Just keeping it real, folks.

Macy has this book:

We have others in the series and have found some fun projects in them in the past (Vaseline and Kool Aid lip gloss, for example).

We decided to try out a project that claimed you could turn a chip bag into a brooch (hate that word) type pin. Perhaps that right there should have been my “sign”, but we carried on. I had visions of something all Shrinky Dink-y and darling.

We preheated the oven to its highest setting:

We put the chip bag on a baking sheet:

And we sat down to begin our “up to 10 minutes” of baking.

About 10 seconds in, I suggested Macy turn on the oven light. This is what we found:

In 10 seconds.

We tried again at a much lower temperature and got this:

I still don’t think anyone in their right mind would wear it.

So folks….DON’T TRY THIS AT HOME.

You’re welcome.

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It’s that time of year…at least if you’re doing anything handmade.  Time to start thinking about it, right?

I’m going to be participating in the

Rachel from A Southern Fairytale will be hosting the baking.

Kelly from According to Kelly will be hosting the crafting.

And, Cindy from Skip To My Lou will be hosting the sewing.

I’ll be posting over there on the 29th, with a brand new tutorial for this laptop cover:

There are some INSANELY talented bloggers participating, so be sure to check out all 3 sites every day (starting NOW) through the end of the month!

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In case you missed my guest post over at seven thirty three on Tuesday…

Tiered Skirt

I’d say the fullness of this skirt would probably be best for kids’ sizes 2 through a slim 12.  (Here’s the part where I admit to trying my 10 year old daughter’s skirt on my 2 year old son, just to see.)

Determine the length you want your finished skirt to be. Divide that number by 3.5.  I wanted my finished skirt to be about 12”.  17/3.5 is 3.42-ish.  I rounded up to 3.5”.  All the strips you cut will be this measurement plus 1” high (so 4.5” in my example) EXCEPT for the very top tier/waist panel.  That strip will be 1/2” taller than the others (so 5” in my example).

Tier 1 (the waist panel) will be cut the entire width of your fabric, roughly 45”.

Tier 2 will be 60”.  Cut 2 30” long strips.

(tiers 1 & 2)

Tier 3 will be 80”.  Cut 2 40” long strips.

Tier 4 (the bottom band) will also be 80”.  Cut 2 40” long strips.

(tiers 3 & 4) 

You’ll notice that with seam allowances and whatnot these tiers won’t end up precisely the measurements I’ve listed.  IT’S OK!  This skirt is SUPER forgiving.

All seams are 1/2”, unless otherwise noted.

Start by sewing the short ends of each tier together.  You should have 4 giant loops.  Tangent: Because I have issues, I seamed my tier 1 twice.  I like having a seam there to match up with all the other seams.  You really don’t need to do this and you’ll be 100% fine just matching up the half way point with the seams on the other tiers.

(actual seam on the left, seam I added in support of OCD on the right)

Take tier 4/the bottom band and press it in half, wrong sides together.

Matching seams, sew tier 4/the bottom band to the bottom of tier 3 (right sides together).

Serge, zig zag, or otherwise finish your seam.

Press seam allowance up towards tier 3.

Top stitch.

Run a long gathering stitch (stitch length as long as it’ll go on your machine and NO BACKSTITCHING) along the top edge of tier 3.

I did mine about 1/4” from the edge and did one for the front and then one for the back.  I know many people like to do 2 rows of gathering stitches, just in case one breaks.  I never do…I like to live on the edge.  Or, I’m lazy.  You decide.

Gather (by pulling the bottom/bobbin thread) the top of tier 3.  Matching seams, middles, and/or anything else that makes you happy, pin it (right sides together) to the bottom of tier 2.

Stitch in place.

Finish your seam.  Press seam allowance up towards tier 2.  Top stitch.

Here’s what you’ve got now:

Run a long gathering stitch along the top edge of tier 2.

Gather the top of tier 2.  Matching seams/middles/etc., pin it (right sides together) to the bottom of tier 1/the waist panel.  Stitch in place.  Finish your seam.  Press seam allowance up towards tier 1.  Top stitch.

Fold the top edge of tier 1 down 1/4” and press.

Fold the top edge down 1” and press.

