The Crafty Beaver(s)

It's been awhile.

2008-08-27T09:03:00.002-04:00

Wow. Looks like Stef and Beck are on hiatus? Dang! We need to work on this. Good thing fall's just around the corner. Oh well, just thought I'd post to prove that we're still alive. However, I have no crafts to show for it.

General Craftiness

2008-07-01T21:36:00.002-04:00

So, this isn't a craft I'm posting about, but I think it goes in life's "General Craftiness" folder. My laptop screen kicked it last weekend. Well, I thought it kicked it. Actually, the backlighting for the LCD screen stopped working. Not accepting the fact that I needed a new laptop since everything else seemed to be in working order, I hit the internet. I found a description of my exact problem. Conveniently, there was a link to a play- by-play describing how to take apart my computer and replace what was broken (LCD inverter). I took a picture of the insides for your enjoyment (the little green strip at the bottom is the LCD inverter that I replaced for a whopping $28!!). See, it pays to be crafty and resourceful!!

The cost of crafting

2008-06-10T21:20:00.002-04:00

So in lieu of an actual project post, here's this:

I went to Jo-Ann's today and dropped about $80 on fabric and yarn for a variety of items. On the bus ride home I was reflecting on what I spent and if it were worth it: A lot of people say they sew because it's cheaper than buying ready-made clothes. Yes and no, I think. I bought fabric for three pairs of pants, two sets of pajamas and a beach coverup. I also bought yarn for a couple of baby hats and a hat for myself. If you consider that the pants would probably cost about $20 each at a discount store (I am not overestimating my sewing skills to say it would be more than that!), the pajamas probably about $15 each, the coverup $25, the baby hats $8 each and the hat for me $10, we're looking at about $150. So not a huge amount of savings.

Some people would then add the actual work involved. A lot of people would say "Add in your hourly rate from work to the amount spent on materials and the cost is a lot higher." And sure, if we calculated the hours spent then sewing is certainly not cost effective. Or knitting or crocheting or any hobby.

But in the end the satisfaction I get out of each completed project, and wearing something totally unique -- a wardrobe completed by my own two hands -- made me realize that the cost is immaterial, and the ultimate savings of my sanity and personality, make it all worth it.

A Post-Birthday Post

2008-06-07T15:46:00.003-04:00

Stef made me this awesome peanut butter and chocolate cake for my birthday during my visit with her. It was pretty darn tasty.

It's an Adipose

2008-06-07T15:38:00.002-04:00

Look! I finally made an Adipose, which was kindly gifted to Doctor What. I can't wait to make a couple more. He was pretty easy. The tutorial suggested using an iron-on transfer pen for the pattern, but I couldn't find one. So, I had to use a heat tranfer pencil, which sucked. Then, I opted to cut out stencils and trace it onto the fleece. All in all, it worked out, and I am quite pleased with the end result.

Where are we? What are we doing? Creating a to-do list!

2008-05-26T22:54:00.002-04:00

Man, we suck at posting, don't we Stef? I thought I'd post a to-do list since we have been horrible at posting any crafts! I'm taking the week off and plan to make a few crafts.

- An adipose softie (I know you hate that word Stef - sorry!)
- A Wisconsin tablecloth for a friend
- Perhaps start a stackable cat?
- Start my quilt project for the summer - that's a bit iffy though.

Also, crafts cannot be started until I clean up the crap, I mean craft, room. Man, is that place cluttered right now.

Now that I have this list, I have to be held somewhat accountable, right?

Hemming Jeans

2008-05-07T18:18:00.003-04:00

So, I've been wanting to try this method of "blind" hemming jeans for a couple months now. When I found a pair of Bitten jeans for $8.98, I couldn't resist. Of course, the "regular" length is for a freakishly tall super model. So here are the results. What do you think? I was skeptical, but now that it's done, I quite like them and how easy it was!! Sorry that the last photo is a wee bit blurry, but I loved how the cat was all like "what the hell are you doing taking pictures of your pants?"

Birthdays!

