Resolved: Take a Class

I decided that it had been too long since I'd taken a class, and I've missed the energy and inspiration I get from learning a new craft of some sort, so I started attending a seminar on how to get apparel manufactured locally.

I love the idea of supporting local manufacturing and small artisan businesses, and here in San Francisco groups like PeopleWearSF and SFMade have popped up and turned this into an organized movement.

As it turns out, San Francisco actually has several local sewing factories and a highly skilled workforce. I've gotten to tour several garment factories right here in the city - large rooms full of beautiful old sewing machines and other large metallic things that look like they could take your finger off. Its been inspiring to see how the kinds of things that can be made here locally and learn about the companies that are doing just that, as well as an interesting reminder that everything we wear is technically "handmade" - someone, somewhere had to cut out and sew that thing you are wearing together.

I'm still thinking about what to actually do with this kind of know-how. I've always liked clothing more than I should (which is why our second bedroom is looking more and more like a walk-in closet these days) and the idea of designing and making my own on a larger scale is exciting and overwhelming at the same time. So, we'll see what I decide to do - for now I'm reveling in the empowering experience of seeing something new and finding out how it works.

***

Instead of taking on a whole list of resolutions at once, I'm focusing on one life improvement a month in 2012.

See January's resolution - Do My Hair
See February's resolution - Taking Care of Business
See March's resolution - Clear the Clutter
See April's resolution - Tackle the Craft Suitcase

DIY: Scalloped Peter Pan Collar on a Button-Up

My first project from the famed craft suitcase was a cute vintage button-up that I wanted to dress up a little. I am always finding great vintage shirts in the classic button-up style, but there are only so many of those that you can own. So, I decided to keep the pretty checkered pattern and the buttons and add a new collar:


Materials & Supplies

* collar pattern
* 1/4 yard of your fabric of choice (I picked a sturdy white cotton twill with some weight to it - no cheap cottons for me)
* one package of folded bias tape. I bought the 1/4 inch kind in matching white, but it could be fun to add some color contrast here.
* button up shirt (that already fits you well)
* thread


* scissors
* pencil & paper
* a sewing machine
* iron


1) Fold your fabric in half (right sides together), and trace the collar pattern onto the fabric twice.

2) Cut the pieces out, leaving about a 1/4 inch around the lines you've traced. You should have two scalloped collar cut-outs, and since you doubled your fabric, that makes 4 fabric pieces total.

3) Sew along the scalloped side of the pattern, following the line you traced. Don't sew up the straight edge of the collar. It should look like a little scalloped pita bread with an open top when you finish.

4) Trim the excess around the edges down to 1/8 inch or less. You'll want to trim the curves quite close to the stitching to get your scallops nice and smooth (I like a close trim rather than clipping and notching around the rounded edges to bend a little easier, but that is another option if you are worried about fraying).

5) Flip the collar inside out and press the seams down until you get a nice, smooth scalloped edge. Iron it good and flat.


6) Lay both collar pieces onto your shirt so that they sit nicely on the shoulders and barely touch in the front and the back (when the shirt is buttoned), then pin in place.


7) Cut the shirt along the collar line, You'll cut the existing collar clean off.


8) While it is pinned, sew the collar to the shirt in a simple stitch all around the neckline. Above the buttons you will have some raw edge that the collar doesn't cover - I bent that raw edge over to make a little triangle and sewed it down.

9) Cover the raw seam with the folded bias tape, leaving an unattached foot or two of length on each side of the collar that will become your collar stays.

10) Sew the bias tape, covering that raw edge up for good. Sew little square edges of contrasting shirt fabric onto the ends of your stays for a cutesy finale.



Tadah! You've attached a new collar to your button-up.

re: An Earthquake Dinner

Our friends Emily and Rob invited us to their annual Earthquake Dinner, held appropriately every year on the anniversary of the big 1906 SF earthquake. This is one of my favorite "theme" party ideas because it combines a classy dinner party with a little useful emergency training.

The first rule is no electricity - all candlelight, all the time. That's how they had to do it in 1906.


We started off the evening with some appetizers and a presentation on "triage." Rob gave us a little lesson on how to assist in an emergency situation by quickly sorting victims by the severity of their condition. When you don't have the resources to treat everyone immediately, you determine who is in most need of urgent care by assigning them colors - green is able-bodied, yellow is for minor flesh wounds, red is critical condition, and black is ... well. You don't want to be evaluated as black.


Then we played a little game where we had to evaluate a series of photos of injured people, and assign them different colors based on a quick assessment of their injuries. It was a fun AND educational party.

I grew up learning about the importance of a 72 hour kit, and other emergency preparedness activities, but was thinking this week about how Derek and I don't have much of an emergency plan other than "Well, I guess we can drink the water from our toilet, right?" We took the first step by at least determining a meeting spot, so that if we are not at home during some sort of disaster that wiped out phone service, we can find eachother. Next step - maybe I should work on some sort of first-aid kit other than a pack of neon band-aids in the cupboard.

