Cat Doll

Made a doll.  Made it some clothes.  Filled a page in my April Mini Journal.

posted by: cat

Some Works-in-Progress

Fingerless glove, little finger ready for binding off, thumb gusset at the ready.  A pair of these has been ordered in black arylic yarn.  Working with yarn has been a bigger headache than anticipated.

I don't know how I went from working with large rectangles to these itty-bitty things.  Now I'm looking at everything fabric and wanting to cut a hexagonal piece out to add to my work.  At this stage, a full-size blanket is too ambitious.  Maybe a lap blankie?

posted by: cat

Grandma's Mending

Found some mending done by grandma.  This is the back view of a piece of cloth, the holes and tears fixed with patches and darning.  She sewed a lot of her own clothes, and liked patching things together.

posted by: cat

Pages-in-Waiting

Three finished pages just waiting to be paired up and bound into the fabric book.  Mostly playing around with patchwork and stitches.  I find cloth from the scrap pile, and they tell me what they want to happen.  Sometimes, they're not very articulate.

posted by: cat

Fabric Book WIPs

Two recent Works in Progress for fabric book.  Still working on making without overthinking things.  So hard!


posted by: cat 

The Mat/Bag

Step one:  It's a playmat.

Step two: Fold in one side.  Fold in the other.

Step three:  Gather the handles and it's a bag!

posted by: cat

Wizard of Oz Costumes

Late post on the Oz costumes mom made.  Black pants for the Ozian dancer and the flying monkey.  The monkey isn't wearing his arms (gloves) and feet (boots) in the picture.  

Round of applause to mom for making them from scratch.

guest post: mom

Z's Pouch Bag

Or: The Innocuous Pouch Bag That Nearly Did Cat In.

Gods!  Everything just went wrong in the making of this pouch.  Such a simple thing, too: lined, with a loop-and-button closure.  This bag is evil.

This is hand-embroidered in stem-stitch from a drawing made by Z.

posted by: cat

Cassette Case Pincushion

A tutorial of sorts.

 

I really should make a proper tutorial; one with a list of materials and clear step-by-step instructions and whatnot.  I didn't take pictures of the crucial first part of the process.  *shrug*  Whatever.  I will just have to assume our Dear Readers are intelligent enough to know what to do just from the pictures.  (I'm also assuming we actually have readers.)

Cut out a piece of fabric that will fit into the bottom part of where the cassette sits.  It goes without saying that you need an empty cassette tape jewel case.  If yours has those little protrusions that fit into the cassette holes, you will have to figure out a way to snap them off.  If that fails, learn to live with it.  If you are wondering what the hell a cassette is, I suggest you shut up and go bother someone else.

Sew the edges together to form a tube, then sew one end of the tube shut.  Stuff with your choice of pincushion filling, then sew the other end shut.

 You should end up with a length of pincushion that fits into that bottom part of the case.  (I  kinda overstuffed mine a tad. Don't do that with yours.)  When open, it's a neat little pincushion that keeps all your needles lined up nice.  Closed, it's a needle case that keeps your needles from accidentally jabbing you when not in use.  (see topmost picture)

posted by: cat

Pear Pincusion

Wee widdle pear pincushion to hold my sewing needles.  The loop 'stem' is so that I can attach it to the button built into my fabric box. 

posted by: cat

Second Post for Summer-Craft-a-Week

Ok, we're lying liars who lie, 'coz it's been more than a week since the last challenge.  Whatever.  Here are the projects:

cat's Blue Patchwork

It's the first finished 'page' of a planned fabric book.  My take on Japanese boro.

m's flower rings (crocheted of course)

I've always wanted those giant star rings but I was too scared I'd poke my eye out with them.  Then I found a nice flower pattern and decided to try and turn it into a ring.  Viola.  Big yet harmless ring.  Washable too.

 

 And can also comes in rainbow colors.

posted by: cat & m

Abandoned Red Sampler

Poor, poor sampler.  It never turned out right.  What I don't understand is this urge to sew when I hated doing this when it was required in school.  




posted by: cat

Craft-a-Week Revival

It's back!  After mustering enough courage and will power we have decided we can revive the craft-a-week and we will post on or before our deadline!

The first Craft-a-Week for this summer.  The challenge was pretty simple: finish a damn project! 

