Tailoring - Quickest way to Tailor a Dress with a Side Zipper

Facebook has been showing me these seasonal dresses in my news feed lately.

And I love them.

They are so cute!

And so me!

Except one thing: I work for my church and even though most people have fun at Halloween, there are some people that don't particularly like jack-o-lanterns, ghosts, and witches. I am not one to go out of my way to offend people, so I just looked at them wistfully and thought I'd move on. . .

Until I saw this dress!

I mean. . .God made bats, right?

So I ordered it.

Only one problem, though. The smallest size they offered was XL. So. . .

It was way too big.

So. . .normally when I take a dress in, I go for the ol' side seam. However. . .

This dress has a side zipper.

There are two ways to fix this situation. The first one involves taking the zipper out, taking the dress in, and then putting the zipper back in.

No thank you. So. . .I did the second option: Take the already existing darts in even further!

Here you can see the dress--inside out--with the front darts pinned.

I pinched the darts up until I got to a "fading point." I put pins at that point.

Notice: I ONLY pinned the bodice. I left the skirt part alone.

I did the same to the back.

So here is the dress inside out and pinned.

Darts are annoying because you usually just have to sew from the bottom pin and eyeball your way up to the top pin. There is a really fool proof way to make sure that your darts are the same dimension. If you have a French curve and a chalk pencil, you can replicate the same shape on each dart. If you don't have a French curve, you can use a ruler in a pinch. . .but a French curve is better because your body is curved, whereas a ruler is straight. (If you don't have a tailor's pencil, use a regular pencil. It's on the wrong side of the fabric. Who's to know.) 

Then, all you have to do is sew along the line. Easy!

The finished dress. I didn't bother darting the skirt because it looks just as good without the darting, so why do more work?

Add a crinoline and you're done!

The End!

Make Your Own Turmeric Latte Mix!

If you haven't heard, turmeric lattes are the next big thing. They taste similar to chai lattes, but are super super good for you. The compound curcumin found within turmeric is widely known to fight cancer and inflammation and all kinds of bad stuff. I'm not a scientist nor a medical professional, and don't want to give mis-information, so. . .Google it!

Anyways, it can be kind of time consuming to make a real turmeric latte as it requires heating nut milk on the stove and using a hand-held blender to foam it.

When processes are that involved, let's be honest, we AREN'T going to do them every day.

So, here is a scaled-down easier method that you can do every morning in lieu of or in accordance with your morning coffee!

First of all, you will need at LEAST the following spices: turmeric, ginger, and cinnamon. All three of those spices can be found at Aldi or Big Lots for $1.00-2.00. (I suggest buying them soon as once big corporations find out that their low-cost items are now considered "health foods," they go and jack up the prices.)

I also added a tiny bit of cardamom, but that is because I have it. Be warned, though. Cardamom is like. . .upwards of $16 a bottle at Wal-Mart! It's really good for you, though, so if you have it, add it.

The ratio I have found on other blog posts and online recipes seems to be something like: 1 part turmeric to 1 (or less) part ginger to 1/3 part cinnamon. But if you like one of these spices more than the others, feel free to tweak. (You could also add pumpkin pie spices like nutmeg and clove if you want.) The important thing is to keep turmeric as the biggest part. I added a 3.75oz. bottle of turmeric, two 1.5oz. bottles of ginger, about 1oz. of cinnamon, and about a tablespoon of cardamom to this mason jar cup. (If you don't have a mason jar, an old washed out pasta sauce jar will work equally as well.)

Then, I shook it all together.

So now on to how to make the latte.

You can add as much of your powder to your nut milk (almond, coconut, etc.) as you want. I do a heaping tablespoon, and I add it to just a little bit of milk to start.

I stir that together for a few seconds. I do this because sometimes if you add the powder to a full glass of milk, it causes annoying lumps. If you stir a little milk with the powder to make a paste, the powder breaks down more evenly. (This trick is helpful with any powder-to-drink mix.)

Then, I filled the mug with milk. . .

