A Better Headscarf

A while back, one of my young friends showed me a very cool headscarf she had found. Instead of tying in the back, it simply had a covered elastic band. I thought it was pretty neat, so I copied it.

All in all, it was fairly simple to make. I used a rectangle of fabric that was 10 in. by 8 in., another piece that was 10 in. by 3 in., and a 7 in. piece of 1 in. elastic.

The first thing I did was hem the long sides of the big piece. Next, I ironed a 1/2 inch down on the short sides of the small piece, stuck the elastic under the crease, and sewed it down.

Then, I put right sides together on the small piece and sewed down the long edge, creating a tube with the elastic on the outside. Next, I turned it right-side-out.

The last step was to gather the short edges of the big piece, make it as small as possible, and jam it into each end of the tube. (I was not very happy with this technique- it was difficult and hard to get right. Anyone have any suggestions about how to do it differently?)

I then sewed across the ends of the tube.

aaaaaand it's done!

the Lemonade dress

I made this cute dress a few weeks back.

It was very easy.

I started with a tank top, and cut the hem off.

Then, I took 2 pieces of fabric for the skirt, and gave them pockets.

I also did a serger hem on the top of the skirt piece, and a regular hem on the bottom.

Then, I sewed them to the shirt by stretching the shirt while I sewed, so it gathered the skirt.

Voila!

Update on life

Yay for a crazy busy life. Lately, I've been working. A lot. But that's ok, because the more I work, the more money I get! I am also going to teach a few ten-year-olds how to sew over the summer. I am looking forward to that! AND I've been doing quite a bit of babysitting lately. Funny story, I put a one-year-old to sleep by pretending to snore. Yep. I guess I have a soothing snore.

Oh, and Project Runway is starting back up July 25th!!!

A Hard Thing That Needs Doing

"John Piper, pastor and author, defines a holy ambition as something you really, really, really want to do-and that God wants you to do also. Some people would call this passion, but it's passion under the lordship of Jesus Christ. What's yours?" Do Hard Things by Alex and Brett Harris.

When I read this passage this morning, my mind flashed back to a conversation I had with my Mom a few days ago. I have always loved sewing (as evidenced by this blog) but I have other passions as well. One of them is the people of Africa. I went to Zambia last year, and what I saw there burned itself in my memory. The people literally have nothing. The government tries to help, but what happens when the government can't afford to help anymore? Or when the government is in turmoil, like Libya or Somalia? I firmly believe that the only way to really help these people is to give them the resources and training to help themselves.

As my Mom and I talked about this, we discussed what a seamstress like me might be able to do. We agreed that teaching African women to sew would give them a livelihood and means of support, but we realized that many of the people who really need it don't have the electricity to run a sewing machine. Then we hit upon an idea: Treadle sewing machines.

What if I partnered with a major sewing machine company (Singer, Pfaff) to manufacture treadle sewing machines to give to African women for free? I would raise the money, and they would make them.

When my mom and I hashed this out, I was excited that I might be able to do something like that eventually. But this book, Do Hard Things, has challenged me to do it NOW. However, I can't do it alone. No matter what your strengths are, I can put them to use. If you are interested, (even a little!) please comment on this post, or send me a message, or something. Let's do this!

Modesty

Lately I have been thinking about what it means to be modest. This was sparked by a survey I read online, The Modesty Survey, conducted by The Rebelution. The survey was mainly about what Christian guys view as modest, and some of it surprised me. For example, having a purse strap across your chest between your breasts is a stumbling block for many guys. As a girl who loves fashion and loves to look nice, this was kind of an eye-opener for me. I am realizing that many of my shirts are probably too tight to be really modest, and some of my shorts are very short. What am I to do? Do I just never wear those again? Do I only wear them in certain places? Do I refashion them to make them more modest? How does one make shorts a good 6 inches longer anyway?

