How To: Alter a Dress

I just love a good refashion. I found this dress for $1 at a thrift store and even though it was ridiculous with its enormous sleeves, neck tie and shoulder pads, I liked the fabric and thought it would be a good project.

Here's what I did:

1. Remove the shoulder pads. Always the first step when taking the ugly out of old dresses.

2. Rip out the seams along the shoulders and sleeves, removing the neck ties and the sleeves completely.

3. Re-sew the shoulders, following the original seams lines.

4. Take the dress in on the sides to make the arm holes smaller and the dress more fitted. I wanted the dress to be more of a shift style, so I only took in the sides about 6" down from the arm holes. If you want a more fitted dress, you would take it in all the way down to the hem.

5. Reshape the arm holes. I used a dress that fits well to see how much to trim from the arm holes. This was probably one of the more difficult steps, but you can see in the picture above the chalk line around the arm hole, that is where I cut to make the hole smaller.

6. Take in sleeves. The sleeves on this dress were enormous and the cuffs were very tight fitting around my wrists so I knew I would have to do a lot of work to make them look normal.  Again using a finished dress for reference I determined the new length for my sleeves and cut the bottom 5" off each sleeve, then took each sleeve in another 4" (2" from each side of fabric, where the pins are).

7. Make the cuffs. I used the fabric I cut off of the bottom of each sleeve to make the cuffs. After determining how big I wanted them, I cut them to size and then ironed on a very lightweight interfacing to the wrong side of the fabric to give the cuffs some shape. I then sewed them into a circle, with right sides together, pressed the seam open and then folded down each raw edge about 1/2".

8. Attach cuffs to sleeves. First I basted along the bottom edge of the sleeve, then pulled the basting stitch gently to pucker the sleeve. Only pucker the sleeve enough to make the opening the same size as the cuff (you want a slight pucker, but don't want to go back to what the dress looked like originally). Next, I pinned the open cuff to the inside of the sleeve (the sleeve is right side out for this step), sewed it on, then folded the cuff over and topstitched.

9. Attach the sleeves. Sewing on sleeves is always a little hard hard for me, but especially when I am doing alterations because my sleeve and my arm hole often end up not matching as well as they would from a pattern. Getting the sleeves on took a little bit of time because I had to do several adjustments as I went. It's always a good idea to use a basting stitch first when attaching your sleeves and then go over it with a regular stitch once the sleeve is in place and has no puckers. Rather than give you my step-by-step here, I'll share the best tutorial I have ever seen on attaching sleeves: Teach Yourself to Sew: How to Sew A Sleeve

10. Make sash. I used the remnants of the neck tie to make a sash for my waist. First, turn the neck ties wrong side out. Following the straight seam on each half of the neck tie, I continued sewing to the end of the fabric and then cut off the excess. Then I turned each strip right side out and ironed them flat. I folded the end of one strip inside itself, then tucked the raw edge of the other strip into it and topstitched it in place.

11. The picture doesn't show it, but a good tip to make projects look professional is to always give them a good iron when they are done. And, you're finished!

Resolution Review: January

Now that January is already over(!) I thought I would review my goals for 2015 and write about what I want to continue to do or change in February.

More detailed information about each of goals can be read here. Now to review my progress (get ready, it's a little long):

Exercise at least once a week. This was a big fail. I did "8-minute abs" one time and that is it! I just never felt motivated in the evening to go to the gym. I was usually tired after a long day with Luke and felt like I would much rather be home hanging out with Phil. I could have done some more ab workouts I guess, but I usually just forgot.
Working out is hard for me. It has always been hard for me to stay motivated on my own. If I had a friend to go with me I know I would be much better, but its hard to find someone else who wants to do the same things and has the same schedule. The only time I feel like I was really dedicated was after Luke was born and I wanted to lose the baby weight. I walked every day and did ab and weight training every night and I loved it. But, after we moved to Utah, I got out of my routine, and then the weather starting cooling down, and now I never work out at all. I know I should, but its hard to find the time with the little guy.
With all that being said, I have decided to try to adjust/add to my goal and instead of focusing on traditional work outs, which I never maintain, I am going to try to walk more again because that is something that I actually enjoy and can do during the day with Luke instead of having to try to find time to go to the gym. That works out well because I am adding another goal to my list which is to drive less (see below).

