Velcro Face Bandana Tutorial

With the pending arrival of blizzard number two in less than five days, I thought I’d share a tutorial.

Yes, I said blizzard number two. We already have about 3 feet of snow on the ground.

Anyways, when your trying to shovel snow in 40 mph winds when the tempature is about 10 degrees, you need something to cover your face to keep your skin from freezing.

I like bandanas, but they tend to come untied on me, which is okay sometimes, but not when you really need the protection and don’t want to be re-tying every 10 minutes.

So here’s my solution.

First thing your going to need to do is draft the pattern. I have no clue how to make a fancy PDF pattern for you and am lacking a scanner, so you’ll just have to draw it out on your own. I promise it’s easy.

Note: This fits the average adult. Since I don’t have a child to test out a child sized version on, please share the measurements if you do make a scaled down version.

Tape two pieces of paper together because it won’t fit on one. Starting at the far left,  go 8.5″ and mark it “fold.” This edge will go on the fold of your fabric. Moving clockwise, the top length is 12.5″. The right end is 3.5″, then go in 4.5 inches. Now connect your 8.5″ point with the 4.5″ point with an angle; it should be about 9.5″ long. And your done. Now cut it out.

Now using your pattern, cut out your fabrics. Your going to want to use one cotten fabric and one flannel fabric. This seems to be the best combo. Two flannels is too much and doesn’t breath well. You can use two cottens, but I like the softness of the flannel, and it tends to “stick” better to my hat, which keeps it from sliding down. It might seem like a good idea to use a waterproof fabric, but don’t! It won’t breath and you’ll end up with a wet, frozen face. You need the moisture from your breathe to be able to evaporate to keep your face at least semi-dry.

Open up your fabric and iron them and flip them over so the right sides are showing.

Cut at least a 7″ piece of Velcro. Take the soft side and cut it in half. Place it vertically on the right side of the flannel fabric on the right side. It should be next to each other so when sewn down it looks like one piece. Place it about 1.5″ in from the end and leave about 0.5″ of room at the top and bottom. You might need to trim the Velcro to give enough room. Pin down if you would like and sew.

Take the other half of your Velcro and cut in half and place horizontally on the right side of the cotton fabric on the right side. Again leave about 1.5″ of room from the end and 0.5″ on the top and bottom. This time also leave room between the two pieces of Velcro. Pin if you would like and sew.

So with both of your fabrics right side up, you should have the Velcro on the right side of each. Iron again if needed then put the right sides together and pin if you would like to.

Start sewing in the middle the top end. I built in a .25″ seam allowance into the pattern. Sew all the way around, remembering to leave 3″-4″ inches open for flipping.

Clip the corners, flip right sides out and iron.

Then top stitch along the edge and your done!

Throw on a pair of ridiculous looking sunglasses and you’re ready to go!

Few notes for wear: the bandana seems to stay on best if you put your hat on first and then the bandanna over that. The flannel will stick to the hat and keep it from sliding down. If you can, pulling your hair into a ponytail and attaching the bandanna on top of that will also help keep it from sliding down.

Crafter Interview: Charity

Today I’m talking with the very talented Charity, who you probably know as vegbee, from Indie Tutes (Blueprints). Despite her being allergic to money, she has started selling patterns,  Little Print Designs while keeping the awesome tutorials coming on her blog. Charity has some of the best, and most original tutorials on the web, as well as lots of general sewing information, so be sure to check out her blog after your done reading more about her.

How long have you been crafting and how did you first get started?

My grandmother is skilled in needlework and my mother has dabbled in all sorts of crafts as I grew up; being creative and making things has always been foundational in the way my family and I live.  In my younger years, I drifted towards the fine arts and dramatics, and I thought of myself as somewhat of an artist.  Identifying myself as a crafty person did not come until about 8 years ago when my significant other and I began having ‘crafty Sundays’, when we would play around with polymer clay, origami, paper mache, or any other project that caught our fancy.  Eventually crafty Sundays became crafty everyday and I found myself having my entire apartment taken over with the tools and creations of my new found obsession.

What area is your specialty and has this always been your area of interest?

My area is sewing and I never would have dreamed I’d ever be even remotely proficient at it.  Until four years ago, I was sufficiently traumatized by my seventh grade home economics teacher to believe that I was genetically incapable of assembling anything made of fabric.

