Details can often make or break a purchase choice, and lining is one of those details that just makes something extra special. Here are a few examples of the linings that will make you smile every time you un-zip your pouch from Nanno’s Shop.

*the above item’s are made for SEED People’s Market in Cosa Mesa, CA. If you do not live near the store, please contact Nanno’s Shop at nannosshop@gmail.com for a special order.

Before the van interior could be lined, the roof light had to be put in (£40 from the local caravan centre). This had two roles – a source of light, and ventilation for Harvey Dog or the cooking. It was pretty easy to fit – just mark out a 400mm square, drill 24mm holes in each corner, and then use a metal bladed jigsaw to join the dots. The roof gave a lot of vibration during cutting, and it was a daunting feat before-hand. Once in, it was sealed with black silicon and a couple of pieces of supporting timber were screwed to it from below (which were subsequently attached to the plywood panel lining).

The van was partially lined to waist height, but this was removed temporarily. Domestic insulation was then stuck on to the ceiling and walls using spray-on carpet adhesive (£4, B&Q). There was an insulation promotion on at B&Q and the synthetic material (made fom recycled pastic bottles) came in at under £10 (half price). Amdrorecommend a sheepswool lining, but this was cheaper and readily available.

Wiring for a 12v LED lighting system was also set in place, and then the 6mm ply sheeting was riveted back on to the steel frame (below the external bodywork). It cost around £15 for the additional plywood required. Ten 15mm holes were then cut for the LEDs. The lighting system was found in a bargain bin at B&Q for £20 (returned). Although it was 240v mains, it used a transformer and the LEDs actually work at 12v – so this was a much cheaper alternative than a setup from a campervan parts supplier.

The interior was finished with foam-backed charcoal chord carpet – £2.99/m from Carpet Right. Again, this was attached with spray-on adhesive. The carpet lining wasn’t installed until after the units had been built-in, though. There’s a diagram of the lining configuration on page 5 of this pdf.

So… the girl from the blind date read my last blog (I gave it to my friend and she passed it along). Only problem is that it made her feel kind of bad and me look like I was desperately impatient. And now that I re-read it from her perspective, I feel bad! Cause I can totally see her point.

Sure, I started off with the “Oh me! Oh my! How lame, oh lame, am I?” crap, but at the end it could easily be interpreted like I was putting it all on her by saying she now had my contact info but hadn’t contacted me! Like that’s fair! I’m the lame one that didn’t talk to her on our date! And, of course, that wasn’t what I meant (famous last words)! The part about her not contacting me yet was there for dramatic affect. Anyone that knows me knows I do that!

Oh, but wait, she doesn’t know me! I didn’t talk to her! How could she know that?

You know, sometimes, I can be really stupid!

But, there is a silver lining! We do still have the second date planned. It looks like it will be sooner then I originally thought (YAY!). And, best of all, she’s still looking forward to it! (thus the title of this post)

So, blind date girl (no I’m not giving you guys her name), if you happen to read this, please understand that while I may be an idiot at times, I’m usually a well-intentioned idiot. And, that I’m sorry for not talking to you in the first place. I promise, I totally plan on talking to you on our next date! In fact, I stopped on my way home tonight and bought some Miracle Grow (I checked, it says it works on nuts) just to make sure!

Still single… but hoping!

Scott

Oh, and just to clarify, this is not desperately impatient. This is anxious and excited.

OK… I really have to shut-up now!

So I have completed something that I am fully satisfied with and can wear for this fall/winter weather. I made a purple wool A-line skirt. I used a free pattern from BurdaStyle, you have to be a member to get the pattern but it is easy to sign up and you get access to so many free, great patterns. BurdaStyle had a contest to see who could make this skirt best, or a variation of this skirt, so many members made some really nice skirts! http://www.burdastyle.com/projects/a-plus-a-line

Notes on this pattern: It is relatively simple, but you have to print out 50 pages to get it, which is a ton. Luckily I have a lot of scrap paper. I also found the sizing to be a little off – judging by my measurements, it indicated a certain size, but that size was a little off. I just made sure to fit the paper pattern before I cut out any fabric, so no problem.

