A Bag For the Boy in the Man

I hope you had a great weekend.
This time of the year always seem to accelerate and move along at a hectic pace. The past weekend was very much the same. What with the birthday parties, work meetings, get-togethers, and don't forget Santa Claus Parade.
We actually made a whole evening out of the parade night with a couple of families we always hang out with. Pizza, drinks and a trek to Main Street (in small town Canada!) to enjoy the festivities. Of course, my kids were the ones decked out in snow pants, snow boots, hats and mittens.... the whole kit and caboodle, even though there was no sign of snow. Hey, it gets cold sitting on the curb waiting for Santa and his reindeers, you know :)

Anyway, as a result of the full weekend, I only manage to squeeze in one project. This time, it is for the man. I seldom make him anything. However, every since his lunch bag broke, he has been takin his lunch to work in an old plastic bag. Ok, so it is a strong plastic bag reused from our apple-picking adventure. Still.....

His specifications:

• Just a like those reusable grocery bag, if you can. Uh-huh, you bet I can.
  
• Square bottom, so that he can lay his containers flat. Okay. I don't see why not.
  
• Long-ish handle. Oh yeah, that strap making thing. I wonder if I had any of that black webbing left so that I can skip the strap construction part?
  
• Maybe a clasp? Hmm... I think I may have a magnetic clasp salvaged from somewhere.

I chose to make the bag out of this skull fabric.

It's a little joke. When he was younger, his uniform was jeans and a band t-shirt. Once in a while, he'll still pull out a band t-shirt(some with skulls), but those days are rare. So, he can now cart a lunch bag that looks like a regular black and white bag, until you get close and see:

The inside:


I thought of giving it to him on Christmas morning, but if I have to see that plastic bag one more day, I'd scream. Scream, on the inside, very quietly, but still scream. :)

Sewing Undies

I had to choose the title of my post wisely, in order not to attract the wrong crowd, if you know what I mean. Hehe.

So, yes, I made my own! Let me show you.

For when I need more coverage:

and for when I.... don't. Tee hee:
I agree, there's not much there.

My friend, Claudia, had been encouraging me to make my own undies. However, I could not do so until I found fold-over elastic (FOE). Any other kind of elastic just seemed like a lot of work. Since the trim section at my local fabric store is a mess, and I couldn't be bothered driving all over town tracking down FOE, I bought some off Ebay. It was inexpensive too! I spent less than $10 for about 30 yards and that included the shipping.

Amy has a great tutorial on her Angry Chicken site, on how to sew with FOE.
Amy also linked to a Youtube video series on how to sew your own undies (link here).
I sat down and watched the whole series. It took a while, but I was mesmerized. The lady who made the video had a cool accent and I liked the homemade quality of the video. I just loved that she decided to upload the video onto Youtube to share her knowledge with... the world :)

Anyway, I GET it. I understand why people make their own underwear now.

• It's a quick project once you get the hang of it. The first one takes a little longer, but after that, it's a 15 min project. (30 minutes, if you're watching Iron Chef while sewing).
• It's cute underwear that fits!
• It's so much fun to make. It gives the sewer a rush of satisfaction once it is done. (The spouse who was working on his laptop, kept giving me with that "why-are-you-so-happy" look.)
  
• I used old t-shirt scraps. Can you say "comfortable"?

Maybe I can try using stretch lace instead of FOE, next? I wonder if stretch lace is comfortable?

Tutorial: Line and Cover that Ugly Plastic Basket

OK, ok, "ugly" is a strong word. Maybe "unsightly" would be better.



A while ago, I found three of these dollar store baskets that fit nicely into a strange shelf just above my microwave. I had been thinking of lining them ever since.

Want to know how I did it? You.... don't?
Sigh.... :)
Heh, I don't know why I seem to want to write tutorials this week.
So here it goes anyway....

Take your measurements:



That's measurements in inches:

(Oh, it looks like a tea towel, but it's not because a tea towel would not be big enough)

Make sure the basket is really centered, otherwise *you will regret it*
(dum dum DUM)
Uh... I mean, otherwise you'll end up with an uneven hem:


Sew all four corners:




Well, you can pin and sew the hem neatly, but I was happy just to tuck the hem under.

There you go:

Woo hoo.... it hides my junk:

And anything that helps disguise my mess, is alright with me.

...click here to read more

Organizing, Simplifying and... Purging

I hope everyone had a good weekend.
It was a childless weekend for me. Yes, the children slept over at their grandma's. Boy, were they ever excited to do so. All week long, it was, "Is it Saturday yet?". I think that they needed a change in pace as much as I did.

According to my husband, it was one of our anniversaries. I can never say that he doesn't pay attention, because he took me out to the Wellington Gastropub. We are foodies, and we are making it through the top 10 restaurants (according to some magazine) in town. The Gastropub is a well-deserved number 5. They change their menu every single day, according to the ingredients that they can source locally. My trout was great, but the lamb wonton was to die for. :) Enough about that.

I did make a nice dress to wear out for dinner, but in my rush to get out that evening, I forgot to take a picture for you. Next time.

Well, yesterday, I was in a strange purging mood. I felt the need to organize and purge, purge, purge. It's this need that grips me and I go into this cleaning frenzy. Very much like Beserker Mode, only I start cleaning and tossing out stuff.
My local thrift store and freecycle branch benefited from my efforts.

