Design | The Newest Vegetable

Pallet Shelf and Nautical Wall

Posted on February 25, 2013 by Monica

I’ll just cut to chase:

After updating the bench with a new cushion cover and relocating it, I wanted a way to make the bench blend in more with the media room. Jeremy received the octopus/squid art for Christmas and we had not yet found a place for it. The art is printed on plywood, so it compliments the wooden bench. I also have my ship art (that I made here) so I decided to seek out other elements for a nautical themed wall.

The barometer and weathered pulley are from an antiques shop in Annapolis. The barometer is British made. It’s difficult to tell if it is working properly or not, but the hands have moved (on their own) over the past few days as the weather has changed (it reported that today was windy and cool). There was a larger, way cooler barometer at the shop, but it was $235 while this one was $35. The man at the shop estimated that the more expensive barometer was WWII era. There were several pulleys at the shop but I like this one best because it is wooden and metal. Most of the others were completely metal, and more rusted. This one is weathered, but not damaged.

While selecting pulleys Jeremy and I brainstormed how to display the pulley. Hang it by the hook? Lace rope through the pulley and hang the rope from the ceiling? Then we decided we could display it on a shelf. Then Jeremy got the crazy idea to make a shelf from a pallet.

You might remember last week I mentioned that a pallet was one of the many things crowding our garage. Now that the garage was organized, Jeremy decided to put the workspace to use. He started by lightly sanding the rough pallet with his orbital sander.

Jeremy sanded the boards just enough to smooth them out, but not enough to remove the great texture that’s pictured. I liked that you could see the blade marks from when the boards were first sliced. After some sanding, Jeremy just chopped off a section of the pallet to form a shelf.

Here is the sanded pallet shelf, ready to be treated. In this photo, the top left corner of the shelf has already been treated with Behandla polish from IKEA. We purchased this sealant for my table in the craft room. It seals and protects the wood without needing to be sanded like varnish. It is also less toxic.

Jeremy gave the shelf (top, bottom and sides) a coat of the sealant. As you can see, it brought back the rich colors that were “lost” with the sanding.

To hang the self, Jeremy inserted a small 2×4 block into the shelf. He pre-drilled three screw holes into the block for mounting. Then Jeremy attached the block with three of the original pallet nails through the top of the shelf. I held the shelf in place while Jeremy screwed the block into the wall. The center screw is in a stud and the other two are in drywall.

To hide the mounting mechanism, Jeremy wedged in another piece of wood from the pallet.

The pallet shelf is rugged and weathered like the pulley. I love that the shelf is imperfect. A shelf like this would be great for an entryway. Below the overhang you could mount some hooks for jackets or keys. Jeremy likes the shelf because it cost zero dollars.

We’re really happy with how everything turned out. There are so many interesting things happening in that corner of the room. All the different wood tones bring a warm element to the cool greys, blues and greens in the room. The nautical theme continues a little onto the mantel, where the ship art still resides with our vases of stones from the beach. Definitely still keeping my eyes open for an anchor or small ship’s wheel to add to the wall. A wheel would look awesome over the mantel.

What do you think or this nautical arrangement? Totally love Jeremy’s pallet shelf?

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Easy Summertime Tops

Posted on June 20, 2012 by Monica

I have an obsession with the remnants bin at JoAnns. I cannot leave the store without searching through the bin for a good remnant or two. Here are two remnants shirts ready for summer. Both shirts are a sheer polyester. The green shirt is a slight variation on the kimono tee. The sleeves are longer – more of a “flutter” style.

The leopard print top is sort of a halter-tank. I sewed two rectangles together, leaving ten inches for the arm holes and neckline. The neckline is gathered with a ribbon that ties in the back.

The hems on both shirts are done with my rolled hem foot. I love the rolled-hem because it protects the edge of the fabric from fraying. Both shirts are lightweight and perfect for summer (and easy to make).

Skinny Ties

Posted on May 23, 2012 by Monica

You might not know this, but Jeremy is a fashionable dude. He sent me this blog and asked me to try transforming some of his wide ties into skinny ties.

Jeremy let me practice with this red silk tie. It’s not one of his favorites, but it was one of the widest. We researched online that most skinny ties are at most 2″ wide. So, I found where the tie was 2″ wide, and unstiched the back until that point.

From here, I followed the instructions in the post – I cut the tie form first, then cut the excess fabric from the silk. Then I folded the fabric back over the tie form and used the iron to form new creases.

Next was the worst part – slip-stitching the new seam closed. For me, it was difficult to keep the stitches hidden under the seam. I also had trouble keeping the silk pressed. The end result is that the fabric is not as taught as it used to be.

