Reconstructing Clothes for Dummies - LibraryElfReads

Title: Reconstructing Clothes for Dummies
By: Miranda Caroligne Burnes
Publisher: Wiley Publishing, Inc.
Date: 2007
ISBN: 978-0-470-12767-4
Source: Library


Reconstructing Clothing For Dummies is one of those books you can pick it up, read part of it, and get the gist. It is set up in parts and, honestly, I only read the first part, and the last part, skipping the projects. I needed the confidence to start looking at cutting up my clothing and turning it into something else. This book gives you that confidence. In simple terms, the author breaks down the different stitches, why you should cut up your clothing, and how to go about doing so. There's also some basic clothing care in this book, what fabrics you should work with, and how to set up your sewing space. A combination beginners sewing book (only slightly) mixed in with how to really change clothing. It is a winning combination.

The projects in this book look pretty. I haven't actually tried any out at this point and am doubtful I will. The outfits are really, really arty and I'm not a real arty person. There are some basics: denim skirt, cropped shirt, and such, but they also have an "arty" stamp to them.

Basically, in terms of resources and places to get started, Reconstructing Clothes for Dummies will do that. It is also, surprisingly, an inspiration to getting your own reconstructing ideas.

New Items in the Shop (Dec. 1)!

The last few days I've added a bunch of new stuff to the shop. Check it out! New items include:

• Book Page Gift Bags (photos will take you to the listing)

  

• Gift hang Tags

     

   

•  Denim Bags

     

If I'm lucky and this weekend proves productive, there will be new stuff added to the shop next week! I'm a bit busy with work things, health things (yeah, that again), and trying to keep the home clean. Not to mention a wedding present, our XBox 360 Star Wars Limited Edition came in last weekend. I've been a bit distracted at beating Portal 2. Overall, I love Portal 2. It will probably be one of the five or so games I actually finish. Not to mention, I want to get some baking out of the way! It is the Holiday season after all! I should be keeping home warm with lots and lots of cookies being baked. This weekend, I'm aiming to try out a sugar cookie recipe so I can test out some cookie cutters we got as wedding presents.

Did I mention I got married about a month ago? Details on what was made for our wedding will be coming up...eventually. Look for those posts.

Edit: All pictures are copyright LibraryElfDesigns and the owner. These pictures may not be edited, but may be Pinned as long as the link reverts back to this blog post.

Shop Update - New Stuff (Oct. 7)

Shop update!

For those of you who don't know, I have a little Etsy Shop called LibraryElfDesigns. It has been kind of quiet as I reevaluated my life and found some answers (and guidance and clearance and was getting over being sick), but I'm slowly adding stuff to the shop right now. I have some new ideas, but right now it's mostly destash stuff like fabric. Take a peak and make sure to check back as new stuff will be added over the coming weeks. Tell your friends too!

My primary focus will be grocery bags (and there will be more than just the ones made from an old pair of jeans hopefully soon), but other little things might appear like fabric (I really have to destash). If you need a gift idea, the denim bags are perfect for gents. My own gladly uses his bags when he goes grocery shopping and loves that they hold so much! Heck, one we had even held a 30 lb bag of cat litter! That's an impressive bag.

Help a librarian out. Check out the shop and tell your friends.

Dreaming of Plastic Free. Wait....that's plastic?

Note: Apparently CTRL + P automatically posts your entry without you clicking "post." This made for this hilarious post:

I'm reading
--------------------

First, an update on stress. I know what it feels to be stress free. Sadly, I've lost that feeling within 2 days before my vacation ended. I've had "moments" in the last few days, but I'm suddenly fried on a bunch of stuff going on.

Apparently, I know a limit, but I don't completely. I'll get there I think. I know what relieves stress at this point and I'm trying to find ways to sneak it into my life. I'm more hopeful about this than I have been in AGES.

What I'm reading now though. I'm reading [CTRL+U, that's what I meant] Plastic Free - How I Kicked the Plastic Habit and How You Can Too by Beth Terry. I've been following her blog since it was "Fake Plastic Fish." I'm not sure how I wound up on it, but I've been following her for a while now. For the last few months, I've been interested in the "Show Your Plastic Challenge." I've been trying to see how My Guy feels about it. He's convinced it'd be hard/impossible/basically hasn't been very supportive of it as a couple thing. So I've been trying to read the book this week and decided, heck, starting yesterday, I'm going to do it! (Gotta register in a big).

