Ruffles

I came up with a very easy way to ruffle fabric without using a long machine stitch and pulling the thread to form a ruffle. Simply, buy 1/2" clear elastic that you can find either in packages, or you can buy it online by the roll. Put one end of the elastic over the top edge of the fabric and gently pull the elastic as you stitch the fabric on the machine. You will then notice that the fabric begins to ruffle evenly. I would use about a 2 to 3 yard length of fabric at a time, so that it doesn't curl up too much that you can't manage it. The clear elastic is very thin, so it doesn't give bulk. Then you can simply sew the ruffles onto your fashion fabric. I made a very full skirt using 20 yards of tulle and sewed the ruffles to the fabric with 1" rows. I found this application to be very easy and much less time consuming.

I recently purchased a beautiful olive green sweater and wore it for the first time last week. Of course, I went to do a wash with bleach, and the bleach accidentally splashed on me. So, I ended up with a white spot right on my chest. My solution was that I bought metallic bronze fabric paint and a stencil and I painted a design over the front section of my sweater making sure that the white spot was completely covered. It was dry the next day, and I heat set the paint simply by using a hot iron for about a minute, and it was all ready. I'm wearing it today and you can't tell that the spot was ever there. By the way, Pearl paint has wonderful fabric paints that can be used even on silks. Just be sure that when you heat set the paint, you use a pressing cloth to prevent burns. Once it is set, you can have it washed or dry cleaned without any peeling.