 Hey guys welcome back to Inside the Hem. May is over. May is one of my favorite months so I'm sad to see it go. Why is that? Is it your birthday? Well a couple different things. It is my birthday in May. It's the last month before I get out for the summer so it's always you know really exciting throughout the month that you know you got a couple more weeks left so that makes it special. It's spring, flowers are blooming, the weather is usually always perfect. That's true not too hot not too cold so I'm sad to see it go but that means we're here with you sharing our things that we've been loving for months of May. Yep so how would you get started? So you may have seen in a previous video I did an unboxing but my absolute most favorite thing for May, excuse me we're filming, is my new sewing machine! Yay! My new sewing machine! So if you don't know I'm going to give you the backstory really quickly basically when I decided that I was going to take a sewing class I went and did one basic class and knew instantly that this was something that I was really going to love so drove to Walmart picked up a sewing machine I want to say it was like 125 150 range took the box with the sewing machine in it didn't even open it back to the back to the um place where I took the classes and said help me learn how to use this and then I used that machine that same machine for four years I sewed absolutely everything on it from jackets to jeans to bathing suits and everything else so it was really time for an upgrade and so yes and so that old machine was like a project runway I think it's CW like 1100 CW or something like that um and this one is uh one of the Laura Ashley editions has tons of new bells and whistles my two favorites though um I could probably talk about all my favorites for much longer than this video will go on but my two favorite things are the automatic thread snips um I really just don't know how I did it any other way pulling the threads and sniffing them and they just seem messier I don't have like a lot of threads laying around I keep like a little bowl for my threads and that it even doesn't fill up that much anymore and then also it has a knee lift which if you don't know it's like this arm that extends out of the machine and you push your knee to the side and it lifts the presser foot um so you don't have to reach your hand under the machine because who does that anymore like that's so much work to reach your hand under there and lift it manually when you can just do it with your knee so if you're looking for a new sewing machine those are two of my favorite features um but there's like a ton ton more so yeah new sewing machine you've been sewing up a storm with it too lately I I mean it really is it's not that it's so much more of an enjoyable experience it's always enjoyable sewing but it's a lot more satisfying I feel like I'm getting better results which is always motivating to to do more awesome so what I have to share with you is something I got for my birthday this is a diffuser and I know I've shared with you guys before that I like to light a candle when I'm sewing because usually when I'm sewing I'm in it for a while so I really like to set the mood get a candle going you know find something on the tv to have in the background so I decided to try a diffuser um and I'm really really enjoying this it's a lot safer than a candle because um well it's safe to begin with cause it's no fire no fire um but it also shuts off after six hours which is really really nice so you know you might leave your room and kind of forget about it but it'll shut off um but even if it is left on if it didn't have that feature it's it's safe um mine also has automatic shut off when it runs out of water so it'll just shut itself off so I'm really liking this one um I did get some oils to try um then I'll share with you today so I'm really not sure how to pronounce it but I think it's vereditas vereditas botanicals and what I really love about this brand is they are USDA organic so I think that is really awesome you know you're diffusing a product that you're breathing in your skin is absorbing it um so a safer um product I think it just it just makes it that much much better more enjoyable knowing that I'm breathing in something good um so I got a few different scents to try the first one is ui and huang and it is a really pretty kind of floral scent so if you're not into florals I am obsessed with florals um but it kind of smells similar to like a jasmine I think it smells a lot like very fragrant yes it does it smells very similar um to jasmine we have jasmine growing here so um I really like this one but like I said I like florals so this one is all me um the next one I got is rose geranium which is uh it smells good but it also is very kind of kind of a spicy it does yeah spicy floral um but you can also put a couple drop drops of this on your dog's collar and it's supposed to help repel fleas and ticks nice so piper she's funny about scents and she doesn't seem to be adverse to this scent so I'm getting ready to go back to my parents who live in the mountains and it's like take crazy there so I'll be excited to see if that helps and then the last one I got um is stress recovery um when I first got the diffuser I thought I would use this in my bedroom but it's kind of bothering me so I'm kind of happy that I've got it in my sewing room and I'm like sleeper funny noises kind of wake me up so that's why I thought stress recovery good for sleeping but sometimes sewing can be stressful the project's not going the way you want it to so I got this one can't really pinpoint a set on that one it's lavender yeah lavender so anyways yeah and these ones are usually a blend so this one is lavender bergamot clary sage sweet marjoram and rose geranium it is very I feel a lot less stressed all of a sudden so I'll link where I got this one below if you guys are interested in um adding on to your sewing room yeah totally okay so this one is going to look a little weird probably at first this is a stadler bendable or moldable ruler um I actually found it