Here is Jeremy modeling the revamped tie (and his new tie clip). The 2″ wide tie is a better compliment to his thin frame.

So, after I got really annoyed with the silk tie and slip-stitching. I decided to make a tie out of a fabric that I know how to work with – flannel.

The flannel fabric is from the remains of the flannel shirt used for the hot water bottle cover. For the tie innards, I used 1.5 yards of firm stabilizer (possibly too firm). The tie starts 1.25″ wide and widens to 2″. The flannel starts 4″ wide and widens to 6″. I did have to piece the flannel fabric together.

I used my mitered binding tool to make the 90 degree points at either end of the tie.

At either end of the flannel, I folded the fabric in half, and sewed it closed, right sides together, with a 1/4″ seam. When turned right-side out, a nice point is formed. I trimmed back the fabric at the point, and pressed everything nice and flat.

From here, I can follow the same steps as the red tie. I inserted the tie form into the flannel fabric and pinned it at either end to keep it centered. Then I folded over one side of the flannel and pressed it flat. I cut back any excess fabric that hung over the tie form.

Here is the narrower end of the tie. The second side of the fabric has been folded over the tie, and under itself. Now it is slip-stitchin’ time! Periodically I would iron the seam to keep it crisp (and avoid pinning). This time I had to hand stitch the entire length of the tie (unlike the red tie).

Truly, this flannel tie pulls together the jeans and gun belt buckle. I am really happy with how the flannel pattern turned out in tie form. The flannel was easier to manipulate than the silk, but this tie is a bit more difficult to knot. This is primarily due to the stabilizer that I chose.

What do you think of the flannel tie? I plan to make another (or two) from a flannel shirt my grandfather gave Jeremy. Do you have any tips for working with silk? It seems to be a very unforgiving fabric.

Crocheted Lampshade

Posted on May 7, 2012 by Monica

Obviously I have been on a crochet kick lately, but I had to try my hand at a wire crochet lampshade.

The shades pictured above are from etsy. I picked up this book which has general tips for crocheting with wire, as well as patterns for jewelry and some small containers. I used the book as a guide to make a spherical shaped lampshade. I used four 24yd spools of 28 gauge wire, a size K hook and 5″ craft rings.

First, I chain stitched around the 5″ metal ring. Then I chained two and began to single crochet into the stitches. I worked the stitches in the round, expanding the circle.

Here’s what 24 yds of wire looks like. It took a few rows to get a good rhythm with the single crochet stitches. Then I began to grow the spheroid in height. At the end of each row, I would chain two stitches and then start the next row. This allowed the spheroid to grow up, instead of out.

This is the bowl after one spool of wire. I used a second spool of wire and continued my rows of single crochets. With the last spool of wire, I began to decrease the stitches to finish the sphere shape.

Here’s the finished shade hanging in our closet. I am sad to report that Jeremy and I are not happy with the finished product. When doing the decreases in stitches, the spheroid became deformed. You can see in the photo it looks a little lumpy. Also, the bottom opening was too large to insert a second metal ring. I ran out of wire before I had decreased enough to fit the second ring. But the main thing I am sad about is that the shade does not make cool shadows.

I am going to try again at the crochet lampshade, with some revisions. First, I am going to use a smaller crochet hook and slightly thicker wire. This should make a better shade overall – hide the ugly bulb and create the shadows. I also plan to make a cylindrical shape. This way I don’t have to worry and increasing or decreasing stitches. The cylindrical shape would also allow me to use metal rings at both openings.

I hope the next shade is more successful. Anyone else have “failed” projects that they want to commiserate about?

Project Runway Prom

Posted on April 30, 2012 by Monica

This weekend has been like my own personal Project Runway challenge. My sister Merideth came to visit, and asked me to help with her prom dress. When is prom? Next weekend!

This is Merideth’s original design. It’s inspired by flapper dresses. Her sketch shows a v-neck in front and a low scooping back. The dress is embellished with lace, beads and sequins.

Our mother had helped Merideth make a top that approximated this design, but it didn’t fit right. It was bulky and too small. I pulled out all my patterns to help Merideth figure out what we should do for the top.

She settled on this McCall’s pattern from 1988. Merideth said that if we didn’t do straps, then she wanted a sweetheart top. The only problem was that the pattern is a size six, and I know from previously using the pattern that it might be too small. To be safe, I used the pattern to cut pieces out of muslin, adding 1 inch to each dimension. I pinned the pieces together and made Merideth put it on. The front seams were in all the right places, but the back was too big. So I trimmed down the back panels and had a refitting. Everything was a go, so I got to work on the real thing.