Hey, since getting rid of stuff means I have nothing to show for it, except how organized my junk drawer looks. Wonder how long it'll stay that way:
Oooh oooh, and my utensil drawer. Look, I even made my own drawer dividers.
Hah! I know I'm a little anal. I looked all over for drawer dividers, but couldn't find any. There were some at Ikea, but they made them specifically for their own cabinets. So, I made some out of pizza boxes and scrapbook paper. It'll do for now :)

And I was entertained by my daughter the whole time:
Chopsticks, containers, metal mixing bowls - a bit noisy, but fun.

Tutorial: Teapot Cozy from an Old Sweater

I think just a month ago, if you had told me that I would own a teapot cozy, much less write a tutorial about it, I would have rolled my eyes and said, "No way!!"

Well, actually, yes way. It's been cold where I live. I like hot tea. Anyone who knows me well, knows that I chug down hot liquids because I can't stand them lukewarm. Well, it was about time I made my teapot a cozy.



(Please click on the images for larger pictures)

The starting point is an old sweater. It can't be a sweater that unravels easily when cut:

(Please ignore the tea-stained bottom - can't say I don't use my teapot)
Measure your teapot:
A = center of the bottom of the teapot to the edge.
C = circumference of the widest part of your teapot.

B= from the bottom to the top of your teapot.

Use your measurements to cut out the fabric that you need. Include the bottom band of the sweater:

Start shaping your cozy:



After sewing, you can cut off excess seam so that there are less bumps when you turn the cozy right side out:

You can call it a day here. It's quite pretty.
Due to the fact that my teapot was quite small, and the seam at the bottom caused the teapot to be wobbly, I decided to stabilize the cozy with some ruffles on the bottom. I think that if you had a bigger pot, this wouldn't be a problem.

To make the ruffle piece:




And there you have it:
I hope you find this tutorial somewhat useful.

May your beverages stay warm (hot in my case) during the coming frostbite inducing season.

Assuming of course, that you live in an area where it is getting unbearably colder with each passing day.

Like here. Cold... brrrr.

...click here to read more

Retro Sewing Pattern Simplicity 5131

About a month ago, I won some vintage patterns from the generous Lisa of The Hem Line. Lisa has some free crochet patterns, embroidery and other crafty goodness at her site. A really great site to visit especially if you enjoy looking at vintage sewing patterns!

I chose quite a difficult fabric to work with. Some sort of a sheer fabric, that was quite slippery. So, I ended up having to line the dress.
It turned out alright:


I realized that I had to fix the hem, but I also came to the conclusion that while really cute, this dress is really not for me.
I love the neckline, and the sleeves, but I'm not too happy with the whole look of the dress. Perhaps it was the fabric that I chose?
Or perhaps, there comes a time when a woman in her *cough mid-thirties cough * should not dress like a twelve year old..... hahaha!

So, I'm thinking of wearing this dress as a top instead. Something like this:
What do you think?

A (Secret) Gift and Bird Feeding

Both my girls were home with me on Friday, and today, Monday. We've been keeping busy, and I did not think that I'd have a chance to post today.
However, they are playing really nicely with one another, and I've done all the chores (that I want to do, anyway, hahaha)

So, I actually took a break from sewing this weekend. I know! Unbelievable!
It's nothing serious, I'm already itching to get back into it. However, on Friday, I did manage to finish this top. It's the same one as the brown top that I posted about last week. This one, is a gift, a birthday gift. I don't think this person really reads my blog, and if she does, well.... surprise :)
She's about the same size as me, so this should fit her quite well:
You can't really tell from the picture above, but the fabric is quite gorgeous:

Oh, I also wanted to share some pictures I took of our bird feeding adventure this morning.
There is a trail near my house where we go to feed the birds. They are mostly small chickadees, and used to humans. So much so that they will pick seeds off human hands.
I wish I was a better photographer. I've been trying to read up more on photography, and picture composition. Most likely, I have to keep on practicing :)



Big girl is pretty happy to have the birds land on her hand:

My little girl is not too sure about it:
Checking out to see if the beautiful lake has frozen over. In February, we like to walk across this lake to the other side.

We saw a few of these beautiful bluebirds too, but we just piled up seeds on the ground for them. I think we truly did not want these to land on our hands, they were quite huge:

...click here to read more

Revisiting New Look 6729

Back in March, I made a top out of New Look 6729.

Back then, I loved how my top turned out, and had planned to make another similar top, using some plain knit.
I was browsing through my pattern stash, when I picked this pattern up again. I had just received a brown, heavy weight knit (it was someone's fabric scrap). There was enough of the fabric to make the short-sleeved version of the top. I had really hoped to make a long-sleeved version, but I figure that it won't be a problem for me to layer this top with a sweater.

What a big difference these 7 months have made! This top took a lot less time then the first run. I now have more experience with sewing patterns, knit fabric and working on my sewing machine. In fact, sewing with the right sides together has become almost second nature - I don't even think about it! I can actually "see" how a pattern is supposed to come together, and the instructions are only a guideline. *

I have been sewing for many years, but never really took garment construction seriously. It has always been for hemming, repairs, crafting, home deco and the occasional kid's clothes. I only started sewing for myself last December, when I started this blog.

It took me by surprise, how much better at sewing I have become. How about you? Do you do something repeatedly because you love doing it? And then it creeps up and surprise you - you are getting the hang of it?


* Having said all that, please don't let me mess up my next project! I hope I didn't just jinx myself. I still have a LOT to learn