Inspired LED Sewing Machine Light Kit/And The Winner Is....

Wow, the response to the Inspired LED Sewing Machine Lighting Kit was impressive!!! I wish I had 1 for all , but sadly, there's only 1 :(
Since what you are all waiting for is the announcement of who won...
The winner of the Inspired LED Sewing Machine Lighting Kit is...

Congratulations Kathryn Hoyman!!!!
Please email me at sewbussted@yahoo.com with your mailing information so I can pass it on to Inspired Lighting. 

For those of you who did not win, I wanted to give you a few links.
The Sewing Machine Lighting Kit sells for $30.00 on the Inspired Lighting site and you can find it HERE. 

I also found the kit on Amazon for $28.99 and you can find it HERE. 

If you do purchase the kit, I wanted to go over a few aspects of the kit.
The light strip is quite long and comes with an extra connector on the opposite end. Since there is an extra connector, and the leftover strip is quite long, you will be able to use it on a second machine. But you will need the spare parts. 

On THIS page, scroll down to where you see the Sewing Machine Expansion Kit. The expansion kit is $15.00. So it's like getting 2 kits for $45.00 vs. $60.00.
I hope this helps and I also hope that if you do purchase the light kit that you will find it as helpful as I have.

Before I go, I thought I would add a couple of unsolicited comments that were left on the original blog post that I did.

Carol in DenverFebruary 5, 2016 at 11:16 AM

I have these lights on my sewing machine and love them. You might mention that the strip of lights you get is long enough for two machines. You can buy another kit so you can install the rest of the strip on your serger, too. (I'm not entering the giveaway, just wanted to comment.)

KayFebruary 4, 2016 at 8:48 PM

Just a quick note to tell everyone that I bought this light kit from Amazon last summer and I *love* it! I don't have good ambient light in my sewing area, but these LEDs light up the sewing field beautifully.

Thanks Ladies!   

One last thing and then I really will go. So many commented about the need for extra light. I found this so inspiring. Rather than quit, we just keep finding a better way to see.

Keep Sewing Everyone!!!

The Wednesday Showcase

It's always a great day when you have the opportunity to make a few new friends and walk away inspired by the work that others are doing. As long as I have been doing the Wednesday Showcase, you would think that somehow, the talent would begin to wane, but that just doesn't seem to be the case. I'm continually amazed by the work that so many of you are doing, and the mark that you are making on the sewing world. It's not only inspiring, it's exciting to see :)
So, let's get started... 
First up is Joyce from Edinburgh, Scotland. She started her blog just a couple of years ago as she was so inspired the fantastic sewing blogs she was reading. Joyce loves to sew, but she also enjoys haberdashery shops as well as rummaging around in charity stores. You can find her blog here, http://thestorysewfar.blogspot.com/ 

Joyce loves making tops and she does such a beautiful job. The above top was one of her favorite makes of 2015. She said that the print is just so her. Below you can see a number of more recent makes.

Loved this coat. Joyce said that it is such a pleasure to be able to make a coat that she not only loves, but fits! 

She decided to give jeans a try. Well, I don't think she will ever purchase another pair of jeans as these are perfect! 

Not only does she love to sew, she knits too!
Joyce has taken on the Vintage Pledge for 2016. I'm really looking forward to seeing what she creates.

Next up is Mary who is not afraid to take on a challenge. You can find her blog here, http://stylememary.blogspot.com/
A simple shirt dress becomes incredible with handmade buttons and beautiful embroidered touches.

 Love the pop of plaid lining.

Not only does she sew beautifully, check out this crocheted work of art.

She also quilts. Check out the precious label in the lower right hand corner.

In 2013, Mary won the Sewing For Children contest on Pattern Review. This is one lucky little girl!

Be sure to check out Mary's blog as I only scratched the surface. 

I don't know what I want to do first, get out my sewing machine, or grab a crochet hook!!! Sadly, my crochet skills are quite lacking. 
BTW, the jeans that Joyce made are the Jamie Jeans from Named Patterns. You can read her review HERE, and find the pattern HERE. 

Wishing you a wonderfully inspired day!
Rhonda

Master Sewing And Design Certification/Building A Better Waistband

When I have the opportunity to visit Houston, I love to hit the The Guild Shop. What a fabulous place to shop. I always find a treasure...well, to be honest, quite a few treasures. In fact, the last time I was in Houston, I ended up with an extra bag to carry home. Next week I'll share a glorious bias number that I can't wait to remake. But today, I wanted to share a beautifully finished waistband on a Louis Feraud pencil skirt. 
What initially grabbed my interest was the fabric of this skirt. It's a lovely silk, woven into a basket weave pattern. The skirt is a little too big, but a quick alteration will fix that. 

 The darts were not stitched down, but just pressed in place.

