a-strawberry-mouse

[a-strawberry-mouse]

Last year I collected all my thread scraps into an ornament. Fabric scraps to the worms.

This year, as encouraged by the person whose username escapes me; it'll be for stuffing. Not by me. I found someone who uses scraps though.

I'll stuff everything into this jar and casually hand it off.

The background is the back of my SAR art project. I'm still unsure if I'll finish in time, but I am enjoying it.

[a-strawberry-mouse]

I hope you're all doing well.

I hope your projects are going well or you're having a guilt free break if you need it.

I'm taking a short(or long) break from mending. I'm working on a slow stitching project.

Sometimes there's more to mend than you could ever possibly fix. Times like that and I need to make something.

You could do a mend like this with clouds over a tear. If it were a wearable item; I'd suggest going full sashiko and adding vertical stitches.

I may add some later. I may not.

I may add a post when it's finished. I may not.

It's one of those times.

[a-strawberry-mouse]

Basket update post

I realized I've not once given an update post on the basket.

Here's the bottom.

Here's the side.

The update is, it's been fine. Zero issues.

I've been using it indoors and it does basket things.

I think I'll be conditioning the wood or something soon. I might add more green bark. It really depends on if that invasive tree has grown back enough to get bark from. Or if I find a young hybrid mulberry. If I do any of that, I'll add another update but yeah. It's a repaired basket doing basket duties.

In other news, I am months behind on questions.

I am heavily delayed on everything.

And the SAR art contest was announced this week.

My health is doing alright again and I'm pretty dang pleased about that.

[a-strawberry-mouse]

I cannot stress enough that all those things in sewing pattern instructions that seem pointless are actually very important

Yes, how you fold your fabric before putting down the pattern pieces and cutting matters, because it influences how the fabric drapes, and ignoring that can cause fit issues in ways you wouldn't expect

Yes, cutting an entire separate piece to sew to the edge to finish it is going to be better than turning the edge and stitching it on its own, because there are geometry issues in play that make it actually harder to just fold a curve to the inside.

Yes, cutting clips or notches into the seam allowance around curves should always be done, because those geometry issues will work on the seam allowances and keep the curve from laying flat (remember, clip when the curve goes in, notch when the curve goes out)

Yes, interfacing may seem completely superfluous and frustrating and an extra step to work with, but it adds rigidity and stability to areas that need it (especially under buttons)

Yes, using a fun quilting cotton print for lining looks nice, but the point of lining isn't to make the inside pretty as much as it is to make the inside slip smoothly over the layer under it, and quilting cotton is going to instead be prone to grabbing everything under it, so you really should use those annoyingly slippery lining fabrics

Yes, in general, you should use the kind of fabric the pattern tells you to use, because there have been centuries, if not millennia, of people throughout the entire world figuring out what fabric best suits what kind of garment, for reasons beyond aesthetics

I know that a lot of people new to sewing see these things and feel like they're things that just aren't necessary, because they skip them when they sew and the item ends up just fine. And if you don't mind the idea of your clothes looking homemade, then it is fine. But...if you're consistently skipping these things and end up unhappy with how homemade your items look, please consider that that result is at least partly because you're not following the entire directions

"Sewing" involves so much more than just the stitches

[a-strawberry-mouse]

Thank you!

I'll see if I can get help digging it out to try and reduce how much of the roots get torn up. It has to move, but I have permission to tear up that section of the garden bed as much as necessary.

Hopefully it will recover okay

Mending and unknown tree

I went to post my recent mends only to realize I have not taken a single before, progress, or finished picture.

Again.

Here's more of the jean bag because I own that. It's easier to take pictures of items you actively have in your possession.

It's gardening season among other things. Which should mean I could post pictures of plants. Alas, I have managed to somehow dodge taking a single picture of anything except a small tree I was trying(and failed to) identify.

There's a pecan, walnut, hickory, and elm tree all within squirrel planting distance. Could easily be more, similar looking, trees. I may pot this up and find out what it is by waiting a couple years. I wouldn't mind it. But it's too close to the person's porch, so it has to be dug up either way.

If any of y'all know, I'd appreciate the ID. If it's invasive to the Eastern coast of the USA I'd like to advise them of it.

[a-strawberry-mouse]

Mending and unknown tree

I went to post my recent mends only to realize I have not taken a single before, progress, or finished picture.

Again.

Here's more of the jean bag because I own that. It's easier to take pictures of items you actively have in your possession.

It's gardening season among other things. Which should mean I could post pictures of plants. Alas, I have managed to somehow dodge taking a single picture of anything except a small tree I was trying(and failed to) identify.

There's a pecan, walnut, hickory, and elm tree all within squirrel planting distance. Could easily be more, similar looking, trees. I may pot this up and find out what it is by waiting a couple years. I wouldn't mind it. But it's too close to the person's porch, so it has to be dug up either way.

If any of y'all know, I'd appreciate the ID. If it's invasive to the Eastern coast of the USA I'd like to advise them of it.

[a-strawberry-mouse]

reblog to give your headache to elon musk instead

[a-strawberry-mouse]

The other half of my jacket repair from ??? ago.