I used a purple wool from Fabric Mart which was on sale and now it is more on sale!

It is hard to capture the color of the wool; its color is in between these two colors indicated in the photos? The front of the dress has a yoke and pleats. The second photo is a picture of the back and side. The lining,  I believe it is a gold polyester china silk. The zipper is lavender, and it isn’t supposed to be showing, but I really liked the bit of lavender on the side seam.  Yeah so these photos are pretty bad, I’ll replace them when I take better ones.

I am working on a bunch of things. I have worked hard on this Black and White jacket, because its not a dress or shirt that if I make mistakes I can cover with a cardigan. I sewed a quilted lining on the inside, which I really like! The goal is for it to theoretically be reversible because it will look great on the inside and outside! To that end, I am adding black bias tape to all the edges, which so far I have sewed and removed it twice because it hasn’t completely lined up. The second is a dress made from Italian wool that I got for 75% off, quite a bargain. The skirt is supposed to be a full skirt – like a 1950s poufy skirt. I’m going to remove this skirt though, because to get that poufy look, you have to wear a crinoline or some sort of petticoat which I definitely have no plans on doing. Also, gathering the skirt was a hassle, even though this was lightweight wool I couldn’t get the skirt to gather evenly. I’m going to replace this bottom with a slimmer skirt.

Later!

a green blurb of a thing
black and red
foundation houses
skated roofs
against a brassy sky
hazy (or lazy
silver cloud lining
copper
blue
somewhat deep sound of wave
slap
against the sailboat
i wanna be the mast.

Om Nom Nom now has it’s own Flickr account as well as a Yahoo account. However, Om Nom Nom has no intentions of being available for Yahoo IM.

Today I felted four bags. One will need to be beaded, another I had to cut part off of so I will need to create the piece to go on top so that it still fits the food it is supposed to be, one lost a bit of its shape, and the last has been lined and has the zipper added.

I also started another bag that I intend to felt early tomorrow.

Opening is still on Monday as planned. I do not know yet how many will be immediately available until I have set up a time to meet with one of the two Om Nom Nom models.

Now it’s back to editing some pictures of liners and loading them to flickr.

I did a super fast simple look today:

What I used:

On face I used a test blend of foundation and concealer, Frolic blush and Candlelight blush.

For the eyes I used the test concealer as my primer then did a soft wash of Cashmere Mittens LE with a fluffy blending brush, then wetlined Ribbons and Bows LE.  Followed with a couple coats of Lashblast.

Lips are NYC brand Dubonnet.

Thanks for looking!

I decided that my beret would be made from a Dogtooth material and looks quite fashionable I think, Ive added a pink flower to make it more feminine.

How to make a Beret

• Measure the circumference of your head, about an inch above your eyebrow at the widest part.
• My head was 22 inch so I added a half inch just incase. divide the circumference by 3.14 (pi) this will give you the diameter, you then divide this by 2 to get the Radius. 1: 22 inch /Pi= D, 2: D/2=R
• Get a ruler and a compass and measure the Radius against the ruler. On some paper draw the circumference of you head. From the circumference add 3 inches around the outside and half an inch on the outside for seem allowance. Also remember to add an extra half-inch inside the circumference of your head.
• Pin pattern to Fabric and cut out, do the same to make the Lining of your Beret.
• Lay your fabric with what you want to be the outside facing inwards and pin together, same with the lining (shiny sides together) 
• Sew on a machine and take out pins
• Turn your hat the right way and put the lining inside
• Now with a Overlocker carefully sew the 2 edges together
• Wear your Beret
• If you wanted to add some beads or flowers, do so before you sew the top to the lining.  

