in the pictures below (my left as I have the dress on) is the "wrong" side of the fabric and the other side is the "right" side of the fabric. Photos below are during construction.

The finished dress. I plan on wearing it to church on sunday. I'm sure I'll get stares, but I shall hold my head up high and just tell them it's a "blogging experience" or better yet a "blogging experiment"!! Trust me, I did NOT do this for a blog post but you know me well enough now that there would definitely be a blog post about this fiasco.

With the ruffle, which I like actually, I now look like a FLAMENCO COURT JESTER! I have no shame, I tell ya. Hold me back here!!! *Sigh*