Eat less sugar. This is a goal that I thought I would really struggle with from the start, but has actually gone much better than I expected. My plan was to slowly cut back on sugar by skipping sweets for two days a week, then up to three, then four, then five. Knowing that I wasn't cutting sugar out completely I think really helped. I chose to skip sugar on Tuesdays and Thursdays and I was able to stick to it without too much trouble. I did have cravings some nights, but just reminded myself, "I can have a sweet tomorrow" and then was able to forget about it. February will still be two days of no sweets and then in March I will go to three.

Eat more fruits and vegetables. First of all, thank goodness Sprouts moved in just down the street from us because that has really helped me to stick to this goal. I am the worst at eating enough fruit and veggies, and even though I cook dinner every night, I often forget a side dish. I was determined to be better so I started buying salad every week as well as all kinds of fruit and vegetables that I could snack on during the day.
I don't like eating salad. It's not that I don't like the taste, but I don't like how much work it is to add other veggies to it, and then to try to get those darn leaves on your fork. But, it really was the easiest way to get a serving of vegetables every night with dinner, plus Phil loves salad. And, surprisingly, after several weeks of eating it almost every night, I am starting to like it too.

Keep a one sentence journal. Fail. Big fail. I wrote in my journal one time. I'm not sure what I need to do to make this happen. I still want to do it, but I forgot a lot, and when I did remember I was kind of just too lazy to actually do it. I'll try again this month.

Write a novel in 30 days. Since this is just a one month goal, and I haven't chosen my month to accomplish it yet, I can't say much about it, except that I am still excited to make it happen, and still determining which month will be best. (I'm leaning toward March or June right now).

Drive less. As noted above, this is a new goal that I added in the middle of January. When Luke was smaller I used to divide up my errands and do one or two of them each day of the week, just to give me a reason to get out of the house. I didn't always like driving somewhere everyday, but it helped me from feeling crazy being inside with a baby all day long. Now that Luke is bigger, he can play more and doesn't need the same kind of attention (although he still needs a lot). He loves to go for walks, and go to the playground, and go to story time at the library.  I have decided to stop driving as much and to walk instead (if its reasonably possible to do so) so that Luke can enjoy some time outside and I can get a little exercise. The weather has been extremely nice for January in Utah and so we have been able to walk and play outside a lot more than I expected we would this time of year.
Not driving as much has also helped me to avoid impulse buys, save money on gas, and stop wasting time at stores that I don't really need to be at. I can spend more time doing things at home (like sewing!) and enjoying the times I do go out more.

Recommended Reading: The Life-changing Magic of Tidying Up

I have been reading a lot of books lately about organizing, simplifying and minimal living. I don't read them because I feel like we really "need" them, Phil and I are both pretty neat, organized people and we never hang on to much clutter. But, I still really enjoy them (I guess that's the nerd in me). I enjoy getting new ideas. I enjoy the new perspective that living with less gives me.

I recently read The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo and I loved it. Most of the organizational books I have read all pretty much say the same thing. They tell you when you should get rid of your stuff (when you haven't used it for a year, when it breaks, when you no longer have a place for it, etc...), how you should get rid of your stuff (work on one room at a time, get rid of one thing each day, etc.), and then how to store the things you keep. I like to clean and I like to get rid of stuff. We get rid of stuff all the time (I take a bag to the thrift store every couple of months at least). But none of the books I have read have taken the approach that Marie Kondo does in this book.

