Galentine's Day 2016

"What's Galentine's Day? Oh, it's only the best day of the year! Every February 13th, my lady friends and I...just come and kick it breakfast-style.  Ladies celebrating ladies. It's like Lilith Fair...minus the angst...plus frittatas." --Leslie Knope, Parks and Recreation

As promised, here are the photos of this year's Galentine's Day.  This year we hosted, and I was able to document a lot more of the food and the decorative themed stations (beautifully arranged by my intrepid co-host).

We had a Chocolate Station next to a table with name cards where guests could leave Galentines for the other guests.  

Our Scone Station.  My friend made berry scones and chocolate chip scones, which were offered with fresh fruit, whipped cream, lemon curd, and passionfruit jam (it was all suuuuper yummy when piled together).

Our seating area featured a beautiful glass and roses theme.  We served food on glass dishes and "crystal" plastic party trays to match the place settings.  In addition to the scones, we offered cucumber sandwiches, lox sandwiches, a caprese salad (fresh mozarella, basil, and tomato drizzled in olive oil), and a cheese plate.

My place setting:

After brunch, we watched "A Tell-Tale Vlog" on YouTube (featuring Edgar Allan Poe, aspiring vlogger, as well as Lady Ghost Lenore, and a random girl scout), while we digested.  

Then it was time to open our Galentines. 

All of the Galentines were super sweet, and some were also funny.

This homemade Galentine features a cut-out of a teacup that functions as a pocket and holds a packet of "Well-Rested Tea"--and a caption with a related play on words:

Another of our friends bought used books and wrapped them in brown paper as her Galentines.  She wrote a different quote on each cover, and added fun stickers.  We each chose a quote that we liked and gained a mystery book:

My mystery book ended up being "The Blind Assassin," by Margaret Atwood:

My beautiful Galentines (complete with a bag of dark chocolate!):

We had a lot of fun, just hanging out and talking about books and catching up.

By the end of the day, I had eaten so much rich food that I was a bit queasy (have I mentioned that I'm lactose-intolerant?)...  My breakfast of leftovers the next day was much more restrained, but still delicious: Lox and tomato on bread, and whipped cream, lemon curd, and passionfruit jam on the penultimate scone (a word I will always remember, thanks to Lemony Snicket!):

So that was our beautiful and tasty brunch!

Already craving scones and looking forward to next year...

Miss Matty's Turban (Book to Art Project: Cranford)

A "Book to Art" club is exactly what it sounds like: a group whose members adapt the themes from books they have read into art projects.  These clubs can be as casual or as organized as its members prefer.  You can find more information about the umbrella Book to Art organization here.

For my winter project, I based my piece on a passage from Elizabeth Gaskell's Cranford.  This is a lovely, funny, and at times melancholy book that is made up of small stories and letters that give you a well-rounded understanding of the town of Cranford and the people who live there.  The stories were first published in serial form in 1851, and were then republished as a complete novel in 1853.

*WARNING: Many Spoilers Below!*

Miss Matilda Jenkyns, A Lady of Cranford

Through the eyes of the novel's narrator, Mary Smith, we meet two of the most respected ladies in Cranford: Deborah Jenkyns (known as "Miss Jenkyns," as she is the elder sister) and Matilda Jenkyns (known as "Miss Matilda" in front of her dignified sister, but called "Miss Matty" at all other times).  Miss Jenkyns and Miss Matty host Miss Smith on her visits, and are featured to some degree in most of the stories about Cranford.  The sisters are the children of the former rector, and Miss Jenkyns is seen as a moral compass for the town.  She has studied (some) theology and literature, and considers herself an expert on religion, morality, and frugality.  Her opinion is given a great deal of weight, in both her home and in Cranford at large. A woman of strong personality, Miss Jenkyns is often seen laying down the law in her household and shaping the moral landscape of the town itself.  When Deborah suddenly gets sick and dies, her sister, the softer, more pliable lady, attempts to fill Miss Jenkyns' shoes and uphold the same standards.  When encouraged to bend one of the late Miss Jenkyns' rules in favor of her own preferences, her reply is usually something to the effect of, "Deborah wouldn't like it."