But I think modesty isn't just about how you dress. Attitude, and Actions have an influence on what guys will think about when they look at you. If your heart doesn't have a God-glorifying attitude, they're not going to see God. If you go around doing things that turn guys on, (flirting, trying to get attention) you will end up turning them on, even if it's just in their minds. Jesus says: "If anyone causes one of these little ones-those who believe in me-to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea." (Matthew 18:6 NIV) Wow! God feels very strongly about causing other Christians to stumble! As girls, we need to do our part to protect our brothers from sin.

What modesty really comes down to is who are you dressing for? Are you dressing to get guys attention? Maybe, you are just dressing to please yourself, what you think looks nice and not thinking about what God or guys will see (Mea culpa on this one). But who we need to be dressing for-myself included- is God. If God is pleased, you are modest.

Old Sewing Projects

If you read the post I wrote a few days ago, you know that VBS is going on right now. Unfortunately it takes a lot of my time, so I don't have anything new for you. I do, however, have some old projects I've done over the years to show you!

Let's get started...

I made this dress for a friend of mine for her prom. I also entered it in the Joann Fabrics Own Your Look Contest. I used a pattern, but I altered it to her specifications.

This was the costume for the White Witch in our homeschool group's production of The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe. I did not make it from scratch, I just took an old wedding dress and added blue tulle and blue chiffon to it.

Today, I did something new.

I sewed a puppet's hand.

Because of VBS, of course!

The Vacation Bible School at my church runs every year in the last week of June. It is always a blast, even for teens like me. We get to help out with shepherding the little kids, doing songs and hand motions, and puppets, of course! Earlier this week, I did the puppet costumes. No, I didn't sew them. (you can all gasp in astonishment now)

Instead, I went to the Salvation Army Store and bought baby clothes. (no comments on how it must look for my 17 year old self to be buying baby clothes...)

The puppets looked really good, except for one of the girl puppets, who had a small rip on her finger. So, I had to stitch it up. In the car. On the way to puppet rehearsal. YAY

Anyway, I am looking forward to VBS, and I think you should come check it out!

Generation T Book Review

Photo Credit

Generation T by Megan Nicolay is a great book. It is basically how to take a T-shirt (there are designs for all sizes) and refashion it into something you'll actually wear. Anyone can use it because many of the designs are "no-sew", requiring only scissors and safety pins.

Instructions: The instructions were clear and easy to follow. There is an extensive sewing how-to at the beginning for anyone not comfortable with a needle and thread. The designs are all assigned a level, from 1 to 5, based on difficulty.

Illustrations: Almost the whole book (except for a set of picture-pages in the middle) is black and white. This means people like me who are addicted to fabric don't get to drool over pretty pictures, but the actual how-to drawings are easy to understand.

Designs: I'll say it plain: many of the t-shirt refashions are immodest. But, with 108 to choose from (and variations on all of those), there are enough modest ones to make it a worthwhile buy.

All in all, it's a great book, and I have used it and taught from it on a multitude of occasions.

Handsewing Jersey Knits

Today at work (I work as a home aide), my employer asked me to mend a skirt for her. The skirt was made of a stretchy two-way knit. I knew that if I used a regular running stitch, the stretchiness would be lost. So, I used this cool technique on handsewing a zig zag I saw in Generation T by Megan Nicolay. (Great book, by the way. I'll do a review of it soon.) Here's the technique:

Start by bringing the thread up through the fabric, close to the edge (but not so close it might pull off).

Then, go down about a quarter inch, and a little to the side, and push the needle through.

Next, go back up in line with the first stitch, and do the same thing.

Continue in that pattern...

And voìla! Zig zag stitch. AND, it's still stretchy:

This is what the back will look like:

Have a great day!

Handspun potholder

For my high school graduation, I received a spinning wheel. I tried it out, and am in the process of knitting a potholder with the new yarn. I find spinning to be so relaxing! It is hard to find the rhythm at first, but once I got the hang of it, it was very easy.

I am hoping to felt my potholder, to make it nice and thick. I just hope I have enough yarn. Right now, I am knitting 25 stitches on size 10 needles, The project is 7 in. wide and only 4 in. long right now. There isn't much yarn left, and I think I might run out. One bobbin on the spinning wheel sure doesn't hold much!