She only has one rule when it comes to when to get rid of stuff: get rid of everything that does not bring you joy. And she has one rule for how to get rid of stuff: all at once.

Obviously, some things you just need to have, whether they really bring you joy or not, like toothpaste and toilet paper and wash cloths. But really, when you think about it, most things do require some thought and choice on your part and you should choose the things that you love and make your house feel like home and then get rid of the things that you don't love and that don't bring you joy. This perspective may seem trite, but actually it really works. We hold on to so many things for all the wrong reasons: "maybe I will need it one day, it still works just fine, I spent so much money on it, it was a gift, etc." Even if all of those reasons are true, if you don't love the item, why are you keeping it?

Her second rule, that you tidy your whole house in one go also makes a lot of sense. She doesn't imply that you should actually do it all in one day (unless you actually can do that) but that you continue to work on tidying, in the order she suggests, until you are done (maybe over the course of a week, month or even several months if necessary). If you stop in the middle of the process, or do things out of order, there is a greater chance that you won't finish, or that you will rebound to your old ways and start collecting clutter again.

I think one of the things I loved best about this book was that it takes the focus off of discarding and instead emphasizes enjoying the things you have. I have often focused too much on getting rid of things to make our space neat and tidy, only to find that I have to get rid of things again before much time has passed at all. Instead, if you focus on the things you love, and why you love them, you stop buying unnecessary objects and later don't have so many things to discard. It has really made me appreciate my belongings more, and even given me a new outlook on the things that I have gotten rid of. Rather than feeling guilty about discarding something that I didn't use that much, I can still appreciate it for helping me to know better what I do and don't like, and then I can move on.

Also, my sock drawer. Kondo talks about socks in some detail and at first I thought it was ridiculous. I have always rolled and folded my socks in the same way everyone does (fold the elastic band of one sock over both socks to have a little bundle) and couldn't believe that it really mattered. But, I was curious enough to try out the way she recommends and I cannot believe how happy it makes me. not only do all of my socks now fit in a drawer half the size of the one they were in previously, but I can see all of them at once instead of having to dig around to find the pair I want. I was so excited by the outcome that I did the same things with Phil's socks, and he loves it too. This new way will definitely keep me from over-buying in the future.

I didn't take a before picture of my sock drawer, but I got one of Phil's which pretty much looked the same as mine did before I organized it: 

And this is after I added some magic, plus fit all the socks in a smaller drawer. My drawer looks pretty similar, except that I have lots of tights and peds along with my socks. 

Have you read this book? What did you think about it?

Money Wise: The Budget

Note: I originally wrote this and other posts about our finances on a personal blog but have decided to share them here. The original date the post was published is shown below.  

5/11/14

People don't usually like the word "budget". Usually it has a negative connotation of some sort, kind of like "diet". But having a budget doesn't have to be a negative thing. In fact, when you really figure one out, its sort of freeing.

We started using an online budget tool called mint.com shortly after we were married and continue to use it today. You create an account that you then can link  all other financial accounts to so you can see everything in one place. We see our checking and savings accounts, Roth IRAs, HSA, and student loan accounts. You can also create a budget each month so you can view it regularly and easily keep track of where your money is going. Mint will list all of your transactions and then you can assign them to different categories so that they fall within your budget.  It has been a great tool for us. 

That all being said, it has taken time to really learn how to create a proper budget. For a long time I had budget categories, but I mostly just looked at where I had spent money after it had already been spent, rather than telling our money how it would be spent beforehand. That is the key. You have to start each budget before the month has started, determine how much your income will be, and then assign every dollar to a category. It can be hard at first, sometimes you have expenses you don't expect, but after a few months you start to get a pretty good idea of how much you will spend and what you will spend it on. 

Some people may feel that planning how much you can spend on each category (ie: clothing, eating out, groceries, etc.) will be limiting, but as we have started to efficiently budget I find that I feel a lot less guilty. For example, when we didn't plan ahead how much to set for clothing that month I would buy things but then always feel guilty for spending the money, even if it was something I needed. Now I know exactly how much we have agreed to spend so as long as I stay within that amount I don't feel guilty at all. 