Matilda Jenkyns is shown throughout the novel to be a sweet person whose ideas are constantly ignored or over-ruled.  As an example: Matilda loves to suck the juice out of oranges, a practice that her sister considers vulgar.  Even after Deborah Jenkyns has passed, the new Miss Jenkyns continues to eat her oranges in the shuttered privacy of her bedroom.  And when Matilda Jenkyns explains to Mary Smith that she wishes to be more dignified and called "Miss Matilda" after her sister has died, as a tribute to her sister's preferences and her own new position, the narrator and the entire town continue to call her and think of her as "Miss Matty" in spite of themselves (albeit in an entirely affectionate way).

Another example of Matilda Jenkyns' thwarted dreams is revealed when Mary Smith learns during one of her visits that Miss Matty had once been courted by a certain gentleman.  This relationship had ended rather abruptly, and there are several scattered hints that Deborah's strong opinions may have had something to do with the couple's falling out.  This youthful relationship is rekindled but unfortunately again lost over the course of the novel. But despite losing so many loved ones, Miss Matty continues to be look on the bright side, and to be excited by life's possibilities.

Miss Matty is shown to be a bit flighty and indecisive--she will worry about making the right choice to the point of inactivity.  But she is always kind-hearted.  When she opens a small tea shop to supplement her income during a time of financial crisis, she adds extra loose tea to the bags and gives extra candy and cookies out to the children who stop by--she would much rather be over-generous than stingy.  As a result, it is not completely clear if she is actually seeing any profit from her shop!  Her kindness to everyone is repaid by her maid, Martha, however--Martha and her husband Jem take over Miss Matty's house and let her remain as an esteemed tenant, and still treat her as the "Lady of the House."  Her friends also pitch in to help secretly support her--but they would never hurt her pride (or their own) by letting her know that she is living on charity.  Even this proof of their esteem (and direct impact on her life) is hidden from her.

My art project is based on one of these stories about Miss Matilda.  She is shown over and over again to be the kind of woman who puts others' opinions before her own.  Sometimes her fancies are shown to be unrealistic or changeable, but no matter the arena, she is rarely left to make her own choices or mistakes.  She lives her life reliant on others--first her parents, then her sister, then Martha and Jem and Mary Smith, and then finally her long-lost brother take care of her.

In the following passage, Miss Matty yearns for an exotic sea-green turban, but once again she will not get to fulfill her fanciful idea:

Late in November - when we had returned home again, and my father was once more in good health - I received a letter from Miss Matty; and a very mysterious letter it was. She began many sentences without ending them, running them one into another, in much the same confused sort of way in which written words run together on blotting-paper. All I could make out was that, if my father was better (which she hoped he was), and would take warning and wear a great-coat from Michaelmas to Lady-day, if turbans were in fashion, could I tell her? Such a piece of gaiety was going to happen as had not been seen or known of since Wombwell's lions came, when one of them ate a little child's arm; and she was, perhaps, too old to care about dress, but a new cap she must have; and, having heard that turbans were worn, and some of the county families likely to come, she would like to look tidy, if I would bring her a cap from the milliner I employed; and oh, dear! how careless of her to forget that she wrote to beg I would come and pay her a visit next Tuesday; when she hoped to have something to offer me in the way of amusement, which she would not now more particularly describe, only sea-green was her favourite colour. So she ended her letter; but in a P.S. she added, she thought she might as well tell me what was the peculiar attraction to Cranford just now; Signor Brunoni was going to exhibit his wonderful magic in the Cranford Assembly Rooms on Wednesday and Friday evening in the following week.

