In which I rant in length about my disdain for bobbins

I adore sewing. I’m not just talking about the finished products; I’m talking about every aspect of it: The whir of the electrical motor, the clicking sound it makes when the presser foot is lowered, the sensation of pushing the pins into the fabric, the movement of the fabric under my fingers as it’s pulled and stitched. The whole thing is like a soothing symphony.


However, there is one thing about it that irritates me above all else: bobbins. You see I hate winding bobbins. I despise it. I think because they’re such a distraction when they run out. I could be right in the middle of a nice long stretch and the bobbin runs out and I have to stop and unthread the machine, and thread another bobbin and then put it in – it totally disrupts my rhythm. It’s like the orchestra stopping in the middle of Beethoven’s 5th because the lead violinist has to take a piss (see how I worked in that symphony analogy from paragraph one? That English degree is paying off now baby!).

I try to combat these interruptions by preparing ahead. If I’m working on a large project that I know will require more than one bobbin, I usually wind as many as I think I will need ahead of time, before I even begin sewing. This way when it runs out I simply have to replace it and don’t have to unthread, wind a bobbin, and rethread one.

This helps a little bit, but it’s still annoying. Speaking of annoying, doesn’t it always seem like it runs out when you have 3 inches left to sew? Every stinking time! You’re sewing along, you’re in the groove. As soon as you finish that seam you’re on your way to the next exciting step in your garment/project creation, and boom; bobbin thread runs out with an inch and a half left to go.

Or my favorite is when I’m working on something large and/or unwieldy, and I’ve just spent a good 3 minutes and performed several yoga moves that I didn’t even think were humanly possible, to maneuver it underneath the presser foot, I make 3 stitches and BAM – out of bobbin thread.

And don’t even get me started on how much thread you waste by having all these little leftover bobbins with varying lengths of thread on them.

I hate you. I hate you all.

You’re thinking, “What’s your point here woman? Why are you rambling on about this?” and the truth is that for some reason I think you’ll care. And also to point out to any would be inventors out there that this bobbin issue is one that you need to be working on. We as a species can fly to the moon and program a plastic bass on a plaque to sing “Take Me to the River” but nobody can figure out how to rig a sewing machine so that I don’t have to deal with bobbins?

People are out there inventing pajama jeans and shake weights but nobody can figure out how to improve the bobbin situation? It’s a tragedy is what it is. Why can’t the bobbin thread pull from a full spool like the top thread? I’d readily purchase two spools of thread of the same color to never have to wind a bobbin again.

You’re probably thinking, “well if you have such a clear idea of how this should work, why don’t you invent something?” That’s not my forte people. I bitch and then wait for other people to solve the problem, or to at least commiserate with me. That’s how this works so let’s get on it people.

Strollers and Diapers are not nearly as cute

My friend Angie is expecting a baby girl and while I could certainly purchase something for her upcoming baby shower off her baby registry, what would be the point?

I mean who needs diapers? Onesies? baby bottles? Come on, completely overated!

Eveyone knows what babies really need: adorable booties

These are my favorites:

And of course a hat.

But as I gazed upon the cuteness of my creations I started wondering; "Why didn't I make my own daughter some cute stuff like this when she was a baby?" And then I remembered why. Because she was my 2nd child and quite frankly I was just too damn exhausted.

So congrats Angie and prepare yourself for the ensuing fatigue!

* baby booties were made from a free tutorial at shwinandshwin. Check out their site, they have great tutorials!

*crocheted hat was made from the scalloped beanie pattern by InnerHooker

Textured Stripes Knit Scarf

There is an overabundance of scarves in my house and so when the weather started turning cooler and I donned a scarf, my daughter insisted that she have one as well. I brought out my bushel basket (yes, I literally have a full sized bushel basket full of scarves and mittens etc.) and told her to pick one out.

This one? No, too stripey. This one? No, too fuzzy. This one? No, too pinky. This one? No, to ruffly. Yep, she actually said “ruffly”. So what’s a knitter and a mother to do than to custom make the kid one.

She picked out her own yarn color and I made a small swatch first to make sure she approved of my pattern and within a week her new scarf was born.

Not too stripey, fuzzy, pinky or ruffly.

It was super easy and super quick. See below for the pattern. Well actually it’s just instructions. I don’t have much skill/experience with writing good knitting patterns.

You'll need:

Yarn – I used Threads and Loops - Aqua
Knitting needles – size 8 US or whatever size works well with your yarn and desired size.

Cast on 25 stitches

Row 1 – 10: Stockinette stitch (alternate rows of knit and purl) you’ll start with a knit row and will end on a purl row

Now you’ll reverse your stockinette so that the purl side is on the front and the knit side is on the back. This creates the bumpy stripe.
Row 11: purl
Row 12: knit
Row 13: purl

Reverse your stockinette stitch again. This will make the mini knit stripe
Row 14: purl
Row 15: knit
Row 16: purl

Repeat until you have 3 textured strips on the front side of your scarf and then do 10 more rows of stockinette stitch and then start your stripes again.

Continue until you reach the desired length. Here's what the top side will look like:

And the back side:

I hope that makes sense. It's a really cute textured scarf and a great project for a beginning knitter to practice their knits and purls.

Road Trip Supplies

As if this time of the year isn’t busy enough, what with the upcoming holidays and the frantic gift shopping/making. Both of my children also have birthdays. My son’s is right around Thanksgiving and my daughter’s is the first week of December.

This year as a joint gift for both of them we’re headed to the Mall of America to celebrate at the indoor amusement park. It’s a little bit of a jaunt for us – about 3 hours. Plus we’re also making plans to visit my husband’s family for Christmas which is an even longer road trip – about 6 hours.

