Just in time for soup weather I have introduced bowl cozies at SubEarthan Cottage.
My cozies are 100% cotton, so they can go in the microwave if you like.
There are tons of cute 100% cotton quilting fabrics available, so if you’d like one or a set customized to your tastes, let me know.
A couple of years ago, I really wanted a knitting machine. I like yarn and the thought of making pretty things with yarn has always appealed to me. I started teaching myself to knit and crochet while I was pregnant with Finn. He is eleven now, and it takes me two days of work to make a single dishcloth. So, a knitting machine seemed like a good compromise to speed things up a bit. They are kind of hard to come by, though, especially a well made machine. Besides, I knew nothing about how a knitting machine works, so I got my embroidery machine instead.
Fast forward to two Sundays ago. The family and I were having fun thrift shopping for some office furniture. (That could also read as, “Chris and I were dragging the kids around to thrift stores, with much protesting on their part.”) The first Goodwill store we went to didn’t have much in the way of office furniture. They did have lots of bins out full of miscellaneous stuff that I really wasn’t interested in digging through, until I happened to notice this long rectangular box poking up out of one bin.
That’s the one. It for is a Singer LK-140, made by Silver Reed. It is a plastic bed hobby machine, but a durable hobby machine. I’ve since learned that, except for having ten fewer needles, it is identical to the newer LK-150 knitting machine. That means parts are easy to come by.
The box was so well taped, and it had a good weight to it, so I decided not to even open it before buying it. I figured I probably wouldn’t even know what may have been missing. Also, let’s zoom in on the price tag:
Back when I was actively looking for a knitting machine, I would have thought getting one for $80 on eBay was a fairly good deal. At $5.49, it was worth it even if it was only good for parts.
When I finally opened it at home, I did notice a few parts were missing, but only the table clamps, manual and transfer tools. I found a free manual online, and the other two items are easily and inexpensively replaced. They also aren’t essential, so I have played with it a bit.
I did need to replace the sponge strip. That’s pretty standard for an older machine. Luckily on this machine, foam weatherstripping works great as an inexpensive replacement. I also needed to clean the needles, because they were covered with gunk from the old sponge strip. With that, I was able to set it up and play.
There is definitely a learning curve, but it is fun. I have noticed, though, that you can still tell it is my own handiwork.
See the dropped stitch. It’s like my signature. The best part, though, is it only took me a minute or two to make that swatch, as opposed to a day or two. A little more practice, and I might be able to make two or three dishcloths a day without dropped stitches, or a scarf with a few holes. Seriously, though, it is fun, and I look forward to coming up with new projects and products to make.
As for office furniture, I felt bad that I got a new toy but we hadn’t found the thing we really needed, so I did a quick craigslist search. There just happened to be a desk posted locally in the free section.
Excuse the mess. That photo was taken while everything was getting tossed around with moving in the desk. There is a trim piece that needs to be put in place on the top. Overall, it is in good shape. More importantly, it provides us with the two main things we needed for the office: more desk space and shelving. Best of all, it was free!
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I’m getting better at remembering my reusable bags when we go shopping, especially now that I have an Aldi nearby. It’s made me start rethinking the plastic produce bags. I haven’t found as many alternatives to them on the market, so I decided to make my own.
I used a lightweight netting material so you can see what’s inside.It’s so light and see-through in fact that it doesn’t want to show up well in photos. Hmm.
Marginally better? I don’t know. Anyway, you can find my nifty reusable produce bags and other reusable products here in my shop.
On a similar note, I also added a set of cloth napkins in a cute sunflower print.
Find them here at the SubEarthan Cottage shop. I plan to make and add more prints soon.
My ironing board cover has seen better days. It’s not worn, but it has a few scorch marks and B thought it was a good idea to stamp it a few times with my thank-you stamp. Since it is always visible in my craft room, I wanted something more pleasant to look at, so I decided to make it a shiny new cover.
Eww.
I went with supplies I had on hand and used the ironing board itself to measure, so I don’t have exact measurements. You should be able to adapt from what I did easily, though. Keep in mind that this is just a cover and not the padding. I put mine on right over the old one. If you want to replace everything, you’ll have to find a replacement for the pad, too. (Layers of quilt batting and topped with Insul-brite maybe?)
Supplies:
Enough fabric to go over the top of your ironing board with about a 3 inch overhang on all sides.
Extra-wide double fold bias tape or blanket binding (2-3 packages)
Thin elastic. The bias tape or binding serves as a casing for the elastic, so make sure to choose an elastic thin enough to be threaded through easily. Mine is 1/4 inch elastic.
Thread.
How to:
Cut the fabric with a 3-ish inch overhang. The easiest way to do this is to put the fabric on the floor, then the ironing board upside down on top and cut around it, eyeballing the overhang.
