Waterproofing

Since Cerise has been talking about oilcloth it sparked interest in some other waterproof fabric. When we were kids and it rained while we were on our property in the mountains, my Dad would string up a big tarpaulin, which was very dark and heavy, and had a strong smell. This was a very old tarp and was actually covered with tar to make it water repellent.
In 1823 Charles Macintosh from Glasgow patented a waterproofing invention that used India rubber (from a ficus tree) mixed with coal tar naptha placed between two sheets of wool. This lead to the manufacture of the Mackintosh raincoat (nobody seems to know why the "k" was added), a classic that is still made today.
Thomas Hancock contributed his knowledge of vulcanized rubber technology, which solved a problem Macintosh had of the fabric becoming sticky with temperature changes. Is this the same guy who started Hancock fabrics? More research will be required! Later on many synthetics came onto the market including Gore-tex, by the invented Gore family. I believe they, too , are in the plastics hall of fame!
J. Crew makes a very handsome Mackintosh for a mere $800 and there are all sorts of vintage coats out there. Or go directly to the Mackintosh site where the two coats listed run about $900. For the women's styles (shown on micro-thin models) you need to request information. Sounds expensive. I suspect they last forever and only the styles change. And maybe you could start a campfire with one.
Theresa, Ommama

Denver, dogs and dad, a baby and the mall.

I just got back from a long trip to Denver to help my Dad go from hospital, to rehab to assisted living. It was an emotional trip, and, I think, ultimately successful. I missed my two little dogs who were delighted to see me when I got back. They weigh eleven pounds together. My sister has two large dogs whose teeth are bigger than my dogs. Her dogs make quite an impact when they jump into bed with you.

I also got to meet a new niece on her first day of life and go to the swanky Park Meadows Mall. No recession there. Everyone was packed into Hollister, Abercrombie and even the Hallmark store. So here is the tie-in to all these things: Buy handmade! I brought a cool necklace from CharmStar on Etsy for my niece's birthday—she wasn't returning my gift! There are multitudes of cool handmade baby gifts and dog toys. Who needs to go to Target or Petco! I got to thinking of all kinds of handmade things I want to try, from useful things for seniors to fun dog toys. Be creative, have fun and give from the heart!
Theresa
OmMama

The Real Oil Cloth

So the snack bags aren't up on Etsy or Art Fire yet but they will be soon! And to add to the good snack bag news I'm working on leak "proof" snack bags. My first thought for this was vinyl and that led me to using oil cloth. But I realized I wanted to be really green about this, I mean vibrant-in-your-face-kelly-green. So I thought a little harder about the oil cloth. I had looked into this fabric before and found out that all this supposed oil cloth was really cute cotton prints coated in PVC. I don't want PVC leaching into my food! The point is to get away from plastic. So I researched the wonderful web full or information for any and every project you could ever want to start. I quickly came up with the very simple and easy way to make oil cloth. Spread some oil on a piece of cloth. It really is that easy! Real oil cloth is made using cotton fabric and a flax byproduct called linseed oil.


This would be a natural alternative that wouldn't leach nasty PVC chemicals into my food (this link talks about the poisons of PVC). I devised a plan to construct a frame on which to stretch my selected cotton prints. I didn't want to staple the fabric to the frame and waste a whole inch on the edge (you can make neat things out of long fabric scraps). My thrift store embroidery hoops came to mind. I would make a large and bulky embroidery hoop that would hold about a fat quarter's worth of fabric without putting holes into the pretty pieces. I went to Lowe's (this was the fun outing alternative to the neighboring Ikea in Mission Valley) and picked up some long skinny boards, stiff metal joints, and found some boiled linseed oil. I have the outer frame mostly constructed, save the tightening mechanism similar to the embroidery hoops. Due to the lack of a real wood saw (I was stuck using my tiny metal jewelry saw with it's tiny little blades NOT meant for wood) the ends of my boards are really rough. I'm going to have to file down the inner frame board ends in order for them to fit inside the outer frame. Then it's just connecting the last few pieces and I will be ready to get greasy! I probably should have waited to start this project after we moved so I had some sunny outdoor space to apply the linseed oil but I think I'll finish it here and try at least one swatch. Stay tuned to see a final product and more about how cool oil cloth really is!
Happy Crafting,
Cerise : )

The Progressing Sweater

As promised, another post! Lately I have been discovering a balance between my sewing and my knitting and trying to fit that into my everyday life. With very little work in my week I have been able to focus more on this (I'm still trying to fit school in there somewhere too). Sewing is the best in the say time as my "craft room" (a.k.a. the bedroom) is nice and sunny and I don't need to strain my eyes in bad light (and I still don't have a bulb for my machine). Knitting is best at night while catching my favorite History, Discovery, and Travel Channel shows or while reading my knitting magazine. This has been working out rather well. My sweater is starting to come along and I'm beginning to think about how to approach the neck. The pattern I started with (Treeline Striped Cardigan from The Purl Bee) won't be helpful for creating a v-line neck with a big edge.


