the holiday spending has begun. our subaru needs a brand new radiator and i've received two parking tickets so far this week. i wonder what will be next. 'tis the season to be broke.
i've been perusing the sweet holiday crafts popping up on the crafty crow. there are some great ideas for a secret elf gift exchange like the one coming up in tashi's classroom. what on earth does a fifth grade girl make for a fifth grade boy? i think the string art trees are pretty cool myself.
i'm thinking it would be fun to make tashi one of these since, now that her room is big enough to have her bunk bed assembled, she has chosen to sleep in the top bunk every night. our cat luna has taken a particular interest in batting around tashi's hearing aids when left out on the bedside shelf. i'm sure i could figure out the pocket tidy without a pattern, but if anyone knows of a pattern, please do share!
so my frame of mind is slowly, lazily, shifting to handmade, though the move has thrown me off a bit when it comes to feeling organized and energized. but i'm contemplating it, and hoping to strike upon some inspiration. . .
1 comment:
Pocket tidy- The thing that you tuck under the mattress and let hang down as it stores books? For starters, use sturdy fabric. Cottons, such as quilt quality are not as strong as canvas, denim, or "bottom weight" if you go to a fabric store. Next, this is just a matter of wrestling with a giant rectangle of fabric as you determine how big you want it. To throw out some numbers, try a finished shape (use 3/8 to 1/2" seam allowance) of say 14" wide by 24" long. You could sew it like a pillow by leaving a gap somewhere so you can flip it right side out. Then press it, and topstitch 1/4" away (which lets you skip handsewing that opening shut). Finally, take a rectangle that finishes 14" (your width) by about 8" (same sewing idea as above). Topstitch just the top edge. Take the whole thing and topstitch it to the bottom and two sides of your big piece. Stitch a sturdy seam (backstitch at top edge) right down the middle to make two pockets for books. You can embellish it with any sort of fabric trims, although watch for dangling pieces if that's a cat toy. Now that I think of it, the embellishing should occur before you attach the front piece. If this sounds confusing, let me know. There are lots of ways of doing this, including making the front pockets out of an old pair of pants that have those big side pockets near the knees. Because of the habitual readers in my house, I tend to want something like this to be sturdy enough to manage several books at a time.
Post a Comment