2008-05-07T14:51:00.004-04:00

Well, I suppose it's not really crafting for me, considering I do this for a living, but here is the cake I made for Ben's birthday last weekend. He wanted a super chocolate cake, not "death by chocolate" but "genocide by chocolate." So charming! I did my best, but still wanted a cake other people could eat as well. He said it was everything he wanted, so I guess I succeeded.

I made two 9-inch rounds, resulting in four layers. Here you can see three layers and the mocha buttercream and chocolate mousse filling:

I then covered the whole thing in the mocha buttercream:

And then glazed it with chocolate glaze, decorating it with white chocolate:

It was huge, and I managed to feed eight people with only about a quarter of the cake. We will be eating chocolate cake forever.

OCD Crafting

2008-04-21T22:16:00.002-04:00

My OCD crafting ways have led me to finishing a tote bag for my niece's birthday. She's obsessed with horses, which certainly wouldn't be my first cute animal choice for a tote bag. Oh well! I think she'll like it. Since I still have a bunch of horse fabric leftover, I think I'll be making some accessories for her. Will keep you posted! Also must note that the "bandana" fabric made me a little fearful that this was going to turn out like a Vera Bradley bag or something - that would've been tragic.

2008-04-09T14:08:00.002-04:00

I finally finished my trench coat (Simplicity 4084). It took me nearly a month (I admit I had to set it aside quite frequently) and the lining about killed me, but it's done! It's definitely not perfect, and is more in a fall palette (actually the season I bought it for). I shall make the spring version next year, this is an item I think you can only sew once a year! But the good thing is that I learned a lot from this project, and the next one will be a lot easier. The picture is terrible; taking pictures of yourself with the camera timer is not easy!

Now that my major project is out of the way, I can finally tackle the smaller things on the list. Right now I'm making a couple of basic elastic-waist skirts via the "Sew What! Skirts" method (one in denim and one in your basic chino/khaki whatever you call them twill) I also am making a hoodie using one of the many tutorials on the subject I've seen. I'm using this fabric:

My first quilt.

2008-04-08T18:05:00.002-04:00

So, I want to make this quilt this summer, and I thought it'd be a great idea to try out this whole quilt thing on a smaller project. I got one of those quilt bundles at JoAnn's that make a little 30"x36" quilt for children. I thought I could give it to my friend Nicole, who had a baby last August (I'm only a little late). In theory, I think making a quilt will be easy. I only ran into a few problems making this, and most involved the dark brown plush material, which was extra stretchy. So, some of my measurements are off, and not all of the squares are perfectly square. Also, my sewing "in-the-ditch" between the center panel and border didn't end very nicely on the back (of course, I'm not going to show you!). All in all, I think this project was a success (according to the cat, at least), and hopefully, it won't fall apart the first time she washes it!

A Fishlet?

2008-04-07T18:29:00.002-04:00

Friday at work, I found out that my friend used a half-size ziploc baggie for the makeup in her purse. This discovery required immediate action. So, I went home and immediately crafted her a little makeup bag. Unfortunately, I already gave it to her, but my craftiness did not end there. I made myself a wristlet out of this fish fabric that I've been hoarding for nearly a year. Finally a purpose! These wristlets will make great gifts, won't they? Easy, fun, and plenty useful.

Next up, a quilt I'm attempting to make for my friend that had a baby last August. Just a little late!

Craft Exchange!

2008-03-31T16:16:00.003-04:00

My friend Dana and I did our annual craft exchange, and I just received a lovely package in the mail today. Yay! It contained a fabulously warm throw and unbelievably cute whale.

I'm being outcrafted!

2008-03-05T19:56:00.002-05:00

Okay Stef, you're totally outcrafting me! I did at least finish my apron (a week and a half ago, but I was too lazy to put the batteries in my camera - pathetic!). It turned out excellent, and I'll be making more for myself!

And now onto coats ...

2008-03-05T04:39:00.004-05:00

So far I'm only using this as a sewing blog, but I swear, I craft too. Just not nearly as much as I sew. But I'm saving up some tin cans to cover up and use to organize this wreck we call a home. Anyway. On to the sewing.

