Stay.See.Make.Do.

Mend It Better (blog tour)

Kristin Roach has a new book! It's called Mend It Better.

This book is packed with information about keeping favorite items in your wardrobe even after you may feel they have seen better days. For some of the projects, you even get the feeling that the "better days" are still ahead, because the mending adds so much character. Kristin doesn't try to tell you that you can fix a moth hole in your sweater with no one the wiser. She shows you how to do it in a way to make yourself happy, and then you can celebrate the change as a small victory. The book is full of suggestions to make your mending feel like a happy accomplishment.

I count myself fortunate to be one of the contributors to this lovely work. My project starts on page 93. I thought I'd share a couple of my own photos.

In the spirit of Kristin's site, Craft Leftovers, my project is more of a reuse/recycle/upcycle kind of item. It's an old bridesmaid's dress that I cut down to be a princess dress for my daughter. I took in some seams, stitched on a ruffle, added elastic, glued on some ribbons and... ta-da!

Though I refashioned this dress way back in September, 2010, it still sees a lot of use by my girls, and I'm proud to say it has held up well and is a favorite of theirs.

Storey Publishing sent me a copy of Mend It Better for myself, but also said they'd send one free copy of the book to one of my US readers, so if you'd like a chance to win and you live in the states, please leave a comment telling me what kind of mending will be in your future! (Deadline to comment is 3/19/12.)

For more information on the book, check out the other posts on the blog tour, (Craftypod's review has some nice photos) as well as Storey's Facebook page.

Blue Jean Bag

I sewed a tote bag awhile back as a gift for my goddaughter. Not sure if I shared it here, so at the risk of repeating myself...

But firstly, I'd like to note that this is not a tutorial. This is just a show and tell. If you want to have some good step-by-steps, take a gander at this lovely lesson, or click to this one with french seams.

For mine I took a pair of old blue jeans from my scraps pile. These jeans had seen better days. They were patched already by the time they were handed down to one of my kids from an older, cooler cousin. (Thank goodness mending is still cool in some circles. Yes, it is. Really. There's even a book* coming out about it.) Then my son wore the heck out of them. It may have been too bad for my son's wardrobe, but I was not willing to mend them any more. Upcycling was more appealing to me at that point.

Because this bag was going to be the wrapping for a few books I was gifting, I used the books to determine the size. As you can see, the flap came from a back pocket.

To get the length of the strap, I measured a kid I had handy. The red webbing came from the "crafty stuff" table at a rummage sale.

The lining used to be a set of cafe-style curtains. I bought them at my neighbor's yard sale for something like 25 cents. Seriously. It's a rather busy print, but as a lining I thought it would be fun.

The outside needed a little something to pretty it up, so I found a flowery button in my stash to do the trick. The loop is made from a hair elastic sewn between the layers.

This was a really fun project. Because the materials for the bag were nearly free, I could spend more on the books that went inside**. And in a way those jeans are still being worn.

*Guess what? I have a project in it!

**One of which was The 13 Clocks. You should read it.

Whatever Works

Don't have a tiny closet/wardrobe for your princesses? Well, an egg carton will fit the bill in a pinch.

I don't know if I would have ever thought of that. I'm glad my "make do" philosophy is being passed down to my kids. In this case, they're passing it back to me.

Look around your house. What can you re-purpose?

Stand Up and Get More Done?

Finally found the picture I wanted for this post.

I've heard a lot of buzz, much of it around the crafty interwebs, about standing while you work.  Recently I saw comments traded on Twitter agreeing that standing improves productivity. This I believe. Because my favorite desk is an old drafting table from an engineering firm's cast-offs, I am quite familiar with the concept. It's a tall desk that I can stand at comfortably, or sit at on a bar-stool height chair. Right now it is in our classroom and is mostly used as a surface for project making. At one time I even had my sewing machine up on there, though the cord to the foot pedal was juuuust barely long enough to reach the floor. 

Dig that groovy, green rubber top.

As much as I love it, an unavoidable issue I sometimes have with my desk is when I'd like to work in a different room. A large oak drafting table? Not so portable, if you know what I mean. But I found a perfectly serviceable lightweight substitute almost by accident. And when I say "by accident" I mean "because I am a disorganized mess-maker." I know I am not alone among hopeless clutterers the creative fellowship when I say, if there's an open, flat surface around my home, it tends to collect piles rather quickly.

Enter: The ironing board. Not just for ironing anymore!

 

It can be a little wobbly if left on its own like an island in the middle of a room, but snugged up near a wall or other sturdy vertical plane, it becomes the perfect mix of just-the-right-height-for-me and move-it-where-I-want-it-when-I-want-to. Plus, it's big enough for a laptop, and long enough to also hold papers, tape, &etc. 

I still prefer my real desk. But now I have another option when I need it.

What I am really left to decide is, is this a valid excuse for wearing wrinkled clothing?

A Semblance of Crafty Organization

Right now I have so many things on my to-do list that I really don't need a list at all. I could basically write "do everything" on the back of an envelope and call it good.  Wonder when I will be able to check that one off.

One of my goals for the year is to get a handle on our photos.  I've been going through my files trying to decide how and which to print, how to back them up.  In between birthday cakes and rabbits in the yard, I keep coming across things I took pictures of for the blog but never got around to posting about.  It's like Land of the Lost [Posts], waving their fused Sleestack fingers at me.  At first blush they look almost friendly... 

And because my organization is so abysmal, sometimes I can't remember if I used a particular photo already or not.  And of course there are also photos that I'm sure I took and now can't find. *sigh* 

At least my craft storage makes a bit of sense. These are photos I took ages ago (natch) and the shelves have moved around a bit, but this is still the general configuration.

As you can see, I have a thing for boxes and vintage kitchen canisters.  Not that it all looks this put together, not by a long shot.  I have an entire closet full of piles that threaten to topple every time I struggle with its miserable bifold doors.  There's an overflowing laundry basket of clothes that should/could be upcycled or pitched.  Two wobbly stacks make up my vintage tablecloth collection.  But my sewing fabric and notions, my painting supplies, my scrapbook papers, my yarn - mostly I can lay my hands on what I want when I want it. 

Now, I'm off to do everything. Or maybe just everything else.

Sticky Situation: Cleaning Velcro

This is the best way I've found to clean the "hook" side of hook and loop tape (Velcro) that has collected lint and strings due to having gone thru the wash unattached to the "loop" side.  This happens to baby bibs in our house all the time.  Shoes with Velcro closures also tend to collect fuzz, and this works on them, too.

Use a seam ripper. That is all.

Viola!

Frugal Facepowder Fix

(Let me just start off by apologizing for the poor photos. Especially if you're reading this from an RSS feed reader.  For some reason, Google Reader makes all my pictures original size - must be something wrong with my parameters in my blog setup.)

Oh dear! Broken face powder, a cracked compact.  Ever have this happen?  In my case, I dropped it on the floor:

It was mostly used up, but still - this seemed like too much to just throw out.  Luckily I remembered a helpful hint I read about somewhere:  add rubbing alcohol.  The alcohol softens the powder so you can blend the cracked pieces back together, and then it evaporates quickly.

I used about a capful of alcohol, which was a bit too much. But by the next morning, it looked pretty good.  I lost the definition of the "mosaic" palate, but it's still definitely usable.

This blush is from Physicians Formula, and has been my favorite for a few years now.  It has never caused my skin to break out.  Now, if only Nivea would sell my favorite Visage Q10 moisturizer in the US again, I'd be set.