What's old is new. Again.

"What are you doing?"

The question took me by surprise when baby sister Rikki Tikki Tavi called last Saturday afternoon. Sure that she was imagining my slothful self sleeping or napping, "I'm a little ashamed to say" was my response.

"Oh gross! Are you in the bathroom?!"

"No, it's worse. I'm watching a quilting show on television."

"Ugh, you shoulda let me believe the first guess."

Rikki Tikki Tavi doesn't mind having a sister/free tailor but the last thing she wants to hear is sewing talk but I am feeling a bit more special today after reading that Julia Roberts is taking sewing lessons. How about that? I think we've reached the stage of Sewing Is Now Officially Cool.

While perusing sites such as Craftster.com, I am impressed by the young age of fearless sewists with no formal training. Those teenage chicks are seeking old sewing machines, vintage fabric and patterns to make their own mark.

Back in Mom's day, every female took Home Economics courses and knew how to sew. In my high school days, it was an elective but because my elective was already fulfilled by music, I wasn't able to take any Home Ec classes, ever. Even if my casual interest in sewing had been explored, I didn't really want to be a part of what I considered kinda pathetic path. Home Ec in the 80's is what you did when you had no collegiate or career future.


Brought on by television show Project Runway, perpetuated by Anthropologie marketing and augmented by online commerce site etsy.com, personally crafted items are still (or yet again) appreciated even in our current age of cheap factory made everything. Our eye zones in toward the imperfect handmade touch and it's not the first time in our history. The Arts and Crafts movement (1860-1910) was a reaction against industrial consumerism. And what better rebellion from 1970's plastic than macrame and pottery? It ebbs and flows, my friend.

When I sit in my craft room, late at night, mending a favorite clothing items or rummaging through the buttons, I wonder what my great-grandmothers would've thought of my late-bloomed passion for sewing. What would they say about massive craft room? Or online sewing blog?

I hope they're proud.

Check me out

Me! On the home page of CRAFTSTER!!
Totally a surprise. Totally not submitted. Totally a fantastic craft blog day* to see my cat food bags on the Reusable Shopping Bags page! It's on the top row, I tell ya!

Thanks to Moesha for cluing me in to the screen shot save.

Kawaii style Afro Ken

Yeah, I didn't know what the hell that meant either before my craftster purse swap partner told me that she is totally into it. She was good enough to send me some images so I could visualize her favorite Japanese "Kawaii" characters. Kinda like that Hello Kitty and Pokemon foolishness except that Afro Ken is based on a Welsh Corgi Pembroke dog, which is my favorite breed of all time.

Anyhows, not fully respecting the Ken character and thinking it would be funny, I made an Afro Ken lip balm cozy. It is kinda funny to see lip balm coming out of a dog's ass, don't you think?

Craftster purse swap

The Craftster purse swap is over and here is the bag I sewed for my partner. She likes geometric prints and I had such a tough time finding fabric! Finally found this, it is an upholstery fabric, I think, because it unraveled like a beast. The pattern is modified from tiny happy's shoulder bag tutorial. My swap partner likes a really long strap because she wears her bags across her body and I was pondering how to make an adjustable strap . . . .then it occurred to me to use the braided leather suspender/braces given to me by Elizabeth.

People give me stuff, I tell ya! And I use it! Well, Elizabeth didn't quite know that she (via her husband) gave me this, she presumed I was taking her boxes to Goodwill but instead I took out a couple items then completed the drop-off task, as promised. Anywho, I modified tinyhappy's strap, cut the back strap from the suspenders and sewed on some vintage brown buttons with cat eye beads atop for flair. Yay, adjustable straps!

I love using things for other than their intended purpose but more proud that I actually remembered that I had the straps!

The girl can't help it

I am participating in a craftster swap where partners construct a purse and accessories. My partner likes geometric prints and wanted a little case for tampons.Sewed this little fold-over style case and decided it was just too boring so stitched a little flair inside, on the lining. Sure hope my partner has a sense of humor about her cycle/moon phase.

Christmas crack, it's a good thing

This craftster chick posted her recipe for Christmas Crack and dang, it is some good!

Here is my version:
Strange thing, I had less than a full bag of chocolate chips, how does that happen? So I melted some white chocolate bark and poured that atop the melted chocolate chips and swirled it around. Worried that it might then be TOO sweet, I sprinkled some coarse kosher salt on top. LOVE me some sweet and salt combo snacks!
Oh WAIT! I forgot the moment of Zen:
press your nose against the glass window of your oven and watch the saltine crackers rise and fall with bubbling of molten sugar through the cracker holes. It is mesmerizing, I tell ya!



Here is my post to the Christmas Crack enabler:
Hey, why don't you post your recipe for methamphetamine next year because it would be LESS addictive than this stuff!! Thanks for making me a Christmas crackhead!

Word of the day

Don't date . . . Craftsterbate!

Scarf swap

People Make Me Stuff!
My Craftster scarf swap partner sent me not one but two scarves! WooHoo! This black and white number has zippered pockets on each end. What a perfect place to stash my gin flask for Mardi Gras parades!