I've had an epiphany.

Back story: I decided I deserved chocolate today. I stood in the grocery store with him on the way to work and was trying to decide between Hershey Kisses or 3 Musketeers Brand. I wanted 3 Musketeers so, after discussion of price, I picked it. I think it was more expensive but less dangerous in terms of consuming 1 lb of chocolate in 2-5 days versus 11 oz in that time.

I'm in my office, breaking into the chocolate in the first 20 minutes I'm there and I realized something as I ripped the first one open. Crap. There are a bunch of these minis, wrapped in plastic that came in a plastic bag (that part I knew) and I am going to have to actually save each and every one.

I have been in denial that I have a chocolate problem, but now, I will have to save each of those wrappers and look at the damage when I tally.

I don't know what I thought, but I never thought those candy wrappers were plastic. I thought they were foil like or some other compound. I don't know, but plastic? Oh. Man.

Now that I'm looking for it, I have a feeling I'm going to find it in various places I didn't expect. This should be an interesting journey.

Lesson Learned:

• CRTL+P is a nifty shortcut to posting entries.
• Most candy is wrapped in plastic. My mind is blown.

A Pinterest Pledge - Intriguing

I haven't spent any time looking at the issue of Pinterest and copyright. It both annoys me and makes me think about copyright so I just kind of go about my business, making sure that what I pin is properly credited and such. I don't pin a lot unless it is done by me.

At least, mostly. I get into the app sometimes and just go "OH! LIKE! PIN!" a few times and that's that.

As I was browsing my blogs though, I saw this Pinterest Pledge from Sew, Mama, Sew. I "pinned" it and have promptly spent an hour cleaning up some of my sewing pins. It is a bit much to go through all my pins. Some did disappear due to lack of proper credit. Most I saved by spending time finding the right place to credit and changing the Pinned Link to reflect that. I'm hoping that I can poke at this and fulfill this pledge.

It is an interesting thing though. I also found another craft blog had a similar mention about Pinterest in that she cleaned hers up and made it easier to search (I wish I could remember which blog it was). In terms of the discussion surrounding Pinterest, I find it interesting how libraries are jumping on the bandwagon, but not seeming to discuss the copyright issues. But again, I've been ignoring the Library Pinterest discussion in favor of what things I can actually pin. It will be the crafting community, I think, that will change the direction of things so to say.

So in the meantime, I'll pin what I pin, but make sure I cite it and either have it close to the source, or from a secondary, trusted source (i.e. through Craftzine.com). I'm also trying to make sure that the site either has the pin button or is just properly credited. Sew, Mama, Sew has the best pins. You pin it and ta-da! Title, blog post, blog series, blog name are all there. It is really handy!

Feel free to enlighten me. I just wanted to share the pledge as I think it applies somehow....I think...but then my head is still clogged...

Things Have to Change

I got sick again. I've been keeping track this year about how sick I've been and honestly, I've been sick almost every month this calendar year. To recap:

• January: Strep Throat
• February: tiny sinus infection
• March: The Mystery (if you know me, you know what this is about)
• April: General health issues came to a head
• May: A minor case of impetigo
• June and July: I focused on Summer Reading, but migraines appeared at every blasted heatwave. I didn't even have to check if there was a heatwave. If I had a migraine, I knew it was coming. 
• August: Summer Reading wrapped up and literally, by Friday afternoon (this past Friday) I was tired. I thought it was strep again. Nope. A sinus infection that only finally got properly treated today (5 days of blowing my nose, tiredness, and more was enough).

Now, I had antibiotics, of various kinds given to me 5 of those times. Actually, August counts as 2 as I started on one and they changed it to another. Either way, if you get this sinus infection going around, be prepared for a wild ride. It's been years since I've had a fever that high (that I know of anyway).

This past year I've started to try to care for myself when getting sick instead of trying to work through it. Well, actually, after the strep throat in January, that's what I decided to do because I had just previously tried to push through. It isn't actually a mystery as to why I keep getting sick. No. It is abundantly clear as to why I keep getting sick.

