A Colorful Top , Jeans Tip, and More.....

The first really colorful addition to my wardrobe is complete. It is the same pattern I used for the grey linen dress, simply cut shorter, Butterick 5348.  The fabric is a poly spandex charmeuse nightmare. I have sewn poly charmeuses before, not the easiest thing to do, but adding this lycra/spandex or whatever that made it stretch really tried my skills and patience. I never realized the fiber content was part stretch until I couldn't figure out why I was having such a time topstitching. Last night I asked for hints on how to do this on this fabric. I have since figured out you DON'T do topstitching on this fabric, just let it flow. I must have tried every thread/tension/ fiber combo possible and nothing gave good enough results. So today, after looking at my miserable mess I ripped out all the TSing and now I am happy. Learn something new all the time! The seams are all French seams, invisible zipper in the back, and pretty run of the mill construction otherwise. I do love the fabric, the flow of it all, the wonderful colors. This is perfect for my work. It gets terribly hot there and this will be perfect. Now it is time to put this pattern to bed, at least for a while. I did see Andrea Mitchell on TV today with a very similar top that looked great. It was grey (there I go with no color) with a tiny stripe. The neckband was laid so the stripes went evenly left to right, not what one would expect so it made an interesting design statement. Go Andrea!
**********************************************************************************
Before I ripped out my topstitching I stopped procrastinating and took up the hems on four pairs of pants this morning, one slinky, one ponte type knit, and two jeans. For my jeans I tried a new to me technique that I found fast and fabulous. I take no credit for this but am so excited about it's ease and results that I must pass it on to you. This is on a 2005 page of DaciaRay.com and is so clearly explained there that I won't go into the technique myself. I just followed her directions. Here are my results. This is the original hem that came on the heans but it is 2 1/2 inches shorter!

This went together in minutes and I doubt I would hem jeans any other way now. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND this technique, also known as a European jeans hem. Who knew?
*********************************************************************************
And last but not least DH and I went on a combo 4 wheel/ hiking adventure about 2-3 miles up our Deer River in the state park. It was so lovely there. The water is flowing full white water in lots of spots and it was quite majestic. We found about 3 miles deep into the woods an exquisite maple grove. I took lots of pictures and here are a few:
These are trilliums, a plant that has always intrigued me and is a protected species. They are quite lovely and hold their blooms for an extended time. I had them on our slope in NH and they are blooming in the deep shaded woods up here in NY now.

We saw several beaver dams, huts, and ponds. This was at one beaver dam. Can you guess what it is? Better yet, can you guess what killed it? Not the first time DH and I have seen this in the woods.

Yup, its the remains of a deer carcass. As we finished our afternoon trek and headed home this is the street I live on as it comes out of the state park. You can see the ominous storm looming. We made it in the house dodging egg size raindrops and lightening. Glad we were out of the woods when it hit.

Bunny