I am going to have to dive right in to creating my own pattern if I want this to be a v-neck. The big, ugly, chunky man-sweater I have been working on (the blue one I've been ignoring since I finally got the last skein I needed to finish it, remember that one?) might help me figure this out. I have many more little stitches on this purple and white striped beauty but at least looking at how to decrease may give me some insight. I was hoping to try the end of the sweater on to see how much longer I want to make it but the needle cord is too small to go over me in either direction. It definitely has a little ways to go but it's very exciting to finally see some actual progress that looks like an article of clothing. Unfortunately, the onset of summer is getting me winding down on sweater projects. I'll have to pick up a side project of something lightweight and cotton so my knitting mind doesn't get overheated with all that warm and woolly yarn.
Happy Crafting, Cerise : )

Facebook Fan Fridays!

Great "breaking" news! We were so kindly featured on Zakka Life's blog on the Facebook Fan Fridays section. Check out the great Zakka Life blog and Zakka Life on Facebook. I love getting the email updates and looking at all the cool craft ideas and projects. Thanks!!! And don't forget to check out the new Krafty Katina and Om Mamma's Facebook page. We might just have to start up a Facebook fan section too!
Happy Crafting,
Cerise : )

Dragon Tie Belt Picture!

After however long it's been...toooooo long...here is a picture of the dragon tie belt. All upcycled materials! Unfortunately the camera is thrown off by the shimmer of the gold dragons and can't manage a great picture, but hopefully you get the idea. I'll be holding down the blog fort while mum is in Denver. More to come soon...
Happy Crafting,
Cerise : )

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 : )

Eco-friendly Dry Snack Bags

On my trip to Jo Ann's for...hmmm...I don't remember what for...I had a wild hair you know where and decided to start yet another project. This one I actually started and finished the SAME DAY! Eco-friendly snack and lunch bags, produce and bulk food bags, and shopping bags have been all the rage lately. I have seen them on Etsy, in Whole Foods, and other areas on the web. I decided about a month ago that I should make my own. I have been eco-groovey lately (I think it's the anticipation of being Corvallis and getting back to my "hippier" lifestyle) so I decided to take advantage of some sale cotton quilting fabric. I passed some wonderful pear fabric and was instantly inspired. I also got some cute cherries on checkers and some tree lover fabric (very fitting since it's saving bags!) and picked up a package of sew on velcro. I started in on my project right when I got home. I never pre-wash my fabric (I know, this is a no-no but I have coin-op laundry only!) but I did iron my fabric. I've found this is a really good idea with the cotton. I pulled out my bolt of muslin (sadly it's bleached) and started cutting out square of outer fabric and lining fabric with only a small idea of how I was going to make this snack back. I started with the pear print and quickly finished a great little velcro closure baggie. It came out exactly why I wanted it to! I thought the velcro may not be strong enough just attached to the muslin liner so I pulled out all my ribbon and began matching colors to prints for something to blend in the stitches on the outer fabric. I consulted my testing crew (Dale) and he decided it was quite sturdy with the velro just on the muslin. But the ribbon and lace looked so pretty on the cherry checker fabric that the pears now looked naked. I found some pretty scrap lace and seam biding ribbon for the happy tree fabric and after an afternoon and evening of sewing, with a break for dinner and the weekly crossword, I had three littl snack bags done. I really like the ribbon/lace accent on the outside and am going to hunt for something to match the pears for the next baggie. I love them and will soon be using them when my upcylced ziplock baggies get too ripped up to continue using. I also plan on gifting them and most likely selling them on Etsy or even at a craft show in Oregon and will definitely take special orders and requests until they hit the public market! I have some cute dino fabric on the way to make kid-friendly baggies too! I also want to make some reusable leak proof snack baggies for wet and gooey stuff but that is a future experiment that will have to wait a little while. For now, I'll just be using all the leftover apple sauce jars.
Happy Crafting, Cerise : )

Mercy, Mercy, Mercerized

I never quite finished talking about Nylon. I will get back to it, I promise! My tangent today is "Mercerized," something coined by a Mr. Joseph Mercer. I see Mercerized thread and fabric and never really knew what it was. Someone asked, I checked around.
I have a dog named Bluto and whenever he chews something we say he Bluterized it. Well Mercerizing is kind of similar really, only in a chemical way. Mercer discovered in 1844 that if treat you cotton thread or fabric under tension with a caustic soda it will increase the luster and allow the fabric to more readily accept dye. Apparently Mercer loved dyes and later learned a lot of chemistry. Science and fashion do mix! At first it was quite a failure as Mercerizing causes the fabric to shrink and the chemicals were expensive. Once Mercerizing became mechanized (whew, that's a mouthful!) and improved the process, it was successfully patented and is still used today.
Maybe I can find a way to put Bluto to work on an invention after all. He is full of Blutonium. There is no other way to explain his behavior.
Theresa

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!