A sticky situation

I sew like I garden...poorly and only out of necessity. (See blog post "the Hedgehog and the Sled" from earlier this month if you don't know what I'm talking about!) I have made curtains, hemmed skirts, taken in waist bands, and mended things with iron on tape, staples, safety pins, glue guns, etc. No sewing required! Again, my mother is a fabulous seamstress! I apparently didn't inherit that gene or the green thumb. For years my kids thought that "only grandmas know how to sew" as I'd take a pile of things over to my mother-in-law's house to have her hem pants, etc. for us.

Today I discovered a new "no sewing required" tool! Double sided fabric tape! I didn't even have to heat up the iron!! Hallelujah!

This all started last week when Big J said she needed new jeans. I pondered this thought. She rarely asks for clothes (yet!). She has at least 4 pairs of jeans that fit her. I wondered why she needed new jeans. Then I discovered the answer. The jeans at Old Navy came with cool belts! What she really wanted was the belt. I started thinking some more. "Just how hard would it be to make those ribbon belts? All those crafty moms on all the blogs I've been reading are making all sorts of crafty things for THEIR children. I bet I can do it!"

I found easy directions online. Fortunately it used iron on tape! Unfortunately it also required sewing the length of the belt to attach the two ribbons! Fortunately I'm not bound by directions, so I figured I'd skip that step. Fortunately I discovered the double sided tape next to the iron on tape at the fabric store! Unfortunately I now know why they don't recommend using for projects that require stitching (needle gets very sticky!). Fortunately I just kept hand sewing the rings onto the belt and tossed the needle when I was finished. Voila! Belts for the girls! I was so proud of my accomplishments that I sewed 2 more for the girls to give to friends.

Thank goodness the kids are short... much harder for grandmas to see the poor stitching close up!