Such a long time. Christmas hoodies, etc.

So I haven't posted in a while. It's been so cold here in the midwest that school was canceled in most districts two days in a row. I got Friday off, and Monday is MLK day, so I really have a four day weekend. I just realized that my doggie's multitudes of skin problems are not allergies but a reaction to electric heat and the dryness of it. So I have to keep the heat down at 60*, which he loves, the cats hate, and I tolerate. I live on the bottom floor of a three floor condo, so I was probably heating the whole building anyhow (which is why my electric bill is $170 a month for a tiny condo!!). Now, my neighbors upstairs can pay for their own heat! The I have the "ghetto humidifier": a pot of boiling water on the stove.

Made and sold a few things over break, and I have about $100 in my paypal account now, which is awesome for me. If I just listed things more often, I'd be $500 richer a month, right? Ha. Laziness gets in the way.

I made my first two stenciled hoodies for my brother and my sister-in-law. We have been into making gifts for each other, and hoodies are everyone's favorite thing to wear in the midwest in winter, right? Anyhow, I am abnormally proud of these sweatshirts, so here they are:


The DNA Geek one is for my lil brother. He is a biologist and a self-proclaimed geek. I am telling everyone that you haven't really lived until you've cut a stencil of a DNA double helix. Really.



This one was for my sister-in-law, who reads more than me, which I didn't think was possible. Haha. She blogs about it at: http://openmindinsertbook.blogspot.com/ . The stencil on it was much easier. The hoodie looks better on her than on my dummy.

When I showed people the hoodies, most of them said, "Won't your brother and his wife beinsulted?" or "That's not nice! Who'd want to wear something that said that?" Apparently, they don't know our family....

Thought later I should have kept the stencils and made more sweatshirts and maybe put them in my etsy store. Too late. Threw the stencils away; they were fragile and made of cardstock anyhow. Limited runs, I guess. Not that I think the world is running amuck with self-proclaimed book nerds and DNA geeks, but there's gotta be some.

That's all for now. Maybe I'll post again soon. Haha. That laziness thing again....

(If you do want a sweatshirt like this, feel free to go to my etsy store and convo me, and maybe I can remake the stencils....)

Hippie wiener dogs... harbingers of peace? And books for sewing without patterns

These are a creation from my slightly twisted mind. I dunno why I find wiener dogs even half as amusing as I do, but there ya go. These shorts are the product of one too many nights spent deep in thought. Too bad a wiener dog peace sign was the only result. Ah well.

Anyhoo, I have one in my etsy shop here though I can make them in any size and different colors if the desire is there. Could be on a shirt, too. That oughta confuse someone....

So I have several books I've found on sewing without patterns. I'm really not a talented seamstress, but I can sew straight lines and pick cool colors, so that works out well.

Here are some books I've found:

Threads for Heads by Lauren Clay: This one is the classic on hippie patchwork, but it's written by a girl who did the whole thing on a copier and with spiral binding. She only prints them up once in a while, but you can google her and find some copies occasionally. Worth the $30, even if it is full of grammatical errors and typos! She's such a sweetie in her writing, and you can tell it comes from the heart.

Vivienne Colle's Make It Yourself Boutique: Not sure where the heck this one came from. I was searching for no-pattern clothing on paperbackswap.com, and this book popped up. It's old and the clothing is "boutique fashions" from the 60s, which means a lot of terrycloth skirts and tent dresses, but it's totally retro and no patterns are required! I think this one got lost in the mess of books out there, but it tells you how to use recycled fabric, clothing, and trims / buttons in new clothes. Ooh.

The Illustrated Hassle-Free Make Your Own Clothes Book and The Son of Hassle-Free Sewing by Joan Wiener Bordow and Sharon Rosenberg: Well, I haven't read these yet as I just ordered them from amazon, but hear they're classics that were first used by hippies in the Haight. Lots of directions for recycling clothing and for no-patterns stuff.

Sew What! Skirts: 16 Simple Styles You Can Make with Fabulous Fabrics by Francesca DenHartog: Teaches you how to make patternless skirts. The layout of the book is cute, and the skirts come in many shapes. Fun stuff.

Sew What! Fleece by Carol Jessop: Same as with the skirts, but for polar fleece. I think a lot of these would work with felted wool as well, if you wanna go more organic.

So there ya go. Dunno how my sister-in-law does all her book reviews on her blog without going nuts. I'm already there on the five or six books I just did.

Now I must go tend to my crazy dog, the neighbor's crazy dog who is currently here, and the two psychotic cats.