Sewing Machine Cover, take 1.

This week's challenge was to either make a car cozy or a piece of baby clothing. Seeing as I have ZERO children, I really have no use for a cozy to carry my hot wheels in, nor do I need baby clothes. I really debated about whether or not I wanted to even participate this week, but then I decided I could make a previous week's unchosen option.

I had been debating a sewing machine cover since moving my machine to the kitchen table, and I happened to have some fabric (from pillow cases that went awry) that would otherwise go to waste (and that I really wanted to use in one way or another). The idea in my head seemed easy enough, though the actual execution was much harder than I thought.

Looking at it now, I think I could have done a better job. Not a single corner is sewn the same - mainly because I had no clue what I was doing. Also, by the time I finished I didn't want to iron anymore, so it is definitely in need of an ironing, which will make it more crisp. I tried really hard to make sure the sides were all the same, and yet I still managed to make it just wonky enough to make it look like I have no clue what I'm doing.


I'm thinking there might have been an easier way, and I'm debating if I want to try it out. I would definitely prefer a cover that was a little more put together, but I'm not sure if I want to tackle another cover (it was a bit stressful getting it all put together). I also feel like it needs to be lined inside and I had no clue had to do it this time around. Maybe I'll redo the outside & then use my first one as the lining for the new one... hmmmm

Weekly Sew-a-long Challenge. Week 3.

This week our challenge was to make something "Picture Perfect". That is, make something camera or picture related. I've been wanting to purchase a really cute case for my camera, so I figured this would be the perfect opportunity to make one. All of the tutorials I found required bias tape for the finished piece. Sadly, I'm not prepared to make my own bias tape, and I was unwilling to go purchase any (I'm pretty much over buying anything I can make myself). So, this left me with 2 options: find another tutorial or make something up myself.

After debating this issue all week long I decided to just do it. I used the ugliest fabric I had to practice with, and figured if it turned out, I could always re-make it with a cuter fabric. I'm not sure I love it, so I haven't re-made it. I think I'll mess around with some more fabric before I settle on my final camera case, but for the sake of this last week's challenge, it's completed.

To make it, all I did was take 2 pieces of fabric (one about 1 inch longer top-to-bottom than the other piece) and a piece of leftover felt (to measure, I just wrapped it around my camera & made sure I had ample seam allowances) and sandwiched them together.

To start, I took the piece that was a bit longer and placed it wrong side up. I folded down the top about 1/2 an inch & then ironed it, then I folded it down another 1/2 inch & ironed it again. This basically created a double hem at the top of the fabric. I then slid the felt and the other piece of fabric (wrong side down) between the bottom fabric & the hem, so that when sewn, the hem would encase the felt & fabric. I then sewed a basic straight stitch across the top. The top fabric (the one with the hem showing) became my "inside" fabric, and the longer piece which created my hem would be the "outer" fabric.

Here is where I made my mistake. A buttonhole should be made at this time. I didn't and had to rip my almost-finished case apart to do this. Pick a spot where you'd like a strap hole. Set your machine up to make a buttonhole, & then place your fabric inside piece up & make a buttonhole. I practiced this a few times on a scrap of fabric to make sure the hole I was making was exactly the size I wanted it to be. I wasn't using a button, so I had to adjust my buttonhole foot a couple times before I had the perfect size. I also had to play around with my stitch length and width before I had a good stitch. I 100% recommend you do the same before attempting this on your case. Carefully use a seam ripper or snips to cut your buttonhole (make sure you don't cut your stitches).

I then folded the fabric sandwich in half lengthwise, so that the hem was visible on the outside. I lined up my sides & bottom and pinned them. I slid my camera in between the fabric a few times just to make sure the fit was correct (I wanted to make sure the fit was snug, so that my camera would not slip out of the case willy-nilly). Then I sewed around the edge and bottom, making sure to backstitch at the beginning and end. I trimmed my excess threads and seam allowances, then I turned it right-side out (the hem should not be visible from the outside), slid my camera in, and basked in it's "glory".

It's not exactly what I'm looking for in a camera case, but it works as a simple soft cover to keep your camera from getting scratched up if you throw it in your purse or bag.

Also, in case you noticed my fail of a camera strap, that is what happens when you are attempting to take pictures of a project "in action" and get your camera strap a little too close to the hot iron. It completely melted the outside strap, thus leaving me with the task of having to clean melted goo off my iron. My camera strap is now really ugly too! Maybe I'll make a new cover for it :)

Time flies...

