Our back door deadbolt started to stick (most likely with how incredibly dry we are this summer). The bolt was rubbing on the top of the strike plate. I’ve dealt with this many times since owning a home, and it usually takes me half an hour of swearing and adjusting and fetching tools I forgot. This time I grabbed my 1/2” chisel, mallet, and the electric screw driver and had the plate off, a few millimeters chiseled out of the wood, and the plate back on in about five minutes. I’ll take it.
Photo description: Strike plate for a deadbolt moved up a fraction of an inch
The fix isn’t gorgeous, but it is functional. The deadbolt now slides smoothly into place.
My youngest has a favorite shirt that was getting snug. To prolong the life of the shirt and make her happy, I added a gusset to the sides and up through the arm. First I picked out the side seams about to the elbow.
Photo description: Gray knit material with blue thread and a seam ripper, showing a partially picked seam.
I had her try on the shirt at this stage to see how wide the gusset needed to be cut. Then I cut long rectangles of a similar weight black knit fabric and tapered the end by the elbow.
Photo description: Gray t-shirt on a white table with a black rectangle of fabric laid on top. The top of the rectangle has been cut to a point.
I put the right sides together, and starting at the arm, sewed in the gusset with a stretch stitch on the machine. To finish the bottom edge, I folded up a hem to match the sides and stitched across with black thread.
Photo description: Gray Oklahoma Thunder shirt with sewn in black gusset, side view.Photo description: same shirt but laid in the table flat showing the front view of the gusset up to the elbow.
I was quite pleased with how the modification came out. The shirt fits better and looks like it was originally designed that way. My youngest is happy because the shirt is now much more comfy.
I noticed that my eldest’s Prisma colored pencil case was full of pencil tips. My hypothesis is that the pencils got sharpened, then the tips break in transit. To try to prevent future breakage, I grabbed a strip of foam sheet and used double stick tape to hold it in the end of the box.
Photo description: Shallow metal box with six sharpened colored pencils, and a white strip of foam at the end next to the pencil tips. Off the sides of the box are a pair of scissors, more foam sheet, double stick tape, and unsharpened pencils.
Cube storage shelves installed horizontally under a full sized bed
We are doing a great room switch with the kids this summer, and I found that I had four unclaimed three-shelf cube storage shelves. My eldest needed some more storage space, so we turned them sideways and replaced the metal bed frame with the shelves. This actually works! To add suspenders and a belt, we also used wooden slats to span the space between the shelves, but it wasn’t strictly necessary. We picked up some fabric cube bins so the bed will have drawers underneath. The bins were on sale, so the sum total of the project was $24, since we already had the shelves and slats. The center of each unit is open, which the cats discovered to their delight, so we will be leaving two available for cat egress.
We have blackout curtains in all the bedrooms, but my youngest has high anxiety about fireworks and thunderstorms. She doesn’t wear her hearing aids at night, so usually can’t hear but the loudest rumble, but she can see the light flash around the blackout curtains, even without her glasses. I wedged a cardboard box in the window as a temporary fix, but we needed a better long-term solution. I knew that blackout fabric was something purchasable, but I didn’t know that Velcro had the rest of the solution. Velcro produces a household product that has one side of their hook and loop with a strong adhesive, and the other side without glue for sewing, perfect for attaching blackout fabric to a window.
Soft side of the velcro sewn to blackout fabricCutting down the hard side of the Velcro to fit the window frameAdhesive velcro installed on the window frameSheet of blackout fabric installed in the window with the ecru side in, white side out
Velcro didn’t mess around with this product. It is one of the strongest hook and loops I’ve encountered. Our customer service person cutting the Velcro put it together before cutting. Next time, I will ask for the two parts to be cut separately. So sticky. My window frame is a half-inch, and the Velcro was 3/4”, so I had to cut the hard side down to fit. There is still some light that creeps through, but paired with the hanging curtain, it is dark as pitch in the room. Except for the light coming from the closet, which also has a window. I have another curtain to sew.
Critters and Craft 