How To: Shorten Sleeves with a Lining

I do a lot of different sewing projects for people, and learn a lot of new things along the way. Today I thought I'd show you how to shorten sleeves of a women's blazer (or any sleeve that is lined). It is easy, even if you don't call yourself a seamstress, you can do it too!

Here is the sleeve before I did anything to it:

See how the lining is folded over the seam? There is a little “give” in the lining to things don’t get bunched up in there while the garment is being worn. That is important, so I will be duplicating it in my new cuff!

Use a seam ripper to carefully rip out the stitches that hold the lining and the sleeve together. This will expose the raw edges of both layers.

Fold the sleeve over to the desired length. I made these 1” shorter, so I used the line left from the previous fold to measure.

Press sleeve to make this a permanent fold.

**Note: I read recently that water with a little white vinegar will take that other fold line away when doing a project like this. Just spray so the fabric is slightly damp and then iron that crease away! I haven’t tried it yet, but I will the next time I have the opportunity!

Now, you know how long the sleeve will be. Lets make the lining match!

Measure 1” off your lining. I used the previous stitching marks as a guide.

Pin the lining in place and press. Careful that your iron is not too hot!! I just shoved the sleeve up inside so it would be out of the way for this step.

Now it is time to pin the lining and the sleeve back together. Remember, you want the lining to have some slack, so pin the lining about 1” to 1½” down the sleeve. Refer to your “before” pictures to see how theirs was. :)

I just hand-sewed mine, since it was just a little sleeve hole, but you could always use a blind stitch to sew them together. Just so the stitches don’t show on the outside!

Once the entire seam is sewn, it is time to press the lining so it makes a little “flap” and covers up the stitching. Remember the “before?”

We want ours to look the same! Pull the lining down so it hangs over the stitches about a quarter of an inch. Then carefully iron it in place!

 Ta-da!

And from the other side….

You can’t even tell the difference! It is really not a hard project, just one that takes some patience to achieve the right look and to make it lay correctly.

So there is a little sewing project that any of you can take on! Let me know if you try it and how it turns out!

Anyone else doing any sewing or crafting these days?

Maritime Games and Fine Arts Festival

Last week, I had the privilege to help out with and event at camp called Maritime Games and Fine Arts Festival. (you can see a previous camp post here) It was my first time at an event such as this, and I had a blast!

Here are a lot of pictures, and a quick rundown of the 4 days we spent there.

My sister, brother, the intern Ryan and I went down on Wednesday. We spent all day that day and most of the next cleaning and getting the property ready for camp!

Some things never change!

We were fending for ourselves those first two days, making our own meals and eating out on the porch, enjoying some nice weather! I am making my "I'm mad at Ryan" face here, because he had taken a drink from my cup and not told me until I'd downed the rest of my pop! Bad, bad boy!

For the record...Ryan cooked the burgers! :)

The boys got to do what boys do best...

And that first night we got to relax a little. Haha, who are we kidding? First we played basketball!

This feller was waiting for me when I got back to my cabin! Isn't he gorgeous??

The next day, I cleaned all of the girls and boys cabins. This was my expression when I walked into Justin and Ryan's cabin....

Seriously, how can boys make a place smell that bad in just one night??? :)

Soon, it was time for campers to arrive!! Yippety-skippety!

The Fine Arts Festival consisted of lost of instrumental and vocal numbers, which were such a treat to listen to! I also got to be an adjudicator for the event, and loved it! I had so much fun!

There was also a spelling bee and Bible quizzing.

Here is Justin doing a scripture reading.

Some of these teens clearly have been working very hard to get ready for this event, and their diligence paid off! Way to go, everyone!

The Maritime Games activities included lots of different things:

Shotput

Justin throwing a javelin.

He held third place for a while, until the last participant knocked him out.

Here's Ryan demonstrating the discus (even though he'd never done it before!)

Justin won third place for this softball throw!

His long jump was a winning one, except for his toe crossed the line. :( Boo!

There was also some powerful preaching by Evangelist Ron DeGarde. Many, many teens made decisions during the 4 messages!

In the end, Justin won awards for his softball throw, hymnplaying, and first place in ping pong! Way to go!

It was a great week, with fun times had by all. I was excited to be able to visit with two blogging friends (who are also real-life friends!) and chat some. It is always nice to have face-to-face contact with friends!

I was also encouraged by the spiritual sensitivity displayed by the 7 girls in my cabin. After a short devotional time the first night, (during which I gave my testimony) I was peppered with questions:

"I'm considering going to Ambassador...what made you pick that school above the others out there?"


"Do you have to go to college to be a pastor's wife?"


"How do you recommend we go about witnessing to people?"

It was a great time to just answer their ministry-related questions and see their heart for serving the Lord! While I certainly don't claim to have all the answers, I pray that I was able to be a help to them and steer their young minds down the path of the godly. It is truly a joy to work with young people!

Top Ten Tuesday: What's Still On my Bucket List

Last week I told you some of the cool-to-me things I've been able to do throughout my long, long life. (Ha ha!) This week I'm sharing 10 things I still hope to do someday! What about you?

10. Go to Europe

9. Ride in a hang-glider

8. Go to Israel

7. Go to Hawaii

6. Ride a camel

5. Be able to play the violin well (I know, I know...I just have to practice to make this one come true! :/ )

4. Go camping (yup, its true, I've never been camping before. Sad, eh?)

3.Write a book

2. Learn to really quilt

1. Go on a bike trip-vacation

Goals for the Week

THEY'RE BLOOMING!!!

And they're beautiful.

Seriously, doesn't that sight just make you so happy? Lilacs are the best flower there is. Period. I spent quality time with the lilac bushes this morning, picking the best blooms to put in my room. Now my room smells uh-mazing.

They are going by waaaay too fast, but I am going to enjoy them while they last!

I was gone most of last week, helping out at camp, so I did not have a chance to write down the many blessings I received. I will be sharing some of the happenings and fun things that went on later in the week! I did get a few things checked off my goals list before I left, however:

I have more I want to get done this week! I have a nice long week ahead of me, so hopefully I can tackle 'most everything on this list:

Yessireebob, its going to be a full week. What do you have planned?

Garage Update Week 3

I'm a couple weeks in to this Garage Clean Up challenge (after being gone the first week) and couldn't be happier with how my space is turning out! I only had a couple of hours to work on it this week, but she is slowly but surely coming around. Here is a current shot:

Hmm...still not looking to glamorous form this shot, is it? (You can see what I started with here and my first update here.) But things are really looking up. I spent time this week focusing on putting like things with like things, then finding a place for them.

The shelves are looking quite organized, if I do say so myself!

Here is an example of "like things" and how I'm putting them together...

Here is a box of car buffing supplies:

A box of small wheels (from lawn mowers and wagons and such)

the kids toys and sports equipment is getting its own shelf...

and it is all fitting on these shelves quite nicely! Soon I will only have the "big stuff" to work on fitting into the room, and purging what we don't need.

As for "what I've found that I need to find out how to get rid of..."

Old paint. Needs to go to a Hazardous Waste site, and I just need to find the closest one! I will have some other stuff to go, too, so hopefully next week I can make that drop off.

Overall, its coming along! Here is a question for ya...what do you do with all the "little things".... the window hardware, small hooks and hinges, screw anchors, and the other millions of little tiny parts that come with everything? Still looking for a place for all of that! (And trying to figure out what is important...do we really need 5 dead bolt locks that are still in the package?)

Are you working on organizing a space these days?