Showing posts with label sewing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sewing. Show all posts

7.19.2012

7.19.12 ... new ironing board cover & vintage Made in America overalls

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it will come as no surprise to you that my ironing board came from a neighbor's trash day heap. nicest ironing board i've ever had. cannot believe people put perfectly good items for the trash truck and fill up our dumps. the flip side of that is people who have absolute rotting crap stored in their garages and homes. but, onward... i think ironing board covers are designed - and i use that term so loosely - by the same people who design linoleum, wallpaper and sofa fabrics. they have a problem, but not nearly as big a problem as the industry that supports this bizarre phenomenon. but, again, i digress. long story short, i make my own covers because environment is everything and ugly is just plain unacceptable. 

i love to iron. but even if i didn't i would need to in order to sew, which i also love. and life is way too short to look at one of those vile designs every day. i had a wonderful cover i'd made out of peanuts character baseball theme fabric. that was probably six years and five moves ago so you can imagine the state it was in. it was time to say goodbye. (although i do have it in my laundry pile just in case it will clean up well enough to work as a pile of cleaning rags or something.) this one is made from a wonderful heavy cotton shower curtain - the kind you'd use with a separate liner. i found it at a thrift store. brand new. 

this one is cheery and reminds me that this is the time in our life when we live by the zoo and visit it ridiculously often. i hope it lasts a long, long time. but i have a lot more of this fabric so i think i am set for my little glimpse of eternity here on our beautiful swirling blue planet.

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my first project was hemming three pairs of pants that i found, of course, at the thrift store. i was looking for overalls for my sweet cousin. i didn't find any for her - yet - but i found two pair for me. 

this pair blows me away because i had forgotten about these painter's overalls that were all the thing in the 1970/80s. this pair has never been worn and its trip to the laundromat with me was its first. i think these were 1.99 (before my 'senior' discount) and i can't wait until they wear in. 

i plan to start on that endeavor immediately.


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this is another view of my new cover. and what do you think of my sewing scissors? dusty gave them to me and they are one of my favorite treasures. i love scissors and collect them. this pair is at the top of my ron swanson-ish scissor pyramid. 

i am not sure using a pair of scissors should infuse one with the level of happiness these do but i have to be honest and say if you owned a pair of these your life happiness meter would jump off the chart. just saying sometimes i have an edge over my peers. 

this is one of those times.


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the other pair of overalls is seen here on top of the stack. it is also a wonderful find. it's a great cotton fabric with a favorite fine woven grid-like texture that i have only seen one other time, lightweight and soft as butter but will last me forever. it was a very lucky thrift day for me.

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i wish we would find this on most of the clothing in our stores. 

but. alas. 

all the more reason this is such a superior thrift find. and why i am drawn to the thrifting addiction. could be much worse. by the way, scout and i picked up 400 pieces of litter last week. that was a great feeling of accomplishment and good deed-ism. 

thanks for stopping by. until next time. happiness to you. from me. with heart. 

ox joon


1.21.2011

1.21.11 ... scissors rest


i have a scissor fetish. and even though it is close to impossible to choose favorites because i am lucky enough to have quite a wonderful collection, these sewing scissors are indispensably fantastic. they're very heavy and i usually keep them in their boxes to protect them and my table but that is not very convenient, as i am sure you can imagine. i made this rest for them using heavy muslin, the old mattress pad {used in yesterday's project}, and this groovy vintage astrology cocktail linen that i've been saving for just the right moment. yes, i am a leo.


i know i will enjoy having this and wonder how i ever lived without it.


i started another ~ rather involved ~ mending project, added some more miniature patches to one of my t shirts and worked on my zine today. i have photos of the mending project in progress that i will add to the post on the day i complete the task. i hope you enjoy today's entry. stay warm. sweet dreams, everyone. thanks for stopping by. until tomorrow. happiness to you. from me. with heart. ox joon

1.18.2011

1.18.11 ... packaging & collars



i am always looking for a good way to package my thumbtacks. when i glued the tacks in place i created the boxy part - an idea that came to me, like so many others, while i was in the shower - and today, when they were set and ready to go, i added the ezra jack keats paper. it's from a discarded book i love and use for projects. the kismet part of this particular project is that this piece was leftover from something i did a while ago and it was floating about my art room scolding me mercilessly for not putting it in its proper stash spot. as ev always says - procrastination pays off once again. can you believe how the colors go with these tacks? i love it. to give the tacks something sturdy to hang onto i layered {glue stick}the piece with two more card stock pieces and then attached it to the boxy thing {watch out for those technical terms}. i added three pieces of large bubble wrap and attached the tacks. this was then wrapped simply in white tissue paper with the thank you for caring bookmark tucked between the two outer layers of tissue. to secure it snuggly in the sun maid raisin box i loosely wrapped a plastic shopping bag around it. i wrapped the box in a brown grocery sack and there you have it. it's fascinating to me that i made this set and its sibling at least two years ago and the first one just sold last month and now this one. so close together. and after all this time. there's somebody out there for everything i guess. they are one of my favorite ideas and results so set sail with mixed emotions on my part. the other set also had a nifty packaging - those were magnets. i will find a photo for tomorrow's post. you can really see how i reinvent the wheel over an over.



