Face Mask in 5 minutes*

I estimate that I have sewn over 150 face masks since the pandemic happened.  When this all started, mask making became a hot crafting trend, similar to knitting koala mittens  and I admit, I was a complete naysayer about it until people started asking me to make masks for them.   I relented and did a little research and saw on the JoAnn website, they were recommending this design. Early on, I could see that elastic was going to be a problem to get; 1/4 inch was completely sold out.   I had already had bulk bought some before Christmas for my Etsy shop hair scrunchies (which was a surprise best seller for me!  Who knew hair scrunchies were back in style?) that I had quickly sewn through.   Thankfully, my engineering skills have paid off once again because I am GOOD AT MATH....

...and this is America, so people didn't realize that 3/8" elastic is a meer 1/8" bigger than 1/4" so I quickly panic bought 60 yards of the stuff from JoAnn while everyone else in the US was panic buying toilet paper on March 21.  Since I buy MTU fabric by the bolt from Portage Quilt House, I was set to make masks for a while...and make masks I did!    I decided to make them as a fundraiser for the MTU Husky Emergency Assistance Fund.

Applying my vast MTU engineering skills,  I quickly set about to improve my OEE (overall equipment effectiveness) by reducing my cycle time.   Luckily for me, I had just purchased my fantasy Swiss made sewing machine,  a Bernina 535, with my bonus check.   This machine has lots of bells and whistles like a knee lever to raise my presser foot and an automatic knotting feature, but even my old Kenmore could probably knock out a facemask in 5 minutes* without these features.

So, here is how I did it:

Before you start....


*The 5 minutes doesn't include washing and drying the fabric, which I strongly recommend you do. Prior to sewing masks, I laundered the fabric in the sanitary cycle of my washing machine, which heats the wash to 170 F for 3 minutes and then maintains the temperature at 150 F for the 2+ hr cycle to reduce shrinkage in the final product.  Quilting fabric will shrink up quite a bit, so I cut my fabric 13" in height strips and then trimmed before sewing into 9"x12" rectangles.

1. Cut fabric into a rectangle, with the "MTU" along the X axis.  Let X = 9" and Y = 12".  No interfacing is required; don't bother using it even though the JoAnn design suggested it.  Cut 2 7 inch pieces of elastic.

2.  Press into a 6"x9".   Remember, like most sewing projects, your home ec teacher was right.  Your iron is almost as important as your sewing machine.  Your iron is your friend when you are making masks. When you iron it, you don't have to pin it.

3. Sew across the top at about a 1/4" seam allowance, leaving about a 2 inch gap somewhere near the center.   Now is not the time for rocket science, just estimate it.   I marked it in blue to show where it is in this photo, but no marking is needed

4.  Pin the elastic in. The fabric is now in a tube shape, inside out.  Place the elastic inside the tube of fabric in a C shape and make sure it is flat, and use a pin to hold it in each corner.  Make sure the pin head is facing outboard.  This is worst part of making the mask, in my opinion.   I taught my husband how to do it so I didn't have to!

Elastic should be in this shape inside the fabric tube

5. Sew down both sides, pulling pins out as soon as the presser foot has it held down.  I found that it gets hung up less if you do this instead of sewing over them.

6.  Now turn through the 2 inch gap and pull out the elastic to stretch out the corners, and make sure you've turned down 1/4" fabric in the gap and press. Remember, your iron is your friend!!

7.  You are in the home stretch now; time to pin the pleats!  This is where people waste way too much time.  You don't need to mark anything, you can eyeball it.  You don't (God forbid) need to make a jig.   And now is not the time to use Wonder clips, sewists!  They are too bulky!!  Don't get me wrong; I love me some Wonder clips, but not for this.   Straight pins are what you need....

The key is getting your first pleat in right under the elastic, and then the others will fit right in underneath.  If you get the first one pinned wrong, you will need to repin, and that will add on to your cycle time.  Pin heads outboard!

fold it under right to elastic, pin heads outboard

back side view:pleat fold is right under the elastic

side view, all folded in, minimize bulk

Top view, note MTU is facing UP

8.  Time to sew it up!  Start in the upper rh corner and topstitch the whole thing in one stretch, pivoting each corner with your needle down.  I like to leave about a 1/4' on the elastic sides (using the edge of my presser foot as a guide) and a narrower stitch at the top and bottom to make sure I've closed the gap.  Again, pull pins out before you sew over them to make sure things don't get hung up

9.  TA DA!  After some practice, you can sew one in 5 minutes!

After I make my masks, I wash them again in the sanitary cycle of my machine. 

