Hey Y'all! I'm Salinda. Welcome to my little piece of the South. I'm a sewing instructor and the seamstress behind PersonaliTy Children's Clothes. I'm crazy in love with my hubby and Momma to 2 spunky swimmers! I'm addicted to Sonic Cokes, my New Orleans Saints, and Jesus!
While teaching a beginning class this morning, I realized that there are several sewing terms I use a lot that could do with a little more explanation.
Here’s a mini-vocabulary lesson for someone learning to sew:
Baste: To baste is to sew, but using a very long (and easy to remove later) stitch.
Seam Allowance: Your seam allowance is the distance between the edge of your fabric and your needle. Seam allowances can vary between 1/4 inch (common for quilting and piecing) to 5/8 inch (common for commercial patterns). Line up the edge of your fabric with the line on your foot plate that corresponds to the seam allowance listed in the pattern.
Right Sides Together: Place your fabric with the pretty sides together and ugly sides out. (Note: some fabrics don’t had a “right” and a “wrong”. You pick!)
Wrong Sides Together: Place or fold your fabric with the ugly sides together and pretty (right) sides out.
Press: Press your seams as you complete them, as opposed to ironing them. To press, set the hot iron down, heat the fabric and then lift the iron and press it down elsewhere on the fabric. Ironing can distort your seams.
So 2 questions:
1. For those of you with lots of sewing experience: what sewing terms do you use/run across frequently that could also do with a little more explanation?
2. For those of you just learning to sew: is there a sewing term or phrase that you’ve run across lately that stumped you?
It’s been about 3 weeks since I declared my intentions to be deliberate in 2012. How’ve I done? Well…
I’m still running/walking with the Couch to 5K program. It’s been cold, my shins hurt a little, and sometimes I think I’ll never make it, but I’m still giving it my best.
I picked up the phone to call (okay, text) a friend. We set a play date and we watched our kids play hard while we enjoyed a cup of coffee and a wonderful chat.
I made a black skirt. This was a very deliberate descion on several levels. First, I knew I wanted to sew. Rather than just make up a pattern that was appealing to me, I decided to take a look in the closet to see what I needed. I decided that I could use a causal/weekend uniform skirt. I choose to replicate a store bought skirt I loved and wore all summer. I lengthend it for the fall. Lastly, I choose to complete the skirt in one evening. Hooray! These means I didn’t add another project to my UFO pile (UFO=UnFinished Object).
I’m doing a better job sneaking veggies and fruits into my family’s diet. This has been easier with our garden and our road trips lately. I found some amazing veggies at a Farmer’s Market down in Destrehan. (Thanks Jane!) I’ve also been to New Orleans and Little Rock so I could grab a few things at Whole Foods.
I really like this “One Word” thing. It’s been rewarding to discover that I’m following my intentions rather than failing at resolutions.
January 15: I started a quilt top with the help of Momma (it was all her fabric) and A (she arranged the blocks!)
January 16: I almost finished the quilt top!
January 17: I finished the quilt top! All the fabrics are from the same line, but they are the strangest collection…
January 18: Time for mid-winter planting! I love living in the South! We can garden all-year-round!
January 19: Thursday. Um…I don’t remember Thursday!
January 20: We celebrated A’s homeroom teacher’s birthday.
January 21: Another Saturday, another swim meet. Both the kids won 1st in their respective freestyle events! I managed to get (blurry) pictures of the end of each of their races. Look for the blue caps.
He has all his favorites: Legos, nerf guns, Star Wars, football. It’s easy to hit the toy store and pick out something he’d love, but I’d like to find him something a little different, a little extra special. I’m thinking about some of these:
January 9: Still plodding away with Couch to 5K. (OK, so this is the only day I actually ran this week. Let’s blame it on the weather and a stomach bug.)
January 10: Stitched up some spring jon jons!
January 11: Added Mardi Gras Jon Jons to the shop!
January 12: Our school was rocked by a stomach bug. Over 20% of the kids went home ill! Thank goodness we missed it! January 13: Tie Dye!
January 14: A quick trip to Arkansas for Great-Grandma’s 90th birthday. I forgot batteries for the camera. Ugh. Maybe I can snitch someone else’s pictures.
Also, football in Louisiana came to a screeching halt this week with the debacle that was the BCS championship and the Saints loss to the 49ers. I will say this: It is so much fun cheering for our teams-win or lose. When does football season start again???
I snitched my Momma’s new cookbook. Shhh…don’t tell her.
The kids and hubby and I are loving the Homesick Texan Cookbook! So far, I’ve cooked with tomatillos and poblano peppers, fried corn tortillas, refried beans, made chaulpas, and botched tortilla soup. The tortilla soup had a wonderful smokey flavor—but somehow I added WAAAAAY too much chili pepper!
Up next: rendering my own lard (can you say cracklins’), carnitas, and homemade tortillas.
By the way, the book is so much fun to read, even if you never pick up a pepper! I love the back stories Lisa Fain includes with her recipes. She also does a wonderful job explaining just how different food is in Texas, depending on where you are! The recipes we’ve tried have been delicious, so much so that the 6-year-old recommended that his MoMo just buy another copy!
***I should probably mention that I have no affiliation with Lisa Fain or the Homesick Texan. I literally just swiped my mom’s book and I liked it so much I wanted to tell you about it.***
Home of Needles, Nuts, and Bolts Sewing Classes and Personality Children's Clohtes
Seam Allowance: Your seam allowance is the distance between the edge of your fabric and your needle. Seam allowances can vary between 1/4 inch (common for quilting and piecing) to 5/8 inch (common for commercial patterns). Line up the edge of your fabric with the line on your foot plate that corresponds to the seam allowance listed in the pattern.