I think you have done a pretty good job of proving that teacher wrong! How did you hone your skills?

I am mainly self-taught by spending time studying ready-made garments and their construction, with a smattering of advice from various lovely grannies in my life, and a whole lot time reading, looking, and thinking about all the information out there online, in books, and magazines.  An incredible resource has been online crafting communities and forums, where I have found general inspiration, lots of ideas, continuing motivation in feedback for my projects, and, when needed, a very specific answer to a unique issue when asked.  Another powerful source for learning has been blogging – I’ve solidified and enhanced my skills as I’ve written about them in tutorials.  Helping others and sharing ideas is a brilliant way to learn.  I can’t thank my readers enough for that!

I’m always impressed with the new things you come up with for your tutorials/patterns, as well as your ability to repurpose items. Where do you find your inspiration?

My inspiration comes from music and the styles of popular and subcultures.  I like to sew what fits my mood, which is created and reflected by the music I am listening to at the moment.  If you look back at my projects through the years, you can pretty much guess what genre of music I was listening to at the time.  I have garments reflecting punk, rockabilly, political folk, ‘80s pop and ’60s rock and roll.  Right now I’m listening to a lot of country folk music and have just upcycled a country and western gingham patterned man`s shirt with pearl snaps into peasant blouse style shirts for my daughter.

Musical inspiration, that’s very cool. How have your children influenced what and how you create?

My kids are my guinea pigs, my conspirators, and my muses.  Almost everything I`ve sewn has been for my children, good and bad.  On a technical level, having small children to care has forced me to focus my sewing on fast and forgiving type projects, such as reconstructions.  I do not have the time right now to play with small details or embellishments, and given how fast the kids stain, tear or grow out of what I do make, it helps not to invest too much time or money in any particular garment.  It is sewing with a touch of abandon, furiously and a bit on the edge, knowing that what you make can be undone so quickly.

About how much time do you spend a day/week working on your projects?

I spend anywhere from two to twenty hours a week on projects, depending on my other commitments and needs.  Usually that time is broken into twenty minute jumps, as daily activities permit small pockets in which to work.

Do you like to start and finish a project before starting another one, or work on multiple projects at once?

I usually have several on the go, since I have an intense aversion to frustration and find that if I`m getting irritated with a project or feel overwhelmed I can put it aside for a few days, work on something else, and return to it feeling much more relaxed and productive.

Where do you like to get your fabric/supplies for your projects? Do you impulse buy, or only buy what you need when you need it?

Most everything I have comes from thrift stores: clothing to reconstruct and I pick up various notions as I find them.  I try to work with what I have, which sometimes leads down surprising roads.  I do, however, buy new thread and needles in the fabric shop.  I’ve never found needles any other place and any thread in the second hand store is most likely too old and will cause more tears than anything.

What made you decide to start selling your patterns, and how exactly does one go about that?

I began selling patterns about the time when people started asking for a copy of whatever I had designed for myself.  I had no problem with sharing my patterns out, but my husband always bugs me about being allergic to making money, so I decided to ask for a fair price for them.  For anyone interested in selling patterns online, Etsy is a great place to start, and developing your own website would be a natural next step.  I highly recommend blogging as a way to reach other to others and show them that you can write well and present ideas clearly.  There is something almost intimate between a sewer and a pattern maker – they need to be able to understand each other clearly to successfully complete a garment.  A pattern producer may work well for one person and appear completely incomprehensible to the next.  There is a style of communication and a building of trust that will bring people to try your first pattern and then, if your presentation is clear, they’ll come back for more.  The pattern makers job is to make things as easy as possible for the sewer.  Start with that and the rest will come along.

For someone who has never visited your blog, what are 5 of your must read posts/tutorials?

Breaking Needles while Breaking Ground

Crayon Liberation

Toddler Backpack

Adding Pin tucks and Gathers

Creating Your Own T-shirt Pattern

Thank you Charity for taking time to answer my questions. It was very fun to find out more about one of my favorite crafters and how you create. Readers, be sure to head on over to Charity’s blog and check out all she has to offer, and stop by her shop and grab a pattern to try while you’re at it.

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Want to try one of Charity’s patterns for free? She has generously agreed to giveaway an the choice of one of her e-patterns to one lucky commenter. To enter, leave a comment below answering the question, “Do you prefer to sew with patterns or without?” Only one entry per person, please. Winner will be drawn and announced on February 13th. Good luck!

