Improving a cat bed

My cat Tösen likes to sleep in her carrier and with winter here I moved it next to the radiator to keep her warm. This, however, also moves it into my eye-line form the couch and since it's quite ugly I decided to make a cover for it. 

I spent quite a long time looking up if there were any thing I could buy and use but nothing quite had the measurements I needed so DIY it is. I considered quite a few materials and methods but in the end I decided to make the base out of cardboard- Mostly because I had some left over from when I bought a bookshelf and it's easier than some of the other ideas I had. Also if it doesn't work then at least I haven't spent too much money for it.

My idea was to cover three sides of the carrier, leaving the front open and covering the long-, short- and a bit of the next long side. Measuring it I then added a bit just in case and because i plan to fold it and that will loose me a bit of length. All in all this comes to 100 cm long and 40 cm high. Luckily one of the pieces I had were large enough. So measuring carefully I drew it out on the cardboard then cut it out. This is a horrible material to cut. It's hard and folds and doesn't want to be cut neatly. Using an x-acto knife I could do parts but it can only really cut through one or two of the layers. 

A thing about cardboard is that it folds easily (too easily) but only in one direction, so to make it not do that except where I want it to I took more pieces and glued them on crosswise. Leaving gaps for where I wan't to fold it. I then used some books to weigh down the edges while the whole thing dries and I had a lunch break. 

Now comes the difficult part deciding on what I want it too look like. Painting it blue would be the easiest way. I have some paint left over and it would match other things in the room. Maybe too much, there is a lot of things in that general blue shade and I hesitate to add more. Another problem is the edges, which despite my best attempt are still a bit ragged. They would need to be covered with paper first and if I'm doing that I might as well do it properly and cover it with fabric. 

For now I'm doing a little test. I covered the longest side with a pillowcase. This lets me see how I like it and lets me easily try a few different colors. 

I tried black (slightly faded), pale blue and red these colors mostly because these are pillow cases I'm willing to sacrifice for this. 

Clearly black looks the best. But questions remain. Do I care to make the inside nice, I feel like I should but I don't want to. Do I want just black or should I add a pattern. Do I want decorative corners. Do I leave it just black clothe. I like the thought of using leather or metal to decorate and reinforce the corners. Luckily on the way back from the library I walked past a thrift store and found a large piece of faux leather. I plan to use it for the corners, the question is will the black leather look good with the black/dark gray fabric.

I decided that it will and so I'm going to try dark fabric and black edges. So I seam-ripped the pillow case and draped it over the cardboard, securing it with binder clips. I leaved it there for a few weeks making sure I actually like it. In the mean time I turned to other projects and to making a paper model of the edges.  

Once I decided this is something I can live with long time I used a staple gun to attach it. I laid the fabric out on the floor and laid the cardboard on top. Folding the edges over and pulling it tight as I went along. The staples aren't the most solid, if I try I can pull them out with out to much trouble. But hopefully it's enough since they wont take any pressure. For the corners, I cut them out using the templates then glued them on folding them over the corners. I then securing them with clips while it dries. 

Now for the big question will I bother to do the inside properly. Unfortunately I will have to. As you can see in the pictures the back part of the inside will be visible. I realized while testing that the fabric wasn't quite wide enough so despite most of the inside being hidden a sliver of cardboard would be visible. I just know it'll annoy me if I leave it like this. So I measured the visible cardboard on the inside and cut out a piece of the pleather that matched plus some extra for over lap and glued it on. I did this in sections letting the glue dry under weights before doing the next part. I also made sure the sides were held at the angle I wanted them to be later so the pleather helps reaffirm the 90 degree corners. 

Results

And this is how it ended up. It looks good so long as one doesn't look to closely at the inside, where some of the staples are visible. I did realize that I made the back part just a little bit to short so the short side gets pushed out of the right angle I wanted it to be. I could have added a centimeter to every side. but it works. Though some of the carrier is still there it's just mostly covered. 

This picture is a lie though. I had also moved a cat tower to stand by the radiator and Tösen immediately abandoned her carrier for the tower. I then moved the carrier into the bedroom where my other cat Mischka decided it was his so at least it's being used. But it's kind of hidden behind a shelf so its not really visible. Does this kind of make the whole thing unnecessary. Yes but that's life.  

Trying a witchy bleach dye

A few years ago I bought a number of cool t-shirts I then rarely used them because I need long sleeves to avoid freezing. I could wear them under the sweaters but that seem like a waste. At the same time all my sweaters look a bit dull, most are just a single color and I want a bit more pattern. 

But mostly I just want to try out bleach dyeing so that is what I'm going to do. 

Test 1

Since I haven't done this before I will start out experimenting on some old clothes that would otherwise just go to recycling. First I tried it out on an old work t-shirt that I don't mind if it looks awful.

I have bleach at home but its quite thick so I tried diluting it 1 to 2 and spraying it on. This made no difference but in the place where I'd put a drop  of it undiluted there's now a slightly paler spot.

Test 2 

Spraying it on undiluted. The bleach I have it quite thick so I did add a few drops of water just so I could actually spray it. I then smushed the fabric together to make it more evenly uneven. Using gloves of course. 

Leaving it to act for 3,5 hours, I'd meant it to be less but I honestly kind of forgot about it for a few hours. This did change the color it but it's barely visible. If I didn't know I might not have noticed and even so it doesn't look good.

