Author: Caryn

Dress to skirt with pockets

On By CarynIn Craft

I love the colors of this dress, but detest cap sleeves.

Photo description: green and white floral dress with shirred bodice and elasticized cap sleeves

I cut off the sleeves and neckline just below the arm pit, removed one line of elastic, and sewed a hem at the top. The shirred bodice is now a stretchy waistline for a skirt.

Photo description: top hem in progress, showing folding the fabric over twice and whip stitching it with white thread to the top line of elastic

Although I don’t like wearing cap sleeves, the fabric cut from the sleeve made a decent sized pocket.

Photo description: sleeve fabric with elastic removed and seams cut away
Photo description: sleeve fabric folded in half, right sides together
Photo description: folded sleeve fabric positioned on the dress in pocket position, later to be trimmed and sewn in

Picking out serger seams is not my favorite activity, but it is worth it to get pockets. I find it easier to cut the threads between the layers of fabric, rather than figure out which thread to cut on the surface. Once I had pocket holes in the side of the skirt, I sewed the pocket to the waistband, sewed the bottom seam, and sewed the pocket openings. I sewed reinforcement at the top and bottom of the pocket by sewing a stitch across the join of the four fabrics seven times.

Photo description: green and white floral skirt with pockets, phone showing the position of the pocket on the right

I now have a wearable maxi skirt with large pockets.

Pockets.

I will one hundred percent be showing off the pockets like the viral vulture pockets meme.

Vintage linen calendars

On By CarynIn Craft

My sister brought me some linen towels from the 70s. I liked the prints on them, so decided to use them as decoration. They all had a narrow sleeve at the top, so I cut down wire hangers to make hanging rods.

Photo description: white wire hangers cut with lineman’s pliers and the ends looped with needle nose pliers

I took leather cordage and tied it to the wire loops.

Photo description: calendar towel from 1974 with wire and leather hanging hardware

I didn’t like how the wire sagged, so I tacked the linen to the leather about a third of the way in with cotton thread.

Photo description: closeup of tacked section
Photo description: same towel hanging on the wall, but with thread tacks and no sagging, towel has drawings of kitchen implements
Photo description: linen calendar towel from 1973 with birds hanging on the wall with new hardware along with chickadee art, and photos of a barn owl and field mouse by Oliver Hellowell

The production of calendar towels began in the 1950s and was an invention of Stevens Linen Works in Dudley, Massachusetts.

Yarn bowl

On By CarynIn Craft

I have been wanting a yarn bowl, so when we went for another round of ceramic painting and there was an unpainted yarn bowl, I took the leap.

Photo description: green ceramic yarn bowl with holes for yarn or a hook carved in the side for yarn
Photo description: inside of the yarn bowl painted with a spiral of white and black dots

Yarn bowls are a solution to round wrapped balls of yarn. They keep the ball from rolling all over the floor. They work with other yarn preparations too.

Ruffle scarf, 4 vs 6

On By CarynIn Craft

One more comment on ruffle scarves knitted from machine lace “yarn”. Here are two scarves, one using six stitches (purple) and one using 4 stitches (faded glory).

Photo description: two ruffle scarves, “Faded glory” red, white, and cream on the left is longer, the purple scarf on the right is shorter and thicker

Really it is a matter of personal taste when choosing how many stitches to use.

Photo description: in progress work with four stitches on the needle, picked up from the edge of the machine lace

Throwback Thursday: wrap bracelet

On By CarynIn Craft, throwback

This is a wrap bracelet that I made for my sister in April of 2015. It is made from red leather cord, 4mm garnet and quartz beads, and beading thread. The remarkable thing about it is that it was sitting next to my chair next to the fireplace when the house caught on fire in March of 2015. I had been working on it and it was in a project bag. I needed to give everything a rinse to get rid of the ash, but I was able to complete the bracelet.

Photo description: red wrap bracelet with four wraps of natural garnet and quartz beads sewn between two leather cords

I really missed an opportunity to do a morse code message in the beading.