There is no such thing as a silk worm (it's a caterpillar, silly)

Another wonderful natural fiber, silk is a protein obtained from cocoons made by the larvae of the mulberry silkworm Bombyx mori. I always thought the cute little worms, err, caterpillars, were raised and somehow "milked" for their silk. It is a lot more ugly. Commercially reared silkworm pupae are killed by steaming, dipping in boiling water or freezing them before the adult moths emerge, allowing the whole cocoon to be unraveled as one continuous thread. I expect some of them are allowed to mature to make more eggs that turn into more pupae. If the pupae break through the cocoon then the continuous thread made for the cocoon is broken. So a lot of little guys get boiled before they get to be moths. More on the process later. But appreciate that soft nighty or warm scarf.

Dragon Tie Belt

A while back my dad gave Dale all his cubicle-era ties he didn't want anymore. One of the ties that ended up in the bunch was my favorite tie from my childhood (next to the Yellow Submarine one of course). I decided to sneak that one off the tie rack and make a belt out of it using some vintage hook buckles I purchased off Gingham Girl's Etsy site. I don't like the belts made by just using the original shape. I wanted a belt that would go through my belt loops but still be noticeable as a tie. I ended up ripping the seam on the back of the tie and trimming the inside support down to the smallest width. Then I pinned it to the support and painfully sewed wiggle designs with my Brother sewing machine in gold metallic thread. This tool FOREVER and my thread broke every few minutes. I had to adjust my tension over and over again and that still didn't help. The thread bunched up really badly in many areas on the back side of the tie/belt. At least only the decorative gold wiggle stitching is visible, not the out of control bunches of thread. I attached the very long belt to the right dragon and began figuring out how to make the belt adjustable without buying more materials. I decided to use buttons. I have a wonderful vintage candy tin full of old buttons from Merry Sunshine on Etsy. I plucked out a card of gold buttons to match the dragon. I tried out the metallic thread for the button holes but threw out the idea on the first break of the thread and used yellow instead. My button holes came out great! I think it might even be the first time I've actually made real button holes for buttons. I sewed on the buttons and though they are evenly spaced, they do not match up with the button holes. I might resew them but two at a time will button in, enough to hold the belt on the needed size. I have three more vintage hook buckles and some thrift store ties for belts. There will definitely be some changes in the second belt but overall this was a really fun project and came out pretty neat. I can't wait to wear it!
Happy Crafting,
Cerise : )

Thrist Store Finds...

It's been a LOOOOONG time once again! And again, I can blame school and work. Over spring break, I had my first field geology experience in the Mojave Preserve and it was a blast. Last week was spring camp at the Fleet, and this week I have no excuse really for not posting anything. I have been crafting this past week and created some eco-friendly dry snack bags (more on that later), discovered a new craft (also more on that later), and am finishing a dragon tie belt project (once again, more on that later). During my lunch break yesterday I went to my favorite thrift store in North Park and hit the jack pot on seam binding, biased tapes, piping, twill tape, and other sewing goodies. I did forget to grab the cute little oval embroidery hoop but maybe it will be there next time. The seam binding was the perfect find for my eco-friendly snack bags and was a much cheaper buy than the craft store and is using (almost) upcycled materials.
One of the other goodies is a sewing machine light bulb that fits my Singer Featherweight.
Ironically enough, the light just now blew on the Singer Featherweight. Good thing I got one at the thrift store. Let's hope it works so I can finish my dragon tie belt. That is (hopefully) going to be my next post.
Happy Crafting,
Cerise : )

P.S.
I started this post from end to beginning out of my humor for the blown light bulb. The new light bulb won't fit in my machine!!! So so sad. Off to the craft store after all!

Thrift Store Thread Sherbert

A girl I work with at the Fleet came into set up her summer camp a few weeks back and had some cool sewing gear. She told me she went by the thrift store to get some thread and found a big stash of old wooden spools of thread in some great colors. As soon as I was off work I wandered around the thrift store, found the craft section, and was sad to see only a few sad balls of unloved yarn. I wandered down the street to another thrift store (there a quite a few in North Park), thinking maybe I had gotten the name of the thrift store wrong, and didn't even find a craft section is the very musty and creepy two story store. I called my dad and wandered back down the street, telling him of my sad ending to a great adventure. I stared into the window of the first thrift store and lo and behold, there were the wooden spools of thread on the other side of the store I hadn't ventured into. I quickly went in and almost squealed with delight at all the wonderful colors of thread and sizes of spools. Then I almost fainted at the price of them. They were only 20¢ each! Search wooden thread spools on the web and you will see how pricey they can be. I snatched up 41 spools in all in many magnificent colors, paid the women at the counter, and pranced out to my car with my wonderful find. Now, I'm not really sure what to do with them. I almost want to keep them to savor the wonderful craftiness of yesterday or just stick them in some vintage jelly jars to admire the beautiful, bright colors of the thread. I might end up using the thread because, even though it is old, a wooden spool of white thread I snagged from mom's thread box is the best thread I have ever used so I have faith in my new found treasure.
Empty spools can be great for crafts. I first became interested in wooden spools when I saw a Halloween garland at the Harvest Fest in Eureka, California, last fall. Since then, I have been scoping out wooden thread spools. I found a neat site about decorative relief carvings in wooden spools and I think I might give it a try for some neat Christmas decorations. I will have to talk my dad into lending me his carving tools first and invest in some paints. I don't know that I have room or time to take on another project but it would be fun!
Happy crafting,
Cerise : )