The Lady Beekeeper

This was my first week back at work after 9 weeks off.  Let me just say, it was really, really rough getting up the first day.  Not to mention that I spent the entirety of last week dreading going back, so that was a waste of a week!  I’m starting to get back into the swing of things, but I have such a backlog of gifts I wanted to get done for Christmas that I made daily sewing appointments in my calendar for craft projects.   Get ready for some great Christmas projects in the coming weeks!

We had our first real snowfall today so its really starting to feel like winter.  That and I’m curled up by the fire with a glass of wine writing this post.  While I’m sitting here reminiscing I thought I’d point you to some past blog entries with cute quick Christmas gifts you could make in a pinch (each takes <1 hour to create)!  I hope they inspire you to create this Christmas!

For your fit and fabulous friends:

Running Belt for your keys and cell phone

For someone you’d like to pamper:

Homemade lip balm

For your co-workers:

For the foodie (add in a bottle of wine):

For the environmentally conscience:

For the nerd in your life:

This is just a taste of some of the past ideas on my blog.  For other ideas click on one of the categories above and scroll through the photos.  I’d love to hear what you’re making for folks this year!  Drop me a note in the comments below!  And without further ado here are the instructions for my fabulous flapper headpiece!

Fabulous flapper headpiece

Fabulous Flapper Headpiece

What you’ll need:

• Assorted feathers ( I choose two ostrich plumes, a peacock feather and a couple rooster feathers)
• 1 yard of 1 inch wide trim
• 2 inches of 1″ thick elastic
• Oversized decorative button

1. Measure the circumference of your head just above the ears.  Cut a piece of trim 1 inch larger than the circumference of your head.
2. Turn ends of trim under 1/2″ and stitch in place.
   

   Turn raw ends of band under and stitch in place.  Sorry it is so blurry!

3. Slightly overlap edges of trim and stitch elastic to trim, one side at a time.  Make sure you do not sew the trim together completely.  Stitch close to the top of the band then close to the bottom of the band.
   

   Stitch elastic to inside of band, slightly overlapping the ends.

4. Arrange your feathers as you prefer and use masking tape to hold their bases together.
5. Place feather arrangement on the side of the headband on top of the right side of the band.  Stitch through tape and feathers to adhere to band. Sew one line of stitching near the top of the band and another line near the bottom.
   

   Stitch feathers to band.

6. Take a 2″ piece of trim and fold edges under.  Matching the pattern on the band, stitch piece of trim on top of the feathers, hiding the masking tape.
   

   Stitch piece of trim over band to cover bottom of feathers.

7. By hand, sew decorative button on top of the trim hiding the feathers.

I have some great friends… A few weeks ago some of my friends’ found out that there is a “speakeasy” themed bar in town that serves prohibition era cocktails.  It claims to be a cobbler shop and its entrance is hidden in the back of a working creamery.  The suggestion was that we get a few people together, dress up in 1920’s garb and head to the speakeasy for some cocktails.  AWESOME.  How fun.  I’ve been wanting to create a flapper dress for a while and have a bunch of pins on my pinterest sewing board of authentic 1920’s dresses.

If you’ve never seen a quintessential flapper dress I can tell you they are not particularly flattering.  I used to say I hated 1920’s style for this reason, but with my love of costumes I’ve grown to love this time period too.  And looking more into authentic dresses they aren’t as hideous as I once thought.  The commonality seems to be a top portion that is square to the hips (which does not flatter the breasts in any way).  At the hips the skirt generally became either fuller or tight fitting.  From the models I observed, many dresses had skirts that were cut on the bias so it would stretch to your curves.  For a time, the skirt was shorter than average for the time period, but not well above the knee as modern interpretations and Halloween costumes would have us believe.

Many of the examples I looked at had a chiffon overlay with a silk lining underneath.  The lining was form fitting in the few examples I saw.  I decided to go with this, and use a vintage silk slip I had sitting in my closet as the under dress.  To make the overdress I drafted the entire thing on my mannequin, and didn’t even try it on until it was time to leave.  I figured since the style was masculine and ill fitting this shouldn’t be a problem.  I had many yards of nylon chiffon left over from my hatmaking, and since nylon chiffon has the advantage that it doesn’t fray I thought this would make things ever easier!  Overall the dress was fairly simple to make, and when I mentioned this to my husband he said “I’m not surprised, you could have taken a potato sack, cut arm and neck holes and called it done”.  Thanks babe.

Anyway here’s how I did it if you want to try your hand at it yourself.  And take a look at my next post for how to make the flapper headpiece!