Here are the results:

cat's Brown Fabric Box

Project started out as extra material from kids' jeans.  Got turned into a fabric container with lining and some chain-stitch detail.

m's Mini Dress-up Doll Keychain

Now you can bring your doll around with you and dress her up to match your bag too!  The extra dress didn't make the deadline though.  Boo.

posted by: cat & m

I Couldn't Help Myself!

Right after chatting with m about new projects and embroidering, I couldn't help but try out a name sample.  (Eh, the 'i' is missing the star dot.)

 Then I tried out this little character.  (The head is from an old Japanese embroidery book.)  This could maybe get turned into a pocket, or patched onto a bag?

Then I realized that I would need fusible webbing or something similar for the tiny cloth bits.  Coz eventually, that piece of cloth is gonna come apart, especially if it's going to be washed often.  And since there's no fusible webbing to be had in this country, I thought: paint!

Yes, I used fabric paint.  Yes, the misprint (color out of the lines) was intentional.  Yes, the design is another nephew Z original.    Yes, I'm assuming it's a bird.  No, I'm not sure if it's right side-up or whether it should be rotated 90 degrees to the right.

Yes, I will be doing more of this until: a) I get bored and do something else; or b) My tendinitis will make my wrist swell up like a sausage.

posted by: cat

Last Week...

Got creative block with my collages.  Sidetracked myself with embroidery instead.  (I think I'm starting to like the stem stitch.)  This one is of a drawing by nephew Z.  Bouy?  Boat?  Floating island with a tree on it?


posted by: cat

Busy Busy Busy

Miniature knitted hair, which m requested for her dolls.  The left one is done in 1x1 rib, and the right one is 2x2.  Hmm, I should make a large one for myself, for bad hair days.

Trying out the Shifting Sands pattern from grumperina.com.  Erm, I will blame the bad lighting for the bad knitting.  Might just end up doing the whole thing over.  A most likely probability with most of my knitting adventures.

This was a baby step into the world of cables.  Which: I made my own cable needle for this, yo!  Because, once m pushed me off that "necessity is the mother of innovation" cliff -with the cutting in half of store bought needles- I fell and haven't reached the bottom yet.  *eyes heavy gauge wire with intent*

Then,  to place all those knitting projects in, I made a bucket from the leg of an old pair of jeans.  It has built-in counters at the sides.  (There's another set of numbers on the other side.)  I got the idea when I found the hairclip which I'm using to mark off the numbers.  (That would be the blue thing around the number 4, see?)

posted by: cat

Two Things

Just a little pincushion.  Tried to not put too much thought into it so that it could actually get done. Of course, once it was finished, all I could think about was  all the stuff it should've had: like a loop for scissors, and a weighted bottom, and...  *sigh*

This is one of my latest obsessions:  knots.  Specifically, the Turk's Head knot.  I'm thinking of doing some around my terra cotta pots with cracked sides.  Someday.  When I find some rope.

Maybe.

posted by: cat

Attack of the Zombie Bunnies!

Patchdoll critters bursting out of the bushes.  Zombie bunnies!  Run for your lives!  


posted by: cat

Patchwork Bunny WIPs and a Journal Entry

One of those spur-of-the-moment things that I try to encourage myself to do.  I don't  know what that thing on her head is s'posed to be, but the hair I cut out wouldn't fit, so...  This page doesn't make sense 'cause the face doesn't really evoke 'circus' to me.  It was just the first thing that came to my head.  Doesn't matter, 'cause my brain didn't try to knot itself over-thinking this, and I got messy.

 Then we get to these two:  zombie bunnies?  They're helping me get my sewing mojo back.  I'm thinking I might have to replace the red arm of the guy on the right side because I mistakenly used the same cloth as his ear, and on the same side, too.  (Yes, m, it bothers me quite a bit.  Also: shut up.)


We shall see which side will win out:  my obsessive brain, or my lazy ass.




posted by: cat

Playmats, Finished!

As usual here at Scott & Portis, this post is a bit late. We wouldn't be our usual selves if we always remembered to post our stuff on time.

Well, after all the head-slamming and cursing, the playmats got done after all, and have been shipped off to their new owners. I managed to remember to take pics before they got packed. The above pic is the side with the embroidered roads; the bottom pic is the reverse side with the patchwork.

Let's never again mention playmats in my presence, okay?

posted by: cat