Amber Dusick

sewing from a pattern from the year I was born

I love vintage sewing patterns because I always have this image in my mind of the perfect vintage something and I can't actually find the item.  I'm always dreaming up 70s era tunic tops but most of the ones that exist are polyester, which feels icky and hot in summer.

I got this 1977 McCall's 5565 from Etsy seller Picky Pat Basket a few weeks ago because it is made for stretch fabrics.  And I could make my dream shirt a reality, and with cotton jersey.  

By the way, if you are planning to shop vintage patterns, take note of the measurements.  Sizing was different 30 years ago, a vintage size 12 is more like a modern size 6.  Etsy is a great source for vintage patterns, I can (and do) spend hours sifting through them.

I skipped the belt for now.  I also didn't even bother to finish the bottom or the sleeve egdes, I'm just going to leave them raw.  The fabric trim is vintage and I've been holding on to it for years.  (PS - those little dark dots aren't stains on the shirt, they are water drops from my wet hair.)

My sewing as usual isn't perfect, but I'm pretty happy with this particular shirt.  I'm slowly learning to sew stretchy knit fabrics and get comfortable with it.  Not sure why I was afraid of it for so long!  Considering that cotton jersey is all I want to wear most of the year when it is hot I think I'll be doing more of it.  

Now I just need to find more patterns... 

 

 

 

Candy Cane Ice Cream

The last of our homemade candy canes (I'll post about that eventually) were used up in another batch of candy cane ice cream which is also now eaten.  The holidays are officially over, as no remnant (edible or otherwise) is left in our house.  We repurposed the tree and tucked everything else away for next year.  

This candy cane ice cream recipe was made in my new ice cream maker my mom sent me for Christmas.  It is actually just an attachment for my mixer which is perfect since I don't have to store a whole separate appliance, just the small drum that lives in the freezer.  Ice cream with a side of hot cocoa is my current favorite food combo.  

And I have to thank Amber Strocel and her many posts on homemade ice cream for inspiring me to give it another go.  I had an ice cream maker a few years ago and ditched it in a major de-cluttering binge.  I'm glad I picked it up again, though this time with a more simple set up.  Heck, I even collect ice cream scoops and make art about ice cream trucks.  I am a serious ice cream addict so not making my own was kind of a missing piece.  

 

Free Baby Bib Sewing Patterns

I drafted two free baby bib sewing patterns this week.  My little guy has just started showing an interest in solid food at 12 months.  And by interest I mean he puts food into his mouth, explores the flavor and them promptly spits out 90% of it.  Holy cow, this is messy!  I had forgotten.  So.  Bibs.  

Birdie Baby Bib Pattern is a simple, reversible design.  I love it because it is cute and it is great for catching drips but it isn't great for chunks that land in his lap, so...

 

One Piece Pocket Baby Bib Pattern is a full-coverage, serious bib for super messy eating.  I made it with some laminated cotton fabric I got from Laminated. 

Anyway, they are both free.  There are PDFs of the pattern you can download and print for your handmade bib sewing pleasure. 

I'm on a pattern making sewing kick it seems and I'm going to take advantage of it!  Enough of those darn babies though, next up I'll make something for me for once.  I'm thinking of designing a shirt.  I never make shirts for myself - they seem harder because of the boob factor.  But I'm going to try.  Will let you know if I come up with anything. 

Am I the only one who is in full denial about the holidays coming up?  I haven't even thought about it yet. 

Eco-Friendly Piñata & Birthday Festivities

Our birthday festivities are over (still clean up to do out back though) and I'll share what we did for our homemade eco-friendly pinata other than the felted wool balls that I already mentioned. 

Other than these organic lollipops, we did a mostly toy piñata.  The NaturalCandyStore.com is a great source for organic & natural candy. 

Colored twig pencil bundles were a huge hit.  I got these in bulk from an eBay seller a few years back for Halloween and still had these left over. 

These mini play clay samples from Mama K were also well received.  They are scented in unusual scents like lemongrass, cardamom and lavender with real essential oils.  We love them!  You could of course get some tiny containers and make your own play dough if you are so inclined.  I'm so in love with the texture and scent of these I'm taking a break from making my own.  

Little handmade wee wooden vehicles.  I only had a handful of these.

Other things we included that I don't have photos of that I found in local craft stores:  bouncy balls, mini-watercolor pan sets, erasers, crayons and tiny bubble jars.

The finished handmade pumpkin piñata!  My son helped me paint it.  I'll post a tutorial soon.