At this point I tried checking various blogs about this. This was less helpful since they all say to dilute the bleach. I'm assuming they are using bleach at a higher concentration but if so they aren't telling that.

Thinking the problem was the fabric I tried it on an old hoodie the results were the same it loses some color when I rinse it but you can't tell looking at it.

Test 3

I tried another brand of bleach and finally it worked. With in a minute I could see the difference and just a short while later I could rinse it of. This does however show that you never know what color you will get. The shirt I used is purple and I thought it would become lavender or just paler purple but it became blue almost turquoise. 

Final attempt

I want a witchy pattern with a pentagram magical circle. Now I could just make things up in a way that looks nice. Or I can spend hours looking up alchemical signs, hieroglyphs and Latin words before arranging them on a way that makes sense if magic actually worked. 

Naturally I chose the second option making a warming spell. I ended up trying a few different methods for making the finer lines necessary for the alchemical symbols but between a steel tipped calligraphy pen dipped in bleach, a sacrificed highlighter pen and a simple paintbrush I think it will work.

For this I bought a sweatshirt at a thrift store. To try out the pattern I took a picture with it on and then drew it on using my tablet.

I finally decided on a solar eclipse on the back and a pentagram in the front with some tie-dye spray on the shoulders.

Starting with the eclipse. Since it should be the easier part. the plan being to do the parts one at the time and evaluate before doing the next.

To keep the bleach from bleeding through and staining the front I placed a piece of cardboard inside. I then put a stone mortar where I wanted the pattern to be. My hope is that its weight will stop the bleach from seeping in there by creating a void in the pattern when I sprayed the bleach around it. Wearing gloves, apron and face mask to protect me and my clothes. 

I left the bleach on for four minutes to work then I rinses it off. 

The pattern worked out well but not the color. It's a brownish rusty color and I was hoping for more a more fire looking one. I ended up adding some more streaks with a paintbrush later. It worked well and I now know that 15 minutes to half an hour is a better bench mark.

For the tie-dye pattern on the shoulders I gathered up the fabric using binder clips on the inside and rubber bands to keep it together. I then sprayed and dripped bleach on it. Another cycle of rinsing and drying and it was time for the last part although this too was done in parts. I first drew out the circle and pentagram with a fabric pen. Using the same mortar to draw out the circle and then using a ruler for the pentagram. once the pattern was to my liking I drew it in with a bleach highlighter. 

The highlighter wasn't as clear as I'd hoped and I filled them in with the paintbrush. I then used a calligraphy pen for the symbols. This worked much better than I had hoped.

Results 

This is my new favorite shirt it's warm, it's soft and I like how the pattern turned out. The only problem is the color. Everything I read about Bleach dye said that a higher cotton content is better since it can't do anything to polyester. This shirt is only 65% cotton and thought it changed color the results is a rusty brown rather than the burning orange I was hoping for. Maybe when this is worn out I'll try to redo it but for now I'm satisfied. I have a few other patterns I'm considering trying out but that will be for later. I don't need any more sweaters right now. Also sweatshirts without any pattern that are somewhat unworn are surprisingly hard to find in thrift stores and I don't want to buy a new sweatshirt just to potentially ruin it with bleach. Because unlike coloring a fabric you don't really get a second try.

Lessons

During this I ended up trying a few different things to apply the bleach for the fine pattern. 

• A pipette can be used but mostly does drops. 
• A thin nibbed bottle also tend to drop at least at this viscosity. I could make fine lines but not entirely consistently. It worked better when the shirt was at an angle rather then laying flat on a table. 
• A steel-tipped calligraphy pen worked well in getting good lines but it did get stuck in the fabric. So long as one use the lightest of touch it is probably the best.
• A highlighter pen where I had replaced the inc with bleach. Works well though the lines aren't a solid color.
• Paintbrush also worked well though not as thin lines as the calligraphy pen. Use a brush that you don't mind destroying. I noticed my brush, after not rinsing it properly, has a lot shorter bristles now.

Apart from this different products has different bleach concentration the two I used both said >5% but the results were very different. But in general leave it to work for 15 minutes. 

Winter is coming and my apartment is cold

My apartment gets cold in the winter. Last winter it got as low as 17 degrees and it mostly hovered around 18 (64 for all you Fahrenheit users). This is far to low to be comfortable so last year I called my landlord about it. They came and checked but since all the radiators are working there's not much they can do and they left again. The reason, I suspect, is a lack of insulation in one of the walls. On google maps it looks like there used to be another house against mine that has been removed. Meaning the wall there is an internal one acting as an external one. This also happens to be the longest wall in my apartment stretching over three different rooms. To make matters worse I get cold easily.

Here I will explain some of the things I have/will do to solve this problem and hopefully give you some inspiration if you happens to be in a similar situation.

Catbed

First thing first. I have to make sure my cats has a warm place to nap. This is rather simple since one of them decided a few years ago that the carrier is her bed. Anyone who has ever tried to put a cat in a carrier will know this for the blessing it is and I don't want to discourage this. So once summer ended I put it next to the radiator and then placed a flat catbed in top of it for the other cat. This will give both warmth. Unfortunately it looks ugly so a cover will have to be constructed. However this will be a post for a later time. This is a larger part of making better use of my heat sources. Last winter I moved my kitchen chair so it was closer to the radiator. 

