“Purple Pearls”

“Purple Pearls”

   

How wealth is defined in society today varies greatly on who you are talking with.  Some define it by the job you have, income level, education etc.  Some cultures base wealth on having things that are rare or difficult to obtain.  I could argue on similar scale wealth is still gauged this way today.  A person is wealthy because they have a lot of money and most people don’t (rare item).  A person has a PhD. which takes a lot of money, time and (theoretically) skill/knowledge to obtain that level of education (rare item).  A person is in charge of a large company with many fancy titles for their occupation and the big paycheck that comes with it (rare item). Some of my husband ancestors are Eastern Band Cherokee and from what I have read they had status symbols as well. As far as I can tell necklaces were made from beads from seeds, bones, pearls and seashells. Beads made from shells that were purple in color and purple pearls wear a status symbol because of how difficult these were to obtain (rare item).

Everybody has a picture of what wealth looks like and how to get it or even how to keep it if they have it.  I think wealth in its most lasting form is defined by the love that exists within a family.  Do the parents love their children?  Do the kids love their parents?  Do the husband and the wife love each other? I believe that love within a family is wealth (rare item).I am aware this is an opinion.  My own kids my feel differently as they become aware of their own opinions about society.  One of the ways I like to show my kids I love them is by making things for them that show them that I was thinking about them as an individual.  My oldest daughter is really proud of her Eastern Band Cherokee ancestors and asks me for stories about them frequently.  So when she my oldest daughter and my husband got invited to a daddy daughter dance at church and the theme was to dress up like your ancestors she was so excited.  I don’t have pearls I can string for her; we don’t have that kind of wealth.  However, we did have seashells from a trip we took to see family. 

Step #1

I made cold porcelain beads and let them dry.  This took about a month.

Step#2

I sanded the beads smooth when they were dry.

Step#3

I painted the beads with a metallic purple paint I mixed.

Step #4

I painted a thin coat of a white metallic color to make the bead look more like dark purple pearls.

Step#5

I took a dremel and drilled a hole in the sea shell for the rope to go through.

Step #6

I threaded the rope threw the sea shell and knotted it.  Then I added a “purple pearl” on each side of the shell. Making a knot before and after each bead.

My daughter loves the necklace and I love that I can make her something that she loves.

Materials

Cold porcelain - I already had the ingredients in the kitchen  0.00

Acrylic paint- my husbands that he keeps around for projects 0.00

Black cord- left over from another project                  0.00

Seashell- from a family trip                                0.00

Total Cost

                                                             0.00 

Patches for My Little Cutie

 Patches for My Little Cutie

I love seeing holes in the knees of my kid’s pants.  I see those holes as a symbol that they are playing outside enough. So when I get the chance to put patches on my kids pants I try to think about what that child enjoys. My youngest daughter loves the TV show My Little Ponies, in particular Rarity.  She likes all the ponies but Rarity is her favorite.  So when her pants came through the wash with holes in the knees I thought of Rarity.  I wondered, what can I do that would be a symbol of Rarity?  Then into my head pops a picture of her cutie mark.  I was really excited to do this for her, since it has been a while since she has needed anything mended. 

Step #1

I found a picture of Rarity’s cutie mark online for a reference point.

Step #2 

I drew a paper template of the cutie mark big enough to cover the holes in her knees.

Step #3

  

 I cut up a t shirt that no longer fit one of her siblings and cut it apart.

Step #4

I pinned the template to the t-shirt material and cut it out.

Step #5

I cut out white felt larger than the blue t-shirt material to create the look of the cutie mark.

Step #6

I took embroidery floss and stitched the t-shirt material to the felt in the shape of the Rarity’s cutie mark.

Step #7

  

I cut out of jean in the shape of the outside edge of the cutie mark patch to become the bottom layer of the patch because my oldest daughter says felt patches itch.

Step #8

I then stitched the jean to the felt patch.

Step #9

I pinned one of the patches to the pant leg.

Step #10

I hand sewed the patch in place over the hole in the knee.

Step #11

I pinned the other patch to the other knee again over the hole in the pant leg.

