Month: April 2023

The Dress

/ Sarah Collins / 1 Comment

After spending a lot of time making drapes, I wanted to see if I could sew something that wasn’t rectangle. So, I attempted to sew a dress, using an idea that was in my head. This isn’t the first dress I’ve attempted; it is the second one. I was in high school, and I got so frustrated with the first dress, my sister ended up finishing it for me.

To make a dress: First, I found pretty denim fabric. It was on sale for 70% off, a definite plus. I purchased 1.5 yards of denim fabric. Had no clue how much I needed. A pattern for another dress I looked at said it needed 1.5 yards.

Professional seamstress recommends washing the material first. I did not, I thought even if I stitch the edges of the fabric, it would unravel in the wash. I did iron the material. I have learned that ironing is a key component to sewing.

For the top of the dress width, I took my measurements, hips, waist, and chest to determine which was the largest. I wanted to be able to pull the dress over my largest body part, I added a couple of inches to the largest of these measurements for the seams. I divided this measurement by 2 to get the cut width for the top of the dress.

Determining the length of the dress was next. I took a measurement from my arm pit to the floor. Subtracted a couple of inches so it would be above my ankles. Keeping in mind, the dress would have at least a 3/4″ hem at top and bottom.

It occurred to me at this point if I wanted to move in the dress, the dress would need to have some flare to it. Or else, I would not be able to sit, bend over, kneel down, or walk normally. To add the flare, the bottom needed to be wider than the top. I added 8″ inches to the top width measurement for the bottom of the dress measurement. I then divided that measure by 2 to get the cut width for the bottom of the dress.

Here is the pattern I had in my head for the dress.

The length of the dress with seams was shorter than the length of the material. My first cut to the fabric was for the length of the dress. I wanted to make a belt for the dress, and I could use the extra fabric for the belt.

I folded the material in half and tried to match the pattern. Okay, I am not that good of a seamstress. That endeavor was quick abandoned.

I marked the top and bottom of dress measurements onto the center of the fabric and drew a chalk line from the top of the fabric to the bottom of the fabric on both sides. I pinned both sides, checked that the top and bottom measurements were correct, and cut the material.

I sewed the hem on the bottoms of both pieces of fabric.

I needed some shoulder straps to hold the dress up. I am not flexible enough to determine the exact length of the shoulder straps I would need, so I decided to make straps I could ties. I cut eight pieces from the fabric scraps about 18″ long and 3″ wide. After sewing the fabric together, I had four 2″ straps.

How do I determine where to place the straps on the dress? I could Google is, but every woman is a different size. Then I realized; I had the measurement on me, I would measure the distance between my bra straps. I took this measurement, center the measurement on the top of the dress and marked the location for the straps on both pieces of fabric. I pinned the straps into the top seam of the dress, then I sewed the seams at the top on both pieces of fabric, which sewed the straps into the seam.

I then sewed the sides of the dress together. I officially, had a dress.

However, my last task was to sew the belt. The belt finished width was 2.5″ wide and 54″ long. Yes, I used the entire width of the fabric, plus some to make the belt. I wanted to be able to wrap the belt around the waist multiple times.

The Dress:

Spam, Spam and More Spam

/ Sarah Collins / Leave a comment

No not the luncheon meat, but hackers. People wanting to get a hold of your data to cause you harm.

Occasionally, I looked through my junk mail and report the spammer. Today, there was one spammer that announced from the very first word they were a spammer. Here is the heading of the email.

Do you see the problem with it? Okay, I did highlight it. Amazon never ever refers to anyone as “Dear”. They are always blunt and to the point. Also, that red exclamation mark is another indicator. I did open the email (shame on me) to see how many times the spammer announced they were a spammer.

  1. My name is not SARAHCATH.
  2. What is “Command n & deg”? – probably something they forgot to program.
  3. Appears they can not type in Mixed Case.
  4. Oh, what is up with that date “Today , 2023.04.02 -“
  5. “Your commands” – missed something else in the program.

This was my giggle for the day. Giggle, giggle, giggle.

Seriously, the majority of my junk mail is from spammers. A small percent is actually from businesses I have contacted in the past. Below are just a few of the emails I have received from spammers.

How do I know they are spam without even opening the emails?

  1. Most of the companies listed I have never done business with.
  2. Again, my name is not SarahCath
  3. If is highlighted it is spam.
  4. If it has a cute little character or text, treat it like spam.
  5. Ad Partner – spam – someone pretending to be someone else.

You may wonder why I consider the apparent email from Paypal and Microsoft Account Team to be spam. Simple explanation; Paypal is not affiliated with this account. Now, the Microsoft look legit, however…

I have two-factor identification setup on my Microsoft account. But, I wanted more security on this account, so I set up the Microsoft Authenticator. It will notify me anytime someone tries to log onto my account, and I can deny their access. I can approve my access, if I am trying to log into the account from a different device. I no longer receive these emails from Microsoft, and if I did it would go directly to my inbox.

During the last week, there has been 14 attempts, from all over the world, to sign into my Microsoft account. They were all stopped from the start because they were attempting to use a very, very old password.