Beth Smith's Blog, page 4

Routine

I had a whole other post planned for today but I need help so I’m going in a different direction and I’ll talk to you about sewing classes later this week.

OK. So, for at least 194 years I have been trying to figure out how to do a better job at getting all of the things done that I want to get done in a day. I know that one part of being better at getting all of the things done is to build a routine that makes a lot of things automattic in my day. but I have a lot of issues. So let me tell you what I know I’m doing wrong and then I’ll tell you what I want to happen in a perfect world and then I’m going to ask you to help me figure out what I should do to move forward.

There are two big things that I know need to change but they are habits I’m having a hard time breaking.

I spend too much time in the morning looking at my phone screen. First I Check out Instagram and what happened overnight there. Some mornings I have messages to answer and often there are a ton of inspiring things. Then I run on over to Facebook to see who loves me and what drama is happening. Then I check my email accounts and then send a few notes to Amy and maybe my sisters. Then I go back to Instagram because I’m sure I missed something. Before I know it an hour is gone.The second thing I know that has to change is my tv watching. I go up to my room at around 7PM and get in bed with my planner and a book I want to read and sometimes my computer and I intend to get some work done but I also turn on the tv. I love watching tv. I have a ton of shows that I record and so recently I’ve found myself staying up until midnight or later watching my shows.

Let me tell you why these things need to change if you don’t already know. I’m not good at working after about 3 PM. Never have been. I know this about myself. So, if I want to have plenty of time to get work done during the day I need to be up and moving by 7 AM at the latest. Watching TV until after midnight guarantees I’m going to be too tired and want to lay in bed for a long time. The phone screen in the morning doesn’t help things because I’m doing it from the very comfy and warm spot in my bed.

I have several very well known and successful women telling me to stop it but I don’t listen. I will tell you who they are so maybe you can listen/not listen to them too.

Amy King, master dyer and boss of Spunky Eclectic. She is actually calling me and telling me what to do several times per week.

Rachel Hollis is consistently reminding me to follow my dreams and that procrastinating on the morning isn’t going to get me there.

Mimi G has her Business Shet podcast that is full of good advice and she doesn’t sugar coat anything.

Tabitha Sewer has several platforms on Instagram where she is pushing me to be better. She would be so disappointed if she saw me being so lazy. (We’re only friends in my mind but it’s on my vision board:-)

Jenny Penton from Planner Perfect never stops telling me to get out of bed early and get my crap done! Write it all out in my planner and get up earlier!

I will remind you that the only one of those ladies I actually know is Amy but I feel all of the messages as if they were meant for me personally.

In a Perfect World

It should be easy enough to stop doing those two things to make room for the things I want for myself. So let me tell you how I envision my day going.

6:30 the alarm goes off. I check messages and emails to see if there is anything I need to do right away – I’m the president of the women’s organization at church and sometimes things need to be handled so that’s got to happen.

6:45 read one chapter of whatever nonfiction book I’m reading at the time. Currently I’m in the middle of two. Girl, Stop Apologizing by Rachel Hollis and 10% Happier by Dan Harris.

7:00 out of bed, no excuses. Listen to scriptures and BYU devotionals while I get dressed and do my makeup.

Pray before leaving my bedroom, text or email anyone who comes to my mind during that prayer to check in on them and see how things are going.

7:45 Downstairs and take my morning thyroid meds and the supplements I’m supposed to take but always forget.

8:00 make something for breakfast and a cup of rooibos or mint tea.

8:15 Spend 30 minutes in my planner reviewing the day and adding things I forgot while I eat breakfast.

8:45 Spend 30 minutes cleaning something in the house.

9:15 get to work either writing a blog post, newsletter, class materials or magazine article.

11:00 Current work like sewing (which is the focus at the moment) or spinning samples or for a project.

12:00 lunch (Mondays I have lunch with my friend Sally so that takes longer)

12:45 until 3 sew or spin some more.

3:00 start dinner if necessary

4:00 Judge Judy

Dinner, clean the kitchen, take my evening supplements

then upstairs at 7PM to wash my face, get ready for bed, work on hand sewing, knitting or cross stitch while watching fun tv.

Read at 9PM and asleep by 10PM

Well? Think I Can Do It?

How does that feel too you? Manageable? Too much? Please don’task me to cut Judge Judy. Or to keep my phone downstairs cause that’s my alarm.

