Make Someone Smile Today

Yesterday I walked up University Place to have lunch with Sally, and on the way I saw this Priority Mail sticker again. Today I was sure to bring my camera with me to work to take a picture of it! Who knows how much longer it will be there?

I like how it's on a USPS Priority Mail label, as if to say, "Make it a priority to make someone smile today."

It's not too late if you haven't done so already! Tell me in the comments how you made someone smile today.

Fabric scraps and meditation

So my coworker has a daughter in a Daisy troop (a pre-Brownie/Girl Scout troop, who knew?) and they're doing a sustainability project, and she wanted to know if I have any fabric scraps I could give her, and she needs them this week because the project is due soon.

Do I have any fabric scraps??

So last night I filled one of those big blue Ikea bags with scraps. It was cathartic AND for a good cause and now I have more room in the fabric closet. Excellent.

I would have a picture of the bag o' scraps except this morning I couldn't find my camera. I can see my camera now, but I have already handed the bag off to her.

I went to my first meditation class tonight. I've done guided imagery CDs this summer but never a class. It was really difficult, and I think it's a good challenge for me. During part of the class I realized my back pain went away because I was concentrating so hard on the breathing exercises. But it came back. I also felt sad, and then at the end of class she said we might even cry, that it brings up emotions that are buried deep inside. Then she wanted to know how we felt. So I said yes, I felt sad. Someone said they felt cold. Another said she felt bored and impatient! The instructor said it may be an indication of how she feels in her life as a whole. Interesting.

Good night!

New Look 6922 view A: aqua rib knit edition

So I made New Look 6922 view A (knit jacket) this summer in brown and I've been wanting to remake it in aqua...so today was that day.


I haven't gotten to making the belt in aqua, so I tried it with the brown belt.
I'm not sure if I like it. Maybe it would be better with a matching belt. I also feel like it needs a snap to keep it shut, like the knotted belt isn't enough.

So now for some tips!
This is a surgical seam ripper from Kathy Ruddy. She demoed it in her classes--it goes through the stitching so so so easy. For $4, it was the best value at the ASE.


So Kathy uses fusible weft interfacing on knit hems to keep them from stretching out during the hemming process. I ordered some weft but it's not here yet so for today I used knit interfacing. It worked out really well. I measured out 2.5 inches of interfacing and cut it with a rotary cutter, then ironed it on. When it came time to hem it was so easy because I didn't have to measure again--just fold it up so the interfacing is in half, and then do my twin needle stitching.

Here's when I just interfaced the hem:




She talked about rough cuts. Basically you rough cut around the pattern, then cut interfacing slightly bigger than the rough cut, and iron the interfacing on almost to the edge of the rough cut. And THEN cut out the pattern. I liked this technique a lot. It meant less fussing around with fabric and interfacing since it was already all one piece. She said she doesn't mind having the interfacing in the seam allowance. It didn't make much difference to me.

Here's the rough cut of the fabric around the collar pattern:


There are some more tips I followed but I'm running out of steam...good night!