Going...Green?

 

Since I am feeling somewhat festive and evergreen, here is a brief, philosophical post on some of my holiday crafts and woulda coulda shoulda projects now at the end of this turbulent 2023. Ho, ho, ho. 🤶🏻

First, bling! Part of the fun in jewelry making is having something customizable for every outfit or occasion. Although I have fine jewelry I often save for the holiday season, December is also the month when I wear green accessories. Sometimes I will wear a red sweater with a festive brooch, but that is pushing just a bit too much color on my black if merry heart. Upon realizing that my nicer jewelry was maybe also a bit too much for my usual errands to the thrift store and grocery shopping – and yes there was a part of me that also whispered So What if they are! – I decided to make some more simple green sets. I haven't done much jewelry making this year, focusing on making a dent in my sewing stash instead, but as mentioned in my old Jewelry Making Video, having the beads, hooks, elastic, pliers, and supplies on hand is invaluable in being able to make the earrings, necklaces, or bracelets you need to fill out or compliment what's in your jewelry box.

These were cheap beads, plastic green baubles and second hand fireballs with my personally required cross charms as needed. I do however, have to keep a list on my cork board of what sets I've already made, what colors or metal combinations I do need, and whether I have already made a particular earring, necklace, or bracelet with a cross because yes, I have mistakenly made a few jewelry sets that are kind of, well, almost exactly the same! This December I knew I wanted a few smaller cross earrings, a green and gold set, and some light green accessories. Sometimes, the amount of beads themselves indicates whether I will have an entire coordinating set with earrings, necklaces, and bracelets, but sometimes I have to tell myself it is okay to not be so matchy matchy.

Did I still end up with something kind of fancy because I used some shiny fireball beads? Sure.

Were the gold beads probably cheap looking and gaudy? You betcha!

Did I drop the chain and have to do the double light green necklace three times before I got the layered look right? Yes.

Am I already thinking about January's purple accessories and making more bling? Absolutely.

Of course, the pièce de résistance this month was my second wear of the Mother Christmas Costume! This year the three year old niece was interested for maybe ten minutes (instead of last year's five) thanks to the wooden nativity puzzle Mother Christmas brought her. Thanks to this year's health issues, I've actually lost enough weight that these custom clothes are now too big, so this time I wore the leather belt cincher with the lacing in front so I could drawn it almost entirely closed. I did lose a bead on the cuff in doing so and still needed help getting into the whole thing, which now seems cumbersome in its too big-ness. Next year I may need to add some snaps or hooks connecting the hooded bodice to the skirt so there is no loose gap between them, or more ambitiously, I may sew them together as one if I need to do further taking in fittings. My niece asked why I was in a costume to look like Santa, and when I asked her if she wanted a costume next year, she said yes – choosing princess over elf and wanting to be dressed in red like Santa with yellow her favorite color. Another large project I don't need to tack on to my hitherto unknown 2024, yet I already have ideas for the perfect holiday meets forest meets child Tudor ensemble! She was also very impressed with the staff originally made for my Halloween Mystery Costume and tried to take it home with her.

Isn't that the real reason we costume? It's often frustrating when you work on creative projects for timely reasons, either seasons, deadlines, or algorithms. With the perfect storm that was 2023 for us, most of my projects were put on hold yet got me through the difficult times. I have 6 months worth of vlog videos on several complicated sewing and patterning projects – which as I wrote in upcoming piece in the Winter Issue of Search Magazine, kept me going one stitch at a time.

When will the internet see these videos? Who knows?

Was rushing to put my creativity on the internet in order to watch it sink like a stone with precious little views or notice my main goal in these projects? No.

Is that bad? Maybe not.

So here's to 2024 being more manageable with the right outlook in artistically braving any upheaval. 🎉

Follow us on Instagram or Facebook and visit our Kbatz Krafts Archive for more including:

5 Skirts from 1 Pattern

Painting My Sneakers Black

Making a Cardboard Castle

Memento Mori Sewing

A Study in Orange Polka Dots

 

I never knew how much I adored orange polka dots on black fabric until I recently found such a material in a $5 Goodwill grab bag. Immediately I fell in love with the idea of a perfectly whimsical Halloween poodle skirt! Unfortunately, real life interference and cutting corners with enchanting but deadstock fabric yielded mixed rather than magical results.

