« January 2004 | Main | February 2005 »
January 30, 2005
T-shirt and pants for Blythe
I used the patterns from Puchimadam to make this T-shirt and flare pants. I can't decide what to put on the shirt, so it's just plain for now.
Posted under Blythe at 05:27 PM | Comments (2)
January 28, 2005
Spice Rack v2.0
Spice rack v1.0 (aka the scintillation vial spice rack, see previous post) has been found lacking in a few ways. The biggest problem is that spoons won't fit in the little bottles, and the labels (plain paper laminated with packing tape) are starting to fall off and smear. Here's the new and improved. It's only barely DIY since the rack and the tins are both from Martha's Big Going-Out-of-Business Sale. I did at least make the labels. They're the same scanned in letterpress labels as the other one, color-adjusted in photoshop. The font is Bookman Antiqua, and they're printed out on the key ingredient: waterproof inkjet paper. Then, I applied sticky with my trusty little Xyron. I'm very happy with it, except that I have three more spices that I'm not sure were to put. The waterproof paper is incredible. I soaked a test label in water and there wasn't any smearing at all.
The planned v2.1 is going to have holes drilled through the lid and the tin, so you would turn the lid to line up the holes and then shake out the spice. What a good excuse to buy a dremel tool.
Posted under Martha at 11:41 PM | Comments (6)
January 25, 2005
Marthadex
Because of Good Husband's computering skills, the Marthadex lives. This all started out with an obsession and an Endnote library. I was annoyed that my Martha collection had gotten too big to easily find articles when I wanted them, so I started cataloging all the tables of contents. Well, soon enough I decided I needed all the articles and recipes. That was a couple of years ago. All my issues of Living and Everyday Food are indexed. I'll add Kids, Weddings, and special issues as I get them done. MSO published an index for the Livings from the 1990s, but last I checked they were going for like $50 on eBay. Mine is better since you can restrict your search just to the issues you have.
To use: there's a new search bar over on the right that lets you search the Marthadex. If you click on the word Marthadex, it'll take you to more search options. Advanced search lets you choose which issues you'd like to search, or, say, just search for recipes.
I only indexed issues that I own. If you would like to contribute to the insanity, I need anything before October 1995.
Posted under Martha at 01:05 AM | Comments (7)
January 24, 2005
plastic jewelry
Cool company I found through the Sampler: 4 square. She had these awesome bracelets in the last Sampler (not that I got one, but I saw them in the sneak peeks page), and she also makes other jewelry, buttons (brilliant idea!), and magnets. Her about page kindly describes how to make them. It is perhaps the most wonderful use of shrinky dink that I've ever seen. Maybe one day my shrinky dinks will look as good. She also has stationary with the same graphic flair. Make sure to check out her consigning links, because I found different stuff at her website, at Copacetique (flower buttons), at Pink Thread (can't get enough of the buttons), and at My My (neato magnets).
Along the same lines, necklaces by Jewelry by Jessica (found rummaging around Plain Mabel).
Edit: some neat ones at Blue Teabag too.
Posted under Crafty Links at 12:04 AM | Comments (1)
January 22, 2005
Links Page
My list of crafty blogs and such has outgrown the sidebar space, so I made a new giant links page. My daily reads will still stay in the sidebar. I've got a few folders of shop bookmarks to add eventually, too, but the blogs is definitely a good start.
Posted under Crafty Links at 03:18 PM | Comments (0)
January 20, 2005
Blythe sweather and rectangle skirt "pattern"
My first sweater, in any scale. It took me about 3 evenings of work, on size 2 needles with the pink cupcake yarn. I got the pattern from woolyrockers via the This is Blythe forum. I didn't put the velcro on the back so that maybe she can wear it backwards over a shell or something. We'll see. I'm super happy with it. And people say redheads can't wear pink!