I'll be giving it a once over soon before I pack it up for the season. Anything above 60 F(15.6 C) is shorts weather personally. I like putting stuff away after it's mended so future me can wear it immediately.

[a-strawberry-mouse]

General art post

The art I choose to do ^

It's a hair clip with dyed(and undyed) rock beads. It was one of those,

"As yes, you do art? I bought you an art kit!"

kind of gifts. I couldn't return it and I figured I'd get to it at some point. This was a pre-pandemic gift. Somewhere I have a necklace and ring I made(or a ring and a bracelet?).

The anchoring fabric is spare fabric. The floss I used was spare floss. The hair clip part was part of the gift package I think. The color palette was the closest match I could make off of a color palette from Pinterest. It was for OCs, but I imagine they won't mind me using it for this.

I'll be back to regular posts soon. Until then, here's an in progress mend. Safety pins are inside it holding the inside patch.

I have suffered setbacks and the options were to grieve/be angry or to grieve/be angry and do art.

Y'all know how it is.

[a-strawberry-mouse]

Good and terrible to know how many people are feeling this way.

Me: I don't get it. I thought I was doing a lot better than I was a few years ago. I'm like 10 times more on top of things than I used to be. How does everything feel terrible now?

The Tiny Me in OSHA-approved Hi-Vis Gear Who lives in my brain and pulls all the levers: Boss, it's the fascism. You're completely gunked up with cortisol due to the fact that your entire daily life is now underscored with a haunting awareness of the rapid erosion of your rights, dignity, and any and all social safety nets, and you're also bearing witness to the most vulnerable people immediately being persecuted. This creates a natural stress response that basically means you're going to continue having memory and organizational problems, as well as emotional imbalances.

Me: BUT I HAVE A BULLET JOURNAL AND I MEDITATE NOW.

Tiny OSHA Me: BOSS, THE FASCISM.

[a-strawberry-mouse]

A rambling update on the buttons.

First off. I realized that I had the amount of buttons that no one could possibly go through in their lifetime. I did the most obvious thing. I asked the people helping me sort if they'd like to fill a snack bag with buttons(with the caveat that I could say no because some of these I won't share). When I say they were thrilled, I mean it took 2 whole hours for them to decide. Sorting buttons,

"Oh, is this one okay?" "Can you pass me all the ones that look like these?"

It was lovely. The buttons belong there.

Back to the ones I'm keeping!

I love the concept of the binder of buttons with pages of sewing on buttons. I have encountered a, predictable in hindsight, problem.

So you pick a spot.

You put the button down and poke two holes with the sheet on cardboard(so you don't poke tiny holes in your nice table).

Then you sew the button on and tie the back.

This takes a minimum of two stations. The poking a hole station(on cardboard) and the sewing station. Because the buttons are different sizes; it's not feasible to punch many holes at a time. I might be able to take a picture of all the buttons set up, but it's been frustrating to set up that way so far.

So that's problem one, but that's when problem two occurred to me.

If I have pounds of buttons, then I'll have pounds of button binders.

So I'm thinking I do a different approach.

I may sort of braid the buttons onto strands or otherwise tie them together and keep those in sorted boxes. With a representative button on a cardstock page. Then the button can have a box letter and a button number.

It would be a fraction of the work and more logically sound.

I have had help sorting them. I have done things fully sorted into baggies and about 2/5 still left to sort. So I'll start with the most sorted of the buttons.

There are a lot of buttons that came off of button up shirts. I know because the bag had a note in a cassette about a specific shirt. And these look very similar.

I strung these on a long piece of spare floss.

And here is where I remembered that I wanted to put a single button on a page to mark what I had. I'm not taking these apart, but that's a solid whoops.

Into the box they go.

The box is from a box of small boxes I've kept and reused for various small box things. They originally had fossils in them. Then beads. Then knick knacks. Now buttons. I've reused the packing material carefully so it's still in nice condition. In case I ever need to ship my buttons I guess? I don't know, but having them safely packed is nice.

Moving on!

Right? Very nice and easy to use.

It's in box A and counting the button on the sheet, I have 5 buttons. Bare minimum, I'm doing this with the plainer buttons. I'm positive this is it. It does mean I'll need a binder and boxes, but this is more feasible.

I realized after doing a couple like this that I could stack the buttons and tie a bow on top with the floss I'd sent through the holes. This saved even more time.

Rinse and repeat

And there are now 12 buttons stored conveniently and labeled with box location plus total amount of buttons.

I hit the picture limit. I'll need to elaborate more later for that and so I can sleep.

As I find buttons that have no match, I'll be putting that into my button jar. I have found some matches already between the button bow and the button jar! This is extra exciting because some have been without a match a minimum of a decade in my hands.

I hope to be back at it today(I say at 5am). Yesterday had been mostly gardening related. +96 seedlings gently stuck into 96 cells. That just about caught me up on gardening for the next day or two! I should be clear to, hopefully, finish 12 more button types onto the paper

[a-strawberry-mouse]

He's a good friend's kid.

Kid(teen) has started to do well in therapy. I pushed for that to happen because both parents were very, "we didn't do therapy when I was a kid," and split households with differing parenting styles. My friend was convinced after I proved he himself needed therapy.

