The window bench in the home office was getting worn out on top because my large dogs like to lay there often. A hole was starting at a seam on top and batting was peaking through a thread-bare spot. Before the damage got too far along Jake and I spent… Read More »The Reupholstered Bench
I finally made myself a perfect medieval chemise. Perfection existing in the fabric, the pattern, and the notions. Past attempts at chemise fell short when I tried to use cotton muslin. The stiff weight didn’t drape how I had imagined in one case or another. This time I found a… Read More »Medieval Chemise
Continuing the discussion on new items I made for Jake ahead of the 2023 Connecticut Renaissance Faire, is this very large canvas and remnant belt-pouch. Purely a bonus project, for my own decompression between more strenuous sewing, I pieced this pouch together with remnants of fabric from projects current and… Read More »Large Remnant Pouch
Don’t you hate it when you’re getting ready for the renaissance fair and you have a nice pouch that’s just a little too heavy for your belt? Wouldn’t it be nice if you had an extra miscellaneous strap to throw on that pouch? A quick and easy project I threw… Read More »Crochet Purse Strap
A very minor project while I finish up a few larger items to share with you: a simple crochet headband to finish up the yarn that I used to make myself a two-color winter cowl. Nothing fancy, but I did use two different stitches for a little texture. My posting… Read More »Two-Tone Headband
Our neighbors are moving and sold us two solid-pine bookshelves for the dining room. This room has always echoed, and the addition of some new many-sided furniture has helped tremendously. The plan was to paint the shelves white to match the baseboards, so last weekend as temperatures warmed up I… Read More »Painting Bookshelves
This weekend I completed an ongoing piece of party décor that I’ve been chipping away at in my spare time. A crocheted bunting made with free yarn, the best kind of yarn. My learning-how-to-crochet journey has really stalled out at doilies, tassels, and garlands because for the most part I… Read More »Crafty Crochet Bunting
In the fall we harvest. We pickle, we can, we freeze. All winter, it’s baking. What garment helps with all that more than any other? An apron, of course. I’m in an apron-making mood. They are all my favorite sewing projects in one: utilitarian, good for scraps, all rectangles. If… Read More »Apron-Making Mood
First actual project of my learn-how-to-crochet journey complete! I made a draw-string produce bag out of some low-quality medium weight yarn, not suitable for garments or anything I really want to last. The yarn broke a lot while stitching, so I have a lot of random knots tied into this… Read More »Ugly Crochet Produce Bag
Boy, what a summer it’s been, right? Heat waves, flooding, thunderstorms, wind and cold? Not exactly the summer we were all hoping for in the United States after over a year in lockdown. In between raindrops, we did manage to spend a few hours on the beach. Ok, sometimes we… Read More »Beachy Kaftan Robe
I am planning a trip to the beach for the first time in years. Having just thrown out a decade’s old beach tote that was collecting a smell, there was a hole in my arsenal of bags waiting to be filled. I’d been saving a yard of gorgeous printed cotton… Read More »Giant Beach Bag
My dog seriously loves pillows. We let her use the human couch pillows, but she is very aware of what things are specifically hers and which things are shared. She loves her beds and pillows and looks so cute using them. After sewing Tovi a new Christmas coat from fleece, I… Read More »Christmas Quilted Bone Pillow
The hardscaping theme continues with another one of Jake’s creations! After building the garage a beautiful garden walkway, we couldn’t simply store our trash barrels in front of it like we used to. A stylish path requires stylish trash. To dress up our disposables, Jake built us a fancy trash shed.… Read More »Summer Hardscaping: Trash Shed
After months deciding what color we wanted the front door to be forever, we settled on the best, safest, darkest choice: black. I ordered myself a jar of Art Deco exterior metal door paint and waited for a dry 65 degree day when we would be home all day (oh,… Read More »Finally Painted The Front Door
Happy Friday, everyone! There’s a gorgeous weekend ahead, but many of us still have a lot of time on our hands. Maybe some of you would like to sew now that you’re spending so much time at home. Want to make a headband? It’s really easy. Perfect for beginners who… Read More »How to Sew a Five Minute Twist Headband
Oh, I want to leave my house this Beltane! As the weather gets nicer, the event cancellations get more and more disappointing. I miss dressing up, celebrating, and even shopping…Can’t even browse a market for fun anymore. In my mourning, I’ve latched onto the aesthetic of picnics as a hopeful… Read More »Happy Beltane! Shoulder Shopper Bag.