DIY Beeswax Wraps

Every once in a while, I embark on a project that becomes an ordeal.   Like the time I made veal demi-glace from scratch which I realized was a colossal waste of time, especially after I lost it all when the power went out and my freezer thawed.   I just don't really need veal demi-glace that bad, and if I did, I can buy it right from Bob Sparrow at Sparrow's Meat Market himself.    Likewise, you can just buy these from me and save yourself lots of time and money.   I just posted this listing in my Etsy shop.  Here is my tale of how these came to be...

Many of my crafting ideas come to me when I have the day off from work, so last summer, while on vacation, I came across this blog post about DIY beeswax wraps and decided I wanted to make my own.  The ones you can buy locally are $18 for a set of 3, and I didn't want to spend that much, so I reckoned I could make them cheaper.   Plus, I had a long standing dream of making my own oil cloth someday....yes, I realize that is a strange dream....but I get weird ideas like this all the time.    So, instead of just spending $18, I decided to spend $24.63 to buy beeswax, jojoba oil and pine resin on Amazon.   I wasn't sure where I could get pine resin, but I know it is the stuff you put on your hands when you are bowling or playing baseball, so I bought a container.    Many months went by before I actually set out to make this craft.  I got down to it last weekend, and discovered a) I already had a bottle of jojoba oil in my craft room from some other craft I forgot to do and b) sports rosin doesn't melt.  Evidently there's more than just pine resin in sports rosin.     Off I head to the natural food store to try to buy some pine resin, because herbalists use it for salves and ointment.  I even tried the sporting goods store again, thinking perhaps they sell sticks of it for baseball bats.   Yes, but it is pine tar, and it is black.  That wasn't going to work.....so enter my friend Dave...

Everyone should have a friend like Dave.   I have known Dave since we were both college students at Michigan Tech, where we worked in the computer center together.  Dave is the kind of guy that when he gets curious about something, he goes and figures it out.  For example, here is how he figured out solar power.    So I figured Dave would know where to get some pine resin....and of course he did, because last year he decided to make some pine resin glue for his boots.  (and you thought I had strange dreams because I want to make my own oil cloth!)  He told me he had some left over that he harvested.   So, I set aside the day of crafting to meet Dave at the Corner Brewery in  Ypsi to pick up his stash of pine resin and have a few beers ($10).   Finally, I set out to melt the resin, and there was just too much stuff in it to make it work for wraps.   I needed PURE GRANULATED PINE RESIN.  Another $19.95  later on Amazon, and now I am ready to start!  Total cost of project is now up to $54.58.

I followed the directions as written in the blog post, and started melting the pine resin in a double boiler.   It takes about 20 minutes, stirring regularly with a wooden skewer.  Pine resin sticks to everything.   Then, I added the beeswax, and the pine resin immediately solidified and the process had to start all over again!  What works better is to just mix the beeswax and resin together from the start.  There is no reason do it separately.   The blog post said that it would make 4 12"x12" wraps, but it didn't for me....maybe because my cloth was thicker, it only made 2. 

Here is the recipe:

DIY Beeswax Wraps
2 T. granulated pine resin  (18 g)
1/4 c. beeswax pellets
1 T. jojoba oil

Preheat oven to 225 F.  Cover a cookie sheet with parchment paper.  Heat resin and beeswax in double boiler until melted, about 20 minutes, stirring regularly.   Add oil and stir.   Paint on cloth until evenly covered.  The wax will solidify as you paint it on.   Place in oven until all wax is melted again, and then take it out of the oven and place other piece of fabric on the top and flip it over.  Use oven gloves, it will be hot!  Press down on new piece of fabric to soak up excess wax.   Remove original cloth and cool on clothes rack.  Repeat with second cloth using remaining wax, softening in oven to insure uniform waxing over surface.

After the resin and wax is melted, add the jojoba oil.  I forgot for one batch and had to throw them out.   They will be too stiff.  Also, don't forget to put the cap back on the jojoba oil or you can spill it all over the counter.   Luckily I had another bottle available ($5.99) .  My hands were real soft, except where the pine resin stuck to them.   Also, had to throw out my brand new Kitchen Aid plastic measuring spoons ($16.65) because pine resin really likes to stick to plastic, I have learned.   Instead, just weigh it out....2 T. is 18 grams of pine resin.  Since I had my scale out now, I noticed my kitchen looked like something out of Breaking Bad.....

Pine resin is flammable, fires love beeswax, and I am standing around my kitchen in my PJs.  How would I possibly explain this to the fire department if I needed to call 911?  Better be careful to keep the flame away from it all.     Hours later, my wraps are now complete....total cost of $77.82.  Thankfully, I realized that I should take off my wedding ring before resin attached itself to my diamond and I didn't pour anything down  the sink which would have required a plumber, or these wraps could have cost much more.  I did have to throw away the paintbrush after ($7.00) so the total cost is now $84.22!!!  Good thing I didn't spend the $18 originally!   The good news is now I am selling the wraps for $8 on my Etsy store, so you don't have to make them.   Also, now that I have a lifetime supply of pine resin, I guess it is time to start making pine resin salve.