Rather than a hook closure, this skirt is fastened with a button. It's obviously cheaper and quicker to do. I prefer the stitched hook method that I shared with you a few weeks ago. 

The lining is not stitched to the zipper, just turned back and stitched. Again, not my preferred method.

So here's how the waistband, lining and skirt were stitched together. The waistband was made and laid against the skirt, then the lining was laid on top. All were stitched at the same time and then the seam was serged. Not couture, but clean and easy. 

Once the waistband and lining have been attached to the body of the skirt, the waistband is held in place by stitching in the ditch, which is the seam between the waistband and the skirt.

On the opposite side, the lining was extended to match the waistband extension. The lining was actually extended further, look closely and you'll see that the extended area is folded back and stitched. All in all, it was extended approximately 1 1/2" past the waistband extension.   

The lining is not stitched to the zipper, with this application, it would be impossible. The center back seam is shaped, similar to the shaping that would be done for a back pleat. 

This waistband was not cut in 1 continuous piece, but in 3 pieces. This makes alterations a quite a bit easier, but takes a little more time in construction.

I like how the waistband and lining were attached to the skirt. I'm not a big fan of how the lining was treated, but it's an option that you might want to experiment with. 

For the Master Sewing and Design Certification Program, you will need to demonstrate 3  types of waistbands,

1. On-grain waistband

2. Elastic casing waistband

3. Contoured/Faced waistband

The above waistband would be considered an on-grain waistband. The positive side of this waistband is that it holds it's shape. The down side is that since it is cut on the straight of grain, it is not the most comfortable waistband to wear. The most comfortable waistband would be probably be the elastic waistband, but typically not the most attractive. The contoured waistband sits beautifully on the waist and is quite comfortable. 

I'll talk more about waistbands in the coming weeks. 

In the meantime, if you live in Houston, or take a trip to Houston, by all means, stop by The Guild Shop. I know you'll find a few treasures :) 

Something Sweet On Sunday/Nutella-Pecan Chocolate Cake with Nutella Frosting

There's something I am quite famous for...catching my stove on fire!!!! I am not exaggerating. As much as I love to cook, I have caught my stove on fire more times than I would like to admit. My favorite item to burn is pinenuts. I put them under the broiler to toast, start doing something else, turn around and they are on fire. As calm and cool as I am in most emergency situations, for some reason a stove fire sends me over the edge. I now have a fire extinguisher near by and I now toast my pinenuts on top of the stove in an iron skillet.
I now have a new item to add to my burning stove repertoire, cake batter. I found the recipe that I am sharing today and thought it sounded so good. Super sinful, but so good. So I decided to give it a try. Now to my benefit, the recipe says to bake the cake in a loaf pan or a 9" round pan, but only 1 pan. When I put the batter in the round pan, I thought it was an awful lot of batter, but what do I know? So in the oven it went. The cake was supposed to bake for 40 minutes, so off I went to do something else. I could smell the cake, but you're supposed to smell the cake when it's cooking, right? Believe it or not, my dog Gracie came and started barking and was quite excited. Just like a Lassie story, she turned and ran to the kitchen, so I followed and found cake batter burning in the stove. Not just smoking, but flames shooting up. The cake was ruined, but Gracie saved the day!
Now with all of that, you would think I might give up on the cake, but the bits and pieces that I could salvage from the first cake tasted so good, so I just had to give it another try.
SUCCESS!!!!!

I've been following Dust Jacket Attic, pretty much since I first started my own blog. She is just a great source of inspiration. Not only does she post some interesting fashion items, she also links to great recipes. And that's how I found this recipe for;

Nutella-Pecan Chocolate Cake with Nutella Frosting

Doesn't that cake look amazing?!! As long as you don't catch your stove on fire, it is!
Rather than me copying the recipe here, just pop over to THIS website and check it out. You won't be sorry. The cake is truly amazing.
Had I read to the end of the post, I would have seen that not only did she have enough batter for a loaf pan, she also made 12 muffins. Ohhh, now I know :)

So as you can see, the second time around, I divided the batter between 2, 9" round pans. I did a layer of icing in between the 2 layers and then iced the entire cake. 
Take note that the pecans are toasted. Mine were toasted in an iron skillet on top of the stove ;)
Enjoy the recipe and just be careful to not set your stove on fire!!!
Rhonda

Light Up Your World/Light Up Your Machine and a Giveaway!!!

A few months back, I was contacted by a company called Inspired LED Lighting. I was told that they had an LED light kit especially designed for sewing machines that they thought I would love and asked me to give it a try without obligation. If I liked it, I could blog about it, and if I didn't, well that was fine too.
I wasn't sure exactly which machine I would like to test it out on, but finally decided on my little Baby Lock Anna as it's the machine I use when I travel. A little extra lighting sounded wonderful, especially if I left my extra lighting at home. To be honest, I thought that a little extra light would be nice, but I really didn't think it would make that much of a difference. Guess what!!!, it does.
The kit arrived with an LED strip that has an adhesive backing, clips, and a power cord.   

