Sometimes the double-layered v-necks just don't lay right on me. They "gap out" at the vee, leaving a little too much skin showing. I fixed this one in about 2 minutes flat.
With monafilament thread, I first stitched the 2 layers to one another. Then I added a round, metal filagree to the vee so it's not so apparent that it was "fixed." Pretty, yes?
Buh-bye gap! We're keeping things under wrap here!
I've been making juice this way since the Peanut Man was little. It's not an everyday thing b/c of the time and clean-up, but when I have a batch of grapes that's about to go south - into the blender it goes! It's waaaay better tasting than the store-bought-from-concentrate-artificially-colored-made-6-months-ago-sugar-water they call juice. And much better for you b/c the micronutrient and vitamin content is maintained - not to mention all the soluble fiber (which is why I don't use a juicer - too much lost).
1) To the blender, add rough cut fruits of choice. No concern here for peels (except oranges) or seeds or stems or cores - throw it all in! I always put grapes on the bottom b/c their water content gets everything going pretty quickly. Here, I added 2 C. grapes, 1 orange, 1 apple and 2 carrots.
2) Blend for a good bit. Maybe a minute.
3) Pour into a food mill and crank until the pulp is all that's left in the mill and all the yummy juice is in your bowl below.
4) Enjoy! This blenderful made about 24 oz. Sometimes Peanut Man will eat the pulp leftover - more power to ya kiddo!
When you have too many deadlines, errands and all-around-too-much-to-do, why not add 'make new curtains' to the list?! That was me recently, out of my ever-loving mind, but unable to resist the temptation to whip up some new curtains. The old ones were from Ikea and were only supposed to be placeholders until I had time to do something "real." That was 5 years ago! Ack. As the title suggests, these are truly quick and dirty. What does that mean: no pinning, ironing & measuring only when necessary, lots of swearing, no tabs, no buttonholes, no rod pockets, no pleats, gathers or other bunching. Two 84-inch long rectangles were my only goals - width would be whatever was eeked out of the fabrics when all was said and done. Did I mention the swearing part - waaay too much static for one person! So here we go:
What I used:
- 2 chocolate brown, satin 84-inch curtains from Target
- two 2.5 yd-pieces of a pretty Asian-inspired satin brocade.
- white, rain-no-stain lining fabric
1) The materials.
2) Take apart one chocolate curtain, do a once-over ironing (not unlike an egg). Cut into four equal strips - these are about 7" wide or so.
3) Sandwich your brocade between 2 chocolate strips. Sew right sides together. Trim all ends so chocolate is flush with brocade.
4) Press seam. I use a teflon plate on my iron. This enables me to use high-heat and full-steam at all times (sorry to make you gasp!).
5) Topstitch the length of each chocolate seam- about an 1/8" from the seam. Measure the size of your rectangles. Think about your finished length, and back up from your known measurements to determine your seam allowances and sizes of finished hems.
5.5) [Not pictured] Fold your bottom edge under. I folded mine 2" and then another 2". Sew once close to the edge of the bottom and once about 2" up from the bottom where your "top edge" of your fold would be.
6) Cut the amount of lining fabric you'll need to back your rectangles, keeping seam allowances in mind. Fold over twice on the bottom edge, sew. I didn't measure!
7) Sew right sides of lining and rectangle together along sides only!
8) Pet your doggie...he's cute, but he's mistaken and confused and doesn't know he's too big for the room, the static and the voluminous fabric you're swearing at!!
9) Press all seams (ugh). Staystitch top edge.
10) Fold over top edge twice (I eyeballed this) about 3/4" and 3/4". Press.
10.25) Sew along top edge and along each side as well for a nice, finished look.
11) Hang with pinch clips on a sturdy cafe rod.
Hard to gauge from these before & after images if it really looks better or not...but I'm pretty happy with it! I should have adjusted my thread tension to avoid the puckering, but that was not in the cards. The 2nd brown curtain was mounted in front of our closet. When we moved in, we thought we'd put a real closet door there, but there's a brick wall behind the drywall...that ended that idea. George was wiped out after all this action! Me too!!
Here's a very cool idea for organizing your jewelry. I usually grab my jewelry as an afterthought, and if I'm already running late, I don't have time to dig and untangle!
