38 Years & Holding On ...

Last Friday, DH & I celebrated our 38th wedding anniversary with dinner at our favorite steakhouse. As we talked (amid the chaos), I reflected on just how special my life is. I am so blessed in many ways. Who would have thought that the skinny, scared 17 yr old, out on her own & alone for the first time in New Orleans, would grow to become a confident adult with a loving husband who has grown with her thru the years. Being married takes a lot of work, a lot of give & take, & sacrifice. Thru it all, my love & respect for my husband has grown immensely. I can honestly say that I love him more today than on our wedding day. How lucky can a gal be.

New Sewing Goodies

While my eyes heal from an infection, I've been perusing the internet for sewing goodies. Some of the things I have bought recently included a cable for my Pfaff 7570 sewing/embroidery machine, "Cool Couture: Construction Secrets for Runway Style" sewing book by Kenneth King, a Fashion Design Ruler from SewTrue plus a DVD by Roberta Carr on Couture Techniques from CD Universe. I believe that all of these things will help to improve my sewing/embroidery skills. Also bought some new serger threads from Atlanta Thread Supply. DH surprised me by renewing my subscription to Threads magazine for another 3 years plus 2 years for Sew News & ordered Designs in Machine Embroidery for me as well as Creative Machine Embroidery magazines. It's been a lot of searching the internet for sewing goodies. So, what new sewing goodies have you tried?

Hemming Away ... by Hand

Business for my sewing ministry has picked up. I am becoming quite the expert at hemming pants for men & women who need this done. Because items are often dropped off for me to do with no real measuring of the person, I ask them to drop off something that fits well and I go from there. Recently, I have been hemming 5 pairs of pants for one person. All of them were different lengths and brand new. He brought in a pair of pants that fit him so I measured the inseam from those pants. I did note that the nylon hem from the blind stitch machine (probably a dry cleaners or alteration person at the store) had come out on one leg. I stitched those pants also. When I tried to put in a 3-4 inch hem, the fabric puckered so out came the stitching. I cut all of the pants down and then put in 2 inch hems. I don't know what the standard is for men's dress pants but this gave a smooth finish on the outside with invisible stitching. After determining the finished length and adding for the hem, I cut the fabric and then serged the edge, marked my 2 inch hem and then hand stitched the pants. So far this method is time consuming but it looks good. My DH approves. One of these days, I hope to become more proficient in using my blind hem foot where I can whip these out but I'm not there yet. Oh, one of these days I will be.