It really does! I feel like I haven't had the time to do anything crafty, so I don't have anything to post about! Then, when I do find time, I screw it all up & it is an absolute waste! Take last Monday, for example: I spent all day attempting to make something I was unable to find a tutorial for. I had an idea in my head & felt I could execute it decently. After spending the entire day working on it I had to scrap it all because it just never came together like it should have.

Fast forward to last night and my decision to finally tackle the last of my throw pillow covers. I had made one ages ago and just never got around to finishing the rest up. I've had the fabric for the rest just sitting around and decided I would finally finish them. I spent Sunday night measuring and cutting fabric, and then yesterday I finished piecing them together and getting them sewed up. A few hours and a good amount of fabric later I went to slip my pillows into their covers and they didn't fit! Somehow I managed to make the covers a few inches too small!

I'm quite upset and I'm not even sure if it's because of the wasted fabric! I am upset about the fabric, don't get me wrong. I love this fabric & had specifically purchased it to make throw pillow covers, and now I don't think I have enough to get more pillows out of (and I don't think I'll be able to find it for a decent price anywhere, because I bought it ages ago). I am more upset, however, about the waste of time it all was! I could have spent that time making something else and actually having something to show for my time.

Le Sigh.

I love when my hands are covered in paint.

I wasn't able to get much done today, as I was busy getting job applications together and in the mail (I need a job. Desperately.) However, I was able to slap a few coats of paint on some $2 frames I picked up at Target on clearance. It's not much, but I feel like at least I used a little crafty energy today.

I have an idea of where I'm going to hang these three, but I'm not 100% positive what I'm going to frame with them. I'm thinking I might want to throw some of my favorite fabric in them, rather than pictures. I hope I'm able to translate the idea I have in my head into something decent to hang on my wall.

Another apology for the picture. This time it's because the green & yellow frames are wet from their latest coat of paint, so I couldn't move them. I'll make sure to take a better picture once they're done.

Back to the drawing board

As it turns out, I'm not exactly an expert "fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants-coming-up-with-stuff" person. After hours of tedious work, I ended up having to scrap the whole thing because it was just a big mess. I spent more time today ripping seams than actually sewing them. Needless to say, I think I went about this the hard way... which also happens to be the wrong way. I've got an idea in my head about how I might be able to do this in an easier way, but I'll have to get back to that another time. For now, my back is killing me and I'm thoroughly frustrated. I hope to have something crafty to show you tomorrow, but we'll have to see if I can manage to whip something fun up in between doing some soon-to-be-due school-work.

Mobile Blogging, My Ass.

I have my cell phone set up so I can send blog posts via text messages when I'm not on my computer. I'm in the midst of a new adventure today & thought I'd drop a quick note about it and try out my mobile blogging in one shot. Well apparently it didn't post. I shake my fist at you Blogger!

The post that should have been:

Designing something of my own imagination. Hit a few bumps in the road, but can't wait to reveal it. Should be done by the end of the day!!

Also, blogging by text message (or trying to anyway). What a fun way for quick updates!! (if it actually worked, that is.)

A quick pic of me tearing the whole thing apart because I messed up haha, whoops!

Valentine's is made for crafting!

I know it's been a few days since my last post (4, to be exact), and I do have to apologize for that. We've been sick on this side of town, so the thought of doing anything has not been appealing.... just ask my dishes.

On the plus side, I do have a fun post today! The reason this post is so. much. fun. is because everything I am posting right. this. second. was made for less than $5! Now, I did manage to get some sale items, so that definitely helped the wallet, but overall I worked with inexpensive materials. Felt, to be exact. $0.20 felt, to be even more exact! Plus I was able to get some super cute Valentine's ribbon on sale for $0.99, which we all know I love me some dollar ribbon!!

This week for the sew-a-long challenge we were given a choice of making pajamas or anything Valentine's. Well, I don't know if you'll believe this, but I am in no way prepared to jump into pajama making. Add to that I don't own pajama-making fabric, and was not looking forward to buying any. So that left me with the Valentine's project. I'm sure you can tell that I'm not one for actually coming up with ideas on my own, so this proved to be a challenge in and of itself. After some uneventful Googling, the hubs and I headed to JoAnn's so I could have a look-see. I decided on the felt because it was cheap & in my head I had an idea for some hair clips. Add to that some ribbon and you've (or I've, or my cousins' daughters) got some super cute Valentine's barrettes.


 I think they're pretty darn cute. Sadly, not very much sewing actually went into these. In fact, I only actually sewed two lines. In the top & middle set, you can see the line down the middle of the hearts where I sewed to attach the hearts to one another. The rest was good ol' Tacky Glue. Heck, the bottom set doesn't have any sewing, period!