Other than that I’m open to suggestions.

Janome

In 1999 we moved to Michigan from Pennsylvania because my darling got a new job. In Pennsylvania, for a few years before we left, I had been working at my mom’s bed and breakfast and I was doing alterations and making wedding dresses for people. I honestly cannot remember what kind of sewing machine I had at that time. I know it was pretty basic and it was a machine I had been using since I bought it in California around 1985.

Soon after we moved to Michigan I began quilting. I didn’t have any customers to sew for here and I wanted to make some sewing friends. The closest shop focused on quilting so that’s what I did too. What came out of that were some new customers to sew for because the fabric shop started recommending me to people. And what came from that was a new sewing machine.

I spent almost every penny I was making to pay off a new Janome Memory Craft 9000. It had all kinds of fancy stitches and did embroidery designs as well with the help of little computer discs you stuck in the side of it.

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I decided to go with Janome for a couple of reasons. 1. They had good reviews and seemed to be quality machines. 2. That’s what the quilt store sold.

I think it is a good idea to buy a machine from a dealer that is close by. That way you can easily get it serviced, and they usually have people who know things and can help you with issues.

I had this same opinion when I was selling spinning wheels. You might want to have that fancy spinning wheel that everybody on the internet is talking about but nothing beats being able to drive to a dealer nearby and ask questions about why it might be acting up. Same with sewing machines. And the chance of having a sewing machine dealer within a short distance of your house is even greater than somebody who sells spinning wheels.

That deal on Amazon or Ebay may sound great but is that $100 savings really worth the headache of not being able to get service or find somebody who can listen to the noise it’s making in person?

Anyway, that’s just one of my little soap box moments.

I used that MC9000 sewing machine for about 17 years but then the computer started going and when I took it in I found out that the parts were hard to get and fixing it would cost more than the machine was worth. They didn’t even want it on trade in so I looked at what else was available.

When I bought the last machine it was Janome’s top of the line machine. It was the most money I had ever spent on anything except our house and car. But they told me how happy I would be with it and I went for it. I did use the embroidery feature sometimes. Most often at high school graduation time because my favorite graduation gift became a set of monogrammed towels. That was a useful gift because the kid could then go off to their next step in life with a quality set of towels which were easily identified as theirs which comes in handy in a room mate setting.

I did a few other things with the monograms too. Most often baby gifts. But if I’m being honest the extra money for the embroidery features was kind of wasted on me. What I really wanted was a quality machine that would do everything I wanted for making clothing.

I settled on the Janome Skyline S5. This was, I think, the third in the skyline series and the S6 was just coming out so I got a decent deal on the floor model. It has everything I need. It does something like 170 stitches but honestly I use maybe 10.

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I like that it has a blind hem stitch, an overcast stitch, and automatic buttonhole. It came with 11 different feet including an even feed foot, and I use almost all of them. I did buy a couple of additional ones though because wanted an adjustable zipper foot and a couple of widths of rolled hem feet.

The machine has an automatic thread cutter that for me was this new amazement and I love it so much. It even has a knee lift. The only thing it doesn’t have that I loved in the other machine is an indicator that the bobbin is getting low. I have found myself more than a few times just sewing happily along for long seams after the bobbin thread has run out.

So here I am eyeing a new machine. I need a backup, right!? Janome Skyline S7 is in my view. It has a couple more features that I think I might love but the S9 may be a little more than I really want. We’ll see what happens.

Sewing and Body Image

I’ve never been a person who felt very confident about my body. All my life I’ve been a little…chubby. I have a sister who is almost exactly one year younger than me. She was always more petite. When we were 11 and 12 years old she barely even came up to my shoulder height wise. She was always super thin. My mother is naturally thin too.

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Of course my parents wanted me to be healthy and because of that would remind me to eat a little less with cute little ditties like “A moment on your lips, forever on your hips!” I know they meant well and would never ever do anything to make me feel bad.

At the same time, my sister and I were eating the same things and she remained thin and I, less so.

So fast forward about 42 years from when that photo was taken and I am still not thin. I’ve tried all the things and have had some success at losing a little weight but never to the point of fitting the BMI charts.

As I’ve said before I have been sewing all my life but usually the clothes I made for myself were loose and flowing or not a great style for my body. I didn’t have a lot of good luck with it overall but I was very good at sewing for others so that’s what I did.

