Category: Crafts

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Mattress update!

I worked on my wool mattress last Saturday. I was just stuffing it (and worked all day!), but got barely halfway done. I can’t imagine making wool mattresses for a living…

It’s been taking up so much room on the floor. And the wool I’m using is really dirty, so there’s dirt and wool everywhere. The apartment is going to get a thorough cleaning once I’m completely done with the mattress. There’s even wool fluff under the sofa.

Despite all the work, I’m glad I didn’t buy a commercial wool mattress. Mine is almost certainly going to be higher quality than most of those available in the US. And now I know how to make a mattress!

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Awesome Japanese, ethical, slow fashion clothing brand!!

After the Mahouka movie and my thrift store finds, we browsed the Japantown mall. In the atrium area, there was an amazing Japanese clothing brand~ They were having an exhibition to advertise and sell their products, and I totally got sucked in. Everything was amazing!!! I could tell even from a distance that it was my type of clothing, from the colors to the cut.

The company is called Usaato, a contraction of Usaburo Sato, the designer’s name. It’s a pun: “usaato” also means “rabbit” (although it’s a less common word than “usagi”), which they use in their logo. Here’s their Facebook page (in Japanese) and their USA page, which still has quite a bit of Japanese.

Ahhh, just look at that. The top layer is cut on the bias (you can tell because of how the stripes chevron into each other along the back seam), which is an unusual and complicated detail for commercially-produced clothing. And the cut of the collar and sleeves is so nice.

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Sewing at the library

On Saturday, I went to sewing hour at my local library. (There are sewing machines available for public use!) There are always more projects to work on, and items to repair!

I’ve been modifying a shirt I made a few months ago. The collar was a little short, and I had forgotten to trim the seam allowance to make room for the collar buttonhole. I’ve been reading Shirtmaking by David Coffin, which spurred me to try to make improvements.

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San Mateo County Fair

J and I went to the county fair last weekend. J already wrote his review.

I was mostly interested in going for the crafts and animals. Of course I’ve gone to county fairs before when I was growing up, but I haven’t been since I’ve gotten more into crafts and heritage stuff (which includes livestock breeds!).

There was the requisite quilt competition, along with homemade clothing (not much), and crocheted and knitted items. I was excited to see a group of spinners (the Elkus Ranch Spinners) and a sustainable living section!

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FabMo and craft plans

J and I went to FabMo‘s fabric sale today! FabMo is a creative reuse non-profit that collects and sells craft items that would otherwise be thrown away. Many items come from the San Francisco Design Center, so FabMo has tiles, fabric samples, rug samples, buttons, etc. It’s awesome!! Look for creative reuse stores in your area! Here is a list of some around the country. I also know of Austin Creative Reuse in Austin, Tx.

The sale today was for larger pieces of fabric (>1 yd cuts) and rug. There was quite the selection. I have a few projects I’ve been looking for fabric for: linen undershirts (should be good for summer!), linen shirts, linen pants or shorts, and mayyyyybe a wool suit (I’m not an advanced enough sewer for this but I can dream!).

Here are the fabrics I bought:

Left to right: cotton twill plaid, linen? check with flowers, cotton twill plaid.

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