I was very glad to accept the invitation from my dear Miss Matty, independently of the conjuror, and most particularly anxious to prevent her from disfiguring her small, gentle, mousey face with a great Saracen's head turban; and accordingly, I bought her a pretty, neat, middle-aged cap, which, however, was rather a disappointment to her when, on my arrival, she followed me into my bedroom, ostensibly to poke the fire, but in reality, I do believe, to see if the sea-green turban was not inside the cap-box with which I had travelled. It was in vain that I twirled the cap round on my hand to exhibit back and side fronts: her heart had been set upon a turban, and all she could do was to say, with resignation in her look and voice - "I am sure you did your best, my dear. It is just like the caps all the ladies in Cranford are wearing, and they have had theirs for a year, I dare say. I should have liked something newer, I confess - something more like the turbans Miss Betty Barker tells me Queen Adelaide wears; but it is very pretty, my dear. And I dare say lavender will wear better than sea-green. Well, after all, what is dress, that we should care anything about it? You'll tell me if you want anything, my dear. Here is the bell. I suppose turbans have not got down to Drumble yet?"

So saying, the dear old lady gently bemoaned herself out of the room, leaving me to dress for the evening, when, as she informed me, she expected Miss Pole and Mrs Forrester, and she hoped I should not feel myself too much tired to join the party. Of course I should not; and I made some haste to unpack and arrange my dress; but, with all my speed, I heard the arrivals and the buzz of conversation in the next room before I was ready. Just as I opened the door, I caught the words, "I was foolish to expect anything very genteel out of the Drumble shops; poor girl! she did her best, I've no doubt." But, for all that, I had rather that she blamed Drumble and me than disfigured herself with a turban.

--Cranford, "Signor Brunoni"

Mary Smith is determined to protect Miss Matty from herself--she conveniently fails to find any green turbans so that Miss Matty will not embarrass herself amongst her peers.  Matilda Jenkyns' desired style is deemed inappropriate and unbecoming, and so the decision is once again taken out of her hands.

For my Book to Art project, I decided to give Miss Matty a symbol for all of her set-aside dreams--a sea-green turban.  I studied paintings of Regency turbans, and then I bought a blouse and a necklace from a thrift store and turned them into my interpretation of her dream turban.

From behind:

Side view:

Details:

The necklace was twisted and tacked down to turn it into a bejeweled brooch:

It was a lot of fun to make this turban!  And it was fun to work on something a little different.  I really enjoyed reading "Cranford," and this project helped me reflect on the characters a little more.

I encourage you to consider your own Book to Art projects!

*********************************************************************

Looking forward to seeing some of you at the Los Angeles Festival of Books this weekend!

And starting on Monday:  I will be posting one of my "HEDGEHOG ALPHABET ADVENTURES" Sketches every day!

Knitting Needle Tote



Knitting Needle Tote from above.

As I've showed you before, I normally store my knitting needles and crochet hooks in decorative jars, as a display item.  Then I just pull out what I need for my project.

If I need to transport all of them, I pack them into a knitting needle tote I made a long time ago for a textiles assignment (I believe this was in 2005). 

To make this tote, I cut out the back panel of an old sweater, and I chopped up a pair of my uncle's old jeans.

I cut the bottom portion off one of the jean legs, to use as a pocket.  The rest of the legs I cut into flat panels.

The entire tote was hand-stitched.  I made the main tote out of a folded denim panel, and then sewed the sweater panel onto the outside of the bag as a decorative element. 

I had cut the sweater panel carefully, cutting outside of all stitched seams, so that the sweater panel would not unravel while I worked with it.

The knitting needle pouch just inside the zipper is made from the extra length of the sweater panel (the neck), which was folded down into the bag to create a tube, instead of being cut off.

Then I stitched the sides of the tote together, adding small panels at each end to create inner pockets.  These pocket panels also alter and hold the main denim panel into a basin shape.  

The bottom of the pant leg was cut off as an intact tube and stitched directly onto the bag (ankle-end-up) to create the main outer pocket, with the industrial hem of the ankle creating a nice, clean opening.  I added pocket flaps made of the sweater material to the open end of the knitting needle pouch and along the top the outer pocket.

Lastly, I added the zipper, handles, and buttons, and edged the outer pocket flap and the knitting needle sleeve's closing flap with green yarn and crocheted button holes.

I wrapped and sewed the green yarn around and through the twine handles.  I used a "figure 8" stitch at the neck of each loop, to pin the loose twine ends to the handles  To make the buttons, I spiraled twine and stitched it together with the green yarn, also using the "figure 8" stitch, like when starting a twine basket.

