DIY: Felted Sweater Coffee Cans

Looking for things to do with your old, shrunken sweaters? I took two coffee cans and hot glued sweaters to the outside. I used the coffee cans for organizing my tools, but stuck them in a desk where no one could see. Now they're nice enough to be on display, I think!

To the can on the left, I added a different color of sweater to the bottom, and covered up the seam with some matching yarn.

To make your own:

1. Cut a tube of wool large enough to fit around your coffee can.
2. Hot glue one short edge down (where the seam will join).
3. Pull the wool tight, and match the other short edge to the already glued edge. 
4. Lastly, add hot glue to the top and bottom rims of the can to secure the wool to it.

You could also easily do this with mason jars, wine bottles, vases or tea light holders.

Sew and Tell: Sunglasses Case

This was supposed to be a quick project, but it gave me no end of trouble. I tried different designs, none of which worked, and finally settled on a simple quilted tube of fabric. The outside is tweed and it's backed with fleece.

A magnetic snap keeps it closed, and that's pretty much it. A tube. It's just a tube. AHHH!!! Sometimes the sewing comes easy, and sometimes it doesn't. The end result's not that pretty, but it works.

A Baker's Sunday

What a workout. I made three loaves of bread all kneaded and braided by hand. My wrists are kind of sore today. Maybe I need a new technique? Or maybe I need a new mixer! :D (E... did you hear that?)

I left the first loaf of challah bread in the oven a bit too long so it looks a bit burnt here, but it was still lovely on the inside. E didn't wait until it was cool to carve into it.

If you will note, I don't know how to make a 6 strand braid! I tried, I really did... but in the end I just overlapped dough here and there. No one seemed to notice... I think.

And one loaf was sent off to a friend for her birthday in a bread bag :) The best looking loaf of course.

Baking bread... it's a workout. At least you get to eat after?

I used this recipe here: Best Challah (egg bread) via the Smitten Kitchen.

Sew and Tell: Shorts from a self-drafted pattern

This was my second attempt at drafting a sewing pattern from my own measurements. I sewed some shorts out of stretch tweed. They turned out surprisingly well and I still can't believe they fit. They're so comfortable.

There's a side zip, and pockets. Admittedly, the pockets are a little too small to fit a wallet, but it was my first time sewing pockets. I'm surprised they turned out so well. First time's the charm, right? I also didn't have an invisible zipper on hand, so I didn't bother to hide the zip.

This was also my first time making a muslin before cutting the pattern. I wasn't convinced that my measurements were right, and after trying on the shorts, I saw that the pattern needed a few tweaks. I transferred the alterations back to the original pattern, and le voila, shorts.

It's so hard to find shorts that fit right, and are the length I want. I'll be sewing up more. Next time I'll choose a slightly thicker and stiffer fabric, so that pockets and underwear lines aren't so noticeable  I might also add a waistband piece.

If you want to draft your own shorts pattern here's a tutorial: Basic shorts pattern tutorial

DIY: Floral Gift Bags

In a former life, the white bag carried home takeout from a restaurant. The dark grey bag held a lampshade from a hardware store. In both cases, the bags had corporate logos on them, but they were decent decent bags. The white one was fabric that couldn't be recycled either!

SO... with a glue gun, and some silk flowers, I went to town.

Spring flowers everywhere! Bye bye logo! Helloooo pretty.

And if you're like me, and can't figure out to do with all the leaves that come with the flowers, you can use them too. Very peter panish... in fact, using the leaves was easier and faster than the floral arranging.

Go forth with your glue guns and wreck floral havok! Kind of like this fall 2012 Alexander McQueen dress... it's a floral-splosion.

Thread and Rhinestone Necklaces

I love me some colorful thread and interesting textures! These two necklaces combine the two, and can be worn separately or apart. Faux pearls, rhinestone chains, embroidery threads, and rope are all involved here. I've always thought pearls were a little too conservative on their own, so I like the unexpected combination of pearls and thread. It almost looks like chain.

Here's me just wearing the blue thread necklace. It's pretty comfortable and soft against the throat. The process was simple: braid some embroidery thread, stitch on a row of rhinestone chain, a strand of pearls, and another row of rhinestones.

A closeup here:

Inspired? Here are a couple of simlar tutorials:

• DIY Braided Rhinestone Necklace (rhinestone necklace + thread)
• DIY Friendship Bracelets (thread, rhinestone, + chain)

Old Towel to Dishcloth

One of the nine circles of hell has to be a place where everyone is forced to endlessly sew quarter inch bias tape. Maybe it's just me, but it always seems to take forever. I mean, you have to sew each seam twice and make sure those tiny tiny edges overlap. AHHH

Was it worth it?? From now on I'm sticking to bias tape that's at least a half inch thick when finished, because UGH. So anyway, I'm done ranting.

While I was cleaning up the apartment, I pulled several threadbare towels from the closet. I didn't want to throw them away, so I turned them into dishcloths, like this:

The loop in the corner lets you hang it from an oven or fridge door handle, or a kitchen hook if you have such a thing. The process is fairly simple. 

Take towel, cut it into quarters (or your desired size). Add bias tape to the raw edges. I used the already finished edge as the bottom of my towels.

Here is an alternate version that doesn't involve tiny tiny folded edges. I took a piece of ribbon and attached it to the towel with a zig-zag stitch. Much faster! Also, possibly just fine since they're only kitchen rags, really.

And here is a stack of freshly sewn dishcloths. So far so good! I have a few more old towels, and may whip up a few more. 

Note: After putting the bound hems in the wash, I found that some of the towel fabric escaped my binding. I would recommend using a wider seam binding if possible. At least a good half inch would be much better, and look nicer.

Coral and Turquoise Necklace

Sometimes bits and pieces come together and they just work. Someone gave me an old ugly bracelet from the 80's and I took it apart for the big plastic chunks. I didn't think they would be useful for anything so they languished in my bead box for years.

I mixed the chunky pink beads with turquoise, gold, and little coral glass squares. The two strands are joined together at the back of the neck so they're not separate.

This is my favorite necklace for casual wear and a little extra outfit sugar, like a drink of pink lemonade. You would have seen it in previous sewing posts like the sequin top and the jersey tank top. I love this length for just throwing over my head (no clasps to mess with) and also because it doesn't get caught in the neckline of my tops.

What's your go to accessory?