Clothespin Cuteness

I do not have a clothes dryer. I sold it a few months ago, after not using it for a few years: My clothes air-dried on drying racks. It worked fine, and the savings on electricity have been nice.

Recently, my wonderful husband put up a clothesline in the yard. Now I actually have the drying space to do more than one load a day, if I so choose. I can still employ the racks if I run out of room on the line.

A clothesline meant that I needed to get clothespins, though--and clothespins just must have a pretty holder.


I have seen some very functional clothespin holders that were not pretty, but I wanted something that I would enjoy looking at while I am hanging out the clothes. I think mine fills that purpose amply, in addition to serving as a place to keep my clothespins.

The body of the holder was once the bottom of a dress. Since it was a straight-skirted dress, I just cut the skirt off straight across and folded part of it up to make the pocket. I left the fabric doubled to increase the durability of it. The contrasting trim was made from scraps left from another project. There are little tortoiseshell-colored buttons at the base of the straps to hold the bag on the line.



My clothespin holder makes me smile every time I use it.

Dressy Apron

I made an apron while I was in high school. It was a combination 4-H and Home Economics project. Here is how it turned out:


As you can see, it is pretty basic. It is just a plain, practical apron made of a navy cotton calico with stars on it.


It is a very functional design with not a particle of femininity. At the time, it was what I wanted. I was not into all that frilly "nonsense"; I was a tomboy and thought that anything ruffly or lacy or what-have-you would be entirely impractical and render the apron pretty much useless. Therefore, my apron was basically unisex.

Since then, I have learned better. It is so much more fun to have the frills, and they make it more enjoyable to cook (which is not one of my favorite activities). So, as a decidedly feminine and girly girl now, I wanted an apron that would make me feel pretty. I started with this:



It is a dress that I made several years ago. It was well-loved and, thus, well-worn. It became faded and not was not donned very often. I thought it would make a beautiful apron. So I took off the buttons (and saved them for another use, of course), lapped the left front over the right (to hide the buttonholes) and sewed it down with a few lines of stitching, cut larger armholes (the sleeves are raglan), and removed the back panel (it is a princess-seamed, gored style).



Then I serged the back edges and turned them under. From the removed panel, I made a couple ties and attached them to the edges at the waist.



The result is an absolutely adorable apron that makes homemaking even more enjoyable. Pretty things make such a difference in my world!!

A Case for Protection

No, I have no connections with the mafia.

Most of my projects are fairly typical, but every once in awhile, I encounter a proposition to make something a bit more unusual, such as constructing aviation headset covers for a pilot whose equipment was scratching the canopy of his plane. Those kinds of things present a special challenge, because I have to completely design the item and then figure out how to make it. It was in such an instance that I worked on the subject of this post.

My client has a son with an extremely rare metabolic disease, and he uses an assistive communication device. Because he can be a bit rough with the things around him, my client wanted a protective cover for his Vanguard. She also wanted it to be thickly padded enough that he would have to use his fingertips on the screen and not just rest his whole hand on it. She and his teacher made a foam frame to fit around the front and sides of the machine; my job was to enclose that frame in fabric in order to keep it on the Vanguard and to provide additional padding for the back.

The foam is about an inch thick. I cut slots in it where it goes over the top of the screen so that those working with the boy can still access the buttons at the top, but the nylon fabric covers them so that he cannot manipulate them. The back of the case opens to allow access to various necessary ports needed for connection to computer and charging devices, as well as a hook that enables attachment of the machine to a stand. In the photo, you can see the D-rings on the sides for use with a carrying strap.

The challenge of making something like this is always exciting, but the thrill of being able to provide a satisfactory product is simply wonderful. It was especially so with this project, since it helped a special boy and his family.