There are a lot of details I have to omit for privacy. The destructive antics are very... identifiable. Points for creativity I suppose.

I heavily believe in community and helping the people around me, but damn.

I'm hesitant to say much because it's someone else's business. He's a uniquely destructive individual that's making progress. That being said, that child is never allowed to be here unless his parent stares at him the whole time and it can't be avoided. Which I hope won't come up for a long while.

Gardening post(garlic)

So I saw some garlic

And it was growing

And I was getting seed starting packs anyway

I imagine these will outgrow the containers quickly, but I only need to buy myself a couple of weeks.

48 sections with 1-2 cloves.

The reason I need the extra starter bins is because this

Well

That's a couple dozen seed packets. Which is too many. Realistically I will *not* be planting all of them. There's no way. I am one mouse. In theory I will be starting a whole mess of seeds and giving away/trading the extra plants.

"Why the heck do you have so many seeds?" Well you see, some kid kept stealing them and then they gave them all back at once. I thought I had been misplacing them. Apparently not! If there's a lesson about not trusting people to be learned, be assured that I've learned nothing. I love a good character arc.

Some of these seeds are from 2021. I'm not sure how well they'll germinate but I'll give them a shot. The worst that happens is they do nothing. I'll try to remember to update but this is a sewing blog. Put your expectations gently on the floor.

[a-strawberry-mouse]

Fishy Towel Mend

I remembered to take a before picture a few stitches in. Those navy blue stitches sitting there.

The top of this hole is straight and that makes it feel a little weird fixing it. Where's my natural chasm? The casual curved lines?

It feels very Minecraft

Okay so I realized that I forgot to make a scaffold and this repair will be a zillion times easier with one.

I did it in orange so it's easy to see.

I have 6 vertical and 2 diagonal. Really adding 2 diagonal the other way would be best, but I ran out of the thread.

It takes a while and a decent amount of patience to get through towel fabric. It's thick and loopy. This one has a thin side and a thick side. I worked off of the thin side because it's easier. I can see the stitch spacing better.

It is easier if you clip out the peninsula of ripped fabric in the middle, but I like doing it this way.

All of the horizontal lines are completed.

About halfway through the weaving of the vertical lines I took out the scaffolding. I also spilled queso on it(as seen in the picture).

And finished! Side one.

And side two.

I thought these blues would stand out enough to be a nod that it was mended, but it uh. Well it disappears in person. If you know what you're looking for then you'll find it no problem.

I'm quite happy with it. It's my favorite towel. It's technically a beach towel and it's the best bath towel ever. It has another mend in progress, but that will have to wait for another day(this post took five days from start to finish).

[a-strawberry-mouse]

Busy fabric meet busier fabric!

I have no idea why the first shot looks like an action photo. It wasn't moving(that I know of).

And now it goes back on the couch.

[a-strawberry-mouse]

Some fabric is simply finicky. It's unhappy to exist and it will make continuing that existence your problem.

Behold such a thing!

This is very cheap fabric on a costume. It's an officially licensed Disney dress. So uh, I imagine the cost didn't reflect the quality. Unless this dress was under $20USD.

It's like a thinner version of the stuff they use for doll dresses.

But I digress. It's today's patient and was a gift. I'll fix it up and send it off.

I tied the thread directly to the seam, about 5cm from the damage. The fabric definitely would have had a knot pull through. The only option I've found with fabric this obnoxious is this. The tie on.

Blanket stitch and careful tension here. Too much will tear through it worse than it already has done. Too little will be noticable, but not rip anything. Err on the side of caution (and color matching to your fabric if desired).

Inside seam above and outside view below

I normally wouldn't let my seams be this loose or noticeable. But you need to balance what's a good fix versus the fix you wish you could make.

If I had a serger, I'd redo the whole dang seam from hip to bottom. Assuming that a serger wouldn't accidentally eat this fabric. Kudos to the people who sewed this together in the first place.

There's another section to fix. I'll take pictures if my patience allows.

[a-strawberry-mouse]

Gardening post(garlic)

So I saw some garlic

And it was growing

And I was getting seed starting packs anyway

I imagine these will outgrow the containers quickly, but I only need to buy myself a couple of weeks.

48 sections with 1-2 cloves.

The reason I need the extra starter bins is because this

Well

That's a couple dozen seed packets. Which is too many. Realistically I will *not* be planting all of them. There's no way. I am one mouse. In theory I will be starting a whole mess of seeds and giving away/trading the extra plants.

"Why the heck do you have so many seeds?" Well you see, some kid kept stealing them and then they gave them all back at once. I thought I had been misplacing them. Apparently not! If there's a lesson about not trusting people to be learned, be assured that I've learned nothing. I love a good character arc.

Some of these seeds are from 2021. I'm not sure how well they'll germinate but I'll give them a shot. The worst that happens is they do nothing. I'll try to remember to update but this is a sewing blog. Put your expectations gently on the floor.

[a-strawberry-mouse]

It's the wrong side

It's the wrong dang side ;.;

Don't mind me. Just tearing out stitches and flipping it right side out and redoing it.