You is...

 I think that we could all use this reminder:

"You is kind, you is smart, you is important."
~Aibileen Clark (from the movie "The Help")

Most of these clip arts came from Free Pretty Things For You.

Most of these clip arts came from Free Pretty Things For You.

Sewing a Bias Tape Waistband on a Skirt with a Zipper

This post was requested by a SONP* attendie, and I am sorry that it has taken me SO long  to get around to finishing the skirt and posting about it!

(you can find my Zipper posts here)

After constructing the skirt, and inserting the zipper, choose the bias tape.  Whatever kind you like- wide or narrow, single or double fold, homemade or store bought, and any color (because it will not show).
  I have used all kinds, but for this skirt, I chose some homemade single fold that was leftover from a butcher apron we made Grandma awhile back.

This really is very easy, and I'll do my best to not make it look hard!
First  unzip the zipper, and hold the tape and skirt "right sides" together, being sure to let the tape hang over the zipper edge, an inch or more (you can trim it later if you need to).

You want to open and place the top edge of the bias tape even with the top of the skirt waist. Pin. More pins is always better than fewer.  =)

Stitch in the "ditch" or fold line.  Remember to back-tack!

Next, turn the skirt inside out, and fold the tape up, and fold in the tail....

...and then fold the whole thing over to the inside of the skirt. (be sure to inclose the raw edges of the skirt)

Make sure that you cannot see it from the "right side":

I prefer to pin and sew on the "right side", but you should do what you feel comfortable with.

The ends should slant/come in away from the zipper, so as not to crowd the zipper. (it is also good to zip the zipper now, before you sew the waist, just to make sure everything lines up properly)

Unzip before you start sewing!  I like to start and stop promptly at the zipper seam, and that is easier to do from the top.

 

Sew, sew, sew along~ gently down the seam! Merrily, merrily, merrily, life is but a dream! =)

If you don't zip it to make sure it is lined up before you sew, it may not match...but that is not tragic~ who's gonna see it anyway?

 

Sew long y'all! =)

This photo is the explanation of why the skirt had so many cat hairs...Fergie sat on me!

* SNOP stands for Summer Of No Pants, and it is hosted by:  http://www.hideousdreadfulstinky.com/

Psalm 55: 16-17

I'm enjoying using the pretty clip-art from FPTFY!

Do you have a verse or fun bit that I should put in one?  Let me know!

"Pipe dream"

 Did you ever wonder about the phrase "Pipe Dream"?  The following is what I found out about it:

A fantastic notion or vain hope, as in I'd love to have one home in the mountains and another at the seashore, but that's just a pipe dream . Alluding to the fantasies induced by smoking an opium pipe, this term has been used more loosely since the late 1800s.

or:

Meaning

An unrealistic hope or fantasy.

Origin

The allusion is to the dreams experienced by smokers of opium pipes. Opiates were widely used by the English literati in the 18th and 19th centuries. Samuel Taylor Coleridge was one of the best known users, and it would be difficult to claim that the imagery in surreal works like Kubla Khan owned nothing to opium. Lewis Carroll, although not known to be an opium user himself, makes clear allusions to drug use in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle has his hero Sherlock Holmes visit an opium den - although that was for research rather than consumption.
It's strange then that 'pipe dream' comes from none of these sources but has an American origin. The early references to the phrase all originate from in or around Chicago. The earliest I have found is from The Chicago Daily Tribune, December 1890:

"It [aerial navigation] has been regarded as a pipe-dream for a good many years."

The first that associates the phrase with opium smoking is from The Fort Wayne Gazette, September 1895:

"There are things taking place every day in Chicago which are are devoid of rational explanation as the mysterious coinings of the novelist's brain. Newspaper men hear of them, but in the rush for cold, hard facts, the 'pipe stories', as queer and unexplainable stories are called, are at a discount. Were it not for this the following incident, which can be verified by the word of several reputable men, would have long ago received the space and attention it merits instead of being consigned to the wastebasket as the 'pipe dream' of an opium devotee."
[The piece goes on to describe an incredible story, apparently believed by the reporter, of a mystic incident in which a man foretells in detail the suicide of another man. It rather makes one wonder what the reporter had been smoking]

In his 1896 play, "Artie - A Story of the Streets and Town", the American columnist and playwright George Ade penned this line:

"But then I was spinnin' pipe dreams myself, tellin' about how much I lose on the board and all that."

It seems clear that that Ade would have expected his audience to have prior knowledge of it. He goes to no effort to explain it in the play and the meaning wouldn't have been clear otherwise.

What do you think?

 Please share your thoughts on this subject...(you can post anonymously- I don't mind)

 

“Indeed our hearts are golden treasures, but a true tragedy would be to conceal your inner gold because you are afraid of someone stealing it or it falling and breaking. There is no love in fear. The great wisdom of the ages always tells us the more we Love the more of it you receive. Love is not a giving or a taking, it is a state of being – a one way street of allowing, accepting and holding a space for all things to be exactly as they are. Fear not that your heart will be broken or stolen. Love becomes love. Give it away with no expectation of return and soon you will be having a love affair with the whole world!” - Jackson Kiddard

 

 

A sad puppy and a new pillowcase

Mom, Emmet & I went to my Grandparent's house for a few days to help sew drapes.  Emmet was sad because he had to stay in our room the whole time....

 But he was such a good boy, when the drapes were done, I let him out to keep me company as I made a new pillowcase.  (No, I did not really need a new one- but as an overnight caregiver, your pillowcase is an important accessory, like a purse or hat.)

Now, Emmet is a happy puppy!  (I'm happy too~ I just love my new pillowcase!)

(The fabric is from the Pam Kitty line, and I bought it at: http://allegrofabrics.com/, but it is sold out.
You can also buy it at the Fat Quarter Shop...just put Pam Kitty in the search box!)