So what is a gal to do? Well, I did have to come up with something else, that's for sure! So I sat, and I thought, and I cut out hearts. I did this until I got an idea. I cut off a slice of felt, sewed on some of those hearts I had, and voila! instant bracelet.

Sadly, my "bracelet" left something to be desired. So I sat, and I thought, and I cut out some more hearts until I had an even better idea. Napkin rings! Simple, inexpensive, Valentine's... perfect!

I cut out a few more slices of felt, added some decorative stitches to the edges, and created a makeshift button hole (to keep the felt from ripping as you slide the hearts through) (also, they're makeshift because my buttonhole setting is temperamental, and while I was able to make fantastic buttonholes the other day, for some reason I was unable to get my machine to cooperate today - thus a simple box sewed 2 times over). The hearts act as buttons to keep the ring closed. I suppose I could have just sewn the circle closed, but to be honest, I didn't think of that until just now.

I don't actually own fabric napkins, so I slid some leftover felt through instead. Tada! Valentine's napkin rings!! Of course, this could easily be adapted into a cute bracelet for little wrists, so feel free to wrap a Valentine's napkin ring around whatever you deem fit!

And just to ease your frustration when you attempt this on your own (because why wouldn't you?), you'll never cut two hearts the same, ever. So just stop trying now. If you get two that are even remotely similar, thank your lucky stars and move on!

Also, I know I need to get better at taking pictures. My apologies, and I promise I'll try harder.

Midnight Crochet, Party of One.

I was determined to make this ice cream cozy work. I had a pint of ice cream sitting in my freezer just begging to be eaten, but I refused to eat it without a cozy! So I decided the extra large cozy must have been user error, as we all know I crochet big. I chose my 4.00 hook and went at it. At the end I had a cozy to keep my hands warm while I dug into my Phish Food.

I'm in love with this green gradated yarn, but I'm 100% positive it's not the right color for an ice cream cozy. The yarn itself is Lily The Original Sugar 'n Cream in Lime Stripes. It's 100% cotton worsted weight. I love this yarn. It's so easy to work with and is super cheap. 

It's not the purple I wanted it to be, but that's because my purple yarn was tied up (pun intended) in a half-finished ipod cozy. Now that the ipod cozy is finished, and my purple yarn is free, I'll be making another ice cream cozy. This purple yarn is also Sugar 'n Cream in Country Side Ombre. I found the pattern for the ipod cozy on Ravelry. You'll have to sign up to view it, but it's free and awesome, so you should already be signed up! The actual listing is:

patterns > injenuity > Ribbed iPod Touch/iPhone Sock (iPod cozy)

I'm thinking I definitely want to add a flower motif applique.

 

So disappointed.

I've had 2 failures today. My first was the ice cream cozy. I finished the cozy up and asked the hubs to bring me home a pint so I could try it out. When he got here, I was was sad to see that my cozy was far too large. I imagine my gauge was just way off. I knew it didn't look like the picture, but I hadn't imagined it was that off. I unraveled it and will hopefully be able to figure it out soon.

The 2nd failure was my 5.00 hook. As I tried out a new pattern for an electronics cozy I noticed that my hook kept getting caught in the yarn. I finally took a close look at the hook & noticed there was a chip in it! Needless to say, I can't keep crocheting with it. I am so so so upset by this. I had been wanting to purchase a set of bamboo hooks forever and just never had the money to build a set (usually you have to buy them individually). I love the look of the bamboo hooks & I really liked the idea that they were made from a sustainable material. I'm going to have to return these, as I've only had them in my possession for 10 days & I only started using my 5.00 today!!! I'm also really hesitant to purchase another set of bamboo hooks, for fear of it happening again. For now, I think I'll return these and purchase a set of aluminum hooks. Maybe one day I'll be able to afford to acquire a better quality set of bamboo hooks individually.

I'll take a picture of my chipped hook in the am.

Warm hands

...wrapped around a pint of ice cream is one of my all-time favorite things. Let me tell you, there is nothing worse than freezing your butt & your hands off on a very cold day as you try to get your ice cream on. I've been meaning to alter my coffee cozy (yes, I know I need to make a post about that) to fit a pint, but I just have not gotten around to it. I think that is partially because I've been laying off the pints recently, but mostly just because I'm lazy (holla!).

Well I recently found this pattern at Ragabaebe and seeing as it's a quick crochet, I figured I'd just whip one up. This saves me the trouble of having to adjust the measurements of my coffee cozy, cut out the pattern, trace the pattern, cut out the fabric (I. Hate. Cutting.) and then sew it all together just to see if it fits!!! That's very important to note, because... well... it might not fit the first time! This way I'm only out a couple minutes if it doesn't fit, & unraveling yarn is far less stressful than having to use my seam ripper or throw away the fabric. Plus, yarn is so easy to reuse!