What to put in the other pocket? Looka, my swap partner filled it with goodies.


Check out the other scarf in pink and black combination, it looks great with two of my coats!

Plus my swap mate sent me more winter care goodies and lots of hot beverage mixes. Thanks, Jloveg!

Scarf swap

Just completed another Craftster swap and made this silk scarf for my partner. She likes pastels so hopefully she'll appreciate the different colors in this fabric. Added glass beads to the ends of scarf.

And as I often say, "Presentation is everything". My partner indicated that she liked country stuff so I opted for simple brown paper bags and box, waxed twine and bias tape ribbon.

Naughty word swap OR look at my box

Every once in awhile I think myself to be clever, as in, cutting fabric on the bias and making my own patterns. Then, sure as shit, I prove myself to be a dummy. Embroidered three, count 'em, three collapsible fabric storage boxes (tutorial here) and when I began sewing, I realized my mistake of embroidering UPSIDE DOWN!

Lots of naughty words uttered/screamed at that point. Frustrated, I just put them aside. A few days later, they seemed kinda funny, especially when you consider the theme of the swap. (Mom thought the boxes would make for amusing hats.)

Finished the boxes with handles on the opposite side so my swap partner could have the option of displaying words or not.

Naughty words on a tea towel

Still don't get it? Read the word, say it to yourself, slowly.

So, recently signed up for a swap on www.craftster.org What's a swap? Folks sign up to craft stuff for a partner and then they trade. Themes range from owls to Golden Girls to the one I signed for - Naughty Words Need Love Too. Now you know why I could not resist. Participants were asked to specify their favorite naughty words.


My partner asked for embroidered tea towels so I stitched words that sound nasty on one side and an innocuous image of birds and airplanes on the other. Private side and preacher side, y'know.

A new obsession - tissue cozies

How many is too much?

Heck, I don't even carry tissues but here is a whole mess of 'em! Just one more dang thing that employs small scraps of fabric. Thanks, http://www.crafster.org/. If you are my friend, you will probably be offered a tissue cozy. I apologize in advance.

cut 4 pieces of fabric 4" X 6"

fold 2 pieces lengthwise, press with hot iron to set crease

stack remaining 2 pieces, wrong sides together

place the 2 folded pieces on top, with folded edges just touching

align all the edges

sew all the way around, using 3/8" seam allowance

trim edges

turn inside out

serger works okay but does not provide the crispest corners

NOTE: the middle fabric becomes the bottom outside

Tote bag (grocery bag pattern) AGAIN

Made a few more of those craftster.org grocery bag totes all lined with interior pocket. The pattern is from actual plastic grocery bag but I lengthened the straps so they would fit on the shoulder.

More wallets!

Wallets for days!

Some of cotton broadcloth - easy.

Some of upholstery sample remnants - not so easy.

Idea: add grommet or eyelet for earbud wire and tuck an Ipod in that wallet!

Silk fabric wallet

Silk tie fabric again!

Fabric wallet with "mother of pearl" metal snap. Pattern found on www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=190408.0

If you look closely at the inside of wallet, the grey stripe (third stripe from top) is opening for coins. The fold holds loose change inside and prevents fall out of coins. Three more sections hold cash and credit cards.
The tutorial posted at craftster is pretty easy to follow. My hint? It is all about pressing and ironing. Grab your iron, slide it to steam and mash that fabric.
That fabric is not the boss of you, YOU are the BOSS of fabric!

Tote bag (grocery bag pattern)

Tried another tote made from grocery store bag pattern that I found on www.craftster.org.
This one is the ultimate in recyclable goods! The outer and liner fabrics are repurposed cotton shirts. Liner fabric (plaid) former front pocket now serves as a handy little pocket for your cell phone or money stash.

Skitzo Leezra Sent A Friend Over the Edge

So, being an all things crafty girl all hyped up on sewing projects, I sent the grocery bag tote sewing instructions to my good buddy Mallys. Last week I received an envelope with 2 nice drawstring bags and 1 wine bottle bag and this nice note from her.

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1. SkitzoLeezra sends Mallys a really cute and sort-of easy looking pattern for a reusable grocery bag, based on those noxious plastic bags.


2. Mallys reads the directions, which estimate about a yard of face fabric and a yard of lining per bag.


3. Mallys decides to buy some cut-rate fabric to try it out - no need to spend tons of money if the pattern doesn't work.


4. Mallys finds two complementary patterns on the $2/yard shelf at the Evil Empire. Mallys thinks the frogs are cute and the bright pink is festive.



5. Mallys pre-washes and dries the fabric, and every time she walks past it, the froggies make her giggle. "How cute those frogs are, " Mallys says to herself several times a week, "Won't they make a cute bag?"


6. Mallys makes bag #1 for her pal Suki, in which to place thank-you bowls for feeding the kitties while Mallys was on vacation. The sewing of the happy, bright frogs goes smoothly, and except for a little issue with the gusset, all is well. The bag is cute, and Mallys has used the lining fabric for the pocket on the outside of the bag so as to avoid the stripe-matching issue. The stripes are loud and attention getting, and the solid pink pocket is a funny contrast to the stripes.


