Disappearing Act

I had hoped to grab a moment to excuse myself before I disappeared entirely, but the Friday before last a whole lot of things happened very quickly. The director of Cairn, the summer camp for which I worked the past five summers, called me just as I was leaving work to ask if I could possibly get the week off to fill in for a counsellor who had injured his leg. Being eager to escape office work and absolutely in love with Cairn, I spent the rest of the day getting in touch with my boss, packing, and breaking engagements (I'm sorry, Helen!). Oh, yeah, and attending Billy Elliot because that happened to be the night for which my boss gave me tickets as a thank-you for house sitting. Then after a very brief sleep I was up at six and off to camp with far too much enthusiasm and far too few sweaters.

And so, instead of finishing my quilt and starting a dress like I intended, I spent my craftiness last week on yarn-wrapped light sabers and jedi cloaks for my cabin of 13-year-old boys. What a fun age! Plenty will disagree, but I love young teenagers. They're so eager and energetic and questioning.


I wish I had pictures of the cloaks and light sabers. It was really the coolest thing I'd ever seen to watch those guys gear up for our final battle. Maybe sometime I'll get nostalgic and make some for myself, with a tutorial for you.

Oh, and if you're wondering, of course we won the battle, and camp is once again safe from the scourge of the Dark Side.

Polkadot Skirt

My sister reminded me the other day that I never posted a picture of the finished polkadot skirts. Maggie and I ended up finishing them separately, and with my unexpected move to Toronto we never did get a chance to wear them together.

However, the skirts are done, and I wore mine last weekend to a sustainable food festival at Fort York. My sister insisted on taking a picture.

I couldn't resist making a matching hair ribbon, though I worried that it made the outfit look too much like a fifties-inspired costume.

"Have you seen what people wear in Toronto?" was my boyfriend's response to this concern. So I wore it. And enjoyed myself thoroughly.

Once again, I am grateful to Susan at Freshly Picked for her Elastic Waist Skirt Tutorial.

Necklace Tutorial

I saw a necklace like this in a store some time ago and was struck with the simplicity of it. I loved the effect of the many-sized rings.

Want to make your own? It's so easy! Here's all you need:

Three rings of various sizes. I used a macrame ring, a key ring and a single-shank button with a ring around the outside.

A bead with quite a large hole and a cord that is twice the length you want your finished necklace to be.

Fold the cord in half.

Feed it through all three rings.

Tie a knot just above the rings.

Slide the bead over the knot.

 Tie a square knot at the ends of the cord.

There you go!

Instant Gratification Sewing

First, a peek at what I started last time:

I'm happy with how it's going, but I haven't had the patience for it the past few days. Instead I've been wanting to make things I can wear, and wear now. So for instant gratification, I threw together this vest:

Nothing could be simpler; I grabbed a T-shirt one of my friends was getting rid of and cut it up. The only problem was that it was a size too large, so the shoulders sat too wide. A well-placed tuck would have solved the problem, but I decided to gather a patch of fabric instead. Then I covered the patch with one of my great-grandmother's crocheted doilies. I've been looking for a good use for them.

That's it! Instant gratification sewing. May all your impulses be as satisfying :)

I was bad.

In my defense, there were good reasons. 1) My Fabric Land membership is about to expire and I don't want to bother renewing it. 2) I've been thinking about this purchase for a long time. 3) I wanted to make something (that's a good reason, right?).

So I bought these:

The picture doesn't really show it, but the mat and ruler are BIG. At least, they look big in my apartment.

And why did I require new tools? Well, for one thing I can't steal my mother's anymore now that I don't live with her. For another, I wanted to use these up:

Those are the backs of all the black shirts I've been given to make T-shirt blankets for people. Apparently, my friends have a lot of sentimental black T-shirts.

I've never mixed cotton with knit before, but for an experiment I've decided to combine the T-shirts with these old shirts of my Dad's:

I'm excited to see what happens when the fabrics start coming together. Stay tuned to see the result!

Home again

Did you miss me? I've missed you. Not that I'm quite sure who "you" is. Am I addressing the gaping black hole that is the internet? The blogger dashboard? The few people I know for sure read this every time? (Hi Mom).

Never mind. In any case, I've missed making things. And this weekend I finally got to be a little creative again. Four friends and I, all former staff members of Camp Cairn, attended Family Camp together as a "family" (of which they decided I was the grandmother). As a special treat, one of the camp directors ran an adult-only session in screen printing. We were given the chance to draw and cut out our own paper stencils, and she provided the paint and tools. Here's my result, only a little smudged:

 I've been playing around with these snowflake-like designs for years. I always wanted to use them on clothing of some kind. I envisioned printing the lines, not the spaces, but that's harder to do.

Come to think of it, I can show you the effect I would have gone for if I'd had time. This might be a familiar picture:

Intersecting designs like that one covered the margins of my notes throughout university. This picture was my favourite result from playing with the designs in art class in my third year.

I've been toying with the idea of appliqueing a design like that off-centre on a skirt and letting the lines spread outward. Now that I'm home, maybe I'll try it out. It will be a fussy project, but a fun one, I think.

Happy August!