Sewing Bloggers

I'm grateful for sewing bloggers.  I'm so glad especially for those who spend the time to post their projects, tips, and tutorials.  I know that the people in my life think that I'm a really good seamstress, but in reality I'm constantly improving and the rate of improvement has escalated so much since I have discovered the world of sewing bloggers.  I have learned new techniques for doing full bust adjustments (FBAs), shirring, collars, and a myriad of other things.  I get so much inspiration from seeing their projects.  I've also discovered that I'm more willing to accept and wear my garments (and dress my girls in them) that aren't perfect and this is an enormous boost to all our wardrobes.  I discovered sewing magazines from reading their blogs, which is huge.  I really think that if I lost access to the Internet, there would be two things I really missed, one is the community of parents of children with Down syndrome and the other would be sewing bloggers.

Also, a note on Ally.  She is doing much better.  She had some sort of stomach flu and the beginnings of heart issues.  She is now on an ace inhibitor and her appetite has gotten much better.  I really appreciate all the support my friends and family have given me.

The Bear Cub's Teacher

Those that know me in real life know that I have a *few* grudges against doctors and teachers.  I've had a lot of bad experiences with them both and very few good ones.  My MIL is always telling me that I need to give them the benefit of the doubt and that there are more good ones than bad ones and that my experiences were not indicative of what is out there.  While I try to give individual teachers a chance, it is harder for me than most, I think.

I am, however, incredibly grateful for the bear cub's current teacher.  She is wonderful and I can only hope that the bear cub gets her next year, too (the bear cub will have preschool until she turns five so she has another year after this one).  This teacher majored in deaf communication and signs with the bear cub and the rest of the class.  She has kept the bear cub on her potty training schedule and we have had fairly few accidents while she is at school.  She is extremely communicative with me and shows genuine concern about what is going on at home and letting me know not only what they are doing at school but also what the bear cub is interested and how she is interacting with her classmates and teachers.  I'm so pleased that she has such a wonderful educator this year.

My Beloved Ally

If you've been reading a while, you know a little about my puppies.  My Ally is fifteen and struggling right now, so I'm having a hard time coming up with my grateful today.  I normally have enough that come to mind that I could post multiples and today they are all Ally-based and I don't want to post about any of them because it feels like good-bye.

I'm just grateful that most of my days are filled with feeling of thankfulness and things to be thankful for.

Visiting Family

I'm very grateful that I'm going to get to see my younger sister and my other niece, Little Miss, soon.  I miss them so much and since they live 2 days drive away I very rarely get to see them.  I'm really looking forward to it and am so glad that we have the ability to make the trip this year and have not had to delay it as we have had to so many times in the past.  I miss them so much.

Simplicity 4463 Take 3 - Eeyore

I just had to make Eeyore.  This one was made for the bear cub, but is being modeled by Darth Baby because the bear cub is a bit under the weather right now.  I love Eeyore.  I had a purple donkey that I called Eeyore when I was little.  He wasn't even close to looking like the real one and his purple wasn't a lavender, but closer to fushia, but I loved him all the same.  I couldn't find a lavender minky and decided to do this Eeyore in all blue instead of putting fleece on the belly.

 While she was more than happy to wear the Eeyore costume, she refused to hold the stuffed Eeyore and grabbed her Pooh.

I added a little view of the back because the tail is so stinking cute.  I had to shorten it because the pattern made it much longer than the leg and I didn't want her tripping over it.

The Drama Princess

My beautiful niece, front and center, doing something she definitely has a talent for, though unfortunately, I didn't get to see her performance last night.  I know she did fantastic because I've seen her perform before and she is eloquent and poised and thrives on the attention.

I am thankful for my niece and the time I get to spend with her.  I've loved this little girl since before she was my niece or I even thought she would be.  I am grateful that my girls have at least one cousin that they are growing up with and I'm so glad to see their relationship grow and thrive, especially for the nerdlet, who is personality-wise almost the exact opposite.

The Drama Princess doesn't have the easy relationship with my girls that they have with each other.  She is an only child and often struggles with things like sharing and taking turns, but she is getting better at these things all the time.

All three of my girls love her and look forward to her weekly visits and are not happy when I have to cancel them, which happens way more than I would like.  The Drama Princess definitely adds so much to our lives with her vibrancy and unique style.

I'll leave you with a picture of her dance moves.

Cloth Napkin Tutorial

The nerdlet loves cloth napkins and has been asking for some for over a year.  I finally decided to makes some in no small part due to wanting to buy and use photo quality fruit and veggie fabric that I've seen at my local fabric store, The Creative Sewing Center.  You can order most of the fabrics that I used there.  I don't get anything if you do, and I've never used their online ordering, but I figured that anyone reading this might want to have some of the same fabric.

Anyway, I figured I might as well do a tutorial.  It's a pretty simple project and great for a beginning sewer.  I googled napkin sizes and there doesn't seem to be a standard size.  They range from 15 inches squared to 21 inches squared.  I made mine 16 inches squared because I bought a yard of each fabric and you can get four napkins to a yard.  You'll want to buy two inches longer (and make sure you don't get shorted even a little bit) for each two you wish to make.

Cut your fabric into perfect squares two inches larger than your desired napkin size.  For mine this was 18 inches.  Then fold over the corners two inches from the end.

Unfold and cut off the corner, leaving about 1/2 inch from the fold.

Then fold back up and press.  Do this on all four sides.

Then fold up 1/2 inch the length of the square and press.  I'll let you in on my secret press method here.  I use the finger nail press system here.

Then fold up 1/2 inch of fabric again so that the cut edge is inside the second fold and press.

Do this on all four sides.

Here's another secret.  I don't bother to pin these at all.  Here is the corner with both sides folded over twice.

I start on the corner and stitch a few stitches and then backstitch and forward again.  I'm sewing 1/16 of an inch from the fold.

When I get to the corner, I stop the needle exactly between the two sides in the corner crease.

Lift the foot, turn, and sew on, again 1/16 inch from the edge.

Sew this way all the way around, backstitch at the end and cut the fabric.

Then I sew again 1/16 an inch from the edge.  At the corners, I'm actually 1/8 inch from the edge.  This is to keep my corner from getting sucked into the machine.  I also angle the fabric slightly like you see in the picture for 2-3 stitches for the same reason.  Then I turn the fabric back to straight and 1/16 inch from the edge.

This is what you see after it is stitched, in case you are worried about what the weird turning will make it look like.  You have to strain to even see what I did.

Again I sew all the way around this way.  Moving to the 1/8 inch mark at each corner and back out to 1/16 inch at the sides.  Another way to prevent the machine from taking the corners in is to put tissue paper (or medical table paper, which is what I use for this sort of thing and also pattern tracing) under the corners while you sew.

And a picture of the other side.  The reason for the difference in color is lack of flash.

A fuzzy picture of all the napkins I made, washed and ironed. I'm considering going back for one of these fabrics and making placemats, potholders, and curtains to match.