Is sewing for the birds?

I'm going to try to get my act together and use these new-fangled "tags". I've never successfully caught on, and since I post so rarely, I was stuck on the original design of this blog, in which we had to post to the separate food/gardening/books blog first. Anyways, I've been dabbling a bit in sewing recently. My sister, planning to upgrade to a Singer, gave me her old sewing machine a while ago. It didn't have a manual and it wasn't threaded, so I never used it. Even though my mom is a seamstress and deals with sewing machines day in a day out, I didn't want to bring it to her. But thank goodness for my crafty friend Rita, who figured out how to thread it and even sewed up some birds for my birthday party guests and me.


Sewing in action!
If you look closely at Rita's sweater in the top left corner,
you'll see that it's printed with balls of yarn, needles, and
thread. Awesome sweater!

These little stuffed birds are adorable and so easy to make by machine or by hand. I'm still a little clumsy with the machine, so I don't mind handsewing. In fact, handsewing these cuties while watching tv (in a well-lit room, obviously) or listening to music is what I call a relaxing evening. It's great for beginners and for using up fabric scraps. And hey, instant gratification!





The pattern is available here. If I make enough, I may create that sweet mobile.

Of Mice and Men: Summer Resolutions

The summer is half gone, and I have yet to announce the summer resolutions that have been simmering in my mind since the end of last semester. Of course, I was away in Hong Kong. Then, my uncle passed away while I was there and, within a week of coming back to Albany, I was flying out to L.A. again for the memorial service.

I had decided that I needed summer resolutions because I never seem to be able to do anything about New Year's resolutions. You make those over the winter break (if you're a student, as I am), but then the spring semester begins, and you're way too busy to stick to them. Therefore, I think it is a better idea to make summer resolutions. Even though I will be busy this summer, too, I stand a better chance of making a good head start on these. I also have concrete objectives, rather than just a number of vague goals, by which to measure my success.


Lana's Summer 2008 Resolutions

1. Do more exercise.

This includes:

• at least one 20-minute walk each week. I would especially like to walk along the Hudson River waterfront, near to which my workplace is conveniently located. Also, this would be a good way to get to know my neighbourhood, which is fairly nice for walking.
• pilates; at least 30-minutes once a week. I also plan to get at least one private lesson this summer (probably all that I will be able to afford), to make sure I am doing it correctly. For the other times, I will be investing in more exercise DVDs.

2. Do some knitting.

I didn't do any knitting this past semester. Fixing the sleeve of the department secretary's sweater doesn't really count.

• First priority is finishing up my numerous UFOs, especially Moocow's shawl.
• Use some of the lovely yarn I bought at Webs.
  

3. Do some sewing.

I have a beautiful Bernina sewing machine (which I bought used on Ebay), which I haven't used enough by far. I have a lot of sewing objectives for the summer. I want to sew at least one each of the following (in order of difficulty/time commitment):

• an apron
• a bag (I think I will make my first projects some grocery bags)
• a skirt
• a top
• a pair of pants
• a dress
• curtains for the living room
• a slip cover for the couch

I also want to learn to do the following:

• machine applique
• fit/alter a pattern, or create a sloper. If I am going to sew my own clothing, I want to make sure that it fits well!

I probably won't get through all of these this summer, but I am going to do my best.

4. Spinning

I want to take spinning lessons and learn to spin on a spinning wheel. I'm not ready to buy a spinning wheel yet, but I want to learn more about spinning, so that I can make an informed decision when I am ready to make the investment (if I like spinning).

• rent a spinning wheel
• take a couple of spinning classes

5. Dance classes

Nope, not of the bump-and-grind sort. That really isn't my style. I've taken ballroom dancing classes twice before, once in high school, and once in college. Both times, however, my partner was a female and, with both of us taking turns as the lead and trying to learn two parts, nothing really stuck.

• Take ballroom dancing classes for at least the summer, and continue if time and finances allow during the semester.

6. Masters Thesis

I probably should have put this first! I want to graduate by this December, so I MUST work on my thesis.

7. Cooking

I am helping out at the CSA again this season, so I will be getting weekly shares of vegetables. I have lots of recipes that I want to try out, but I have three things in particular that I want to do.

