diy dryer balls

In an attempt to rid our home of unnecessary chemicals, I discovered dryer balls. They are wool balls that have been felted. Think of the time you washed something wool and it came out doll-sized and stiff; that's felting. I use them in place of dryer sheets. 

With their bouncing action and absorptative properties, dryer balls cut the drying time of your clothes down substantially. They also combat static, but I throw in a couple large balls made of tinfoil for good measure. I love how soft it makes our clothes!

So, how many do you need? Well, it's up to you! I use 8 tennis ball-sized balls with each load. You could use more or less. I like to have a bunch, as they tend to sneak out of the dryer one at a time with the laundry. 

One thing to note, you must use 100% pure wool. No blends, and no Wool-Ease (wool that is designed to be washed). You could also unravel that super itchy sweater you never wear and repurpose the yarn for this project.

Dryer balls are a super easy and fun project to make. Gather your supplies, put on a movie, and start wrapping!

Skill: Very Easy

Time: 10-20 minutes per ball, depending on size desired

Materials: pure wool yarn, crochet hook, pair of old pantyhose

(There are many other similar tutorials online, mine is just one of many.)

1. Start the ball by wrapping the yarn around two fingers 5 times.

2. Slide the yarn off your fingers and wrap it cross-wise five more times. Then, pinching your little starter, continue to wrap the yarn around and around.

3. Wrap! This is the dull part. Hence the movie. Have a "ball" with your friends and make them together. Friends always share their balls.  In no time, you'll all be ballers. Shot callers.

Engh! Much wrapping. So yarn. Wow.

5. The finished yarn ball, wrapping stage. Your balls may be smaller or larger. 

I won't judge you either way.

6. Now, fetch that crochet hook your grandmother gave you for your 12th birthday that you have always felt guilty for never using. Use it to pull the tail of your yarn ball through the wrapped yarn. If you don't own a crochet hook, go find a pirate and ask them to help you.

7. Trim the end of the yarn, as close to the ball as you can.

8. Then, grab those old panty hose, cut off a leg, and stuff your yarn ball into the toe, knotting the nylons up between balls. Oh, you knotty balls!

9. Once you have your balls made and stuffed into the pantyhose, throw them into the wash with your other laundry. The hotter the water, the faster they'll felt. It may take up to 3-4 cycles to get them felted.

What does it look like when they felt?

The yarn fibers bind together, and you can no longer pull the threads away when you pinch the ball.

Congratulations! You now have a batallion of dryer balls. Cut them free of the nylons, and throw them into their inaugural dryer load. Then listen to the sweet sound of money, and the environment, being saved.

Now, please join me in rockin' out to AC/DC:

frida cotton dress

Frida Kahlo. Self-Portrait with Thorn Necklace and Hummingbird.

Frida Kahlo is one of my heroes. 

She was a feminist before it was a thing, simply by the strength of her own determination. Frida was also a talented, self-taught painter. She was born in Mexico during their Revolution, and it seemed to have set the tone for her life. Through many personal tragedies, including ailing health from a bus crash that resulted in over 30 surgeries through her life, a lecherous husband, and miscarriages, she produced powerful and beautiful art. Frida has always captured my imagination and empathy, through her paintings and her life. And not just because I have a girl-crush on the luscious Salma Hayek who plays Frida in the eponymous movie about the artist. 

Frida with a fawn. She loved animals, often including them in her paintings.

Frida Kahlo on a boat.

She was a modern woman at a time when women were expected to live in the box of gender coding, and not complain or struggle against their lot. Kahlo expressed her life primarily through self-portraits. Some people classify her as a surrealist, a label the artist herself rejected. She said:

          “They thought I was a Surrealist, but I wasn't. I never painted dreams. 

            I painted my own reality.”

Because of her health, Frida was in bed a lot. And not the, yay, let's sleep in and drink coffee in bed sort. More the excruciating pain and surgical recovery sort. I've wondered what kind of person and artist Frida would have been had she possessed good health and a happy marriage. Suffering has a way of either creating or destroying artists.

So, today's quick project is reminiscent of Frida, maybe something she would have worn on a hot day while painting. I'm thinking of the hot pink of sunlight through bougainvillea, the smell of oil paints, and feeling of cool cotton. This was a peasant top and a cotton slip that I joined together, and gathered with a bit of elastic. Not exactly an item that is fully handmade, but enough to meet my project requirements.

Below is an image I made from one of Kahlo's quotes, part of a letter to her husband. She was strong and yet vulnerable to a love that was never fully returned. I wish I could go back in time and hug her. As we head into February, the month of love and all it's implicit loneliness, this quote seems 

especially resonant:

If you want to learn more about Frida, here are some resources:

The Life and Times of Frida Kahlo, PBS documentary.

A tour of Frida & Diego's house, Casa Azul.