Prevent heat loss

This is really the key to a comfortable living space. It doesn't matter how much warmth your radiators produce if it just goes straight outside. A common tip is to use thick curtains to stop draft from windows and doors. However I wont be doing that my windows are all modern I can't actually sense any draft. I will therefore keep the curtains I have prioritizing not blocking the radiator and letting in what sunlight there is. 

The wall on the other hand is a problem. But just to be sure I bought an Infra red thermometer to get quick readings of the different parts of my apartment to see where the biggest problems are. Each morning for seven days I measured my bedroom wall and two places on my living room wall. The three places were mostly the same with only a 0.1 degree different. But I can say the problem wall was almost one degree colder than the other walls.

I said the wall stretches over three rooms namely the entryway the living room and the bedroom. The entryway is the first of them but here that wall is mostly covered by wardrobes so not as big an issue. However getting some boxes to go on top of the wardrobes would plug the gap between them and the ceiling. I don't think this will do much but every bit helps and I'd rather have them here than in the attic.

So far I have only put one box up there, filled with my summer clothes, but it lets me test it's efficacy. When I measured the back wall was 19 degrees. The edge of the wardrobe on the part covered is half a degree warmer than the same spot on the uncovered wardrobe. This is more difference than I had hoped for and I will keep filling the space up. 

For the bedroom and living room this wouldn't work so here I'm taking a page out of history. Tapestries were used to not only look nice but also provide insulation during winter. It's like a blanket for your walls. It's also the renter friendly alternative to anyone who wants a mural.I did a small test before I did anything too involved. I have a painting on this wall and measuring the temperature on the painting, behind it and beside it there is definitely a difference. I am going to have to move that painting though.

This is technically a tablecloth but I bought it last year to stop drafts from my door. Only to realize it's not the door that's the problem, instead it will be given a new home on the wall. Unfortunately it's not very thick but every little bit helps. If it's insufficient I'll just have to change it for next year.

 For this I sewed a channel for the curtain rod. Then did a bunch of measuring, both the cloth and the wall to get it centered how I likes it. Before getting the tall ladder from the attic moving the furniture away and putting up the adhesive hangers. It's similar to command strips but a different brand that I like better. I feel command over-promises their carrying capacity. 

Since my cat pulled it down half a year ago it's been showed in the back of the my closet so before I hung it I took the time to iron it. Let's face it if I don't do it now it will never happen. 

Hanging it was fairly straight forward. I'd chosen to center it to the wall which means it looked pd with the bed pushed up to the wall. I've moved it for now and I'll see how I liked it. I might lower it a bit but that's for later. 

Measuring the temperature the next morning and I can rapport that the cloth is half a degree warmer than the wall. Eagle eyed readers will note the extra blanket on the bed. It does make a differences and I have blankets on every chair I sit in.

For the living room I plan to make a new tapestry. But that deserves its own post. Also it will be a project for next year. 

Heat sources

When I write this it's mid September. Outside the temperature has been falling and it's in that awkward state where you need a coat and gloves in the morning and just a thin sweater in the afternoon. However the low temperatures at night still means that it's cold indoors. 19 degrees according to the thermometer on my nightstand. So I contacted my landlord asking them to turn on the radiators. They answered that the radiators are controlled by a thermostat and that they can't turn them on or off. This was not the answer I wanted but it does give me some important information. Since the thermostat is by the radiators it mean that whatever heat sources I want to add should be placed as far from the radiators as possible. I don't want the heat I add to turn them off.

So apparently I'm getting radiators which annoys me. I already pay for heating as part of my rent and I feel like I shouldn't have to pay for the electricity too. Now, I won't say I'd never needlessly suffer to make a point but in this case it will hurt me far more than them (I'll still inform my landlord about the temperature just because). So radiators and with some app controlled sockets I can time it for when electricity is the cheapest. However it turned out the socket I bought requires you to by a hub too. A hub that's far more expensive than I want to pay for a thing meant to save me money. So I'll be using one of the manual timers I already have and a space heater. We'll see how long I'll bother reprogramming it.

Clothes

Putting on a a sweater is a tried and true advice when it comes to temperature. I'm of course going to o that but since I already have several sweaters there isn't much to do. However along with sweaters I would recommend long woolen skirts. 

An advice I have read in a lot of places is Uniqlo Heat tech. Last winter I bought two of differing thickness and honestly they are... fine. One of them is a bit tight in a way that shows of my ribs more than I want but they are just one layer and I will wear a sweater on top. Any claims that they are as warm as a sweater is a lie and I don't really understand the idea that the fabric turns sweat into heat, or rather when you are cold you sweat less so it doesn't seem like it would do much.

What I am going to do though is finish my cape. It has been half done for a while (several years) but I want to wear it when I sit at my laptop to prevent my shoulders from getting cold and stiff. The post where I did this is here.

Last but not least indoor slippers. I started to make a pair last year but before I was done I got a pair for Christmas. These I wore everyday until they were worn out. Now I have the dilemma should I buy new (better quality ones) or finish the ones I started. Bearing in mind that I don't have enough material to finish them like they are and that I might have made them too small I would more likely just re do them. I will mull over this for a while longer and in the mean time I'll just use my thick socks.

Habits

Since I'll be home during the day studying I'll have opportunity to do things differently. One of these things I can do is that rather than buying bread I'll bake it. Letting all that nice warm oven air out into the apartment. I haven't done the math on this but I suspect that the money I save from making my own bread will offset the added cost to my electricity bill. Also fresh baked bread is nice.