Unintentionally matching my cozy to the pint

I'm waiting for a response on a question I had about said pattern, so while I'm taking a crochet intermission, I thought I'd share my progress! I'm only on Row 4, so not very far, but I'm happy with what I've managed to whip up so far. I believe I'm at the point where the cozy will turn up and wrap around the sides of the pint. I cannot wait until it's finished so I can try it out. I also can't wait to make sure it works ok, because I have an aunt who will be going into surgery soon and I thought this would be the perfect get-well-quickly-while-eating-pints-of-ice-cream present! So very excited!

Maybe I should run to the market while I wait for a response!!

Will update with finished product soon!

Updates

As you can hopefully already see, I'm adding some new updates to the blog. A lot of this will probably be under construction for some time yet, but here's a look at what's to come:

• Tabs: You can see at the top that I'm adding tabs to the page. This will allow you to easily access some fun new additions to tianamatopoeia, including a "How to Crochet" page for all you would-be crocheters! 
• Picture watermarking/stamping: I'm not saying that my pictures or my crafts are so spectacular that you're all clambering about to mark them as your own, but you never know who is out there. This is a work in progress to back-stamp my already pictures, and I will start stamping new ones from here on out. Now you'll know the pictures & crafts you're looking at are truly a product of tianamatopoeia. 
•  HTML: I'll be editing the HTML on the blog. Right now I'm using a stock Blogger template, but I hope to be making some changes which will make tianamatopoeia unique.
• I'm hoping to have a fun new title block soon too!

I hope you all enjoy the changes that are coming. Please bear with me while I make them. In the end I hope to have a much more professional-looking blog that is fun to hang around on!

Crochet Hook Case

I'm so very excited to have completed my first week of the sew-a-long! I made a crochet hook case and I think it turned out pretty darn cute. I was lucky enough to have the materials already, so really all I had to do was get it done. I half wish I had practiced it in a different fabric, because I did make a few mistakes. Overall, though, I'm quite happy with the end product.



About halfway done I realized I should have taken pictures from the get-go. This is my hook pocket basted (my least favorite thing to do ever) on top of the inner fabric and the batting. I used disappearing ink (it's not just for gags anymore) to mark the lines I needed to sew for the individual hook pockets.

I'm not a fan of how the case pulls when I put my hooks inside of it. Though I think that is because I've got some pretty large hooks. I probably won't carry around the real big ones, ever, so hopefully that won't be much of an issue. I also messed up when attached my ribbon to the inside, so I modified the ribbon and button placement. I'm actually quite pleased with the result of my modification.

In case you're wondering: yes, I do realize I need to iron my ribbon. Also, as a reminder, I used the tutorial for "Rachel's Crochet Hook Case" from the Sometimes Crafter.

Reduce Reuse Recycle

It's something we all learned about when we were kids and it truly does seem simple enough: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.

Reduce: Stop buying so much crap! The more we buy, the more we throw away. If we cut back on our consumption there will be more to go around and less to go into landfills!

Reuse: When you absolutely must buy something, reuse it (or its packaging) to the best of your abilities. The more we reuse, the less to go into landfills and the less we need to buy new stuff!

Recycle: If you can't reduce, and you can't reuse, recycle. This seems to be the one everyone remembers and a lot of people succeed at it. Sadly, this should be the last stop on the R-R-R Railroad.



Part of the reason I decided I wanted to learn to crochet, and sew, and be crafty in general, was because I wanted to stop buying stuff. I figured if I could make it then I wouldn't need to buy it. Step one: Stop Consuming - check!

What about all that stuff I haven't learned to make yet? Like pasta sauce? Sure, I should start buying locally grown veggies from the farmer's market, but until I learn to make it I need to buy it from the store. This presented me with a dilemma: what do I do with all these empty glass jars afterward? Step two: re-purpose them!

Clean!

Full of glue residue

So that's just what I did! I saved a handful of mason jars from our pasta dinners, I rinsed them out, and then I ran them through the dishwasher. I did have to clean off all the excess glue from the label, but that is easily remedied with some nail polish remover (make sure it's one with acetone) (BTW: this works for getting sticker residue off of any glass, like picture frames!).

I'm thinking I might wrap some ribbon around a jar, or maybe cover one in fabric just to spice things up. Then I'm going to fill them up with notions like buttons... and other things. One day I'll have a wonderful craft room and then I'll fill it up with re-purposed mason jars! I can't wait to find something else I can re-purpose.