• Learn to use my pressure cooker, a Christmas present from my parents that has been sitting around.
• Experiment with puff pastry.
• Make more Chinese soups. In previous years, I would make healthful soups, with Chinese herbs, at least twice a month. I haven't done that at all this year. I bought two Chinese/English recipe books of Chinese soups, so I want to try the ones for which I can get ingredients.

8. Enjoy Albany

I feel as though I have been working non-stop since I came to Albany, and I haven't really taken advantage of all the cultural and natural resources available.

• Budget allowing, try some local restaurants. No chain restaurants for me!
• See an opera (I missed ballet season already, unfortunately) in Saratoga Spring.
• Go to Lake George when N comes to visit
• Go fruit picking at nearby U-pick farms: raspberries, blueberries, peaches, oh my!

9. GIS

I want to improve my skills as a GIS user. Summers are usually slower here at the DEC, so I hope to use my down time to:

• learn how to use the Network Analyst module
• complete some ESRI Virtual Campus courses
• Read and work through the Idrisi Andes tutorials, since I had to fork over the money for the 9-month license for a class last semester

10. Blog more regularly!! At least once a week. You probably won't be interested to hear about work, and schoolwork but, hopefully, with all my summer activities, there will be more interesting things to blog about.

It does seem like a lot, doesn't it? I can't relax and laze the summer away, but I still intend to enjoy it by keeping myself productive, although well-rested (I hope). I've already started on a couple of my resolutions, so I'll probably be giving an update this weekend.

Tis the Season!

Yes, I do know how to make more than food, although lately I've been worried that I've gotten rusty at doing other things. Our Final Buffet was this weekend, and although we're not totally done with pastry school yet, we won't be cooking nearly as much from now on. (I'm not putting the pictures up here, since there are too many, but here is the link to the album.) Even better, we don't have any more long homework assignments, woohoo!!! The first order of the day was to get ready for Christmas, and with that, I headed off to Target to buy the shortest length of tree lights that I could find - 12 feet for around $2.00. As for the tree, our apartment is tiny, so we had to find an accordingly tiny specimen. For all the apartment dwellers out there, you'll understand how hard it is to find a real tree that's under 4 feet tall. In past years we've made do with a tabletop balsam tree from LLBean that costs $80, but this year we got lucky. You'll never guess where I found this little guy......Whole Foods, for only $25! Whole Foods calls it a "tabletop" tree, too, but they must have a huge table in mind. Doesn't it look perfect our little corner here? Even better, this tree reminds me of the scrawny, lovable little shrub in "A Charlie Brown Christmas."

Aside from getting the tree set up, I managed to get started on some stocking stuffers for the holidays, too.
This duo is going to work hard at looking cute on someone's refrigerator this holiday. Here they are going for a practice run on our fridge.

New Shower Curtain

At last, I found time to finish the shower curtain, which has been sitting around half-complete for months now (that's why there are all those wrinkles). W and I picked out the brown brocade to go with our 1950's style, pink formica sink counter. The previous tenants had gone for a pink and green colour scheme (I still need to replace those green blinds!), but we decided on brown and pink. It reminds me of chocolate sundaes and other chocolaty delights.

See the date on that photo? It was September when I was sewing it up and pinking the raw edges. For many weeks I was trying to find the right shade of metal grommet, buying and returning several times. After an aborted attempt to actually put in the grommets (not enough layers of fabric, or fabric too thin), I let it sit a couple more weeks before I finally went with simple buttonholes.

I had to stick some pink satin at the top, because they were don't to the last few yards of the bolt of fabric, and I didn't have enough for the curtain. I think it turned out rather well, though, don't you?

Sewing Inspiration

First Kea sews some spectacular, spontaneous quilted cushion covers. Then, I come across a wonderful sewing blog, Sew, Mama, Sew!, that is currently doing a 30-day series on little sewing gifts, with links to fabulous tutorials and other crafty sewing blogs. I'm sure Moocow will be interested in the lunch bags, and there is an excellent tutorial for a quilted fabric wallet that I would really like to try my hand at.

So, if you like sewing, crafts, cute things, or just superb craftsmanship, head on over!

