How To Hem Pants Like A Professional

 Summary

What if someone told you that anyone can hem like a professional? What if someone does not even have to find matching thread? What if someone said that you won't lose the original cuff or manufacturer's hem? Would you be interested to learn how?

Two pair of hemmed pants

Photo 1

Photo 2

Photo 3

Photo 4

Photo 5

Photo 6

Photo 7

Photo 8

Photo 9 

It is a great feeling to know that you can go buy any pants and be able to hem them to look professional, costing you just some time and effort. Can you believe that anybody, from beginner to advance, can hem a pair of paints professionally?

The theory behind the style of hemming for pants that I am about to explain has numerous benefits. First of all, the alteration appears minimum since you are keeping the manufacturer's hem. Second, you do not even have to match your thread to the thread used on the pants because your thread won't even show. The basic theory is to cut a portion of the pants above the original hems. What so great about this technique is that if you can sew one line near the original hem and a second line, a zig zag, and can tuck away some fabric, you can do a professional hem.

Here are the step-by-step instructions:

1. Take a 31/2" x 5" and have the bottom edge correspond with the hem line that you desire. (Photo 1)

2. Bring the edge of the card that marks the pant's new edge to the edge of the original hem and then pin. (Photo 2)

3. Put another pin close to inner sewn fold. (Photo 3)

4. Undo the pins and straighten out the pant fold so that you see the inside of the pants. (Photo 4)

5. You can fold the cardboard to show the length of the fold (Photo 4) or you can mark it with a color pencil. (Photo 5)

6. Regardless of the thread color, sew close to the old hem. (Photo 6)

7. Parallel to the sewing done in Step 6, sew a line of zig zag. (Photo 7)

8. If the fold is too thick, then you can cut some of the fabric between the fold and the two sewn lines. (Photo 7)

9. Tuck the flap toward the edge of the pants, fold, and hand stitch for slacks (Photo 8) or straight stitch at the very edge of the pants.

The result is shown in Photo 9 and the top Hub photo.

Although up close, you see the fold that I put in above the original stitch, you really cannot see it when looking at someone wearing the pants. You will be surprised how professional your hemming will look.

 

Mac Users Can Be More Organized With Growly Notes, A Free Solution to Microsoft's Onenote

 Paperless Organization

Everyone says he or she wants to be more organized or more productive or less forgetful. Students want to take better notes and study more efficiently. At work, we want to use the business hours wisely, hoping for less stress. At work, I use Microsoft's One Note 2010, which is a note-taking program which has a number of tags that you can use with your notes. I relied upon it immediately after my office upgraded to Window and Office 8, most notably the sections and pages for the various topics that I choose to include and the inclusion of information directly on the page, or attached files and pictures. Coming home to a MacBook Pro, I found that I missed the organization, until I found Growly Notes.

 

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The Basics

Cost: Growly Notes is the solution for Mac users who like Microsoft's OneNote and is completely free to download because it is open source software. Who doesn't like free. In fact, a lot of PC users wish that there is Growly Notes for PC, but this will not happen.
Sections and Pages: You can organize pretty much any information that comes before you so that you don't have to remember the information and the information can be at your fingertip when you need it.
Here are some suggestion sections:
1. Completion List/To Do List: I keep both a list of things to do as well as a list of things that I have done. I keep a running list of both so that I can just keep adding to either list. I insert a date and time and then each entry of what I have accomplished plus a tag, which is a symbol next to an entry. I prefer seeing what I have done, even though it may be a little tedious at times. But it keeps me motivated when I feel sluggish and wish to procrastinate.
2. Financial Information/Online Accounts and Passwords. I used to keep this information in Excel but I found that the Excel program takes too long to open. The beauty of Growly Notes is that you can password protect your sensitive files. This is great to keep a snapshot of your finances in each account in an easily created table, and I like to copy the information from credit card statement regarding monthly balance and due date and add the word "paid" when I have done it. Opening the scratchpad and also a calculator program, I can make informal number crunching notes. As for the online accounts and passwords, this is easier to keep in one place instead of asking for each site to send my password.
3. Recipes. I have a page for each type of food that I am collecting. For example, I have a all of my kimchi recipes on one page and muffin recipes on another page. I also copy links of the recipe including videos, photo of the food and the actual recipe for easy access. I have essentially made a recipebook of what I typically use. If I don't want them anymore, I can just delete the page or delete the recipes that I do not want.
4. Reading Log. I created a table to show what books each family member is reading or has read. As a mother on top of their reading, I can determine what books have been read and can be returned to the library. I can look back and gauge what books the younger child can read.
5. Travel Planning/Price Comparisons/Itinerary. I am a careful travel planner because my resources are limited. I like to collect different activities for each trip and also compare hotel prices. Keeping the research digitally allows easy access and also reduces redundancy in research.
6. Coincidence Journal. I started a coincidence journal to memorialize wishes that have come true that have made our lives better. It also relieves stress because it can show how powerful our subconscious mind can be in getting through unexpected obstacles. This has helped me become more open to good things in life as suggested Rhonda Bryne's "The Secret" as well as be more open-minded in my thought process.