The second thing is regularly blow drying my hair. Partially to again add heat but mostly to not cool myself down by walking around with wet hair letting it air dry. 

And lastly pray to the old gods and the new for a mild winter. This has gotten me thinking though. The plan with this apartment was to live her for two years, see if I liked the neighborhood and then buy a condo. However one of the reasons it's cold is that my apartment is old perhaps when I move the temperature is something I should keep track of. Perhaps I should prioritize showings in the winter and bring a thermometer.

What are you best tips for staying warm in the winter leave a comment down below.

Fixing my cape

I started this project a few years ago as a way to use up the leftover fabric pieces from a coat I made. Not sure if it's visible but its made up of hexagonal and rhombus pieces. I had a thing for hexagons at the time and I needed something to keep my shoulders warm. I wouldn't recommend using hexagonal pieces like this unless like me you have a pile of odd shaped bits. This way produced a lot of little slivers and the pieces didn't really fit together as seamlessly as I had imagined. Though that may have been because I had... not forgotten about seam allowance but assumed it would all work out without it. I was partially right but not really.

Then once it was sewed together I didn't really do anything to it. The fabric is a bit scratchy so I haven't used it as much as I wanted. I planed to solve that by giving it a lining but wasn't quite sure how. I also didn't have that much fabric to make it of. (I did however still have a pictures of it so that's nice)

But now years later I have finally decided what to do. 

When I made my pajama pants a few months ago I bought a big piece of flannel. The first thing I did was to lay it out place the cape on top and draw the outline. Then cutting it out giving me a lining fabric that is identical in size and shape to the cape. I pinned the two pieces together and used the ribbon to bind the edges together. I must say I spent way to much time thinking about the ribbon. More specifically if I wanted a Red or black one. In the end I decided to simply check the store. If there were one that matched the red well enough I would get that otherwise I'd pick a black one. Luckily they did have some red in nearly the same color.

I was a little more than half way when I got the idea to check the rest of the ribbon would lay. I had up until now only pinned maybe 20 cm of ribbon at a time adjusting as I sewed. Laying out the rest I realized my mistake weather it had been in the original measuring or in the fabric being some what stretchy I don't know but one things for certain I would be short about 30 cm of ribbon. Now I could run out and buy more and then just continue. But that would still leave me with two seams where I'd attached the new ribbon. 

I did however have another ribbon the same width and type but of a different color (dark blue). Wanting to use up materials I already have I picked the blue one and to make it all look deliberate I decided to only use it for the collar. Also when wearing it the collar would be hidden by my hair so it's less noticeable, the only problem is that I have already sewed the collar so I had to spend the rest of the evening unpicking all the ribbon I have added so far. I suppose this is my punishment for not adding up when measuring.

Results

It's done, finally after far too long. The dark trim, despite not being planned it still looks quite nice. Also it matches the black lining

It does looks a little red riding hoodesc. But that's not the worst. Working on this I did realize how many items I have in exactly this color. 

More importantly it's booth warmer and not scratchy. Perfect for when I'm sitting at my desk. It's so warm that I have used it several times now. Unlike previously when it mostly just hung on the back of my desk chair. This is always the goal with altering any clothes. Making it better and getting more use out of something I already have.

Making some regency stays.

So, long story short I need a new bra, and my preferred size is hard to find. At the same time my YouTube feed started showing two separate videos about people making regency short stays based on this redthreaded pattern. So I decided to take my own shot at it.

This is a PDF pattern meaning you get the pattern as a file that you then print out.  I payed a bit more to get one for both short and long stays. But lets face it I'm going to make a full size corset someday so I might as well by a pattern now when I can get a bit of a discount.

Once printed you just tape the papers together and cut out the pieces. For this one most pieces were quite small, so only one had to be taped together. 

This also makes this an excellent project to use up some of my scrap fabric. So if I like the end result I'll probably make more. 

Clearly I'm incapable to just follow a pattern or instructions. Because as usual i made some adjustments, rather than just the two layers of fabric needed I'm doing a third padding layer of a thick wool I have. I'm also going to have as little boning as possible. 

So, a layer of cotton,  on of wool and once the flannel I ordered for my pajama pants project arrives a layer of that.

Sewing

For the wool I only did the front piece that was all I felt was needed. I also did it without seam allowance on the edges since it's meant to be inside the rest. This fabric doesn't fray and be cause of its thickness it's possible to sew it together just edge to edge, which is what I did for the gussets. Doing the seams the normal way would have made it way to bulky.

For the rest I did as one normally do, Cutting out the pieces and stitching it together by hand. I do have a sewing machine but I like doing my sewing sitting on my couch and watching videos. But also this is lots of small fiddly bits which is in many ways easier to do by hand.  

While doing one of the gussets I realizing it looked wrong. After actually looking at the instructions I tried a different way on the next one. The third one I did was the one I liked the look of (I'm working on the outside layer so I want it to look good) so I ripped up and redid the others.

At this point I did have to watch a video to figure out how some things should be done. Like the fold in the back and how the shoulder straps are meant to attach. There weren't any picture in the instruction and I don't understand what the text mean. I also decided that I want some boning in the front so I added the boning channel.

