Category — Other Crafts

Paul tried his hand at wood-working last month when he travelled to North Carolina and built this awesome coat rack with his dad.

We bought the hooks at a place on 5th Avenue in Park Slope, but the rest was made from scratch. The hooks are a little narrow and I didn’t want the handle of my purse to get worn, so I devised and sewed this little fabric loop to protect it.

Here is the loop in action…

Last night was my first of two classes in the Introduction to Machine Sewing at The City Quilter. I enjoyed the two hour class very much. The room has 12 Bernina Aurora 440QE machines, so its small enough that the teacher can move around and see every student. The teacher is very experienced and draws lots of examples from quilting. I don’t plan to quilt, but I’m sure these are general instructive examples.

We started by tackling the difficult topics: how to create a bobbin and how to thread the machine. Everything went smoothly there, no tangled nightmares like I had when I was younger.

Next we moved on to actual sewing. We first sewed 3 simple straight lines onto muslin, then a 1/4″ seam and finally we moved to the larger foot and played around with various stitch types.

The ultimate goal of the class is to create a 16″x16″ pillow cover with an envelope opening in back. I selected a gorgeous orange, purple and red fabric with gold flecks. You’ll get to see it in its final form after the final class next week.

During class students receive a 15% discount on everything in the store, not only those items they need for class.

I found another great craft while walking around the neighborhood. This time on Clinton Street in Cobble Hill. (If you’re not sure why trees need to be guarded, you can read more about that here.)

It’s not embroidery, but it’s a pretty cool craft. I came across this bamboo bicycle when walking around my neighborhood this past weekend.

It’s probably not a bad idea to ride around on your own homemade bicycle considering the minivan just behind this bicycle had been broken into.

You can make your own by following these instructions at Instructables.com.