Sewing Tip -- Maximizing your Fabric

I sew quickly, because I have limited time and too many ideas; I don't always iron, pin, or prewash fabric. This can come back to haunt me though and often when I take a short cut I regret it. I'll happily share what I learn so you won't make the same mistakes!

When laying out your pattern remember to keep your pieces together so you can have as many large remnants as possible. Good fabric ain't cheap. This is sewing 101 though, you probably already know that - the real tip is to take a good look at your fabric before laying out your pieces. I recently cut and began sewing before realizing that the front panel of a cute dress for my toddler contained a thread imperfection. If I had scanned the fabric first I could have laid my pattern so the back or side contained that small mark. Or if possible, avoided it all together. And then it happened to me again just a week later! Lesson (eventually) learned -- better late then never.

Outside In -- Branches as Decoration

I'm a bit obsessed with branches. And rocks, and to a lesser extent, shells. As decor.

I have a funky over-the-shelf, under-the-stairs space in my living room that looked lovely when empty but always ended up filled with overflow stuff. When my dad called and told me that the unseasonable snow had broken some branches off their Ash trees I thought "poor trees", "poor parents" and "free branches!". Not necessarily in that order.


On my next visit home I picked a number of likely candidates and made my husband load them into the car. When we got home I trimmed the branches to fit, mounted them, added some lighting, and for the final touch, a couple of faux birds that I'd been hanging onto for the right project.

Here's how I did it:
First I choose which branches to use. I put the thickest trunks towards the front, thinner in back to encourage the illusion of depth. I measured the height at the points I wanted to place the branches. Then I cut the bases of the branches flat, marked where the sub-branches needed to be cut and cut those with a hand saw.

At first I tried wedging them into the space, but my cat jumped up and knocked the branches over, so I added bases to help keep them upright. I drilled a narrow hole in the base of each branch and screwed a thin piece of wood to the base.

The finishing touch (other than the birds) was the backlight. I took a long florescent light, wrapped it with an amber gel (from a film production store) and put it on a timer so it only comes on in the evening. The birds were Christmas ornaments from Z Gallery.
Fitting them into the triangular space was a bit tricky. I probably could have measured more accurately, but it works and the minor errors are really only noticeable to me.

Greens Year Round --- DIY Planter

Every year I swear I'm not going to grow any edibles - my roof deck is small and overgrown as it is - but each spring I cave and plant pots of tomatoes, lemon cucumbers, peppers, herbs, beans...whatever strikes my fancy. I'll try to grow most anything, anything that is except for greens. The last time I tried to grow lettuce, years ago, it was bitter and bolted really quickly and I've been loath to waste my limited space on something I know won't please me.

Then one night I had dinner at a friend's and was amazed by her home-grown salad. I caved. Again! I bought a packet of Arugula seeds and decided to find space for an experiment.

Greens don't need deep pots, unlike other vegetables with a deeper root system. The wider the pot the more growing space you get, but I didn't want to spend money on wide, shallow pots. Mostly what I have on-hand are deep five-gallon pots from previous plant purchases and those work, but I'd get limited growing space for the amount of soil needed to fill the pot.

But then I realized I had everything I needed to make the perfect greens growing container right at my fingertips! I took a long milk crate (12"x!6"), some garden fabric (which drains nicely and I had some left from an old project), and some twine. I lined the milk crate with the fabric, secured it with twine, and filled it with dirt. I watered the dirt, then sprinkled the seeds on top, covering them with a handful of dry dirt so they were planted 1/4" deep as instructed on the seed packet.

After watering regularly I was rewarded with a bed of baby arugulas! To minimize the bitter taste and early bolting I wait until the greens are 3-4" tall then cut them all down, leaving 1" of each plant. I eat a yummy salad for a few days while the 1" trimmings regrow. The following week I can harvest another batch! I usually manage to harvest each pot three times, at which point I pull up the plants, compost them, and reseed. For continual greens you need two or three pots with staggered seeding.

Also, to minimize early bolting I keep the greens in the shade, usually mixed in with some taller plants. This has the added benefit of hiding the planters since, while functional, they aren't particularly attractive. I'm on the lookout for some low-cost siding to help beautify the milk crates. Any ideas?