Stress. I've been reading on stress for a while now. I called this "sick." I allowed it. I announced it. The nurse that saw me recently was like "Don't curse yourself like that!" Well, what am I supposed to do? I knew this was going to happen. I have been in high gear for a multitude of reasons besides summer reading. The end of it was just a goal and a chance for me to breathe. I knew I needed a minor break about three weeks ago. I'm at the moment kind of thankful that my body waited until now to get sick.

This latest sick gave me an opportunity to think. I'm always thinking, but for two days, I had no idea what day or time it was. At one point, I knew an hour at a time had passed because My Guy kept checking my temperature. As I started coming out of the haze (and when I wasn't watching shows), I started to think about why I was sick again and how tired I am of getting sick. When I started getting even better (but not enough), I started to worry about all of the stuff that had been worrying me before I got sick.

What a vicious cycle.

While I was sick, I read the book Radical Simplicity. A few months ago I had watched the film and was intrigued. I have been interested in striving toward this simplicity. I'm tired of wanting things I can never have. I want to be more environmentally friendly, ecologically minded, eco-aware, what-have-you. I want to be part of the solution. Radical Simplicity showed why I want to be part of the solution, but on the other hand, in an apartment, with limited funds, it is a little hard to do this.

I've spent today reading environmental and craft blogs, being reminded about why I care and how I should care about myself. The craft blogs continue to inspire with mending and altering. Last night, before we went to sleep, we looked for better alternatives to bad habits we have. I finally asked for the apartment repairs that were needed. I requested more books that were featured in Radical Simplicity, one about education, another about food (I'm so aware of the problems with food). I'm also resolving to find ways to lower my stress and keep it lower. I have to. If not, I'm going to continue this cycle of being sick and I can't afford, in multiple ways, to do this any more.
Lessons Learned

• I intend, have to, and must better control my stress. I'm hoping to do this with exercising, meditating, and better food (more veggies).
• It's time to re-locate the values I had. I'm not sure where I put them.
• I'm learning to tentatively trust again in what is around me.

Gardening - June 18

All right, here's the garden update: everything that I planted two weeks ago sprouted except about half of the carrots. Also, last Monday, we wound up at The Farm and I just HAD to buy tomato plants. I got Cherry Tomatoes (two to the pot) and "The Farm's Tomato" (whatever that means). They turned out to be $1 each or so which was fantastic. I feel like we bought something else besides the weekly flower and a bunch of veggies that were good. Strawberry season was such a disappointment and way too fast again. I could have bought a strawberry plant, but didn't see the point

Here's a photo from last week:

 The tomato plants are in the left hand corner in the bottom there, but that was last week.

Here are a few shots from today:

Mortgage Lifter Tomato, Sugar Snap Pea (transplanted today), Mortgage Lifter Tomato

Top Row: Eggplant, Sugar Snap Pea x3, Cucumber x2, Zucchini, Eggplant

.

 

 Row 2: Cherry tomato, carrots, "Farm" Tomato

 In the corner of the above photo you can see Mortgage Lifters x3.

Zucchini flower the first successful one! I think...I hope! It was lovely this morning.

Mortgage Lifter being protected by an old sauce jar.

Cherry Tomato flowers.

There's about 4 carrot sprouts, I think.

Sometime during the week I broke the Mortgage Lifter Sprouts free and planted them. Being the person I am, I completely didn't think about the terrarium factor for them, so within hours, I had a few wilting. I was able to cover about 4 of the 5 that had made it. The one not covered is fighting bravely. There is one I think won't make it that is covered  and the others look pretty strong. The Brandywine Tomatoes never sprouted and it being the end of June, I don't think I'm going to try again. Now it is time to focus on making these guys survive to give me some actual food! Although, I'm running out of pots and sick of buying dirt which is another reason. The Snap Peas need to be split more (3 to a pot is probably not good) and the cucumbers need split too.

Our (I'm getting The Philosopher Musician involved) next project is to successfully pull off making compost, but that's for another post.

Lessons Learned:

• Plants need watered
• Tomato babies need protection until they get some larger leaves.