. . .and added a little honey. I do highly recommend honey or some other sweetener as the spices can be kind of bitter/harsh on their own. But don't add very much! It doesn't take but a little bit of sweetener to counteract the bitterness. 

Don't cancel out the healthfulness with sugar! (You KNOW that is what the big corporations are going to do once these lattes catch on. They will create their own "ready made" mix and it will promise to be all healthy, meanwhile it will be LOADED with sugar. Happens every time!)

You can also add a tablespoon of coconut oil or ghee butter (if you real real fancy!) and heat it all together. That's what you are supposed to do, actually, but. . .anyways. . .I was running late this morning, so I didn't.

Then, I put the mug in the microwave for two to three minutes.

To make a really foamy latte, you can put this mixture in a separate microwave safe container, heat it for a minute, shake the container, heat it for another minute, shake it, etc., until you get a nice thick foam--you know, like a regular latte. Anyways, I didn't have time for that mess, so I just heated it up and sprinkled some cinnamon on top. My drink still had a little layer of foam on the top, so it wasn't like I was missing out on the latte experience or anything! 

So, there you have it! For a couple of dollars, you can have a ready made nice cozy spicy drink mix on hand for the whole winter (that ISN'T loaded with sugar)! You can also use the mix for other things besides lattes. You can add it to coffee, or like. . .muffin mixes. . .or wherever you feel appropriate.

(P.S. these jars make great gifts!. . .You're welcome!)

Simplified Directions:

Drink Mix:

1 part turmeric

1 (or less) part ginger

1/3 part cinnamon

(other spices - optional)

1 glass jar

Latte:

1 tablespoon of mix to a cup of nut milk

A bit of honey

1 tablespoon of coconut oil

Heat for 2-3 minutes

Enjoy!

One last note!!! Swallow a few peppercorns before drinking and your body will absorb the nutrients more fully! (Or you can add pepper to the mix, if you want.)

The End!

Sunday School Craft - Burning Bush (Moses)

I tend to use tissue paper and glue sticks a lot. That's because we already have them in the craft closet, so I try to use what we got! 

Today, the lesson is about Moses and the Burning Bush.

You need: cardstock (or regular paper), tissue paper, scissors, glue sticks, and crayons.

First, print out the template at the end (which I totally ripped off from Google). Then, let the kids color everything except the leaves of the bush.

Then, glue over the "leaves."

Then, attach cut up pieces of tissue paper. (It looks best if you crumple the pieces and kind of push them together on the glue-y surface.)

Pushing the pieces together creates a 3D effect.

Done!

Template:

The End!

Sunday School Craft - "Let There Be Light" Creation Glow Bracelets

So. . .our children's curriculum is starting over again which means. . .

I had to think of another Creation craft!

I have done three different crafts for the days of Creation (you can see them here, here, and here), and I knew I could probably get away with just reprinting one of those older ones for the kiddies this week, but. . .let's be honest. Little kids know what crafts they have done, even if the parents have forgotten! I had to think of a new one!

So. . .I took a trip to Wal-Mart.

There I found glow bracelets five for a dollar, so. . .let there be light!

You need: cardstock (colored is optional), hole punch, scissors, and glow bracelets.

I made a verse sheet (Genesis 1:3) in Publisher, and you can print it out at the end of this post if you want to do this craft too.

Cut out the verses.

Punch a hole in either side.

Insert the bracelet into the holes and. . .you're done!

If you do this craft during the day, be sure to turn out the lights and cover the windows so the kids can all see the bracelets glow!

Template:

The End!

Refashioning: An Indian Sari into a Western Duster Cardigan

Okay, so this post is going to be a project that is TOTALLY outside my comfort zone.

But. . .I did it anyway.

I was in Texas recently and noticed that these kimono/caftan/cardigan/duster/robes were everywhere.

Like. . .everywhere. On people. In stores. In shop windows. Everywhere.

I studied a few of them and saw that there was really nothing to their construction--just a few seams. My first inclination was to hate them--Not on other people! On many ladies, they looked super chic and perfect. But, I am not a flowy kinda girl, so I just sorta noted them as something I would never wear and tried to move on.

