DIY - Roll-up Art Supply Holder

A friend has a birthday coming up so I thought - at the last minute - that I would make her a fabric case for her very expensive Copic Markers (for drawing comic books!).

You will need:
- A piece of fabric - I used calico, approx 60cm x 35cm
- Co-ordinating fabric for the binding - 65cm x 20cm approx
- Co-ordinating thread
- A sewing machine
- An iron (if you are fussy - I'm not)

Step One - Cut the two strips from the binding fabric - 65cm x 4cm each. This will become the binding for the top and middle.

To make binding, grab your iron (safely) and iron each strip in half lengthways. Then unfold the fabric and fold each long edge into the middle crease. Iron.

Place the binding on each long edge of the calico. It should fit over like a 'V' with the calico sandwiched inside.

Stitch as close as you can to the edge of the binding and repeat for the other edge of the calico.

Step Two - Fold up the calico to create a pocket that will comfortably fit the length of a marker pen or paintbrush. Pin in place and create another strip of binding. Cut this strip in half and sew binding down each side of the case. Tuck ends over before sewing.

Step 3 - Insert the marker and pin along side it. You want this pocket to be snug but still easy to get the pen into and out of.

Sew down this line from the middle row of binding to the bottom. Reverse at each end.

Step 4 - Continue sewing the lines at even intervals until you reach the end of the case.

Insert the pens then fold down the top flap.

Step Five - To finish this case, you need to make two ties. With the last of the binding fabric, cut two strips approx 30cm x 2cm. Make binding as usual (but on a smaller, more fiddly scale). Sew down the folded side as close to the edge as you can. Iron.

Attach both these ties at one end of the case by sewing them on and reversing a couple of times.

Roll the case up and wrap the ties around to secure.

Enjoy your pretty art supply case!

22/2 - Reflecting and Hoping

The chairs representing the heroes that lost their lives in the quake

 Today, the nation remembers, mourns and some try to forget. this date is etched into our memories and everyone in the country can remember what they were doing when they either experienced the 6.3 earthquake or heard the news. If you are interested here is my blog post about my experience of the 6.3 Christchurch earthquake.

I had the day off today, for some relaxing time, it just so happened to be this date. I had a wander around town and boy does it feel different. It isn't depressing, its different and ever-changing and quiet and noisy all at the same time. Sure there are road works and detours and bumps in the road, but however slowly, things are happenning. It sucks to have to add 10 min to your commute to detour but that is the price we have to pay to get things to change.

In my mind, I have set myself an expectation that the re-build will take at LEAST 5 years. That includes road works, EQC claims, cracks to be repaired, the city centre to become functioning again. I am trying to tell myself that although it has been 2 years, look how far we have come, half that time the country was trying to figure out how the heck to get things underway, and rightly so. I see the workers, I speak to the workers at my cafe and I see how hard they are working, how tight their schedules are, how many hours overtime they work each day.

I feel positive about the future of this city. I would NOT like to be making any of the decisions around here, the opinions are so extreme that no matter what gets decided, it is wrong. But whatever happens, it will be a step forward.

Flowers in the ever-present road cones has become an anniversary tradition

This sign, however tagged and silly the answers may be, has significance. I can think of a few words I would add:

GROW

CHANGE

BE REFRESHED

HAVE HOPE

HAVE FAITH

BE STRONG

RISE UP.

Crochet Owl Bag WINNER

Congratulations Mrs SERENA STOCK! What a hoot! Owl shall be sending this bag your way soon!

Our *temporary* Home {Garage}

Showcasing my temporary home to inspire others and prove that organised clutter can look good!

Due to popular demand, I decided to add another room into this series. The Garage. (There may also be another one with Dave's Studio but he will have to tidy it first!)

Our garage isn't used for housing cars (sadly), but it is the home of a whole lot of 'we-might-need-it-one-day' junk. As well as all of Dave's tool collection.

The Workbench. I am assuming that this is organised, it seems to be clean and free from the usual clutter. Some things I can spot are: Saws, clamps, a vice (or 2), radio, battery charger, drawers for organizing screws, drill bits and tonnes more. (see how well you educated me Dave!)

The power drill pile. The belt sander is the latest addition.

The other day the neighbours put the wooden 'man-robe' on the kerb so we promptly relocated it and Dave claimed it for storage. 'It wouldn't do up that nice Amy' he said. Hidden agenda or what!

The other side of the garage, spray paint wall, projects to fix, a drum stack, MY surfboard, general bits and bobs.

The file collection. Thanks Sam.