Creating an efficient budget (together! If you're married) is really the first step to taking control of your money. Once you start that, your debt-free future starts to become a little clearer. 

Money Wise: More on the Credit Cards

Note: I originally wrote this and other posts about our finances on a personal blog but have decided to share them here. The original date the post was published is shown below.  

4/24/14

I'm not an expert on credit cards, but I have learned a few things in the past couple of years that I think are really important. First of all, how often do we hear the words "credit score"? Like every single day, right? Society seems to think that having a credit score is one of the single most important things an adult can have, or maybe even that it makes you an adult. Lets blow away the smoke shall we?

First of all, nobody needs a credit score. Ever.

You often see or hear commercials that say things like "low credit score? no credit score? no problem!" Its important to clarify here that a LOW credit score and NO credit score are NOT the same thing. Car dealers and pay day loan sharks and such want you to think they are, but they are not.

A credit score keeps track of your ability to borrow money. Thats it. So if you have a high credit score it means you are good at borrowing money. If you have a low credit score it means you bad at borrowing money (make late payments, default on loans, etc). If you have NO credit score, it means you don't borrow money. I have already established that borrowing money is not the way to go, so not having a credit score is actually a good thing! Really! It means that you pay for things with money you actually have.

But you are all thinking, wait! What if I want to buy a car?! What if I want to buy a house?! I need a credit score. No. You don't. Unless, you want to borrow money in order to buy that car or house (although houses are a little different and I will address that below). See, that's the problem most everyone in this country is facing. We are told we need to borrow money so that we can get a credit score so that we can borrow more money so we can buy things we can't afford. (No, we can't afford them. Remember, if we could afford them, we wouldn't need to borrow money in the first place).

So, what is the solution? Well, if you never get a credit card and never take out a loan you will never have a credit score. Which means you wont be able to buy a car you can't afford, so you will either have to save up until you can pay cash for that really nice dream car, or you will have to buy an old beater until you can get something better. As for a house, well it would still be best to save up and pay cash for a house too. But, if that isn't realistic (as it probably isn't for most people) you do have another option. Thanks to Dave Ramsey (of course) I now know how to get a mortgage without a credit score. It's called manual underwriting. It's what people used to do before credit scores became the norm. Yes, you still have to have a good down payment, a job, and proof that you have been in good standing with your bills (such as rent, electric, water, etc), but hopefully that would be the case anyway. My understanding is that not all lenders know how to do this anymore, so you may have to look around a bit, but now you don't have to go take out some loan just so you can get a loan...

Isn't it freeing knowing that you don't need a credit score? It sure is for me. 

New Books and Goals as a Collector

With a father who is an avid book collector, and a mother who is happy to get any amount of books out of the house (as they are always piling up) I always come back from New Mexico with lots of reading material.

My last visit was especially fun because my grandfather recently moved out of his home and to Arizona to live with my aunt and uncle, and decided to leave his Franklin library to my dad to be divided amongst the grandchildren. Since none of my brothers were very interested in the books, I pretty much got first pick on everything, and had quite a stack by the time I was finished sorting through the piles. I couldn't bring them all home this trip because our suitcases were getting too heavy (and Franklin editions tend to weigh quite a lot), but I brought as many as I could successfully pack.

Collected Poems by T.S. Eliot

The Red Badge of Courage by Stephan Crane

Main Street by Sinclair Lewis

History by Elsa Morante

I also had fun book hunting with my dad, which we always like to do when we get together. One of his favorite Albuquerque booksellers was closing his shop just before Christmas, so we made sure to go to his store as well as a few others. Beside the books I bought shopping that day, my mom also passed on a few of her books to me that she didn't want anymore but knew I was interested in.

