Yummy Cashmere Pillows

Pillows from old sweaters made the blog rounds a while ago, and they seemed so cozy they've stayed on my mind. I found the softest cashmere sweater at the Salvation Army for $3; it had some small holes so it was begging to be repurposed. Since I wanted two, I decided to make the back of the pillow from fabric in my stash. Here's how.

Supplies:
1 14" pillow form
1 large sweater
2 square of coordinating fabric, 14" (seam allowance included)*
1 rectangle of coordinating fabric, 14" x 7"
2 1" buttons

*a tip from House on Hill Road: pillow cases look better if they are slightly smaller than their pillow forms.

Placing one 14" square on your sweater as a rough guide, cut a square out of your sweater larger than 14".


To keep the sweater from warping, sew the sweater to one square of fabric, then cut to size. You can keep this step if your sweater is fairly sturdy.

Fold over hem at the top of the other fabric square and sew down. Cut triangles out of the corner of the rectangle, 3" from the corners, and discard. Hem edges.


Evenly from the edges, add two buttonholes to the corners of the formerly rectangular piece. Pin this piece on top of the hemmed square so that it forms a new 14" square.


Sew the buttonhole side to the sweater side, right sides together, turn right side out, add buttons, and presto, you have a ridiculously cheap cashmere pillow. It's hard to capture how delightfully cozy and soft these pillows are... just look at this pile.



Mmmm... cashmere.

A Better Book Sling

I wanted a book sling for my baby, who no, cannot read yet, but still... they are cool. I liked the size of this one, but all the reviews said the fabric was terrible. I ordered it, and yes, the fabric is indeed terrible. The picture hides it's terribleness well; it feels like it is made out of a disposable raincoat.

However, that is easily fixed.

Before:


After:


I used a home decor fabric called "Square Knots," purchased at Joann on Black Friday. So easy. The sling is just a bunch of squares sewn together. Without a baby it would have taken an hour or two. With a baby... it took several days. So it goes!

Sewing Desk for a Cosplayer

If you are back from voting, check out my new desk.


(If you are not back from voting, go vote, silly!)

I picked up this desk on Craigslist a few months ago. It was a sewing desk with the sewing machine removed. I neglected to take a before picture, but it was in quite a sorry shape. There were spiders. But look at how nice and big it opens up...


I painted it brick red, and I bought a custom cut piece of wood at Home Depot to fill in the empty hole where the sewing machine once lived, and then I had to track down a square head screwdriver to attach it. Then I covered the seat cushion in new fabric and made the little fabric covered trash can out of a cookie tin, to catch thread. Thread goes wild all over my sewing area.

And then began my adventures in decoupage.


Here's the custom piece of wood, in progress with the craft:g33k girl. I used huge amounts of Mod Podge for this project.


Inside, left side. I use my sewing machine to make costumes and clothes, mostly, and I wanted the desk to be inspiration for that. All the images except for the craft:g33k are from old comic books and fashion magazines. I'm pretty sure the comics aren't worth anything, but please, don't correct me if I'm wrong in that assumption.


Spike, from a Buffy comic.


The Fantastic Four, from a free comic book day book. The gold question mark is from a stencil I made.


Inside, right side.


Supes, by Jim Lee. I used a lot of pictures from this particular comic, not because Superman is a favorite of mine, or even Jim Lee (though he's pretty darn good), but just because Superman is a pose-worthy fellow. It's hard to find a full body shot of Bats, for example.


I reserved all my favorite pieces for the top.


Spidey, by John Romita, Jr.


My man DD, by Alex Maleev.

This post is a eulogy for my sewing machine, a cheapy cheap Brother that I am bidding farewell. I just bought a Kenmore that is made, apparently, by Janome. The Kenmores have been going on sale recently, and the deals are great. If you are interested, the link is here.

Gold Flats, for Cheap

A rather long time ago I saw a pair of gold flats at the Skechers outlet in Encino for ten dollars. I debated over whether or not to buy them for far too long, and somehow I decided (quite incorrectly) to not buy them.

Since then I have uncontrollably desired a pair of gold flats, but have been unwilling to pay more than ten dollars for them, for obvious reasons. So I decided to make my own.


Okay, not make... refurbish. I used gold leather paint I bought from Ebay for five dollars, and then I made some shoe clips from some gold and silver beads I had in my stash.

The beat up old flats, before:


The beaded flower, which I did not do in any particularly correct way, in detail:


The purple thing is a hair clip I appropriated for holding the flower. This means these shoe clips could also go in my hair... if I so choose.

