No DIY Orla Kiely, but I did make curtains

My apartment has no storage space. There’s one tiny closet with a shelf I can barely reach, and that’s it. And I have a lot of stuff. So not long after I moved in, I bought some shelves from IKEA and tucked them in a little alcove in my dining area. Only, no one really wants to eat dinner with rolls of paper towels, boxes of my band’s CDs, and camping equipment right behind their heads.

So I bought some great fabric on sale at Repro Depot, and decided to make curtains to get my unsightly boxes, etc., out of sight.

I was hoping to have some extra fabric to make a handbag, but alas, the project used it all up. Who knew you really do need the fabric to be 1.5-2 times the width of the shelves?

Tea Towel Bulletin Board

My friend Annie gave me a set of gorgeous tea towels for a housewarming gift. I kept them wrapped up in their ribbon for the longest time; they were just too nice looking to get dirty.

At the same time, I had my old bulletin board leaning against a wall, waiting to be recovered. The pink and brown fabric didn’t match my new avocado green, yellow, and tomato red kitchen decor.

And then the chocolate dropped into my peanut butter. The prettier tea towel was the perfect size to use to recover the bulletin board. Well, almost the perfect size. I had to rip out the edges to get a little more width, then I used Fray Block to prevent the edges from unraveling.

The pink and brown fabric was tacked on using upholstery tacks, so I pulled those out, revealing the original light green fabric stapled to the foam core and cardboard. I didn’t have the energy to rip all those staples out, so I covered that with some muslin (to prevent the green from showing through), then the tea towel, stretching the fabric and stapling it into place.

This also added some depth to the board, which helped it fit better into the frame. I took some old grosgrain ribbon, tacked it into the crossed pattern with the upholstery tacks, popped it back into the frame, and hung it up on the wall. Ta-da! Bulletin board and kitchen decoration all in one! I want to change it to all red ribbon, but this works well for now.

Materials

• Thrift-store picture frame
• Foam core and/or layers of cardboard cut to fit frame
• Muslin (if using cardboard, to prevent brown from bleeding through)
• Tea towel
• Grosgrain ribbon
• Staples
• Upholstery tacks
• Hanging wire or whatever else you want to use to hang it on your wall

DIY Orla Kiely

Ever since I saw the first one, I’ve been slightly obsessed with Orla Kiely bags, especially the Etc. vinyl-coated fabric ones. My friend Lessley gave me the best birthday gift ever last year, a fabric Bungalow 360 bag. It’s super lightweight, has the perfect combination of pockets, and zips fully closed across the top. I love it. The only problem? It’s disgustingly dirty because it’s impossible to clean.

While eating breakfast one morning, I thought, “I could save up for an Orla Kiely bag.” But, honestly, I don’t want to. Then I looked up at the pinned-up curtains covering my storage shelves. Aha! I could use the extra from that to make a handbag! And I even have an old pattern (Vogue 7328) that has a similarly shaped hobo-style handbag pattern.

But how do I protect the fabric from stains? Scotch-Guard did nothing to protect my Bungalow 360 handbag. I’d have to find a coating, like a fusible vinyl, to protect it, which would also make it look more like the Orla Kielys. And then I found it online!

I’m going to make the curtains this weekend and see if I have enough left over to make the bag. Sadly, reprodepot.com doesn’t have any more of the fabric.

Alix’s Needle Holder

When I gave Vera a knitting needle holder for her birthday back in May, I told Alix I’d make her one, too. Of course, it’s been several months since Alix’s birthday and all sorts of things have gotten in the way, but now it’s finally done!

In my quest to perfect my needle holder pattern, I’ve been taking notes and photos on the various stages. Quick digression: my digital camera is one of the best purchases I’ve made. I use it so much more than I thought I would.

I sewed on the ribbon ties this morning and hemmed the edges. I rolled in the edges and did a modified (read “cheater”) mitered corner. I think it turned out pretty well! And I’m only about three months late for Alix’s birthday!

I’m thinking of making some more of these to get through my fabric stash (which is sizable), then maybe selling the finished products and the pattern on Etsy.com.

Stitchin’ for the Kitchen

I recently wrote up a bunch of blog entries for writing samples for YumSugar, and I can’t believe I forgot to write up one of my new obsessions: hostess aprons. It all started when I saw that a cool citrus, red, and aquamarine striped apron was one of the subscription premiums for Everyday Food (yes, it is why I bit the bullet and subscribed, yes, I did have to ask them to send it to me, and yes, I am glad I have the subscription).