Here’s the almost finished bodice. The fabric is a great ivory/champagne colored satin. The boning was putting up a fight – I pinned the top to the dress form to help shape it. I wish the boning wasn’t sold in such a tight roll. While I worked on the bodice, Merideth was busy making appliqués.

The small appliqué is for the center of the bodice, and there are four large appliqués for the center, back and sides of the skirt. After finishing the bodice, I attached the fringe and appliqués to the skirt.

The original design called for three rows of fringe, but with this length of fringe, two rows fills the space nicely. I machine stitched everything to the skirt. Then I basted the top of the skirt to gather it and attach to the bodice.

Here is the almost finished dress! The bodice is attached to the skirt, but it still needs a zipper, hemmed on the bottom, and the final appliqué applied on the back seam.

Our mother had purchased coordinating iron-on hem tape, but it was not cooperating. Giving up on the tape, I slip-stitched the bottom hem of the dress. What’s extra awesome is that the fringe hides the stitches.

I have finally figured out invisible zippers! This is probably the best zipper installation ever. Now that I have figured out the trick, I look forward to using invisible zippers more often.

The dress fits Merideth well, except it is a little loose around the top of the bust. I believe that this could be fixed by adding a second hook closure at the top of the zipper (I only had one!). The dress is not officially finished because Merideth still has to bedazzle the bodice along the neckline. I am really excited to see the finished product. Hopefully I will have some photos to share after next weekend.

Overall, this dress was a fun challenge. I had many “make it work” moments (said to myself in Tim Gunn’s voice). I don’t have much experience working with the shiny fabrics. The satin did not like being ironed – none of the seams would stay pressed. This is my second time making this bodice, and it turned out much better than the first attempt. Also, I was a lot faster building the bodice (2 hours I believe) than last time.

Anyone else have experience making prom/formal dresses?

Pinwheels – Part One

Posted on April 9, 2012 by Monica

As I mentioned a few weeks ago, I am ready to make my next quilt. It’s a fun and colorful pinwheel quilt. Here’s the pattern again:

Today I focused on cutting all the triangles to make the pinwheel blocks. I started by cutting strips, then breaking the strips into squares.

The tie-dyed squares are 7 7/8″ and will be cut in half to form the larger triangles. The other 4 fabrics are 8 1/4″ squares that will be cut into fourths.

I now have all the pieces to make the pinwheel blocks – 48 large tie-dyed triangles, 48 small patterned triangles and 48 yellow “background” triangles. I arranged the pieces to preview possible pinwheel configurations (too much alliteration?).

I love the pink and yellow tie-dyed fabric, especially with the bird print. Jeremy likes the grassy Everglades print with the blue tie-dyed fabric. With twelve different blocks I hope to achieve some pleasing fabric combinations.

I plan to start sewing within the next day or two. What do you think of the fabric combinations? What if some pinwheels have both colors of tie-dyed fabrics?

Black Jersey Redo

Posted on March 9, 2012 by Monica

Over winter break 2009/2010 I decided to try sewing clothes. I started with New Look pattern 6867.

Okay, I know this dress is not the best. I chose black jersey, and convinced myself that you couldn’t tell which side was the “wrong side”. I also cut the pieces all wrong, ignoring the grain of the knit. In all, it’s not bad for a first attempt; especially considering that I sewed it on this:

My Great-Grandmother’s 1942 Singer sewing machine. Anyways, I decided that I would try again with the black jersey. I wanted to try making a flowy cardigan/jacket. I used some patterns to help shape the pieces – McCall’s M6078 for the back and New Look’s 6867 for the sleeves.

I cut the back and sleeves from the jersey remnants, the front panels were cut from the skirt of the sad dress. I decided to embellish the front with some ruffles made from the scraps. Now, I am not a big fan of ruffles, but I wanted to give the jacket some texture.

I folded rectangles of different sizes and pinned them along the opening of the jacket. It took a few tries to get the pieces to lay right. Then I sewed down the pieces, approximately 5/8″ from the edge. This way they are secure, but could still have movement. I shortened the sleeves to just above my elbows, and finished the sleeves and bottom edge with a 1/2″ hem.

Not bad for a first attempt at sleeves and for making it up as I went along. The jersey hangs a little heavy, so the belt helps give it more shape. As I told Jeremy, it’s my Project Runway “safe” outfit. “Congratulations, your scores have qualified you to move on the next challenge. You may leave the runway”. Yes, I do critique everything I make through the eyes (and voice) of Heidi Klum.

I assure you, the jacket is much more flouncy in real life. I like the ruffles, but wish that I had cut the front panels smaller, so that the jacket didn’t seem so baggy on the sides. Overall, it was a fun experiment. And I think that it will actually get some wear, unlike that dress.

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