If you’re from the colder parts of the planet (Sweden, Antarctica and of course, Canada), you need more than just a cute jacket. Your closet can easily stack at least ten jackets for all occasions and season changes, but it’s imperative to have that one winter coat nestled away for when the dreary storms go from bad to excruciating.

For those of us stuck in minus-thirty temperatures, we’ve become so used to just being warm, we don’t pay attention to looking good. But thankfully, with the help of the Italian-brand Parajumpers we’ve found salvation.

It’s quite a coincidence that designers from one of the warmer parts of the world is producing jackets for the heaftiest snow storms, but we all know that the Italians know how to do fashion, and they’ve added some historical elements (being inspired by the 210^th rescue squadron in the Anchorage, Alaska) to give you your money’s worth – a true investment piece.

See website for price details.

The Kodiak Parka

LONG BEAR – Long down parka

Denali Leather – Ground field parka

This year, I’ve seen alot of Bubble Dresses for Prom and Homecoming.

Here is one I altered yesterday:

They have lots of pouf all over them, don’t they?

The hem and the lining are usually sewn together at the bottom of the dress.

So, instead of opening up the hem area, I leave that alone as often as possible.

So far, no one has asked me to hem a short bubble dress.

I have had to hem a bubble bridal gown.

Say that fast three times!

But, on this gown, I needed to take in the bust area at the side seams.

So, instead of opening up the hem area and doing the alteration from there, I opened up the lining on a side seam about two inches longer than the area I wanted to alter:

On this dress, I needed to take in the side seams from the top of the bust down to the waist.

Once I had the side seam opened, I reached in and turned the dress inside out. That made it possible to take in the side seams.

To do that alteration, read this post.

You can do other alterations as well, but this is the most common one I do on formal gowns.

Once I was finished altering the dress fabric and the lining, I folded back the edges of the opening and stitched it closed:

I sew the stitches very close to the edge so that I don’t lose any noticeable width in the lining.

And that’s all there is to it!

I use this technique when I am working on any garment where the lining doesn’t hang loose. In men’s jackets, I tend to open up the sleeve area because it is more hidden than the back or sides of the jacket. The same is true for women’s jackets. On jackets, I tend to do alterations such as shortening sleeve length, taking in the center back seam or shortening the jacket’s length.

I like this technique because it saves alot of time and I don’t like to hand sew something together if I don’t have to!

I am participating in my first crap swap. The swap is meant to show off your talents and inspire others with your craft.

I started out very excited about the swap. I decided I would try my first felted project by making a handbag. I wanted to do a retro arcade theme and settled on Pacman. I chose a basic bag pattern and added my own design elements. I wanted stripes in the colors of the ghosts. I wanted an appliqued pacman and ghosts near the top of the bag moving along a row of button pellets. I ordered my yarn and waited.

The first sign of trouble was the day the yarn arrived. I miscalculated the yardage because I forgot I would be double stranding. Next, the teal blue ghost yarn did not look very much like the picture – ah the hazards of buying yarn online. I decided to vary the width of some of the stripes and add a thick yellow stripe to represent pacman. That fixed the yardage issue. The blue would just have to do.

The unfelted bag looked pretty good. The blue was off but otherwise it looked pretty good. The excitement level was still pretty high. Next came felting. Somewhere in here I learned my swap person was vegan and didn’t really care for wool. I chose wool for its superior felting. So, I started to feel a little unsure about the project.

This was my first mitered edge. I actually liked the way that turned out a lot. It was a little tricky getting the needles where they needed to go while working in the round when it got to the end but it gave the bag a nice flat bottom. I did my first three needle bind-off and loved it. It was easy and looked great.

I learned my washing machine is not ideal for felting (front loader). I also learned that the thing spins at some point in the rinsing cycle EVEN IF YOU PUT IT ON NO SPIN. I ran it through about three times to get the nice fuzzy business it should have.