It’s on days like this…

… I wish we owned a snow blower.

Actually no, a whole snow plow.

I curious to know where mother nature expects us to put the snow coming on Tuesday…

Here we go again

I feel like I wrote a post less than two months ago about record breaking snowfall.

Oh wait, I did.

It was Dec. 19th when we got about 18″-20″ and made the top 5 for a December snowfall.

The average yearly snowfall for the Baltimore area is 18″.

We meet that before Christmas.

Here we go again.

This time we expect to break our local record of 28.5″ set President’s Day weekend on 2003.

Oh by the way, Al Gore, what’s this you say about global warming? I’m confused.

I took this photo about an hour ago and it’s already outdated. The yard-plus-a-foot stick reads 30 inches now. The 3 foot mark is between the N and the G if you can see it. Considering we have about 12 hours to go, and it’s really picked up here recently, we might reach it.

It took us about a week to recover from the ‘03 storm, so I’m fairly certain the kids will be enjoying the week off. Especially considering we are suppose to get more snow on Tuesday. Yes, more snow.

Although we are used to snow here in Baltimore, we are not quite use to this high of an amount all at once. They said that our 2,400 pieces of snow removal equipment are struggling to keep one lane open on the major highways, much less a lane on the snow emergency routes.

I don’t think anyone is going to any Super Bowl parties tomorrow…

Selective Color Tutorial

When I first started playing around with Photoshop back in the day, selective color was big. You know those pictures where it’s black and white, except for one color or item. I wanted to know how to do it, but tutorials weren’t big at the time.

Wondering how to do it yourself? It’s actually very simple. Here, I’ll show you.

I’m going to be working on this picture of my boyfriend heading into the airport to fly to Utah to snowboard.

Open up your photo in Photoshop. I’m working in Elements 7.

Create a hue and saturation adjustment layer in your layers menu.

Decrease the saturation to -100 so that you have a black and white photo.

Now select your brush. Click “b” to select the brush tool and then select a hard round brush. Use your bracket [] keys to adjust the size as needed. Click “d” to set your colors to the defalt colors (black and white) and click “x” to switch the colors back and forth.

Now before we begin let’s remember, white reveals, black conceals. Here white is revealing the black and white and to conceal it and make color return, we need to paint over it with black. Got it?

Click on the layer mask (white box) and start painting over the areas where you want to bring the color back.

As your working, you may notice you accidentally spill over into areas that you don’t want to. Don’t freak out. Just switch back to white and correct where you need to.

If you want a more vintage look, you can decrease the layer opacity in the layers menu. Or like me, I love contrast, so I added a brightness and contrast adjustment layer and bumped the contrast up all the way.

Now flatten and your done! Here’s my final result.

Confused? Lost? Got a question? Feel free to contact me. I promise I don’t bite.

Note to self

Can someone please email the following to me every Monday?

“Dear ridiculously forgetful person (a.k.a. Morgan),

This is a friendly reminder to do your laundry today, as you do, attempt to do, never remember to do every Monday.

It is hard to understand why you can’t seem to remember to do your laundry every Monday until about 10:18 p.m. when your getting ready for bed and realize your out of pajama bottoms.

Especially considering the fact that it’s been 3 weeks since your last load.

And that remember this morning, you had to search for matching socks without holes in them for so long that you were late for class. The socks you put on didn’t have holes in them, but they also didn’t match.

Last night, did you notice that you only had two pairs of underwear left, and you have a unusually large collection to begin with?

The sweatshirt and shirt your wearing currently don’t match. It’s a good thing no one can really see the shirt underneath, cause you were out of matching options this morning.

On Friday night you almost fell as you tripped over the clothes on the floor next to your hamper. Those clothes were on the floor not because you missed when you threw them in that direction, but because there was no room left in your hamper.

And take a look at your closet why don’t you. When laundry is properly done, it is brimming with clothes, but it’s currently on the empty side, and none of the clothes in it match each other. Good luck finding something to wear tomorrow.

By the way, how many times have you worn the pants your currently wearing?

Sincerely,

The Laundry Police”

*No pictures will accompany this post to spare the innocent.