Of course, I didn't want to stripe the orange polka dots with a black fabric nor use it as anything smaller like the accent material to something else as would have been reasonable with the limited fabric. Using the same tried and true pattern seen in my 5 Skirts from 1 Pattern Video, I went with three pattern pieces folded to smallest possible measurement needed. Previously this method worked wonderfully in two deadstock skirts, however here I had to turn one pattern piece to fit them all, and naturally this would become a problem later! Sadly, I did not realize that the seemingly random polka dots actually had a pattern, and the mismatched polka dots showed when I put my pattern pieces together. This fabric was also very lightweight, so I utilized another fabric from the grab bag as a liner – a slightly heavier black and white tribal print. I don't think this design is appropriate for me to wear on the outside, but I liked the idea of a black and white flash under the skirt and wanted to use this found material rather than leave it buried in my fabric stash. It appears someone either made three attempts at a blouse or ponchos for a school project with this remnant, and I had to cut the pieces and sew them back together for the width I needed. I would love to know the source of this pattern, let me know if you do!

Thankfully once the materials were basted together at the top, this now felt like the right weight for a zany fall skirt. On the other hand, there was a lot of trial and error with the pleating, as I must have tried five different configurations to fit my waist measurement that also look flattering and hid the mismatched pattern seams. Eventually I left the skirt to drape on the dress form, for it has been a very tough 2023 and October was a terribly trying month amid other deadlines and projects due. Ultimately I had to accept that this polka dot ensemble originally intended for Halloween would have to wait while I buckled down on the rest of my work. Strangely, I was able to return to my beloved polka dots after Halloween – during my on-call days for, on top of everything else happening, jury duty! The waistband came together quickly, strengthened with horse hair braiding inside and attached to the skirt with a running back stitch on the finished side, then a whip stitch on the inside to hide my unsightly basted ends. At times, I was very attentive to detail on this project, finishing seams with a tight running back stitch. However, upon realizing this was not going to be an everyday wearable skirt as I had hoped, haphazard stitching became good enough. This perhaps shows most in the hem, a $5 clearance sheer black ruffle ream speckled with black polka dots. The two tiers sewn onto the liner are kind of sloppy, yet I finished the orange polka dot hem neatly to flow independently as if there is a layered petticoat underneath. Of course, it doesn't flow much anyway! The whole thing looks cute from far away, but the problems are apparent up close.

Rather than take my time with a button hole, vintage hooks and eyes from another Goodwill sewing find finished the waistband and I sewed the back seams of the liner and the polka dots separately until they met at the skirt placket. The back seam, however, is again mismatched, and at this point all I was thinking about was which black blouse or short dress possibilities would go over the skirt and hide most of it. Fortunately, there were a few leftover polka dot pieces for accessories! I knew I wanted a choker to match, and piecing together a long enough strip for a matching belt was easy. Both were ironed and folded to size. Orange beads and a cross charm were sewed onto the choker, and more horsehair braiding stiffened the belt. An oversize orange button centered the belt, but believe it or not, there are next to no orange buttons in my Giant Button Jar, so hooks again finished the choker and belt. Indeed, I still intended to use every inch of this fabric, and to make a small pouch with a remaining square, I needed to stripe it with black fabric from my scrap bin. Sewing the strips together, gathering the bottom, and running an orange tubing drawstring through the top made for a cute little bag big enough for a piece of belated candy or two. Now having seen how adorable a black and orange polka dot stripe looks, I again questioned my all polka dot or bust methods, but undaunted wrapped the last small polka dot square around a piece of cardboard and hot glued it to a hair clip for a charming barrette!

The final mere strip of fabric, on the other hand, failed as a bracelet. I tried gluing it around a piece of wire to coil, but at this finish of the fabric, the material frayed too much, the glue showed, and it just looked terribly messy! Now fortunately, it was time to choose the blouse to match my ensemble. Had this been a regular wear autumn skirt that worked perfectly, I would not have worn everything all together all at once – just the skirt with a blouse, the belt to pop an all black frock, or the choker with a dress. As a costume, however, it's easy to embrace the orange polka dot lark completely! Though indeed whimsical, overall this was an exercise in vision versus materials and results. Was it the pattern mistakes? The liner and draping issues? Just plum not enough material? All lesson learned I suppose. I still don't have the orange and black polka dot skirt I wanted, and should have made something more realistic with the little deadstock I had – an apron or a vest perhaps. Following the Joann's trademark on the salvage for more fabric has been to no avail, yet I wish I had an entire bolt of this orange and black polka dot fabric so I can make everything possible with it – from dress/skirt/blouse/vest and pants/tote/bonnet/brooch to apron/jacket/scarf and bows/gloves/bracelets/stuffed pumpkins.

The absolute biggest irony? It never occurred to me to use orange fabric paint and dollop some polka dots onto a plain black fabric until after I finished everything. C'est la vie! 🤦🏻‍♀️

Follow Kbatz Krafts on Instagram and Facebook for more Project Photos or visit our Kbatz Krafts archive for more Sewing including: 

Mother Christmas Costume

Sewing on a Budget for Search Magazine

Another Halloween Dress

Mending with Black Lace

Belated Cardboard Halloween Banner

 

Since May, this cardboard banner project has been laying on my basement studio floor in various configurations. 2023 has been a very tough year, and more crafts ended up piled on top of this recycled whimsy as at times I worked on it vigorously and other times it sat all but finished. Originally this was a little piece of Halloween for the Spring, but now it's a bemusing reminder of the October that wasn't.