While the bag had a nice fuzzy look it also had a nice dingy look. I had worried the colors would bleed and I’d have a nice big mess but I should have been more worried about how the felting black in between bright colors was going to create a nice dingy appearance. The bag was nice and fuzzy but it also looked old and dirty. The pink, orange and yellow especially looked dingy. It might not have been so bad if I hadn’t ran the lines of black in between the colors. I also felt like maybe I should have just did the whole bottom in yellow instead of switching back to black. At this point, I really started to have second thoughts about the whole thing but I’d already invested the money and the time so I kept trudging along.

I felted little swatches to use to make ghosts and a pacman. I don’t think I felted the swatches long enough. I ran them through the washer, one at a time, for 2 1/2 loads and they looked okay until I tried to cut shapes out of them. They had this odd fuzzy look. I whip stitched them on to the bag and added some button pellets. In spite of having this weird fluffy look, the pacman and the pellets looked pretty good. I didn’t really like the way the ghosts looked though.

Trying to satin stitch eyes onto super fluffy appliqued ghosts was like…well I’ve had a headache for three days and can’t come up with an adequate comparison. It was difficult. And it sucked. It was hard to make them stand out. The satin stitches disappeared.

The pink one turned out a little better than the orange one but the pink one is like sewn on crooked. They both look ridiculous and I considered pulling them loose and just leaving the pacman. I hated to lose the detail though. Would anyone realize the stripes were supposed to be the colors of the ghosts without any on the bag?

I decided to sleep on it.

I decided to keep the stupid ghosts when I woke up. I focused on the stabilization. I used one of those plastic canvases to create washable stabilizer for the front, back and bottom of the bag. I sewed those pieces together and then sewed them to the inside of the bag.

I was pretty happy with the amount of stability this provided. It holds up the sides well and will help keep the bag’s shape better when the user puts things in it. Assuming of course they put anything in it. Assuming they don’t just deposit it and its dirty wool and ridiculous ghosts in the nearest trash receptical. I was starting to feel more certain they would.

The next thing to do was make the lining. The directions I found for lining bags didn’t quite make sense. Line up the whats where? Do these numbers add up? I had no idea, so I winged it. It seemed to go pretty well.

I have not sewn in the lining yet, just pinned it and attached the magnetic snap. One piece of the snap seems just slightly off-center. The closed bag makes the yellow stripe raise up on one side and not the other. I can’t readjust because the snaps are attached to the stabilizer which is already sewn into the bag. I’m hoping that my recent thought that the bag won’t do that if there are actually things in it holds up.

I just can’t decide. I mean besides the fact it is made of wool, my person may hate retro arcade game things, the thing is also dingy, seemingly slightly lopsided and the orange ghost looks especially retarded. Keep the bag and try to hurry up and come up with something I can knit up or bake up or otherwise make in some fashion out of acrylics and without animal products of any sort… or stop being such a damned perfectionist? I never really know if I’m just being the usual me and expecting it to be completely without flaw as if I thought I were God or something…or if it is as ugly as I think it is.

Economic hard times may bring unexpected health improvements and a drop in mortality rates…. From VOA. Full story

This site may contain information about: last recession. The blog is also related to: last recession.

Padma, hostess of Bravo TV’s Top Chef, is pregnant with her first child, after battling endometriosis, a medical condition where the lining of her uterus grows in other areas of the body. The condition may cause bleeding and infertility in women, so this is a very special pregnancy for Padma, indeed! For more information, check out this article from CNN. Congratulations!

After nearly giving up on finding a nice black and white print fabric for a spring skirt, I finally found this white on black, (subtle, ok fine, ’some what subtle’) rose print twill.

I knew, straight away what I wanted to do with it, a short, high waisted(duh!), pleated skirt with pockets (because pockets make EVERYTHING better!). And that’s exactly what I did for most of Saturday night and Sunday morning.