The Professor and The Bronte Poems by Charlotte Bronte and her sisters

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

Lois the Witch and Other Stories by Mrs. (Elizabeth) Gaskell

A Lost Lady by Willa Cather (gift from my mom)

Presenting Miss Jane Austen by May Lamberton Becker (gift from my mom)

Early Novels and Stories by Willa Cather

Little House in the Ozarks: Rediscovered Writings by Laura Ingalls Wilder (gift from my mom)

I have been collecting books for years now, but it has only been in the past couple that my collecting goals have changed. My dad, for example, loves pretty much any book with a beautiful leather cover and an old musty smell, no matter the content. While I appreciate the beauty in those books too, I feel that I really want a personal library that is "readable".  What I mean by that is that I don't want to have only rare books that are too fragile to read comfortably. While I do have a few rare and special books, most of my books are nice editions that I would still feel comfortable letting my kids read when they are able. I want to have a collection of stories that I love, even if that means passing up a beautifully bound edition of something else because it's not a story that I enjoy. Having this as my goal has made book collecting even more enjoyable for me lately, and its always exciting to come home with new books to put on my shelves.

Recommended Reading: Radical Homemakers

It took me a while to finish reading Radical Homemakers. I really enjoyed it, but it was a lot more dense than some of the others I have read recently. It was just packed full of information and gave me a lot to think about.

I will start off by saying that I did not agree with everything the author, Shannon Hayes, wrote, and I feel that she may have been too biased and not factual enough in some parts. This book was a bit more liberal-minded in discussing some issues than I tend to be, especially in it's vilification of big corporations, some ideas about healthcare, and some financial and retirement advice that I did not agree with. However, that being said, it did put into words a lot of what I have been thinking and feeling more and more lately.

I felt that the central idea was that people today seem to be working more and more trying to earn more and more money to pay for the more and more things that they buy, while at the same time families and communities are being damaged because relationships are not given the time and energy they need.

Radical Homemakers begins by addressing some of the issues we currently see in society such as overworking, overspending, disconnected families, and suffering communities. Many feel that if they are not busy, if they do not have a big house, a nice car, and expensive things, then they are not successful. The key, the author suggests, to correct these issues is to leave corporate America behind and focus on hearth and home.

Hayes then goes on to give the reader an in-depth history lesson on homemaking. She explains what the word homemaking really means, what it meant in feudal times, and how it has evolved since the industrial revolution. She talks about men's roles historically as co-homemakers, as well as the "housewife syndrome" that arose especially during the 1950's. She discusses the progression from families that all worked together within a household to grow their own food, make their own clothes, repair their belongings, cook and eat meals together, etc., to society now that buys everything, both spouses work 60 hours or more a week, children are over-scheduled and families rarely eat together.

"Radical" homemaking is more than just being a stay-at-home-mom (or dad), but involves incorporating certain ideas into your lifestyle such as (in the author's own words):

• nobody cares what you drive
• housing does not have to cost more than a single moderate income can afford
• health can be achieved without making monthly payments to an insurance company
• childcare is not a fixed cost
• education can be acquired and not bought, and
• retirement is possible, regardless of income

These "radical" ideas are then explained in greater detail with notes from interviews by the author done with 20 radical homemakers. They describe their decisions to leave behind (or never begin) a corporate career to allow more time with family. They have learned how to live with less money but have developed better relationships and greater skills. They talk about how they have learned to rely more on extended family and community to obtain the support (whether financial, material, emotional or other) they need. Many grow their own food, many only own one car, many homeschool their children.

This book gave me a lot to think about, and I enjoyed it. It made me think about some changes I could make in my own life and career as a homemaker and SAHM, such as reading more, developing new skills, planting a garden, and driving less. I would recommend this book, but with a word of caution to read it with an open mind, and with the understanding that many of the topics discussed as fact are really generalizations.  If you are looking for a lifestyle change, or want to learn more about homemaking, this is an interesting read.