Part of crafting is seeing something as not what it is but what it could be, and using recycled materials for holiday art is a great way to get into this mentality. I've been progressively trying to disguise some of the unsightly areas of my basement studio, and a Halloween banner seemed the perfect way to hide the top of the unfinished walls and put some cardboard to good use. People today always have a lot of boxes handy amirite? After measuring the wall where I wanted to place banner, I spent a day of trial and error cutting and geometry, initially intending for a double row of triangles. Unfortunately, the angles for a larger base with a smaller row of triangles on top became uneven for the fifteen feet length needed. After fighting more maths, using one large row won. I also realized thicker cardboard was too difficult to cut, and as I cut and traced numerous triangles per cardboard, I had to accept that none of the triangles were going to be precision perfect.

Cutting with various knives, rotary cutters, and scissors took longer than expected and really hurts your hand after awhile! Eventually, I had my number of triangles necessary, taped their ends together, and hot glued a backing cardboard strip across the banner for support. Now I was excited to get to the actual Halloween paper layer! Previously I used some of the craft store clearance Halloween Placemats ream in my Halloween Canvas Art, and I also found a $3 smaller cardstock ream at Goodwill. After going with orange, black, and white papers for a cohesive theme, I practiced laying out my sheets and marking the cardboard per paper so the same or similar papers were not near each other. The placemat paper was easier to fold and tape than the cardstock, and again it took a surprising amount of time hunched over and applying the paper with glue sticks and tape. Some of the square cardstock had to be cut on an angle to fit the triangle, and occasionally you can see that glare of piecing tape. However in working with cheap, found, piecemeal recycled materials, I again had to let go any perfection. Although, I probably made this seemingly simple project a lot more complicated than it had to be!

Dollar store orange tubing glued every third triangle became my hanging loops thumb-tacked into the beams where I wanted it to hide my basement ugly. I found out this is a charming little accent once I was able to finish said loops and actually hang this long gestating whimsy! I wanted to use the Halloween themed paper in my stash, but a more creative artist could probably paint custom design on their cardboard. I also think this is an excellent project for the family or classroom using holiday wrapping paper – reversible or embellished for any season! I still have the smaller triangles I cut out and would like to glue them onto the rest of the orange tubing for a more simple, free hanging banner, perhaps with leaves or florals to disguise more studio unsightly.

Despite minor imperfections and recycled materials, the possibilities are endless! Will it last longer than it took me to make it? Probably not. Is it totally cheap? Absolutely! Am I content with my found Halloween art? 110%.

Follow Kbatz Krafts on Instagram and Facebook for more Project Photos! 

Visit our Kbatz Krafts Archive for more crafts including:

Pot O Bones Tower

3D Skeleton Frames

Decorating Like Dark Shadows Video Series

5 Skirts from 1 Pattern! 🧵

 

What do you do when you've found the perfect skirt pattern and have already made one great red skirt? Why you go through the fabric stash and pull out all the material possible for as many skirt adventures as sewing time allows. Whew! Working with dead stock remnants means altering the pattern as needed, but the results are not one or two, but four more skirts plus a new petticoat. Because, why not? Enjoy this little year's worth of vlog footage as Yours Truly Kbatz experiments with swishy orange, grays, curtains, and purple ensembles! 

Thank you for watching! For more progress photos follow Kbatz Krafts on Instagram and Facebook or browse our Kbatz Krafts Archive!

More Sewing Adventures: Kbatz Krafts Sewing and Thrifting YouTube Playlist A Reversible Red Skirt Mother Christmas Costume Mending with Black Lace

Author Spotlight Video!

 

What does it mean to be a writer for an online magazine in the 21st century? 🤔

Kristin Battestella shares some of her typewriter beginnings and new media adventures in this Author Spotlight with Search Magazine!

Get the Latest Free Issue of Search Magazine or follow SearchMagSF on Twitter for more Highlights!

The Time for Women's Hockey is Now – Blast from the Past Search Issue 

KristinBattestella Search Magazine Author Spotlight

More Search Magazine Articles from Kristin  

Sewing on a Budget Video

Antiquing on a Budget Playlist

Thank you for watching!

Making Myself a Damask Blanket (and Pillows!)

My basement studio is always cold even when it is 60 degrees in February, so I decided it was high time to put some upholstery weight thrift fabrics to good use as sophisticated blanket.