The Patriotic Quilt - June 4, 2012

Last night, I'm pretty sure I didn't sleep well. I do know however that at 3 AM, the Zucchini plant was facing the window. When I got up officially at 8:30 AM, the Zucchini plant was turn away from the window and a leaf was ripped.

I know who did it.

And he's fine, but I want to know why he decided last night of all nights to try to eat the Zucchini plant. We know he's been watching it and he likes plants, but I'm surprised he didn't just jump up onto the window sill before. Why did he wait until last night?

He, by the way, is Orange Cat (his online nickname, not his real name).

Since this happened, I decided today must be a good day to put Zucchini outdoors. He's big enough now to survive I think and it gives me a chance to check the seedlings (nothing on that front yet). Of course, it was cold and we had bizarre rain. The tomatoes, in regards to seedlings, are starting to sprout. The Mortgage Lifters are sprouting and most are out (going "YAY! LIFE!"). The Brandywine's are taking their good old time popping out of the dirt ("REALLY? NOW?") but they are there. So that's that in regards to gardening.

What I want to introduce you to today, is the Patriotic Quilt. A scrap quilt that I hope will fit our full size bed and be useful a little before I decide it must move on. It is a cacophony of color: reds whites, blues, and a few other hints of stuff, but mainly, Patriotic with fire works, dog prints, firemen, stars, stripes, and...Cleveland Indians print. Full disclosure here: this house is a Phillies house....HEY! The fabric was from family in Ohio, so that makes sense. It doesn't reflect on us at all. I was using scraps. I'm not going to throw out decent fabric. I justify this with baseball is Patriotic in general.

Hrm...if I could swing it, maybe I should get a yard of Phillies fabric for it?

Anyway, the quilt is about a year old at this point (in terms of working on it). I think. It started because I realized I had a bunch of patriotic scraps of sorts and I wanted to try to make a (scrap) quilt (top) and not a sampler size. One I could use. So, here's where it is at right now:

Patriotic Quilt - Laid out. Not sewn yet.

So, I'm sewing the center part right now and figuring out how I will frame it, then how to sew the other patches around the edge. Yep. Totally winging it again, but this is turning out pretty well.

Lesson Learned (more like the theme of the day)

• I can't do everything I want to do, but I can do something. Just focus on one thing at a time I guess.

Gardening - June 3

Totally as a whim, I asked The Philosopher Musician to pick up dirt for me on his way back from his errands. "The cheap stuff. It's in the back. Last time, there wasn't a price, but the bags were like $3 total." He did, which is very nice of him.

I wasn't planning to do anything regarding the garden today, but I'm antsy. I want to sew, but currently am working through "this is a good idea! Not really" thing so the sewing area is kind of a mess. 
...
Just looked at it. Not really, but there are some things that I guess are holding me up, like trying to cut all my scraps up into particular sized squares. The idea is from Cut the Scraps! book (link to official website and such). I'm like "I WANT IT ALL CUT NOW" but it is not going to happen. Especially when I have a trash bag of scraps that I got from family that I couldn't fathom going into the landfill. Either way, I wanted to sew, but skipped it in favor of...

Carrots. Well, gardening, but starting carrots has been on my mind. I broke into the fridge and took a look at the seeds there (these are all seeds my mom and I had collected through the years). I took out a few various packets of stuff to try. Apparently, now is a good time to sow stuff directly outside (or I've determined. It could be late for all I know). I did read the backs and determined a few choices.

This is gardening by totally winging it. I am too busy reading other books at the moment to take proper time to read gardening books. I'm impatient and I like trying things out, like a science experiment.

Well, a problem happened when I dumped the whole bag of dirt (they're not exactly large bags) into the container I was planning for the carrots. Oh...boy...I had one bag left. I'd have to chose carefully what was next. I filled the two smaller pots and started planting.

Here's what I planted: Carrots (about 8); Sugar Snap Peas (trying 4 seeds, will thin out later as package is from like 2003 or 2006); cucumbers (2, but I had luck with these actually sprouting last time). Gave them a little water and here they are:

I salvaged the pots, so they aren't the best or pretty,but they are fine by me. They were left over from landscaping Dad had done. Pots were just left there so I took a bunch. The bottom is full of the cardboard papery egg cartons, which seems perfect to line the bottom with.