i also refashioned two more shirt collars. the first one is a wonderfully soft shirt that's like new that i lucked into via one generous son. i love the color too. but, as usual, the neck drove me nuts. being as it is long sleeve and a nice weight, i have been looking wistfully at it in my shirt stack these past few weeks. now i can wear it for the few cold days we may have left before the thermometer rises to instant summer. i tried a larger zig zag on this one. i wouldn't like it on most tops but i do like it on this one. thank goodness, right?


the second shirt is an old life is good shirt i found at a thrift store and have worn it to within an inch of its life. it has many mending patches and the neck was fraying to the point where it was almost separated from the shirt. not any more. :) this shirt is a pretty shade of pale lavender. the blue fish piece was once one of my favorite {thrift find, of course} t shirts of scout's when she was just a spud. it will bring back happy memories for me every time i wear it.


it's scout's night to make dinner and she made ratatouille yesterday so it could set overnight. it smells marvelous. we're about to eat that, along with her garlic bread and watch how to train your dragon before the good wife starts. and ev is going to make chocolate drop cookies later. heavenly. i hope your evening is as lovely as ours. stay warm. and come back again. i am happy to see my posterous visit stats.
sweet dreams, everyone. thanks for stopping by. until tomorrow. happiness to you. from me. with heart. ox joon

5.22.2010

A Little Idea That Turned Out Sweet


One of my short term storage solutions.
This works incredibly well.
If you have an art room the size of a closet
like I do, you should try this.
I wish I'd thought of it so much sooner.


Isn't it cute, too?


I LoVe finding justification
for my nutty passion
of saving vintage boxes.


Until next time...

ox
joon

PS. BIG NEWS in my next post. Stay tuned. :)

2.16.2010

Freestyle Quilting

I have been thinking about 'painting' with thread. No forethought or planning. Just start somewhere and doodle until something comes to me and go with it. This is with the sewing machine foot down - not in darning mode. Today was a busy day so I decided to try a tiny sample for my TaD. I love this little thing. It is three layers of heavy duty {theater use} cotton muslin. The photos show both front and reverse views. It's just a few minutes old and already a bevy of ideas are circling around in my brain for what this might become. I'd love to hear yours. Have a wonderful evening.

It's a great day for America, everybody. Yes it is.

Posted via email from thing-a-day 2010

6.04.2009

Pretty Is As Tidy Does


Our Pending Paperage

Do you have a spot in your home where you stash the pending issues of a beloved family member whose name shall remain lovingly anonymous? And said Love Mystery Person's {LMP} conglomeration of pending issues papers multiplies more often than not? You don't want to put them in a drawer or in an out of sight place because, let's face it, the odds of it not turning into an entire new addition to your home are way too high. Not to mention how many unpleasant sorts ~ both paper and biped ~ might show up when pending became comfortably yellowed and cobwebbed over time. So there you have it. The theory is: LMP is faced with pile on a daily basis and therefore, more likely to tackle it. But I dream. Reality: LMP never notices the ever expanding pending pile. I wish I would say the same. Instead, it drives me bats.



We All Know I am Batty Enough

I looked at that pile once too often and decided it was time, once again, to save my senses with one of my super easy, super groovy solutions. I hesitated because I was busy and didn't want to spend time on an unplanned project. Luckily ~ you know I call it fate ~ I opened a folder and saw this magazine page. Loved it immediately and I had just received this fabric from my wonderful sister. A perfect match for the paper, which was a perfect compliment for the SHALOM candlestick.



Fifteen Minutes Later

All I had to do was fold the page in half ~ it is an extra large magazine page, which is nice. I measured, pressed, cut and pinked my fabric, sewed them onto the ends and viola'. A very nice improvement for no cost and just moments out of my day. The photo below shows the reverse. Of course, it can be used either way. The thread tails are a signature of my art. I feel like they extend my heart and creativity energy out into the universe with them. I also just think they are cool.


It's the Little Things

I make paper pockets for many uses. Why didn't I think of this long ago?

ox joon