Domestic Project

Today was my first Sunday in a long while where I had absolutely nothing to do. So I decided to make curtains for the bedroom.

Our bedroom had curtains when we moved in but they were just your basic off-white color and, since we haven't hung a lot of artwork in the room yet, I felt like we needed to add some color and spice things up.

This wild fabric came from Ikea. It was from a set of ready-to-go curtains but, since we have 2 long windows and 1 short one in the bedroom (and kittens that like to climb curtains), I customized them a bit. 

I cut the curtains shorter so they wouldn't be floor length, and wouldn't collect so much dust. Then I ironed, and hemmed them on my sewing machine. Out of the scraps I was able to make another 2 short curtains for the window over the bed. The measuring was the hardest part, we don't have any table or floor space in the apartment large enough to spread out the curtains so I had to use 2 rulers and do it out on the back deck!

Ready to iron

TA DAA! Here are the 'after' shots of the bedroom:

Journals Galore!

Though I've been making simple book structures for years, in 2011 I learned how to bind multiple signature hard cover books. As a result of this new skill, I got my first-ever commissioned job and I've decided that all my relatives will get journals for the holidays. Here's a chronicle of the journals I've been making over the past few weeks.

 All books start out as folded paper

My friend's daughter is a freshman in college and enjoys journaling so I was asked to make a journal for her. I got to use bright colored and patterned materials, which made this project a lot of fun.

First, all the pages had to be trimmed down,

then they were sewn together. I used a link stitch so the spine was a bit wider, in case anything was going to be glued inside in the future.

I added bright end bands and a marker ribbon for added flare.

After lining the spine, it was time to make the cover...

The spine cloth and corners get added first. My friend asked that the spine and corners were different, to maximize the colors on the book.

Some grey hounds tooth, Japanese paper completed the cover.

All that was left was to glue in the book block and voila, a finished journal. (the newsprint hanging over the edges was a temporary blotter to absorb the moisture from the glue)

While I was shopping for materials for this journal, I found some other great papers and couldn't resist buying them and putting them to use in books for my relatives.

Sewing the yellow argyle book

Yay, argyle journal complete!

I had some leftover orange book cloth so I decided to make a shiny green and orange journal.

I think the turned-in corners look like fish tails!

The finished book...

with some hot pink end sheets as a nice surprise when the book is opened.