Happy Crafting!

Yellow Owl Workshop's Make It Yours

My New Year's resolution for 2017 was to make a craft every month.   I've been having some decent success with my endeavor....so much so that I started an Etsy store to sell my work...

I also have reviewed cookbooks for an outfit called "Blogging for Books", and when they asked me to review a craft book, I jumped at the chance.   They provided me a copy of one of the latest books:

It is written by an artist named Christine Schmidt who is the founder of a California based paper goods company known for its "sophisticated and playful aesthetic" (or so says the jacket cover).   Upon receiving the book, I can see what they meant by "playful aesthetic" because most the stamp and stencil projects all look like something a kid would make.   Try as I might, I didn't find much to inspire me.   Maybe it will inspire you?   So, the end result it is is not really my thing, but it does describe the stamping and stenciling techniques well, which I hope to apply to projects that actually match my aesthetic, whatever that might be...perhaps it is best described as "vintage geek"?

Bottom line: Solid techniques, not really my style  

Upper Peninsula Inspired Glass Magnets

I'm the kind of person that goes to a craft sale and doesn't buy anything, because I think "I can make that!" but I never actually do.   My 2017 New Year's Resolution is to complete a craft each month.  I have never considered myself "crafty", although I guess I have some key skills needed to make crafts, such a sewing or cookie decorating.   I am good at copying other people's crafts.   I'm also the kind of gal that starts projects and never finishes them, and tend to be a perfectionist.    So for 2017, I am going to try to tap into my creative side and also work on my perseverance and try to complete a craft each month.  To help me,  I started a craft club on fb with some of the other Michigan Tech parents called Michigan Tech Inspired where we create an MTU or Upper Peninsula inspired craft each month to create.   My son is a sophomore at MTU and it is my alma mater, so this should be great fun!  Anyone is welcome to join....even if you don't have a connection with MTU and are interested in making crafts with an "Up North" theme.   Join us!

For our first craft this month, we made glass magnets.  It was a true test of my perseverance.    I found instructions several places online, and I talked to friends that made them with their 4H or Girl Scout troop so I thought this was going to be a snap.  If kids can do it, surely I can!  I headed out to Michaels on my lunch hour one day to buy supplies.   I found the glass gems in 1.5" size, and some strong disk magnets.  I saw that some people use thin magnets with adhesive on the back that can be cut with scissors, but these glass gems are heavy and I wanted them to stay put, so I went with beefier magnets.    Next stop, the adhesive aisle!  Being an engineer, I have a glue fetish.   I love to get the exact perfect fixative for every project.   Which glue to buy?   Online, people were raving about E6000 and Quick Grip, so I got some of that.   Also there is the crafter's favorite, Mod Podge.   I remember Mod Podge (or as I used to call it, "Modge Podge") from my own Girl Scout Holiday Bazaar crafting days myself.   We used Mod Podge to make Holly Hobbie plaques to sell.  So I got some of that, too.   I left the store with enough glue to make crafts for a lifetime!

To prep for my year long crafting extravaganza, I actually cleaned and organize the spare room I like to call the "craft room" (my husband calls it the "crap room") and set forth.  And that's when my inner  perfectionist reared it's ugly head.   The downside of being an engineer is that it makes you constantly look for how things can go wrong in any situation, and prevent them.   So, before I could unleash whatever artistic vision I might have deep down inside my soul, I needed to first determine which adhesive worked best.    I decided to use a vintage postcard image of the Keweenaw that I love as my prototype.  I used Microsoft Publisher to make my image, and spent more time than I should have trying to exactly match the blue of Lake Superior to fill the rest of the circle.   Did you know that there are apps you can get that will tell you the exact Pantone color of something?   I now know this, but I didn't need to learn this, because that kind of color matching doesn't need to happen when you are making an image this small that will be viewed under a blob of glass.   Just get it close enough!   Once I was able to move on, I printed a few copies on paper to test adhesives.    I had read online that Mod Podge tends to make ink jet print ink run because it is water based, so I was hoping the other adhesives wouldn't.    Then I started to wonder if E6000 and Quick Grip were actually the same thing, just sold under different brand names, so off I went to find the MSDS sheets on them to figure that out.   See this is why I never get crafts done!  (I'll cut to the chase: no they are not the same).   Then, I noticed that the ink printed on paper seeped through the back side, so I also tested printing on card stock and glossy photo paper.    I had read on the internet that putting the printed paper in the freezer would prevent it from running, which sounded like bullshit to me, but I tried it anyway:

No freezing required

The bottom line?   Mod Podge on card stock worked the best!  I was correct, the freezer idea didn't work....the other 2 adhesives resulted in clouding of the image with some crystal residue.   The Mod Podge didn't stick at all to the glossy photo paper.  Also, when I used some E6000 to stick the magnet on the back, it showed through on the other side.   Another downside to being an engineer is that we are very thrifty, so I decided to repurpose all my prototypes except the one that worked best by soaking them in hot water to remove the image.  Lesson learned: if you make a magnet you don't like, you can start over.   It even worked on the glue that is supposed to be waterproof.