Then the project was put on pause.  I needed some ribbon to bind the edges but the fabric store isn't open on the weekends during the summer. There are probably others stores but not in walking distance. So I have to wait two weeks until my vacation to get the ribbon. Vacation starts and first Monday I'm there. Only to realize they have closed for lunch 14 to 15 which is odd time and right when I there. So I do some other errands first. Maybe I'll take it on the way home. This is starting to feel cursed.

I planned on buying black ribbon for the binding, but picked a dark blue instead, But now it's time to put it all together.

The back edge folds back and is sewn into channels for the boning, this is mostly to give stability for the lacing. I had decided to use leather for boning partially because it's easier to find. So four thin strips for the back boning and one thick as a center front busk. I'm putting the boning as much on the outside as I can. 

Something interesting happened. I have been unhappy with the fit for a while and I have been adjusting the shoulder straps to try an fix it. Some parts were too wide and some to short. Today I put in the eyelets and could for the first time wear it properly laced. All of a sudden the fit is so much better. I even moved the straps back to the original position. 

In the end I attached the straps the easiest way. Edge to edge and then covering the seam with the binding. Not the most elegant way but all the mess is on the inside so it doesn't matter.

Eyelets are put on to the straps and front the and then its done. I did consider not having eyelets on the front and just sew on the ribbon. But I decided I wanted to be able to change ribbon color in the future.

Results 

In hindsight I should probably have watched the videos to see how they did the binding before I started. On the other hand it worked out fine despite doing it completely differently. If I do this again I'll probably just make the straps and back piece into one part and avoid all this.

But it is comfy. More so than several bras I have since underwires sometimes dig in. It is meant to be worn with a shift or tank top underneath and something on top. Trying this it doesn't look too bad. 

Unfortunately the eyelets aren't as smooth as I would have wanted and I can feel them catch on the ribbons when I lace it.

Between the pattern, the eyelets and the ribbon for the binding (I already had the ribbons for the lacing) It was roughly double the price of just buying a bra. But the pattern was a one time purchase. And there is roughly forty eyelets left. So if I ever want to do another the price would be significant lower. I would basically just need the ribbon to bind the edges and that's mostly decorative.  

What I did this summer part 2

Same as the earlier post but this is for the smaller projects I worked on in the last months. I'm taking the time to fix some pieces that didn't end up quire like I had wanted or completing half finished projects. This isn't all I've done just the ones that didn't warrant a post of their own. 

Fixing my trousers 

Some time ago I sewed these breezy summer trousers. I used some nice wooden buttons that I had left over from another project, it looked bohemian. Unfortunately the first time I put them in a washing machine the buttons cracked I assume because of the water. The crack wasn't visible once they dried  but I refuse to have clothes I can't wash and so the buttons need to be changed. I chose some blue plastic ones I had in my jar of buttons (if you are a crafting person you will inevitably end up with various random materials). I then spent an evening sewing them on and expanding the button holes. I like the look slightly less but practicality must take priority. The wooden buttons gets set aside for another project.  

The chair

I've been haunting the local thrift store looking for kitchen chairs for a while now. I got rid of the ones I had before when I moved and have been using folding chairs waiting for one to show up. This has been harder than it sounds like, there is a specific aesthetic I want. Also for some reason most chair-backs end up digging into my spine or shoulder blades after just a few seconds. So during almost half a year I have only found one and that one needed some work. I don't have any before pictures but it was white with slightly peeling paint. The reason it's peeling is that the paint hadn't really stuck to the lacquer beneath. 

I scraped of some of the paint leaving some details white. I plan on getting more chairs and since they will at most look somewhat similar I figure giving them a similar paint job will make them look more cohesive. So the legs and part of the back rest will be with and the seat and the rest of the back will be wooden.

I considered using oil and even bought some but having tried it on a bookshelf I changed my mind. I didn't really like the color want the glossy surface lacquer give. 
Now I've bought a mahogany stain and lacquer I need and it's time to get it done. First sanding of as much of the remaining paint as I could. After an hour and a half and I decide it was done. There is some really diminishing returns to this. 
One question remains will the stain stick to the still lacquered bits? I don't know, but to be one the safe side I'm trying to take as much of it off as I can. The stain does stick to the old lacquer. But I have spent several hours over the last few days to get rid of it. A thing about taking of paint or lacquer is that at almost every point in the process it will look worse than when you started. 

Halfway through staining it I realized that I probably should have done this outside. At least I opened a window. I should also have changed clothes and not worn my only summer dress. 
However I managed not to get any stains on my clothes. I did get some on the white painted bits that I hadn't covered properly. 
I left this to dry and a day later I added a layer of lacquer, this time I did remember to cover the parts that wasn't supposed to get painted before I started, also to open a window before I begun. 
Then sanding some of the uneven spots and a second layer.
Now its just waiting since apparently it takes 10 days to fully harden. Still I was happy with the results.

The stain and lacquer I used were both Herdins, I'm not sure If they can be found outside of Sweden but there are similar stains and lacquers here but I can't vouch for them.

Blue shirt

I originally made this one to test a pattern, then I realized I didn't need two identical shirts so I never made another. The pattern had three-quarter sleeves that I didn't like, wanted bishops sleeves instead. This didn't work they were too short, not by a lot but still, also too tight. The fabric is not elastic at all so the tight cuffs makes it hard to move. Because of this I have barely used it and decided I needed to do Something about it. I'm not sure what yet but seam ripping the cuffs of was a natural first step.
It all made more difficult by the fact that I don't have any more of this fabric. In the end I decided to do it like the pattern had said. Cutting up the cuffs into shorter bands and sewing them back on.

