The Lady Beekeeper

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!

Working the ren faire is still so much fun!  Everyday I can’t believe I’m there achieving my high school fantasy of selling hats at KRF.  The first time I went to the faire was with my first real boyfriend.  He bought me a rose and a pewter heart necklace and I was completely enamored with the place.  Though that love didn’t last very long, my love of renaissance festivals has only increased.  Every fall I would beg my parents to take me to the faire until I could finally drive myself.  Then I would drag my siblings and friends along with me, wearing various outfits that I concocted from Mom’s leftover material stash.  One day I tried on a fabulous muffin cap made by one of the artisans at the faire and I was in love all over again, this time with hats.

Fast forward a few years to college.  In school I took a couple of costume theater courses, and loved every minute of them.  I had to petition the college of engineering to count them as electives since I don’t think an engineer had ever taken a costume class before.  I only intended to take the prerequisite costume construction course so I could take the millinery course they offered the next semester. Disappointingly, the millinery course ended up conflicting with one of my major courses, so ironically that was the only costume class I didn’t get to take.  And boy have I used so much that I learned in the other courses.  Eventually I started drafting hat patterns for my costumes, friends’ costumes and eventually my annual medieval party.

Thanks for taking that stroll down memory lane with me.  Today I have a very quick and very limited use blog post.  Have you ever had boots that won’t stay up?  Probably not!  But maybe your pirate or cavalier friends have?  I purchased a pair of not-inexpensive cavalier boots for Will a few years back and the damn things slouch.  In the picture they didn’t slouch, so when I made his pants I sized them to come just below the knee, safely below where the boots would reach.  Well those slouchy beasts end up exposing his whole calf after an hour of standing.  How ignoble!  Well we solved the problem!  Boot straps!  No I’m not talking about the things that hold your pants down or the things used to power on your motherboard.  These things hold your boots UP.  Observe:

Before:

Before boot straps.

After:

One boot strap on, one off.  That tie on the ground is what we were previous using as a boot strap.

DIY Boot Straps to Unslouchify your Boots

Materials

• 4 feet of 1″ woven cotton braid
• 4 D Rings (1″ wide)
• thread

1. Cut your braid into two 24″ sections
2. Finish the ends of the braid to prevent fraying by straight stitching near the ends of the braid.
   

   Stitch ends to prevent fraying

3. Take two D-rings and thread one end of the braid through both of them.  Stitch as close to the rings as you can get with the presser foot.
   

   Attach d-rings

To use the straps

1. Unfold flap of boot.  Insert braid around leg inserting one end through both d-rings
   

   Unfold boot flap and wrap strap around leg.

2. Put end of braid over the first d-ring and into the second d-ring.  Pull until snug.
   

   Put end of strap over one d ring and under the second d-ring.

3. Tuck end of braid in.
   

   Tuck strap in.

My co-worker, Roger, returned from his sabbatical last Tuesday.  Every 7 years we get to take 8 weeks off in a row with pay – they call this a sabbatical.  It is customary to decorate a co-worker’s cube upon their return.  I’m under the impression that the more annoying the clean up upon your return from sabbatical, the more your friends are trying to show their love.  For instance for my friend Amy’s cube we turned her cube into “Little Cuba” complete with a huge wooden raft with crates of cigars and 300 lbs of sand.  Let me be the first to admit that sand was a bad idea.

So back to Roger’s sabbatical decorating.  For years we have been depositing stale Peeps in Roger’s cube in the months following Easter.  It started first when instead of throwing out 6 boxes of rock hard Peeps 5 months after Easter I decided to hide them one by one in Roger’s cube.  I don’t actually remember why I started doing this, he definitely doesn’t like Peeps.  Frankly that may have been why.  Whatever the reason, other co-workers caught on and by the end of a couple years he was known as “the Peep Guy” and had mysteriously accumulated a stack of peeps about 5 feet high.  Roger tells a particularly funny story that a new hire came by his cube once, saw the stack of Peeps and asked if he could have one.  Roger said yes (didn’t warn them they had been there for years), and allegedly the person ate one without complaint.  This still baffles me because by this point there had been a lull in Peeps deliveries for many many months.

Anyway, my dream was to fill his entire cube with Peeps while he was on sabbatical but I did not have the foresight or the money to make this happen.  I contacted Just Born but they don’t keep stale or defective Peeps around to sell as seconds (probably a good thing).  Instead we settled on turning his entire cube into a giant box of Peeps.  But because that wasn’t easy enough to clean up (recall the 300 lbs of sand in Amy’s cube) we also planned to fill the entire thing with balloons.

This entire project took lots of man-power!  I think we filled a total of 800 balloons and we used 200 square feet of yellow wrapping paper to cover his entire cube. Everyone on our team (at least 25 people) helped out which was great team-building!  The finishing touch was to add four giant plush Peeps bunnies that I made and finished up during a recruiting trip at my alma mater (talk about strange looks when entering the hotel).  Enjoy the pictures below, and if you’re interested in making a Peeps bunny check out my tutorial at the end.  Each bunny took roughly an hour.

