Not the most exciting post....

but a post nonetheless.
Here are the new alphabet knobs (1/2 price at Hobby Lobby) I put on our butt-ugly dressers in an attempt to make them bearable. I hope to give them a paint job this summer --- any color suggestions would be greatly appreciated!!!

Before...ugly

After...minutely less ugly


Also - here is some of the rest of the room --- I have such a hard time decorating knowing that we are only here temporarily and come 2o11 we'll be headed for our 7th move in only 4 years of marriage. Ugh. So, while completely unfinished, unframed, unorganized...it's better than looking at blank walls!

I'm also starting a dusty little collection of black lacquer boxes.

FOOTLOOSE

So, technically, I "made" this. And while I didn't use scissors or string, it was test project using digital media. I think it turned out okay but I definitely need a new camera. I'm taking donations now...ha. Enjoy!

Chicago Footloose rough cut from Katherine Young on Vimeo.

Measure twice, cut once

OK, I am way too impatient for quilting. A group of women here get together every week to make quilts for the homeless shelter and I was feeling ambitious so I offered to take some fabric home and do a quilt top. I totally ruined it. It was supposed to looks something like this.

I cut the fabric wrong and to cover it up I had to do this.

I hope the kid who gets this quilt isn't prone to seizures because it has so much going on it hurts my head. What should have taken two to three hours took twelve. So always check your math.

This however took three hours total from cutting the fabric to quilting it. Relatively quick and easy baby gift and I got to use leftover fabric from a quilt I made for a Christmas gift.

I hope I haven't scared you off quilting. When is one of you going to take the plunge and make a nice cozy quilt?

The $1.50 skirt...

I was walking by a store that had squares of fabric for 50 cents each.  I used three to make a skirt.

I found a wrap skirt pattern here that seemed simple.

But I had completely forgotten from my childhood in the 90s how awkward wrap skirts can be. It just felt like at any moment the skirt was going to fall down to her ankles.

AWKWARD!!

So I lined up the wrap skirts two sides up so that right side of the skirt's fabric is facing in and sewed the skirt only to where the two sides of the skirt's ribbon tie come out of the looped waist.  This way you can still tighten the waist as need be with the ribbon tie.  The result is a "pouffy" skirt with a cute tie.  No awkwardness.  (Therefore if you use the website's pattern, you don't have to make the button hole. )

design cheater

Well in light of Molly's ridiculously awesome Chloester dress, I'm really wishing my first post was about some fabulous sewn creation, but sadly I'm not at that point yet...so, I won't pretend.

This post is about glue.

A few months ago I posted some recent cheats on apartment therapy concerning my love for fabri-tac (the best fabric glue in america...and probably anywhere else), but I'm going to post a more in depth version here.

First up, the pillow cheat:

Our beloved sofa came with very blah pillows:
And at the time I didn't have access to a sewing machine and wasn't patient(sadly, that part still hasn't changed ;) but I did have two 12"x12" squares of bare tree sheer fabric that I rescued from the trash can at the textile fiorm where I was working.
First, I removed the pillow inners from the existing pillow case.

Then, I very carefully and precisely (kidding, kidding) folded a 1 inch crease on each edge and squeezed fabritac on it. I repeated until all folded in edges were covered with a thin line of glueThen, I carefully turned the fabric over and placed it glue side down on top of the existing pillow cover. I pressed one edge at a time, making sure I lined the gluey edge perfectly with the crease where the piping meets the rest of the pillow, so that it looks like it's sewn on (and NOT glued)
I waited for the pillow cover to dry (about an hour), then put the pillow insert back into the case--new pillow!

I'm happy to report that after 4 months they're still looking just fine.

Can't wait to try this

I love this BEANIE - and I'll get to rid Britton of some old T's to boot!

Dress

With the acquisition of some rockin' new sewing gear - a Christmas gift - I've been diving into some great new projects. Here is my first piece of legitimate clothing ever. Surprising to me.... I had the hardest time with my first ever hem. I assumed it would be easiest. Needless to say it needs to be redone.

Included is my first ever zipper! I'm pretty happy with it, considering I made up my own rules about how it should be attached.

And here's the girl herself in her new duds.