Holiday gifts 2014

Well, it's that time of year again. I'm spending almost every free moment crocheting, stringing beads or wrapping wire. This year, in addition, I'm also melting, mixing, & whipping body butters & lip balms.

So far, I've finished one scarf, 2 (of 3) necklaces, 4 batches of lip balms, 1 batch of lip scrubs, 2 batches of lotion sticks/body balms, & 3 batches of body butters. As an aside, I also made myself deodorant, just because I had all the things.

Tonight, I have to finish the last necklace, put all the body butters into containers, and maybe make another batch of lip balms.  Hopefully, there will be nothing left to do on Christmas eve but wrap them!

My Pinterest boards

I'm pinning like crazy. I have two boards relevant to this blog.

Here's where I pin photos of stuff I've made (when I remember to take pictures.)
http://www.pinterest.com/ohjoyofjoys/i-made-this/

Here's where I pin great crafting ideas, tutorials etc.:

http://www.pinterest.com/ohjoyofjoys/crafts/

I haven't separated the crafts board into separate subjects; I'm not sure if that would be better.

Status report

The skirt was coming along nicely until I put the elastic in for the waist. The main issue, I think, is that the pattern calls for .5" elastic, but I think it needs something wider. It's also possible that the skirt is too big and has too much fabric bunched around the waist.

In any case, at this step, the skirt went from being something I might actually wear to being just a project for the experience. And at that point I lost all motivation to work on it.  So, I consulted a friend and experienced seamstress for advice.  It wouldn't be too difficult to rip out the stitches and start the waist over, but I'm concerned that using more fabric at the waist will affect the pattern in some way I can't predict.

Other tidbits:
I think I have enough jewelry to open my etsy store, but I still need to do photos, descriptions, and prices.

We've reorganized the craft room at the house, so I hope to be more productive now.

I haven't crocheted anything in months.  It's so hard to get the motivation for that when it's warm out.

Beads, Beads, Beads

I'm spending a little time designing my next few pieces. So I've been staring at all my beads. I decided to take a few pictures:

Stay tuned for what I come up with. 

Bossa nova skirt, pt 2

The skirt is really coming  along!  I included pictures this time, because I remembered to take some.  I don't have any photos of the individual panels.

But here is one of my excellent pinning jobs on a seam:

 

And a seam!  I'm not as confident as I should be that this won't unravel.

Most (all?) of the panels stitched together:

And all of the panels stitched together, including the last seam to make it a circle!

So, next up,  I need to press the seams open & then start on the waist... which will require me to go out & buy elastic! Then there's just the hem. 

I don't know yet if it will actually fit me.  But at least it looks like something I would actually wear!

Bossa Nova Skirt, pt.1

So, I have embarked on my next sewing project, this skirt:
http://www.pages01.net/fabriccom/hpbossanova

A good friend came over to help me get started.  I've cut out all my panels, & pressed them.  I've started pinning them.  I had some trouble loading the bobbin, so I didn't get to any stitching.

The skirt is essentially 8 seams, a hem, and casing for an elastic waistband.  However, as this is just a means for me to practice skills, I have little aspirations of actually being able to wear it when I'm done. Therefore, I used whatever fabric I had on hand, which is probably not the best choice for this skirt.

Also, I'm anticipating a common problem for me with elastic waistband skirts, which is that the "correct" size at my waist will not stretch enough to fit over my hips.  Eventually, I will figure out the right measurement to use so that there is enough give to make it over my hips, while still being small enough to gather at my waist.

In the meantime, I'm excited to practice!

Sewing class

I needed a complete refresher on all things sewing, because I hadn't touched a sewing machine since my adolescence. I took the Teen Sewing 101 class at Jo-Ann Fabrics. I picked the teen class because you make a skirt as opposed to the regular 101 class where you just make swatches and practice squares.

We measured & cut lining & fabric, pinned and stitched seams, and embellished. I feel up to speed on basic sewing machine operations, except for loading the bobbin.  The skirt came out fine, and I gave it to an actual teen.

Now I need a refresher on working with patterns, pinning, cutting, blocking, etc.  A friend is coming over tomorrow to help me practice.  I would cross my fingers, but I don't think I'll be able to sew very well like that.