Here are some examples. They come in different fabrics, but mostly airy thin, non-stiff fabrics like chiffon and silk. They also come in different lengths. This first one is shorter.

But they also go down to the floor like this one.

Some of them have a bit more structure like this one.

I did notice that most women who wore them tended to wear all black under them. . .

. . .That was when I started to consider possibly making one myself.

Once I got back home, I remembered that I had this black sari that I'd bought off the streets in Jaipur, India about eight years ago. I've collected about five or six saris from my various travels, but this one has always been my favorite. (After learning about "Dressing Your Truth," now I know why!) 

Anyways, another point to make is that embroidery is currently a VERY hot trend (especially rosettes), and this sari is covered in embroidered rosettes!

But did I really want to cut it up? I mean. . .what if I ever have some international event that requires dressing up in cultural garb? Will I have missed my chance to wear this amazing piece?

Then, I thought, "Jessica. . .when are you ever going to wear this? You live in the Bible Belt and everyone would probably freak out if you showed your mid-riffs.

"Plus, you're white as a sheet, so. . .You will just look like a poser anyway."

Good point!

So, I decided to see if I remembered how to put a sari together--sort of as a last "Hurrah" for my poor sari before I started cutting it all apart. . .I learned how to do this from an Indian lady I met in Singapore.

Well, I remembered!. . .Without any outside help! Not bad for a white girl who last did this probably nine years ago!

I love how saris always make a lady's butt look amazing. It's a little hard to see here as my dress form doesn't have legs, but. . .just take my word for it!

(If you ever wondered what goes under a sari, this is it. Basically, the sari is a huge long piece of fabric and you wrap it and fold it and tuck most of it into the waistband of a petticoat like this red one.)

Okay, this next picture denotes about an hour's worth of time as I was playing with the sari and seeing how much fabric I had to work with and then telling myself to go for it and start cutting. . .and then talking myself out of cutting it. . .and so on.

So, to get myself motivated, I started to hem the back bottom part of the section that gets thrown over the shoulder. (That is the fanciest part of any sari.) It needed hemmed anyway, and it helped me to get over the fear of refashioning it.

My first step was to sew the raw edge under about 1/2 an inch. . .

Then, cut off the excess. . .

Then, fold it under another 1/2" and sew it down again. It's kind of a pain to sew the seam twice, but chiffon doesn't iron very well, it shifts a LOT, and you do have to hide the raw edge because it unravels like crazy. Folding, sewing, and then folding and sewing again is the only way to make sure everything stays in place.

Okay, once that edge was hemmed, it was time to start cutting. I found that the embroidery only covered the sari for 137 inches. I found that if I divided that by three (I'll tell you why later) and accounted for seam allowances, I would end up with a duster that was about 45 inches long--or just above the ankle on me. That seemed a decent length as I didn't really want a short one, but I also didn't want it dragging on the floor. (If you make one, you may want a different length.)

So here is how I cut what would become the back panel: I started by laying the fabric out flat on the floor. Then, I measured about 45.5".

I moved the tape measure in a few inches and cut from the edge to the 45.5" mark.

Then, I carefully moved the tape measure in a few more inches and cut to the 45.5" mark again.

I kept doing this. . .

. . .until the whole panel was cut through. (Incidentally, this is the best way to cut thin, chiffon-like fabric into a perfectly dimension-ed square or rectangle. This method assures that your whole piece of fabric is the same length all the way across. If you just lay a piece of chiffon down and cut straight from end-to-end, the fabric will shift and your line will go zig-zaggy and all over the place.)

Okay, so I set that piece above aside. Do you notice how much prettier the piece above is? That is what I was talking about when I said that one end of a sari is always prettier and more decorative: It's the part that gets thrown over the shoulder. Anyways, there is still some pattern that continues for several more feet, as you can see below. But notice something else: Do you see how the left-hand edge of the fabric has sequins whereas the right-hand side (where I'm pointing) does not? Okay, this is why I divided the embroidery measurement by three. I wanted to have sequins running down both sides of the two front panels as well. That meant that I would have to cut these thinner two panels from the left-hand side of the fabric you see below.