We covered the entire cubicle in yellow wrapping paper so he did not know what awaited him inside.

Peeps bunnies packaged in Roger’s doorway

The bunnies are watching for Roger to walk in.

Here’s the surprise inside – 800 balloons in a 8’x8′ cubicle

Roger spent much of the morning moving balloons . At least it wasn’t heavy lifting.

Here’s the cube after he made some significant progress clearing out.

DIY Giant Peeps Bunny

Materials

• 1 yard of 72″ wide yellow felt (I think it would also be great or even better in polar fleece)
• 3″x3″ square of brown felt
• 1 lb of stuffing
• yellow & brown thread
• My pattern here

1. Cut out 2 bunnies using my pattern above.  Be sure to add 1/2″ seam allowance. Cut 2 5″ x 4 foot strips.  Cut eyes and nose from brown felt (no seam allowance needed).
   

   Cut out peeps bunny with 1/2″ seam allowance.

2. Sew the 5″x4′ strips together at one end to form a nearly 8’x5″ strip.

3. Pin good side of one bunny to good side of 8′ strip, placing the seam of the strip in between the bunny’s ears.  Pin to where the ends of the strip overlap at the bottom of the bunny.

4. Repeat step 3 with the second side of the bunny.

5. Stitch around the whole bunny starting with the opening at the bottom.  Repeat with the second side of the bunny.

Stitch where the bunny was pinned.

6. Clip into seams at the bunny’s neck and ears.

Clip Seams.

7. Turn right side out.

8. Fill the bunny with stuffing as desired, making sure to stuff evenly.

Stuff through the bottom opening.

9. Hand stitch the bottom of the bunny closed.

Hand sew the bottom closed.

10. Hand stitch the eyes and nose onto the bunny.

Hand sew the eyes and nose on (preferably while your co-worker drives you home from Ithaca).

Voila!

The bunnies lounging on the couch.

So the mannequin head that I decorated in purple patchwork got several down votes from friends and family.  I am still using it at the faire because I like it.  But I also made several mannequin heads with a “wood look” affect.  These were actually much easier than the patchwork.  I have instructions for them below if you’re interested.

Finished mannequin head.

Speaking of the faire, our first weekend was lots of fun!  We met lots of fun and interesting people and made many people smile playing dress up with our hats.  Today the faire is closed due to the horrible weather and wind caused by Tropical Storm Hermine.  This means we get an unexpected day off!  I’m catching up on life and household chores since the last month has been so busy. Hope you all have an enjoyable Labor Day as well!

Oh and you may have noticed I neglected to put up the August Give Away!  Oops.  This one will be awarded at the end of the faire (just in time for my Medieval Feast party).  One winner will receive a hat of their choosing of any style left at the end of faire (see this post for all the options).  To enter post a comment below describing your favorite historical person from the renaissance and why they are your favorite.  Whatever makes me laugh the hardest wins.  You have until October 1 to enter.

DIY Faux Wood Mannequin Head

Materials

• Foam mannequin head
• foam brush
• 2-3 sheets of brown tissue paper
• mod podge
  

  Cut strips of tissue paper and mix mod podge with water.

1. Cut strips of tissue paper approximately 1.5 inches wide.
2. Mix mod podge with water in a 2:1 ratio.  You want the mod podge to be easy to paint on, but still sticky.
3. Using the foam brush, paint a stripe of the mod podge mixture from the base of the neck under the chin, over the crown of the head then down to the back of the neck.
4. Gently apply a piece of tissue to the stripe of glue.  You’ll want to gently press the tissue paper down to the mannequin with your fingers.
5. Using the foam brush gently wash over the tissue paper with more mod podge mixture.
   

   Overlap strips in front then cross over strip on top of head.

6. Start another stripe slightly to the right of the first one. At the crown of the head cross over the other stripe and continue down the other side overlapping the first stripe.
   

   Top portion of head finished.

7. Repeat steps 4, 5 and 6 until the entire face of the mannequin is covered.
8. For the neck of the mannequin, follow a similar procedure as above, adding strips from the chin down to the base of the mannequin head, slightly overlapping each.
9. Let dry.
   

   Finished mannequin head.

Alright, so today’s the post where I tell everyone what I’ve been doing for the last 6 months straight.  So you remember the post about mannequin heads?  Well I have literally become the mad hatter.  Well I’ve become a hatter, I was always mad.  Here’s the story.

After you have been at my company for 7 years they give you an 8 week paid vacation called sabbatical.  This vacation is on top of your regular vacation and must be taken all at once.  Since I started working I’ve been joking that I was going to take my sabbatical and work at King Richard’s Faire (the local renaissance festival).  Well it was still a joke until I came up on my sabbatical this year.  I’m not an actor, but I always said I could make hats and sell them.  So I emailed the faire asking if they had room for more artisans.  They had one booth left, so for kicks I put together some prototype patterns, made some hats and sent pictures in.  Then they juried me in as a new artisan for the season under my newly established name Whimsical Brims.