But then I saw the Kitsch’n'Glam aprons at a car wash gift store (yes, really) and had to buy one for my friend Kerry’s birthday. They’re reversable AND many styles come with matching oven mitts.

And in the Nov. 2006 issue of Lucky, they talk about Jessie Steele aprons. She has some that look like beautiful 50s day dresses, in pretty florals. And of course, one in a skull pattern.

I’ve had this sewing pattern for a vintagey apron, with rows and rows of colored rick-rack. Someday I’ll sew it up.

Hell in a Handbag

Sometimes I wonder why I keep this blog–is it to make public my craft disasters? The latest casualty is my pink-and-black handbag, the first part of which went together lightning quick. I was confused by the directions for putting together the lining, and although I kept checking and rechecking the pattern instructions, I had a sinking feeling that I hadn’t done it correctly. Well, that’s because I hadn’t. When I sewed the inside to the outside and flipped it right side out, the interfacing went down inside the bag, the zipper floated about an inch or two below the top of the bag, and the lining didn’t reach the bottom. Oops.

I took out my trusty seam ripper, took out the seam that attached the inside to the outside, and am going to try again. I think I know what to do this time. I hope.

Here’s where it stands:

I did finish my awesome leg warmers (a woman at the dentist’s office on Thursday made a Flashdance comment–”But I heard they’re coming back in style,” she insisted). I’ll post photos soon.

I can’t wait for my Cascade 220 to come so I can start the Hourglass sweater. I don’t want to start any new knitting projects until I start on that one.

It IS My Bag, Baby

As I was home Monday, waiting for the baby sweater to finish blocking, I decided to start up an old project. I got this great pink and black material at Kweejibo on Haight, back when they were selling fabric remnants. I made a skirt out of it and wanted to make a jacket, but I didn’t have enough left over and they didn’t have any more when I went back. (The picture on the left shows the real color.)

So a few months ago, I decided to make a bag, using Vogue 7328. I pinned the pattern to the fabric and cut out the interfacing a few months ago, but I haven’t had time to pull out my sewing machine since.

So far, it’s been pretty easy to sew, and the fabric isn’t fraying as much as it did on my skirt. I messed up the zipper a bit, but by then, I just wanted to see what the finished product looked like, so I left it. I just have to finish the strap and sew the lining and I’m done!

I think it would be cool to widen the handbag and make it a knitting needle and project holder!

Mandolin Strap

Since my band, the Barefoot Nellies, needed a mandolin player, I decided to take one for the team a few months ago and pick up the mandolin. I got a Kentucky KM-800 (“Bella Voce”–the most heavily inlaid instrument I own) F-style mandolin back in December and started looking for a cool strap to use with it. (I have an awesome red gingham guitar strap from Sparklecraft that gets lots of compliments).

I picked up a cool raspberry suede strap from the Fifth String over in Berkeley right before practice a few weeks ago, but alas and alack–the scroll on my mandolin is too tight! The opening isn’t wide enough to fit the strap.

What could I do but make one myself? I stopped by Jo-ann’s, picked up a 1/4 yd. blue gingham (44″ wide), 1 1/2 yds. 1″ white cotton belting (I wanted nylon, but the nylon 1″ belting was actually slightly wider), and 1/4 yd. black vinyl (I could have done with a scrap, really, or an 1/8 yd. at most).

Check out the extended entry for my how-to.

Kelly Bag

I’ve been obsessed with Kelly bags lately and can’t find them anywhere. I just found this Vogue pattern, #7982, for one, though. Maybe that’ll be my next project…

Christmas Tablecloth

Chad and I had our Christmas party last night. As we were getting ready Friday night, making the crab cakes*, cleaning the bathroom, making the gingerbread dough, etc., I carved out some time to make this tablecloth.

And embroidered this snowflake (my first successful embroidery project!):

It was inspired by this napkin, from Pottery Barn.

* Mini Asian crab cakes from Martha Stewart Living, December 2003. This is a surefire hit at parties, and although it takes a while to prepare, you can make them weeks ahead and just pop them in the oven when people start showing up. Ten minutes later, garnish, and serve! Delish!