Seam Ripper Gnomes

I swear there are little seam ripper gnomes that live in my sewing studio that steal all the seam rippers when I'm not looking. I must have 6 seam rippers but I can never find one when I need one. Expensive seam rippers, cheap seam rippers, it doesn't seem to matter they disappear as soon as they are out of my sight, never to be seen again.

Fricken Fracken Ruffles

I got a little time to myself yesterday and headed upstairs to my sewing room. With good intentions I decided I was going to work on those darned ruffles again. I ironed the hems and they were all prepared to be sewn. I have decided to put green ric rac on the orange ruffle layer. I begin to sew the hem to the orange ruffle and wouldn't you know it, tension problems! Ugh! And it's on THAT machine that I am experiencing the tension problems.

This is the machine that I put away for almost 20 years and almost gave up on sewing completely because it gave me such problems with tension. But I recently decided to give it another chance when I found it while cleaning out the garage to prepare for a yard sale. It still had some old fabric with a big wad of thread attached to it. The taste of frustration came flooding back into my mouth when I saw the mess. I clearly remember the swearing I did at that machine right before putting it away that last time. Oh the troubles that machine gave me. But, I felt pity for it. I dusted it off, cleaned it and oiled it. I changed it's needle (now long dull) and fiddled with it. It purred like a kitten and I haven't had a problem with it at all since (except going thru multiple layers (I need an old time Singer, badly, for that). I have grown to love that machine recently.

The feed dogs in my other machine are acting kind of finicky right now so using that one is out of the question. I am baby sitting today and hubby is working all day so I won't have a chance to get upstairs to sew today and by the time hubby gets home I'll be too tired to deal with tension issues. I'm itching to get this apron done. Tomorrow morning I will march upstairs to tackle and win this tension war. Wish me luck & pray for me. I can use all the help I can get! (I'm considering buying that low end Bernina that's on sale at Hancock's, I bet it would sew through multiple layers better than my current machines do.)

Score!

It's it beautiful? I picked up 2 yards of this beauty at a local quilt shop. (Poppy's Quilt 'n Sew in Georgetown). It has the most wonderful and vibrant colors. I know exactly how I'm going to use it. I just can't bring myself to cut it yet. I washed it already so there's 1/2 of the commitment. Keep watching for the upcoming aprons!

I Have Decided I Don't Like Ruffles

Ruffles are a pain. Time consuming. I'm not patient. I'm working on a new apron for Angry Chicken's Tie One On Apron http://angrychicken.typepad.com/tieoneon/ Creativity Challenge (theme: Havana Nights). I found a really beautiful fabric at JoAnn's that just screeeeeamed Cuba to me (ok, maybe it did more of a whisper but I'm going to make it screeeeeaaaaamm CUBA. I will, I swear). I'm doing a Carmen Miranda style full-apron with 3 rows of ruffles at the skirt. 15 yards of pain in the butt, time consuming ruffles. Perhaps it's the gathering that I despise. I think I get it right and then I step back and look at the whole ruffle and it's all bunched up and wonky on one side and perfectly smooth & flat in spots on the other side. Oh well, it will be worth the effort when it's done (I hope). If it turns out well I might end up making a few more to put in my Etsy shop. The picture is of the bottom of the apron. The top will be similar to my Hollywood apron design. Right now it just has one row of yellow ruffles but I plan on putting two additional ruffle rows, one in orange and the top row in red (you can see my crude markings for the other two rows on the skirt). I haven't decided yet on what color I am going to use for the waistband and ties. I'm thinking red but that might be a little gaudy...but then again isn't that what makes it fun? I'm hoping to work on this apron some more next week. I'll update pictures as I complete steps.