Step #12

I hand stitched down the last patch to the knee.

Materials

Blue t-shirt - sibling had out grown                                          0.00

White felt- left over from another project                                0.00

embroidery floss-left over from a family members project   0.00

Jean - a pair of shorts that were too worn out to fix.              0.00

White thread- left over from another project                0.00

Total Cost

                                                              0.00 

Putting Buttons on with a special sewing Foot

Button, Button,

Who’s got the Button?

Two Christmases ago I made an Asian influenced shirt for my daughter.  She loved it and wore it any time she could justify wearing her nice clothes.  My husband and I were very happy that she was so pleased with it.   That Christmas my husband got me an early Christmas present; a special foot for my sewing machine that puts on buttons.  I had previously never used a special foot to put on buttons. I have put them on by hand since I was twelve. I was intrigued by the idea of a foot that could sew on a button.  I wondered if it would be as secure as the hand sewing method. Would it break the button if it missed the holes in the button?  How would it not have a loose thread that would come apart eventually with wear?

 I sewed the buttons on for this shirt and then came the test.  My oldest wore her shirt frequently.  Now it is two years later and she has out grown her shirt and two of the buttons have fallen off.    In contrast I have had one hand sewn button come off in the amount of time I have been sewing.  Now that the shirt is being passed on to her younger sister and she will part with it long enough for me to fix it, I am eager to mend it.

Step #1

I seam rip off the one remaining button.

Step #2

I gathered buttons that would match her shirt.

Step#3

I hold the fabric together with my left hand so that the two edges of the collar are touching. Then I sew the button that is closest to the armpit, making sure that the button is where it needs to be to help the two edges of the collar match up.

Step#4

I sew the next on.  Again making sure that the button is 

where it needs to be to help the two edges of the collar match up.

Step#5

I hold the fabric together with my left hand so that the two edges of the collar are touching so that I can get the placement of the last button correct. I sew the last button on.

The shirt is now ready to be passed on to her younger sister.

Materials

3 Buttons-left over from someones unfinished project    0.00

Thread-     left over from one of my project             0.00

Total Cost

                                                                0.00

Fixing a Fabric and wood Fan: What is your integrity worth?

What is your integrity worth?

What is your integrity worth? If something goes wrong or gets broken what should be done?  We had friends over and 1.00 hand fan got broken.  The mom said to not even worry about it but that just wasn’t going to work for us.  It felt icky to leave things the way they were.  Here is what happened;

“That is really delicate, if you take that over there you are running the risk that your fan will be broken” says my friend to her daughter.  

“It will be fine Mom, I will be careful” her daughter says in return.

Her mom allows her to make the choice with the look on her face that clearly says to me, “I tried to warn you”. The object is shown around with proper enthusiasm by her friends, who are my children, and sure enough the fan gets broken.  I don’t know which of the kids broke it; maybe it wasn’t even one of my kids that broke the fan.

Here is the real question, does it really matter which kid broke the fan? No, not really and here is why I would say it doesn’t matter.  I could have tried to piece together which kid had broken the fan from their stories. However, having tired in the past to piece together what is reality and what is fiction when something gets broken when our children are using their imaginations and something goes wrong; I know I am just asking for a head ache.

In addition, if it was one of my kids it is important to me that I show my kids how to fix something when it goes wrong.  In life things get broken, sometimes it’s an accident and sometimes it isn’t an accident.  Regardless, what matters is that when a mistake is made, that we try our best to fix the object or situation if that is possible.  

While I did not want my friends daughters fan to get broken, I am still going to take advantage of the teaching opportunity.

Step#1

We gather all the broken pieces of the fan.

Step#2

We take glue and re-glue the thin wood slats to the fabric. Leaving it to dry and harden.

Step#3

                        

We cannot replace the plastic that held the fan blades together.  If we were to glue them back together they would just come apart again. So we make a tassel that can run through the holes at the bottom of the wood slats.

Step#4

We tied the tassel off and the fan is back together.

It is not the same as it was originally, however it is now mended and functions as a fan should again.  We handed the fan back to the girl at the beginning of church on Sunday and her face lights up.  At the end of church I see the girl with her fan again and it is broken again.  I blurt out, “What happened?” Her mother leans over and whispers to me “She is not very gentle with things, its ok.”