Only to realise it was missing something…I tried bows, hemming it higher(sounds bad but you’d be surprised, sometimes an inch can make all the difference), making the band at the top shorter, and finally it hit me (like a ton of bricks): Tulle! Well a tulle underskirt.

XXASAB

I’m not naming any names in this blog. I bought a book, essentially by accident. Being an English student, I sat down and decided to read it. I make a special rule of avoiding reading the blurbs of a book, as I feel it gives a detracted sense of what the book is about. If I am to read it, I don’t want some other person’s views cluttering up my experience of the book. So I really wasn’t prepared for what I read.

I can see how this particular column would be hypocritical of the above statement, but I stick to it nonetheless.

So anyway. Onto the scathing fury.

I’m an English student, but I make no apology for what I read. This particular tale purported itself to be a “crime thriller”. (As I say later, I do actually like crime thrillers. It’s just that this one jarred me).

The plotline in the story could have been described as erratic at best, with a complete lack of sensitivity and imagination. Why does every protagonist need to be intellectual and handsome, or beautiful and astonishingly clever to boot. Why not have a thick ugly person? And why do they always have to be ridiculously sexually charged? I mean, yes people are attractive, but this fact doesn’t become the afterthought of every conversation. Unless you’re a moron and chauvinistic (or whatever the female equivalent is). Or you happen to be the absolute epitome of a crime thriller writer.

Now, I’m not aiming a kick at crime thriller writers here, I love them. Big fan of Thomas Harris, Dan Brown, Sam Bourne and the like. I just can’t stand those writers who sit and copy it, to the extreme. It makes for neither good writing nor good reading.

There were of course enough plot-holes (kind of like pot-holes on roads) to prevent the reader-mobile from picking enough speed to reach the end fast enough, but surprisingly I found in this story that it wasn’t so much of a limitation as more of a speed limit, allowing me to enjoy the literal view offered by the story. The view I am describing consisted mainly of exquisite locations, lying lovers, treachery and debauchery. What the book lacked in consistency of plot, it certainly made up for it with strength in the amount of tosh it threw at me.

Then again, it did get me off the computer and into the sun for a few days. I guess as far as accidents go, it was a pretty good one in that respect.

Again I was up at the crack of dawn and off for my trusty ultrasound.

My left ovary could not be seen and the right contained two follicles – one at 7mm and one at 10mm.

My hope is that there are some little ones that can’t be seen yet because this doesn’t seem to correlate with my E2 level from yesterday (1200 [U.S. 324]). My clinic also doesn’t seem to ultrasound early in the cycle which makes me wonder if their equipment is capable of picking up anything under 7 mm???

Either way I am happier than I would have been if there were three pegging at 12-15 as that would have been a waste of time.  This way I either end up with more or I cancel if there’s still no response and switch protocols I guess.

Good news is that my lining was 11 mm.  Woot!

And today’s estrogen is 1300.

Although I’m no Bo Derek, I always wanted to be a perfect 10. 

But today, I was never so happy to hear I was an 8.   My lining that is-8mm.  

Now, for a little background.  Last cycle, my lining was only a measly 4.6 at this stage of the game.  That was almost thin enough to cancel the whole darn cycle.  Fortunately, by increasing the  medication, that time I was able to get it to 8mm before my transfer.  But, the result was a big fat negative.

So this time, I have been understandably nervous about my lining. The doctor changed my protocol and started me on a higher dosage of estrogen right away.  That was good, but two days ago, I started bleeding.  Not a lot, but enough to scare me.  Usually that’s the sign of shedding your lining – possibly the LAST thing you’d want to have happen at this stage. 

So, I went to todays ultrasound definitely concerned, but hopeful that I’d get at least 5mm (given the fact that I just lost part of it by bleeding).  I knew that whatever that doctor told me would determine whether this cycle is still a “go” or whether it would be cancelled.  The minimum acceptable lining for a transfer is 7mm.  No pressure.  LOL

You can’t imagine how shocked and happy I was when the doctor told me it was 8mm.  I still have 5 full days of lining building estrogen, so chances are good that it will be even thicker by egg collection date.  That is some good news to get at this stage of the game. 

