Improvised thread cone holder

So I thought I needed one of these which cost about $80 and have to be mail ordered.

commercially available thread cone holder with heavy base

What I really needed was to identify the function of the item I desired and look around me.

So I made this, for nothing, and don't have to add another unitask object to our home.

Lazy Kate threaded through the loop of a safety pin on the sewing machine's reel holder

Large sewing projects just became more efficient by not having to change the thread.  And this weekend I have half a house of curtains to make and then there are 14 or so tablecloths and several hundred metres of bunting for the wedding to sew soon, too.

Here I was winding bobbins and taking photos.  It sews better when the Kate is on the floor.

The old Husky has been serviced and is such a work horse for jobs like this.

Another improvised thread cone holder is documented here.  May give it a go as well.

Burping Babies

Apparently burp cloths are a thing.  I don't remember them being a thing 19 years ago when I was last involved in baby raising - we had old nappies to throw over the shoulder or lap for burp time, but there are fewer of these around now.

I do seem to remember my mother making some for my sister-in-law when my nephew was wee - he turns 16 this month.  Mum raided my stash and used vintage flannelette which had come from a friend's grandmother's stash.  It has to be at least 40 years old now.

I had many metres of mint green and a slightly fewer metres of white and it is so much softer than anything I could buy in shops now.  But plain flanelette isn't very visually appealing.

My research showed that a cute print on one side and flanelette or a soft knit on the other is the done thing. I found a simple downloadable pattern and then lengthened it by two inches in the middle because one thing I do remember about burping babies is that it can dribble a surprisingly long and sitnky way.

The children's print fabric in stash was quickly used up so I cast about for other fabrics.

And I had a lone fat quarter purchased secondhand.

1 fat quarter - 2 burp cloths

 I've been saving lovely cotton fabrics from shirts rescued from the free bins at the local tip shop.  I harvest the shirts for buttons and other trim but can't bear to throw away gorgeous fabric with a lot of wear left in it. The fabric was intended for hankies or other small projects but if the fabric is soft enough for hankies it's soft enough for burp cloths.

Fine cotton from woman's pyjama top

This soft cotton twill was a large Pierre Cardin man's shirt.

Burp on that, baby.

So what's a knitter to do when she's home from work in a heatwave?

Knit icord.

Lots of icord.

And embellish with stashed buttons to make jewelry.  Can I call it jewelry?  Certainly they are accessories. Meh, whatever, they are pretty and achieved not only from stash but from scraps.  That must score off the scale on the thrift-o-metre!

Here TOF's nameless childhood teddy models Garbo Garnets made from scraps of 4ply maroon wool left over from a matinee jacket and booties set.

I bought the yarn in a HUGE bag of industrial leftovers from Marrickville Reverse Garbage 12 or more years ago.

The buttons on the necklace came from a shirt I picked up from the free bins at the Green Shed recently.  The button on the bracelet is from button stash.

The yarn weighed 6 grams and there are 3 grams left, so more bangles may be in order.  The necklace is 57cm long, the bangle 19cm long.  Both are finished with a button loop.




































This necklace, Noose, is from scraps of Woollen Rabbit Pandora (Wool/bamboo/nylon blend) in the colourway Robin's Nest.  The button is from my mother's stash.  Originally I had planned to embellish this all the way around with pearl buttons, but I really like it this way.  It will look great against my predominantly black wardrobe or over a white shirt.  The sheen on this yarn is delicious.

The necklace measures 240cm and also has a button loop. The yarn is left over from a shawlette that is currently blocking and there are still 9g of it left.  I think I will make another pair of Saartjes booties from it - this yarn doesn't feel like it wants to be bangles.