Flapper Dress

What you’ll need:

• About 2 yards of nylon chiffon (the beauty of this chiffon is that it does not fray so there is no need to hem!)
• About 5 yards of trim
• mannequin

1. Start by measuring from your waistline to the top of your shoulder in both the front and back. Then measure from inseam to inseam around your waist at the largest part of your hips in the back and from inseam to inseam at the largest part of your bust in front.
2. Cut two rectangles of fabric bust width x front height and hip width x back height.
3. In the front piece, cut a 2 inch notch in the center where the neck will go.
   

   Cut notch in neck seam.

4. Using your mannequin pin shoulder seams.  Serge shoulder seams.
   

   Pin the shoulder seams

5. Return to the mannequin wrong side out and pin side seams, leaving a gap from the shoulder to the armpit (this line should be on your mannequin or is approximately 5 inches from the shoulder). Serge side seams leaving gap for arms.
   

   Pin side seams

6. Turn dress right side out and return to mannequin.  Take scissors and even out the bottom so it is even with the largest portion of the hips.
7. Cut two 21″x 27″ rectangles of chiffon for the skirt.
8. Sew both ends of the chiffon together to make a wide tube 21″ long for the skirt.
9. Pin the seams of the skirt to the seams of the bodice, right sides together.  Pleat the rest of the skirt evenly between the seams.  Remove from mannequin and stitch.
   

   Pleat and pin skirt to bodice.

10. Return dress to mannequin.  Pin trim on one side of the side seam starting just below the skirt seam.
    

    Pin trim along side seam.

11. Continue pinning up the dress, making sure the edge of the trim is right at the side seam.  When you get to the armscye, curve around the entire armscye with trim slightly inside the shoulder line.
12. Continue down the other side of the side seam, pinning right against the other trim.
13. Repeat with the second side, making sure to match where the trim falls on the other side of the mannequin.
14. Stitch along both edges of trim.
15. Starting in the center back, pin trim where the skirt attaches to the bodice, covering the edges of the trim on the side seams.  Be sure to fold over the trim and overlap the start of the trim in the center back.
16. Pin trim starting at the center back, a few inches below the shoulders.
    

    Start pinning at center back.

17. Continue pinning up to the shoulder, leaving an inch gap between neck trim and arm trim.
18. Pin down along the front up to the other shoulder, with a gentle slope that matches the turning ability of the trim.  Don’t force it or your neckline will look lumpy.
    

    Pin gentle curving neckline matching the play of the trim.

19. Continue down the back to the first point forming a v-neck in the back, being sure to fold over and overlap at the center back.
20. Remove dress from mannequin and sew all trim down the left side and then back up the right side.
    

    Stitch up both sides of the trim to hold it in place.

21. Trim excess fabric that shows under your trim at armscye and neck.
    

    Trim armscye and neckline.

22. Return dress to mannequin and trim the nylon chiffon skirt evenly to where you want the dress to fall.  As I’ve mentioned I made the dress sit right at my knees.
    

    Trim hemline to where you want dress to fall.

Voila!  Make sure you wear a dark slip or underdress as the chiffon makes the dress 100% see through.

Front view of flapper dress.

Side view of flapper dress.

Back view of flapper dress.

After the faire my aunt commissioned a new hat.  She’s a school teacher and when she wore her Shakespeare hat on Columbus day she got a great reaction from the students.  She thought a Puritan hat would delight her students around Thanksgiving.  After I finished my mom’s curtains I whipped something up.  I really hope it fits her, I had to estimate the size because I didn’t have her head measurements.  If you’d like to make your own you can follow my instructions below!  Or send me an email, give me your head size, and I’ll make one for you!

I must admit that when I was making the hat I completely messed up the hook timing on my sewing machine.  None of the stitches would work so I spent 3.5 hours messing around with it.  There are a lot of tutorials on how to adjust your hook timing, but they don’t really explain where the needle needs to be at each point during its traversal.  This article gave me the answers I needed and saved my butt.  My sewing machine is alive again, and I didn’t need to take it in to a shop (which I’m certain would have left me for weeks without a machine, which is just something I could not bare).

