Sharon Sews

In the business of the past few days, I neglected to show off the beautiful apron I received last week from my apron swap partner. Isn't it lovely? My swap partner choose to use crisp white organdy and embellished it with lovely embroidered designs using her embroidery machine . A row of Christmas bells adorn the waistband, While Santa and a reindeer peek into a toy bag on the right pocket. The final touch is my name embroidered above the Christmas ornament on the left pocket... which means nobody else will get to wear this beauty. Thank you to Frieda for the lovely Holiday Hostess apron as well as the sparkly snowflake earrings and ornament.

Two years ago today I brought my Pfaff 2056 home. The dealer I purchased the machine from offered two years of service free of charge. This past weekend, realizing my two years was almost up, I dropped the machine off at the dealer. "It just needs a tune-up ," I said. " Oh, and by the way, I have a lot of trouble getting it to sew decent buttonholes." "This machine makes wonderful buttonholes!" the manager said. "You shouldn't be having any problems. We'll have the tech double check the buttonholes when he tunes it up." "Okay," I said. "I suppose it could be operator error since I've never been able to get to one of the classes you offer. They've either been canceled or didn't fit my schedule." "No problem," the manager said. "If you can't get into a class, when you pick up your machine I'll sit down with you and show you how to use your machine, especially the buttonholes.&q

Myra , along with her comment, gave me a link to HGTV's crushed velvet tips , which included a tip on how to make your own crushed velvet. Following the simple directions, I steamed the fabric for 30 minutes while I prepared dinner. When the timer when off, I removed it, tossed it in the dryer and crossed my fingers. Voila! Crushed velvet stretch dress with nary a trace of ugly horizontal stripes. I'm going to do the entire process one more time and see if I can get a smaller, more random pattern for the backside. So much easier than stamping or bleaching the fabric and definately quicker and cheaper than resewing the entire dress. So there you have it. A near throw away saved by the generosity of fellow creative souls sharing thoughts, tips, encouragement and expertise.

Thank you all for the suggestions on what to do with the dress . I'm going to try and distress it this evening, but it isn't a natural fiber so it may not work. When I've stamped on velvet in the past it has been rayon or silk velvet (and by the way, it looked beautiful). As noted, I have nothing to lose since this dress is unwearable as is. If the fabric distressing doesn't work out this evening I'll stop at Joann's and see if they have a decent selection of knits and sew another one. As Sally noted, at some point trying to fix it will take more time than just sewing another one :-) Then I can use Lori's suggestion of cutting it off and wearing it as a top in the future. I love the Internet! If I would have asked this question of my co-workers they all would have looked at me with blank stares. You all know what I mean don't you *LOL* I'll keep you posted on the continuing adventure of the great knit dress and the cr*appy fabric.

So two weeks ago my husband asked me if I thought we should attend his service awards banquet scheduled for Nov. 21. Um, let's see. Free dinner and a fun 60s theme casino night? YES! Of course we should go! And right away I'm thinking " oh goodie, I can make myself a classy little 60s era cocktail dress ". Until I mention it to hubby, who said " uh, no way. You don't know these guys. I don't want to have to hear about how my wife wore a costume ". He didn't quite understand that I was planning a look that was reminiscent of the 60s, not one that could have placed me on the set of Mad Men . We compromised. I wanted something dressy, after all, we rarely go anywhere that requires dressing up. He wanted me to look, well, hot. LOL, he's a guy after all. Glad to know that at my age he thinks I'm still capable of looking hot. I decided on Butterick 5280 , a muse mock-side wrap pattern. Only two yards of fabric and rated easy. See, I had ab