at staples in like this section yeah I guess architects use it to make like archways is that what it looks like actually this is my crotch curve we're about this is a little bit personal but I've seen where people have been using these to mold out their crotch curve to kind of check do some checks and balances on the pattern that they're sewing and if you can see mine and this is like a couple inches below my belly button and this is my lower back um so I did this over jeans so maybe it wasn't the most accurate but still I mean if you imagined the front of a pair of pants or shorts I don't know anything that swings out quite that much and then if you look at the back side I mean I don't know that you would find a back pattern piece that shape was shaped like that either and it makes sense I mean nobody's crotches are universal it's not like a sleeve or a side seam where everybody's going to be the same these are very specific and that's why so many people struggle making pants and shorts because the crotch really can pull on different things and you don't even realize that it's the crotch that's doing it so I've been working on a pants sloper for a few months now just making little tweaks here and there um and so I wanted to try this out to see if the measurements I was taking and the sloper I was making was getting close so if you were looking at making any pants or shorts this summer I would go pick up one of these I want to say it was like less than ten dollars so um bendable moldable crotch curve very cool yep you'd find some other ways to use that I'm interested to see oh I did think of one how about a bracelet a ruler bracelet I think that would be really cute um I think that this is going to be all the rage on the runways this fall um and here you go I can get it on cute yeah there you go awesome okay so the next thing I have to share with you is a pattern um I actually printed this out last year but just never sewed it up and then I was looking for something to sew and I pulled it out um anytime I'm sewing something I like to do a google image search just to see what other people have made what kind of fabrics they're using so I did that and I saw um some really cute versions so I decided to get this pattern try it is the take top by workroom social um it's a free pattern even better right free pattern um but it has I'm wearing it right now um it's a higher neck line racer back um and it's got these really cute darts in the front that I think just really add a little something to it totally and then racer back perfect for summer um the there's there's no directions that come with this pattern so I do want to warn you of that it's I think it was she created it for maybe a workshop she did at her I think she owns a shop um that I know her name I feel bad I don't know her name she's real pretty brown here girl um but she she's in New York City I believe or right around New York City um but if you have sewn any tank top pattern you can figure this out it's so simple shoulder seams side seams and you do the face the device well and she has um calls for a zipper I omitted the zipper and did a keyhole um which was so simple omitted even quicker keyhole um and did a little hook and eye closure so um since I decided to sew up this pattern I've made four huh really really loving it um I fits perfectly I think I sewed up I want to say a four I'll check on that for you guys and I'll reference my um size measurements for you but it just comes together so quickly I actually this one is out of a really kind of heavy I think it's a cotton dobby um with no no stretch no stretch yeah and it's a boxy fabric that had no idea what it was going to do with but it actually turned out really really cute so um I have made four but each one's different and I'll I'll share those with you um but I've lengthened it to make a dress um that turned out adorable I combined it with the tassuti patterns leased the dress to make this peplum with it that was super cute I even made a crop top which that's part of her pattern that was no change um which it's my first crop top Lindsay says I can pull it off I'm a little nervous she totally came out cute it's not like crop up no no no it's not very modest crop it's like it falls right at the waistline or like the topic so depending on you the rise of your jeans it's it's fine yes but I also um when I google image searched the pattern somebody had done the super crop but a really really high waisted skirt with it so cute I would love to do that um yeah this little like inch of skin is probably the most flattering part on me personally so yeah I should probably try to show yeah anyways obviously I'm loving this pattern I actually have another one I want to make I want to turn it into a swing crop top so I'm gonna slash and spread it I saw one on anthropology like I did nothing to this pattern but they they made it swingy on a flowy fabric do you have seam work the do you have a seam work subscription they teach you how to do this slash and spread I don't have to look into that I think I can make some patterns also did a tutorial for her on rider top one how to yeah I want to say the seam work one though is from a pattern so they give you alterations to make to an existing pattern and that pattern has side bust starts which this one doesn't have so I don't know how that would change things or not I don't know either I'll I'll look into it yeah it seems really easy to figure out you do that well it's cute it's really really adorable and I can see all the other versions and they really do look totally different and you can wear this almost year round just put a cardigan over top I mean maybe not electric pink but yeah well though in Charleston that's right colors that's true you see a lot yeah exactly all right so the last one that I have is actually an edible because who doesn't need a snack whenever they're sewing most of the time I just sort of forget to eat yeah and then all the starving but you don't want to cook something because you don't want to stop yeah and I also sew in my kitchen so in order to cook something