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Tuesday, February 16, 2010

mending and maintenance

Here's a little dress that I really like.
The colors are great and the fabric is sort of like courdory,
but not as heavy.
I've always loved brown and pink.
And, it does look great on my little girl.

The problem is this.
The hem was basically a serged or zigzagged line along the bottom.
When it came out, I wondered how I was going to fix it.

I found some fabric that went with that pink
in my overflowing fabric cupboard.



I cut a few strips 1 1/2" wide.
sewed that on the back side.

This is where my quilting skills come in handy.
It was just like doing binding on a quilt! ;)




Rolled it over and top stitched it down.




A new hem.




A new dress!!

Then, I thought I'd share with you a simple trick.



Look under your machine.
I've had my sewing machine for 2 years and never noticed...
there's a trap door under there!!!?

I was contemplating taking the WHOLE bottom piece off to clean the lint.

Who knew there was little door there???

I like that little door idea a LOT better than
the BIG sewing machine OPERATION I was going to attempt!






note: Victoria over at bumble beans read my post and
told me there was a lot of lint farther back!
AAAH! I guess I've got to do another post on
How I managed to get my machine apart and
then couldn't figure out how to get it back together again...





10 comments:

  1. Fabulous on BOTH counts!! What a great idea for the hem of that adorable little dress. :) Those are the little projects that give me the giddy, bubbly, warm fuzzy about sewing....it's like a little hug from God with the crafting skill that He's gifted us with. Have a great day!

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  2. Great way to fix the dress. It's adorable. Thanks for the tip about the sewing machine trap door. I'm going to see if mine has one.

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  3. i have the same juki.... and friend who is a quilting teacher... (also has a juki - along with other machines) said yes.... the trap door.... needs to be opened and link brushed or vacuumed out....BUT the whole base can be removed to do a thorough cleaning. Her tip was...when the machine starts getting louder... do a thorough cleaning; you'd be surprised how much lint is under there beyond the little trap door.

    i haven't had my juki long enough to do the "big job"

    always love your blog!!!

    xo
    eva

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  4. points to match?? (crazymom's)

    check out : http://www.redpepperquilts.com/ .... she did a neat tutorial?? info?? blog about just that!!

    xo
    eva

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  5. What a great idea on the hem Beth. Also a way to lengthen it a tad maybe.

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  6. You not only fixed the dress, you enhanced it!

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  7. Nice job on the dress, I like it better. I Have to go check out the bottom o my machines, now,....

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  8. cute dress!
    I am so going to have to check my machine too... I've tried a seam ripper, safety pin... all sorts of nonsense to get out the lint because I don't want to part with it to take it in.

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  9. Wow. I must look at my machine tonight.

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