Oh, Craft!

FAILURE:
I knew it was going to happen. I even warned you my readers that it would happen. However did I think it was going to happen this bad? No. I pulled my pocked chenille out of the washer after it'd dye bath. Remember this was the chenille I was trying to dye deep chocolate brown.



It is tan. And barely tan at that. I am sad but I am going to use it anyway. The color fortunately still matches the others that I had chosen. I really wanted a really dark brown that would pop. this color just looks well, dirty.

Boo.


Attempt:

My cousin AW wants a tunic style muumuu to use as a swimsuit cover up. Similar to the one I wore in the Bahamas. She said she wanted black but that was all of the direction that I got. I decided to get creative and add pockets. I drafted a pattern out of another pattern that I had.



Yes, I use taped together tissue paper for patterns. It is way cheaper and easier for me to store. Anyway I found these to great fabrics in the bargain bin! The first is a shear tye dye. I hated the idea of a solid black cover up. My thought behind this loathing is that she will be in the sun and black is well hot. I liked that this had pops of white and will act as a deflector. However her swimsuit is black and she wants it to match.


The second I LOVE. It is a shear synthetic silk. OH FOR LUXURIOUS! I was swaddling my face in this fabric pretending I was in Tahiti. Problem. It is blue. AW does not want blue. This is the material I am going to experiment with....that way if my pattern is completely off, it is at least in the material I think AW is going to like least.


There was only enough of it for one. Sad. and unfortunately aw and I are not the same size. Bummer. I am wondering how this pattern I drew is going to come out. I am concerned where the pockets hit (on the hips) and the weight of the fabric it is just going to look like you have a giant tumor on either side of you hips. NOT ATTRACTIVE. On the bright side...if the pockets look atrocious, I can sew em up and take them out. they are invisible side pockets.

However, pockets on the front might look really cute? but with a shear fabric I am not so sure. Hmmm, something to think about I guess.

Success:
Maybe a tutorial as well!

I am teaching a summer enrichment craft class for young children next week. I am really excited about it. (As you know I am going to school for elementary education and I just think this is going to be my first taste of what the rest of my life will be like!) Anyway I wanted something for the kids to take home at the end of the week with some goodies in them and I needed a bag to put them in. If you are like me you have rolls upon rolls of wrapping paper. I came up with this idea:



It was super simple to make. I used wrapping paper, a box from my pantry, ribbon, a hole punch, and good ole scotch tape.

I decided to use this baby wrap. The theme of our week at school is at the beach. Where this paper does not necessarily reflect that, the dots kind of remind me of bubbles.



I wanted square bottom tall bags. So I used a box of Hungry Jack Pancake Packs for my mold. You can obviously use what ever box you want. You could use an oatmeal box for a cylinder!



Anyway, I cut the width of paper to make sure it went all the way around the box with out a ton of over lap. Just like you would when wrapping a gift. Then I cut that piece in half by folding the top to the bottom, creasing and cutting along the crease. You can see this cut in the next picture.


I placed the box along the bottom edge of the paper where the paper came to just above the center line when folded up.


Then I let go of the edge and started to wrap the box. When you pull the side edges up to meet it is kind of tricky; usually when I wrap a gift I tape the one side of the paper to the gift, and then tape the other side of the paper to the paper. However you will be removing the box so you can not do this. ALSO you need to wrap slightly looser than you usually would so that you can remove the box with out the corners ripping the paper. (Don't worry if this happens to you, it happened to me about 3 times before I figured out that I needed to wrap it looser.) I Just put one small piece of tape on the outside along the two edges. It is hard to see but it is there.



Continue to wrap the box by finishing off the bottom. There are thousands of ways to wrap boxes. I am going to let you decide how you wish to do it. However if you have never wrapped a box, I fold in the sides first, making sharp creases on the folds. Then I fold down the top. On the bottom piece I fold the point to make a straight edge and fold up. It will look sort of like an envelope. I attached tape to the strait edge of the bottom fold and to the corner folds to keep the edges down.


Now it is time to pull out your box.



You now have almost a bag. If you stand your bag up, and look down into it, you will see a few flaps that need to be secured with a little tape.



I found that it is much easier to stand up and look down into your bag rather than try to guess where the tape will go while sitting.


Once your inside is taped down it is time to make the side seams. (please forgive my next picture. I was home by my self and had no one to take the picture. I did my best.) The easiest way I found to make the side seams was to pinch the bottom corner and the top where you want the seam to end. Pinch and pull slightly, this will make a slight crease. Just run your fingers up that crease to make it good and sharp!

(pinching the ends)

Now your bag will stand up by it's self and actually looks like a bag!



Now it is time to fill your bag! My kids are getting a play-dough with turtles on it, a Finding Nemo Pen, an undersea push pencil, a magic towel (not really beachy but super fun!), magic sponge capsules (those silly capsules you put in water and they expand into a sponge of something...our something is sea creatures), and a package of Finding Nemo fruit snacks. The kids will also get a note from me thanking them for being in my class and letting them know how wonderful I think they are and a certificate of completion. I know I am going a little overboard but I am using this little bag as a sort of self promotion. My hope is that kids like my class so much that they tell their parents that they want to take more from me. Shameless-yes, resourcefully-definitly!



So fill 'er up!


Next we have to close our bag. I just folded down the top edge about an inch.



I forgot to take a picture of it but I punched holes, with a butterfly hole punch (it for some reason is the only one I could find.), through both layers of the fold.

I cut a piece of ribbon about as long as the bag (although you just need to make sure that it is long enough to tie a bow.



Thread the ribbon through the holes you created earlier, and tie a cute bow.



Wahlah! You are finished. This is a great way to get rid of extra wrapping paper and ribbon that you have floating around the house. And because you can make them different sizes by using different boxes you can change it up.

Hope everyone had a great 4th of July.

~j