Finally working on the trench coat (Simplicity 4084) I cut fabric for last year but am only getting around to sewing now. Since I'm off ALL WEEK this week I should hopefully have it done by Friday, I guess. Sunday at the latest, I think. Let me tell you, working with lining is a bitch. It just slides around ... but I guess the good news is that when I turn things and press out the seams, nothing seems to be out of place. Lucky! The body is pretty much put together, now all I have to do is the sleeves and then the lining, then all of the finishing. It feels like I'm nearly done, but there's still a long road ahead. I am kind of dreading the sleeves, we'll see how it goes. And here are some pics!

Here is a peek at the lining at the yoke. I love the color combination!

Here is a glimpse at the body, sorry for the terrible photo:

I admit the color combo is a little bit more fall, as I had initially planned to do one for each season. I think the green can go both ways, it's really the lining that pulls it more toward fall.

Danielle

2008-02-26T20:58:00.003-05:00

Here are some photos of the finished Danielle. I'm going to wait until it's washed and pressed properly before I take some decent photos ... and perhaps once I finish the shrug I want for it and get some shoes that go and have a complete outfit!

I couldn't really take a good picture of it on, but here's the best I could do ... pardon the bra bits. You also can see some of the bad things going on with the pleats ... it's also before I added the ribbon, which made a huge difference in how it looked.

Trying to take photos of completed clothes really hammers in the fact that I need to get a dress form.

spring warddrobe time!

2008-02-24T19:56:00.004-05:00

This is sort of inspired by a sewalong on craftster for spring and summer clothes. These are only some of the patterns that I'm tackling in the next few months. Never mind what I knit!

2008-02-23T13:30:00.003-05:00

I am nearly done with Danielle ... I started with a deep purple crushed panne velvet, which I thought would be oh-so-elegant, but as it's velvet, and synthetic, and knit, I was barely able to cup the pattern pieces out, much less mark it and sew it. So I hid the pieces in a bag and hid the bag somewhere else. At least I can clean up the purple fuzz that's everywhere.

This pattern has challenged my sewing knowledge ... the instructions seem badly translated, and I hardly know what they're talking about in many regards. Thankfully I pretty much know what I'm doing by now and was able to put the dress together without too much stress. I opted for a slate grey/blue cotton. I was a little worried it wouldn't fit, but lo and behold, it does! I just had to adjust the bust darts to avoid fake-nipple syndrome. I don't know if I'd do the skirt the same the second time around; I think that particular style is not so flattering on me, but that was just at the basting stage. I haven't properly seamed it yet, and so I can still make a change. Pictures tonight when it's done!

And then I'll start on my trench coat, for real. I've only had the pieces cut for six months now.

Apron in progess

2008-02-19T20:29:00.004-05:00

The pressure to post is overwhelming. So I'm gonna start off with my National Craft Month (March) exchange project for Dana. I'm gonna make her the pleated apron that's in Amy Butler's In Stitches. This will be my first attempt at any of the projects in this book, which I've had for over a year probably. So, I'm pretty excited to see how it turns out. I got extra nerdy and am using some of Butler's Lotus Prints.

First post

2008-02-03T01:50:00.001-05:00

I told Beck that I'd probably fill this blog with some stuff from my other blog, just to get it going, but I felt I should start things off with something new.
I love this pattern, Simplicity 3835 by Built By Wendy. You get three options, a top and two dresses. I made the top first but made it far too large. I then sized it down and made the dress, which I loved, although the sleeves didn't fit my arm at the bottom. But recently I decided I wanted to revisit the top as I wanted a few tops that were casual but nicer than a T-shirt. I got some cute fabric (on sale, of course!) in cherries and sakura:

And the final result:

I sewed cherries with the usual 5/8" seam allowance, but for some reason it came out a bit snug (although I did try it on without a bra :) ) I decreased the seam allowance to 1/2" on sakura and it came out perfectly! I was pleased with myself a bit too as I cut the sleeve for sakura on the bias so the stripes would go the same way ... however, it only worked on the front. Oh well! That's what matters in the end, I guess.