Swap o Rama... rama

Went to the Venice Swap o Rama Rama with my friend Charlotte and had a blast.

There were two station where people were making bags, I should have taken pictures of this, but they were made out of shirts at one station, and pants at the other, using the hardware already on the clothing. You could make a really complicated looking bag out of a shirt with a zipper in about ten minutes (given the right shirt!).

I found some swell sailor jeans. They are a bit too short, so I'm going to hem them to capri length when I get some more denim needles.



I stenciled on a Greek key design, a pattern I'm fond of, in yellow.

I found a plain ivory Merona knit top and I added some fun appliques.





I have always pronounced "applique" wrong ... even though I think I have been corrected before. A-plee-kay, not a-pleek. Must remember.

I also met Lincoln, the fellow who makes this needle felted Yeti wonder. He's the one who corrected me on my French there. Needle felting is not the craft I had imagined. Apparently you're basically sculpting shapes out of wool with a needle, and it can be quite hazardous. Rar!

Craftster Challenge #28

I've been meaning to recon this office chair for a while -- my cats destroyed it a while back - and I finished it just in time for this month's Craftster Challenge, In the Hot Seat. My entry is here.

UPDATE: Voting is open! Vote here.

Incognito

I'm working on a lot of stuff right now but I can't post it because it is all surprises. I'm making a special cake for Morgan, and I'm working on a Craftster swap for a Dr. Who fan in England, and I can't wait to share these because I think they will be really cool. But it's a secret right now so shhhh.

In lieu of crafts, here is a picture of me hugging a tree.



That's an Ancient Bristlecone Pine. It was our second wedding anniversary this week, and we went up to the mountains near Big Pine, CA to celebrate, where we hiked and ate a whole lot. Hurray marriage! ;)



Ooo, edit: I made that hat, from a pattern in that book I love, Saturday Night Hat. It's called the Engineer's Hat and is made from one pant leg of a pair of ripped corduroys. So, crafty after all.

Using All the Scraps

Geoff was working Saturday, so I spent my alone time on a bunch of little projects, like this skirt. The green part was already a skirt I own, and liked, and bought for $10 at Ross. The fabric is green with a white flower embroidered pattern on it. The problem was that the hem wasn't very nice; it was a semi-unfinished hem with only a serged edge.

I thought, this would look nice with a band of white satin at the bottom, and I wondered if I had any white satin. So I looked through my scraps, thinking I might have some satin left over from the White Mage project. While searching I happened to find the hem from my wedding dress; the seamstress had given me the excess when she shortened it.

Perfect! Heck, it was already hemmed, I just had to attach it. I think it really adds something to the skirt, and it's good to use all your scraps, especially the sentimental ones.

Flowers Swapped

I sent off my first Craftster swap a few days ago, for the Flowers swap, and it arrived today. One medium and two smalls. I had a lot of fun doing this and when I have more time I've got to do another!




Oh my gosh. Is that... is that a toilet paper cozy? Jessica, do you have a problem? Do we need to send you to TP Cozies Anonymous?

I made this out of Dr. Girlfriend and the Monarch scraps, and for some reason I'm really proud of that. The pink is from her dress, and the orange is from his wings. The ribbon I bought for the dragon pillows before I decided to embroider them, and the button is something I bought for my wedding dress but did not use. So no, I don't have a problem; I spent $0 on this (and I also got to practice my button holes).

I'm going to post a HOWTO about making the flower, since I really like how it came out.



Pretty pretty recycling. This vase used to be an awesome bottle of vinegar. It's my first experiment with glass paint, and I wish I had used a natural brush as recommended so it wouldn't be so thick and streaky. But I still like it. The flower in there is now quite dead, and I didn't make any flowers to put in it, but I recommend a few buds of Gerbera daiseys, like so.



Note cards from a painting I made of the flower above. I really love watercolor, it prints up so nicely. These were also a stash buster, made from the leftover paper from my wedding invitations.

I sorta considered sending her my leftover wedding invitations themselves, but that would be such a cheat, right? Yes. Now I have to decide what to do with the actual painting. I wonder if my mother would like it for Mother's Day - she could put it on the fridge, like old times.

Belts from Ties

I like colorful accessories. I think this project is a great way to turn ties that would be hideous with a suit into belts that would be cute to wear with jeans. You can find bags of bright, otherwise useless ties at most thrift stores.


Tie Belt

I think I may use this idea as part of a costume for Geoff's new short movie.