Suffrage Act

 One Hundred years ago today, Congress ratified the Suffrage Act.  The 19th amendment granted women the right to vote in the United States.  Here's a good article on the suffrage movement:  Women's Suffrage - Fight For The Vote.

To commemorate, the hard won victory, I've completed stitching Suffrage Act.

Designer: Little House Needleworks

Started: January 17, 2020.

Finished August 18, 2020

Fabric: 28ct Silkweaver Lugana "Days Gone By"

Fibers:GAST, DMC, and Classic Colorworks threads

This was fun to stitch up.  I changed quite a few of the colors to suit my taste.

Ladies - Exercise your right and vote!

Sore Ears? Headband Tutorial for Homemade Masks

Several sewists have asked me for the pattern I used to make the headband I showed in my last post.  Below is the tutorial I came up with for making a headband to go with the homemade masks with elastic bands that go around the ears.  Please give credit and link to tutorial if you are posting your creations online.  Or, better yet send me photos and I'll do a feature post showing all the headbands made!

HEADBAND FOR FACE MASK

Materials Needed 
14” x 6 ½” Fabric                                                   
14” x 1 ½” Fabric                          
8” elastic**                                 
2 Large Buttons**      
Thread 
Small Safety Pin Sewing Needle   
Straight Pins

**I used 3/8" elastic and 7/8" buttons.

Instructions
Step 1:
Fold fabric pieces in half lengthwise, right sides together.

Step 2:
Sew ¼” seam on lengthwise edge of each piece of fabric.

Step 3:
Turn both pieces right side out.  Use the safety pin to turn the smaller tube inside out.

Place the seam in the center and press the tubes flat.

Step 4:
Using safety pin, pull elastic through smaller tube.

Secure ends of elastic with pins.

Step 5:
Secure elastic by sewing ends closed using 1/4" seam. 

Step 6:
Place smaller tube on top of larger one, centering it.  Seams should be facing out.

Step 7:
On one end, take corner of larger fabric and fold toward opposite side meeting the edge of the smaller piece of fabric.

Step 8:
Repeat with opposite corner and secure with straight pin.

Step 9:
Repeat steps 7 and 8 for the opposite end.

Step 10:
Sew 1/4" seam over ends to secure all layers together.  This is a pretty thick piece to sew through so you may need to use a hump jumper (aka button shank plate).

Step 11:
Turn ends right side out.

Step 12:

Sew buttons on about 1/2" above seam allowance.

Headband is finished!

 

To use, put headband on.

Place mask on face and hook elastic bands around buttons.

Until next time... Stay safe and healthy!

My Covid-19 Reality

On March 20th, Illinois Governor Pritzker issued "Shelter in Place" order until April 7th.  This means citizens of Illinois are to stay at home as much as possible.  We can still go get groceries, go to the doctor, get gas -- essential things.

For a couple weeks prior to the Shelter in Place order, my employer began proactive steps to keep the employees healthy -- extra cleaning of frequently touched surfaces, limiting people other than employees into our office buildings as well as having employees going between buildings, and encouraging those who could work from home to do so.

Once Shelter in Place took effect, I was set up to work from home. 

So far, it's working pretty well.  The CEO of our company holds video conferences twice a week to keep all of us informed as to what's going on with Covid-19 as well as the company.

Today was the first day I left the house in a week.  No one is allowed in my house except for me and the pup.

Today, the governor extended Shelter in Place until April 30th.  Since April 7th, there have been 937 new cases of Covid-19 in Illinois bringing total cases to almost 6,000.  There have been 26 more deaths bringing it to 99 statewide.  In my county there are 6 cases and thankfully no deaths.  Testing is limited to those over the age of 55 who show symptoms.

By day, I am working my job.  By night, I've been busy making masks.  My niece is a nurse and she's been told they are to reuse their masks until they can't be used anymore.  My cousin works in an essential retail business in TN.  The grandmother of a five year old girl with asthma asked me to make a mask for her to wear to the doctor's office.  I've made 33 masks in four days.  Elastic is on short supply because a lot of people are making masks so I've started making some with ribbon ties.  HERE is a good article about sewists making masks across America.

