Category Archives: Stuff to make

Dare to Be Square

Posted in Kids, Sewing, Stuff to make by

Where have I been?? I’ve been crafting away but sadly cannot figure out how to download from my old camera to my new mac. So sad and frustrating. But I did make a gorgeous play mat for my friend who is expecting a baby in July. I modified the “Pokey the Play Mat” pattern from Boo Davis’s book Dare to Be Square. The colors are really appealing for a baby–bright but not harsh. Plus, I had almost all the same fabrics that she used, on hand–scary! Her pattern has a cute snail face; mine is just the log cabin square. Why? Because I don’t like snails. Sorry garden molluscs.

I highly recommend this book if you are looking  for a modern approach to quilting. Boo Davis makes heavy metal inspired quilts (really), so go figure. But she still respects the skills and traditions of old-fashioned quilting, which is a really appealing mix. I also like how she uses simple, traditional patterns, like a log cabin, and transforms them with the use of color and clever graphic design to make something totally modern. She also has a wicked sense of humor.

Dollhouse Love

Posted in Kids, Stuff to make, Things to see by

Abe was indifferent. Zeke was a step up from that–fond? bemused?–whatever implies a distant affection. It was clear: neither of my kids toppled head over heels in love with the dollhouse I rescued from the curb, took home and painted, papered, and decorated with homemade furniture and–get this–a miniature Frank Stella.

I mean, I went through a lot of (happy) trouble working on that thing. To make the Lilliputian furniture, I drew up little elaborate blueprints. My husband then took the plans to his architecture firm and asked the model shop to cut the pieces to size. (Did the model shoppers ever figure out the identity of the “client”? Was it, in fact, completely obvious?)

I sewed tiny pillows & stitched mini felt blankets. I made side tables out of those plastic thing-a-ma-bobs that come in the middle of pizzas. Bunk beds. Books as big as postage stamps. A bath mat the size of a match box.

My family (and the model shoppers) humored my obsession with the small scale. They regarded me with polite–and always kind–detachment. But in the ten years since, I’ve learned something important:

Sometimes, it takes a village to love a dollhouse.

First it was Sophia Alvarez, my seven-year-old neighbor. When she wasn’t constructing a Playmobil megalopolis in her bedroom, she’d come over and rearrange the dollhouse furniture for me. Over the years came other caretakers–Addie, Lila K., Lila M., Sophie U., Sophie B., Mary, Danny, Norman, and every teenage babysitter I have ever hired. It ends up I’m not the only one who appreciates the little things of life.

So if you’re with me, make sure to check out these shrunken exemplars of pristine Modernism in a NYT slide show.

(Photo by Robert Presutti for the New York Times)

Or creep yourself out with this slideshow of shoebox crime scenes beautifully photographed by Corinne May Botz in The Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death.

The Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death

Or admire this 23-room, 5-story house made by Faith Bradford, in this online tour. You can also see it in person at the National Museum of American History in D.C. (And yes, I was just in Washington for school vacation week. Guess what? No one in my family wanted to go see Faith’s dollhouse with me. Sigh.)

America's Doll House: The Miniature World of Faith Bradford

Origami and Quilts for Japan

Posted in Boston, Sewing by

This is what I’ve been up to this week: folding paper! Specifically, cranes–for a “1,000 crane” fundraiser at my son Zeke’s preschool for those affected by the recent earthquake in Japan.

Maybe you are making origami strawberries (like this one we bought at another Japan fundraiser at Abe’s elementary school)  

or contributing in another way, but if you are a quilter, Gather Here, the fabric store/stitch lounge at 370 Broadway in Cambridge is offering a couple of novel ways to join the effort for Japan:

  • Stock up on your favorite Japanese fabrics (including Kokka, Echino, Kiyohara) and the store will donate 25% of your purchase to Red Cross.
  •  Join Gather Here’s quilter’s bee for Japan, the last meeting of which is this Sunday, April 17, from 4 to 6 p.m. at the shop. (Oh, and if you do read this post by Virginia: I am not the “very nice lady” named Margaret that she mentions. I am definitely another Margaret.)

Virginia also posted about an effort by Quilter’s Newsletter to gather quilts from Amerian quilters for those in need in Japan. If you have a quilt (any size, baby to adult) you’d like to send, the information is here. The deadline is April 30.

One-Hour Pillow and Other (Small) Adventures

Posted in Boston, Kids, Sewing, Stuff to make by

I curbed my craftiest ambitions this week after one of the fabric-painted robot tees that I made last week emerged from the washer: a smudged, sorry schmatte. What happened? I swear I followed directions (I think). And still here is this mottled t-shirt-now-dust rag. Tragedy. Or at least, very minor disappointment.  

Moving on: I’ve been meaning to make a pillow cover with some of this flower print I bought at a yard sale. I had a 22 x 22″ pillow insert, low goals, and about one hour, so I stuck with an envelope-style enclosure. I (more or less) followed the instructions at Cottage Magpie, which I thought were very good with excellent, helpful photos. I’m actually really proud of the piping (which I bought pre-made–so why the pride?). But the piping was fun to sew (zipper foot!) and it gives the pillow its essential pillowness, I think.

My other small adventure: sewing covers for the ugly blue mattress and pillow that came with the IKEA doll bed I bought for my neice and nephew. (Why does IKEA favor retina-searing shades of blue?) I also sewed a doll blanket to go on top. (For Boston locals: I bought the big polka-dot print from Fabric Corner, a sewing shop on the corner of Mass Ave. & Mill Street in Arlington, which has a lovely fabric selection & kind, friendly staff.) Following Brigit’s doll quilt post, I just sewed regular seams and turned inside out (although I added a layer of quilt batting and didn’t do the quilter’s knots).

 

But my biggest–and tiniest–achievement of the week? Figuring out how to do that tricky little stitch to close up seams. The stitch is sometimes called an invisible stitch, which makes it impossible to visualize, right? Whereas when the stitch is called a ladder stitch (visual here), it loses all its terrible mystery and becomes possible, and really not that hard.

Simple housetop placemats

Posted in Sewing, Stuff to make by

If you’re new to quilting, placemats are a great way to test out designs and practice your skills on a small  scale. Tricky techniques like joining the two ends of the binding are hard to perfect if you only get to try it when you finish a full-size quilt.

I played around with some more complicated pattern ideas, but ended up with this simple housetop pattern in solid colors–which, creative ambition aside, is the type of pattern that appeals to me. I also applied some tips I picked up from Quilters’ Academy–a dreary looking but incredibly informative book that I checked out from my local library. Many recently published books on quilting focus on the fun side of the craft–making clean, modern designs–but breeze over some of the really nerdy aspects. Starch is not mentioned. However, a hardcore quilting tome like Quilters’ Academy, volume 1 (!), goes into minute detail about how to plan, measure, cut, and stitch. Whether you like intricate or super simple patterns, getting these steps right can make even a small project like a placemat turn out just like you envisioned. I made the backs in a simple stripe pattern.