Puritan/Pilgrim Hat

What you’ll need:

• a yard of Pellon Peltex 70
• a yard of black material (I used cotton velvet because I had it available)
• a yard of black bias tape 2″ wide (I usually make my own)
• a yard of steel spring wire & joiner
• a strip of faux black leather or suede
• a metal buckle

1.  Measure your head size then add 1/2″.  Either use my flap topped cone tutorial for the fez to calculate the template for the top part of the hat, or plug in measurements here.
   • A=4″
   • B=head circumference/pi
   • C=7″
2. Using a string and a protractor cut out the arc calculated above from Peltex 70. Also cut out a circle of radius 2″ larger than your head radius and a 2″ radius circle.
3. Cut 2 circles of black fabric 1″ larger in diameter than your large circle, one circle of black fabric 1″ larger in diameter than your small circle, and one arc 1/2″ wider on all sides than your Peltex arc segment.
4. Take the large circle and measure out steel spring wire to fit just within the circumference.  Join the ends of the wire.
5. Very carefully sew the steel wire to the Peltex circle using a large zig zag stitch.  You do not want the needle to hit the steel or bad things will happen (trust me, see above).
   

   Carefully zigzag stitch the steel spring wire in place on the brim.

6. Right sides together, pin and stitch the edges of the black fabric arch together.
   

   Pin right sides together and stitch fabric arc.

7. Pin the small black circle to the top of the arch.  Stitch.
   

   Pin small circle to top of sewn arc and stitch.

8. Sew the edges of the Peltex arch together using a zig zag stitch.  I was only able to sew the top and bottom.
9. Hand sew the small Peltex circle to the top of the arch.
   

   Hand sew Peltex circle to top of Peltex arc.

10. Cut a circle out of cotton batting slightly smaller than the top of the hat and place it on the top of the hat.
11. Turn black portion of the cap right side out and fit it over the Peltex structure.
12. Mark out a circle the same size as your head on the Peltex brim and two black brim pieces.  Cut a large X in each, then trim to within an inch of the circles you drew.  Snip in 1″ increments to 1/8″ of the circle you drew.
    

    Snip x into your brim.

13. Pin and sew the two brim pieces together, right sides facing.
    

    Pin and sew brim together.

14. Place the brim interfacing on the two brim pieces and turn everything right side out.  Adjust everything so interfacing sits flat.
    

    Place interfacing on brim pieces and turn right side out, sandwiching the interfacing inside.

    

    Finished brim.

15. Pin the excess material of the hat top to the brim.
    

    Pin seam allowance of the hat to the brim.

16. Here I think you could do a couple different things to finish the hat that may have been smarter than what I did.  Step 17 is an alternative finishing method.  Below is what I did.
    • Open out bias tape and pin right side of tape to right side along the seam you just sewed.  Stitch in place.
    • Trim seam and fold old bias tape over the trimmed seam. Stitch. When you wear the hat you’ll fold this portion in.
17. Or try this alternative method:
    • Trim the brim interfacing and innermost black fabric to 1/8″.
    • Fold the outermost layer of black fabric (that you didn’t trim) into the hat.  Stitch in place.  The belt will cover this stitching anyway, so it shouldn’t be a big deal.  You can also sew bias tape over this to neaten it up.
18. Finally, make the belt for your hat.  Take your faux leather and cut it to 3″x head size + 1″.
19. Pin it the long ways right sides together. Stitch along this seam and also along one end (so you can easily turn it).
20. Turn right side out, add buckle, then stitch ends together, right sides facing.
    

    Finished Pilgrim hat

Last time I was in Disney World  I purchased an adorable Pirates of the Caribbean themed set of Mickey Mouse ears!   They are so cute, but they were Disney overpriced (I checked and they were $27).  If you have a set of kids I recommend making your own.  You can tailor them to any theme you want and they are very easy to make!  Lots of people make theirs entirely using glue guns, but if you’ve read my blog you know that is just not my style.  Don’t get me wrong, I love glue guns, but glue guns have a time and a place.  If you want things to last… sew them.

For Will’s ears, the theme was fairly obvious.  Star Wars.  When Will and I met we bonded over our love of Star Wars.  Will’s groom’s cake (southern thing) had Han Solo and Princess Leia on it and the phrases, “I love you.” “I know.” At one point Will admitted to me that much like the people who can’t picture marrying someone of a differing religion, he could not marry someone who did not love Star Wars.  When Disney bought Star Wars a lot of people were concerned.  Not Will.  He was excited that a new Star Wars movie would be coming out every year for the indeterminate future.  And double bonus – now it is appropriate to wear Mickey Mouse ears themed with Star Wars characters!

For Will’s ears I finally settled on Chewbacca because he’s a badass and I really wanted to make furry ears.  This confused many people that I mentioned it to because Chewbacca doesn’t actually have ears.  I had to explain to them that they are Mickey Mouse ears that are just themed like Chewbacca; they aren’t actually supposed to be Chewbacca’s ears.  Much like the Ariel themed ones aren’t supposed to be Ariel’s ears. That didn’t seem to help.  Oh well.  Here are some Chewbacca themed ears!  You can use the same pattern to make ears of any type!