I know a person could argue that we wasted our time fixing the fan since it got broken again.  However, I would point out that the lesson was well worth the time.  I would even argue that the lesson was cheaply paid for, if it works. 

Fixing a Hole in the seat of your Pants

Unwanted Ventilation

 

My husband get hot easily, it is probably where our oldest gets her over heating troubles.  As a result he prefers to wear fabrics that are light weight and breathe really well.  He loves the feel of a crisp fall morning. 

In the summer he has at least one fan going.  We have had as many as three fans going at once to help cool him and our children who run on the hotter side down.  However, as much as he likes a good breeze there are places a person doesn’t want open ventilation, like in the groin area of your pants. 

Unfortunately this is exactly what happened to two of his pajama pants; one split in the front and the other split in the back. So into the mending basket they went.

Step#1

I flipped the pajamas inside out.

Step#2

The pants had ripped right along the seam of the rear.  So I seam ripped the part along where it had split and went a little beyond that in both directions. 

Step #3

I discovered that the pants were also split in another direction. I seam ripped this part as well, again going a little bit beyond where it was ripped.

Step #4

I snipped off the fabric that had been separated from its pant leg.

Step #5

I pinned the smaller rip together then sewed the two pieces together.  I start the stitching before where the rip starts. I slowly increase the seam allowance so that it is at ¼ inch where I am going over where the rip is located.

Step #6

I pinned the larger rip together then sewed the two pieces together.  I start the stitching before where the rip starts, slowly increasing the seam allowance so that it is at ¼ inch where I am going over where the rip is located. Then I slowly decrease seam allowance after I have past where the rip is located. The stitching looks like a hill with at plateau in the middle of the hill.

Step #7

I flipped the pants right side out and the pants are repaired.

Onto next pair of pajama pants.

Step#1

I flipped the pajamas inside out.

Step#2

The pants had ripped right along the seam of the groin.  So I seam ripped the part along where it had split and went a little beyond that in both directions. 

Step #3

I snipped off the fabric that had been separated from its pant leg.

Step #4

I pinned the rip together then sewed the two pieces together.  I start the stitching before where the rip starts. I slowly increase the seam allowance so that it is at ¼ inch where I am going over where the rip is located.Then I slowly decrease seam allowance after I have past where the rip is located. The stitching looks like a hill with at plateau in the middle of the hill.

Step #5

I flipped the pants right side out.

Materials

Black Thread-left over from another project 0.00

Total Cost

                                                     0.00

Fixing holes in your pants from Spilled Bleach

Spilled Bleach

It’s time to do laundry again and all the clothes are in baskets around the washing machine waiting their turn to be washed.  I start the washing machine; add in laundry detergent and then the bleach.  I look over and I see that one of my husband pajama pants got splashed with bleach. 

“Oh crumb!” those are my husbands favorite pair of pajama pants.  I could take a permanent marker to the pants to cover the white spot that is now on his black pants but the fabric is now weakened. 

I know at some point that spot will wear out and probably before the rest of the pants.   So I am watching and waiting for the hole to appear, hoping I am wrong and the fabric will be fine.  No such luck this time.

 

It probably took about a year for it to wear through.  So into the mending basket the pants go for repairs. 

Step#1 

 

I flip the pajama pants inside out.

Step#2

I fold the pants so the holes are in half and i have an edge for putting sewing pins.

Step#3

I pin the fold below where the holes are with a 1/4 seam allowance.

Step#4

 

I sew the two pieces together.  I start the stitching before the holes and slowly increase the seam allowance so that it is at ¼ inch where I am going over where the holes are located.  Then I gradually decrease the seam allowance after I have passed where the holes are located. The stitching looks like a hill with at plateau in the middle of the hill.

Step #5

I flip the pajama pants right side out again. 

My husband is elated since these are his favorite pair and I sigh in relief.  Now onto the next pair of pajama pants.

Materials

Black thread- left over from another project 0.00

Total Cost

                                                    0.00