So it seemed to make perfect sense to make them gifts that might help entertain them on the road (sure we’ve got portable DVD players in the car but even Scooby Doo loses his appeal after a while).

For my daughter, who is turning 4, I used this tutorial as inspiration and made her a little pony playmat to take in the car.

I used a fabric base and incorporated some fish, flower and apple shaped buttons and extra stitching for texture and I think it turned out really cute. It’s the perfect size for these My Little Pony toys that we got as Happy Meal toys a while back. I love them because they’re based on the original My Little Ponies I had as a child – not what I refer to as the new “Bratz” version (freaky oversized heads and eyes paired with small bodies do not belong on ponies ok people – not on My Little Ponies – you want to do that crap to Littlest Pet Shop you go right ahead but don’t mess with the ponies!)

I mean which do your prefer? This: (my skin is crawling!)

Or this little cutie?

I rest my case. Moving on. . .

My son is turning 7 and he’s obsessed with Lego’s – as all men and boys are. He’s not that much of a builder though and he often will just play with the mini figures for hours on end without even thinking of clicking two bricks together.

So I thought something he could tote around some of his figures in would be a good idea. I found this little wooden box at my local craft store and gave it a custom paint job. I finished it off with a couple coats of polyurethane also for durability.

A small square lego base sheet came with one of his many sets that he never puts together so I figured it would get much more use glued inside the box as a base for his figures.

I'm thinking he can play quite a bit with all these little guys and their accessories on the road, and he'll have this handy little box to store them in.

I can’t decide if this is my best or my worst idea ever. Sure it looks great, and I had a lot of fun putting together this mini lego diorama in tribute to two movie characters played by Harrison Ford and then later turned into Lego figures (yes, Lego Indiana Jones is getting ready to make out with that little lego lady – she can’t resist his rugged appeal!)

But I may come to regret this gift when I’m wedged between the seats of the car searching for a Lego stormtrooper helmet. Only time will tell.

Hanging Circular Knitting Needle Holder - a tutorial

I have a lovely knitting needle carrier. It's one of those roll-up types and it's great for when I'm on the go, but I rarely need to take all my needles with me and then there's the problem of my circular needles. I try to wind them up in such a way so that they won't get kinked or tangled but it never works out very well and they're just a mess.

I wanted something that I could use at home to keep my circular needles from becoming a tangled mess, and to keep my other needles within easy reach. Where to go for inspiration? Google of course and I saw some great projects and tutorials. Some of them involved binders and plastic pencil cases which looked nifty but still involved folding up the needles. Then I stumbled upon this one made from the leg of an old pair of jeans and this one made from a tie.

They're both brilliant ideas and great upcycling but I wanted mine to look a little prettier so I used some cotton prints that I had just picked up at the fabric store, and came up with this:

Here's how I made it.

Supplies:

2 fat quarters of coordinating fabric

fusible interfacing (optional but recommended for lightweight fabrics)

general sewing supplies


You'll need two pieces of fabric 8" by 19". I used different fabric on the front and back of mine to make it reversible but you could certainly use the same fabric on each side if you prefer.

Two pieces of fusible interfacing 8" by 19". If you're using a heavier fabric such as Home Decorator fabric or denim you might not need the interfacing.

Cut two pieces of fabric, 9" by 2" for the handle.

Iron the interfacing to the wrong sides of your fabric.

Fold over and press a 1/4 seam on both long edges of each large fabric piece. Sew along this seam.


For the handles, place right sides together and sew the long edges with 1/4" seam allowance. Turn right side out forming a tube. Press and stitch again along the long sides.

Place the handle on the right side of one of the large pieces of fabric, as seen below. Lay the other piece of fabric right side down on top of this; sandwiching the handle in between the two larger pieces of fabric.


Sew along the top and bottom seams. You now have a large fabric circle. Turn it right sides out and press the seams.


Top stitch along the top and bottom seams. Mark lines approximately every inch from the top to the bottm seam. These will create the "pockets" for the knitting needles.

Stitch along the lines, load up with knitting needles and you're good to go!

This is just a basic design and could be altered and improved upon anyway you see fit. Add numbers on the pockets to identify your needles sizes, make it larger or smaller, whatever works best. It would make a great gift for the knitter on your gift giving list too.

As always if you have any questions feel free to leave them in the comments or shoot me an email at pinandpaper@q.com.

Useless Personal tidbit

I once bought 5 yards of brown fun fur to make some stuffed animals for an upcoming craft sale and as I was getting it cut the gal looked at me and said, “What are you going to make?”

I was so tempted to say, “curtains” or possibly “Fifty furry bikini panties. Oh yeah baby!”

But I didn’t.

These are the types of things I regret.

Pattern Weights

There's nothing quite so useless as a paperweight. Just a heavy object to take up space, right? But a pattern weight - well that's a whole other story.

I had seen this idea a while back and wanted to make some for myself. Pattern weights are used to hold pattern pieces down on your fabric so pins are not necessary. They're also really handy to use to hold your fabric down nice and securely when using a rotary cutter.

I suppose they could be made out of any small heavy object, but I chose to use washers from my local hardware store.

Want to make some of your own? Here's what you need:

-Washers - I used 2 1/4 inch washers. I can't tell you what kind they are, I just picked out the heaviest ones I could find from my hardware store.
- Decorative paper
- Decoupage glue

I cut out circles using a scrapbooking tool, but you could easily just trace the washer and cut your paper slightly smaller. I cut out enough to cover both the top and bottom of each washer.

Then you simply need to apply the paper to your washer with the decoupage glue. I finished them off with two top coats of glue as well to seal them.

I liked the gold color of my washers but you could always paint them in addition to or instead of decorating them with paper.

Just wait for them to dry and you're ready to go!