 Overall Review

Growly Notes is a primitive program. I found it difficult to copy sections of my notes if I wanted to copy it into a Word document. It is a more cumbersome program than Microsoft's OneNote. I really like to insert a blank box in front of my to-do list entry whereas Growly Notes allows you to insert a checked box once your task has been completed. Further, I have not figured out when a page can be locked. It is not intuitive. However, for the price of free, it is worth putting up with all of its flaws.

How To Recycle A Cylinder Container Into A Beautiful Gift Box

Recycling Is Beautiful Goal!

I am glad to hear that the students in school learn about the three basic concepts to a better tomorrow "Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle." Around Christmas time, I think twice about throwing away containers that can easily turn into Christmas present boxes. Here is a project involving Laughing Cow cheese boxes. Don't worry about it being a cylindrical box. This article will show you how to decorate this box into a presentable jewelry box or gift box for a small, flat item.

Here are the Supplies You Need: Scissors
Glue or Glue Stick
Wrapping Paper
Tissue Paper
Pencil
Ribbon

Here are the Steps To Making A Decorated Gift Box With An Ordinary Cylindrical Box:

Step #1: Remove as much of the label as possible. This step is required if you are going to cover the container with thin wrapping paper or tissue paper. If your wrapping paper is thick, then skip this step. (Photo #3)
                    

Laughing Cow Cheese Containers

 Step #2. Place your the bottom of your container onto your wrapping paper, and have an idea to cut and leave enough paper so that it could be glued up the side. The reason why I am not so precise with the measurement is that sometimes when you try to cut it apart from the container, you may measure incorrectly and waste time and paper. What you end up is a piece of wrapping paper that can fit your bottom and has a bit of excess around it, even beyond the exposed side of the container when the box is closed. The excess will be trimmed off.

Photo #3

Step #3: Glue the paper onto the lid and smooth the liquid throughout the box surface. You can also use a gluestick. Do the same for the bottom.

Step #4: Start cutting the paper to the length of the side, but if it is a little over the side, that's fine.

Step #5: Cut into the wrapping paper circle up to the point where the paper is already glued to the top surface. Then, spread glue on the side and individually glue each flap of paper. (Photo #7)

Step #6: You can see if the edge of the wrapping paper exceeds the exterior part of the box. If so, put a crease delineating the edge of the exterior 

Step #7: Do the same for the top, except the wrapping paper for the lid should be longer than the side so that the paper can wrap onto side and the interior side, and trim accordingly. Then glue the wrapping paper onto the inside of the box lid. (Photo #9)

Photo #4

Step #8: To make it more festive, using the same technique, glue the tissue paper inside the lid

Step #9: Place tissue paper on the bottom. This does not have to be glued down. 

And voila, you have a beautiful box  for your Christmas present. This box is especially nice for necklaces, and other flat gifts, such as gift cards. Plus, it is a box that can be recycled again if you don't write on it. The recipient of your gift can possibly use it for another present giving occasion. So, next time, you need a gift box, look in your kitchen and see if you can recycle a box.

Photo #6

Photo #5

Photo #7

Photo #8

Photo #9

Photo #10

Pearl, Crystal, and Seed Bead Necklace with All Sterling Silver Findings

 