Now, let's hope this works. We'll see in either a few days or a week. All this depends on weather and luck.

Lessons Learned:

• That green pot takes like, a bag + half of dirt.

In Which I Lied and Now, May I Introduce My Garden

Well, I thought that was a break only for the shop and not the blog. I decided to focus on my review blog and that is all fine and dandy, but I forgot, sorta about this one.

Well, I'm back. I guess and hope.

I was talking to The Philosopher Musician and I said "I guess I should be journaling all this stuff I'm doing" regarding my poor attempts at gardening (and self-sufficient living in a place it seems nearly impossible to do). I had thought, I'll grab one of my journals and turn it into that, but lately I've been craving some sort of online outlet for my thoughts. I'm even considering attempting something for work, but it doesn't seem prudent. Someone gave me a journal and I just need to start using it more.

Now, regarding the gardening attempt which I think I'll focus on today. Out of 8 seedling attempts (8 types at 4 per container at [1st mistake] 5 seeds a thing), only 3 plants have managed to survive somehow by luck. I had a fourth, but that was a random coincidence and it ultimately died. I'm on seedlings round number 2, just two tomato plant types, and so far all good. I all ready have sprouts and it has been three days. I'm trying hard not to dream about what I'm going to do with the tomatoes (Brandywine and Mortgage Lifter), but I'm just excited that my makeshift seed starter really works. I honestly just used cheap dirt, egg cartons (cardboard), and old takeout containers that snapped shut. I'll post pictures eventually. Oh, and also, the seeds are kinda old, like 2 years and older, so that's also pretty impressive.

Lesson Recap Here:

• Seed starting kits can be made with plastic takeout containers, cheap dirt, and paper/card egg cartons. Don't forget to water them before you snap it shut. Seeds will still grow and survive.
• Seedlings are actually pretty weak and not all seedlings can be treated the same.
• On this round, I need to deal with the seedlings when I start seeing mold, which I think is a product of the egg cartons.
• Refrigerate seeds and feel free to try growing them even if the package says "best by 2008." Chances are they might still grow and be fine! I should check the age of the zucchini packet (the thriving survivor of that seedling attempt) and eggplants (I got 2 of those to make it!). Although, I suspect that might also be the mold problem...and really I can't say that I've been successful until I've got a food but I'm hopeful.
• Don't start dreaming about a bountiful harvest.

In terms of apartment gardening where all you have access to is your balcony (which I also call the patio), zucchini and tomatoes, according to The New Kitchen Garden by Anna Pavord, are good starts. Reading about the eggplant though...they like tropical conditions so...this could prove interesting. I'm now determined. From The New Kitchen Garden by Anna Pavord (DK publishing, which I LOVE, 1996), I learned:

• Zucchini love water. And sunlight. That might explain why I think Zucchini 1 has been taking forever to grow and has yet to bloom. OOOOOH.
• Eggplant like heat and humidity, which might explain why they seem to be taking forever to grow, but the glass jar terrarium idea is still good.. Guess I need to add more water and move them to the patio where there is almost full sun (which might be a problem for other things later).

Actually, that's it. I didn't learn much about scallions, which we're going to be experimenting with. The Internet (multiple sites including LifeHacker) told us we could chop the green bits we need off, stick the white bit in water and it'll grow. It does, but now I want to know if we could make a cycle out of it: cut scallion, some green on it, move from water to dirt, pull from dirt, start cycle over. Only thing to do is try. We certainly have enough to experiment with.

Next steps:

• Figure out how to grow carrots. I have big pots I scavenged and wonder if they'll be deep enough to get at least a 6 inch carrot from.
• Test Scallion Theory.
• Locate a drill to make a compost bin for the patio. I have an 18 gal tub that I don't plan to use for storage, so I think that'll work nicely for compost at the moment (unless I locate a smallish trash can to drill holes into). I am determined to start a compost bin. The amount of compostable food waste we pitch is starting to bug me.
• Figure out or (hopefully) scavenge a window box to plant lettuce into so that we can have a "revolving" salad garden. We'd enjoy that very much I think.
• Remember to write about how the garden is doing and more about attempts at reducing stuff in general.