The skirt is the very first craftlog original Blythe pattern. I'm calling it a rectangle skirt. I whipped it up so Mark would stop calling her Blythe-no-pants. Take a 4.25 inch x 3.25 inch rectangle of ultrasuede (felt would probably also work). Sew a snap in the top right hand corner and the mate in the top left hand corner on the opposite face of the fabric. It's pretty versatile for being a rectangle and a snap. If you snap it right around the waist, it goes out into an A-line. If you pull it down to hug the hips, it's more of a pencil skirt (like in the picture above). It's a slitted skirt if you pull the open side around front. Of course, you could also cut it a bit shorter if you like, but after the last dress I made, Blythe demanded something more modest. Although when in A-line mode, I wouldn't recommend taking pictures from behind...
Posted under Blythe at 12:16 AM | Comments (1)
January 18, 2005
squarish bag
I made this bag from the cosmetic bag tutorial I bought from Baked Ideas. It's a little too floppy since I didn't add interfacing as recommended. Oh well. It will fill out once I put stuff in it. The flowery fabric is a handkerchief I got at a 100 yen store last winter. The lining is The Most Useful Ikea Bedsheet Ever (which you may remember from such crafts as the DIY duvet cover and the sewing machine cosy).
And if you haven't been by Baked Ideas in a while, you should go look. She's got some new stuff up now, including a really great mohair flower and some leetle pin cushions.
Posted under Sewing/Fabric Crafts at 11:48 PM | Comments (9)
comments are back
Good Husband upgraded Movable Type and installed MT Blacklist, so comments are back. If you've been dying to comment on the old posts, have at 'em. I'll be adding some other improvements this week, too, like a new links page and maybe some other stuff.
Posted under Random at 05:00 PM | Comments (4)
January 16, 2005
Blythe!
Well, I finally did it. After several months of combing eBay and the This Is Blythe forum, I finally broke down and bought myself a Blythe doll. I decided early on that I wanted a redhead without bangs. At first I was just going to get a Petite, but there aren't nearly as many clothes patterns for the petites, and I want the eye color changing anyway. The finalists were: Birdie Blue, Powwow Poncho, French Trench, and, the one I ended up with, the new Ashton Drake Galleries reproduction of one of the original dolls. The warnings are that you can never have just one, and if I do get another it will be French Trench. The ADG hair is more appealing, though, and she's a little bit cheaper since she doesn't ship from Asia.
I already made her a dress and a coat, and I'm almost done with a sweater. The dress is from the ever-so-generous Oriettacat's pattern library. Look for the simple dress pattern. I think I may have printed it out at the wrong scale because it was really hard to get it on, and it looks more like a minidress.
The coat is also from Oriettacat, but in another library. Look for the duffel coat pattern. This one didn't have directions, and it was harder to put together. I'm still not sure I did it right. It's made of felt and fastened with an earring. I think I'm going to add some other decoration to it. We'll see.
I'm still working on how best to photograph her. :/
Posted under Blythe at 12:18 AM | Comments (9)
January 13, 2005
ultrasuede keychain
This little scrap of ultrasuede was calling to me, so I made it into a keychain. Super easy: fold it in half and stitch around in a rectangle. Slide onto the keyring with the rest of the crew. It's nice to touch, and helps when I'm fishing around in my bag.
Posted under Sewing/Fabric Crafts at 07:18 PM | Comments (0)
January 11, 2005
crochet cupcake
Nothing like crocheting a cupcake to cheer you up on a seemingly endless coast-to-coast flight. For easy passage through security, as well as for their additional cheering properties, I highly recommend these plastic hooks. I used random yarns my sister gave me for Christmas.
I found two main patterns for crocheted cupcakes, one on craftster by this gal. There's a nice thread started by comfits with some modifications to it. I especially like her icing.