Last year I started to think about sewing again. I started wondering if I could make flattering clothing for my own body. I had always been drawn to late 40s and 50s style clothing with the fitted bodice and full skirt. I particularly like the ones with the waist line that sits at the natural waist or a bit higher so I started.

I made several dresses that were failures in fitting and also style but each got better than the last. I learned how to draft a full circle skirt and played with that a bit by changing where I wanted the waist band to sit and how wide I like it.

I found through this process that the styles I found most attractive were also the styles that looked best on me.

And here’s another surprising thing that happened. I began to be less embarrassed about my measurements. I realized that it is what it is and I can feel good and pretty and confident in well fitting clothing that is the right style for my own body.

Notice I’m not talking about whether the dresses and skirts are slimming or make me look thin. I’m talking about how I feel in them. I think that that feeling of confidence is the most important thing. I’m not going to lie, of course I would love that saggy belly bit to be gone and I would like for my waist to be a bit slimmer and my arms to be…smaller. The thing is, I feel pretty good when I see myself in the mirror in something I made for myself that fits.

As this process has been happening I’ve been keeping my eyes open for ready to wear clothes that are similar to the ones I want to wear. So far, not so good. Unless you are going into higher end clothes, all of the fitted clothing is made of knit or stretch fabric – except jeans of course. Clothing made from woven fabrics are mostly somewhat oversized and drapey. And now I can see why I was crabby when I would shop. The clothes that are the most flattering for me aren’t really available at prices I can afford to fill my closet.

I feel good! there is still some work to do to get the wardrobe I want and I know there will be some makes that don’t turn out like the picture in my head but this realization I had is just inspiring me to keep going and keep getting better.

As I do that I want to start teaching you the things I’m learning through some YouTube videos and this blog and Patreon. I’ll hope you’ll follow along.

Prom 2019 – Maggie Edition

This dress took months. We started thinking about it in November. We found a pattern and chose the fabric and had that all in hand well before Christmas came in 2018. And things got busy and I didn’t get started with the actual making until mid March.

I knew it would be challenging because we chose a pattern (Vogue that would have been a little bit of work even if I had been working with only one layer of fabric but we added to the complexity by doing an overlay and a full lining.

The cutting out took several hours because I wanted to get the pattern placement right and the skirt and bodice combined is a total of 14 separate pieces multiplied by 3. Let’s just say I had a project.

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There were several fittings and size adjustments.

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And a lot of fabric to be managed.

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And did I mention the skirt was huge?

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I hand picked the zipper because it was in a side seam and it was just easier and I knew it would look neater. If you’ve never hand sewn a zipper you should try it. It’s one of my favorite zipper insertion methods and I almost always use it on a formal gown.

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And there were also two other details. I sewed a piece of ribbon into the waist line. This ribbon is tied tightly before the zipper is closed. It helps to keep the dress in place because the weight of the skirt tends to drag everything down.

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And added lingerie guards. These serve two purposes for this dress. 1. it keeps the bra straps from popping out since the shoulders are wide on this dress. It also helps to keep the shoulders of the dress in place rather than getting all bunched up or moving in toward the neck. I used a gingham bias tape just for fun.

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And like magic, she is finished and I’m happy and the girl is happy. I will say that if this were to be just a dress to wear once to prom I never would have done it but since the girl is going off to college in the fall to study vocal performance and eventually become and opera singer I think the dress will get a couple of more showings.

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Sewing Gifts for Mother’s Day

Mother’s Day is just a little over a week away. This, to me, is another excuse for me to get myself a gift that I want.

Way back in 2017 I gave lists full of gifts for spinners and weavers. It may be time to update those but today I bring you a list of gifts for sewers, sewists, dressmakers, sewing enthusiasts, seamstresses, etc.

I’m going to list my top ten along with a link to my Amazon shop full of a ton of other options. The top ten is in no particular order and will cover a wide range of budgets.

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This necklace is pretty and will solve that issue of mislaying scissors while at the sewing machine and doing hand work. Also great for embroidering. It comes in gold and silver.

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Set of Thimbles! Everybody needs them and this set is pretty and will work for everyone.

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I told you there would be something for every budget. This is the sewing machine I sew on. This is the sewing machine I love. I bought it a few years ago and it’s a work horse. So, if you or your person needs an upgrade here’s my suggestion. Janome S5.