This is Dave's furnace. He melts metal in it. It gets pretty darn hot. It runs on LPG and, in laymans terms, has a bunsen burner on steriods, which gets fed into a pot lined with concrete, in which sits a crucible with the metal to be melted in. Phew. I'm surprised I know this actually.

Eventually Dave will have perfected how to make molds of objects (think chess pieces) to cast out of metal. 

Dave's shed is definitely his man-cave and his sanctuary. He always has a tonne of projects on the go and more ideas in his head. He likes to teach me how stuff works and how to use power tools and I think he can do absolutely anything (apparently not everything though).

T-shirt from a Sheet

Last weekend I went op-shopping with a great friend and we came across the hugest range of second hand sheets I have ever seen!

I had my eye out because I am making a crochet rag rug (more on that later) but after I got home with this blue paisley sheet (among others) I decided that I liked the material too much to tear it up.

I made this T-shirt using the shape of a comfortable shirt I already own.

I turned it inside out and cut the sheet around the front and back of the shirt, leaving room for seam allowances.

I marked where the arm holes were and sewed the shoulder seams and side seams.

I then folded up the sleeve and neck and bottom hems and sewed them down.

I tried the shirt on and it was a bit shapeless because of the way the material hung so I used a bit of creative licence and added a piece of elastic under the bust and a gather at the centre of the neckline. I also put a couple of pleats on the shoulder seams for a bit of interest.

Would you guess I was wearing a sheet? The entire single sheet (I used less than half) was $2. Bargain. And this was after I was telling a friend it was too expensive to make clothes these days. I sure told myself!

Outfit details:
Shirt: Handmade (old sheet)
Jeans: Factorie Outlet
Necklace: Toi Toi (Cashel Mall)

Cow Print Footstool - Re-Upholstered

Last weekends project was to finally re-cover this footstool. It had been waiting for some fabric because the stuff I was going to use was too short.
I finally made it to Kutwell Fabrics and hunted for suitable fabric, and nothing caught my eye. Then all of a sudden I saw this cow print fabric and had a revelation. I could cover the stool in this fabric* and give it to two of my amazing friends!

* The cow print refers to their last name (Mutu) which they lovingly refer to as moo2. Baby moo2 has a very awesome cow onesie and a cow print cup so I was just going with the trend..)

As I was buying the fabric I realised that it was quite thin and a bit see-through so I decided to grab some calico to put underneath. Kutwell is a seriously amazing bargain fabric store, they have the basics (calico, batting, zips etc) for super cheap and although their fabric selection may not be 'on trend' they still have a wide range of fabrics.

Anyway the point of that promo was to say that the total price for 1.5m calico and 1.5m cow print was $7. What the!

The Re-Upholstry Run Down

Like usual, the first step was to remove the black fabric underneath the footstool with a pointy tool to remove the staples. I use the flat head screwdriver attachment on my multi-tool.

The next step was removing more staples that held on the fabric.

Once the staples were pulled, the fabric was removed to reveal the bare-bones footstool.

I sanded the chipped varnish off the legs of the stool at this point.

I unpicked the fabric I had just removed and used that as the pattern for my new calico and cow print layers.

Following the same seam lines that were on the original fabric, I sewed down each corner of the calico fabric and tried it on the stool. Each corner sat well so I went ahead and pulled it tight and stapled it on.

I followed  the same process with the cow print fabric but when I tried it on the stool, one of the corners was a bit too tight so I had to unpick and sew the seam a bit smaller. 

I stapled down the cow fabric carefully then stapled a new piece of leftover calico underneath because the old black piece was getting a bit ratty.

I am really amped about how this footstool turned out! It was way out of my comfort zone using fabric like this but I really love how funky it looks.

I hope the Moo2's are enjoying their footstool and get a smile on their face when they put their feet up!

Also dont forget to enter my GIVEAWAY on my last post!

Crochet Owl Bag GIVEAWAY

Inspired by Sophie over at Sophie Slim who made a colourful toddler-sized version of this purse, I decided to use up some of my acrylic stash left over from my Sonic Granny Square Blanket.
I based this bag on the pattern from HERE

Navy blue, sky blue and white make up the colours for this bag and it could be
ALL YOURS!

The strap makes this bag around hip height on an adult female (me) when slung over one shoulder.

To enter this giveaway all you have to do is leave a comment underneath this post with flattery, advice or whatever and you are in the draw! (NZ residents only sorry guys)

 The winner will be drawn on Thurs Feb 14th (A Valentines Day Giveaway) around 5pm.

 GOOD LUCK!