Then I sewed the handles just below the top of the bag on each side.

The Final Product:

Front.  The pocket flap is a strip of sweater edged with button stitch.
The button and handles are made of twine, which was tightly wrapped in green yarn. 

I use this side pocket for sewing notions and other small tools.
It is made out of the already-hemmed bottom of the pant leg.

Back.  The bottom stocking stitch of the sweater adds a decorative element to the top of this side.

I keep my slim knitting needles in the top needle tube.
The big needles go in the main compartment.

This pencil case my aunt gave me perfectly holds all of my crochet needles,
 as well as my small, double-ended knitting needles.



The crochet needle case fits into the main compartment with the bigger needles.
There is an extra inner pocket at each end of the tote, for thread spools or measuring tape.

The fun thing about this project was that it followed a whimsical, spontaneous design.  I wrapped the sweater panel around the denim bag, and found there was enough of the neck left to roll into an inner knitting needle pocket.  I slapped the bottom of the pants leg onto the front of my tote, as a pre-made pocket.  All I had to do was stitch down the sides and bottom.  I had denim scraps, and I like pockets, so I used the scraps to add two extra inner pockets when I was sewing the ends of the tote together--you always need more pockets and compartments than you think you will!  My outer pocket gaped open, so I sewed a handmade button onto it, and then I took a scrap of sweater and made it into a decorative flap that would hold the pocket closed.  Then I added a green zipper I'd found at a thrift store as a closure.  I happened to have the twine and green yarn, so I used those to make matching handles and buttons, instead of going out and buying them.

TO MAKE YOUR OWN TOTE:
If you want to try this for yourself, all you need is:

 

*Sturdy base material.

*Optional sweater/decorative material, or yarns for contrast or accents.

*Needle and Thread or Sewing Machine.  You can of course make your tote much stronger than I did by sewing it with a sewing machine, but I did enjoy the spontaneous decisions that came out of hand-sewing this piece.  If you want your tote to be able to carry heavier items, you should probably use the sewing machine.

*An idea of what size items you want your tote to hold, as well as how many compartments or pockets you might need.

*Some way to fasten your bag, whether you prefer buttons or zippers.  I like the zipper for the main compartment, because it keeps everything from falling out accidentally.

If you want to be very basic, all you need to begin with is a rectangle of cloth.  Stitch down the front and back edges, to create a clean, sturdy top seam, and then fold your panel in half and stitch each side closed.  You'll end up with the narrow tote that I made.  If you want more of a tote, start with a longer main panel, and include a proper side panel (such as a half-circle or square), to create a roomier interior.

For inner or outer pockets, sew on a decorative panel or tube of fabric.  It's really that simple.  If you're feeling more ambitious, you can plan ahead and sew some pocket panels  into your seams.  Here is a link I've posted before, with a lovely selection of beautiful pocket tutorials, for if you want to do something more ambitious or decorative.

You can of course stitch multiple panels together, to create multiple inner compartments.  Or try pleating, or adding elastic.  Let your imagination run wild!  Your tote has endless possibilities.

My only complaint with my own tote after years of use is that the handles feel uneven, and sometimes bend oddly.  It was fun to make them on my own, by wrapping folded twine with yarn in the basket-making technique, but for better comfort and appearance for your own totes, I would recommend using actual store-bought handles, or a pretty tube strap made out of your fabric.  Or leave out the handles, and make a notions clutch!

Sweater Slippers

In the mood for a cozy project?

I've seen a few links on Facebook and Pinterest for simple DIY slippers made out of sweaters.

Got any soft or unique sweaters with stains or holes in them?  Impulse-bought one at a thrift store?

Why not give it a shot?

Here are two helpful tutorials:

Shoe Slippers

Sock-Slippers

HOODIE TOWEL ONE: GETTING STARTED

THE HOODIE TOWEL CRAZE




Three common types of hoodie towel:
Hooded Cape, Hooded Robe, and Hooded Poncho

There's been a huge craze for children's hoodie towels lately.  There are hoodie capes for infants and toddlers, hoodie bathrobes, and hoodie ponchos--the latter is usually a rectangular towel that has a hole in the middle for your head.  A lot of these towels are super cute, with faces and even teeth on the hoods, and colorful embellishments that turn the towels into animal costumes.

