An hour a day - Day 4-6

Day 4

No real sewing today, just sewing related activity. I chose my next project! I like the circle skirt so much on V8648 that I decided I had to have another one. So I chose my circle skirt pattern. As for fabric I chose the pale green floral fabric that I originally planned to use for the Ceylon dress from Colette. But I've come to the conclusion that this fabric is too stiff for the Ceylon, so it'll be a circle skirt instead! :)

Day 5

One of those days where time runs away from me. There was food shopping to do and Dom needed a hair cut. So while Dom had his hair cut, I wandered round town and bought thread and a zipper for the skirt. Now, the thread and zipper don't look like they match at all, but when the thread is laid over the fabric, it's perfect! Bizarre! 

Day 6

Today I spent a couple of hours patching a couple of holes in Dom's favourite jeans. The denim I used as patches is from another pair of Dom's jeans that he cut into shorts when it was scorching about a week ago. So the patches are part of the cut off leg. Here's the biggest rip, in the knee:

The darker denim isn't as noticeable in real life :) I think I did a pretty good job, I can't even see my stitches in the photo! I used tiny little stab stitches. I also sewed a button back onto one of his shirts too. [I mistyped 'shirt' as 'skirt'!! haha!]

Also, a sneak peak of my Rosebud socks! Well, quarter of a sock so far :)

Circular needles are great for being able to try it on! :)

Ashley x

An hour a day - Day 1-3

After all of your lovely encouraging comments on Monday's post, I've have decided to go head and share what I do with my hour of sewing a day. By sewing for an hour a day, I will make constant progress on whatever sewing project I'm working on. The hour can include any sewing activity, from cutting out a pattern to making adjustments. Hopefully my productivity will be much better this month! :)

Day 1

I spent 15 minutes measuring and marking the length on the circle skirt of V8648. Then I spent 10 minutes cutting along the line I marked. I was really surprised at how much the bias parts had stretched out! Then I spent the rest of my hour pressing the hem up by 3/4 of an inch and pinning it as I went along. Yep, that part took ages!

Day 2

It took me 15 minutes to sew the hem, taking pins out as I went. Then it took me an extra 5 minutes to redo the last part, as the bobbin thread ran out! I hate it when that happens! I trimmed off the excess close to the stitching, which took me 15 minutes. Then I spent 10 mintues pressing the hem, then pressing it up so it would be a nice neat narrow hem :) It then took me 10 minutes to sew around the hem one final time :) I spent the last 5 minutes tidying up. 

Day 3

Then today, I sewed the top of the zipper tape down inside the dress, and gave it a final press. Finished!! I plan on wearing it to go home for the afternoon as it's really hot! :)

I'll try and get some photo's of me in it tomorrow :) I'm really pleased with it, and even Dom said it fits really nicely.

Also, today it is 2 weeks since I have used shampoo or conditioner! Before this I washed and conditioned my hair everyday and it was becoming a little worse for wear. Dom had already given up shampoo and conditioner and he had gotten past the gross stage, and he now has lovely soft smooth clean hair :) His hair now cares for itself! I left mine about 4 days, only using water. It was really greasy and gross, and I was itching to wash it. But instead of using shampoo, I mixed about 2 tablespoons of bicarbonate of soda with about 500ml of water. This was the shampoo. I poured it over wet hair and scrubbed my head and hair. I made my hair feel really smooth. After rinsing thoroughly, it was time for conditioner. I mixed about 2 tablespoons of lemon juice and two tablespoons of honey with 500ml of water and poured it over my hair. I rinsed thoroughly after working the lemon and honey mixture through really well. So far I'm really pleased with the results! My hair is clean and soft :) I've been using the baking soda mixture with the lemon and honey mixture about every third day. And the lemon and honey mixture is great for in between. For now, this is working really well. Some people prefer to use apple cider vinegar instead of lemon juice, but lemon juice is working fine for me so far so I'm sticking to it. If you want to know more google "no 'poo method" and there's lots of info available :)

What about you? Would you try the no 'poo method? Or do you think it sounds gross?

Ashley x