This will make more sense in a little bit.

Okay, so I found that the fabric was 42" across. I also measured the back of my neck and found that I needed about 4" for a neck space. That meant that the two front panels would need to be 19.5" across. (42 - 4 = 38. . .38/2 = 19. . .plus 1/2" of seam allowance = 19.5)

Again, I used my method of laying the tape measure on top of the fabric, and scooting it up as I cut to my 19.5" mark with each scoot. (The horizontal lines really helped me keep the tape measure straight, so look for patterns like that in the fabric to guide you.)

Okay, so then, I took my long strip of fabric and folded it in half. It was about 46.5" long. Perfect.

I held my hand on the fabric close to the fold to assure that I was cutting neatly down the fold.

Then, I laid the back piece down and the two front panels on top. Hopefully, now you can get the visual you need if you are wanting to do this yourself. You will first need to make sure that all pieces are hemmed at the bottom. (Remember how I hemmed the back panel?. . .Well, you can see in the picture below that the front pieces needed hemmed as well.) After that, only three seams: the sides (leaving room at the top for arm holes), the shoulders, and then the long inside opening seam (bottom up to the neck, and then back down to the bottom on the other side.) 

After hemming the bottom of the front panels, I stitched the side seams together. Okay. . .so. . .I did this a bit different from how you would normally do it. NORMALLY, you would pin the sides RIGHT sides together and sew. . .BUT! My fabric happened to have sequins along the edge of the RIGHT side of the fabric. Because I wanted to showcase these sequins, I pinned the fabric WRONG sides together. Does that make sense? I hope so.

Okay, before I started sewing, I chose a very large size 5 straight stitch. Why did I use such a big stitch for chiffon? Aren't you supposed to use tinier stitches for thinner fabrics???

Normally, yes. However, this duster thing is a trend. That means, it's probably going to go out of style by next year or the next. Also, there is a significant chance that I will personally hate this duster on me! I chose a big stitch so that I would more easily be able to take the stitches out if (and maybe when) I decide to refashion it into something else!

Okay, so here are my sides all ready to be stitched. Do you see the white pins on the right-hand side? Those were indicating to me where the arm holes were going to start, so I would sew from the white pins down to the bottom hem.

See the white pin behind the foot?

So, in this picture the duster is actually upside-down. Those slits at the bottom are actually the arm holes.

The next step was to sew the shoulder seams. See where my finger is? that is the bottom of one of  the arm holes. So, when you sew this seam, make sure to start from the edge of the arm hole and sew toward the neck. Both times. This will keep everything flush. (This time, I sewed with WRONG SIDES together.)

Shoulder seams typically need a little reinforcement, so I bound them with black lace.

Can you see both of the shoulder seams here? (Sorry that everything is black and hard to see!)

The last step was to finish the edge of the opening. You can do this a variety if ways. You could roll the edge if you have a rolling foot, or you could do like I did before to hem: Fold and stitch in place, then fold again and stitch in place. However, that last method takes up a lot of seam allowance, so I opted for binding lace again, but in a different way.

So, first what I did was to lay the lace on top of the RIGHT side of the fabric and stitch it along the edge.

Then, I folded it under like this: . .(1). . .

. . .(2). . .

. . .(3). . .

With it folded like this, I stitched it in place from the WRONG side of the fabric. This hid the raw edges, gave some stability to the the fabric, while at the same time not taking up a ton of fabric in seam allowance.

Here is the finished duster. I paired it with a black T-Shirt, black stretchy moto pants, and black moto booties.

The kids these days are all wearing these dusters more open like this. (If you wear it more closed, it tends to look a little matronly.) To do this, just kinda fold the front edges back and let it hang loosely open.

(If I can summon up enough courage, I will wear this to church tomorrow and then update this post with a picture of me wearing it!!!)

UPDATE: Well!. . .I did it!

The End!