Thursday, February 9, 2012

February…Hearts, 58 degrees, and beadsbeadsbeads…

Oh the beads…
But first…
I’ve been working on two projects these last few weeks since I posted, and I’m kinda stuck.  Well, not so much stuck as paranoid.  The first project is using that cute gray tablecloth, the gray fabric I posted at the bottom of the last post:  
 I have this idea in my head to make a cute apron out of it, but I’m too chicken to cut the fabric.  I don’t want to mess it up and then not be able to use it.  The problem is really that I don’t have an actual “pattern”, per se.  I’ve been looking for a book that shows how to make your own patterns for months now, and right after the New Year I was cruising through my local Joann Fabrics for inspiration and came across the perfect book, Patternmaking For A Perfect Fit by Steffani Lincecum ($24.99, Watson-GuptillPublications).  The best part was it was buried on the bottom shelf of the clearance aisle with a $3.97 sticker on it!  Waaay better than any price I’d get on the same or similar book at Half Price Books (trust me, I’ve looked!).  Anyway, this book teaches the “rub-off method”, and I tried using it on an apron my mom made me when I was a wee one.  It’s a fairly easy method, but again, I don’t want to cut up the tablecloth unless I’m positive I’m not going to screw it up…
 While I'm thinking of it, any suggestions?  I can't decide if I want to make a full apron that covers the chest, or just a waist apron.  Here's what the tablecloth looks like folded up...
 





And here is the apron Mom made me (way back in 1994, she thinks).  The next picture is of the pinpricks in the paper where I mapped out the edge of my "pattern".  This is the short version of how they do the rub-off method.  The book describes laying a blouse or skirt out and poking through the seams with a pin onto paper, or laying the paper over the item (say, a purse) and tracing the pattern out with a pencil.  Apparently this is something that a lot, if not all, designers use at some point in their lives.  This is also a good way to get something that fits better than using predetermined paper pattern sizes. 
 

 The second project is a serving tray that I bought for some specific reason and it became a coupon catch-all that only holds expired coupons I’ve forgotten about.  I’ve already put two coats of cream-colored paint on it, from my stash of Lowe’s $0.50 mistint samples.  Which hasn’t made as much of a dent as I was hoping…I don’t think I used even a third of that little eight ounce container.  That’s ok though, I was thinking of using that color to repaint our coffee table later this year (I’m keeping the table though!).  Anyhoo, I found out that you can use Elmer’s glue to make a crackle finish with paint, so I’m going to attempt either that or the antiqued, rubbed-edge look with a dark gray or black paint over the cream.  I was also thinking about painting a picture of something on a separate paper and gluing that to the middle of the tray with the crackle paint as a border, but I’m stuck on what to paint.












So, I decided to take a break from all that, pop in one of my Pirates of the Caribbean soundtracks, and type this up.  I was originally going to spend the few hours before I have to go to my real job (ick.) taking pictures of the beads I plan on selling, but I got…sidetracked…with typing…yeah…not procrastinating anything AT ALL…I have about a 100 "lots" of beads set aside, all bagged and ready to be photographed, I even have a swatch of black velvet to use as a background...
This is going to be a loooong year.
On the bright side, the last few days of January and the first few of February were GORGEOUS!!  We had all the windows open the other day until we went to bed.  Nothing like a beautiful, spring-like day in the middle of winter to get you moving!  Of course, now it's February 9 and frigid again, just like it's supposed to be (again, ick.)
 Well, until next time!  And maybe then I will have Internet in my own house! :-D
 P.S. While my mom was proofreading this for me, she goes, "Oh! I have a pattern book with aprons in it!  I think I even bought it while shopping with you!"  And in it I found the perfect pattern to use with the tablecloth. :-D Yay!