Bad to the bone!

I don't have deep Victorian drawers -- I do have a walk-in closet.

I recently started hanging up my bras to make room for my socks in the chest of drawers. I fastened dress hangers one below another with twist-ties so that I could get all of the bras into the space of one hanger. It works a treat -- and I can put them away with the elastic still a trifle damp. At this time of year, when the humidifier barely keeps up, that is.

Joy Beeson

William is absolutely straight up & down, no waist, no hips and skinny with it so belts are essential to get store bought trousers to stay decent. No belt doesn't just mean builder's bum, it means keks round the ankles!

Lizzy

Hi Sarah,

I'm in Manchester (and usually use that store) but N Wales is pretty close ;) My email is valid so we could take this discussion off group or we could just carry on here and make people jealous.

Lizzy

I've got a skin boy as well, but as he's only 4 (and a half) elastic holds his stuff up quite well and he's quite happy to wear shorts and trousers that mum makes :-) at least for now. He can still wear trousers I made him just before he turn 2 - as shorts, but they are wearing out now the first bits of clothing he's worn out rather than grown out of.

It is amazing just how much wear you can get out of trousers when they only grow upwards, not outwards. DS2 is wider (but still skinny) than DS1 even though he is 2 1/4 years younger.

Lizzy

Do that!

Mary

There's posh! We don't have a conservatory. We hang wet tent canvas ion lines under the carport but it's too full of sawdust and other doose dirt to use the lines for ordinary washing - and too much bother climbing over the piles of tiomber, other 'stuff' and workbenches :-)

You can get a dubet in your dryier??? I have to take ours to the commercial place. That is, I get him to take them :-)

Mary

You must be ion USA. The word 'closet' gives it away - also the reference to humidity. Our houses are much smaller, as a rule, and even though at present it seems to be raining all the time our houses are dry inside.

But you are a paragon of virtue, hanging bras! I'm far to idle :-)

Mary

...

LOL! At least parents and teenagers agree on something :-)

Mary

The lost of the bulk of a nappy also helps. (even if toilet training is still a bit hit a miss here).

But are your houses nosebleed dry?

We threw out our noisy humidifier last spring, and this winter DH keeps an enamel waterbath canner on the stove, with the fire set as low as possible. Quiet, doesn't cost anything -- we fuel the stove and the furnace from the same main -- and it puts gallons into the air. My spectacles fog up when I come in out of the cold, and I haven't had one bloody nose this winter.

Aha! So that's why I drink a whole bottle of water whenever I spend an hour sewing at the church -- my spectacles *don't* fog up when I come in there!

Joy Beeson

'course you can ;-) We'll plan a stash raid.

I was given a pattern for a rag doll and clothes for Xmas, so I'm planning on making her for DD.

I need fabric for the doll's body, underwear and socks. Everything else can come from stash. Ooh! and some batting, as I want to make dolly a carry cot, quilt & pillow. It will tickle DD pink that will.

Being me, and knowing my DD, I want to make the shoes and socks separate rather than built in as per pattern. Shouldn't be too difficult.. I hope!

Other than that I really need to be sewing! (yeah, right - just when do I get the time) to get rid of my stash - it's got to be reduced severely before the end of the year.

Sarah

Ours is dry. I don't understand what you mean by nosebleed dry :-)

My specs fog when I try to read or make a phone call when I'm in the bath :-(

Can't remember the lst time my nose bled, aprt from the time it made contact with the road ...

Mary

My son is 13 and happily oblivious to fashion concerns. He would actually prefer to continue wearing elastic waist pants if I were willing to provide them.

He inherited a huge stash of hand-me-down jeans from his cousins, including a very cool pair of button fly Levis that probably cost his aunt $40. He won't wear them. "They take too long" to unbutton and re-button.

Captain Clueless has caught up to his 17-year old sister in size and one morning emerged from his room wearing a pair of her boot cut jeans that had been put in his dresser by mistake. I insisted that he go take them off. He wanted to know why he couldn't just wear them since they fit. I told him that (A) even if he couldn't tell the difference, the girls in his class would most certainly notice and razz him about it, and (B) if his sister caught him wearing her favorite jeans she would probably go all "Shelly"* on him.

He saw the sense in (B) and went back to his room and changed pants.

I try to figure postal charges in relation to how many gallons of gas I'd be using to search out a fabric that suits me. I find that the postal charges usually win out. I'm not about to drive allover the countryside looking for a fabric when I know I can get a better quality on line,without the wear and tear on my car and use possibly 3 or 4 gallons of gas looking.We h ave little in the way of good fabric stores around here, We do have a good quilt fabric store close by if I want a pretty cotton print. It is also on the same route as my trip to the grocery store.

Juno

Yes, now if we could just get some company in the U.K. willing to ship fabric to the U.S. They have the most scrumptious fabrics!!! My DH just got back from London and he followed my instructions. Came home with new underwear, socks, a pair of cord trousers, and he brought me a cashmere tartan stole. Cost the earth, but worth every penny.

I'm green, green, green with envy. All those goodies. It's as good as chocolate J

He still has undies and socks from his first trip, 7 years ago. The socks still look like new, they're washable wool dress socks. This is the second pair of cords he's bought, and I urged him to buy them because the detailing on the first pair is so good. They fit very well, and are so well-made. The stole was his idea, he'd seen them in shops and admired them, thought I might like one but due to the price, he asked me first. LOL! It's really pretty, a MacKenzie tartan, not like my own clan tartan which always reminds me of Christmas. I often wear a shawl around the house, but I don't think I want cat hair all over this just yet.

Well, it arrived today! And...

very smart! Will make excellent quilt backing/borders, which is why I wanted it.

A lightish coffee/caramel: excedingly yummy.

Exactly as it said on the can and perfect for their purpose.

It's more bronze than gold, but even yummier than I thought it would be. I'm sure it'll come in handy one day.

It's damned heavy!

Erm... 'Perfect' doesn't quite cover it! It turns out to be a chenille velvet with patterns woven in little squares, in a luscious light mid blue with just a hint of green in it. Ideal for sofa covering, and with the surface detail it'll hide a multitude of sins! It should also be fairly cat proof! It'll be a bugger to sew coz it's really thick and heavy: I might need to do it on the treadle!

I need to cover the long back cushion, the seat cushion, and make a lose cover for the main part of the sofa that allows me to get the bed out without taking the cover off, so it needs a bit of thought and planning.