I have to clean everything up and it's just this huge ordeal anyway so snacking happens a lot and I found this really cool delicious popcorn it's by Quinn popcorn and it is let's see non-gmo it is I want to say maybe that's it just no gmo's well I mean popcorn in and of itself doesn't have gluten in it um certified organic certified organic ingredients the popcorn which is saying yeah exactly the only other ingredients in here are high oleic oleic oleic I don't even know what that means high oleic sunflower oil which sunflower oil is better for you than a lot of other oils not hydrogenated or any that kind of stuff not artery clogging oil maple sugar which I mean doesn't that sound delicious and sea salt so yeah it has pretty clean ingredients sort of depending on what clean means to you non-gmo organic anyways it's great because maple sugar um it's not our friend refined sugar so that's great yeah exactly and maple is very healthy alternative yeah it's a natural recurring thing um anyways so it's interesting because it actually comes in in separate parts so you have your traditional microwave popping bag which by the way has no chemical or plastic coating which again the popcorn we just absorb whatever's in the bag that you're popping it in so you have to be leery of that as well but you can hear all the they're very loose they're not stuck together with like some weird butter concoction you know what I mean they're just all totally loose and then you get a separate little container of the oil that you pour on after it's popped and then this is the maple sugar and salt that you pour on after you put the oil on to help it all stick and it really is delicious if you're into like sweet and salty if you're into kettle corn um this is a very easy you know sideways lateral move over to that and so yeah I feel good about snacking and um I just I it's just delicious on top of everything else yeah Quinn popcorn as soon as this video is over I'm making her make me her last bag you only get two bottles so it is a bit pricey I want to say this was like four or five dollars for two but sounds about right for whole foods yeah that's what I mean did you hear all those wonderful things no preservatives gluten-free whatever PFOAs are those are left out you would think with all these things being gone it would be cheaper just kidding it's much more expensive to be more natural so okay so my last item is what I love to use for tracing paper so obviously with those four tapes that I've made these love tracing paper I like to go ahead when I'm you know hacking a pattern combining patterns I go ahead and trace it and get it all together um if I like it then it's you know already ready to go so I can make it again um so I used a lot of paper we've also been doing some pattern testing for indy so they have a collection coming up that we'll be sharing with you guys pretty soon um so this is the paper that they use when you go to the doctor's office but they cover their um exam tables um so I really like this because it is super super cheap how sheer it is for tracing I don't know if that'll show up for you guys or not but it's really like um what you get when you buy an envelope pattern it's a little a little thicker and it's like coated yeah um so guys I bought this roll I would say maybe a year ago yes it was a year ago um and I remember when I heard the person that recommended this so I'm like this will ask you a lifetime so much I mean there is a lot on here but I do a lot of tracing so I'm almost out I'm going to repurchase some more it's so cheap it's like 10 or 15 bucks on Amazon I'll link it for you below but I also like um that it is so thin because with my four tapes I'm going to fold them back up and put them all together and it's not huge bulky I know a lot of people use freezer paper that stuff drives me crazy it rolls terribly always rolling no matter if you press it or not and it's so bulky it takes up so much space a lot of people use Swedish tracing paper which I do love and I will use so I you know I bought a the older paper pattern and it's a pricier pattern so I went ahead and traced that on um tracing paper good quality Swedish tracing paper because I know I'll be using it over and over again but if I'm just playing around coming up with these different tapes I'm just using cheap stuff Swedish tracing paper would be way too much money for me for all of the tracing I do so highly recommend getting some of this perfect yes well that's it those are our favorites for the month of May um so if you are interested in purchasing any of the items that we have mentioned today I feel like I'm in a all of a sudden just like turning the QDC um no we have all the links below so if you want to look into them and and get more information about what we were talking about today and see if it would work for you all of those links are going to be down below um and I guess we will see you guys next time in the meantime if you enjoyed this video and thought that it was helpful please give us a thumbs up um also please subscribe to the video there should be a little like watermark I think in the bottom left wait I don't know where I'm pointing I think it's going to be down here on your screen like the bottom right of your screen maybe not look on the screen and see if there's a little watermark somewhere that says subscribe I set that up about a month ago um if not then it will be underneath where the um video plays leave us a comment and let us know what you are loving in May we always always love trying new things so if you mentioned something and we haven't tried it before it may get featured in our June favorites who knows and we'd love to give whoever suggests that a big shout out so feel free to comment away in the comment box below and then follow us on social you can see a lot of the projects that we're making and you can also um see when we upload new videos and we're working on new videos and things like that we are at Inside the Hem everywhere Pinterest Instagram Twitter Facebook and YouTube so yeah thanks so much for watching see you next time bye