We glued some leaf cut outs to small kraft gift bags for the the kids to collect their loot in. 

Party decorations!  Most everything we used was handmade or from our yard.  He wanted an "autumn theme" this year so it was lovely.  Except the part that it was 108 degrees on party day.  Didn't feel like autumn, that is for sure.  

Did I mention the boy asked for pumpkin pie in lieu of cake this year?  It was my tradition when I was a child, I never had cake - always pumpkin pie for my October birthday.  Remember the cake fiasco last year?  I was relieved when he suggested pie this year, and pumpkin at that.  No suggestion from me even.  Not that it didn't come with its own problems.  We accidentally made a double batch.  So instead of three pies we wound up with SIX.  Oops!  Pie anyone?

This is the kids table.  Sadly, I don't have any photos of the finished space with the chairs and the rest of the decorations.  Such is the case when you are in a whirlwind of birthday partying. 

It was the perfect way to celebrate my eldest autumn boy.  Pumpkins, acorns, friends, family and food outdoors. 

--------------------------

PS - Welcome to all the new folks that headed over from SouleMama!  I'm so happy you are popping over to check out my corner of the web and hope you stick around. 

 

 

 

 

 

      

Felted Wool Balls (for his birthday piñata)

We've been getting creative with piñata filler ideas for my son's 4th birthday party this weekend and late yesterday afternoon we made a batch of wet felted wool balls to put inside.

The lovely, natural dyed wool roving is from Leighton Farms.  I've had it for couple years now, I'm glad we're finally using some.  

Roll your roving into a ball and dunk it in a bowl of warm soapy water and then sort of roll it between your hands.  It will quickly start to felt and get smaller and tighter.

My son made these.  We'll leave them out in the sun today so they should be fully dry by the party.

In our house they are known as our "inside balls" because they are soft enough that I don't mind if they are thrown around indoors.  Our cats love them too and will kick them around.  This batch of mini ones will be perfect for kitty soccer.

A piñata to make and pumpkin pies to bake...

Library Bag

We go to the library weekly and I always struggle, trying to carry both the baby and the inevitable stack of books to the car since I refuse a plastic bag.  After all, it is my fault.  I always forget to bring a bag.  I'm really good about remembering to bring my bags to the grocery store, but for other errands I have not trained myself yet. 

So we took a grungy canvas grocery bag and it is now our dedicated "library bag" which makes the trips even more fun.  Out of all the fabric choices in my stash, my son picked this one from mummysam.  Which I really didn't want him to pick.  Too precious!  I wanted to save it for something special, but then I realized that a library bag we use weekly is special.

I sewed on the pocket in about four minutes.  With my son breathing over my shoulder and a baby in my lap.  Thus, the shoddy sewing in black thread.  But I think this print looks good with shoddy sewing with black thread somehow. 

 

The pocket has velcro inside and houses our library card.  This means we won't forget to bring it!

Handmade Vintage Amp Toybox that Goes to Eleven

Behold!  A handmade vintage inspired amp toybox.  It holds all the odds and ends musical stuff for the kids.  Tambourines, shakers, xylophones, etc.  A musical toybox.

The switch really clicks on and off.  The simple wooden knobs turn.  If you plug in an air guitar?  It goes to eleven. 

 

It kind of makes the others look dull, no? 

 

Welcome to the amp family, little toybox!

 

Notice his cool amp & guitar shirt by TypsyGypsyTees.  I totally didn't plan that.  Or something.

Even the baby can't resist cranking it. 

Getting just the right sound.

Works with a ukulele too!

So this is how it happened.  I'm a toymaker, I'm crafty and I make stuff.  In my (almost) four year old's mind this means that anything he dreams up I can make for him.  And he is mostly right - with the exception of the doughnut machine that he really, really wants for his birthday.  Sorry, kid, you are on your own with that one.  So he told me he wanted an amp.  A wooden one.  A pretend one.  And orange of course, as his favorite color is orange.  I thought about making a little wee one, much like these retro TV ornaments I made once upon a time, but ultimately decided that turning it into a toybox to store all our music related stuff would be better.

(and then to make it weirder, just two days later Emily commented on this post that she had a dream about making wooden toy amps so she gets credit for making me more motivated to make the darn thing...that and if I do ever make wee ones like she dreamt about I'm going to send her one.  I think they'd make great ornaments, just like the TVs, don't you?)

The boy helped with every single step.  He was completely part of the design process in terms of size, how many knobs, color, etc.  It was fun "working" with him.