Last bustle in this fabric, I promise!! I was going to be all done, but then I had leftover fabric, and everyone had a bustle to wear over their big skirts or pants except for me. So I just had to whip myself up a very simple bustle out of… Read More »Mini Tartan Bustle
The troupe has a Celtic-themed belly dance show coming up in March for which we are preparing quite the little dance number. To tie our look together on stage, we ordered 30 yards of the same miscellaneous cotton plaid, from which we will each be making a garment–or rather I… Read More »Celtic Plaid Belly Dance Pants
Functional pouches are a life-saver in costuming. Purses, cell phones, car keys, and wallets do not time-travel well, and can only make the journey when well hidden inside a decorative bag or pouch. For the upcoming Winter Renaissance Faire in Vermont I am planning to wear black leather armor, but… Read More »Re-purposing Army Surplus Bag
It’s that time of year again! That’s right, the spookiest, most haunted season of them all: Yuletide. The season for blood sacrifice, frantically cleaning your home as to not upset the visiting spirits, and of naughty children being dragged off to hell by a cloven-footed beast! To celebrate another year… Read More »Family Hearth Stockings
My fabric stash is an extremely generous place; always filled with things that I didn’t even know that I had. The other day I came across a scrap of white high-pile faux fur that was just wide enough to make a small muff. The piece wasn’t big enough for much… Read More »Faux Fur Muff with Pocket
Thanksgiving is just around the corner, but what you all really miss is Halloween, isn’t it? We hosted a big party this year and I made sure to take nice photos of all of our entrees into the costume contest! I hope you enjoy this photo album of shenanigans. Voting… Read More »Halloween Contest Entrees 2019
We have transformed our master bath with paint and a medicine cabinet. It only took *checks notes* two years to get this room finished*, but the day has come. Below is a photo of the before. Plain white walls, not enough storage. Lucky for us, the fixtures that came with… Read More »Master Bath Makeover
My female dog has a beard and a mustache, so naturally she is constantly being misgendered. Not that I think she minds, but maybe some pretty bows will help? Buying pre-made collar sliders online is expensive. And they are so small, and use so little fabric! I’m pressed for time… Read More »Collar Sliders
I thought the dog already had a new costume for Halloween this year? Yes. She does. But this idea is just so cute. Give the people what they want. What they want is more dog photos in costume. Earlier this season I sewed Tovi, our almost-two-year-old Belgian Malinois mix a… Read More »Cardinal Dog Costume
I had dreams of sewing Jake a very traditional Viking tunic. Something long, loose fitting, and functional. When I found several yards of sombrella fabric with a visible weave and stiff hand on clearance, I thought it had the perfect rough look if you ignore it’s forever fade-resistance. Jacob had… Read More »Orange Sensational Viking Long Tunic
Abstract art has it’s place in home decor. Representational work is my bread-and-butter, and how I’ve worked exclusively my entire career. The art I make is either utilitarian, or representational. Usually it’s both. But there are spaces in the home that don’t need the specificity of realism. For these spaces,… Read More »Desedimentation (My First Abstract Painting)
Super productive weekend last week! I feel we are in our last big push to get summer chores done before summer ends, because right behind that comes fall clean-up and winterizing. I made a project for myself early this summer when I scored these two awesome but old Adirondack chairs… Read More »Adirondack
I’m trying to decide what color to paint the front door. It’s a beige house with white trim and black porch fixtures. I’ve quickly photo-shopped my ideas onto the house, but because the porch is in shadow, it’s not an easy thing to picture. I know that black would look… Read More »What Color Should I Paint the Front Door?
