BASIC SOAP RECIPE





Ingredients:
19oz. coconut oil
19oz olive oil
10oz palm oil

16fl oz. distilled water
7oz lye

*2oz. fragrance oil of choice



General Instructions:

1. Suit up in safety goggles, gloves and long sleeves.

2. Add the lye to the water. Stir well taking precautions to not breathe in the fumes. Set the mixture to the side and allow it to cool to approximately 110F. You can put the lye water mixture outside if you are not in a well ventilated area.

3. Add all your oils together and melt. Allow them to cool to approximately 110F, or within 5 degrees of the lye water.

4. Add the lye water mixture to the melted oils, carefully. Stir vigorously until trace occurs. Trace looks like a thin pudding. A stick blender will help speed trace along. If you are stirring by hand, these recipes may take up to an hour to trace.

5. Pour your traced soap mixture into your molds. Pop out after 3 to 5 days and allow to sit for a full 4 to 6 weeks to cure and finish the saponification process.

Fabric your own purse



Materials:
-1/4 yard each of three coordinating fabrics (you'll definitely have scraps leftover)
-8" zipper (you can always purchase a longer zipper and shorten it, just follow the directions on the package
-scraps of medium weight fusible interfacing

Cut pieces:
For the main exterior, cut two pieces, one 5.5" tall by 9" wide, and one 5.5" tall by 13" wide (this will be the gathered front)
Pieces of medium weight fusible interfacing for exterior pieces of clutch: (2) 5.5" tall by 9" wide
For the front band, cut one piece 4" tall by 9" wide.
For the lining, cut two pieces 5.5" tall by 9" wide
For the zipper end covers: two pieces 1.5" tall by 2.5" wide.
Optional Parts:
For the divider pocket, cut one piece 8" tall by 9" wide (apply interfacing to half, you'll need at 4" x 9" piece)
For the card holders, cut one piece 7" tall by 9" wide (apply interfacing to half, you'll need at 3.5" x 9" piece)



Take the front band piece and fold it in half the long way (right sides together) and sew together using a 1/2" seam allowance.



Turn tube right side out and press with seam in the middle. Set aside.



Grab the 13" wide main exterior piece. Sew two lines of gathering stitches down the middle, about 1" apart.



Pull the top threads to gather, pull until the length is 9" long. Press the gathers in place.



Take the front band and pin it in the middle of the exterior piece you just finished.



Top stitch along each side of the band. Take the 5.5" tall by 9" interfacing piece and iron it to the WRONG side of the gathered piece. This makes all the gathering and stitching stay in place nicely. Set aside.

Make the divider pocket:

Fuse interfacing to half of the piece.


Fold fabric in half with WRONG sides together, press. Topstitch along folded edge and then add another line of topstiching about 1/4" below the first line of topstitching. Set aside.

Make the card holders:

Fuse interfacing to half of the piece. Fold fabric in half with WRONG sides together, press.

Topstitch along folded edge and then add another line of topstiching about 1/8" below the first line of topstitching.

Take one piece of the lining fabric and line up the card holder with raw edges together, one on top of the other baste along side and bottom edged of card holder (the plaid fabric)

Grab your credit card or driver's license and mark with a pin how far you want your card to stick up from the slot. Sew a line across the lining/card holder piece where you marked with the pin. Sew one line of stitching down the center of the card holder.

Take your card again and mark with a pin where the edge of your card is (you can leave a little wiggle room, but it's nice to keep it pretty snug to hold your cards in place). Sew a line for the side of the card, repeat for other side. Now you should have two card holders! Set aside.

Making the end tabs for the zipper:
Fold the piece of fabric in half width wise, turn down each raw edge to the center crease and press (the pic above doesn't show it pressed in far enough). Repeat for other end tab.

Take your zipper and sandwich the fabric around the zipper, just poking over the little metal bits.

Topstitch a line straight across the zipper with a very small seam allowance being careful not to hit those metal parts! Repeat for other end. Trim the fabric tabs to the width of the zipper. IMPORTANT! The length of the zipper with the tabs on should measure about 8.5" end to end.