The other is a pincushion. It's bigger than the craftster one. So far I've made the little guy, and the bottom part of the big one. I'm not sure what yarn I want to use for the icing on the bigger one yet. The cute squiggly yarn i used for the icing on the little one is really hard to crochet with. I couldn't find the stitches At All, so I just randomly single crocheted around and about until it looked like the right size and shape. Actually, I like it better than my previous attempt following the pattern with the pink yarn. I think there are too many stitches in the frosting pattern, making it all flare out, instead of cup around the bottom, if that makes any sense. I bet that's one reason why crochet is less trendy than knitting; you can't using the fancier yarns. Oh well.
For both patterns you need to do double crochets around the post. I'd never done that before, so I watched the movies on stitchguide a few times. They're not hard stitches, and they're how you make the nice corner turn and the ribbing. I'd always wondered how people made corners.
Posted under Crochet at 01:53 AM | Comments (1)
January 10, 2005
Patterns for bags of various sorts
I love the way digital cameras have allowed people to post tutorials for so many great things. Generally some really nice person is the one who posted it, so I can even ask questions. And then seeing all the variations people come up with is such inspiration. Here are a few I've been eyeing:
There's the ubiquitous Jordy Bag from craftster, of course. I'm tired of my current purse, so I'm attempting a new one. This (or one of the modifications. Type "Jordy bag" into the craftster search bar to be overwhelmed.) is the fall-back when I finally admit that I can't figure out how to make a purse from the Japanese craft books I bought in San Francisco last week.
Bella Dia has a whole tutorial on making a travel tissue case. Looks very cute and very easy.
I just bought the cosmetic bag tutorial from Halfbaked Ideas. I was lucky enough to surf in on the last day of a sale, so it was only $3! It's totally worth the non-sale $6, though. Super cute, and Karen was really helpful when I had a question about it. I've got the cloth ready to go, but I haven't gotten a 12 inch zipper yet.
Posted under Crafty Links at 01:27 AM | Comments (0)
January 04, 2005
Red Heart Mohcora felts
My sister got me a giant box of thrifted yarn for Christmas. Ooooh. One of the yarns is Red Heart Mohcora, which is rather old by the looks of the label. It's 72% mohair, 13% wool, and 15% nylon, in a nice dark gray. Since it's way too scratchy to make anything wearable, I decided to try felting it. The label advertises "washable colors," so I didn't have high hopes at first. The instructions for washing on the inside of the label were really for handwashing, though, with all sorts of cautions about using cool water and avoiding agitation. And sure enough, it felts great. A 5.5 inch square in garter stitch on 8 needles (cast on 20) shrunk to a 4 inch square after about 20 minutes of effort on my part. Since I'm fresh out of quarters, I did it the old fashioned way alternating hot and cold water with plenty of soap and agitation. One new thing I tried and liked was using a bamboo sushi mat to help agitate. I rolled the piece up in the mat and rolled the bundle back and forth, dunking it in the soapy water occasionally. It worked like a charm. It did stretch it a fair bit, though, but rotating the felt frequently seemed to prevent serious mis-shaping. Now, what to make from it? Hmmm.
Posted under Felting at 12:06 AM | Comments (1)
January 03, 2005
cross stitch pouch
Speaking of my collection of gel pens, I also made this pouch for them. I couldn't find black Aida, so I dyed some white Aida with Rit. I came up with the pattern myself. Cross stitch really lends itself to geometric patterns and bright colors. I like the effect. I'm missing some crucial thing about installing zippers, though, because the bag bits at the ends of the zipper are fraying and look really bad. The other thing I don't like is that I didn't line it, so the pens sometimes catch on the exposed threads.
Posted under Cross Stitch/Embroidery at 12:42 AM | Comments (0)
January 02, 2005
bound book
Rummaging for something else today but came across a long-lost book that I made to go with a set of gel pens. The pages are 8.5x11 inches from a ream of black paper. Stab binding is cool green embroidery floss. I made up the binding pattern. It's like a little puzzle to go through the holes such that every stitch is gone over only once and you end up where you started so you can tie it off. I'm sure there are tutorials on the web somewhere if you don't like crafty brain teasers.
Posted under Paper Crafts at 04:35 PM | Comments (0)