The Other Guide to Buying a DSLR

I get a lot of questions, mostly from in real life friends, about purchasing a DSLR. Many come to me asking what I use and wondering what they should buy. I’m writing this post to save myself from writing the same Facebook message over and over again. You find a lot of DSLR guides that talk about the camera purchase, but not what else you need. This is why this post is titled “The Other Guide.”

First off, I’m going to start by saying that if you buy a Canon I will never speak to you again that I do not endorse any one brand or type of camera. I currently shoot with a Nikon D40, and yes I love it and I think it’s a wonderful camera. But that does not mean that it is the camera for you, or even that Nikon is the brand for you.

I strongly suggest that you do a lot of shopping around and read lots of reviews to get an idea of what you want. All cameras have pros and cons, you just need to decide what you can’t live without, and what faults you can live with.

Once you have picked your camera, however, don’t forget the other things you might need to go with it. A lot of people forget about these things, but when choosing your camera, they need to be considered, because they will quickly add to the total cost of buying a DSLR.

First thing you’re probably going to want for your camera, is a good home for it. Good camera bags made to fit DSLRs aren’t cheap, so do your research ahead of time so you know how much you’ll spend on it. You might even want to purchase it ahead of time, so you have a safe place to put your investment when it arrives, other than the box it arrives in. Because trust me, you’ll never get it back in that thing.

You are also going to want to protect your glass. Back in the film days, UV filters protected against haze in photos caused by UV rays reaching the film. That need has become virtually obsolete in the digital world, so most people use them to protect their lenses. Some claim they interfere by causing flair, but this can pretty much be eliminated if you  invest in a multicoated filter. Resist the temptation to buy a cheap UV filter (i.e. not multicoated), unless you like funny green dots in your pictures, like here. (Green dots are the Christmas lights on the ceiling being reflected into the lens, the back onto the filter, and back into the camera, all thanks to a cheap filter).

Regardless, you are going to want something to protect your glass, because it’s a lot cheaper to replace a scratched filter than it is to replace or fix a scratched lens. If you shoot outdoors a lot, grab a circular polarizer while your at it. I keep cheap UV protectors on my lenses at all times, and then switch my good filters on and off as I use the lenses (removing the cheap ones of course), so if you plan on buying more than one lens, be sure you have enough to go around.

If you actually plan on taking pictures with your new baby, don’t forget a memory card! Don’t be like my friend whose camera arrived and only then did she realize she had forgotten to buy one. That’s a big bummer when you want to play with your new toy. The bigger, the faster, the better. Get a nice as you can afford and thank me later. Kingston and Lexar are the preferred brands in my house.

If you are especially prone to accidents, invest in a extended warranty. Even if you aren’t, consider it. Freak things can happen you know.

Now that you have all the essentials, consider extra lenses. Kit lenses are okay, but not usually amazing. If you plan on doing lots of outdoor shooting, you might like a zoom lens (I use an inexpensive 55mm-200mm f/4-5.6). If you plan on taking lots of portraits, you’ll love a 50mm. My 35mm almost never leaves my camera, as it’s a good portrait lens, without all the zoom of the 50mm. I know a lot of people who love their 85mm too. You typically can find all of these lenses at fairly reasonable prices.

Do be aware however, that if you are purchasing a lower end DSLR, that some lenses may not auto-focus on your camera. In my case, the inexpensive Nikon 50mm f/1.8 does not auto-focus on the D40, and it’s quite a step up to the 50mm f/1.4 that will auto-focus. That is the real reason I own a 35mm actually, but I still love it.

You can probably hear your bank account draining right now. Sorry.

But wait, there’s more!

The battery life has been pretty good on my D40, but having a spare battery is really nice. You just have to remember to charge it. Because finding an outlet in a college indoor sports complex can be tricky. Not impossible, but tricky. Don’t ask.

Depending on how and what you plan on shooting, you might want a tripod. I steal borrow with lots of permission, my dad’s travel tripod. It’s not extremely sturdy, but it’s small and light, and comes in handy for long exposure shots on the 4th of July. A remote will complete the combo nicely.

If you plan on shooting indoors a lot, you probably will begin to hate your built-in flash. It made me an anti-flash girl, but also forced me to learn my camera really well, so I never had to rely on flash for indoor shots. I got a external flash for Christmas however, and I definitely comes in handy. If you plan on doing lots of indoor shooting, get at least a basic external flash.