Will and I with our Mickey Mouse ears on a landspeeder

Oh and double bonus Will and I alternated wearing the ears while we were at MGM (or I guess its called Hollywood Studios now, boy I’m old) and happened to catch Chewbacca walking on his way to the next star wars show.  I shouted “we love you Chewy!” and he turned and looked at Will’s ears.  On his way back in after the show he bent down to get into my picture!

Chewbacca checking out my ears

DIY Mickey Mouse Ears (Chewbacca themed)

Note: if you just want normal Mickey Mouse ears, you’ll only need to do steps 1-6, 9-13 and instead of the grizzly fur, use any fabric of your choosing.  

Will outside the beast’s castle. with his Chewbacca ears.

You’ll need:

• ~1 sq foot of Peltex 70 interfacing
• ~1 sq foot of faux brown “grizzly” bear fur
• ~ 6 sq inches of brown suede
• a Popsicle stick
• Silver paint
• polyester stuffing
• Wide headband ideally with fabric you can sew onto I used this one.  If not you’ll also need the below:
• glue gun
• black broadcloth fabric
• cotton batting

1. If your headband is padded and able to be hand stitched into, skip to step 5.  Otherwise, measure the circumference and width of your headband.  Double the width and add an inch.  Cut a strip of black broadcloth 2xwidth + 1.25 inches by circumference + 1 inch.
   

   Cut broadcloth for headband

2. Fold the strip in half the long way and stitch the short side closed (1/2″ seam).  Stitch the long side closed (1/2″ seam).
   

   Stitch broadcloth into a tube

3. Cut a strip of cotton batting to fit the headband. Hot glue to the headband.
   

   Hot glue batting to headband

4. Gently use the headband to turn the broadcloth cover inside out and simultaneously inserting the headband into the broadcloth cover.  Hand stitch the opened end closed.
5. Using a protractor cut 4 circles of Peltex 2″ radius.
   

   Cut 4 circles of Peltex 70

6. Cut 4 circles of fur 1/2″ larger in radius than the Peltex circles. (Use the Peltex circles as a pattern.
7. Cut a rebel symbol out of suede.  Make sure it is slightly smaller than 2″ radius.
   

   Cut rebel symbol out of suede

8. Center and sew rebel symbol directly onto front of one fur circle.
9. Baste two Peltex circles together.  Repeat for second set. Cut a line across the bottom of each set of circles, 1″ wide.
10. Stitch two fur circles together, right sides together. Leave a 1″ gap at the bottom to flip and stuff.  Repeat for second set of fur circles, making sure to leave the 1″ gap at the bottom of the rebel symbol.
    

    Sew fur circles together leaving a 1″ gap at the bottom.

11. Flip fur circles right side out.  Take a comb and gently pull the fur out of the stitching.  Insert a set of Peltex circles into each fur ear, with the flat side at the opening.
12. Add a tiny bit of stuffing to each side of the ear.
    

    Add stuffing

13. Fold the excess fur on the open end of the fur circle into the ear.  Hand stitch the ear onto the headband.  The ears should be about 6 inches apart from each other. To make sure the ear stands up properly you’ll want to keep it 3 dimensional and stitch one side close to the front of the headband and the other side close to the back of the headband.  Make sure you stitch to the interfacing as well.
14. Finally make the tiny Chewbacca ammo belt by cutting 10 pieces of popsicle stick about 2mm wide.  Paint them with silver paint.
    

    Cut and paint popsicle stick

15. Cut a 1/2″ x 5″ wide strip of suede and an 1/8″ x 3″ strip of suede.
    

    Cut strips of suede for belt

16. Center the thin strip of suede in the larger strip.  Using a leather needle, stitch across the top of the thin strip to attach.
    

    Stitch thin piece of suede to thicker piece of suede in center.

17. Insert a piece of popsicle stick under the thin strip and stitch as close as possible to the popsicle stick through both strips of suede.
    

    Insert popsicle stick and sew close to end of stick to hold it in place.

18. Repeat until you’ve used up all the popsicle sticks or you run out of the thin strip of leather. Cut the thin strip down close to the last popsicle stick.
    

    Finished ammo belt

19. Right sides together fold the belt in half and stitch with 1/2″ seam.  Insert over one of the ears and attach by a few hand stitches through the back of the suede and ear.
    

    Finished Chewbacca ears ready for Disney!

These ears cost me only $6 to make, and I have so much furry material left I could make 3 more pairs…

Its November and the leaves have changed from their showy early autumn display of glorious vibrant flame to more subdued golds and browns.  It is almost as if the initial fire has turned into smoldering embers; beautiful but different than the October trees  I love fall and have been lucky enough to enjoy every day of it while on my sabbatical.  But my love of fall doesn’t stop me from clinging to the last ounce of summer!  This week we’re soaking up the sun in Orlando for a quick vacation at Disney and Universal Studios!