We did a no nails construction.  Used wooden dowels, holes and glue.  This thing is heavy and sturdy!

Painting.  I did the woodburning myself though.  Although he begged to help with that part I just know he isn't ready.  Too hot.  Too dangerous.

All the hardware is courtesy of the 92 year old engineer we bought the house from, who left his entire life's supply of virtually everything in the garage for us.  Even the red jewel light I found in a tiny drawer, along with the orange one that I'm sure we'll use someday.  (Have people made jewelry out of these?  I love them.)

So there you have it!  The Amp Toybox! 

 

The Radish Spirit

We had our first garden harvest!  Radishes! 

I had to throw in ceramics to this gardening post, hehe.  Made some little house garden markers for my garden!  I rarely make stuff for me, so I've promised myself that I'll make something intended for keeps with every firing.    

Picking!

All rinsed off in the hose.  Like jewels.

Ready to eat with a jar of sea salt for dipping.  These are on a handmade plate my husband brought me from Capri, Italy.  Yum! 

I've only eaten radishes raw with salt or sliced in salads.  What else do you do with them?   

 

For the Love of Originals

My heart nearly jumped out of my chest the first time I saw Rima's work.  I immediately contacted her and asked her about originals to see if any were available.  Of the several that I loved, I was lucky in that she did have a few available still.  I now own the original of The Visitors and I can't even begin to tell you how much more amazing it is in person.  

         

I highly suggest you hop on over and check out Rima's blog, The Hermitage where you'll discover all sorts of wonderful things.  Including the fact that she tells her stories from her house on wheels.    

 

You can see more photos of her lovely nomadic home (including the inside) here, in this post.  

How amazing is the internet and the Etsy community that I can purchase an original painting from a woman halfway across the world from me who lives in a house on wheels?  

If you love storytelling and folklore please do check out her blog, lifestyle and work, it is really inspiring.  I feel so lucky to have a piece of her art.  An original.  One that I can see each mark of her pencil and brush on.  Almost like I am there during the creation of it.

I can't wait to frame it and put it on my wall forever.  I have my own story about this painting as does my husband, that is the beauty of her work, you can make up your own folktale with the images - yet somehow they seem so very old and real.       

Now for the unpopular part of this post...

I don't buy prints and I think they are the joke of the art world.  I will now duck to avoid the tomatoes thrown at me by my print selling friends.  No, seriously, they all know this about me and have come to accept it, mostly.  You see, I buy art to own an actual creation of a person, not a duplicate of one.  I also tend to see art as an investment and prints (unless in rare, always limited edition cases) do not appreciate in value.  

I'm also secretly jealous of my printmaking friends.  How is it fair that they can print something from their home printer on a piece of paper and charge money for it over and over and over?  More money than I could charge for an individually, handmade wooden item that I can only sell once?  So. Not. Fair.  I write all this in jest of course, but there is truth in it too.  So prints.  I don't buy them.     

  

Originals, on the other hand, I actively seek out.  The first thing I do when I discover an artist that I like is to see if they sell originals and see if I can afford one.  The crazy thing I've found over the years is that usually, I can.  For the price of a handful of prints that are worth nothing and will continue to be worth nothing, I can own the original piece of art.  Where I can see the brush strokes, every detail in real life.  It is like owning a piece of the artist and is such a huge honor for me every time I purchase one. 

So save your pennies to purchase an original next time you have a spot empty on your wall.  You won't be disappointed!

  

Savoring the little moments...

I've been busy, busy, busy!  With three websites and an Etsy shop that needs stocking I've needed to make a conscious effort to take a few moments each day of just pure relaxation time.  Enter my tea ritual!  Every day during my son's nap, rather than rush off to work, work, work like usual, I sit down and have a cup of tea and write in a journal or do nothing at all.

  

I recently got this lovely little "Savor" tea bag holder from Etsy seller wabisabipottery and I adore it.  She has a great shop with tiny dishes that would make great affordable gifts.  There is something so simple and sweet about her work.  

  

I also got this adorable wee house dish from the same shop to hold my rings while I beeswax my wooden figures.  My rings used to get all gummed up with beeswax, but now I have a designated spot for them and actually remember to take them off.  This little dish also serves as a reminder to slow down and enjoy the process, something that gets harder to do as the holiday rush approaches us.

Speaking of holidays...next Etsy shop stocking will be Wednesday the 19th, 11:30AM Pacific!  I'm going to try out scheduled stockings for a spell and stick with Wednesdays and see how it goes.