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Yes, a pressing ham. I used to think I didn’t need one but it’s a game changer for curved seams.

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About a year ago I was complaining about my adjustable dress form and how I couldn’t get it to work for my measurements and Miriam Felton told me about this! I ordered it immediately and it is super awesome! You just use the different pads to bring your dress form to the measurements that match you all the way down to low hip.

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Yes! This was the best purchase! Zirkel. I have had several magnetic pin holders and this is by far the best one. The pins are arranged magnetically around the edge so that the pin heads are always available and there’s no poking fingers when laying out a pattern or pinning at the sewing machine. It’s worth every penny.

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These Gingher snips are always next to my sewing machine. They are spring loaded and super useful. Something you never knew you always wanted!

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This is another item I saw a review on and I bought it and fell in love with it. Now I use it all the time for marking. This chalk wheel is so much easier than using regular tailor’s chalk for marking.

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Gretchen Hirsch has 4 books now. They all have great sewing instruction and information in the front followed by awesome patterns for a wide range of sizes. If you are a big fan of retro style all the better.

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This book, The Complete Photo Guide to Perfect Fitting, is packed full of fitting information and help. There are a ton of pictures that helps cement the information. I’ve used my copy a ton!

Ok, I know I said 10 things but I have one more that has been on my wish list for a long long time. This might be my year to get one.

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This is it. A professional dress form with collapsible shoulders.

If you want to go check out all of the other sewing items that I think are great to have, just check out my Amazon Store.

Featured image photo by Erika Pugliese from Pexels

More Hems

A few weeks ago I talked about rolled hems, rolled hem feet for your sewing machine and their benefits. Today I want to talk about hand sewn hems and machine blind hems.

I’m going to begin with a hand sewn hem. For the examples I’m using I attached bias tape to the bottom of the skirt before hemming. I did that because I like the finish it gives and the body it adds to the hem of the garment but it isn’t necessary.

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A hand sewn hem definitely takes more time but I like it for a couple of reasons. First, it’s relaxing to sit in the evening with a bit of hand sewing in your lap. Second, I like the look of the finished product as the stitches, if done carefully, can be almost invisible.

I usually only use a machine sewn blind hem in garments that I want to quickly finish. Many modern machines come with a blind hem stitch and a special foot to use.

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You fold the fabric as if to hem and then fold the hem edge back so that the top of the hem edge slightly extends beyond the new fold that won’t be staying. It’s kind of hard for me to explain. And I’m doing a bad job of it.

You place the fabric wrong side up and stitch along the extended bit of fabric. Every few stitches the needle shoots over and stitches one stitch in the main body of the garment.

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After you finish the hem you fold the hemmed part down and press.

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This is what the two blind hems look like on the inside of the garment with the machine done hem on the left side.

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And this is the right side of the garments. Again, the machine done hem is on the left side. As you can see, both hems look great but the machine done hem shows just a tiny bit more thread poking through. From a distance both are almost imperceptible.

Easter Dresses Finished

Last Monday morning I wrote about the plan to make an Easter dress for myself. Then on Monday afternoon I went with Maggie to her voice lesson and while we were talking in the car I offered to make a coordinating dress for her.

And then on Thursday when the dresses were coming along nicely I decided to make some matching ties for the boys of the house.

Seriously. Last week I made 2 dresses, 2 ties, cut out 2 skirts and did another prom dress fitting. I also managed to clean the kitchen at least twice and I even had guests for dinner on Tuesday. It was a busy week.

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Patreon

More than a year ago I opened my Patreon page. The goal was to gain enough patrons to be able to fund the equipment and other items needed to produce online spinning classes.

Over time my spinning interests got more and more complex and honestly most people are spinning for fun and don’t want to dive in as deep as I was going so I thought that perhaps the ones that did would find me there and we would dive deep together.

But, I wasn’t exactly sure how to go about making my goals happen and I was confused about how to use Patreon, Instagram, my blog, a newsletter, and Facebook all at the same time while offering different and coordinating information. Honestly, it’s still a puzzle to me.

Another thing that threw me off a bit I think was offering too many patron levels with different benefits at each level which added another level of complexity.

In the meantime I was reevaluating where I actually wanted to go with the textile stuff . Was I going in a certain direction because I thought people expected me to or was it because I had the desire to stay on that road?