And what better excuse to use up some fancy stretch lace I purchased months ago than to create a beach cover up for the trip?  I couldn’t resist purchasing this fabric while I was buying suede fabric for my Robinhood hats.  The fabric is a black crocheted lace and was only $3 a yard!  It is 60″ wide to boot!  I have lots of other ideas for the rest of it, but for starters here’s some super quick instructions for an easy swimsuit cover up!  And at such a low price it cost me less than $6 to make!  You can’t beat that!!

Just in time for Fall Swimsuit Cover Up

You’ll need:

• 2 yards of crocheted (stretch) lace
• 1 yard bias tape in coordinating color
• thread in coordinating color

1. Start by measuring from your shoulder to where you want the dress to hit.  On me this was 36″.  You’ll need to double this to find the length of your fabric.
2. Cut a rectangle out of your fabric 40″ by 72″ (or the doubled length from #1).
   

   Cut rectangle of fabric

3. Fold the rectangle in half.  Mark the center of your fabric and cut a slit 4.5″ on each side of center (for your neck) along the fold.
4. Cut down from the fold 9″ at the center mark. Cut from neck to end of this line forming a “v”.
   

   Cut 9 inch slit down the front of the dress to form a “v” neck

5. Round the bottom corners slightly by trimming with scissors.
   

   Round bottom corners slightly

6. Hem the edges of the rectangle by creating a 1/8″ rolled hem.
7. Open out bias tape.  With right sides together, line up edges of neckline and pin along first fold line of bias tape.  Stitch along this line.
   

   Attach bias tape to neckline

8. Fold bias tape in half back on itself onto the inside of the neckline.  Stitch in the ditch on the front of the neckline to secure the bias tape on the inside.
   

   Stitch in the ditch

9. At this point you’ll want to try the cover up on or put it on a mannequin.  Pin at the waistline where you want the body of the cover up to end.  Mirror and pin on the opposite side.
   

   Pin at waistline

10. Stitch a 4″ vertical line at the point you pinned on both sides. Voila!!

I just love how the sleeves drape!

Last week I was lucky enough to attend the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing.  It was lots of fun and I got to meet so many inspiring and accomplished women!  I also got to hang out with my coworker Ibis who up until now I have only spent time with at volunteer events.  I had a great time getting to know her and couldn’t have hoped for a more fun travel buddy!

I on the other hand may have proved just how much of a klutz I am sometimes!  On the day I arrived we headed out of the airport to call an Uber.  While I’m looking at my phone to call the car, I backed up a step without looking.  This was a bad idea.  Someone’s roller bag was directly behind me and I tripped over it and started to fall over.  For a second I thought I might catch myself, but in another second I was on my butt on the pavement, laughing hysterically.  Good going Lexi!  I still have a huge bruise to remember it!

Later that day we went to lunch at this awesome Mexican restaurant and for some crazy reason I decided to take my leftovers back to the room (as if I was planning to eat them).  I guess I just hate to waste food.  Anyway, we decided to head to the convention center first before heading back in the other direction to the hotel.  At some point during the long walk the to-go box upended itself without my knowledge and juice from the beans started leaking all over my pants.  Strike two!  I only brought 2 pairs of jeans so I had to wash them in the hotel room sink.

Strike three occurred when Ibis and I showed up at a private event hosted by Pandora.  We had both registered in advance but I was on the wait list.  Luckily the woman said that we were so early she would let me in.  She asked for my name and I said and spelled “Alexis Colton”.  She looked puzzled for a minute and then said “I don’t have an Alexis Colton, but I do have an Alexia Coltom”.  By this point Ibis and I were cracking up at my new alter ego.  What a day!

After the conference I was so exhausted that I slept soundly all the way home from Houston on my new inflatable neck pillow.  I used to have a non-inflatable neck pillow but I lost it one time on my way to or from somewhere.  Amy introduced me to the clever, compact inflatable neck pillow that I can just shove in the bottom my backpack when I’m done using it.  The one thing I dislike about this pillow is the texture.  It is made of some fake plastic velvety coating that gives me the heebie jeebies when I touch it.  It also has some tabs that stick out around the neck area and are slightly annoying.  Since I’ll be using this neck pillow quite a few more times in the next month I decided to upgrade it by creating a nice soft fleece pillowcase.  I think an inflatable pillow and pillowcase would be a cute gift for a buddy who travels all the time!

