Sarah's Simple Sewing Secrets.

OK, anyone out there bought a dress or shirt with a design on the front that was only good for one month?

I did.

I was newly pregnant (my excuse) with Gator-boy and saw these cute denim jumpers with fall embroidery on the front at WalMart. So I went searching through the back of the rack and found a size bigger than I was at the moment and threw it in the basket.

Now, I like fall decoration, leaves, pumpkins, cornucopias and the like. I really don't like Hallowe'en decorations, witches, bats, spiders and such. Can you see where this is going yet??

YUP, apparantly on that rack there were several different styles of decorated jumpers and the one I got home with was Hallowe'en to the max.

Well, I wore it for the month of October, then thought "now what?" I mean the thing still fit and it was the only dress that did. I don't have money to go buy a bunch of maternity clothes and hadn't yet discovered the great treasure trove of borrowed maternity clothes that was to come for my last pregnancy.

So, I took my favorite winter fabric which has snowmen on it and made a huge stocking which I then applique'ed ontop of all that Hallowe'en embroidery. Heeheehee. Now I have a jumper that I still wear from Nov through Feb. Much more use than that old Hallowe'en stuff ever got!

So, who's afraid of the big word "applique"?? I was for the longest time!!

Here's the scoop. All it means is sewing one thing on top of another. As in you are applying one piece of fabric to another piece. If you have a big section of fabric and lay a smaller section on top of it, then sew in place you have just completed an applique. Doesn't matter how you sew it on, there are many ways of doing that. Most mending of clothing is done by applique, think of sewing a patch on a sleeve elbow or the knee of pants, or sewing on a piece of fabric to cover a tear in a comforter or quilt. Sewn a patch on a uniform? Sewn a design on a shirt? All is applique.

My tip to you this week is, when you're tired of a design on a piece of clothing that still fits well, or the design has faded, find something you love to cover it up with. We, as a nation, waste too much money on perfectly good clothing.

For Show and Tell I'll put up pics of the jumper I changed from Hallowe'en to Winter.

The next big word that scares me is decoupage............

Sew a little smile into your day today.