Dubuque, Iowa or Florida!!!!!!

 

                           Which would you pick???? 
Well, we tried for Florida but that wasn't a happening so our next choice was a 2 day trip to Dubuque!!!!!  For those who know us we spent years being  river rats cruising up and down the Mississippi River with our kids and boat!!!  We had a blast and traveled to Louisiana, MO. to the top of the St Croix and  to Hastings, MN.  Many trips were to Dubuque to drop in and then head North or South, so we never spent much time in the area other than the boat launch.  And now years later they have opened up the Mississippi River Museum and Aquarium, what a wonderful place.  We learned so much about the River History, boat manufacturing, local history, the fish, a really cool river fly over from the head waters to the gulf.  A really great experience!!!!  Then we had a chance to polk around in the shops and spent the night in downtown Dubuque.  I was quite surprised at the cute shops and a shoe store I couldn't believe, WOW. cool shoes!!!!

Here's Davie with the catfish, they were really BIG!!!!!

 And the dull stuff, here's a tutorial on letting pant hems down!!!!

Gad, can't get much more exciting!!!! 

 Well, these are some pretty cool black and gray pants.  I'll let you in on the price of the black pants.....can you guess???
These pants warrant the finest treatment as they retail for $655., yeah you heard me!!!! 

So, I let the existing hems down and press them nicely with a press cloth.
  Then I open up the inside seam about and inch from the bottom.

 I then cut a nice piece of black ling 6" wide by the width around the pant hem.
 I do this on the straight of grain no bias.
 I then fold the strip in half so it is 3" wide and with the raw edges I sew it to the hem, then I edge stitch it so it stays in place, like a facing, which it is!!!!
Then I go back to the open seam and lay the pants out to make sure the slight flare from the last hem in taken in so it is perfectly straight.

Turn up your facing and press, I hand stitched these hems but they could be done in a blind-stitch.
 This way you have a double facing which is more likely the weight of the fashion fabric and a clean edge to sew the hem down.

 We are seeing hems being really narrow, 1-11/2" is really common, this is only a cost factor to save money, a quality pant has a deeper hem so the pant hangs nicely.

  Not everyone has this problem but for those who do it's nice to know they can be let down and no one is the wiser!!!       

                             Well, we are going to hit 50' in Wisconsin, can hardly believe it!!!!!!!