Pillowcase for Inflatable Travel Pillow

What you’ll need:

• 1/2 yard of polar fleece (or so)
• pattern here (if you are using the same neck pillow)
• or pen and paper to draft your own pattern if not

1. Skip to step 3 if you’re using my pattern.  Take your deflated neck pillow and place it flat on your drafting paper.  Trace.
   

   Trace neck pillow

2. Add 1/2″ seam allowance.  Also add a line for your pocket about 4 inches up from the bottom of one end.  Add another line 1.5 inches below this line.  (See pattern and instruction below for why).
   

   Add markings for pocket.

3. Cut one piece of fleece using the entire pattern.
   

   Cut one piece of fleece using entire pattern.

4. Cut a second piece of fleece from one end of the pattern to the furthest line on the other side.
   

   Cut second piece up to furthest line.

5. Cut a third piece of fleece from the other end of the pattern to the furthest line from this end (should look like a pocket).
   

   Cut third piece.

6. Pin under 1/2″ on each of the straight edges of you pieces from step 4 and step 5.  Stitch.
   

   Pin 1/2″ on each straight end. Stitch.

7. Right sides facing in place small piece from step 5 on top of piece from step 3. Place piece from step 4 on top of both. Hems on piece 4 and 5 should overlap slightly. Pin.
   

   Place piece 3, piece 5 then piece 4.

8.  Stitch around entire pillow, backstitching where the pocket pieces overlap to reinforce.
   

   Stitch around entire pillowcase.

9. Trim seams and turn inside out.
   

   Trim seams, turn right side out.

10. To use, put deflated pillow into the case then inflate.
    

    Place deflated pillow into case. Inflate when ready to use.

11. To store, deflate the pillow then fold the pillow and case into the pocket at the opposite end.
    

    To store, fold pillow and case up into the pocket of the case.

    

    Post sewing nap.

Well friends I am SO SORRY that I did not post last week.  I stayed up until 12:30am Tuesday morning to increase my hat stock for the last faire weekend, then got up at 5am to fly to Houston for the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing.  The celebration was great and I’m glad I spent part of my sabbatical attending.  There were so many inspiring women to meet and trade tales with, and lots of new and interesting information on different subjects.  Because of my lack of post last week I promise to post one other time this week!  I’ll be telling you about Grace Hopper in that post.

The final weekend of the faire concluded yesterday.  Saturday was off and on down-pours so I bought a fabulous parasol umbrella from one of the vendors that I just can’t wait to rock next year!  Will’s family flew in from Nashville and Austin to come visit and see the booth.  They all looked quite fabulous in their hats.  I will be posting some more pictures on my facebook site in the coming weeks.  Yesterday night we tore down and packed up the entire booth in the dark.  All that remains is the sign and backdrop.  I’ll be heading down there tomorrow to take care of those.

While we had tons of fun at the faire getting to meet new and interesting people and accomplish my high school dream of selling hats, we will not be returning to the faire next year to sell hat.  Ignoring the slight financial loss, it is just too big a time commitment for Will & myself.  Without counting any of the hours my mom spent cutting hats or the time we spent at the faire it was at least 350 hours of time to make the full hat stock.  That may not sound too terrible, but on top of my >40 hour per week full time job that means consuming 5 months of my weekends and week nights.  While I love to sew, sewing the same 8 hats over and over again can get mighty tedious, especially while I’m giving up waterskiing or board games to do so.

Now that I’ve put my sewing machine through a torturous 8 months I am going to give her a thorough cleaning this week before I start anything else.  I also decided that it was time I made her a cover so she doesn’t collect dust while she’s sitting in my basement sewing studio (not that she really sits long enough unused to collect dust).  This was so embarrassingly easy that I actually contemplated not posting it.  I even used an old laundry bag to make mine so it was even easier!  You’ll need to measure your sewing machine dimensions first to decide how large to make it.

Quick and Easy Sewing Machine Cover

What you need:

• 1 yard of scrap fabric

1. Measure the width, depth and height of your sewing machine.
   

   Measure height, depth and width of your sewing machine.

2. Cut 2 rectangles (height+ depth) x (width + depth)
3. Sew the rectangle together along one width+depth end and the other two height+depth ends
4. Hem the open end.
5. Put cover over machine and pinch top corners along the top of the machine
   

   Pin across the corner, perpendicular to the seams.

   perpendicular to the seams on the top and sides.  Stitch along this line on both corners.

That’s it!  Super easy!

Finished sewing machine cover! You can use the same concept for a toaster cover!