Baste the card holders to one piece of lining and the divider pocket to the other piece of lining, aligning the raw edges at the bottom.

Almost done!


Assembling the clutch:
Place your gathered exterior piece RIGHT side up (whoops!, had it wrong in the pic, don't worry, just get out your seam ripper and start again). Put the zipper teeth side down with the pull tab to the LEFT. Then put the lining piece WRONG side up. Pin in place.

Using your zipper foot sew along the edge of this zipper sandwich. Flip pieces so the WRONG sides are together.

Grab the other exterior piece, place RIGHT side up. Put the zipper teeth side down with the pull tab on the RIGHT this time. Place the remaining lining piece WRONG side up on top of the zipper. Pin in place, sew. Flip pieces so the WRONG side are facing eachother. Press!

Put your regular sewing foot back on and sew a line of topstitching on either side of the zipper.
Now open your zipper about halfway, don't forget this! I actually forgot to do this on all three clutches, don't worry, you can still wiggle the zipper open if you carefully pull at it through the fabric.

Place the exterior pieces RIGHT sides together and the lining pieces RIGHT sides together. Push the zipper end tabs in towards the lining, hopefully this side view pic makes sense.

Sew all around the edge using a 1/4" seam allowance, leaving a 3-4" opening in the lining for turning. Make sure you try to sew around the zipper end tabs and not actually throught them. Clip corners. It also helps to sew with a slightly larger seam allowance when you go to sew around the lining pieces.

Turn the clutch right side out. Push corners out. Stitch the opening in the lining closed using a small seam allowance. Tuck the lining into the clutch. Press again and your DONE!!! Phew. It does seam like a lengthy process, but it really does sew up pretty quickly. For the biggest time saver, just skip the divider pocket and card holders! Or add a handle! The one below I just put in a mini pocket!

**Update** If you don't add the divider or card pockets, I would recommend adding a layer of fusible fleece or even canvas as interfacing, it will make the clutch more sturdy.





Thanx to Noodlehead for this wonderful tutorial.

A way to make fabric flowers without sewing

What you need:
-fabric (different types)
-wooden sticks
-glue gun
-felt
-spray paint just in case you want to color the wooden sticks too

How to:



Full instructions here.

A nice and wasy way to decore/personalize a mug

"Surfing" the web today, I found a nice tutorial on how to decor a mug, or any porcelain surface. It was found here, it's dedicated to Father's Day but it can be used for other ocassions as well.





What you need:
-mug
-sharpie
-porcelaine gel and pen

Steps:
1.Make your drawing with the sharpie
2.Trace around with the porcelaine pen
3.Fill the drawing with the porcelain gel (you will need more than one coat)
4.Bake accordint to the directions of the stain.

Enjoy!

Cork bath mat


Will start saving all my wine corks from now on!
"ingredients": wine corks + hot glue gun + a piece of mat to make it last longer.

found this here

Before & After



Found this nice example of a reconstruction or actually, a remodeling. Very nice and all you need is spray paint, gloves and some newspaper to cover the floor while painting.

Nice Lamp - making of









materials
One big, round balloon. We used really big one, but didn´t fill it completely. (You can get them from balloon-companies where you live, try Google...)
A pump to fill the balloon with
2 balls of Ice og 1 ball Lerke, or other yarn, preferably cotton or acryllic.
Vaseline
Water resistant marker
Wallpaper glue
An old box to mix the glue and the yarn in
Stick to mix the glue and the yarn
Gloves, if you don´t like it messy, we made it without...
Something to hang the lamp by. We used IKEAs ricelamp hanging device (bottom right), and cut the long bits off
Paper cloth
Wire with lightening bulb

instructions
Put the yarn into the glue and mix properly. Work the glue into the yarn without unveiling the ball.
Get your hanging device, and mark a circkle at the top of the balloon that´s 1 -2 cm smaller than the hanging device.
Whild pretty tightly. Start oot vertically and work more and more horizontally. Make sure it get´s even. Make sure you stick to the circle you drew on top. Tuck the loose ends under the yarn at the top, and work the circkle when you´re done so it´s all even.
Leave it drying for 24 hours, we recommend that you take it inside to dry.


Thanx to Pickles