Hey Loves! I'm excited to share a new video my YouTube channel! If you hate sewing buttons as much as I do, check this video out.  If you don't have a Brother SE-400, check your machine to see if it can do it too. You guys don't understand how happy I am about this! Alright, gotta go sew! Smoothes! DJ

Hi Loves! I'm so excited about this post because I get to talk about 3 of my favorites: my hubby, HBCUs, and sewing. I ❤ my husband.  He's really My Guy!  I'm so thankful to get to share my life with him.  With 3 kids, getaways aren't happening often.  So, anniversaries are often celebrated on a small scale.  This year was no different. Hubby spent the day doing his monthly service project.  That night, we got glammed up for Mayor's Masked UNCF Ball.  My employer sponsored a table.   UNCF provides scholarships to students attending member Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs).  As a graduate of a HBCU, I was proud to be at the ball and to see all of the support for HBCUs in the building.  To learn more about HBCUs, check out the PBS special, http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/films/tell-them-we-are-rising/ Now, you know I had to make something to wear.  With a week to make a dress, I decided to ...

Hey Loves! I'm excited about this dress.   Why?   Because in always excited about a successful project,  but also because I got to sew something from my Hancock stash.  Yes, I'm still sewing fabric from Hancock.  Here's the background on this dress.   This is one of my repeat clients. We were shopping for fabric for another project and spotted this pink fabric in Hancock when they were going out of business.  We both bought yards of it. Well it's just been sitting here waiting for her to be ready to use it.   Well this wedding was the perfect opportunity, but she didn't have enough of the pink. I told her I figured I could make it work with a few yards of another fabric.  She said go for it.   So, we debated between olive,  nude,  and navy.   She chose navy.  The rest is history.   She didn't know how I would make it work but she trusted me.  Luckily,  I didn't ...

Hey Loves! I'm back with a tip:  Clean Up or Cover Up! It's spring!  I think.   This weather has been a little funny here in Bama.  It was down in the low 60s and high 50s last week. I equate spring and summer with porch sitting.   I did a lot of that at Grandma's house when I was little.   It's kind of discouraging to walk out on your porch, patio, or deck and see dingy, dirty furniture. Well, don't throw it away.  It can be saved. First, try cleaning it.  Click here for some tips on cleaning moldy, dirty patio furniture. If cleaning doesn't give them new life, cover them up! For those of you that don't sew,  here are two you can purchase.  Find them in Amazon If you can sew, go ahead and make them.  I made some very simple cushion covers for a former co-worker. To do this, I watched a few envelope pillow cover tutorials and applied the measurements she provided.   Here's one that I liked: You ca...

Hey Loves! This is a mix of style and sewing.   I spend a lot of time looking at my patterns and fabric.   Yes, a lot. Why?  Because I want to pair them well.   I like prints but I don't like prints in a complex design.   I like prints worth a simple design.   I like solids on complex designs.   So my style moto is keep it simple. You can live out loud, while keeping it simple.   Look at the designs below. They are all simple bit the prints give them life.   It's like saying a lot without saying much.   I love it! Here's a little look at some of my favorite simple designs with pretty prints. Until next time,  Smooches! DJ

Practice Buttonhole Using Brother SE400 One Step Buttonhole Option Hey Loves! It's busy,  busy,  busy in my life but I wanted to share a tip.   PRACTICE! We've all heard the saying Practice makes perfect.   Though it may sound cliché, it's the truth!  You get better with practice.   Trust me. I have a confession for you.   I was scared of buttonholes.   I hated to see a pattern that requires a buttonhole.  My fear came from many failed attempts at creating a button home.   I mean many failed attempts.    Garments were ruined because of jacked up buttonholes.  One night, I sat down and said I won't be defeated by a darn buttonhole.  I pulled out lots of swatches of different types of fabric, set up my Brother LS590 to create a buttonhole, and practiced and practiced and practiced until I got a perfect buttonhole on each.   There was a lot of trial and error.   I had to pull out stabilizer to help w...