There is a bit of a hack to get pleats even. Put a pin on the seam running down the sleeve, then put another on the opposite side. Divide the part between the pins in two and mark it with another pin. Then keep dividing the distances by two until you have as many pins as the you want pleats. Then take the cuff  and do the same keep dividing in half and marking the centers. It's important that there are the same amount of pins or other marks on both. Then when you attach the pieces simply line up the pins. I used eight so one eight of the sleeve end up on one eighths of the cuff.
Result
The sleeves are good. Though as I said three quarters isn't my preferred length, I get cold easily. That being said I'm still not entirely happy with the shoulders, they are a bit wide. However this is a much bigger fix and setting sleeves is an annoyance and even if I tried I don't know if it would help. So that's for another day. For now hopefully it will see a bit more use I say as if I'm not the one who decides what clothes get used.

Making some pajama pants

 I needed new pajama pants because the ones I have are starting to look a bit ragged. 

While browsing for some fabric for another project I came across some black flannel. Which is nice. I like flannel as a fabric but there is a limit to how much plaid patterned I want in my wardrobe. I did consider getting it in dark blue but black worked better since I'll be for using parts of it for two other projects.

The pattern I used is one I made a few years ago and is very simple. This version is only three square pieces since I'm using a drawstring instead of a waistband. The easiest is to use a ruler to measure it all out.

The width of pieces 1 and 2 is you at the widest divided by two plus seam allowance. Maybe a bit more depending on how loose you want them to be. The length is however long as you want them to be. Plus five cm for cuffs and drawstring. 

Piece 3 is the diameter of your thigh plus seam allowance and the length of the inseam times two plus a bit for the cuffs times two.

Truly, this is the most detailed of patterns.

Mark the halfway point of piece 3 and attach it to the long sides of piece 1 making a tube. Start at the bottom and work your way up until you reach the halfway mark. Attach the rest of piece 3 to piece 2 same way starting at the bottom.

In the end piece 3 will run up the inside of one leg and down the other. There should also be parts of 1 and 2 left loose at the top.

Attach the loose pieces of 1 and 2 together in the back and the front. The front is optional if you are planning on putting in buttons or a zipper, but for this I fit everything together. 

Then it's just a matter of sewing everything together.
I usually prefer sewing by hand but this is literally just a bunch of long straight seams so I made an exception. I was also in a bit of a rush since I had arbitrarily decided that my current pants wouldn't be kept for another laundry day. And yes my sewing machine is an antique singer. It works excellently but unfortunately it doesn't do zig zag so I had to hand finish the seams to keep them from fraying.

Then fold the bottom pant legs and sew around it. Mostly to make it nice and keeping them from fraying.

Fold down the top to make a channel for a drawstring. Cut openings in the fabric for the drawstring, sew around it and finally run a ribbon through it. 

Results

I might have made them a bit tight. Because they are a bit difficult to get on and of but in general they are comfy. Also being black they don't immediately look like pajama pants. One could conceivably be seen with them in public or at least wear them to take out the garbage or similar. The place I bought the fabric from had flannel in a few other colors as well, maybe a dark blue pair would suit. The only problem is that this fabric apparently attracts all the cat hair. 

Knitting a bolero

I have a dress I really like and want to wear. My problem is that it has short sleeves so I can't wear it unless I have a sweater no top which defeats the purpose or it's quite warm outside and the ac isn't on. That means basically never. But rather than admitting defeat and leaving it in the back of my closet for ever I decided that a bolero would be the answer to my plight. My original plan for this was to find a store that had one and try it on together with the dress and see if I liked it as much as I thought I would. I was however thwarted in this endeavor as I after some googling realized that the only store that had one in the style I wanted was Shein and that is not an option I'm willing to consider. So I decided that the only solution was to make one myself.

Now I have a bit of a confession to make. While I'm a quite good knitter I can't actually read knitting patterns. I usually take one look at them decide I don't know what any of it means and then go on to creating my own pattern. So far that's been fine, I would have made my own alterations anyway and I like problem solving. But that does mean that I can't write a proper pattern for what I did and I'm instead forced to simply write a description of it.

The pattern itself turned out to be quiet easy but I'm not sure a beginner would understand explanation of it. Also the stitch and row count is based on my measurements and this yarn specifically, so alter as needed.

Some pinteresting and thinking later and I had a plan.

If I were to simply make a tube going from one arm to the next with slits for the torso and neck. It should function as a bolero and achieve the look I want. But since a straight line is boring I decided to spice it up with some dramatic bishops sleeves (it's my favorite sleeve type but I had to do some googling to find out what they were actually called). 

Tools and materials

5 skeins of Merino wool yarn 50g and 175 meter. It's soft but not very warm which is fine since its meant to be used during the summer.

3,5 knitting needles, for the cuffs I used a double sided set.

But mostly I used my interchangeable circular set it gives lots of options but it does have a habit of unscrewing while you knit.  

Row counter, mine is cheap plastic and kind of bad, they only go to a hundred but finding any three digit ones is hard. I also only have one because my cat chewed on the other. 

Row markers, useful when you need to make sure both sides are identical. But you can use paperclips and pen and paper. 