Materials
1 9x12 mirror
1 picture frame with 9x12 opening and a pretty wide perimeter
30 cup hooks (mine are 7/8", nickel finish)
drill
masking tape
pencil
ruler
OPTIONAL: framing points and framer's gun
1) Gather your materials. Disassemble the frame backing.
2) Check to make sure your mirror fits. I had this one left over from something else, so I wanted to be doubly-sure. Set mirror aside - do not leave it in the frame!
3) Measure the width of your frame's perimeter as well as the length of each side. Figure out how many hooks you want to put in and how far apart they need to be. Mine are 1" apart, and there are 14 across the top and bottom.
4) Make all your hook marks using the ruler to guide you.
5) Drill pilot holes.
6) Install your hooks. I have on gloves ONLY because it starts to hurt after the first few! Make sure they're all tight and in alignment. I finished tightening each one with pliers.
7) Once I had both top and bottom rows of hooks screwed in, I spaced out 3 other hooks on each side. Altogether I used 30 hooks.
8) Clean your mirror and lay it inside the frame. IF you're using framing points to hold the mirror in place, put pieces of masking tape over the spots where you will insert each point so you don't scratch the mirror (been there, done that!). IF you're NOT using framing points, just add the cardboard backing and close the backing tabs to hold in place.
Hang and you're done! Much, much better! I like the idea of using a mirror b/c I stand right there and try out different pieces to see what looks best. Lots of twists you can put on this original idea...have fun!
This bandana shirt is one of the easiest-peasiest and cutest things to make! The daughter of one of the Bunco Babes in my bunco group had this on just before Christmas. Hers was a combo of 1 green and 1 red bandana and ribbons with a Christmas-y motif, like trees or something. She had a white turtleneck under it and black tights on the bottom. I don't have a daughter, but if I did, she'd be in that outfit! So I made one for my niece instead, who likes dresses and pink and maybe even pink dresses.
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Here's the deal:
2 standard-bandanas and 6 yds. of 1/2" cotton twill tape. I found both of these items at Michael's. The twill tape was on a 9-yd spool, Wrights brand.
(1) Line up the top and side edges of both bandanas. Mark 9" down from top edge on both sides to leave room for armholes.
(2) Sew bandanas together on sides from your mark to the bottom edge.
(3) Fold down top edges 2" (toward wrong side) and finger press. I honestly didn't measure this; I just eyeballed it and made both bandanas match. Just make sure you have a enough room to thread your ribbon and a sufficient seam allowance (mine are always 3/8").
(4) Sew across your folded edges as pictured. Don't sew the 2 pieces together - pull one out of the way while you're sewing the other (don' t think I needed to mention this, but you never know!).
(5) Not pictured, but finish the edges of your tape/ribbon somehow so they don't fray excessively when washed. I wanted a little smidge of a fray, so I just staystitched the twill tape about 1/4" from the edge on each of the 4 ends.
(6) Thread the tape/ribbon through the channels at the top. Tie ends in a bow. The bows and gather can be adjusted as necessary when it's on.
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I'm such a hippie at heart that I really thought I could get away with wearing this shirt with jeans and a white fitted long-sleever. It fit, but then I *really* look like I'm 38 going on 12 - which I pretty much do regardless of what I'm wearing...but there are certainly worse things in the world!
Here's the latest version of the vine-swirl fabric design I wrote about a week or so ago. Initially, each element was individually hand-drawn with the mouse, then they were pieced together in a string. Using the stroke tool in illustrator was not giving me the final effect I was looking for. So, I unstrung them, ungrouped them, took each swirl and re-worked it until I had more of a paintstroke swirl - heavier in places, lighter in others. This is a standard doodle for me - what else is there to do in marketing meetings at my dayjob?! :)
I'd like to send out a special thank you to the "reshape tool" in illustrator for making this design possible. Never used it before, but what a little unsuspecting savior it was! Here's what I did (basically): made a copy of a swirl; aligned the original and the copy on both vertical and horizontal centerpoints; scaled the copy to 75%; realigned the tips that swirl toward the center; used the reshape tool to pull it wider or narrower in various places; then joined the endpoints of the copy and the original. Done. See the basic steps in the layout here. Try it out!