Any advice on emergency preparedness?

Resolved: Tackle the Craft Suitcase

I don't know about you guys, but I find myself with way more "inspiration" to do crafts than with "actual time" to do crafts, which means that my crafting motivation lasts just long enough to get to the fabric store, buy everything I need, and then throw it into my "to-do" pile (which I keep in a vintage suitcase) by my craft table to be neglected.

This month I made a list of the projects that I've got the makins for, and never bothered to complete. My goal for April is to just complete one a weekend this month, (though with the length of my list, I could probably do a project a week for the rest of the year). You'd better believe I'll be posting pics.

Tell me I'm not the only one with a hopeless craft stash, right?

***

Instead of taking on a whole list of resolutions at once, I'm focusing on one life improvement a month in 2012.

See January's resolution - Do My Hair
See February's resolution - Taking Care of Business
See March's resolution - Clear the Clutter

re: Dear My Brownie

Derek goes on trips to China and Japan fairly frequently for work these days. Though the bonus airline miles are nice, the novelty of a husband that is gone every other month for weeks at a time is sort of wearing off. He knows I don't like him adventuring without me, so he brings back little things he discovers on his trips.

This week he brought this weird little box of overly processed brownies because he thought I'd like the kitschy retro styling. Mostly I loved the classically incorrect English translation of "Dear, My Brownie." This may be the endearing nickname I've been looking for. Calling Derek "My Brownie" seems kind of perfect.


He also brought back a book with this inside, which obviously needs no explanation.

re: Resolved - Clear the Clutter

I've always been a person that likes "stuff" - and all too often that stuff tends to find its way into unruly piles on any (and every) flat surface in the apartment until things like desks become glorified stuff holders and are completely useless for the function that they were actually intended.

In March I made a goal to clear off a few of my worst flat surface clutter collectors.

Yeah. Doesn't that just feel better?


The kitchen counter:


The sewing/craft/AHV room:






The bedroom:





The truth is, I have TOO MUCH STUFF, and the clutter comes from not knowing where to put things, either because their assigned space is full or hard to get to, or because I just don't have a place for it. The hoarder in me is coming to terms with the idea that sometimes you don't have room for all the things you've picked up, no matter how cool they are, and you are better off getting rid of them instead of letting them clutter your space. (There is a reason I am just showing you the newly clean surface spaces in my home right now, and not the insides of the drawers they sit on top of. I still have a long way to go. Ahem.)

I like the concept (seen on this website) of a de-clutter calendar, where every day you tackle a small project and after a few weeks start noticing a cleaner more clutter-free space.

Do you guys have any tips of how you keep clutter under control?

***
Instead of taking on a whole list of resolutions at once, I'm focusing on one life improvement a month in 2012.

See January's resolution - Do My Hair
See February's resolution - Taking Care of Business

re: A Cupcake ATM

You know how sometimes you just want a cupcake RIGHT NOW, and then you cry because it is 3am? (Don't pretend this has never happened to you).

The genius people over at Sprinkles Cupcakes in LA have come to the rescue with their Cupcake ATM, ready and willing to dispense delicious baked goods at any hour.

We just happened to be in LA over the weekend for a wedding, so we took some friends with us on our late night adventure and visited the famed ATM.



Its pretty fun to pick your cupcake, and then watch a live video of a robot arm going and picking your cupcake up and delivering it to you with a satisfying whir of technology.



We may have gotten a little carried away.


I made Derek carry all the cupcakes to look like the cupcake hoarder in front of the long line still waiting to get their cupcakes. This is also how we discovered that even if you drop these cute little boxes, they are so well engineered that the cupcakes remain unscathed and upright.


Since the ATM just opened this month, the line was still a little long to get our cupcakes. In fact, I probably could have baked an entire batch of cupcakes at home in the time it took me to stand in line to get one from the ATM, but then I wouldn't have felt like I was eating a cupcake from the future.

Sprinkles - Beverly Hills
9635 South Santa Monica Boulevard
Beverly Hills, CA 90210

re: This Route Was Made For Walking

Lace up your comfy shoes - its happening again this year. We're Walking the Commute! Mark it on your calendar - June 9-10, 2012.

I know you might think that after walking 50 miles in one day last year that we'd be over it, but walking from San Jose to San Francisco in one day is actually a really great challenge, and we want to get even more people involved this year.



I've already started planning my weekly training walks (which thus far mostly involve walking to a delicious bakery somewhere).

I don't know what you're doing on June 9-10, but you should consider walking The Commute. Register by April 2, 2012 with the promotional code Walk50 and receive 25% off your registration.


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