So now it was time to get down to the art.   What images to pick?   The other crafters in my group were already well on their way making many Michigan Tech Husky related magnets and sending theme off in care packages to their students.   Since I knew I wanted to go with my vintage Keweenaw Land postcard image, I decided to stick with the vintage theme.  I found some great images of Houghton establishment logos to use, plus some mid century winter sport scenes.   My son is a hunter and a fisherman, so some old school hunting images would be great, too.  The lift bridge, the miner statue....the MTU logo of my 1980s era....it was fun to find images.   Remembering that I don't need to match everything perfectly, I made a template of 1.5 inch circles in Microsoft publisher, and then used the shape fill with a picture option to make the images.   I found that rectangular images with a lot of space on the periphery tended to work best.  For those that didn't have that, I just filled with a color that looked close enough, and then placed the image on top of it.

I printed them out on business card weight card stuck I had in a cream color that further enhanced the vintage look, and cut them out with scissors.  I wet the back of the glass gem with Mod Podge (it was opaque white) and then pressed them down on the image, making sure to get all the air bubbles out.   I let them dry overnight, and then used the scissors to trim them.   I stuck the magnets on the back with Quick Grip, but I am sure E6000 would work just as well.    Voila!  I completed  a craft!!!  YAY!

Glass Magnets

I packed up a care package to send to my son, including these magnets and some snacks.  I'm looking forward to our February craft.  Meanwhile, I've got tons of requests for these magnets, so I put them up for sale in my Etsy store.   Check it out!

Forcing Bulbs

How to force spring bulbs for Christmas

In the fall, when spring flowering bulbs are being sold everywhere, buy some extra. Traditionally, the bulbs are supposed to spend 12 weeks in the cold, but I have found that even less than 12 weeks will work out fine.

Buy some polished rocks in the houseplant area of any store. Decorate with permanent markers or paint pens terra cotta plant saucers (the kind you put under a terra cotta pot). You can seal them with some brush on sealant found at craft stores.

Then, put an odd number of bulbs in the saucer (odd numbers look better, like 3 or 5, depending on the saucer size) and surround them with the rocks. Keep their noses out of the rocks and pointed up. I write out instructions for forcing on an index card and put the card in a plastic bag and tie with a ribbon. If you are doing paperwhites, they get kind of tall and sometimes I tie them to some chopsticks, you could include. Lately, I've been sticking to hyacinths, because I love the smell of them.

Here are the instructions for forcing:
Instant Spring - just add water
1. Keep this saucer in a cool spot until New Year's - your refrigerator or garage is good.
2. Put the saucer in a warm spot in your house or office
3. Keep the rocks wet
4. It will be spring by February!

By the way, in January, when you are really sick of winter, if you have a forsythia bush in your yard, you can cut some of the branches and then make an "X" in the bottom of the branch with a knife and put them in some warm water in a vase. Change the water every day if you can, and you can force it to bloom, which is really nice, too.

Sweater Mittens

This is an idea from Family Fun Magazine. We will be making these for the 5th grade winter party this week.

These mittens -- made from old sweaters that have been "felted" (shrunken into a dense, nonraveling material). We will also make stocking shapes. Each kid will make one in class.

CRAFT MATERIALS:
Old wool sweater (use only 100 percent wool; tight weaves work especially well)
Paper and pencil
Pins and scissors
Yarn
Tapestry or yarn needle

Time needed: Afternoon or Evening
1. Wash the sweater in the hot cycle of your washer three or four times with regular detergent. Then pop the sweater into the drier for about 45 minutes, or until it shrinks and becomes feltlike in texture. Certain sweaters shrink better than others, and the drying time will vary depending on the sweater's thickness.

2. To make a mitten template, trace around one of your (or your child's) mittens, leaving an extra inch or so around the edge for sewing. Pin the template onto the felted fabric, then cut out four matching mitten shapes.

3. Pin two of the mitten sides together. Using a contrasting color of yarn, stitch around the edges (a blanket stitch, as used here, looks especially nice).

Tips:
If you don't have any old wool sweaters, check at a local thrift shop (they rarely charge more than two or three dollars per sweater). Keep an eye out for old Fair Isles; the intricate patterns shrink into pretty designs.