Duct Tape Wallet How-to

 Ever wanted to make a duct tape wallet? Me too...I remember when I first saw all this cool colorful patterned duct tape and wanted to make use of it as much as I could.

So once I attempted a wallet.

First cut out a thin piece of paper about 8" wide by 4" in height.

Take your tape and begin making long strips about that length (8") and attach each one to the paper piece, as you cover it, it is ok if the edges overlap a little.

Note: Just tear the tape. Don't bother cutting it...it will "gum up": the scissor blades.

To create the pockets on the inside,take a small, 3" piece of tape, adn fold it over, the edges will stick. Take another piece of tape about that length and use this one to stick to the inside. Repeat two more times to create the inner slots.

To make the insert window (for your ID, most likely) take a piece of one of those clear vinyl poly-view sheets and cut a square about 3" by 4" Use more duct tape to create a border around it, on the inside.

This is what it looks like when it is finished...

Makes a great gift, make one to give, and make one for yourself in a different color pattern!

DIY Curtain From Valance

 Watch How I DIY a Valance From a Long Curtain Drape!

(Originally published on 6/5/18)

OK, long story short....I'm not an experienced seamstress. Just someone with a goal. This goal? To repurpose a shorter valance style curtain from a long flowy drape.

Sounds doable for an ingenue right? After all it's not something that will require a pattern and extensive  labor-unfortunately it didn't go that smoothly.

I have always preferred shorter curtains...Long, flowy drapes are nice but they always seem to be too susceptible to curious kitty claws, plus gathering more dust, mites and generally, cat hair gets on them and when you're talking about white drapes with a black cat around, boy, it shows. Last week I laundered my long white drapes which kept falling down due partly to our cats' shenanigans and partly the rod at the top being persnickety.

Then I went on to replace them with a short white topper. But then...there's that little bugaboo of all that space below them. I think that is why curtain valances were invented....that midrange point on a window and below it...just makes me feel much, uh, like I have less privacy. Short curtains with valances give the win-win of a nice view at the top without having to close and tie-back long drapes, plus the privacy right where it is needed.

OK...I don't actually own any valances, just a surplus of panels. I got this idea just today. Since my panels are the same colors basically as the "shorties", I just took them and folded them in half and then after holding them up to the window to check for adjustment...folded a little bit of the top . I have those little hook thingys that I use for curtain tiebacks. I used sewing clips to secure the folded-over panel to the hooks and ta da...It's a little primitive, but it works. For now. We live in a neighborhood where you can easily get flagged for having unsightly stuff that faces the front of the house so I try to make sure I don't raise eyebrows too much:)

It's relatively mild...I live in Georgia and everyone is usually cranking out their ACs by May, but we've been having a lot of pop-up showers lately so it's stayed in the low 80s which is nice and allows for a good bit of window cracking. It makes the humidity bad but when the air is coming in it's a lot better. My cats love sitting on the windowsill to peer out at the outside world so I made sure my makeshift valance was positioned enough so they could sit there (and not easily yank it) and the air would get in freely.

My DIY Curtain Valance...A Partial Epic Fail??

So I was wanting to hem up I did here last week...this was only a makeshift "valance" Now comes the real thing. Gotta hem those babies up so they will be actual curtains, not a stopgap solution :)

Here are my long curtains that I wanted to make into short valances. I was in a quandary; because as you can see the pom-poms are lining the outer edges and bottom. I at first was okay with just one panel but realized that one side in that case, would be absent of the cute pom poms.

Which meant that I had to measure and cut in a different place...I had already measured the window from the point that the rod should go in to the windowsill.

So I cut the drapes at that point into equal lengths. That part was easy but now...

Ever heard the term "Murphy's Law" (if a thing can go wrong it will) Well what I want to know is, who is Murphy and why does he have it out for some of us? Is this Murphy some kind of gleeful sadist? Well, what went wrong over the course of this evening? Well, what didn't go wrong is more like it.

First off my cat got a hold of my bag of straight pins. Picking them up off of a rug...ugh.

