Post Thanksgiving Miracles

I can't believe it's the last day of November. Seriously where did the month go? This month was a bit of blur since I had a huge sewing project  to work through. I survived but afterwards felt a bit frazzled. I was pretty blessed with some miraculous moments that really snapped me back to my old self. Trust me they're by no means anything monumentous---so if you've got something better to do please go tend to it ----but sometime's it's the little things that mean the most, you know?  Like when I'm having a tough day and I get a homemade card from my daughter---you know like that.

Anyhow here's my 3 Special Little Miracles.........

Miracle # 1--- I CLEANED MY SEWING ROOM
Somehow I ammassed a LOAD of sewing fabric remnants from a ton of projects I've done since the beginning of the year.  I promise you it had to be like 50lbs. And I constantly tripped over this fabric as I tried to move about my sewing room. Well I had enough of it on Friday. I finally just packed it all up and tossed them in the garage---labeled of course. I plan to use them when I resume my draping on my body double from in addition to my half-scale form. The fabric will come in handy when I start design testing. Trust me this simple clean up was a HUGE deal. My sewing room was getting cluttered and out of control. I can't believe how much my life felt in control after that one move! LOL! Crazy I know! LOL

Miracle #2---I learned how to use a utility blade in place of a seam ripper. I've been doing a ton of alterations and if I can tell you the truth this little baby here (the utility knife) cuts down on alot of work. You can take things apart SO much faster. I was terrified to use it at first. I tried a couple of times but couldn't get my hand motion just right. On yesterday when I had to a a jacket apart I just picked up the blade--since I knew I'd be here ALL day trying to take the sleeve apart with a seam ripper---and proceeded to use it. Just like that!!! It's all about the angle in which you hold the blade and the tension you use to pull the fabric apart as you expose the thread. So delighted I figured that out. I'm pretty proud of myself. Mr. Jim (aka Gentleman Jim) inspired me to do so. His video is a good reference!

Miracle #3---And speaking of alterations and taking things apart I've learned to do alterations on Men's suit jackets. In the past I only took on hem jobs. Then with Mr. Jim's instruction I figured out how to take in/let out the waist. Now I can tackle suit jackets and perform operations like narrow the shoulders, take in the blade & waist, narrow the sleeve and lengthen/shorten the sleeve. These are pretty big steps for me. I'm actually working on 5 jackets at one time! It was an overwhelming job at first since everything was so new but now I'm happy to report I got the hang of it. I definitely have Mr. Jim to thank and his DVD---The Basic Alterations 2 Disc set has been a super help. They detail all of these types of alterations. If you're interested you can buy it on his site HERE. Needless to say I feel like a big girl!

Anyhow, I'm happy for my little post Thanksgiving miracles. They've got me back on track. I hope you two have experience some special moments this month. See you next---only 38 minutes to go! LOL! Until then, Happy Sewing!!!