03 | September | 2015 | Home Sweet Home on Wheels

I’ve had this top for a few years but I don’t wear it too often. I wanted to change that… I haven’t been able to part with it because I really like the back and I like the material. (It’s pretty, soft, and breathable.) It’s just always been a little too snug and the material, even though I like it, has hardly any stretch to it. So I found this on Pinterest…

Then I saw this…

And decided to use that as a jumping off point. I didn’t want to make the top really loose, but I wanted to add a few inches around. I had some black floral lace that I found at Walmart on clearance last winter when we were in Oklahoma City. (It’s crazy to me that I remember WHEN things happened by WHERE I was… Life on the road I guess.) Anyway, here’s what I used…

Scissors
Razor blade (a seam ripper would probably be better but I don’t have one yet)
Lace
A too snug top
Pins
Sewing machine
Matching thread

I used my seam ripper, sike! my razor blade to take apart the sides of the top. I left the sleeves intact.

Then I cut a strip of lace, leaving the manufactured edge at the bottom so I wouldn’t have to worry about what to do with that. And I pinned it in place, just adding 1″-2″ and tapering it toward the arm holes.

Once I had both sides relatively even (I eyeballed it), I started sewing. I sewed a line up each side, removing pins as I went. (I need to find an easier way to do that, because it always seems like I’m fighting to get the pins out without stabbing myself or breaking the needle or taking the pins out too early and losing my place…).

Please excuse the notebook paper, I needed a background to show the lace!

Anyhow, after I finished both sides of the shirt, I went back and sewed another line, just to be sure it would hold. I don’t think I would do that with regular fabric, but it’s my first time really working with lace, so I wanted to make sure it wasn’t going to pull apart on me.

I couldnt bring myself to post without at least a glimpse of the spoiled pup!

And voila! My top is still cute, and it fits better!

If you are wondering where those cute throw pillows came from, look at the next post!

DIY Pillow Covers: Round 2

Since I’ve had my breadmaker, I’ve been trying all kinds of different recipes. Most have come out super yummy. I had high hopes for this one: Lemonade Bread.

Doesn’t that just sound delicious?! I thought it could be like a light dessert, similar to lemon cake but not quite as sweet… I found the recipe here. I’ve made other recipes from this list and they’ve turned out great! (Mexican Sunset Bread, Garden Herb Bread…) But this time… Nope. Not at all good!

Once I added all the ingredients and the cycle started and the machine started to knead the bread and work its magic, I quickly realized there wasn’t nearly enough liquid. So I stopped the cycle. I added some more lemonade concentrate, then some water. I restarted the cycle, it was too wet so I sprinkled some flour. I finally got the dough ball looking relatively normal. So I stopped fretting and cleaned up.

It finished baking when Allen was home. I opened the lid to the same dough ball. Only it was fully baked. It didn’t rise at all! And it was heavy! Allen said it could break a window!

I knew I had to throw it out but I tasted a little piece for good measure! SO sour! Definitely way too much lemonade contentrate was involved in the making of my cement ball.

Now, here in the grand parking lot of Candlestick RV Park on the outskirts of the city, we have LOTS of stray cats and a few huge raccoons that we see almost nightly when we walk Charlie. So Allen suggested I see if the cats or coons wanted to try my “bread”. I set it in an empty parking spot that night. These pictures were taken the next morning.

Untouched! And Charlie didn’t even want anything to do with it! You know it has to be bad when raccoons won’t eat it! Lesson learned: check the recipe before baking and compare to what I KNOW works…