Now, I love how simple it is to turn a functional item like a towel into a shark or a tiger.  Add some eyes and ears and some spikey terry cloth teeth, maybe some paws!  I think this would be a lot of fun.

If you would like to try a couple fun, simple projects of your own, it looks like you basically only need some cheap towels, scissors, some pins, a ruler, and a sewing machine.  I looked at a lot of online tutorials when developing my own towel hoodie (just Google "hoodie towel" for lots of tutorials and images), and it looks like most of the basics are the same.  For a kid's cape, all you have to do is turn half of a hand towel into a hood, sew it onto the full-size towel, and embellish!

These two websites were my favorites: This link shows you links to 25 neat do-it-yourself beach accessories that you can make out of towels.  This link shows how a mom used the elements of a favorite sweatshirt to create a unique towel poncho design.

In this particular instance, I was asked to create a hoodie towel for a grown up.  A friend of mine surfs a lot, and he does not always have access to a place where he can change back into his clothes.  He has a few friends who wear hoodie towels that they got in Japan, and he wanted something similar.  He described the hoodie towel to me as a wide tubular robe with a hood, that was warm on a cold day and was roomy enough to change inside of.

In the following blog series, I will show you how I worked, step by step, to create my first hoodie towel robe.


Brainstorming options for combining color panels

GETTING STARTED
As I said, I started out by looking at lots of DIY tutorials and images online.  Most of the images were of cute animal capes and striped ponchos that were designed for children, and only required a towel and a hand towel.

My hoodie needed to fit an adult man, so I was going to need a lot more fabric.  I will start out by saying that I bought my terry cloth at a fabric store.  In retrospect, I think that I might have saved more money and found more fun designs if I had bought cheap towels.  See what is available near you and decide what works best for you.

The fabric store I went to only had terry cloth in solid colors, so I ended up buying 2 yards of light green fabric and 2 yards of brown.  The green and brown were fun, natural colors that would show fewer stains than the lighter color options, and having two colors would make a giant robe look more interesting.

My materials:

Sewing Machine, Pre-Washed Terry Cloth,
Matching/Complimentary Thread Options, Pins, Scissors,
Ruler & Measuring Tape

I made sure to pre-wash and dry the terry cloth so I wouldn't get uneven shrinkage in future.  Be forewarned: the edges of the fabric shed a lot!  My work table had a steadily-growing collection of terry-cloth-nubbins.

SEWING
With this project, I sewed all seams with straight-stitch first, with a 1/2" seam allowance.

When I was certain that my piecing and fit were correct, I went back over those seams with a zig-zag stitch, with a 1/4" seam allowance (closer to the edge of the fabric).  This is a much more secure stitch.

This method was recommended in a lot of the tutorials I looked at, which recommended a hand towel and a bath towel or beach towel as base materials.  And I would say that these stitches do in general produce a lovely, sturdy, functional item of clothing.   However, since I was not using finished towels for my project, I had a lot of rough edges and cut threads along the inside seams of my robe.  This was especially noticeable on the inside of the hood, which is visible whenever the hood is not being worn.   For a more professional look, if I were to do this project again, I would have given myself a larger seam allowance, at minimum in the hood and neck (maybe 3/4"?).  I would have then folded all edges under and stitched them down, for a cleaner, more presentable seam.

Next week: Creating the hood and body of the robe

Sock Creatures!

Remember making sock puppets?

 

I've recently noticed a craze on Etsy for sock animals.  I guess a sock is already a convenient shape for a creature--when you stuff one you've already got a head and body to work with...

These artists really take sock creatures to another level.  Check out their fun shops for inspiration!

Sock Puppets:

https://www.etsy.com/shop/SockDrawerPuppets

https://www.etsy.com/shop/martystuff

Sock Stuffed Animals:

https://www.etsy.com/shop/supersockmonkeys

https://www.etsy.com/shop/Squigglymonkeys

https://www.etsy.com/shop/Toyapartment