Stitch along the edge, creating your waist casing.  Leave a 2-3” gap in the back for inserting the elastic.

Thread elastic the same length as the waist of the intended wearer through your casing.  Once it’s threaded, have them try the skirt on if at all possible.  It seems like my elastic always gets stretched out a little during this step!

Overlap the elastic ends and stitch together.

Close up your casing.

Aaaaaaaaaaand you’re done!

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Did you know Crap I’ve Made has a Flickr group? You can find the link at any time up on my menu bar under Crap You’ve Made. Go add your stuff! Please?

Projects from the Flickr group will be featured on Fridays.

And, there’s now a Flickr stream widget over in my left sidebar. Click on over from your reader and check that out.

The subtitle for this post should be “Mad for the Plaid Fad”.  And here’s the part where I admit to actually writing that on one of my folders in junior high.  Apparently I was destined for weirdness.

Both of today’s features use my appliqued tie onesie tutorial.  And they’re both plaid.

First up, we have this one from MrsEFP.  That baby is almost cute enough to make me reconsider the ban on residents in my uterus.

And then there are these hilariously awesome matching ones from Alysa @ Inspired Results, blogged here.  She made a matching shirt for her daughter, too, so be sure to go check that out.

I’ve got an exciting day planned with lots of email responding.  If you’re waiting for a response, today’s your lucky day!  Have a great weekend!

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If I owe you an email response, you won’t be getting it today.

Swimming lessons.

Play dates.

Seeing old friends for dinner and this:

Giddy!

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Can’t access blogs at work or on your phone?

You can now sign up for email updates of Crap I’ve Made.  There’s a thingy (technical term) over in the right sidebar, just below the “About Me” section.

And because posts are always better with pictures:

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at seven thirty three.

(There’s a brand new tutorial involved, so GET OVER THERE!)

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I picked these up at JoAnn’s a few weeks back.  They were 40% off at the time, so I paid $6.

Macy and a friend and I busted them out last Friday whilst 2 of my boys were at a party and the other one was sleeping.

The directions were confusing and some things on the printed instructions were different from what was on the exterior packaging, but hey….$6, right?

I did a little Google-ing and we decided to wet our shirts first.

We twisted and turned and then went to put the elastics on and they broke.  Like, all of them.  Like, before you actually even stretched them.  BRITTLE.

Time out.  Run to the craft room and search frantically for elastics.  Call BC at work to see if he has any he can run by because one kid is sleeping and we can’t leave to get some.  Finally find some.  Time in.

Each dye color comes in its own applicator bottle.  You just fill the bottle with water and shake.  They dissolved quite easily.

We dyed and dyed and dyed some more.  2 pairs of plastic gloves are included in the kit.  Plastic wrap (for wrapping your shirts) is not.  We wrapped them and waited.  The instructions said 4-6 hours.  The packaging said 6-8.  We went with 6.

Helpful hint:  You’ll want to save your gloves for the unwrapping/elastic removal or you’ll end up looking like this:

And your fingernails will still be stained like 3 days later.  At least that’s what I hear….

The packaging says “Ages 8 and up”.  I’d say this is pretty accurate, unless you were outdoors and really didn’t care if your kids got dye on the clothes they were wearing.

The packaging also says this product dyes up to 6 shirts.  We dyed: 2 size L-ish shirts, 4 size M-ish shirts, 2 onesies, a tank top, and a pair of undies.  Don’t ask.

Our package came with pink, blue, and green dye.  The pink came out pretty pale.

The blue and green were much brighter.

And, an action shot:

So, best tie dyeing job ever?  Probably not.

Worth $6?  FOR SURE.

**********************

FTC disclosure:  I bought this product with my own $6.  I was in no way compensated for this review.  The opinions are mine entirely.  So are the stained hands.

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I’ll tell you how in the August/September issue of Quilter’s Home (in stores now)!

^^^ There’s my name!

And here’s a peek at the article:

And my prototype:

I think you could leave off the applique (or replace it with something less quilter-y) and get a completely different look.  And it’s way way WAY easy.

Pick it up, if you’re interested.  Plus, there’s my dorky bio and an even dorkier picture of me.

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