Adult Masks

Child Masks

I've seen a few people online say that after a while the elastic bands make their ears hurt.  I came up with a headband solution where the elastic can be attached to large buttons.

Another cool thing going on right now are Windows of Hope.  Since most of us are stuck inside, people are decorating their windows sending out messages of love and hope.  You can read about it HERE.

Despite all the gloom and doom, fear, news of Covid-19 sickness and death not only in the U.S. but all over the world, there's some humor coming out as well.

And for the kiddos:

If neither of those leave a smile on your face, here's a pig eating ice cream...

Until next time....  Stay safe and well!

Just Call Me... DIY Supergirl!

 It's been a while since I've blogged.  Quite a bit has happened since I wrote about my car purchase.  All good, I assure you!  When I get more time, I'll recap the end of 2019.  For now, let's start with my latest DIY projects.

PROJECT #01
My bathroom towel bar is made of ceramic and acrylic.  One day while getting ready for work, the acrylic bar broke.  Some may say, "Just go buy a new towel bar."  Well, not so easy in my case.  I have ceramic tiles on the walls and ceiling of my bathroom so I can't just install a new towel bar without risking damage to the vintage tiles. Plus, there would be holes where the old towel bar is.

What to do?  What to do?  I measured the diameter of the acrylic bar then wandered around my basement workshop for ideas.  Urecka!!

I had a wood dowel the same diameter.  I cut it to the size I needed for the bar, then painted it and added many coats of polyurethane to protect it from damp hand towels.

Installation was simple.  Just slide it in place.  It looks great!  A cheap and easy repair.

PROJECT #2
My second project was a bit more involved but much more fun.  Long time readers know that I like to take thrift store finds and make them my own.  This was one of those projects.

I bought this framed "art" several years at a thrift store for $3.  I bought it strictly for the frame.  I knew it would use it someday.  Well, it's now someday!

When I dismantle a frame, I start by taking the cardboard or paper covering off the back of the art piece.  Then I take out the staples that hold the art in the frame.  For whatever reason, the backing on this frame was glued to the frame and the art piece after the art was stapled in place.  Very odd!  Typically, I've not seen this.  I had to use a knife to slide under the cardboard backing to loosen it from the perimeter of the frame.  Then I had to bend the cardboard up so I could remove the staples holding the art and mat board in the frame.

 Once I got that PITA 'art' out of the frame, I could really get to work.  I set the glass aside so it wouldn't get broken.  In order to cut the frame to size, it had to be totally taken apart.

Look how beautiful the moulding is!

A trip out to my garage in the dead of winter was in order.  Power tools!!

Remember.... measure twice, cut once!  This is always the nerve-wracking part.  Cuz if you screw it up, there's no going back!  This time, I only had to cut the side pieces to the size I needed.

Time to put the pieces together.  Piece of cake. I always pre-drill holes before using small nails to put the frame back together.  I also use wood glue.  This was the first time I used TiteBond Ultimate wood glue and I have to admit I was a bit skeptical as to it's holding power since it's much thinner consistency compared to the Elmers wood glue I typically use.

The hardest part for me is waiting for the glue to dry overnight.  I'm in such a hurry to finish my project!

 Once dried, I filled all the staple holes and imperfections with wood filler.  I also countersink the nails and fill them so you can't see where the nails are. Like waiting for glue to dry, waiting for the wood filler to dry is torture!

Once the wood filler is dry, I lightly sand it smooth.  Then comes the fun part.  How do I want to finish it?  Wood filler can be stained, but I've not done it yet.  I usually end up painting my frames to coordinate with what I'll be putting in it.

 I found out that my local glass shop will cut the glass to the size I want also for $1 per cut.  I only need one cut.  So, for $4.00 total, I now have a nice 'new' frame to use.

I'm so pleased with how it turned out!

Until next time...