New ink and I hope St. Louis is ready, cause I'm here.

Well first I have got to begin with the new addition to my body.  An awesome tattoo on my ankle paying tribute to my passions!  I am a little in love with it.  Deb and I were talking about seeing a movie, then I joked and said we could get tattoos instead.  Well the movie didn't seem that interesting so we got tattoos instead.  We got our last tattoos after a similar conversation and nothing good playing at the multiplex.  

We've gotten all of our most recent work done at Ben Around Tattoos in Waynesboro, VA, and they've all been done by Shawn.  He fit us in last minute, came up with beautiful artwork for us and said the nicest think we had ever heard a man say about his wife.

Deb: "What Does your wife do"

Shawn: "She's compassionate.  She goes out of her way to help others."

It was a pretty incredible thing to hear a husband say about his wife.  We welled a wee bit and not from the pain.

***I would also like to have a side bar and say that I though getting Tattooed on my ribs was like the worst of the worst, but that honor had to go to the inside of your ankle.  HOLY CRAP! It hurt.  I decided after the shading that I didn't need color at this time.

Long story short, I have been so bad about posting but you'll have to forgive me.  The last couple weeks were full of packing and getting ready to leave for St. Louis.  After Almost 14 hours in a Prius (way good choice for a road trip) I arrived last night in St. Louis with my dear friend and co-worker Kelsey, in tow.  Hooray!

Here is our Journey, in images:

 The mornin' was super misty, foggy, and rainy. Boo!

The lovely and luscious Kelsey, who affectionately offered to drive me to STL.  Woh! She's Awesome.

Clearly on this trip I discovered instagram! Its super great!

Lewisburg, WV was named the #1 small town US.  They had a plaque.

Kelsey loves eating Nori just like my sweetie pie, awe Deb I miss you!

West Virginia is BEAUTIFUL!

This is me relaxing like a Princess, in Princess, KY!

Here we are bringing the Sunshine to Clark County, KY.  

Conversation with the clerk at the Clark County, KY, gas station.

Clerk: "You girls aren't from here."

Me: "No we're not how can you tell."

Clerk: "You actually seem happy."

Me: "Oh is that out of the ordinary?"

Clerk: "Yah."

Me; "Well, happy to bring the sunshine, have a great day."

Indiana Pistols! We didn't see a welcome sign.

Yeah that's a goat in the back of that truck.

Kisses for Deb!

This was in the bathroom at a rest stop.  Looks dicey to me.

Again there was no sign for Missouri, but hey, Welcome to Missouri!

I got bored and camera happy.

WE MADE IT!!!

You are probably wondering, what was Deb and the puppies doing when you were tripping around the midwest.  Well here are the photos that deb sent me of the puppies:

Orson Baby! on his bed

Hobbes so sad I'm gone.

Orson looking for me.

Blue Bear and his crazy eyes!

Our delicate boy on his bed.

Sweet boys.

She Loves ME!!!

On sunday after our long day in the car we wanted to do something fun.  We were going to go to the Zoo.  The traffic and parking was such a situation that all we saw was this statue honoring the Zoo.

Our treat for Kelsey and my last night together!

Yay Blue Moon.

It was a great trip, but now I have to get going and be ready for work.  Till Later, Posting soon.

~ Caroline ~

Grammy gets new duds, a perfect A-line skirt.

The last time Deb and I visited my Grandma she fell in love with a skirt I had made for Deb.  I thought for sure that she liked the cut or perhaps she was just being nice.  However she kept fawning all over it from the bold pattern to the cut.  I told her that absolutely she must have one of her own if she loved it so much.  

I took her measurements and set to work.  ***I want to lend a disclaimer, my Gram is a super tiny woman.  She'd be lucky to weigh 85 lbs. soaking wet.  This thing is going to come out really small, so no complexes ok?  Great me neither.

You are going to need the following measurements:

• Natural Waist
• Distance from your Natural Waist to your High Hip
• High Hip
• Distance from your High Hip to your Low Hip
• Low Hip
• Natural Waist to Below Knee 

I love my L-shaped ruler, and it is a great help in this particular project.  It helps you to make nicely squared lines.  Most women like to wear their garments at the high hip line and that is where I measured from.

Draw a long vertical line, which is the length of the high hip to below knee.  ***To get that measurement subtract "Distance from your Natural Waist to your High Hip" from "Natural Waist to Below Knee".  At the top of the vertical line you are going to draw an adjacent horizontal line.  The length of the horizontal line is 1/4 of the total High Hip measurement.

Next is to measure down "Distance from your High Hip to your Low Hip" and to create another adjacent  horizontal line.  This will measure 1/4 of your "Low Hip" measurement.  Next we play connect the dots drawing a line diagonally through the ends of the horizontal lines we've already laid in.

Grammy being so slim this gave way to a very shallow diagonal and thus reduced the skirts fullness.  So I kicked it out and and gave the pattern a little more width at the hem.

I would like to take a moment for seam allowances.  When you work from most patterns you can purchase the seam allowance is factored into the pattern for you.  It is extremely rare that I put seam allowance on my paper pattern.  The reason for this is that I prefer to mark the edge of the pattern, and then using a clear ruler mark the seam allowance from that.  I find that it makes it easier to change my seam allowance as needed.  I always use 1" seam allowance (SA) on mock ups and new patterns.  It is always possible to cut a little more away than it is to put it back.

***I like to put the measurements I am working from directly on the pattern.

You will need to either cut your pieces on a fold or mark one half then flip it over to mark the second half.  I was matching a pattern and that was why I chose the mark and flip method.

The pattern I did for Gran had pockets in it which are optional on your a-line.

I do not have access to a serger at home so rather than leave my edges raw, I used a pair of pinking sheers to cut the edge.  This helps to stave off fraying.

You are probably saying to yourself, "Where was Deb while you were slaving away there Caroline?"  Well I will tell you.  She was on the daybed with a kitten in her lap.  Relaxing!  I would like to say that this is hard to believe, but as you've seen in previous posts, this is a common reality.

Here is a quick little pocket how to in pictures:

***I am going to do a further post on pockets a little more later.

The next step is to sew up your side seams.  If you have added the pockets you are going to want to either pin them in place or sew them in place in the seam allowance.  Once you've stitched the side seams you want to press them open.

You are going to seam your waistband to the top of your skirt.  The waist band is going to be similar to how we did the roll hem on the curtains, the exception being that rather than just rolling what is already there we are going to seam a strip of fabric, cut along the width of your fabric.  this strip should be 4X the width of what you want the finished waist band to be.  For example if you want a  1" waist band your strip will be 4" wide.  Right sides together matching the strip up with the top of your skirt you need to seam it at the width of your finished waist band (for a 1" waist band you would seam at 1").

Now press the waist band up toward the seam allowance and then once more over the top of the skirt.  Next you will press the remaining 1" up an into the crease of the fold just like the roll hem and topstitch.

We will now put on our zipper.  I am using an invisible zipper, (How to on the Burda Style website).  You can always follow the directions that come with your zipper.  I have an invisible zipper foot for my machine and let me say it was worth the investment.

*** Be very careful that in sewing your zipper on you do not  twist it.  This will cause it not to zip, you will have to take it out, and you will feel foolish.

Your final step is to do a roll hem at the bottom edge of your skirt.  I used a half inch roll hem, which means there was actually 1" of hem.

Finally press and then you are finished.

New Skirt Pistols!

~ Caroline ~

Projected Forecast

1) Tablet Case for Deb

2) Blouse pattern for me

3) New dress from Vintage Vogue