Category: Craft

Extra thick spacers

On By CarynIn Craft

Although my fiber page design isn’t terribly thick, the quarter inch drawer causes the pages to bow when the book is flat. The spacers provided with the photo album are too thin, so I made new ones out of quarter inch thick foam sheet from the craft store.

Old cardboard spacer (right) used as a guide to make a new foam spacer (left)

I cut the foam to match the old spacer using a large paper cutter, then matched the holes with a paper punch. The foam was remarkably easy to punch. Assembling my fiber pages in the book went much, much easier using these spacers and three inch posts.

Spacer installed between pages
Spine of album with spacers, without cover
Top of album showing better page separation with the spacers

Modesty panel

On By CarynIn Craft, Life Hack

Warning: hand sewing ahead.

I picked up a shirt when shopping with the kids and the neckline turned out to be way too low. So I added a modesty panel using cotton knit material. I did attempt to do the whole alteration on my machine, but I had a terrible time feeding the thin knit material consistently under the sewing foot. Frustrated, I turned back to hand stitching; the inside of the neckline had a convenient seam that made making an invisible whip stitch easy. I think the next time around I will hand stitch a decorative edge on the top as well, leaving the machine work for woven cotton and inside seams. The finished product has the look of layers, without the bulk.

Crescent of material cut to cover the low neck line of a knit shirt
Machine stitched top edge
Hand stitching panel to inside of shirt with a whip stitch
Installed modesty panel

Deer upgrade

On By CarynIn Craft

Last year’s purchase of a pre-made pre-lit deer decoration has gone through a series of changes at my house. I liked him standing in my meadow so much, I took off his festive holiday bow so he could stay there all through spring and summer. He moved to the back woods when it was time for the ghost to come out, but you could still see him through the branches which was neat. In early December, I stripped out all the old LED light strings and instead set up a LED wave light in front of him set to a multi-hued pattern. The light does a much better job showing of his iridescent trappings, and looks stunning in the full dark.

Deer decoration lit by a wave light

Getting better

On By CarynIn Craft, Life Hack

When I tried to assemble gingerbread houses last year for my kids, it was a struggle to get the sides and roof to stay up until the frosting set. This year, they went together much easier. I did actually get out the big knife and trimmed the side walls square, this time. My youngest also helped stabilize as we built. Life lessons: live and learn, follow directions, and accept help.

Gingerbread houses assembled and drying before decorating

Antique spinning mule bobbin

On By CarynIn Craft

Harrisville Designs in New Hampshire has moved their machines back to the original factory floor in town, to strengthen the ties to the community, switch to renewable energy, and return the historic buildings to their original purpose. To celebrate, they offered customers a piece of history, an antique spinning mule bobbin, if you purchased a skein of yarn. I ordered yarn.

Antique maple spinning mule bobbin and new silk and wool yarn from Harrisville Designs

A spinning mule is a machine used to spin yarn on multiple bobbins as once. (Here is a place to get started on more information.) It drastically improved the amount of yarn that could be spun at one time and replaced the spinning wheel as the main production of yarn in the 1700s. This bobbin is between 50 and 100 years old. Fascinating. I can’t collect many antiques, I just don’t have the room, but this is small and will go with my hand spindles.