From there I have been scrambling to learn business and tax laws and make hats.  Oh and then retrofit the booth they gave me (did I mention it is 16’x8′ wide??)  Luckily I have such supportive and amazing friends and family.  My best pal Amy made me an amazing sign out of pallet wood, made all my hat stands, two chandeliers and also collected a bunch of furniture for me to put in the booth.  My mom has scoured thrift stores and yard sales to find me items for my stop, including furniture and rugs, and has taking on the laborious task of cutting out my hats.  I could not have gotten here without either of them.

Last Friday Will & I took the day off of work from our “normal” jobs to set the shop up.  Here’s the transformation.

Before

Now

And here are all the hats I will be selling (by the way almost everyone I polled about the mannequin head transformation hated it, so I have to redo those).

The Marian

The Gwenevere

The Muffin

The Jester

The Henry

The Boleyn

The Robin

The Shakespeare

Next weekend is the first weekend of the faire and my aim was to have completed 200 hats by the start.  I finally hit that goal last night!  As for sabbatical… well that didn’t exactly work out.  My plan was to work at the faire on weekends and spend the week replenishing my supply while on sabbatical, but they pushed my sabbatical out 3 weeks.  So the beginning of the faire I’m going to focus on not selling out…  And now that my sabbatical is almost here, I keep getting questions about what I’m doing.  Most people take long vacations to somewhere exotic.  When I tell people I’m selling hats at King Richard’s Faire most people stare at me blankly or say “oh”.  I guess I should start trying to hide the fact that I really have gone mad.

So I don’t think I’ve posted anything about dyeing recently, other than my post on my first screen printing attempt.   Well I picked up some green Tulip “Fabric Dye” in the Walmart clearance section the other day for 50 cents.  I can hardly resist anything that costs 50 cents, and it seemed like fun (these little packets of dye normally cost 3 or 4 dollars each – crazy mark up)!

Well I glanced quickly at the back before purchasing it and saw it says it works best on cotton, rayon and silk which are all natural fibers.  I guessed it must be fiber reactive, one of my favorite dyes to use since it means I can use it for shibori (the Japanese art of knotting, folding and binding fabric before dyeing to produce beautiful results).  Further research suggested I was right that it is a form of fiber reactive dye.

I received this awesome pattern from burdastyle for free a couple months ago and have been waiting to try it.  You all know how much I am into hippie chic lately.  I decided to whip up the pattern in some bleached linen (a natural fiber made from flax) I had purchased months ago from fabric-store.com on clearance, then dye it in shibori style.  (For the record, tie dye is a form of shibori, so this whole project is just a thinly veiled crunchy clothing tutorial.)

Shibori Tunic

Materials:

• 2.25 yards of linen or natural material (like cotton)
• 100% cotton thread
• Tulip Permanent Fabric Dye
• Rubber Elastics
• 1/4 C salt
• A plastic bucket
• A stirring implement
• Rubber Gloves

1.  Prepare the tunic – (sew front darts, side seams, shoulder seams, sleeves and set in sleeves). Also prepare the collar and front, but do not attach to the body of the tunic.  I also basted along the neck seam since the dye bath washes out the water soluble marker I use.
   

   Plain linen tunic without finished collar, sleeves or bottom.

2. I decided to dye the collar and sleeve hems solid green, but shibori the rest of the dress.  I chose to try a folding shibori pattern, which I’ve actually never tried before. To do this, accordion fold the fabric the long ways.
   

   Fold shirt accordion style.

3. I also used an iron to press the fabric.
4. Then accordion fold the length into triangles.
   

   Fold into triangles accordion style and secure with rubber bands.

5. When you reach the end, secure the fabric with rubber bands.
6. Next prepare your dye.  This Tulip Fabric dye required me to boil a gallon of water and mix with salt.
   

   Add salt to steaming water.

7. Add the dye in and stir.  Make sure your area is completely covered since fiber reactive dye will permanently dye any natural surface (such as wood floors…)
   

   Add dye to bath.

8. Once combined add your fabric to the dye and stir continuously for 15 minutes.
9. After that, stir periodically for another 45 minutes.
10. Wash in cold water until the water runs clear.
    

    Rinse in cold water.

11. I then hung my pieces to dry.
    

    Hang to dry. (Ignore all the projects in my messy basement)

12. Once dry, I finished my tunic neckline, sleeves, and bottom seam following the pattern instructions.
    

    Finish tunic neckline, sleeves and bottom hem.

13. When complete I threw it in the washing machine on warm with synthrapol to remove any additional dye that had not adhered to the fabric.

Voila! DIY Shibori tunic! I think folding may be my new favorite shibori technique!