Etsy is one of the leading sites for talented people to sell their crafts online. I can testify from personal experience that it is a great venue to market on; it is inexpensive and easy to use.

The upcoming craft party is the second one Etsy has held. It sounds like a lot of fun. Get together with your friends and family to create fabulous crafts.

Gift cards can be purchased and sent electronically for the techno savvy Moms out there or you can purchase an actual card that can be wrapped as a gift or added as a little surprise inside her Mother’s Day card.  This link will take you directly to the order page.

Your Mom is sure to be thrilled with this card.  So much so that you might even convince her to help you with some of your projects!!

The Art of Sewing by Time-Life books--Traditional Favorites issue
High Quality Photo

It is difficult to find but several of the titles are available on Amazon.com and the entire set was for sale on ebay at one time.  However, there are individual books for sale on a regular basis on ebay.  Check out other sites such as Etsy or used book stores and you may just get lucky.  I think you will enjoy this collection and it is a fun gift for the seamstress or decorator in your life.

The wearing of the green is fast approaching. Aye, I must admit that I am more than a wee bit fond of St. Paddy’s Day. If you are Irish like me or want to be Irish for the wearing of the green on St. Patrick’s Day, you will love these St. Patrick’s Day fabrics.

These quality cotton prints can be made into a variety of projects. How about a lovely vest with shamrocks to show your Irish spirit? Take a peek at these darling frogs in their Irish finery. They’d make cute placemats and children’s items. Most of these fabrics would be great for tablecloths, placemats, napkins, and pillows.

We are all aware of the horrible situation that took place in Tuscon Arizona  last weekend and the media is intent on finding someone to blame.  I thought maybe the only blame is the disappearance of civility and plain and simple kindness in our society until I read all the stories of heroism that took place on that sunny Saturday morning.  It renewed my faith in Americans.   Operation Nice offers daily blog posts that discuss random acts of kindness and offers ideas and suggestions on how to live a kinder and gentler (to borrow words from a former president) life.  I liked this idea so much that I wanted to share it with you, our readers.  This link will take you to a post that includes a nice, snow day assignment.  It will require you to take a moment to reflect on the past year and focus on all the positives that took place in your life.  That’s a lot more fun than trying to make a list of resolutions that you know you will not keep, isn’t it?

Please take a moment to write down your 5 favorite things from 2010 and feel free to share them with all of us.  I bet you will discover that there were more than five favorites last year and how wonderful is that?!

Several charity sewing patterns can be found at http://www.sewing.org/html/charitysew.php including a walker pouch, a wheelchair pouch, and a cute teddy bear.

The Sewing and Craft Alliance also sponsors a program to <a href=":“>train sewing instructors.

Sewing & Craft Alliance
PO Box 369
Monroeville, PA 15146
412-372-5950

Rolled hems are an excellent choice for many delicate fabrics, such as tulle, which need a narrow hem; sewing one may seem difficult if you have not tried it before. Rolled hems are not difficult; you can learn how to sew a rolled hem which looks professional.

The quickest way to sew a rolled hem is on an overlock machine (serger). Set the stitch length between 0 mm and 3 mm. Setting the length at 0 will make a hem with a fine firm edge; if you want a soft, supple picot or scalloped edge set the length at 3 mm. If you want to cover the fabric edge, but not have too stiff of an edge, 2 mm works well. The 1 mm setting will give a satin stitch look and be fairly stiff.

Before beginning you may want to press a crease to mark the hem or mark it with disappearing ink. Accuracy the first time is very important when using a serger (overlock machine) since these machines trim the excess fabric as they sew.

When producing a rolled hem or other hem on the serger, you must carefully align the overlock knives with the hemline. Place you fabric right side up under the machine foot; this is important, because you want the hem to roll to the wrong side when finished. If this is first time you have ever sewn a hem on a serger, I strongly suggest that you practice first on several scrapes of fabric before sewing on your garment or other project. Practicing will also give you a chance to experiment with the different stitch lengths and see which suits your project the best. Soon you will master the art of sewing a professional-looking rolled hem.