sewing and a belated link

Hey everyone!  I have a bit of a different post for you today.  I’ve been doing some sewing and wanted to share it with you.

As you can guess, working on a food truck is very hot.  Working outside the food truck for hours in the sun is also very hot.  Appropriate attire is a bit tough to figure out — if you wear a shirt you’ll need an undershirt to keep your sweat from showing through, which works but also makes you a bit hotter.  Dresses are ideal for standing outside (inside the truck you need to stick with the shirts), but there is the problem of wind.  I was nearly discommoded by a strong breeze a couple of weeks ago, but I caught the skirt before it flew up.  Here’s the dress, which as you can see is a bit short, meaning the problem is likely to happen often:

sewing dress

That close call reminded me of something I’d heard a long time ago about sewing things into the hem of a dress to weigh it down just a bit and keep it from blowing up.  The best options I could think of were cheap chain necklaces or small fishing weights.  The fishing weights were really cheap, so I went with those:

sewing weights

They actually don’t weigh very much (although heavier options are available), but since the fabric is so thin I didn’t want to weigh it down too much and make it look weird.  I went to my handy dandy sewing box, which my mom used to use:

sewing box

Using navy thread, I hand-sewed a fishing weight every 5 inches along the hem of the dress:

sewing done

Testing it out today revealed that the fishing weights do indeed help with breezes, but are still not effective against stronger gusts of wind.  I’m debating on getting another pack (they’re only about $1.50) and sewing more in.  It took such a long time though, working with such tiny things and making sure that they were securely attached, that I’m not up to doing more right now.

The second thing I wanted to mention today is a bit belated.  Over a week ago, Rachel from The Little Room of Rachell made a guest post on another blog about how to crochet if you are left-handed.  Being right handed myself, I never really thought of how troublesome it would be to try to learn as a leftie from right-handed instructions (which pretty much everything is), but now I see that it would definitely be nice to have some instruction.  I just wanted to link to her post so you can see it, if you haven’t already.  The post is on the blog Slugs on the Refrigerator; click here for the post!  I had actually never seen that blog before, so I subscribed immediately — it looks great!

That’s all for today, thanks for stopping by!  The next CAL post is already scheduled, so get ready for Saturday!

Comments

  1. Net curtains usually have weights in the bottom to make them hang nicely. That would be an alternative but don’t know where you could get those weights. You could cut them off old curtains I guess.

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  2. It’s a tricky one isn’t it…and worse when your hands are full so you can’t do much about it! Good idea with the weights 🙂

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  3. Super Cute dress! Adorbs. *run, cause here comes the Mothering side of me*

    I’m not sure what metal your weights are made of, but you might want to consider painting over them with clear nail polish in case they are lead, which they could very well be. A lot of fishing tackle items are, because it’s heavy given the size.

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  4. Any fabric shops that sells fabric for curtains will sell a thick weighted cord( well they would in the UK) that you could just slip into the hem, tying onto a large safety pin. I would be more comfortable when you sit down! And safer to wash

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  5. Adorable dress! You are a really talented lady!

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  6. Nice dress Hannah!

    Thanks for the link, that was a nice surprise at the end of your post. 🙂

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  7. Your dress is so cute. Drapery weights might help. You could probably get them at any Joann Fabrics or shop that custom makes draperies. They come in all size weights.

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  8. You get a type of chain that is sewn into curtains to make them drape well. It looks like a small tube with little balls in it. You should be able to buy ut from a shop that sells curtaining

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