The $4 half off red roll seen in my Mini Thrift Haul video became the backing to its fellow $7 Goodwill Waverly Country House Toile. This black and cream damask remnant is only about 2 yards, but it is discontinued with online resales going between $10 to $50 a yard! These are heavy fabrics that don't need further interior batting or stuffing, but I treated the material as one giant pillow, laying out the damask and cutting the red to match between multiple gentle ironings. For even more lux formality, I decided to use some $4 clearance red braid piping from my stash, basting it onto the toile before going through with a tighter running back stitch. The toile and red were then laid again with the two front sides facing together, pinned, and basted. I debated using my sewing machine, but it was easier to control the thicker sewing along the piping by hand with the magical invisible thread last used in my Mother Christmas Costume. The first round of slightly larger, not basting but neater invisible stitching was great, however the finite, running back stitch along the braiding took longer than I expected – a week rather than a weekend. The faint stripe in the red fabric was a nice guide, and I kept thinking to myself, “little by little one travels far,” but one millimeter at a time is a long journey!

After turning the right sides out and pressing flat again, the invisible seam on the bottom was a much faster finish, so I spent a few days making a farmhouse print pillow for my sister and upcycling a black and white tie dye dress. This was a 15 year old threadbare gift from my mother from Marshalls, so I cut out the cool tie dye design, sewed, stuffed, fin. This big tie dye pillow is great for when I sit closer to my desk during podcasts, and the blanket is big enough to wrap around me in my fancy orange chair. Sometimes, it even gets too hot! Neither may be quite perfectly square, however for a sophisticated throw made of thrift and clearance, who cares. I couldn't buy this kind of sumptuous for $15– maybe more like $150! The damask and tie dye also may not actually match, but for freebies and second hand fabrics, you do you, and I am cheap, but pampered and toasty.

(It's tough taking photos of a blanket that don't look ~messy~!)

For more project photos, visit Kbatz Krafts on Facebook and Instagram! 

More Pillows and Thrifting:

Sewing on a Budget for Search Magazine

Memento Mori Sewing

Halloween T-Shirt Pillows

#KeepLaughing with Search Magazine!

 

I feel pretty fancy with not one, but two articles in the Winter #KeepLaughing Issue of Search Magazine! 

For those who follow my Classic Television Reviews at I Think, Therefore I Review, it's no surprise to see my Mary Tyler Moore Show retrospective  in Search this quarter, but you can also read my bemusingly old school foray into the fitness column with my defense of Why I Still Use the Wii!

I am also venturing into more video and photography content at Search Magazine, and you can follow their Instagram for more - or Tik Tok, I believe, but that is a step too far for an oldster like me! If you missed my Antiquing on a Budget article, you can also get my quick tips on YouTube.

I also received a ring light for Christmas, so hopefully that will solve my vampire white balance issues! 🧛🏻‍♀️

It's a Cardboard Castle!

What do you do when you have a lot of big boxes but make a Cardboard Castle of course! I hadn't thought to do this for the family toddlers until I saw it on Pinterest, and I was hesitant because it seems...tacky? That wasn't going to stop me, however, and inspiration struck thanks to cottagecore painting and castle facades.

After a day of temporarily taping, assembling, cutting out windows, and configuring the roof; it took another day to hot glue all the seams. I added a cardboard floor for a sturdy base, and corners were reinforced with those extra cardboard corners shrewdly saved from other shipping. It's all surprisingly solid! Finishing the seams with masking tape and painting those joints brown while the rest of the walls were done in a white wash paint created a fun, medieval-esque interior. The paint job didn't have to be perfect and I could have gone into much more ye olde detail, but why go for broke on a recycled, temporary project that a child will ultimately out grow? The floor and roof lines were also painted brown to complete the look, embracing the bones of the building for what it's worth!

For the exterior I turned to the dollar store castle stone Halloween scene setter seen in my Using Halloween Scene Setters Everyday craft. (It's still hanging in my basement!) Wrapping the plastic around was just like a big Christmas present. The stone pattern is fairly forgiving so long as you pay attention to the roof angles and folded corners. I was probably unnecessarily fussy in making sure my clear tape lines were as taut as possible, but using tape instead of glue meant I can salvage the scene setter once the play castle has had it's day. Overall, this took about three and a half days between other holiday projects – an easy family to-do thanks to found materials and paints.

Older kids might enjoy decorating something like this themselves, and I may put a rug and a pillow inside to create a future reading nook. It all seems preposterous and short lived, yet the possibilities are endless!

For more progress photos, follow Kbatz Krafts on Facebook and Instagram! 

More Recycled Kbatz Krafts:

Cardboard Stained Glass Window

Cardboard Coffin

DIY Gothic Lantern

Pumpkin Car Makeover