While I have accumulated a huge a list of non-hat-related things to do during sabbatical, hats are keeping me so darn busy!  On top of hats, I’m still working on faire raiments!  Last week I finally finished a wool cloak for the faire and not a moment too soon.  It was a brisk 42 degrees this morning when we stepped into the fairground!  I need to make poor Will a cloak this week so he doesn’t freeze next weekend.

Terrible snap chat of my cloak. Note the pink hair for breast cancer awareness month.

Luckily in between all the hat and cloak sewing I had a chance to knock one thing off my laundry list – a running belt!  My co-workers have been making fun of me for coming into work during lunch to do yoga or run with my running buddies.  But yoga and running are the best part of my day!  Why wouldn’t I drive to work to do the things I love?  Anyway, one subtle problem I’ve had with driving to work to run with my friends is that I have no where to store my car keys or cell phone.  Ladies’ running attire has a dirth of pockets, and when it does have pockets they are way too small to be of much use to anyone.

On pinterest a while back I saw this nifty running belt thing that has pockets in it!  This is my interpretation of that device!  A word of caution: I almost turned the whole thing into a mobius strip when I first made it so make sure you follow my instructions carefully.  Also I got an industrial serger off craigslist the other day!  I am totally in love with it.  I have been in the market for a serger for a long time and finally committed.  This thing is A BEAST.  If you don’t have a serger you can follow my instructions for sewing stretch fabrics in this post on yoga pants.

Stretch Running Belt with Pockets

• 16″ wide by waist measurement long piece of stretch fabric.  I used pink polyester spandex
• serger (or you can use a regular sewing machine with a ballpoint needle and an appropriate stretch stitch.  See this post for more information!)

1. Start out by measuring your waist at the largest part of the hips where you want your belt to sit.
2. Cut a rectangle 16 inches wide by the measurement you obtained in step 1.  You’ll assume 1/2″ seam allowance since you’ll want the belt to be a bit snug.
   

   Cut rectangle 16″ by waist length

3. Fold the rectangle in half along the length, right side in.  Pin and serge along the edge.
   

   Pin fabric right side together, sew along open edge.

4. Open tube, right side out
   

   Open tube out

5. Fold tube in half again the long ways.  Pin.
   

   Fold in half again lengthwise

6. Mark two 3.5 inch gaps with pins. Space them equidistant from the edges of the tube and each other. These will form your pocket openings.
   

   Create two 3.5″ gaps along edge

7. Serge along this edge, being sure to leave the 3.5 gaps opened.
   

   Serge. Leave 3.5″ gaps opened.

8. Flip the belt right side out (so you can’t see any serging seams).
   

   Turn right side out.

9. Here’s the tricky bit.  Reach your arm through one of the pocket holes and grab the closest open end of the tube.  Also grab the opposite end of the tube to form a complete circle.
   

   Reach through pocket and pull both ends of tube through the pocket.

10. Pull both pieces back through the hole.  The top portion will be inside out.
11. Pin the open end of the tube all around.  When you pull this portion back out through the hole there should be no seam showing.  Double check this is going to work then serge.
    

    Pin around the edge of the tube.

    

    Finished edge after serging.

12. Finally open out the tube and put your belt on, the pocket side should be against your body to prevent anything from falling out!  Sorry these pictures are a bit weird, it was post run and I wasn’t sure if I was going to crop the picture or not!
    

    Proof that this thing doesn’t jiggle around! My keys and cell phone stayed in there nice and securely!

    

Well it turns out I have a bunch of life to catch up on!  After a week of sabbatical, I don’t have much to show for it except a cleaner house!  Since I’ve started this hat business the basement has gone from neat to a total disaster.  It had gotten to the point where my sewing area has exploded to more than half the basement and the other 2 quarters (my wood working area and the laundry area) had taken on different Whimsical Brims related messes.  For example – I was in a rush to get the sign roof brackets made and left a total mess (sawdust included) on the woodworking bench.  The laundry area is full of several weeks of neglected clothing as well as ren faire garb to be washed before this Saturday.

Since I’ve been making so much clothing lately I’ve been doing a lot of hand washing an air drying.  Since I don’t have a laundry line outside, I purchased a $1 clothesline at Walmart and strung it across my basement.  This has actually worked rather well.  Well except for the fact that I keep losing all the clothespins under piles of clean laundry.  It has been on my list for a couple months now to make a bag for my clothespins.  Today I’m happy to say that I finally get to check it off the list!  I used some scrap clothing fabric that I saved from the landfill, which is why it doesn’t look like it was cut from solid pieces of fabric.  I stitched a few pieces together to form one big square.  You can do the same or just use a yard of fabric you have on hand.