McCall's 7047 Modified Using Simplicity 1072 Hey Loves! I'm so excited about today's Tip Tuesday. It's actually a combination of Me Made Monday and Top Tuesday. I get really excited to see other people wearing my creations especially when they feel good in them.  She looked gorgeous and said she felt gorgeous.  That's all that matters! The two piece ensemble was her vision.   I immediately knew I'd use McCall 7047 to make it.   I'm always using it for different projects and knew it could easily be adjusted to meet her need. It definitely fit the bill. Here's a link to my review of this project. So let's talk about the fabric.   It's a quilted knit from Joann Fabrics.   I used the same fabric in boysenberry to make this cardigan . (Here are links to the black and boysenberry quilted knit fabrics.)  I love different fabrics.   I guess it's one of my things.   I love texture of this fabric.   I also love the elasticity. ...

Hey Loves! It's been a week or so since I've post. Sorry, I got a little busy, but I'm back and ready to share with you. Today's post was requested by a visitor to the blog. She was having issues with steps 7-10 in New Look A6291. These steps show how to form an elastic casing using bias tape. For a beginner, the directions can be a little difficult to follow, so I put together this tutorial. The great thing is once you understand this you can apply it to many other projects.  It gives you a clean finished look on the inside of your garment. You can also add a pop of color to the inside as well. Alright, what did you think of the tutorial? It's my first video tutorial. I'd love your feedback - nice and not so nice. Until next time, Smooches! DJ

Photo Credits: Vogue Sewing & Simplicity 8055 Hey Loves! It’s Tip Tuesday, so let’s ease into this tip. LOL I can be so corny.  Anyway, this week’s tip is all about ease.   Let me tell you a story.  This adventurous young lady once made herself a pencil skirt out of a non-stretch fabric. She looked at the finished measurements and made the size with finished measurements as close to her measurements as possible.  After spending much time matching patterns and sewing the skirt, she was proud of the finished product.  It looked great!  Well, looks were deceiving.  She tried it on.  It eased over her curves but she couldn’t move without feeling like all the stitches would pop.  Her walk was more like a penguin shuffle.  So, frustrating for a newbie! Does that sound familiar?  It is all too familiar for me, because that lady was me.  I eventually learned what went wrong.  By matching my measurements to the fi...

Photo Credit: Professor Pin Cushion & Nancy Zieman Hey Loves! It's time for the Tuesday Tip!  It's all about nap.  Not the well deserved sleep breaks we rarely get to take.  But, the nap of the fabric. Have you read the back of the pattern and wondered what was meant by with nap and workout nap?  *Raising my hand and nodding my head*  I know I did.  And boy, did I learn a lesson. I had a dress made of the same fabric that looked two different colors.  It wasn't the lighting.   It was the nap of the fabric. What exactly is nap?  The Vogue Sewing book defines nap as a "soft surface with fibers that lie smoothly in one direction."  Oh by the way,  I love this book.  If you can get one, grab it. Why is nap so important? Fabrics with nap must be sewn together with the nap in the same direction.  Otherwise, it affects the way the fabric looks.  Just take a look at the picture above. How did nap affect my ...

Credit:  Sew-Simple.com Hey Loves! It's Tuesday. What better day for a sewing tip than today?! Today's tip is pretty simple. It's something we sewcialists do all the time: change thread in our sewing machines. I bet you're thinking "What's the big deal?!" I thought the same thing when my sew sister, Elle of Run Bike Sew Studio (@ellerussew), started talking about the correct way to change the thread on the machine. I thought "Is it really that big of a deal?" Well, yea it's a pretty big deal if you care about the tension. So, here's a little advice from me to you - Pull in the Right Direction! What direction might that be? DOWN! When changing your thread, clip it near the spool and pull down through the needle. Pulling up can damage your tension. If you don't believe me, both Elle and  Sew-Simple.com  can't be wrong. I hope this tip helps you. It was eye opening for me. Until next time, Smooches! DJ