How Discover Card Reward Can Save You Money During Last Minute Emergency

It is July 2012, and our 2002 Jetta broke down for the second time. The first time, was right before 5 P.M., after Spring Break, and my husband did not pick up the kids until 7:30 P.M. Thank goodness the after-school program instructors don't encounter this very often from us, and we were embarrassed to have inconvenienced everyone. On the plus side, this was the first time during this academic year. This time, the kids are at their day camp of a nearby public school, and I just woke up during a 2-3 hour nap during the day because I called in sick and am suffering from one of those chest colds. Despite, inhaling my asthma medication for the second time, I then took an uphill trek about a mile between Century City to their camp near Westwood Village. I told myself that if I returned with the kids before 6 P.M., I was going to make this car emergency situation better. So, here I was at 4:45 P.M., using my home phone to call Enterprise Online and my cellphone to call my local Enterprise. Here is what I did and how much I saved last minute.
As a background, one ought to know that nowadays, it is much better to save money by getting money back from a credit or debit card. I have written a hub on how this works with the Discover Card. One of the cash back deals is to double your $20 reward dollar at Enterprise. I didn't know how much a last minute economy car would cost to rent, but I was told $59. So, the way I did it at 5:00 P.M. (and the Enterprise office closes at 6 P.M.) was to order an instant e-certificate with a code on it, and with one phone with the person at Enterprise online and my cellphone with the local Enterprise office, I managed to book online with the Discover Card e-certificate, have the online representative contact the local representative to work out the inconsistent status on the availability of a less expensive car at the nearby location, and then have the online office confirm a reservation under my husband's name. The only task left was to locate my husband who was somewhere between the car dealership and home, and then call Enterprise for pick up. Meanwhile, I planned to stay with the kids. By 5:15 P.M., we were waiting for a phone call from Enterprise telling us that someone was outside.
Although we do not rent a car very often, we have always relied on Enterprise's model of picking up its customers to facilitate any plans of ours involving a rental car. Without having to dig and call around for discounts, this emergency cost us $20 in reward dollar and $19 in cash plus tax. However, it is nice to know that the emergency took place before the online and local offices closed, and it ends up being a solution with a built-in savings. Typically aren't we all used to paying full price during an emergency? We learned that the problems were a loose starter sensor and a worn fuel pump, the latter of which does not last beyond 100,000 miles. Ours was at 95,000 miles, and the cost to replace it was $628. So, the bottomline is that it is so important to save money during an emergency when you can because you might be paying a lot of money for other expenses.

Switching Satellite Network Saves Money And Updates Household Technology

No Such Thing As Loyalty

It is common knowledge that there is absolutely no loyalty to any one brand. Unlike family, you are not obligated to continue with any relationship that you feel is now overpriced. However, most of us have the tendency to switch products that are much easier such as going from Charmin toilet paper to Kirkland brand toilet paper. I stopped using the cheaper Costco gas because this year not only did my first car stop working for absolutely no reason, but it started working when we put additive that cleaned the gas tank. Further as we asked around, numerous friends and family members told me that their mechanics told them to stop using Costco gas for that very same reason. So, when we saw in our recent DirecTv added a $2 sports fee, after not having any Viacom channels such as Nickelodeon and Disney Channel for quite some time due to the re-negotiations and the only sports programming we watch was the Olympics on NBC, we decide to look at the competition and rethink our loyalty.

text

What The Satellite Network War Is About

With all businesses, the theory is to start to sell cheap and slowly increase the prices. This is a common theory as one could see with $19 per month for Vonage and, now it has crept up to $32 per month for absolutely the same coverage. Incidentally, we decided to cancel Vonage recently, too, saving a good portion of the $385 per year fee. The same goes with satellite coverage. Both major satellite companies entice you with incredibly low month costs such as $19 or $25 per month for the first year. However, when you add tax and additional regularly fees, you are looking at $10 or more on top of the advertised cost. Then, it rockets to its regular price for another year until the end of the two-year commitment. However, there is no hard feeling because DirecTv told us that it would welcome us back, probably at regular price.

The Perks Of Being A New Customer

The one thing I learned from this whole decision process is that change is not a bad thing. There are numerous perks for being a new customer. We didn't want to pay for additional television sets that we do not watch, so we started with 2 DVR units, one HD capable and the second one a standard DVR. What Dish advertisement does not tell you outright is a $50 installation fee and it runs your credit. Considering that I am receiving these new devices for $7 per unit lease, I didn't think it was a bad deal. It is not better than owning it outright, but look at the Tivo box that I owe. It is now outdated and useless, and DirecTv was more concerned about receiving the communication cards than its DVR.
It was hard to nail down the price. All customer service representatives gave different prices. I could even tell that one was trying to keep our information for himself and failed to enter our data into the central database. When he took too long to answer questions, I decided to call the central number again, and he was exposed because the second representative couldn't find our inquiry. However, it turns out that it would be roughly $42, including all fees and taxes and a French channel. The latter was something we wanted but DirecTv did not offer it. When I called to cancel, the DirecTv told me that it added a Filipino channel, a Brazilian channel, and a cricket channel. There was absolutely no response on my part. Plus, the $10 discount per month for a year was also not enticing.
We were thrilled that in the first year, there was a $36 per month savings for going with Dish Network, even with the additional French channel, and a $16 per month savings thereafter. Gaining the opportunity to practice French is priceless since my children are half French-American and we are walk-distance to the French Consulate.

