SewMona – Page 17 – A slice of my Florida life

How To Sew: Adding Pockets to a Pattern

I’m working on a series of posts about adjusting clothing to fit. To see all of them click here – How to Sew.

One of my new favorite patterns is Jasper Joggers. They are a quick and easy sew. The only thing “missing” is the back pockets. There are two front pockets, but the back pockets are fakes. That’s fine by me, but my boys wanted back pockets.

I’m adding two back pockets and a little front pocket. I just eyeballed the size, but you could measure pockets on an existing pair of pants (or the little hands that will be using the pockets) if you’re unsure.

Cut Pockets the Size You Want

Hem the top edge of the pockets by turning down 1/4″ and then another 1/4″.

Hem the top of the pocket by doing a narrow hem.

Press 1/4″ and then another 1/4″ under on the remaining edges. For the smaller pocket, I only turned under 1/4″ otherwise it was too hard to work with.

Press the edges of the pockets under

Three pockets ready to sew on to the pants.

Pockets all pressed and ready to sew on to pants

Place the little pocket where you want it positioned on the front pocket. Don’t forget about your seam allowance (so it doesn’t end up too close to the side seam).

Place the little pocket where you want it.

Place one back pocket where you want it – I centered mine between the top & sides. Don’t forget about the waistband – in this pattern, you add a waistband so it will make the pockets lower.

Place one back pocket where you want it

To make sure the other side matches, lay the other pocket upside down (right sides together) over the pinned pocket.

Lay the other pocked over the pinned one

Then lay the other back piece over the pocket making sure the edges line up.

Lay the other back piece over the pocket

Carefully lift up one side and pin the pocket into place. Then lift up the other side and pin it there too. You should end up with two perfectly matched pockets.

Left up edge and pin pocket in place

Sew the pockets in place.

Sew the pockets into place

Finish sewing the pants/shorts according to the directions. Then find your little model and admire the pockets.

Little pocket sewn into place

Back pockets sewn into place

How To Sew: Taking in Elastic Waist Pants (or Capris or Shorts)

TakingInElasticWaistPants

I’m working on a series of posts about adjusting clothing to fit. To see all of them click here – How to Sew.

My mom recently gave me a pair of capris that didn’t fit her real well (apparently they did until they met the dryer). She thought they might fit me. They are a nice slightly stretchy pair of blue capris. They fit me perfectly except for the waist – it was just slightly too big and gaped in all the wrong places – not good for a kindergarten teacher who needs to be able to move around.

To fix an elastic waist, you need to open up the seam, cut the elastic, resew it, and then close up the seam. Easy enough, right? First, look at the waistband to see how the elastic is put in. On this pair, the elastic is sewn to the capris at the sides.

See the stitching between my fingers? That’s tacking the elastic down. It helps make sure the stretch is even and helps the elastic not to fold in half.

To get to the elastic, you will need to remove some of the waistband stitches. Because the elastic is tacked down at the sides and because I don’t want to rip out the stitches through the elastic, I’ll rip open a small piece on each side of the side seam. If your elastic isn’t tacked down, you’ll only need one opening.

This is the stitching you will need to remove.

The opening only needs to be about 2 inches – enough to pull the elastic out and tighten it.

Seam Opening

Pull the elastic out through the openings and pin it to the desired tightness. Make sure to tighten the front and back equally if the elastic is tacked down. Try them on to be sure they fit.

Pinned Elastic

Double check that you’ve tightened the elastic evenly in the front and back if it’s tacked at the sides.

Make sure the elastic is pinned evenly in front and back.

Once you’ve tried them on and are sure you like the fit, sew the elastic together where you pinned it. Use a ball point needle and either a stretch stitch (I use a triple stretch stitch) or a zigzag to avoid having a tangle of thread. Trim the extra elastic close to your stitching – leave about 1/4″.

Trim elastic close to the seam

Spread the seam flat and using a wide zigzag stitch, sew it down. This will prevent a bulky place in the waistband.

Zigzag seam flat to prevent a bulky spot in the waist

Tuck the elastic back in the waistband and fold the fabric back down. Carefully sew it back down. In this case, I did what is called stitch in the ditch. I sewed in the seam made when the waistband was attached to the capris. This stitching is barely visible when finished. You do need to take your time doing it so that it looks neat when you’re done.