7. Mallys make bag #2 for Mom because, after all, there's a whole lot of pink frog material left, and because Mom is looking for ways to avoid the plastic bags. Mallys switches up face fabric/lining - the stripes as lining are also cute, but also are getting a little old. This has now been hours of staring at pink and purple frogs - during the washing and hanging, the ironing, the cutting, the sewing. The frogs are sort of like other people's well-behaved children: they're all right for awhile, and then you want them to go home.


8. After two bags, Mallys is dismayed to see that there are, inexplicably yarrrrrrdddddssssss of this material left, and it's getting the tiniest bit tiresome: the frogs get happier and the pink gets brighter with every stitch. Mallys has never been happy nor bright. The material is challenging her self identity and gnawing at her already limited patience.


9. Mallys buys a pattern for gift bags to help use up some of the fabric. She sews a wine bag. The frogs are working on her nerves. There is still too much material left.


10. Mallys another wine bag. That frog is going to send her over the brink. There is more of the goddamned ugly fucking left, and Mallys - whose great grandmother used to tie her hair back with a worn out bras strap and whose grandmother won't throw away 10-year-old Swiss Miss instant cocoa because the fake marshmallows only taste a little musty - can't bring herself to throw away a swatch of material that is big enough to "make something with."


11. Mallys sews a shorter version of the wine bag. She'd like to pack that short gift bag with the guts of this fucking frog who won't stop smiling at her, if only she could get the frog off the fucking fabric and make it real so that she could exact her craft vengeance on this frog who is driving her crazy. AND THERE'S STILL MORE FUCKING FABRIC LEFT.


12. Everything is pink. Everywhere Mallys looks pink, pink, pink. Here a frog, there a frog, everywhere a mo-fo frog. Mallys is muttering in her sleep, dreaming of stripes of happy anthropomorphized frogs that won't leave her alone. There is still more fabric. Mallys sews a drawstring bag and finally, has sewn every last bit of fabric.


13. Mallys is disgusted by the items she has sewn. Too much pink. Too bright a pink. Too much purple. Too many frogs. Frogs frogs fucking frogs.


14. Mallys - embarrassed at the obnoxious choice - gives the "thank you" bowls and froggie bag to Suki. Suki assures her that the bag is hilarious, that the frogs are pink and funny and not - in fact - gunning for Mally's last shred of sanity.


15. Mallys breathes in through her nose, out through her mouth, and employs logic to convince herself that the frogs do not have some sort of $2/yard vendetta against her, actively trying to make her crazy.


16. But now Mallys sees that she has another bag to send her mother, two wine bags, one short gift bag, and one drawstring bag. She will send one wine bag to her mother. She can't unload a second bag on Suki - who claims to like frogs - because drinks wine out of a box and doesn't take wine to friends' houses. What the hell will she do with annoying froggie wine bags galore?


17. Mallys knows there has to be someone to blame: who is responsible for the frogs? Who should pay the price for the frogs? Who owes it to Mallys to take the frogs off her hands? And then it dawns on Mallys.


18. See item #1.

And that, Leezra, is why you will find in this envelope some really fucking bright, really fucking perky frogs on assorted bags that you may or may not have anything to stuff into.

In short, I am making you pay for the mental anguish those frigging frogs have caused me. Now you get to share at the fabric that's so frigging bright I think it has done irreversible damage to my rods and cones. Or, you can do what I've done, and you can pass the bags on - for some "good reason" of course - to someone who you think deserves the happy, loud frogs.

And the wine bag pattern is actually kind of cute in something other than frogs, dressed up with come ribbon, some buttons. I have now sewn waayyyyyy too many wine bags out of leftover fabric, and have purchased new (remnants). Somehow, I pixilated enough to send them to Mom, who starts doing craft shows in mid-September through early December (she paints), and who thinks she might be able to sell some wine bags at those shows. 39 bags later (with another 17 cut out and fabric for 2 more left to sew), I think that, perhaps, I should wait and see if the wine bags actually sell before I buy any more fabric and sew any more stitches. After all, a wine bag is always a handy item to have sitting around for those last-minute hostess gifts, but let's be real: how on earth is Mallys going to get 39 invites anywhere that call for a wine bag rather than a plastic cup and frothy head of beer?

The boyfriend has taken to calling me "The Wine Bag". I tell him that the joke will be on him when I make my fortune from crafts fashioned out of remnants and leave him high and dry, wishing he had a stylish gift bag in which to carry his hostess gift . . .

Enjoy,

Mallys

Tote bag completed WITHOUT cursing and tears

Hello Craft People!

Found a tote bag tutorial on http://www.craftster.org/, downloaded the instructions and sewed up a cute shopping bag from fabric scraps that evening. It turned out so cute that I am carrying it as a purse! The next time around, I will lengthen the handles to comfortably hang on my shoulder.