star swatch no.2: felted (i think)

It occurred to me last night after I posted the pic of my swatch that a before shot would have been nice. How else would you be able to tell that the stitch definition had been lost?

I crocheted another one last night and remembered to take a “before” shot this time. The second swatch [...]

star swatch no.1: felted

I usually don’t swatch. When I do, it’s never the 4×4 inch square I’m supposed to make. Mine are small. Calling them 2×2 inches is generous. Usually gauge doesn’t matter for a lot of the items I make.
Last week I made a swatch, not to check gauge, but to check the yarn label’s claim: machine [...]

liberty of target tote hack

Confession time: my daughter’s dress wasn’t the only Liberty of Target item I bought last month. I fell in love with this tote on the website and was disappointed when I got to the store and realized it was oil cloth. I almost put it back a few times while I was shopping, but in [...]

my creative space

I’ve been spending a lot of time with Country Living’s Crafting Vintage Style and have fallen in love with the thick and thin stripes of vintage tea towels.
Usually I see them with red stripes, but this book has a lot of blue inside its pages. I grabbed some navy and natural wool and started crocheting [...]

crochet flower pins in the shop

I tried really hard to write about fabric gift bags last night, but it seems so trivial right now with everything that’s going on in the world. I’ve got a lot of nervous energy to burn. Today I finished a blanket and crocheted more flowers. I can’t stitch flowers to everything in my daughter’s wardrobe, [...]

twin baby locks

I did a really crazy thing this weekend. I bought two sergers. Yes, I said two. They were $25 each. The models are older, but they’re all metal inside, not plastic. (I had issues with plastic parts in my first sewing machine.) I also decided to buy additional supplies for $50: eight brand new blades [...]

wardrobe refashion: de-ruffling a shirt

Here’s the shirt from yesterday’s garage sale finds. I really liked the fabric, but the shirt was a little bit too frilly for me.

The first thing I did was cut off the gathered cuff and replace it with a simple rolled hem. Next I removed the ruffle and reattached the fabric with no gathers. [...]