KSL Finds

Remember how I had 6 weeks off school to get the nursery put together?  Yeah, that 6 weeks ends Monday.  I've been a crazy painting, decorating lady the last few days.

Originally, I had not planned to paint the room other than giving the ceiling and base boards a nice coat of white.  But then we dropped the closet doors onto the wall...huge gashes.  So we had to paint.  I'm glad we did because I love the color.  (Listen to me saying "We."  Husband dropped the doors, I painted...giving him credit...geesh)  He probably would have done it all for me but I wanted it done now.  So, I painted...for 6 hours and almost killed myself by falling off the step stool multiple times.

Side note: being pregnant and painting is difficult.  Like hours upon hours to paint a small rectangular room.  Also, I didn't function very well the rest of the day.  My recovery...Otter Pops and a Bones marathon for the rest of the night.

I wanted a glider and a changing table or dresser for the nursery but buying them new?...those things are expensive!  We eventually found both of them on KSL but they were a little on the ugly side.

The changing table was this lovely honey color and it's laminate...just like everything made in the early nineties, lucky us.

Don't hate on my subpar photography skills...I took this after the 6 hours of painting.

Turns out you can paint laminate without sanding...if you use the right primer.  Warning: the primer is stinky!  I'm really hoping I didn't do any permanent damage to me or Baby H. as I was painting.  I would highly recommend not using it in your house...unless you had to because you don't have a garage...or a yard...or any open space.  Even with fans and open windows it stunk for days.

It really is white but my phone doesn't take the best pictures in a dimly lit room and I'm too lazy pregnant to edit the picture.

 It looks much better in the room now than it did before.

The glider...oh, the horrible (possibly plastic...yep, that's where I melted the fabric with the iron) fabric on the glider.  Pink corduroy?

For being as old as it is, it's in really good shape but I hated that fabric.

So I unpicked everything, used it as a pattern and made lovely grey suede covers.

The unpicking took for.ev.er. and covered me in teeny tiny threads that I am still finding all over my house and pants.  But all the work was well worth it.  I love how it turned out and I feel pretty awesome to have been able to make these covers look decent.  Not perfect but decent.

Turns Out I Have A Lot of Time on My Hands

As awesome as having a summer off is, it sometimes gets a little lonely.  No one is home...anywhere.  Not many adults get the summer off.  Shocker.

Anyway, because of this I've got whole days to figure out how to entertain myself.  This summer, I'm loving sewing...I know, weird.

About mid-afternoon, after I had gotten my windshield replaced...ugh...I decided to take a look at my fabric piles and my crafy list.  I decided on the gathered clutch (which I bought fabric for last year around Mother's Day).

I was a bit nervous about this tutorial (zippers, interfacing and lots of layers...Aye yi yi!) but I remembered the things I had learned with my last few sewing projects (pins and rulers are friends) and forged ahead.

Aside from the fact that I added an extra inch to the front and back (which I fixed before it was too late) and sewed fabric onto the zipping part of the zipper (also, fixed.  Thanks seam ripper)  this was remarkably easy.

Let's start with what I learned during this project:

• When the tutorial says "Get an 8 inch zipper" don't get a 7 inch zipper and think you can fool anyone. 
• Pins, rulers and irons are friends...as long as they don't poke or burn you.
• Whomever made the tutorial knows what he/she is talking about.  DO NOT think you know better.

Here's my finished product:

Not nearly as perfect as the tutorial ones but for a first try I give myself an A+++

I changed the card holder part a bit.  Instead of doing 2 pockets and having my cards go in landscape, I did 3 pockets so I could put them in portrait (I've got butt loads of cards and it seemed to fit better).

I should have put one card in the right pocket...but I didn't.  Just pretend with me.

And there you have it, lovelies...another successful sewing project.  Dang!  I'm good.  Feel free to lather me with uplifting and glorious comments.

Plastic Bag Holder

So, you have an old shirt

and a cabinet FULL of plastic grocery sacks?

I understand this is ridiculous.

I have a small solution.

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, it's another successful sewing project.

I'll even give you a mini-tutorial because I did this all on my own which means it was obviously really really ridiculously difficult.

1. Cut a rectangle out of the old shirt.  Bonus if you keep the bottom seam...LESS SEWING!

2. Sew a casing for the elastic on the edge that isn't finished (sorry, no pictures).

3. Add a hook to hang your awesome bag holder.

I just used a scrap from the shirt but you can use anything you want...ribbon, string, twine, plastic bags, anything

4. Sew the sides together to form a tube.

5. Add elastic to top and bottom casings.  (I was going to try shirring but after my initial trouble I thought this would be much quicker.)

6. Stuff with bags and hang. 

It's a little large for my cabinet but I'm over it.  To avoid this, measure first.  I hate measuring.

And that's it.  Now your cabinet is plastic bag free.

Mail and Magazine Organizer

I've been crafting again...this time, successful but not as much.

Before we get to the craft, let's talk about what I learned with this craft.

• I should ask questions of people who work at the fabric store when I'm not sure.
• The cheapo left-over fabric looks a lot different when rolled as opposed to unfolded.
• Hot glue really is hot.

 Alright my lovelies...I used this tutorial. 

Mine is not nearly as pretty (or as finished) as the tutorial.  Also, I used the wrong kind of interfacing so it didn't stick to both sides of the fabric.  My solution?  Sew the crap out of it.  Also, I didn't glue down the backing fabric first.  I just pulled and stapled...and stapled and stapled and stapled.  I loved staples in this craft. 

Moral of the story: One day I will be a good crafter and things will look professional-ish.

Something I Sewed That I Can Actually Wear

Okay, lovelies...I've been sewing all freaking day.  I know.  SEWING.  And...dun dun dun dun...it's been successful.  It's been a good day.

I went to my list-o-crafts and decided on this skirt.  I also used this tutorial on shirring.

Before I get to the amazingness that is my skirt, a few things I learned:

• Shirring is difficult, at least for me.  It did not work at all...at first. 
• Pins are friends.
• Sewing is fun.
• Measuring is a good idea and makes for projects that can actually be used (instead of something like this lovely)

My first try at shirring...like I said, difficult

 I feel pretty cool.  And crafty.

I Try to Sew

Remember when I blogged about my pictorial evidence of thinking I can sew?  Well, it's here . . .

I always have sewing ideas in my head that turn out perfectly...in my head.  But then I remember how I have absolutely no patience for measuring or being exact with anything.  Ugh.  That being said, I still try things.

I saw this tutorial and thought, "I have old tank tops that I don't wear.  I like dresses a lot.  I think I can do that."  And so I did.  

Being me, I got bored real fast and decided to skip a few steps . . . namely the "pin the crap out of this so it doesn't slid all over the place" step. 

Here's what I learned: Don't skip that step.  It's a bad idea.

 The sewing started off well (left side, I pinned that) but then it just ended up a big mess of fabric.

My hand is where the skirt should have been sewn to the tank top.  It's just a little off.  No big deal.

 Let's just say, I didn't end up wearing this but I will try again with my new found sewing knowledge.

Repeat after me: Pins are friends.