Oh no, a Quiltnado

First there was Sharknado, and if that wasn't scary enough, now there's this ....

beware, this perilous phenomenon could be headed your way! 

It can strike without much warning and leave behind a massive trail of debris. 

 my recent category 2 quiltnado 

"Quiltnado"

noun \'kwilt -'n ā - dō\

definition:
A very intense squall consisting of fabric, thread and sewing tools.
Known to strike suddenly, very often coming on the heels of a quilt related activity such as
a guild meeting, fabric shopping, or blog hopping.

example:
"I was going to do some laundry, but before I knew it, a very intense quiltnado hit."

Intensity ranges:
category 1  - Mild, generally only lasts 1 hour or less and leaves behind a very small debris field.
category 2 - Moderate, can last anywhere from 1 to 4 hours and usually involves a combination of newly purchased and stash fabric. A moderate debris field that includes many fabric and pins.
category 3 - Severe,  a quiltnado in this category can easily last a day or longer. The debris field is very widespread and may include candy wrappers, coffee cups, ignored family members, backed up text messages, massive amounts of fabric, pins, empty spools and pizza boxes.

origin:
www.thistledownblog.blogspot.com
www.thistledownquilts.com 


There is not much you can do to ward off a large quiltnado. The best course of action is to make sure you have plenty of supplies on hand,  (including chocolate) then hunker down behind your sewing machine and ride it out. WOO HOO!

When was the last time you've been hit by a quiltnado? What category was it ?

save your favorite tops and t-shirts from this terrible fate......

Surely, I am not the only one that has had this wardrobe tragedy befall them.

Have you noticed small holes that mysteriously appear on the front of your knit shirts? Especially t'shirts or tops that tend to be more closely fitted? 

At first I figured it was the quality of the fabrics in the shirts I was buying, and to some degree that is true. But still....why are all these little holes appearing toward the bottom of my knit tops and t-shirts?

See here.....

 and here....

How annoying!
I finally figured it out, maybe you have already and I've just been slow on the uptake.


In a perfect world, this is what the waistline of jeans and shorts should look like......
nice and smooth and flat.

But most of mine, and most likely yours too, look like this next picture. The top corner by the button- hole curls over and sticks out.  That's when I finally said A-HA,  there's the culprit that is ruining all my shirts prematurely. The stiff, curly corner on my jeans and shorts are wearing little holes in the shirts!

Grated if I spent more than $20.00 on a t-shirt it would take a lot longer to happen but eventually those tiny holes would appear I'm sure.

so here's what I did....  I took my rotary cutter (you could use a scissors) and lopped off that stupid little corner. It won't hurt the buttonhole.   I hardly ever tuck anything in, and if I did a belt would cover it. So why not just cut it off? So I did.

Then I set my machine to a dense zig-zag stitch about .5 length and 3.0 width. and stitched along the raw edge to finish it. One down and many more to go.
Hopefully this solution will be helpful to you and your wardrobe of tops and t's.

Save yours now, before it's too late.

feed your stitching soul....

Wednesday, I had the pleasure of teaching a beginners sewing class to a group of tweens. Only one of them new how to thread her machine and we had 2 projects planned for the 3 hour class.
Yes - a bit optimistic perhaps.
After walking them through the basics of their machines, like turning them on :) we got started....

They ranged in age from 9 to 13 and were very excited to learn. Although their seams would not have passed muster, (some of mine still don't)  they dove in will great zeal and fearlessness. Our first undertaking was a pillowcase - you know the one.... it has the accent between the hem,  you roll it up like a burrito and then finish it off with French seams.

Their fabric choices were delightful, and they all couldn't wait to dress their pillows with them.  I ended up marking the seam allowance on their machines with masking tape to make it easier for them to stay true to the seam and it really helped. The youngest student had to put her foot pedal on a phone book to reach it - she was adorable and did very well.

Several thread jams later ( from not lowering the presser foot) and we had our pillowcase finished and pressed! Just enough time to tackle the little bag pattern. We used the Runaround bag pattern by Lazy Girl Designs, a cute and fun pattern, and to save time I did the cutting out for them as they finished up the pillowcases.

Again, their choices of fabric were cute and they were thrilled that they would be putting in a zipper! It went quite well and needless to say their mothers were more than impressed when they came to collect their daughters - now, real sewers!

It's so fantastic to see another generation of sewers emerge and to watch them discover all the creative things they can do with their new found skills. 

Seeing their enthusiasm energized me and brought back memories of some of my first sewing projects - remember when double knits were de rigeuer? OMG

Please, if you haven't already, pass along your skills whenever you get the chance.  It's not only great for the next gen of stitchers,  it's wonderful food for your stitching soul. Not chocolate chip cookie food, but deep down, healthy, hearty, soul food.

                                           It's Stitchtastic!