10.06.08
It’s In the Bag
I finished my sister’s lunch bag over the weekend. I am pretty pleased with it! Picture post!!
First up, here’s the fabric. I love, love, love this fabric. So fun!
Yummy Fabric
And here’s the exterior…
Exterior
And inside there’s a long piece of fabric which I sewed channels into to make little pockets for some plastic cutlery and my sister’s iPod. You can see Merlin’s cute little face…napping in the sun like a good dog.
Inside with pockets
And before I took all these pictures I had a different helper….
I can haz helper
The instructions I followed came from a blog I stumbled on somewhere…one I now check out daily A Feathered Nest. She made a fantastic tutorial here. I came up with my own dimensions and made my pocket to suit what I wanted to put in it.
The most important thing I learned while doing this is that if I just take a little time and patience I can really sew! This was a fairly simple project and it is great for helping you gain some sewing confidence! Go visit A Feathered Nest and try one for yourself!
09.11.08
Sew What?
I have for some insane reason decided to sew some Christmas gifts. Why I don’t know but I tackled my first project. Now, I could have started with an easier project, but where’s the fun in that?
I found this pattern for an easy reversible apron. Seemed pretty easy. Lots of straight lines, and really good directions. And so….
Easy Apron
It took me awhile to do it, I didn’t keep track but I worked on it off and on for an afternoon. The reason it took me so long was because I had to learn to gather. I’m sure it would’ve looked nice without the gathering at the top but it just looked so darned cute with it.
Learn a couple of things from me…
- Make sure you check that both pieces of fabric are opaque. I didn’t, which leaves me with a lined apron rather than reversible…no big deal.
- Check to make sure you have put your fabric facing the wrong way BEFORE you start to sew or else you will spend at least 10 minutes swearing at yourself for making such a noob mistake.
- Practice any new stitches before you try. I used some scrap fabric to practice my gathering until I was comfortable enough to sew my actual piece.
All in all this was a great first project and I taught myself something new. The internet is a great resource for learning about sewing. I found a lot of useful videos and if you’re a visual learner like me that is the best way to learn.
So there’s my first Christmas project, and that apron is for my grandma.
Have you started to think about Christmas yet?
06.05.08
Can You Boil Water?
If you can you can make a super easy homemade playdough. I found a great recipe here. Kind of an odd page that appears to consist of two recipes and a lot of ads. Here’s the recipe to save your eyeballs from the countless ads.
Play Dough Recipe with Kool-Aid:
2 cups of flour
1 cup salt
2 packages dry unsweetened Kool-Aid
2 cups boiling water
1 tablespoon cream of tartar
2 tablespoons of vegetable oil
Mix all the dry ingredients together and all the liquid ingredients together. Then pour the liquids over the dry. Stir the mixture until it forms a ball. As it cools it will become less sticky. After it has cooled knead it until it is smooth.
I only did half the recipe which left me with a very healthy lump of playdough. Don’t forget to store it in an air tight container, rumour has it that it will last 3-6 weeks.
Making it was easy and smelled oh some yummy. I pulled it out so MC could have a go, I mushed it around and squished and gave him a piece. After some examination he popped it into his mouth and chewed on it before making a fantastic face to demonstrate his displeasure to the salty taste. After spitting it out he gave it back to me and that was the end of play dough exploration day 1.
For my fellow dog and cat owners…maybe mine are just weird but I’ve had 3 dogs and at least 2 of the cats stalking the playdough in it’s Ziploc bag.