                                  TV5Monde through my iPhone

Sling Adapter for Dish Network

Being Caught Up to 2012 Technology

The disadvantage of using an old device that I owned and staying with DirecTv is that we were not keeping up with technology. Who knew that there was a disadvantage with ownership until our Tivo (in addition to our purchase of a lifetime subscription to the information service) became inconvenient. The old remote control was not reliable anymore. Since hooking it up to the second television after the first one broke, we no longer could control the television through the Tivo remote control. There was no remote control from our mobile devices with DirecTv.
However, with Dish Network, it was the total opposite. We learned that it is possible to tape shows away from home. Not only did we have two brand new state of the art remote control devices, but any smartphone can be turned into a remote control.
Plus, with anything new, I am more likelihood to form a close relationship with customer service. With the added bonus of three months of Showtime, HBO, Cinemax, Blockbuster Home, I was on the phone trying to learn about how to watch premium channels online as well as order DVDs from Blockbuster Home. This was definitely a perk compared to 15 years with DirecTv and receiving only one month of one premium channel after I complained that I was unable to use the one free video on demand per year for the last five years because I am an auto-pay customer.
I was also more interested with Dish's website. As I was on browsing DishOnline, I discovered Dish's discussion regarding Sling Adapter. Not only can I control the programming from a smartphone, but with the Sling Adapter, I am able to watch the second television programming on my iPhone as well as watch taped shows that are on the DVR. The only limitation is the low bandwidth that can be frustrating as well as not being able to select television shows because the second television is taping a show. Overall, when the internet feed is regular, I am watching local new on the bus and at work, keeping up with the latest disaster weather in Louisiana where my in-laws reside. If I cannot telecommute on my terms, this is the next best thing. I found myself listening to live shows on the French channel, trying to create a French-speaking environment somewhere other than home. The next time I am at a motel, I will be streaming my premium channels through my computer using Sling Adapter when the shows on television are limiting. I find the television programming in a motel or a hotel to be dismal. I can also watch my shows on the iPhone while the kids watch their Disney program on television, and the family continues to spend quality time together.

Final Word

We spent more time trying to nail down the cost over the phone than the time it took for installation, and one of the two Dish installers had to crawl underneath our house to complete the hookup from the old section of the house to the new section of the house, connecting the two DVRs. This saved my husband a lot of time because he was planning to do this himself. The switch was totally worth it, and I can watch TV anywhere and anytime. What freedom! What a saving!

Every Family Needs To Know About The Reciprocity Program for Science Centers

Exploring Structures

When we joined the family membership at Reuben H. Fleet Science Center in San Diego, we receive 8 free IMAX theater tickets and a year of fun at other participating science center. The IMAX theater is in a dome. So, after seeing our 2 movies, one of which was the amazing Hubble movie, we no longer attend IMAX movies at local theaters any more. We only want true IMAX experience at a science center.

Renewable Energy

The best thing about a science center is that it is  a hands-on learning experience. As a member of one science center, you have a passport to nearly 250 science centers as part of the Association of Science-Technology Center reciprocity program. Some science centers have distance restrictions that won't allow you to participate in the local science centers that are within 90 miles. Fortunately, the California Science Center which is home of the Shuttle Endeavor is always free, although you might have to print out your reservation to see the shuttle.

We were truly impressed with the Tech Museum in San Jose and Exploratorium in San Francisco, the latter of which is no longer a participating Science Center. Here is the link to the participating science centers: http://www.astc.org/members/pdf/PassPubMay_2013.pdf. 

Bubbles Not Popping On This Surface

Light Activity

Reciprocity Membership at Botanical Gardens Is A Great Money-Saving Perk

South Coast Botanic Garden in Torrance/Palos Verdes

How often are you asked this question: if someone has everything he or she needs, what kind of gift should I get him or her? Well, if this person is an avid gardener, then a membership that allows the person to visit any of the 300 gardens in the United States is the answer. Known as the American Horticultural Society Reciprocal Admissions Program, your membership becomes the passport to a large number of participating gardens in the United States. You also can receive a discount to the gift shop and special events.

Japanese Garden

We joined the Japanese Garden in Van Nuys, CA for $60. Since there is no minimum distance requirement from your home (like science center reciprocity), you can visit your local botanical gardens as often as you like. Within a month, we also visited Descanso Garden and South Coast Botanic Garden. While we were on vacation to Monterey, CA, we headed up to Santa Cruz and visited the UC Santa Cruz Arboretum, which has one of the largest collections of flowers from Australia and New Zealand. See the blooming flowers that we took in March 2013.

So when there is no festivals or errands to do, we head to botanical garden in our area. My advice is joining the cheapest one in your neighborhood, or the one with the best gift shop. We also find that the state garden gift shops are a great place to find gifts at a great price (gifts that normal retailers charge three times as much). Here is a link to the reciprocity list:

http://www.ahs.org/uploads/pdfs/2013_RAP_Guide.pdf.