For this tutorial the pointy curved end is the top, the short, straight end is the bottom and the long edges are the sides. There’s going to be a gap in the bias tape/binding at the bottom, so you will want to finish it some way. If you have a serger, just serge straight across the bottom. If not, you can either zig-zag stitch over that edge or fold over 1/4 inch twice and hem. It doesn’t have to be exact, just make sure when you cut initially that you account for the hem on that end if you go that route.
Find the middle point of the bottom edge. Measure about 1.5 inches on each side of the midpoint and mark. These are your starting and ending points for the casing.
Leaving the three inch space at the bottom open, sew the bias tape/ binding on being sure to enclose the edge of the fabric. Unless you have a really long strip of binding, you’ll probably need to piece the binding together. When you get a few inches from the end of one bias strip, stop sewing and join the new strip by opening the ends flat, overlapping and sewing across. Refold and continue sewing around the edge of the fabric. Stop when you reach the end point.
What happens when you don’t have enough blanket binding on hand? This. This is what happens.
Thread the elastic through the binding all the way around leaving several inches hanging loose at the beginning and end. This works best if you attach a safety pin securely to the leading end of the elastic to help guide it through.
Fit your new cover, pretty side up onto your board and pull the elastic snug.
Tie the elastic securely, trim the ends if necessary.
Admire your new cover.
Questions? Ask in the comments and help me expand on my clear-as-mud tutorial.
I found this dress at Thrift Town for $1.99. The color and general shape of the dress are cute, but it needed some tweaking.
Overall, it was a bit big. The sleeves were awkward, and I’m more likely to wear a dress when it’s warm, so the sleeves needed to go. I also think it feels a little frumpy at that length.
Here’s what I did:
The shoulder seams were low, so I was able to just remove the length and hem. I added two darts in the back at the waist to trim it down but keep the fullness of the skirt. I kept the top a little loose, but that makes nursing easier and will allow me to wear it over a long sleeve black tee in the winter if I want. I do need to find a new belt or trim down the one I used for the “after” photos. I really like the belt with the dress, but it is way too long. I like how the width of it breaks up the business of the print, though.
I had planned to take about six inches off of the length, but Finn thought it looked nice the way it was. I still might, but honestly, for chasing after a toddler the longer length is probably more practical.
I went on a little Pinterest binge a couple days ago looking for ideas to help clear my refashion stash. Saturday night I decided to make a pair of yoga pants out of a t-shirt using this tutorial. I wear a size eight on average, and used an XL adult t-shirt.
I did make a few changes to the design. First, instead of cutting the shirt down the middle, I cut it down the sides from the middle of the underarm to the hem. This also means you’ll have an inseam and no side seams. That keeps any design on the front or back intact and moves them to the hips. For the waistband, I cut the underarm seam from the sleeves and squared them up to be two equal rectangles, leaving the hem intact. I sewed the short sides together making a big, short tube from the sleeves. I then put the tube inside the waist of the pants with the pants right side out and the right side of the tube facing the inside of the pants. The raw edge of the tube lines up with the raw edge of the pants. I serged the top together like that. This made it so when the tube is folded down to the outside, the seam is covered.
Sorry for the awkward pictures. No one was around to take the pictures and Doctor Who was about to start.
I sewed it all on my serger and it took less than ten minutes. I probably should have added two minutes and switched from white to black thread. Or not.
They are a little loose at the waist. If I were planning to actually do yoga or wear them in public I should probably add some elastic at the seam. Since they will probably be used mainly for watching Doctor Who while sitting on the sofa, I probably won’t bother.
T-Shirt to TV Pants was originally published on SubEarthan Cottage
T-Shirt to TV Pants was originally published on SubEarthan Cottage
T-Shirt to TV Pants was originally published on SubEarthan Cottage
T-Shirt to TV Pants was originally published on SubEarthan Cottage
T-Shirt to TV Pants was originally published on SubEarthan Cottage
T-Shirt to TV Pants was originally published on SubEarthan Cottage
T-Shirt to TV Pants was originally published on SubEarthan Cottage
T-Shirt to TV Pants was originally published on SubEarthan Cottage
T-Shirt to TV Pants was originally published on SubEarthan Cottage
T-Shirt to TV Pants was originally published on SubEarthan Cottage
T-Shirt to TV Pants was originally published on SubEarthan Cottage
T-Shirt to TV Pants was originally published on SubEarthan Cottage
T-Shirt to TV Pants was originally published on SubEarthan Cottage
T-Shirt to TV Pants was originally published on SubEarthan Cottage
T-Shirt to TV Pants was originally published on SubEarthan Cottage
T-Shirt to TV Pants was originally published on SubEarthan Cottage
T-Shirt to TV Pants was originally published on SubEarthan Cottage
T-Shirt to TV Pants was originally published on SubEarthan Cottage
T-Shirt to TV Pants was originally published on SubEarthan Cottage
T-Shirt to TV Pants was originally published on SubEarthan Cottage
T-Shirt to TV Pants was originally published on SubEarthan Cottage
T-Shirt to TV Pants was originally published on SubEarthan Cottage
T-Shirt to TV Pants was originally published on SubEarthan Cottage