Try one 

15 rows with 40 stitches for the cuffs using ribbing to make then stretchy. That then gets doubled twice widening to 160 stitches and becomes a smooth knit. This turned out to be far too wide and it stretched the cuff in a way I didn't like. It also took a long time to make each row. So picking up my other yarn ball I started over keeping the old part for comparison.

Try two

I still used 40 ribbed stitches for the cuffs but now for 20 rows. This is then doubled to 80 stitches. 

Row 30. This try was better than the first but not quite as wide as I wanted. So at I added another 20 stitches or adding one for every four stitches.

This was enough so then I just kept going. and I've now spent most evenings this month knitting on my couch while watching Critical role season 2.

Row 90 and the first ball of yarn is gone. Since at this point I was only halfway on my upper arm I estimate I will need 4 balls in total for this. Since I'd only bought two I'll have to buy more. I had assumed I would have to but it's easy to get more and I have overestimated the amount of yarn needed for a project before.  

Row 150 and since the sleeve now reaches my armpit it's done. Which means it's time for the first slit. So rather than continuing round I simply turned and start goes back and forth. It's a bit tricky going from a circle to a flat but it's manageable if you use several knitting needles. I should have included a picture but honestly black knitting in a badly lit room makes for terrible photos.

Row 165 and it's now halfway up my shoulder and I divide it again making a gap in the middle for my neck. I continuing in the front with my existing yarn and add another ball of yarn to knit the back. While knitting the front I did reduce the width a bit, the idea is to show a sliver of skin between the neckline and the bottom of the bolero. I'm not sure if the reduction made much difference but I didn't want to redo anything so it stayed.

Row 195 (205 for the back) and I've reached the middle. I did a few rows of purled stitches in the middle partly for decoration and partly to keep it from rolling up. Then having reached the middle I did everything again but backwards. I have been using a row counter for this project so the easiest thing was to simply start counting down instead of up and looking up in my notes what I'd done where. 

Sigh, 30 rows left and I'm out of yarn again. So close.

16 rows left and I'm working on the second cuff. Only to realize this is meant to be ribbed and I've not done that. So I'm unraveling the last four rows and redoing them. I kind of feel like it's too late and I should stop for the evening but at the same time I'm so close and want to get it done today. Which is how I've done things before often to terrible results.

And it's done. All that's left is weaving in the ends and removing the row markers.

But that's for tomorrow.

Results

It's cute. The pattern definitely worked and I'm considering making more. Maybe I'll do a colored one or with different sleeves. Merino wool is very soft and this is smooth so wearing it directly against skin isn't a problem. The sleeves being that wide does pose a bit of a problem making it hard to wear a jacket on top but that's a problem with several of my sweaters as well. I think the only solution is to sew a wide sleeved jacket but that's a project for another time.

Taking the picture for this I really wanted to do the Hamlet pose but unfortunately I don't have a skull anymore since Mischka knocked it of the shelve and broke it. 

More and more I have come to realize that doing something myself is the easiest way to get what I want. It also wasn't that expensive and the cost ended up roughly the same as if I'd bought it, which is a moot point since there wasn't any in this style anyway.

As an extra benefit it doubles as a scarf and the sleeves are wide enough that I could use them as pockets at least for small and light things.

My lamp or why I spent a saturday sitting on the floor

When I moved into my current apartment I got more space, more rooms and suddenly found myself needing more ceiling lamps. With over 3 meter ceilings I felt I needed something big and one with no visible bulbs because it gives me a headache to look at them. 

I originally bought one that was fine and hung it I'm my living room with the plan to move it to the bedroom when I found something better. Which finally after living here for almost six months I have. And yes this does mean that for six months I had no lamp in my bedroom except for the small one on the bedside table.

The one I finally found had black metal bands and as you can see in the picture also visible light bulbs. This is partially because I forgot but the light caused headache has been less of a problem in this apartment think its because they are higher up. Also I have a plan for that.

Step one repairs

There's nuts and bolts holding the rings together. As I carried it home I heard the soft sound of one falling off and disappearing forever. Looking closer I realized it was not the only one and that another nut were missing with several being loose. Of course the missing ones weren't the same size and so I had to go buy two packets because you can't just buy two nuts. At least screwing them on was the work of seconds. 

Step two basic functionality

I installed a new cable because of how the electrical outlets sits in my apartment. First measuring from the outlet to the lamp 1.9 meters and shortened the cable to fit because the only one they had in the store was three meters. This was all went fairly quickly mostly because I had already done something similar to two other lamps when I moved in. I also needed light bulbs and decided to splurge a bit and bought light bulbs that lets you change the brightness and color using a remote.

Step three Decorations

And now we come to the fun bit. Since the moment I saw it I had a plan, using the metal as a foundation and cower it in ivy or something similar with the aim of making something cottage core/witchy. Unfortunately real plants was out of the question I'm not using a ladder every time I need water my plants not to mention the weight. So fake plants it is. I'm usually opposed to this because up close they tend to look bad and I associate them with dustiness. But it's a ceiling lamp so no one is ever going to look at it close. I did consider making my own it but fake Ivy is too easy to get and none of the pictures I found of diy-ivy looked any better (most looked worse). 

I also considered adding hanging butterflies or little glass birds and I might still do that but that's for later. This lamp does give me the alternative to change the with the seasons but with high ceilings that's is quite an undertaking. So maybe just a summer and Christmas theme. But again that is a thought for another time for now I'll just make sure it's all easily removable.