The Urge to Sew

I've been experiencing a terrible urge to sew. Terrible, because I just don't have the time to do any sewing now. I'm still settling in, my new roommate is still moving in, and I just HAVE to finish that pair of Bayerische for my sock pal!

What, you might ask, brought on this sewing urge? Well, there was Moocow coming to visit and making cute lunch bags. There's the fact that some of my favourite knit bloggers, such as Grumperina and Elizabeth, have been blogging about sewing lately. There's the fact that I haven't sewn anything in a while. And there's the fact that I've been having window treatments running through my mind constantly, because I know that I want to sew curtains for the new place, and make a new slipcover for the couch that the previous tenants left behind. I. Want. To. Sew. The fact that I haven't gone shopping for clothes in months might also have something to do with it.

Well, with the excuse of looking at what kinds of home decorating fabrics are available at the local JoAnn's, I spent a couple of hours happily looking at everything. There was a Simplicity pattern sale, so what do I do? Find some other patterns that I want! As you can see from the picture above, I did end up getting two Simplicity patterns. I love sewing soft toys, and couldn't resist their new bear pattern. The very simple skirt/pants pattern is for a project that I will unveil at a later date.

I don't know why I noticed this Butterick blouse pattern. It isn't new, and I've probably seen it a dozen times before while I was browsing through the pattern catalogues. This time, however, it caught my eye because I realised that it looks almost exactly like my favourite Ann Taylor blouse (picture below)!!! It even has a side zipper. I can't wait until I have a little more time!
I went looking for the New Look dress pattern after seeing the absolutely irresistible dress made by Liesl. Seriously, take a look at it and I assure you, you'll fall in love.

So, no actual sewing has been accomplished. Just a whole lot of thinking about sewing.

Lunching in Style

My SO has searched high and low for his ideal "lunch pail," as he likes to call it, and finally asked that I make one up for him. He wanted it totally plain; ideally, it would look like a brown paper bag, but would be insulated and/or waterproof. As luck would have it, Lana had recently purchased a Japanese craft book on making lunch totes, which I borrowed. We decided that this one would do the job nicely.

We couldn't find the reflective insulating material that lines most ready-made bags, but we did find a cool iron-on vinyl. I found a plain brown cotton drill that looks somewhat like brown paper, and found a nice brown gingham to iron the vinyl onto for the interior. (the picture below is of the floral lining I used for my own lunch bag. After doing the first one, there was enough material left to do a second!)I made my promise back in January, but it wasn't until I came up to Albany to visit Lana that I put scissor to cloth. While I was there, Lana helped me translate the instructions, and thank goodness I waited, because it would have been a disaster if I'd proceeded with the diagrams only. I was also able to take advantage of her cutting board, quilting rulers, rotary cutter, Bernina sewing machine, and various bits of sewing odds and ends that made the whole process much less painful. The only downside was that there was a heat wave, and I sweated buckets while laboring over the fabric in 95-degree weather. At 6:30 there was a giant thunderstorm. Rico - a friend who was staying with us - and I ran downstairs to stand in the rain like they do in the movies. It always looks so refreshing and liberating. Not so in real life. Unfortunately, this was no gentle summer storm. The rain was COLD, as in, about 50 degrees. With 25 mph gusts of wind lashing at us and horrific crashes of thunder and lighting seeming to occur right over us, we only stayed for 5 minutes and returned, drenched and defeated, into the stifling apartment again. Still, I perservered, and after four hours of labor, I ended up with a wonderful new lunch tote! It's different from the picture in the book(much less feminine!) and has a fastener rather than a strap, but it turned out well!

Red apples or green?

School Apples

The cliched old image of a little boy or girl bringing in a shiny red apple for Teacher originated during the days of one-room schoolhouses, when communities pooled their resources to hire and retain a teacher. Part of the teacher's salary would be paid by the students' families in food. Due in no small part to Johnny Appleseed's influence, many pioneer families would plant an apple tree on their property. The fruit not only kept well in cellars, but the tree grew quickly and provided welcome shade in the summertime. Come autumn everyone would have a plentiful apple harvest to lay away for the winter. Thus it was that schoolchildren often went to school with a basket of apples (yes, a basket, not just one), and/or some jams, vegetables or bit of pork. You get the idea.