Now, have I drained your bank account and caused you to suddenly develop symptoms an anxiety disorder?

Yes?

My mission is now completed.

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Wondering how you are going to keep track of what to buy and where to buy it? Download my worksheet and get to work!

Please note that this worksheet is for personal use only and is not to be copied or distributed. If you would like to share it with people, please link them here.

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Where to buy?

We love Amazon.com in this house, but we’ve also purchased from Adorama.com and B&H photo. All are wonderful to work with and have the best prices and the most reviews.

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You actually wanted help picking your DSLR?

Fine.

Here is so extra reading for you.

Nice little guide that will walk you through the terms and such so you can make the best choice.

Lengthy post on Nikon vs. Canon

If your still trying to decide between a Point & Shoot and a DSLR, read here.

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Photo Credits in order of appearance because it’s really hard to take pictures of your DSLR with your DSLR.

Friend with D3 by Vincent

Just Arrived by imcountingufoz

D40 by powerbooktrance

Cover removed by bengt-re

Some useful freebies

I’ve been cleaning up my computer in preparation for the up coming school year and have been deleting a ton of stuff. While not to much of it was all that confidential, this free download of the East-Tec Eraser software will be sure it’s gone for good. It’s the 2009 version, but if it works, then you just saved $50 by not getting the latest and greatest.

And if you want to get something back that you didn’t mean to delete, then get a copy of the full version of  the Data Recovery Wizard to get back all that data.

I was thrilled to see the download for Quickbooks, as I am starting to get my act together for a full-fledged photography business and need a way to track my customers. It can only track up to 20 people, but that should give me enough time (and income) to decide if I want to purchase the full version or find something else.

Most of these are only avalible for a limited time, so snag them while you can!

B90 Update – Installment 2

This post should be title, “I was just kidding when I said this was going so well in my last post.”

No seriously.

I wrote that on the Friday before my boyfriend’s graduation. That day we were out until after midnight in single digit temperatures, testing out a friend’s homemade toboggan run, and driving a gator around the frozen ground with a kayak attached to the back (think wakeboarding without the water). Needless to say, when we arrived back at his parent’s house, I crashed.

Next day was obviously long, with graduation in the morning, and then party in the afternoon/evening. After the exhausting day, I once again took over his bed and crashed with a horrible headache.

Yup, two days behind. And somewhere I lost a third day. Probably last weekend.

I’ve managed to catch up a bit this week, so now I’m not quite a whole day behind.

I’m just really worried about how I’m going to keep up when school starts. I can’t seem to located a copy of the Bible that I can load onto my iPod, so I’ve kinda nixed that once genus idea.

I hope I also wasn’t the only one who found the end of Exodus and Numbers almost painfully boring.

I know, I know, it’s the Bible we’re talking about, but I’m being honest here. It really was. All those crazy rules and regulations, that got quite repetative after a while.

All I can say is that I am more thankful than ever for Jesus Christ after reading that. How in the world does one remember all that? I can hardly remember what was said 10 minutes ago, much less all those detailed instructions.

I know my family has read through Joshua, Judges, etc. but for some reason I never remember it being so violent. Goodness! And I find it so interesting how the Isrealites kept ignoring God’s commands, and to this day, they are still fighting for their land.

I’m still really enjoying reading at this pace however. I have gained so much insight into how the history actually flows and gotten a better idea of how all the stories that everyone knows fit together with everything else.

How is everyone else doing?

*Photo by Skeggzatori

Free Motion Quilting

Once I had determined that it was going to be quilting Olivia’s quilt myself, anxiety began to set it.

How in the world was I going to do this?

What if I mess up? My perfect quilt topper will be ruined.

Thank heavens, it wasn’t as scary as I thought it was going to be.

It actually wasn’t that hard at all.

I of course consulted my friend Google.

And thankfully, others had foreseen my fears and put them to rest.

Thanks to these links, I was a successful free motion quilter.

• Elizabeth, at Oh, Fransson! put me to ease with this post.
• Dana’s post and video really helped me envision how I was suppose to do it.
• Some good tips to help you can be found here.
• If you want to get fancy with your quilting, here are some beginner design ideas with instruction.

Of course I did a few practice rounds too.

This was my first one. Gag!

And this was my fourth try, right before I did my quilt.

Talk about practice makes perfect!