New dresses for Hitty Louise

Recently finished sewing a couple of dresses for Hitty Louise. They are made from vintage hankies. The pink has small flowers strewn about the dress and the white dress is from a linen hankie with flowers embroidered on the front. They both turned out pretty much like I envisioned them in my head.

Washing with Homemade Laundry Soap

I did two loads of wash with the homemade laundry soap this evening. I also used the white vinegar in the rinse rather than store-bought fabric softener. It all worked a treat!!! The towels came out soft and fluffy. My clothes had no static when they came out of the dryer (they usually do). Everything smelled nice and clean. I'd say this was a great project and I'd recommend it to ANYONE! Sure beats paying $6-12 for liquid laundry soap.

Homemade Laundry Soap

I just finished making a batch of homemade laundry soap. The batch makes 10 gallons of soap and it only costs about $2 a batch. The recipe is from the Dugger Family (The Learning Channel)(they have 18 children). See the recipe below: Homemade Laundry Soap - (red print is from me, Chris) TIPS FOR LAUNDRY SOAP: We use Fels-Naptha bar soap in the homemade soap recipes, but you can use Ivory, Sunlight, Kirk's Hardwater Castile or Zote bars. Don't use heavily perfumed soaps. We buy Fels-Naptha by the case from our local grocer or online. Washing Soda and Borax can normally be found on the laundry or cleaning aisle. Recipe cost approx. $2. Homemade Liquid Laundry Soap- Front or top load machine- best value (I found all ingredients at Krogers (local grocery store)) 4 Cups hot tap water 1 Fels-Naptha soap bar 1 Cup Washing Soda ½ Cup Borax - Grate bar of soap and add to saucepan with water. Stir continually over medium-low heat until soap dissolves and is melted. -Fill a 5 gallon bucket half full of hot tap water. Add melted soap, washing soda and Borax. Stir well until all powder is dissolved. Fill bucket to top with more hot water. Stir, cover and let sit overnight to thicken. -Stir and fill a used, clean, laundry soap dispenser (container) half full with soap and then fill rest of way with water. Shake before each use. (it will gel) -Yield: Liquid soap recipe makes 10 gallons. -Top Load Machine- 5/8 Cup per load (Approx. 180 loads) -Front Load Machines- ¼ Cup per load (Approx. 640 loads) I was at Kroger (to get supplies). A lady stopped me in the aisle and said "You're going to make soap". She had already made some of the soap and had a few suggestions... You don't need to use prewash. If you want, put some soap on the stain and then wash. You don't need to use softener. Lastly, when you are ready to put the homemade laundry soap in the small laundry soap container (equal parts soap and water) only put enough soap and water to fill the small container 2/3s full. That leaves "mixing" room. Inexpensive Fabric Softener Recipes Recipe #1 1 Cup White VinegarAdd vinegar to rinse cycle. Works great. Removes residue and odors. Also helps to keep washing machine and hoses fresh and clean too. Recipe #2 1 Container of Name Brand Fabric Softener 4 Inexpensive sponges, cut in half Pour entire container of softener into a 5 gallon bucket. Fill empty softener container with water twice. (2 parts water to 1 part softener) Add sponges to softener/water mixture. When ready to use wring out extra mixture from one sponge and add to the dryer as you would a dryer sheet. Sorry this is all run together - I haven't figured out how to get spaces between paragraphs. Can anyone tell me how? Thanks

Monkey Pattern

http://www.monkeemaker.co.uk/page45.htm Over to Monkee Makers site she has had enough of making monkees made of knit. So she has made her monkee pattern available for free to anyone who would like to have it. Go to the site above if you'd like the way cute pattern. Thanks to Monkee Maker for sharing with us.