So, when I wanted to give a small gift to some teachers who had really gone out of their ways to be kind and helpful to me in the last couple years, this quaint old custom provided the perfect inspiration. Lana and I had purchased this Japanese craft book a year ago, but I had never had the chance to make anything from it. Too busy to shop for the materials, let alone figure out the pictures (annotated in Japanese, of which I speak zilch), and put anything together. Well, today I did, and here is the result. My apple is propped up against a salt shaker. If you will notice, mine is laughing open-mouthed, compared to the one in the book that sports a rather milquetoastey grin. Also did away with the fake reflection marks on the left cheek...didn't want to bother with the fiddly cutting and gluing. I was going to turn it into a keyring so that it would be somewhat useful, but the corded arms and legs, with the glued-on hands and feet, indicated that that would be a bad idea. Oh well. I have to make a few, so maybe my next one will be green. Stay tuned.

A Perfect Weekend

Moocow and I had an incredible weekend! On Saturday morning, we went to the winter farmer's market in Troy and had fun looking at the lovely produce, tasting cheeses and jams, eating breakfast and, of course, planning for dinner. As you can see, we got some beautiful spinach and mushrooms (golden oyster, blue oyster and shiitake) for a salad, and some bolero carrots. We also got some jams - some time, I'll have to take pictures of the quince and sour cherry jams that I bought.

Then off we went to Ballston Spa, to the Medberry Inn and Spa, where we had a soothing soak in mineral baths, massages and facials. We browsed the quaint little area of historic Ballston Spa and poked around in some antique shops, after which we headed off to Moocow's true goal for this trip: Mrs. London's Bakery in Saratoga Springs.

I've been here in Albany a year, but I hadn't yet been up to Saratoga Springs. What a difference from Albany! It's a little like Georgetown, and perhaps a little what Bath (in England) might be like - a lively spa town, with interesting shops and restaurants and people there enjoying themselves.

Mrs. London's is, according to Saveur, the best bakery in the country. After reading that bold statement, Moocow just had to come try it. We had the best panini either of us had ever bitten into, and I had the most divine lemon meringue tart. The butter cookie tart crust was perfectly delicate and crumbly, the lemon the perfect balance of sweet and tart, and the meringue light and subtly flavoured. What a treat! Now that I've been there, I will most assuredly be back. Often.

And, just a block away from the bakery, Saratoga Needle Arts! How could I resist? Walls of cubbies, filled with an amazing selection of gorgeous yarns. I came away with 7 skeins of Cascade 220 in a heathery lavender colour, for A Cardigan for Arwen in the Winter 2006 issue of Interweave Knits. They were having a Debbie Bliss sale (30%!!!), and I so wanted to try knitting with the Cashmerino Aran called for in the pattern, but they just didn't have enough balls of the colour I liked, so I got the Cascade 220 instead.

We'd had a late lunch at the bakery, and got back late from Saratoga, but we started preparing dinner right away, since we'd decided on shepherd's pie.

First, cooking the rich, stew-like portion of the "pie," with lamb, leeks, peas and carrots (from the farmer's market), and preparing the mashed potatoes that would go on top. Then, the stew goes in the bottom of a casserole dish, it's topped with the mashed potatoes, and browned in the oven. The recipe was taken from Saveur (I'm not sure which issue, but Moocow would know), and turned out beautifully. It got rave reviews from Moocow and my roommate.
And, in case you thought we weren't being healthy, we had spinach salad with lightly sauteed mushrooms and a light, red wine vinegar vinaigrette.
Moocow was to leave Sunday morning, but inclement weather persuaded her to stay an extra day. And what did I have her do in that inclement weather? Go out to buy the sewing table that I had been saving for, and which she had promised she would help me carry up the stairs into the apartment when she came to visit. So, while Moocow did her readings for class the next day, I spent most of the afternoon assembling my sewing table.

It went from this.......