Things came clear to me one day back in December when I was trying to get some yarn on the loom and I was a bit crabby about it. My darling was in the living room watching tv and that’s where I was too. After a little while of watching me struggle he asked why I was doing it. I told him what I had told myself. I wanted to know how this yarn would act. I wanted to make a jacket from a really fine wool singles yarn. I wanted to see if I could do it. He responded that I didn’t seem happy recently except when I was sewing. clothes. I brushed it off and continued working at the loom but that night I really thought about what he had said.

As you can probably tell, I took that conversation to heart.

After I decided to adjust my direction to focus on sewing some other things needed to change and one of them was Patreon. Earlier this month I adjusted my Patreon page to have only 3 levels of support. The first two levels are if you want to support my work. The benefit is that I am open to questions about anything. Are you spinning or weaving and you are stuck? I will give you in depth answers to your questions and help as much as I can through the Patreon group Facebook page or on my Slack channel. Are you sewing and you want to know how I do certain things to get a certain result? Same thing. Long, in depth discussion if that’s what you need until your problem is solved or your question is answered. The $7 level also includes a patron only newsletter with some extra content about sewing, weaving and spinning.

The third level is $25 per month. Currently there are no patrons at that level but I added it just in case. The plan is that we will do 3 alongs a year. These alongs will be based on what I’m working on. Right now the focus is sewing but when I get myself in order we will also be doing some spinning either on a wheel or a spindle. And we could also do weave alongs. The alongs will last up to 4 months and will include the materials needed for the project. There will probably be color choices.

There is a 4th level of support still there because I have one stalwart hold out at that level and I appreciate him and his belief in me so much. (It’s not my husband although he is also super extra supportive.)

Anyway, I just wanted to give a public update about what is happening over there at Patreon and if you are a new follower feel free to check it out.

Also, while you are here sign up for my newsletter. I’ll be starting to send them out again about monthly with some fun content.

Easter Dress in the Making

There is a woman I follow on Instagram. Her name is Eunice Asamoah. Her dresses are amazing and colorful and she looks fantastic in all of them. She is a fashion designer and custom dressmaker in addition to all the sewing she does for herself. She is beautifully doing all of the things that I want to do and she is an inspiration to me.

I’m going to give you all of her links so you can check out her work.

Instagram personal @stylebymyeunice Instagram business @eugeehouse Etsy https://www.etsy.com/shop/eugeehouse Personal Blog https://stylebymyeunice.blogspot.com/

Anyway, in March I reached out to her and said, wouldn’t it be fun if we did a little collaboration together? And she asked what I had in mind and I said what if we both start with the same pattern and make a dress for Easter. We can do whatever we want fabric wise and altering the pattern or whatever and talk about it while we are doing it for the whole week. And she said ok and I did a dance and then we started fabric shopping.

So this is the pattern we chose together. Partly because it’s pretty and partly because we both already owned it. And the bonus is that it’s one of my Make Nine Challenge dresses!

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And here is the fabric.

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The fabric is from Hawthorne Supply Co. which has become one of my favorite places to get interesting fabrics. It has been washed and still needs to be ironed before I cut it out. The goal is to get it all cut out today so that I can have it finished by Friday with final photos on Friday and a happy spring dress to wear to church on Easter Sunday.

Stay tuned for progress. The best place to watch it all come together is on my Instagram page or on my business Facebook page.

Skirt Reservations

Right here on this website I have added a new product in the shop and I’m really excited about it. In addition to listing specific skirts in my Etsy Shop, which requires a sample of every single fabric I have, I have added a product called Custom Skirt Reservation. What this means is that we will work together to make the skirt of your dreams. Either from a beautiful fabric I already have or with a fabric that I find for you based on your description.

While I have over 75 different fabrics I don’t necessarily cut them all and make a sample because some are very precious and I only have enough for one skirt. Of course a few that I have I can reorder, but many of the fabrics I find are special and limited.

I hope you will think of me for your upcoming special occasion or as you get ready for summer and skirt weather. We can work on a deadline and make sure you look spectacular for your event or upcoming vacation.

Let me show you a few of the fabrics I have available right now…keep in mind, this is a small sample and just a tiny piece of what is available that I can source for you. With that in mind, there is almost nothing we can’t accomplish as far as the skirt of your dreams.

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I can also get sparkly and fancy fabrics. This is just the beginning! Let me know if I can help you get dressed!