I Learned to Sew!

Man, it’s already July and 2020 has passed by both very fast and very slow. I can remember what I did the week that everything went into lockdown back in March. It was like any other week until it suddenly wasn’t.

To be honest, the first few months went by slowly a blur of both depression and anxiety of our new reality and that any life progress we wanted to make in terms of starting a family would be stalled another year for financial reasons caused by the pandemic.

However, the one thing I did find myself having more of was a valuable resource: TIME.

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New quarantine hobby ✌🏻

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I had been looking at sewing machines for half a year. Almost buying myself one for Christmas, but stopping myself when I think about how much time it would take to learn or if I would have enough time to commit to the hobby. That all went out the window during the lockdown, when picturing an end to it is still unpredictable, so I bought the damn sewing machine.

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#Upcycled: Shirt made from mom’s fav dress shirt.

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It’s a continual learning process, and it takes a lot of patience. Every day it tests you a little, fabric gets stuck, thread gets bunched or breaks, but what I found was that making something was so satisfying. At first, I was just upcycling old shirts into new dog shirts, but then I got decent enough to use new fabric to make Bacon some original clothing.

Then we decided to open a shop to sell off any limited amounts I could make with the extra fabric. We called it The Bacon Collection because everything will be limited to a few, so shop it while you can! We’ve already got some sales which has kept me busy in the past few weeks.

Fabric shopping is so much fun and I can’t wait to continue to find fun prints to make into dog clothes!

 

I Made Candles!

Yesterday, at my friend’s bridal shower, we made Soy Candles! I learned that soy is better for the environment than regular wax, and healthier to breathe in. The pieces reminded me of mozzarella cheese.

Luckily, we made them in glass jars (not the pulling way) so that I didn’t end up with something like this:

 

Instead, it looked more like this. I picked the one that smelled like cake of course.

Now that I know how to do this, I want to research how much materials cost and perhaps make some on on my own!

The Occasion Tree

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My sister had surprised me with the mini Christmas tree during the holidays. It was perfect for my tiny apartment. Now that Christmas is over, I didn’t want throw it out. Nor do I have much room in the closet to store it.

Instead, I decided to deem it “The Occasion Tree”. It will now reflect various holidays, or just silly themes that I come up with. Since Valentine’s Day is approaching, I decorated it with hearts.
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I can’t wait for future theme ideas. Living close to the dollar store gives me unlimited possibilities!

Crochet Shawl for Mother’s Day

shawlAs a Mother’s Day gift, I made Mom a Sidewalk Shawl with a free pattern from Stitch Nation. I used a 5mm yarn but 8mm crochet hook so that the pattern would be more visible. I skipped the third and fourth repetition of the pattern but it still resulted in a large shawl!

Crochet Dog Bone

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My practise ball of white yarn never seems to disappear so I made Teddy this crochet bone with a pattern I found on Pinterest. I didn’t make it quite as long because of my dog’s small size.
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I added a ribbon made out of an old T-shirt to hide the seams.


I think he approves.

Crochet Short Sweater

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For my first major crochet project, I made this short crop sweater sweater. The pattern came from The Happy Hooker book I mentioned earlier.
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Understanding how to read the pattern was a confusing at first, so the sweater is a tiny bit disfigured, but still wearable.
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It pairs well with a bright coloured tank top underneath.
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It was a little thicker than I wanted. I used black wool I had but I threw out the label was unsure about the needle gauge. However, I’m proud that it actually looks like a sweater (and not a blob of yarn).

Learning to Crochet

IMG_8994I decided to teach myself how to crochet (again). I had started last year but then I became busy and forgot all about it.

I purchased a set of crochet needles from Ebay, where you the entire collection cost $5 with shipping included! It’s ridiculous how cheap you can get supplies like yarn as well.

IMG_8996I inherited Debbie Stoller’s The Happy Hooker from my best friend when she moved out of Toronto. It’s been sitting on my shelf for quite some time. IMG_8998This is a test ball of white yarn I bought at the dollar store ages ago. Half of it I used to learn how to knit.

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I made these square coasters with the yarn as I learnt how to do some of the basic stitches; double crochet, half double crochet, and single crochet. I’m hoping to eventually learn how to make some adorable Amigurumi animals!

DIY Valentines: Pinterest Inspired

Me and my boyfriend didn’t really want to make a big deal out of Valentine’s Day, especially since we’re still both in job hunt mode. I decided to look to Pinterest for some DIY card designs. Here is the front of the card I made:

Text says: "I hope you'll always be there to eat my green Skittles"

The paper heart was inspired by this love note pin. The skittles represent a chapter in the beginning of our relationship. Before we dated, when we had just started talking, I was eating a pack of Skittles and told him I hated the green ones. I also blurted out that I would love the boy who would eat my green Skittles. He told me he liked green Skittles. It’s funny because we had not even thought of each other as date-able material at that point but it’s one of our first memories as friends.