So for today, I’m very happy being an 8.

We’ve covered so many ways to hem pants so far.

If you’ve missed those posts, look at the left hand column on this page and click on “All Past Categories” and the arrow by “Select Categories”. Then, click on “Hems”.

There are still some more ways to sew hems which I’ll cover in future posts.

But, I didn’t want to overlook how to hem lining.

It’s very simple.

Don’t be intimidated.

First, let’s just look at a typical pair of pants that have lining.

You’ll notice that the lining is turned up twice and stitched, like you would do to some pants hems.

But, let’s look at how to get to that point.

Basically, if the lining you have in the pants is hanging at a good length (it’s not hanging out from under the pants and it’s not too short), then my basic rule of thumb is this:

Whatever amount you raise the hem of the pants is the same amount you’ll raise the lining.

So, take a look at where the lining hangs on your pants before you hem them. Do you like where the lining falls? If so, let’s proceed.

If you don’t, then figure out how much you need to take up. Sometimes, you don’t need to hem the lining at all.

But that’s rare.

In this case, I hemmed the pants up 1 3/4″. So, I am going to take up the lining by 1 3/4″ also.

I begin by pressing the lining up 1 3/4″.

WARNING: Be careful to check and see what the lining fabric is made of. You might assume that it’s polyester and set your iron to polyester, but many times the lining is made of acetate, which takes a much cooler iron.

I know because I’ve melted my share of linings.

Once I have that amount pressed up on both legs, then, in this case, I am going to trim off the lining right next to the original stitching.

That original hem was 1/2″ wide, so when I cut it off, I had 1 1/4″ left from the fold to the cut edge.

You need at least 1 1/4″ between the foldline and the cut edge of the fabric. If you don’t have that much, you’ll need to rip out the original stitches of the lining hem and press the fabric out flat.  Then, cut your lining 1 1/4″ out from the fold line. so that it looks like this:

If you are only taking up your hem 1/2″ or 1″, you can probably just fold it up once and stitch it. It will probably look just fine that way.

But, for lining that has to be raised up more than that, we’ll continue with this next step:

Bring the cut edge of the fabric to the fold and press the edge like this:

You should have two parallel folds in the hem area now.

Fold up the lining twice on those folds and stitch it like this:

Sometimes, in nice slacks, you’ll notice that there is a thick cord holding the lining to the pant at the side seam or the inseam.

(You may have had to cut that before you started this project).

Or, you may want one in if it didn’t come that way.

So, I use one of two options: Pearl Cotton thread or satin ribbon.

This is Pearl Cotton thread in a size 8. If I were you, I’d get a thicker size. This one is a little thin for my liking:

You can get it at your local fabric or quilt shop.

I like it because it is stronger than thread.

Or you can look for some cording, which is even thicker and stronger than this.

You just thread it on a needle and knot the end.

Then, make sure your lining isn’t twisted inside the pants and lay them flat so that the lining and the pant are laying where they should.

Lift up the pants and see where the lining and the pants go together.

Now, take a stitch into the side seam allowance of either the lining or the pants about an inch or two above the hemline.

As you can see, I like to come in from behind the seam and hide the knot.

Then, take a stitch into the other seam allowance. Do not pull the thread all the way. Leave about an inch and a half of thread because you want it to have some “wiggle room”.

Then, anchor it good with several knots.

You can achieve the same effect, and it may be a stronger solution, with satin ribbon.

I cut a piece of ribbon about 2 inches long and attach one end to the lining seam allowance and one end to the pant seam allowance.

Make sure you tuck the raw edges of the ribbon underneath like this before you sew them to the seam allowances:

And there you have it!

Lining that’s really simple.