Christmas time is here! Happiness and cheer!

Merry Christmas! I cannot even believe Christmas is one week away! This time of year always goes by so fast, but this year I decided I'm not going to stress out if I don't get everything done. I'm just going to have fun! Over Thanksgiving I put together a little gingerbread house decorating party with my in-laws and I think everyone really enjoyed it. The party was really last minute, but I was able to find enough time to make all the gingerbread houses for decorating (highly recommend this recipe). The Christmas cookie making was also totally last minute and it turned into a lovely evening with my sweetheart decorating cookies and enjoying the coziness of our Christmas tree. We thought this year we wouldn't be able to hunt for a Christmas tree in the forest because we were late in getting our registration in, but I found a different place that didn't require we purchase a permit early, so that worked out perfectly! It's so much fun hiking into the woods to find the perfect tree! I think we did pretty well this year, if I do say so myself! Since this was the first year with a new kitty in the house, we weren't quite sure how he would react to a Christmas tree. But so far he hasn't tried to climb it or play with the ornaments. Although one morning we did find two straw ornaments on the floor! He knows he's not supposed to play with the tree, though, and he's generally pretty good about it. We are so lucky to have a pretty chill cat. Speaking of the cat, we successfully took him on a 12 hour road trip over Thanksgiving and the whole trip went fantastically well. So much better than I thought! He absolutely loved staying at my in-law's house over the holiday too. There were STAIRS to run up and down and lots of space to play in. I think he realized how much fun carpet is because he doesn't slip like he does on wood floors when he's in crazy running around mode! haha. That cat, he really cracks me up!

I hope you are enjoying the season and not stressing out too much! Wishing you all the most joyous Christmas and a very happy New Year! xoxo

On Sale!

The Ada Plaid Pullover is currently on sale in my Big Cartel shop! 

Happy November!

Happy Hallowe'en!!!

The pumpkin grinned from ear to ear

The moon is bright, the sky is clear.

This is the night we’ve waited for,

When elves come knocking on the door.

When witches ride their broomsticks high

And ghosts and goblins fill the sky.

Then Jack and Jill, with fairy queen.

Will dance and sing It’s Halloween.

Constance B. Osborne

Fall Gingham

New fall things in the shop! And as always, feel free to let me know if you would like me to make this, or any, design in a different fabric. Or if you need other specifications made like adjusting the length of the garment etc. You can always contact me with any questions at gracefullady@gmail.com :)

::: F A L L  S H O P :::

xoxo

Anna

New top/dress in the making

Just finished this top last night and have decided to make the final version into a dress. Also, I've been in a Gilmore Girls mood a lot lately (which happens every year around this time). I like to put it on while sewing. Does anyone else like to watch a particular tv show or movie you've seen while sewing? I'm enjoying the fall season so much! The air is crisp and the leaves are starting to change around our neighborhood. It's really beautiful. Fall goes by way too fast, so I try to savor every moment during the month of October.

New Fall Tops

New fall tops now in the shop! I will also be adding more autumn/winter things in the coming weeks/months.

* * S H O P * *

How to professionally hem your jeans (in about 15 minutes)!

I am 5’5” and although that may be considered an average height, I’ve found through the years that most jean lengths end up being too long on me. I really hate always having to roll up my jeans, or worse, being forced to let them scrunch up around my ankles. So I have experimented with different ways to hem my jeans and have finally found an easy way that doesn’t look like my jeans have been hemmed. And it hardly takes any time, which means my jeans won't be sitting on a mending pile for months before I get around to hemming them. It really only takes about 15 minutes!

Start by trying on your jeans and folding the hem up to where you want them. Place a safety-pin or get someone to measure how much you folded. Now remove the jeans and refold them so they measure half the length you folded when trying them on. For instance, let’s say you folded 4” when trying them on to reach the perfect length, now you should pin them at 2”.

Pin the fold at the side seams and then at each center. Stitch just below the stitching line of the original hem. Basically you want to get as close to the original hem as possible, but don’t stitch on top of the original hem. Also, you will want to slightly stretch the original hem between each side seam, as I’ve found with tapered jeans the original hemline may be slightly smaller around.

Now turn the fold towards the inside of the jeans and try them on to make sure you like the length. If not, remove the stitching and adjust until it’s at the place you want it to be. This part is really worth a little extra time, because you won’t be able to adjust the length once you finish hemming.

Now cut off the extra fabric to about ¼” (I cut it to ½” but then found it rather difficult to serge over the thick side seams).

Finish the raw edge with your serger or if you have a basic sewing machine, just zig-zag over the edge so it won’t ravel when you wash it.

Turn the seam inside pointing up and press with a hot iron. I like to sew a few stitches up and down right on top of the side seams on either side. This way after washing the jeans, they really stay put and when you wear them the hem won’t flip out accidentally.

That’s it! It’s really that simple. And no one will notice you hemmed your jeans!

I hope you enjoyed my little tutorial! 

xoxo

Instagram!

A few images from my latest Instagram. Also, I thought yesterday was the first official day of autumn, but apparently I was wrong! I guess today is officially fall? In any case, it's now autumn time and I'm enjoying every minute of it!

P.S. To those who took the time to respond to my last post about making patterns etc. a big THANK YOU! I plan to respond to each and every one of you! I'm sorry I haven't yet. Just wanted you to know your comments mean so much to me. You guys are the best! xoxo

P.P.S. The plaid top in these pictures will hopefully be in the shop later this week. I'll update here!