Stitch in the ditch to close up the openings.

The finished stitch in the ditch doesn’t show much.

Finished stitch in the ditch barely shows.

Finished capris – the elastic is evenly stretched between the front and back.

Stitch in the ditch all finished

Manatee Viewing Center, Apollo Beach

One of the places we like to go is the Manatee Viewing Center at Tampa Electric in Apollo Beach, FL. When the water temperatures drop, manatees seek out warmer water. One of the places they have found it is the discharge canal where clean, warmer saltwater flows back into Tampa Bay. TEC has a very nice setup complete with a boardwalk with plenty of viewing areas, an educational building, and a nature trail with a tower overlooking Tampa Bay.

Sometimes they have a docent who will answer questions about the manatees. They also have pictures of some of the manatees that visit regularly that have distinctive scars so you can try to find them.

You can also get a great view of TEC just across the canal. You can see a lot of manatees here!

You can also walk out on a dock/boardwalk where you can see lots of fish and some birds too. They have signs up identifying the different birds and fish you might see.

We didn’t walk out to the tower. It’s about a 1/2 mile hike and the nature trails close at 4pm. We got there at 3:30 and decided that we would have to come back another time to check out the tower.

There is plenty of parking available. When we went, the main parking lot was full. They had two shuttles taking people from the overflow parking over to the main entrance and there were people directing traffic. Even with so many people there, there was plenty of room to see the manatees.

What to Do With Leftover Turkey

What to do with Leftover Turkey

At Christmas, we were given a precooked turkey. I didn’t need it since we already had plans for Christmas dinner so I put it in the freezer. A couple weeks ago I pulled it out (it was taking up a lot of room!) and let it defrost in the fridge for a whole week (it was frozen solid!). We grilled it (and by we, I mean my parents). It was almost 18 pounds and even with nine people eating, there was a lot leftover. We reheated some of it, but some people are not fond of reheated turkey. *coughcough*DH*coughcough* I love it cold! When I can convince my kids to try it, they like it too. This time they finally tried it while I was grinding it up.

Eating cold turkey

I’ve had this grinder forever. It was my mom’s and she decided that I used it more than she did, so it’s mine now.

Old fashioned meat turkey grider

After picking most of the meat off the carcass and grinding it all, I ended up with a nice bowl of ground turkey.

Ground Turkey

If you like turkey meatloat, then you’re all set. However, my family is not into blonde meatloaf, so I mix it with ground beef and then freeze it. Sometimes I make a turkey salad with it – add a bit of Miracle Whip, some onion salt, garlic salt, maybe some celery seed. Sometimes I also add some pickle relish to it. Mix it up and put it in a pita. Mmm!!

Selling Our Pop Up

Five years ago, we bought a new pop up camper. We took lots of weekend trips and one week long trip in it. Since we moved to Florida, however, camping has taken something of a back seat. Our camper didn’t have air conditioning which meant camping locally in the summer (which is what we normally did) was out of the question! We tried it…it was sooo hot!! We recently had a long weekend and decided to try a weekend trip in the early fall.

The trip itself was OK, but we realized that we may be outgrowing our popup. The kids are getting bigger and don’t fit so well into one pull out bed. This means that after the kids go to bed, there’s no room for John & I to sit (the dining room table becomes a bed for our daughter).

If it’s nice out (not rainy, not mosquito-y, not too humid), we can sit at the picnic table. But reading, computing, just relaxing on a sofa? Can’t do it. So, we decided to go look at some campers. We found one we loved, but the price wasn’t right (and we really were just looking) and despite the sales attempts, we walked away. We are looking for a bunkhouse trailer. It has to be lightweight so we can pull it with our current tow vehicle. It would be nice if it had a jack knife sofa (they easily convert to a double bed and it means the dining table can be left up).

In the meantime, I posted our pop up for sale on craigslist. I didn’t really expect to get any bites, but I did and they were really interested. Long story short – we sold it. So, for now, we’re doing day trips or staying in hotels while we search for the “perfect” RV.