Stay.See.Make.Do.

Moving

What an adventure!  It's different every time...
See you here later in August.

Parent Hacks

I sent in a tip to Parent Hacks and it got posted yesterday.  Check it out.

Bag for Disc Golf

My eldest decided to play with the disc golf group instead of playing ball golf at our family reunion, so we bought him three basic discs (driver, mid, and putter) and I sewed this bag for him.  I made the bag big enough to hold six discs, so he can add to his collection in future.  I used french seams to make the inside neater, and bias tape around the edges.  You can't see the flap in the picture where he's wearing it because it's tucked in.  When you tuck it inside over the discs it keeps them secure so they won't fall out when you bend over.

Flannel bibs with snaps

Whistle from Tobacco Tin

I talked about this whistle here in a previous post.  During a recent trip home I took some pictures to share.  I did not unroll the whistle to get measurements.  Near as I could tell, it is made from a piece of tin in a T shape, with the top arms of the T being not quite 3x longer than and 2x as wide as the base of the T.  The base is rolled to make the sounding area, and the arms are folded around to make the part you blow through.  To make the whistle work, you must hold your thumb and finger over either side of the sounding area to make an enclosure.  Think of how a coach's whistle has round sides.  With this whistle, your fingers have to be the sides.  Then you adjust the gap so that when you blow through the mouth piece the air whistles over the edge. 

Emmeline Apron Detail

Here are a few close-ups of my sewing cheat on the Emmeline Apron. Instead of following the directions and hand-sewing the binding to the bodice/bib, I did it by machine the same way I usually sew on binding. Angry Chicken has a video tutorial of how she does it. I did it by sewing in the binding crease with the right side of the binding facing the right side of the bib, then wrapping the binding around and stitching in the ditch to catch the back of the binding. You may be able to tell from the pictures, it is a bit wobbly on the "back" side because I didn't take enough time to pin everything before I sewed. Next time I think I will use some glue or wonder under to hold it before I stitch. I also forgot to mention that I left out the interfacing in the bib. I don't miss it.

Pajamas or play clothes?

I made this little top and shorts set from a vintage pajama pattern, Simplicity 4496 from 1962,  but I had play clothes in mind.  Playclothes.  Is it all one word?  Anyway.  Clothes to play in, for my 3 year old daughter.  But seeing the outfit pictured this way, it still looks like pjs, doesn't it?  Opinions welcome.  Do you think different fabrics would help?  Different colors?

If it's to be pajamas, I'll put the elastic gathers in the shorts after all.  Bloomers.

The Emmeline Apron

Nice pattern.  Poor photo. (I mean mine.  Sorry I can't rotate it.  Check out the pattern here.)  Next time I will make the waist ties longer and the neck ties shorter.  And I fudged on the hand stitching meaning - I didn't do any.

A Gift for Mom

I found this tin at a yard sale and bought it for my mom.  Velvet tobacco is what her dad used, and she and her siblings would cut the cans up and make whistles.  She actually got one of these tins a few years ago and couldn't resist taking the snips to it to see if she could still make one of those noise makers.  She did do it, but was sorry she had to sacrifice the tin.  I saw the whistle and heard it, but I can't tell you how to do it.  I will ask her next time I'm home, and hopefully get a picture of the one she made.

Weaving a giant potholder

I thought I'd share this mat I made a few years ago.  Well, the mat isn't much to look at, but some of you might be interested in the method of the making.

Remember weaving pot holders from cotton loops on a small peg loom when you were a kid?  Frankly, I don't.  But I had at least seen them before, so when I read about this idea in one of the Tightwad Gazette books I had to try it out.   What you do is this:  Make yourself a big loom from some scrap lumber or a big picture frame or some stretcher bars.  Use finishing nails to make the "pegs" about an inch apart along all sides.  Now for the genius - the loops.  Take some old t-shirts and cut them into one or two inch strips horizontally from the bottom up to the armpits. Loops! Actually, you may want to cut your loops before you build your loom so you know how big your loom needs to be.  Then you  just weave it the same way you would a potholder, only bigger.  Make more than one and hook them together in a row or a square!  This is definitely a craft I'm going to try again some day.  Unfortunately I'll have to make a new loom since the one I used for this got left behind after our last move.