DIY: How to Hem Your Dress Pants

What a relief it is to be able to hem my own pants! No more taking them to the tailor to be hemmed for $20! The last time I got them professionally hemmed, they were still a little too long and then I tripped on them in the parking lot mid-sentence while talking to my manager! I'm actually surprised he didn't burst out laughing because I would have! I ripped my pants at the knee, scraped my palm, and bruised my ego... but I was more upset at the wasted cost of getting them professionally tailored! Well, no more of that wasted nonsense because I can do it myself! Now... if I can just start a side business of hemming my coworkers' pants I could made a side fortune...... hmmmm haha 

This was the 4th pair of dress pants I hemmed myself, and it really boils down to a couple steps.

- Cut off the excess fabric while accounting for the seam allowance

- Zigzag stitch the raw edge of the fabric to prevent fraying

- Hand sew the hem

I'll break down the steps now in more detail.

Here's what you'll need.

Materials: 

- pants you'll be hemming 

- needle and matching thread

- seam ripper

- fabric scissors

- pins

- chalk

- ruler

- seam gauge

- iron (not pictured)

- shoes you'll be wearing your pants with (not pictured) 

New Orleans Gumbo

I got this recipe from Taste of Home magazine's Heartwarming Soups December 2011 issue. I modified it a little to make it a bit healthier using brown rice and turkey kielbasa. It was delicious! It had a nice spicy smoky flavor - if you don't really like spicy food, I would suggest modifying the amount of pepper and cayenne pepper you put in.

Ingredients:
- 2 cups chicken broth
- 1 cup uncooked rice (I used brown rice)
- 2 stalks of celery, chopped
- 1 onion, chopped
- 1 bell pepper, chopped
- 2 cloves of garlic, minced
- 1 can diced tomatoes, undrained. (I used 2 tomatoes, chopped)
- 1 pound chicken breasts, cut into cubes
- 1/2 pound kielbasa or Polish sausage, cut into 1/2" slices (I used Turkey Polska Kielbasa)
- 1 pound uncooked peeled shrimp
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1 teaspoon pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 2 bay leaves
- 3 tbsp all-purpose flour
- 1/4 cup cold water
- 1/4 cup minced parsley (I used cilantro since I like it better)

Cooking Time: 30 min. prep, 30-40 min. cooking
Servings: 8

DIY: Embroidered Cards

I know it's a little after Christmas, but I thought I'd share with you a quick tutorial on ways to sew your own cards! I embroidered some Christmas cards and one New Years card this year (inspired by Next to Nicx), but you could totally embroider cards for all occasions. I had this glorious plan to sew like 10 cards this year and I thought it was going to take no time, but the first one took me... pause... about 8 hours to complete
>.< ahh! (the one pictured above) I ended up giving it to my sister and her husband so I hope they frame it and keep it forever! So I quickly nixed that idea to make 10 cards and with such an elaborate design, figured out quicker ways to do it, and simplified it so each card afterwards ended up taking me about 30 min. each. Phew!

I don't have as many detailed photos as I usually do for my tutorials, but it's easy enough!

DIY: Makeup Brush Case

Whenever I go traveling, I always stuff my makeup brushes into a ziploc bag, which mushes the brushes and spreads my makeup onto the other brushes...but no more!

I now have a functional and cute case to store them in! Deborah Moebe's book, Stitch by Stitch, has a tutorial on how to make a picnic placemat, and I modified her instructions to make a laminated makeup brush case. I wanted to line my case with a plastic lining so that it can be cleaned easily, but I couldn't find any laminated fabric with a cute design at Jo Ann's and I was too impatient to order it online, so I used a shower curtain! It's a lot cheaper that way too, and mildew and bacteria resistant! Perfect!

The instructions below will be how I made the orange case, but I'll list out how I modified them to make the black cases. (see modification notes within the steps).

DIY: Bias Tape

My next post will be how to sew a makeup brush case, but first, I'm going to teach you how to make bias tape, which will be the first step to making the makeup brush case. This was the first time I made bias tape and honestly while I was making it I was like, this does not make sense!! but with patience and diligence, it worked out! I'm sure I'm going to be making more in the future and it'll be way easier now that I know what I'm doing!

What is bias tape?
Bias tape (aka bias binding) is basically fabric that is cut at the bias, the 45 degree angle to the selvage, into a long strip. It's a little misleading that it's called "tape" when it's not sticky at all.
Because bias tape is cut across the woven threads as opposed to along them, it is flexible and durable. It is used mainly for edging projects, especially curved ones, such as armholes, necklines, placemats, bags, etc.

You can buy them already made but the selections are pretty limited (see Wrights bias tape above), or make them yourself.

DIY: Fall Yarn Wreath

Here's a quickie post: a mini wreath for the fall!

Sorry about the weird colors... I'm getting a new camera soon!!!! ^_^

DIY: Bay Leaf Wreath

This easy DIY project was inspired by Make It and Love It and only took about 2 hours! It's very festive and perfect for this holiday season. I think what spurred this project along was mainly due to the crazy glue gun! This was the first time I used a glue gun for a project and that thing just spews out hot glue so I was working really fast so as not to waste a lot of the glue on the table. I'm happy with how it turned out!

Here is what you need to get started:

Materials:
- 1 packet of moss
- Bay leaves (I used 4 of those mini bags)
- Foam roll
- Fake berries
- Hot glue gun
- Newspaper (for the table)
- Wire cutters (not pictured)

Tip: When shopping for the bay leaves, I found that the regular spice aisle in grocery stores had bottles of bay leaves that were around $4/bottle for only 6 or 7 leaves! I went to Food Lion and went to the Hispanic food aisle and found mini bags of bay leaves for $0.50 each and most of the leaves were intact!