I almost made some real headway, but then I got short of thread on one side and didn't know why until I discovered that the bobbin had run out of thread. I didn't know how to reload that thing until I pulled up a Youtube video. Thank goodness for that repository of how-to's for all of us when we are clueless and stumbling.

Fortunately I did manage to hem up the first panel. I wanted it to have a flanged edged too so it wouldn't look so amateurish, so I did manage to get that stitch under way. But trouble came when I started on the second panel and everything went wrong. And if all that wasn't bad enough....

My needle broke!!!

(Insert string of curse words right about now.....this would have been a good time to get out that sweary word coloring book)

This was just not. my. day. Well, not for sewing anyway....

So that's why you're only seeing this one panel as you do in this picture at the top.

Maybe I just lack the coordination for this, or maybe it is because I detest needles. Who knows? The one thing I really took to was needlepoint as a kid because I had a plastic needle that wouldn't stick me and I got to work with yarn and not skinny scrawny thread.

If you're an experienced seamstress and you're reading this right now, please get in touch :) It could be that I just don't have any guidance in this department. That may be what I need. Anything that would help me get back to finishing that other panel is about all I'd be happy with right now!

"That's Not "Sew" bad Using My Machine for the First Time in 5 Years

 Originally published: 6/24/17

Just A "Sew - Sew" Job...But Practice Makes Perfect!

My grandmother, who passed away in 2012, was a master seamstress. There was nothing she couldn't put together. I've got at least 3-4 handmade quilts that I've inherited, beauty, that. However this is not one skill I inherited. It could be that I haven't put that much thought into learning to sew, or it could be the recurring fears I have about needles. (One time growing up, I had one of those "learn needlepoint" kits for kids that came with a plastic yellow needle that was about 3" long which is why I was able to give that a chance.)

Regardless of the reason, I know it's a skill I should master; at least for the purpose of clothing alterations. It's cheaper and smarter, right? to take an article of something you're tired of and do something to make it a little different and more appealing.

Case in point, these past few weeks. Summer is here and I want to take a few long-sleeved shirts (cotton-poly blend jersey style) and make them into short-sleeve shirts. Nothing super ambitious here. I like the cute "cap" sleeve that's a little bit shorter than the standard T-shirt; but I digress a little. Time to crank out my machine which has been in the closet the past 5 years.

This sewing machine I have is only about 10 years old and in gently used condition. It is a Brother, yep, same company that made my 4-in-one-printer. When I say "gently used" I mean the last thing I worked on was a set of curtains, and I think I hemmed up the legs of some too-long pants.

This is a Brother LS-2125i which is labeled as a "beginner friendly" machine too by the way. Yeah, I haven't studied sewing machines in depth but I have seen some more modern that are actually computerized and all. I believe I neglected to tell you that my Brother was a gift I received for Christmas 2007; so this model has been around awhile.

So here I am, re-learning again, naturally. From last set-up, the bobbin has been wound and fitted into the bottom loading area (sorry, as an amateur, I know that place has a name) I don't have to fool with that part. But apparently when it went into the closet, the threading area and spool must have gotten jostled around, as I had to re-fit it in that slot again correctly; which took a few tries, and I'm embarrassed to say, I had to consult YouTube for a little direction. When I didn't know exactly where the thread should loop around, I had a few stallings.

Did I mention I hate needle threading? Yep, somewhere towards the beginning, so I won't drag that out long. Had to do a tittle self-talk there. But when I got that part squared away, happy day. My work went on like silk on glass. Except that the stitches resulting do not match what an experienced seamstress would call "a great job" But that's OK....the sleeves are hemmed as they should and if you're standing a few feet away you wouldn't notice.

Now about the machine itself? This is not a review post and because of the "gently used" thing going, I can't give a full-out appraisal right now. Heck, there's probably some anatomy I'm not sure I can identify yet. One thing I do notice that I have to be careful of is to tempo the foot pedal as it tends to get away from me quickly unless I go very lightly with my foot. But do I want to keep on using this machine as needed to do things like I stated in the second paragraph? You betcha.

So if you gained one thing of importance from reading this post, it is that I will certainly tell you upfront what I have yet to master. This technique is like anything else out there; practice makes perfect!