I really didn’t think I was going to have a blog post for you today, as I haven’t finished anything in a while and I’ve been so busy enjoying the summer sun. Many projects remain in progress, but I haven’t really had the time or desire to put in the… Read More »Striped Summer Dress
Whipped up this new belly dance belt a few days before a performance to match this bra that I made a few years(?) ago. I had plenty of extra fabric lying around from the bra top, a super comfortable performance stretch. The pattern was simple enough: a rounded triangle essentially,… Read More »New Belly Dance Belt
Are we really still talking about Bento Bags? Yes we are. After trial and error, I have devised a method to making lined, reversible bento bags using one-third the fabric of the last tutorial that I used. Directions and photos below. The previous method used two rectangles of fabric three-times… Read More »Reversible Bento Bags from Less Fabric Tutorial
Last week I posted a disastrous attempt at sewing the internet popular bento bags using a very bad tutorial also found online. After contemplating all my errors and doing more research, I found a better tutorial and made a much better bento bag. The tutorial is as follows in the… Read More »Better Bento Bags
On Pinterest I saw some really cute, super simple Bento bags that internet models were using to carry produce, toiletries, and of course lunch boxes. I was charmed by the no effort linens and free-spirit stripes swaddling pretty food, and was thus inspired to make a few “test” bento bags as proof of… Read More »Proof of Concept? Bento Bag Fail
I really hope you’ve been enjoying the weekly posts! It’s been a really consistent run these past few months, and I’m going to try to keep it up! I hadn’t sewn anything new in a little while, but an easy project always gets me going when I’m feeling stuck. This… Read More »Cotton Jersey 2-Way-Stretch Dress (Simplicity 1358)
Making men’s clothing and costumes is hard. Especially since I am not a man, nor anywhere near the size of most men. When I make clothing for me, I do a million test fittings; always holding up pattern pieces to my body or dress form, checking the fit every step… Read More »Duct Tape Body Form How-To
Lusting after a breezy and casual fantasy look, I borrowed inspiration from the Germanic farmers of northern Europe during the middle ages to create this muslin peasant top with rustic trim. Muslin is considered a practice fabric. It’s cheap, lightweight cotton that’s easy to work with and abundant. Unbleached muslins… Read More »Middle Ages Farmer’s Tunic with Trim
Labor Day weekend Jake and I attended military appreciation day at the King Richard’s Faire in Carver, MA. Every year the second day of the fair is free for active and retired military, so we try to go on that day to save on Jake’s admission. King Richard’s is one… Read More »New Viking Garb for Military Day at King Richard’s Faire 2018
Hot tubs are very expensive luxury purchases, but we’re still kind of cheap thrifty people, so we thought, let’s save some money by building the tub foundation ourselves. If you need a foundation for your hot tub, rent a back-hoe. Don’t do what we did, which was spend 24 man-hours… Read More »DIY Hot Tub Foundation
Goodness, I’ve been so busy lately with absolutely no time to post because we just bought a house!!! Finally, the process is done, and the house is ours. We’ve been trying to close on this thing for the better part of a season, but as anyone who’s ever bought a… Read More »Get Ready for the DIY Home Improvement Posts
Last Friday night while we were on an evening stroll Jake and I spotted two free chairs on the side of the road in great condition. We snatched those up to refinish them to go with our tiny kitchen table. Here’s the chair before: After $3.30 in fabric, $6.00 in… Read More »Free chairs, refinished for under $10
For those of you who like to do things yourself, I’ve got some new paint-you-own-leather-mask listings up on Etsy. Leather masks are surprisingly simple to make from vegetable tanned leather. However, if you only need one mask, its hardly worth the large investment of your time and money to track down a… Read More »Paint-Your-Own-Masks on Etsy