A snippet from "Frida", the film about her life. Like all movie interpretations, to be taken with a grain of salt. ;) Still, a well-acted and visually captivating film.

The Life and Times of Frida Kahlo, a PBS produced website.

An article about Frida's miscarriages.

Biography.com's information on Kahlo.

diy sweater pants

Are you cold all winter? Do own sweaters that languish on a shelf in your closet because they are too big and busy? Let's put those threads to use!

About a month ago, my mom posted a link to a video of people dancing in pants made from sweaters. And I mean, dancing. In sweater pants. In public! They were invented by a textiles savant named Stephen West of Westknits. Leave it to an expat Midwesterner to invent such fun and warm pants.

I fell in love. We made some swants. And they were good. Check out Stephen West's tutorial. He's brilliant and generous, and I love Westknits. His site has more fabulous pictures of swants and textile projects. 

However, I wanted to put my own spin on the fab swants. I wanted sweater pants that were more fitted, like leggings. So, I devised my own version of swants. 

How are your sweater pants different from swants? Are you too good for swants, you piggy-backing thief?

No! I love swants. LOVE SWANTS. My sweater pants are different, thus: instead of placing the sweater arms directly over the legs, with the collar/neck hole beneath the crotch, my pants cut the sweater in half and place the collar to the outside of each leg. 

While I was making swants for my mom, it was awkward to try to shape the crotch (hey, Mom! How's it hangin'?). The result of my swants was a saggy crotchal area (crotchal is a technical term, fyi). My pattern take that fitting outward, toward the hips. Anyway, let's start with the tutorial, shall we! It's easier to show you. 

DIY SWEATER PANTS

Skill: Basic

Time: 3-ish hours

Audience: Everyone! Women, men, children. This project is easily adapted for pregnancy.

Materials: Sweater, thread, needle, scissors, safety pins, and shorts that fit you comfortably for sizing

Optional: 1" or wider elastic waistband or belt, sewing machine

Tip: Like any project, read through the directions and look at the pictures before starting. It goes a lot faster if you have an idea of where you are going. 

What kind of sweater? That's up to you! As Stephen West says in his blog, a medium-weight knit is best for ease of sewing. 

The arms of the sweater should fit comfortably over your legs/thighs. Too loose is better than too tight. 

So, you've cut your sweater into three pieces. The first piece will be the waistband. The second cut results in the two legs of your pants. Arrange the two halves so that the collar holes are at the hips. 

This is where the magic starts! Take the two sweater arms and put them on, one at a time. Tuck the tops of the pants into your shorts. This will make pinning the center easier. If you want, have a friend or someone you trust help you pin this area. It doesn't have to be perfect. 

Remember, it doesn't need to be perfect. We'll go back to this area once we've gotten the hips sewn. Use a running or whip stitch to do this. Don't know your stitches? Download and print this handy guide.

What your quickly-sewn seam should look like. Starting to look like pants! Squee! 

Before you put your pants back on, turn them inside out and use your well-fitting shorts as a guide to pin the hips. This will make the fit a little easier and more even. I tried putting the pants on first, then pinning… not recommended. It will skew the center line and leave your panties in a literal bunch.

Once you've gotten the hips pinned, slide your pants on and check the fit, tightening or loosening where necessary.

Trim the extra sweater bits and using a whip stitch or a blanket stitch, sew up the edges of hips. Keep the stitches close together and snug, but not so tight as to pull out the weave of the sweater. A 1/2" seam is safe. If using a sewing machine, use a stretch stitch and not a zig-zag stitch, which can make the seams lumpy. On your machine, if it has a key, the stretch stitch looks like a bunch of equal signs that got smushed together, or maybe a I Ching symbol. NO ZIG ZAGS. No.

Now that your hips are sewn, you can go back to the center of the pants to tighten up the crotch/butt area by cutting out the extra fabric and sewing it back together. This can be a bit of trial and error.

If you're wanting to do lots of high kicks or would like a nicer fit, I recommend placing a diamond-shaped gusset at the crotch. I didn't photograph this step, but here is a link to a blog that has photos of the gusset technique. Not sure? Do a couple of high kicks and your pants will make the correctly shaped hole for you. 

Remember that lonely bit of sweater we cut off in the first step? We are going to use it to sew a fold-down waistband onto our pants! Now, if by some chance you have a really large sweater and no need for extra fabric at the top, skip this step and use your sweater bit as a neat infinity scarf. However, most sweaters will need this step.

Slip the ring of fabric around your hips. If it is too tall, cut it down to the height you would prefer. If it is too wide, pull the ring snug, but not tight, around your hips. Pin the fabric, cut off the extra, and sew up the edge. Replace the waistband, sliding it down so that the band and your pants are at a similar height on your hips.

Your pants will not be the right height, most likely longer in the front than in the back. Use the waistband as a "leveler" and pin it to the pants. Trim the extra material that sticks out.