Before I attached the LED strip to my machine, I decided to just plug in the strip and see what it looked like. Like I said, I was pleasantly surprised with how much light came from these teeny tiny lights.

The attaching process is done on the backside of the machine. The clip holds the cord in place on the back of the machine.

The on/off switch is attached to the side of the machine. 

I decided to use the extra clip to hold the cord on the side as well.

Below is a picture prior to adding the LED light strip. 

And here's after. You can see how lit up the surface area is. Like I said, I was absolutely amazed...and happy :) In the future, if I forget my extra lighting, it won't be an issue. 

Here's a video from Inspired LED that shows the entire process of attaching the LED strip, and better pictures than mine of the difference with and without the extra light. 


Now for the good news!!! I installed the LED strip on my machine yesterday afternoon. I immediately contacted the company and told them how much I liked the product and asked if I would be able to host a giveaway. They got back to me right away with a resounding YES!!!! The only downside is that this giveaway is for U.S. residents only. The reason being that our electrical system is different than that in other countries. So sorry. 

So, if you would like a chance to win an Inspired LED lighting kit for your machine,
1. You must be a U.S. resident
2. You must be a follower of this blog
3. Leave a message on this blog and let me know how you follow, Bloglovin, Feedly, email, etc. 

I will announce the winner next Thursday, February 11, 2016.

Now that I have the strip on my little Baby Lock Anna, I want the strip on my Bernina too! 
Good Luck!   

The Winner of The Waffle Patterns Pepernoot Coat

Wow, what a response we had to the Pepernoot Coat  pattern give away!!! It's a great pattern, and lots of fun to make. And like I said previously, although it's a downloadable pattern, there's a copy shop version, so no need to tape sheets together. Personally, I find taping the sheets together rather therapeutic(I guess I'm a little strange!), and something to keep me busy and feeling a little less guilty when I spend the evening watching television. 

I also love the fact that Yuki's patterns are layered, so you can choose just the size you want rather than printing out each and every size. Prior to the sew along, I'll do a special post on how the layered sizing works.  

So what you've all been waiting for...

The winner of the Pepernoot Coat pattern is;

Congratulations Angela Fernihough!!!!!

Please email me at sewbussted@yahoo.com with your email address so I can pass it along to Yuki. She will be sending the files for your new pattern.

Sadly, there was only 1 pattern, but this year is off to a fabulous start and I have another exciting give away that I will be announcing a little later today, so be sure to pop back by and check it out :) 

I Need To Do Something Just For Me

Sometimes we get caught up in doing, doing, doing. Doing for our spouse, doing for commitments, be it work or charitable commitments, doing for friends, and the list can go on and on. Then we come to a point that we just need to do something for ourselves, just for fun.  

A number of years ago, I talked about working through The Artist's Way. A fabulous experience and well worth your time. One of the commitments that you make while working through the book is to take a weekly artist's date. It can be just for an hour, but doing something that you really want to do and doing it alone. It can be something as simple as taking an hour long soaking bath, or something a little more extravagant like taking a horseback riding lesson. For those of us who sew, taking a little time to make something just because we want to can be an artist's date. And that's what I'm about to do :)

I recently saw the Sydney Jacket from Tessuti Fabrics, and loved it.

The line drawing is what will either suck me in or make me turn the other way. The Sydney Jacket sucked me in :) What did it for me was the yoke shaping.

Other than the side seams, the seams are actually overlapped and then stitched, so the fabric needs to be one that will not ravel, like a melton wool, boiled wool, fleece, etc. The jacket also features a pocket with a faux welt, so super easy to do. Also take note that this is an unlined jacket, so you need a fabric that is either double sided, reversible or has a nice back.  

I purchased the fabric pictured below a while back. It was a piece that I ordered online. I wasn't exactly pleased when it arrived. The fabric is fine, just not exactly what it looked like online. The fabric is more blood red than cherry red, and as it turns out, it will work perfectly with the Sydney Jacket pattern, so all is not lost. 

The pattern has been downloaded, printed, taped together and cut out, so now I just need to cut my fabric and get started. I'm so excited as I think this will be a super fun project.

And before I go, I wanted to share with you a fabric that I recently purchased. It's swirly!!!! The fabric is wool. I actually found it in the home dec department. It was marked down, but still expensive, so I purchased just enough for a skirt. I laid it over the red fabric above for the photograph, but I think I might underline it in black. We'll see. When the fabric is held up, the little swirly discs hang down and bounce. I think this is going to be a hoot to wear!

I can't wait to get my jacket together, so stay tuned for the final result. 
Be sure to take a little time for yourself. It really is so important.
Rhonda