....to this! I got blisters from wrestling with the screwdriver, but it's all assembled now, and I moved my fabric stash and sewing supplies, as well as my extremely heavy Bernina 1630, into the table.
Here, you can see how it looks all opened up. The large door swings open to hold up the extension on the side (for a larger work surface), and there is room for thread and other sewing supplies. And the space I created in the laundry room from moving my sewing things? Why, it's filled with all the new yarn I've been purchasing! Yes, I really should stop, and I will. Right after the yarn crawl that's coming this weekend......

And a lovely ending to the day? We watched Stranger Than Fiction, which was unexpectedly meaningful and enjoyable. I think this is a weekend I will treasure and remember with pleasure for a long time, especially when finals roll around.

Oh, thank God!

Yes, it's been an inordinately long time since I've posted. Or since any of us have posted. I'm sure we're all busy. I was certainly busy last semester, with school, teaching and waitressing. Also, I've been having roommate issues. Serious roommate issues. So I haven't been in the mood to post. But that doesn't mean I haven't been crafty. No siree! I've saved up pictures of the sewing (minimal) and knitting (substantial) that I've been doing.

But first, I'd like to thank Google for FINALLY giving us CATEGORIES!!! When I have a longer moment, I'm going to have to figure out how to move various posts from our category blogs into the main blog. Once that is done (and I'm a little afraid that it is going to be a painful operation) it will be so much easier to post.

Anyway, here's a picture of the only serious sewing I've done in the past couple of months. It was a yoga mat bag for Moocow. I used a sewing pattern (it was either McCall's, or Simplicity; can't be bothered to dig it out right now), but it was really simple, and probably didn't really require a pattern. Oh well. The bag pattern came together with patterns for various pieces of exercise clothing. Don't you love the fabric?

Another vague attempt at tailoring

These are the most recent clothes I've made, mostly by reverse-engineering clothes I already had. I used a tank top to get the measurements for the width of the halter top. And I took the measurements for the pants from a pair of gauchos my mom got me from the US, but I made them long instead of mid-calf length. (Calf-length pants annoy me in some way I can't quite describe - it's like they're neither fish nor fowl, or something.)

I can write up instructions if anyone's interested.

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Posted by Kea to Bumbling Bees - Sewing at 9/06/2006 07:04:00 AM

Patchwork Cushion Cover

Note: I posted this in the sewing blog yesterday but for some reason it did not appear in the main blog.

I've been procrastinating a lot lately, so much that I found myself doing something resembling quilting. I made a patchwork cushion cover for my sofa cushions. I have no sewing machine, no pins, no chalk (I used a felt tip) and no patience for measuring, so making this one cushion took two days. One down, three to go.

My original cushion covers were Hideous Loud Print Orange and Modern Art Lime Green. Boyfriend pronounced them the ugliest pillows on earth. We had just bought them in a hurry so our friends would have something to sit on during our housewarming gathering 2 months ago. It's a small apartment and we don't have enough chairs. Red, blue and plaid is a big improvement. (Remember the plaid cow? It's the same cloth.)

I'm a bit worried about the inside seams fraying all over the place since I didn't have the patience to bind them all individually. I'm thinking of buying some of that iron-on interfacing and sticking it on. I'd just have to get an iron first. I'm also wondering how it would fare in the washing machine. I left about an inch of room for shrinkage, but what if the different kinds of cloth shrink differently? Oh well, I guess I'm not washing them anytime soon. I wonder if the laundromat will cold wash them and then give them back to me wet to hang out to dry?

Coin Pouch

This is the other thing I've been doing instead of work. Boyfriend has this tendency to destroy his coin pouches. The zippers break. The seams split. I don't even know how you can split a seam in leather. Objects in his pockets must be subject to forces normally seen only at the centre of black holes.

I was at a craft store with my mother last week and spotted some hinged metal clasps. This eliminates the need for zippers. I got some extremely heavy denim and made a pouch leaving a whole 3/4 centimetre seam allowance, and then bound up all the edges with V stitching so that they won't fray. If this thing isn't indestructible, I don't know what is.

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Posted by Kea to Bumbling Bees - Sewing at 7/25/2006 01:17:00 PM

Lunch Bag

This is what I spent most of yesterday making. I bought a Japanese craft book while I was in Japan, and I've been intending to make a couple of the bags in it (this one is a lunch bag, or a "bento bag") for a while.