Reversible Hanging Clothespin Holder

• 1.5 yards of fabric (You’ll need two squares around 20″x20″)
• lightweight fusible interfacing
• 4 large eyelets
• Metal clothes hanger
• Pattern here

1. Trace and cut body pattern (above) twice on fabric (you can use two different types of fabric if you desire), you will need to add 1/2″ of seam allowance.
   

   Trace and cut out pattern pieces. Be sure to add 1/2″ seam allowance

2. Trace and cut 4  of the hanging reinforcements onto interfacing and cut out.
   

   Cut out 4 pieces of interfacing for reinforcement

3. Fuse reinforcements onto the wrong side of one of the pieces of fabric following manufacturer’s instructions.
   

   Fuse interfacing

4. Pin body fabric together, right sides facing.
   

   Pin and stitch body fabric together

5. Stitch together, leaving a 3 inch gap in one of the sides. Trim seams.
   

   Leave gap.

6. Turn body inside out through the gap.
   

   Turn right side out

7. Press flat.
8. Stitch all around the edges of the body close to the edge.
   

   Stitch around edges

9. Mark location of each eyelet on fabric, then cut out.
   

   Cut out hole for eyelet

10. Install eyelets per manufacturer’s instructions.
    

    Install eyelet

11. Take metal clothes hanger and using a set of pliers, untwist the neck of the hanger.
    

    Untwist neck of hanger

12. Using the set of pliers, bend the hanger to form a 1 inch diameter hook under the neck of the hanger.
    

    Twist into a hook

13. Twist back around the neck of the hanger to secure.  Clip.
    

    Clip.

14. Feed the eyelets around the hook. Fill with clothespins and hang to use.
    

    Thread hook through eyelets

    

    Finished reversible clothespin holder

    

    Fill with clothespins

The last few weekends at the faire have been great fun!  We’ve had lots of friends and family visit, and even several people who read my blog but who I have never met in person (shout out to Leo)!  And this Sunday we had a customer come back and tell me about her latest hat experience.  She had been wearing one of the velvet muffin caps to the mall (and totally pulling it off I might add) and was complimented not once but TWICE on how nice it looked on her.  How exciting!  She totally made my day for coming back to tell me that.  I think I will start wearing my muffin caps out and about!

Today was my first official day of sabbatical!  This means I caught up a bit on cleaning and made dozens of Swedish meatballs to serve at the Oktoberfest themed board game night we are hosting tomorrow.  In honor of the party I decided to make a wreath to hang on my door with the colors of Bavaria.  I have instructions on how to do that below if you care to make your own.  With the advent of my sabbatical I will have many more exciting posts to add over the coming weeks.  Thank you all for being so patient during this hat extravaganza.

Oktoberfest Wreath

Bavarian Oktoberfest Wreath with Lebkuchenherz

• 2.5″ White Ribbon
• 5/8″ Blue Ribbon (I used turquoise)
• 16″ diameter foam wreath base
• large wooden heart cut out (I obtained this from Michael’s)
• silk pins
• stain in desired color
• acrylic paints in assorted colors

1. Pin the white ribbon to the backside of the wreath using the silk pins, be sure to pin at an angle to the ribbon so that if you were to pull the ribbon towards the inside of the wreath the pin will stay securely in place.
   

   Pin ribbon to form using silk pins

2. Wrap the entire wreath in white ribbon, overlapping at each turn.
3. Pin the blue ribbon to the backside of the wreath and trim excess blue and white ribbon.
   

   Pin start of blue ribbon to form.

4. Wrap the wreath in blue ribbon leaving large gaps between every turn.  I left approximately 2.5″ gaps.
   

   Wrap form with blue ribbon. Make sure corgi approves.

5. Cut a length of blue ribbon and a length of white ribbon and make a bow with the two of them.  Pin to the top of the wreath hiding the pins inside the knot.
   

   Pin bow to form.

6. Stain the wood heart.  I thought this would be cuter than painting it.  You could also paint it.  Wipe stain off and let dry.
   

   Stain wooden heart

   

   Remove excess stain.

7. Paint the heart as you would a lebkuchenherz cookie.  I chose to put in a simple border, some hearts and the phrase “Ein Prosit”.
   

   Paint “cookie” heart

8. Drill holes in the heart just above the phrase.
   

   Drill holes for ribbon

9. Thread ribbon through the holes and hang heart from the wreath just below the ribbon bow.  I chose to use a completely contrasting color here.
   

   Thread ribbon through holes.

   

   Hang heart underneath bow.

10. Add a loop of ribbon to hang the wreath from.
    

    Add loop

11. Hang and enjoy! Prost!