Because the exposed bulbs are a problem (also ugly) I decided to make some lampshades for them and going with the plant theme made them to look like flowers. I did a test of the method for these a few weeks ago and you can read about it this post, it has some more detailed instructions.

But to sum it up I cut out petals of crepe paper. Painted them partially pink and glued them it to a metal wire. This time I made it in an L shape. Wrapping the longer piece in paper and painting it green. And then wrapping the whole thing around the lamp. 

I first did one to make sure my plan worked. I didn't want to make three just to realize something was wrong. But it was fine and I went ahead and made the rest. 

With that done I went ahead and wrapped it in my fake vines. It was fiddly and it turned out I had bought more than I needed. But the excess found its home around my bathroom mirror.

Step four Hanging

Hanging it wasn't hard per say and since I had cut the cable correctly it worked fine. But it is unnerving being that high up. Standing on a tall and not quite straight ladder. Looking down and thinking that if I fall I will likely break something. This is one of the reasons I'll probably not change the theme of it with every season. I did however end up redoing most of the vines since what looked even when lying on the floor wasn't when hanging in place.  

At this point it was after 3 and I had been doing this since 8 most of it sitting on the floor hunched over. So I seriously considered just hanging the old lamp in the bedroom without adjusting its cable. But I know if I don't do it now it will annoy me for months until I deal with it. So i did the adult thing and fixed it now.

Results

You can tell the vines are fake, the bottom of it is quite far down so you can get fairly close to it. But I'm hoping people aren't going to look too closely and after a few days I do find it less noticeable.  

The flower shades are actually more of a problem since they make the light pinkish and somewhat muted. I'll keep them for now and maybe exchange them for white or yellow ones later.

But all in all not too bad, it mostly looked like I imagined it would which isn't always the case. But most importantly I now  after having lived here for half a year finally has a ceiling lamp in my bedroom.

Making A Lamp shade

I have a project to fix my ceiling lamp as a part of that I wanted flower shaped lamp shades. But getting ones that fit and that I like is hard. So I figured I could make some and as usual checked Pinterest for inspiration finding this tutorial (I then followed basically none of this but still). 

My ceiling lamp needs some things before I can do the lampshades. But I have another lamp that also needs a shade and I've been looking for one of glass but haven't found one. So as a test I made on for this lamp instead.

I'd planned on using tissue paper like I think is in the video but at the store they were out of the white one and I ended up buying thin crepe paper instead. It's thicker and more structured so it holds it's shape and was probably a better choice.

I only bought white paper rather than colored partially because there wasn't any of the shade I wanted and if I did I'd have to buy four rolls which was way more paper than I actually needed. 

Tools and materials

There wasn't much materials needed for this. 

Crepe paper

Metal wire

Wire cutters 

Acrylic paint 

Paint brush

Lamp (I'd suggest thrift stores, lamps meant to have shades usually have them when bought new. Otherwise this or this might work.) 

Pencil

Scissors 

Glue

something to protect your work surface the painting got a bit messy.

Mostly these are things I had at home so all together this was a very cheap div. Eagle eyed readers might notice that some of these things aren't on the picture. There is a very good reason for this. Which is that I'd forgotten them until I needed them and didn't feel like taking a new picture.

What I did

I started with drawing out the petals using the first one as a stencil. It's important to make sure they are long enough to cover the light bulb, mine is thin so I make five of them have them overlapping. Realizing as I did it that this type of paper is terrible for drawing on. The lines barely show up and if I press too hard it tears.

Cutting out the petals makes it obvious that crepe paper also isn't good for cutting either it's soft and almost sticks to the scissors. But soon enough I had five large and five small petals.

Before I started painting them I tested the paint on a small scrap. I want the light to shine through and I worried the paint would be to thick. It wasn't so I went full steam ahead and painted them. 

I thinned out the paint with water to make sure light can still come through though this wasn't really needed.

An advantage of painting them compared to buying colored paper is that I could make a gradient on the petals. First painting the whole petal yellow then the base orange. The tiny petals I painted green. All of them I painted on both sides. 

Crepe paper isn't really good to paint and one broke while painting. I made a new one but was more careful going forward, limiting the amount of paint on the brush.

Leaving them to dry I turned to the attachment. The lamp is meant to have a shade and so there is already parts to fit it onto the lamp which made my life so much easier. All I needed to do was to cut a piece of wire and shape it to the attachment point. Taking it of and anchor the ends so it didn't unravel. I now had a wire circle.

At this point the petals was mostly dry and I attached them to the Wire. Folding the lowest edge of the petals and gluing it to the ring. The petals on the outside the fold on the inside so the ring it encased in the paper. I started with the large petals shaping them a bit as it did gluing them on with quite a bit of overlap. Then gluing the small petals on the outside, folding them out because it looked a bit thin and unbalanced.

I'd estimated I'd need five petals but only needed four so I took the best ones.

And then its just putting it all together. Screwing on the shade and lamp pieces. 

Results

I think it turned out quite decent though it looks a bit like a cucumber flower. There are some spots that could have used some more paint. The lamp  is in the art nouveau style so it probably had a shade not to dissimilar to this originally. The bulb is not an LED and does get hot, so it is a bit of a fire hazard. But I'll be careful not to leave it unattended. Regardless it works and now I know what to do for the ceiling lamp.