Now that I'm settled in, I felt a hankering to take my sewing machine out. On Friday, after work, I passed by the Jo-ann's and went in to see if I could find a fabric to make into a shower curtain. I think I found what I wanted; it's a semi-transparent, linen-look fabric with see-through, coloured areas that form leaves and flowers on a cream background. I didn't have the shower stall measurements with me, though, so I didn't buy it. (You can't return fabric once it's been cut off the bolt!)

But, of course, I couldn't just leave without browsing the other fabrics!! I knew I wanted to make this style of bag, with the cute, handkerchief-style tied top. Then I found this pretty butterfly fabric.

The instructions were in Japanese, of course. The diagrams were fairly detailed, but with only the bare bones for instruction. I'm positive that some details were missing (for example, diagrams for cutting fabrics included a lining fabric, but the materials list didn't), and it isn't perfect, but it's functional!

I'm sure it will look better with an actual lunch inside to fill it out, instead of just my wallet and a notebook.

I'm going to sew another bag this weekend, hopefully. Andrea's birthday is coming up, and I know her handbag is falling apart at the seams. I just have to figure out how to attach the lining so that the seams are all enclosed (unfortunately, not the case with this bag), and how to attach the zip. It's been years and years (at least 6, by my count) since I've put in a zipper, and I've only ever put in 3!

Her birthday is July 3rd, and I'll be away on a roadtrip until the 4th, so I'll post pictures of the finished product after that.

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Posted by Lana to Bumbling Bees - Sewing at 6/25/2006 11:46:00 AM

I'm still here!

This doesn't all fit in one category, so, here we go.

Lessee. Where've I been? Finished moving into my new apartment, finally. This was an Ordeal since it involved several rounds of buying furniture, and then assembling it all. There is nary a piece of furniture here (except the bed) that Boyfriend and I did not assemble ourselves. Lucky I have an electric drill. Yes, I had to assemble that bookshelf you see there.

I've also been sewing. See here the curtains I sewed for my bedroom. Excuse the hideous colour choices. Since blocking light on the cheap was my primary concern, I bought dark purple material for HK$10 per yard (black seemed too gloomy). But I found that I did not buy enough dark purple material, hence the added orange bits at the bottom. I soon found out why that material was so cheap. It is so incredibly stiff that it breaks sewing machine needles. You can not sew through more than two layers of the stuff without snapping your needles in half. I had to add the tabs at the top by hand. Maybe it was coated with some wax or something, because it softened up considerably after washing. It also shrunk. Diagonally. Lesson learned: always wash material before sewing.

Here is what I did with some of the leftover orange material. This is a parrot tent. It is for my parrot to sleep in. My parrot, pictured below left, does not like to sleep in the parrot tent. Instead, he likes to remove the snap buttons on the straps used to hang the tent in his cage. What he likes to sleep in is pictured below, right. *sigh*



What does get more parrot appreciation is this. The landlords left this wooden ladder behind after renovating our apartment. It was totally covered in plaster and paint, so I spent an afternoon sanding that off. Plus I sawed about a foot off the bottom so that it would take up less space. Then I hung parrot toys all over it. It has been duly claimed as parrot territory.

And finally, for your amusement: Boyfriend Pajama Pants. Boyfriend has trouble finding large enough pajama pants here in Hong Kong. But having sewed these pants in his absence, I discovered that I made them large enough to get two of him in them. Ah, the wonders of elastic.

Sewing Vintage

No time for pictures or anything, especially since I haven't had any time to sew or use my sewing machine lately.

But at work last week, when I was bored out of my mind, I came across a review of this website, A Dress A Day, on the PatternReview website. It's tonnes of fun, and I can't resist those glamourous vintage dresses! Of course, it isn't just vintage stuff, but I love dresses just as much as the next girl, and I really recommend that you check this site out.

I need to post the pictures from my hiking trip last weekend, so stay tuned!

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Posted by Lana to Bumbling Bees - Sewing at 5/10/2006 09:04:00 PM

sSimple skirt

When I was living in Boston, I bought a bunch of really nice orange-red material at a yard sale, but haven't done anything with it until now.

