When Life Gives You Scraps: Quarantine Quilting

How’s everyone doing with this quarantine thing? I know, it’s a mixed bag. Me, I’m off work at the moment. I would love to be able to say that I’m using all my newfound free time to conduct scholarly research and write papers for publication (just one of my many ideas of fun). However, writing is on hold while I wait for some ergonomic home office supplies to arrive and my hand and wrist to heal (I did myself a mischief trying to work without them—wrist rests are important). In the meantime, I’m repairing this vintage 1970s quilt:

The appliquéd sunbursts have been coming unstitched. A stitch in time saves nine. Lucky for me I have the time.

Do you want to learn how to sew or quilt by hand? Both are relatively simple and do not require much to get started. Watch my demonstration videos below.

Each video has a supply list underneath and the only audio is music, so they are not captioned or subtitled. If you need resources for learning to sew for the blind or visually impaired, check out this page on sewing and clothing care from the Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired.

How to sew by hand:

Supplies needed: fabric, needle, thread, scissors, and a thimble. Push the eye of needle with the finger that wears the thimble. I happen to guide the needle most with my left hand, but you can use your right hand and copy this technique if you prefer.

How to quilt by hand:

How to make quilting stitches by hand. Supplies needed: Fabrics, thread, thimble, and a short needle called a "quilting between." Again, I happen to guide the needle most with my left hand, but this technique can be copied with the right hand, if preferred.

Simple Tiger Dress Hack

You know when you have an article of clothing you really like, despite the fact that it is not a perfect fit? It might be almost perfect, but like a scratchy garment tag or a rock in your shoe, a fit problem can diminish the overall amount of joy you can derive from wearing your garment, or worse yet, the thing languishes in your closet, unworn. Today’s dress was like that for me, until I made a simple alteration to it.

The waistband of this dress (above) includes elastic inside a casing. The casing, inside the dress, is pictured below.

The fit problem that needed solving was the dress’s waistline being higher than the natural waist of my model (just kidding, I don’t have a model—it’s my dress). Hoping that the dress had a casing on the interior and a second one on the exterior (all the buttons down the front have working buttonholes; unbuttoning the dress past the waist would make donning and doffing it easier) I used a seam ripper to open the casing on the interior.

C’est la vie, the dress turned out to have a seam at the waist, which was not really surprising. I went ahead and removed the elastic, just to eliminate the discomfort it caused. Before and after pictures are below.

It was a minor alteration, and I can reinstall the elastic if I change my mind. In the meantime, my dress is a little more comfortable to wear and I feel like without the elastic creating gathers the print on the fabric does a better job of downplaying the fact that the waistband isn’t sitting at the natural waist.