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The Christmas Craft Frenzy
Dec. 15th, 2018 10:23 amDownside of being The One Who Sews: people make you iron the curtains. Life is so hard.
(It's not that bad, and I'm nearly done and ready to work on The Presents.)
I'd show off the presents here, but I haven't figured out how to do images yet. Do you have to host them on another site? Anyway, I have finished a nice prototype car trash can to hang from the gearstick. It's pretty, but it does have a couple design flaws - the can is too big (I don't want nice fabric touching the floor mats, yuck) and intrudes on the passenger's leg space too much with that bulky cylinder shape. It also sags a little, ruining the nice circle shape of the mouth. That's what you get when you use someone else's design, with someone else's priorities.
I'm thinking 2.0 is going to have boning in the lip, to hold it open steadily. It's flexible, yet springs back into a circle. Instead of boxing the bottom corners, I'm going to go for more of a pleat, sort of like the sides of a paper bag. The tube insert can be much shorter - it just needs to provide a rim for the bag to hold on. A bit of heavy interfacing like they suggested instead of the cardboard I used, maybe three inches long, and tack it to the lining. Or hey, more boning. I'm wondering if some sort of magnetic snap is worth the bother to hold the bag more securely.
Next on the agenda is a watercolored card, just gotta convince my cat to get off the desk. I can probably put together packages for the stuff that goes in the mail. Man, I need envelopes. I can make em out of brown paper easy enough, but owning big card envelopes would be very convenient. Where do you even buy envelopes without cards?
Then something for the kiddo - I'm thinking a Pete the Cat bag, perhaps the right size to carry the books or the game, though my twin did put little stuffed petit fours or chocolates or whatever those were on the wishlist, so I'll scrounge through some tea party food designs. I don't really have high quality felt, though - you need proper wool felt to make kid toys, because acrylic craft felt gets scrubby looking really fast. Maybe some puff paint would be nice, too.
After that, the list gets a bit squirrelly. Something cat themed for my grandma (does she want potholders AGAIN?), something football for my grandpa - what kind of stuff do football fans actually use? A scarf? Coasters? Bags? What can I slap a logo on that he will actually use? No matter what I make him, he's going to send me a lovely thank you letter, so I can't actually tell what he does and doesn't like.
I'm not sure my dad actually wants stuff for Christmas, but I know he really appreciated me untangling the shed for his birthday. Is there a tool to help him organize that he doesn't already have? A label maker?
Then I have to sort out my sisters, another grandma who arrives after Christmas (I've already finished the coasters for my other grandpa), and then a few more friends. It's much easier to come up with present ideas for friends, because friendship is based on common interests in a way that family is not.
(It's not that bad, and I'm nearly done and ready to work on The Presents.)
I'd show off the presents here, but I haven't figured out how to do images yet. Do you have to host them on another site? Anyway, I have finished a nice prototype car trash can to hang from the gearstick. It's pretty, but it does have a couple design flaws - the can is too big (I don't want nice fabric touching the floor mats, yuck) and intrudes on the passenger's leg space too much with that bulky cylinder shape. It also sags a little, ruining the nice circle shape of the mouth. That's what you get when you use someone else's design, with someone else's priorities.
I'm thinking 2.0 is going to have boning in the lip, to hold it open steadily. It's flexible, yet springs back into a circle. Instead of boxing the bottom corners, I'm going to go for more of a pleat, sort of like the sides of a paper bag. The tube insert can be much shorter - it just needs to provide a rim for the bag to hold on. A bit of heavy interfacing like they suggested instead of the cardboard I used, maybe three inches long, and tack it to the lining. Or hey, more boning. I'm wondering if some sort of magnetic snap is worth the bother to hold the bag more securely.
Next on the agenda is a watercolored card, just gotta convince my cat to get off the desk. I can probably put together packages for the stuff that goes in the mail. Man, I need envelopes. I can make em out of brown paper easy enough, but owning big card envelopes would be very convenient. Where do you even buy envelopes without cards?
Then something for the kiddo - I'm thinking a Pete the Cat bag, perhaps the right size to carry the books or the game, though my twin did put little stuffed petit fours or chocolates or whatever those were on the wishlist, so I'll scrounge through some tea party food designs. I don't really have high quality felt, though - you need proper wool felt to make kid toys, because acrylic craft felt gets scrubby looking really fast. Maybe some puff paint would be nice, too.
After that, the list gets a bit squirrelly. Something cat themed for my grandma (does she want potholders AGAIN?), something football for my grandpa - what kind of stuff do football fans actually use? A scarf? Coasters? Bags? What can I slap a logo on that he will actually use? No matter what I make him, he's going to send me a lovely thank you letter, so I can't actually tell what he does and doesn't like.
I'm not sure my dad actually wants stuff for Christmas, but I know he really appreciated me untangling the shed for his birthday. Is there a tool to help him organize that he doesn't already have? A label maker?
Then I have to sort out my sisters, another grandma who arrives after Christmas (I've already finished the coasters for my other grandpa), and then a few more friends. It's much easier to come up with present ideas for friends, because friendship is based on common interests in a way that family is not.