Then recently I found this website. It contains step-by-step instructions on how to make a pattern for a simple skirt. It's really detailed.

And this is the result. I modified it a little. Instead of being completely straight, I made it a very slight A-line. I made it flat-fronted instead of putting darts in it, which I think looks a bit daft. This involves a bit of mathematical fudgery. All the space you'd winch in with front darts, you transfer to the sides.

And then I had a bit of trouble with the back. I realized a little late that it is not a good idea for a skirt to have three darts in the back. (Oh LOOK! A delineated butt crack!) So I took the middle one out, and the skirt ended up a bit too big. So I had to unpick part of the waistband and add a little elastic.

And then I added the little button tab. I didn't realize my mom's sewing machine could make buttonholes, so I ended up hand-binding it. Looks like a mess, but whatever.

But hey, not bad for my first measured garment. It even has my first zipper installation and it doesn't look too weird.

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Posted by Kea to Bumbling Bees - Sewing at 4/06/2006 05:11:00 PM

Hippocow (of Plaid)

Several years ago, my brother bought a couple of stuffed moose. (Mooses? Meese? I prefer "meese".) Well I think it's supposed to be a reindeer, but I like to think of it as a moose.

The moose body is a pillow folded in half and held together by velcro. I thought it was quite clever, really. The corners of the pillow even seem to be making little legs.

So I decided to copy it. It seemed simple enough - you make the head and then sew it onto a big rectangle. I looked at the way the pieces were put together, and drew up a version on newspaper.

I cut the pieces out of the newspaper and taped them together to make sure the seam lengths matched and they fit together right. Then I carefully snipped the tape and then used the newspaper pieces as my pattern templates. It worked all right for the most part. Except I made the piece that formed the back of his neck too wide, the result being that he has a couple of darts (er, gathers?) at the back of his head for it to fit onto the body properly. Plus, I would have preferred him to have a shorter, wider snout.

As it is, he looks like a hippocow. I intended him to be a cow*, but he looks more hippo-like. Except hippos don't have horns, do they? Oh well, he's still cute. I had some leftover black yarn from my Blue Backpack of Doom so I gave him a moptop. He also has a tassel tail. I actually had to sew the hairs onto his head two at a time! (There's gotta be a better way to do this.)

There's another picture him opened out flat below. I really have no idea where to get toy stuffing in Hong Kong, so I ended up buying a cheap pillow and cannibalizing it. Problem was, the pillow turned out to be mostly foam with a thin layer of stuffing wrapped around it. The stuffing looks almost like the stuff people use to line fish tank filters! It was that cheap. So hippocow's body is stuffed with four side-by-side strips of foam partly disguised in a stuffing sandwich. He's a bit lumpy. Man, am I a hack or am I a hack?

* This is my second cow. The first I made during Christmas for Boyfriend. His nickname is Ngau Ngau because I can't pronounce his last name (Nguyen). I started calling him Ngau Yuen instead, and the cow thing stuck.

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Posted by Kea to Bumbling Bees - Sewing at 4/04/2006 07:51:00 AM

Shower emergency

I was helping my roommate, Andrea, move into our new apartment in Albany this weekend. The move went so well, we decided to stay at the new place, even though there were some odds and ends left at her old place.

It was pretty late - and we were completely exhausted - when we realised that we didn't have a shower curtain for the shower stall. I just can't go to sleep without taking a shower at night, and I'd gotten all hot and sweaty moving huge, heavy pieces of furniture.

So, I "sewed" a temporary shower curtain. Our moving buddy, Erin, just happened to have a huge, black garbage bag in her purse. (Please don't ask me why, I was just greatful!) I slit it down the sides, but kept the bottom intact, so it formed a long rectangle. Using some scrapbooking tape (it's just double-sided tape) that Andrea had in her desk - which we had moved that morning - I taped the curtain by one end to the curtain rod. Then, to prevent the curtain from billowing, I attached some pennies to the bottom with more tape. It took me all of three minutes, but I had a nice, hot shower that night!

Sorry, no pictures! I didn't have my camera with me. But I'll be moving in myself next weekend, so I might take a picture then.

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Posted by Lana to Bumbling Bees - Sewing at 4/03/2006 05:05:00 PM