Once you're pinned the waistband, slip off the pants and whip or blanket stitch the top of the pants. The photo above shows the waistband after it has been sewn onto the pants, and unfolded. If you are pregnant, sew the waistband on so that the seam is on the inside when it is unfolded.

And, you are done! I hope that you have fun with your new sweater pants. Feel free to post questions about the construction, if you have any, and I will do my best to answer.

And finally, gratuitous photos of me posing in my sweater pants, with my son. 

the best excuse for a whole new wardrobe

I have twenty days. 

You see, on the night of January 31st, I will pack away all of my clothing. For an entire year, I will commit myself to wearing only clothing that I can make. 
Crazy? Yes. Fun? You bet. 

Only twenty days to sew a new wardrobe from scratch, or at least, enough clothing to survive until I can sew more. Between bills, housework, cooking, shopping, cleaning, and caring for our 15-month old, it will be a challenge. As I told my husband, I may end up brining back the toga. Or whatever you like to call fashionably draped sheets. 

Ironing 10 yards of muslin is mind-numbing. Best done while drinking.

The Concept:

Last year, I got into costuming. The Italian Renaissance, to be exact. Without patterns and with the interwebs as my guide (specifically, The Anea Files), I constructed clothing to wear to historical re-enactment events. I found myself wishing I could wear the dresses all the time, proud of my handiwork and the suprising functionality of the clothes. With the pressure of being "naked" at an event, I found the motivation to sew that had hitherto escaped me. I purchased yards and yards and yard of fabric. My fabric hoarderdom reached new heights.

Learning how to draft my own patterns by trial and error.

The striped blue dress. I love this thing!

The cream dress. One of my first.

And so, the thought struck me one evening last week, while crocheting..."What would it be like to wear only the clothing I could make?" I've always loved costuming. But what if I make things to wear every day? Is it even feasible?

As resolutions go, this is one I want to take on. More fun than starving myself, making lists of things I should be doing, or feeling guilty about abstract concepts.

Plus, it means more fabric shopping! Yay! I'm going to have to illustrate myself as a dragon hoarding my bolts and bolts of fabric. My dragon name would be Weft, I'd be rainbow grey, and... Okay, wait. Focus.

The Exceptions...

I have some caveats for myself. So I can still have fun with this project and not stress.

1. I can make clothing from existing items if I substantially change the design. Like turning an old sweater into Swants! Taking a too-large dress and turning it into a clever romper, or making a dress out of an old button-down shirt. The key here is substantial change.

3. I can wear the shoes and socks I already own. I'm already going to look enough like a Afghan Lady without wearing slippers everywhere, too.

4. Stockings and hose are also okay. Gotta keep those legs warm. 

5. Jewelry is also acceptable. I'm a girl. I like to be pretty. Much of my jewelry were gifts from my lovely husband or acquired during our travels. They're tiny memories I can wear and feel good about.

6. Athletic performance gear is also okay. Where I live, the temperatures can dip down to Yeti range (see: stupid cold). If I, by some great victory of willpower, want to go for a run, I'm going to wear the clothing that will do the job best. This may also motivate me to work out. "Only my athletic clothes are clean? Ugh. I guess that means I have to go for a run so I can wear clothes today."

2. I can wear undergarments that are manufactured. As all the fashion people say, a decent wardrobe is nothing without a good foundation. My skills are getting better, and I'd like to experiment with making my own skivvies, but for now I'm going to leave it to the pros. Or at least Hanes. 

Everything else...I must make! For one year, February to February. I'm going to do my best to document the process, so others can feel inspired as well, to create their own wardrobe. One of the greatest pleasures in life is to create. You don't have to be a famous artist or designer to be a maker.

Expectations/Questions

Will this project save me money? In a world where JoAnn's didn't have fantastic sales, yes. You might save money if you simply reused what you already own, or could get for free from friends and Freecycle. 

Anyone can buy a tee shirt at an outlet store for $1.00. Driving to the store, buying the fabric, thread, needles; the time spent sewing a teeshirt, none of these could possibly beat $1.00. Yet, someone, somewhere got paid less than a living wage to make that shirt. Are their lives better for their jobs, even though they are paid terribly? You tell me.

What will I learn? To be more careful when I eat. Seriously. If I spent hours making something, chances are I'm going think twice before eating with the sloppy zeal I usually exhibit. I'll also learn how to construct the items that I take for granted. There may even be less laundry to do! Ooo!

Each month, I'll try to focus on a particular skill like buttonhole making, pleating, etc. so that I can broaden and improve my skills as a semptress (that's a seamstress who is also a temptress, fyi). 

What if I fail? What if I cheat one day and wear regular clothing? Well, the world will keep spinning. And, to quote Aaliyah, I'll just dust myself off and try again.

Musical interlude time! Here's to new goals and making cool stuff.