A Peek at My BlogRoll - August 2012

I would like to introduce you to a blgger on my Blog Roll:

Sewspicious Minds - Sewing is one of my favorite hobbies. I enjoy sewing with current and retro clothing patterns.

I found her at Pattern Review a long time ago.  Her internet name is Heatherrique, but her real first name is Louella.  She's a teacher - when she's not sewing, that is.

Many of her blog posts read like rewritten golden oldies:
Surfing Sew-Fari
The Fifth Dimension
A New Ten-sation
Clover and Over
Frock-sy Lady
Just Pleat It, Pleat It

Aside from her oh-so-cool way with words, she makes really nice clothes!

She often makes something similar for her daughter, too!

I hope you will visit her blog!

Pattern Tracing

I finally decided on the pattern and fabric for a summer dress.  I selected this blue quilting fabric because I have plenty of dresses in various combinations of black, red, and purple - even pink and fuchsia - but no blue dresses!  You may have seen this before:

I will probably use the same fabric for the entire dress, instead of contrasting fabrics, but I have not decided yet.

The pattern I chose was KwikSew 3949.  I chose this pattern because this is the only version of the style I considered which has not yet been reviewed at PatternReview:

What kind of model has such sloped shoulders?  I knew I would have to adjust the pattern for my pointy shoulders - almost as pointy as my elbows.

I traced the pattern last night.  I traced size L for the entire garment except the neckline, which I traced in size XS.  If this covers too much, I can always widen the neckline.  In the back bodice tracing you can see how I went from one size to another across the shoulder, thus adjusting for my shoulder non-slope:

So, that's a little bit of sewing progress for me!

I Don't Use Shampoo

... much!

There is a sort of no-poo following, which is people who don't use shampoo.

Well, I'm one of them - mostly.

I don't use shampoo, but my hairdresser does.  That's how I can be honest that I don't use it.

What do I do, then?

DAILY
When I take my shower, I massage my head as if I were shampooing it.  Besides, a good massage is worth a million bucks or so, and my masseuse (that would be me) knows what I like!

I brush my hair several times each day.

Both these activities spread my natural oils through my hair, and make it look shiny and clean.

WEEKLY
About every six or seven days, I put a heaping teaspoon of baking soda in an empty ketchup bottle.  I take this with me into the shower, and add one to two inches of warm water.  I mix this well and sprinkle it into my hair.  I don't add it all at once, but I do massage it into my hair.  I do this until all my hair has been massaged with it.  It gets gritty and oily, but I think that's part of what makes it work.  After I've gotten all my hair this way, I rinse it out.  My hair feels slick and soft.

My hair is very short, so I guess that someone with more hair would use more baking soda and more water, too.

EVERY FOUR TO SIX WEEKS
When I get my hair cut, my hairdresser shampoos my hair.  That's how often that happens.

I mentioned my no-poo methods to someone at work, and she said, "Oh, yeah, that's what you do when you want to get all the 'product' out of your hair."  Gee, I didn't know that.  Did you?

Three Weeks to Two Sheets

YES!!  I finished the blue bed sheets.  I can blame Marco for the top sheet being crooked:

It's such a relief to finish this project.  I worked on the top sheet a little bit almost every night this week after work.

There is a bed sheets article on my Tutorials page (see the link above).  Now that I've finished another set of sheets, I should probably update the words that explain how I make bed sheets.  I want my tutorials to be helpful to you, so please ask any questions you have about how I make bed sheets.

I have some fabric to make pillow cases, but it's so new that it hasn't been properly aged yet.  The cotton fabric has, however, been laundered three times.

Now I have to decide what I want to make next.  It will probably be a summer dress.  I have two choices for fabric.  One is the red flower fabric which served time temporarily as a top sheet:

The other fabric choice is a blue flower print that I found at JA's:

It will be a long dress and it will have an empire waist.  I have not decided yet what the other style details will be.  It could have a cross-over bodice and cap sleeves, or it might be a peasant style.

I do not like having to make such important decisions!

Two Weeks to One Sheet

Here's my previous post about the latest sheet set.

I had hoped to finish both new sheets in two weeks, but only finished one.

Fortunately, it was the fitted sheet, and that made it usable.

OK, it was really two weeks and one day, but who's counting?

Here is proof of completion of the navy fitted sheet for the king-sized bed.  Since the top sheet is not yet finished, and DH doesn't need a sheet in the summer, I brought a piece of fabric to use as my top sheet until the blue one is finished.  Obviously, Marco has rearranged my "sheet."

Ah, but the top sheet is in progress:

As you can see, I do such an excellent job of taking my time!