Readers will remember her from the summer's sewing lesson features.She's the one that actually finished her skirt!(hint to Audrey!)
Zoe sent me a photo and asked me if I could make the item in this photo and how much would it cost.
Maybe it was just the small size of the photos in my email or that I was reading it late at night but I had no idea what this thing was supposed to be? I asked everyone in my family to look at it. Everyone had a guess at it. Was it a tiny baby dress? No, the shape was too strange...a doll dress...
Wait, they have two dogs so maybe it's a dog outfit. Zoe's family did not seem like the type to dress up the dogs but Halloween was coming. So, I decided it was a doggy apron. I wrote back to Zoe about making the "doggy apron" to get more details.
The laughs went round at her house, where the heck did Tracey get "doggy apron" out of a clothespin holder?? A what?? OH! I finally got it. It was an old calico clothespin holder that was torn beyond repair. I felt quite silly, especially since there were actually clothespins in the pocket!! Her mom had to ask for it back to hang up her laundry.
I would love to post the pattern that I made off of the old one but I have no clue how to make a PDF file for the pieces. Sorry and if I can figure it out ( I even asked Carl) at some point I will post it on this blog.
The results were quite cute and I listed it on my Etsy shop and accidentally sold one to another person before Zoe's mom could even see her custom listing. I think you will agree these are darn adorable.
A visit to the Japanese Book Store in San Jose provided me with the solution. They had a display of Washi tape and along with it some clothespins decorated with this wonderful japanese tape. Washi tape comes in many patterns and colors and sticks well to everything but also can be pulled back up to reposition it.
I made up my own directions and felt they looked pretty good. I have seen a number of sellers on Etsy making a tidy profit off of these clothespins. I tried the Dollar Tree Clothespins first, 50 for $1 but they were pretty inferior to the Target Brand that cost $2 for 50 but are much sturdier.
You can find Washi Tape on Etsy from many different sellers. I like "Pretty Tape" for their excellent selection of full rolls. Don't get tricked into buying some from a person that sells you a yard rolled around a little cardboard tag for a few dollars. You should be paying about $3-4 per roll and it will be 15m in length.
First you will need a roll of Washi tape, clothespins, a cutting board and an Exacto Knife.
You want to cut off a piece of tape that is a bit longer on each end than your clothespin. Mine are 3 inches long so I cut off about 3 and a half inch piece.
You lay the edge along the side with the metal bar, not the side without it to make it easier to trim.
Now turn the clothespin upside down on the cutting board and trim off the edge that is hanging over with your Exacto knife very carefully. You will end up with a long skinny piece about 1/4" wide. I used it to seal some packages, decorate cards or add another color of trim on some of the clothespins.
Next, turn over your clothespin and fold down the tape on each end and press securely. That's it!
Voila, you have adorable clothespins. You can repeat this on the other side or some people I noticed whitewash one side. These also can become fridge magnets but gluing a nice strong magnet on the backside. Great gift for a school teachers or family and friends. I have even seen them used to clip closed a paper bag for a cute wrapping paper instead of using tape.
Now for that *
I call her Zoe instead of Jess because that is my pet name for her. She is quite a unique child and I have known her since she was a wee small third grader. Zoe has always reminded me a lot of myself! An avid reader and fantasy nut, she would visit me at the library for more books and walk out with a stack higher than herself.
Her natural ability at cooking and crafting and sewing was so much like me. As if she has always known how to do it all. Her love for young children and nurturing tendencies to everyone in need always touched me. Her temper that could flare out of no place ( however rarely either of us would let that happen !) and the sweetness that is there in her most of time, well it just hit me in the gut and I felt a kindred spirit in her. Audrey is lucky to have such a great friend.
Our joke between us and her mom is that I will steal her away from her parents, dye her hair jet black and name her Zoe. ( we even discussed the 'cutest' spelling) We will roam around the World like gypsies, selling our wares while wearing long and colorful swishy skirts, lots of bangles and scarves in our long flowing hair. We will come back periodically to visit the "folks" and show them our latest creative projects and back out we will go to Worlds Unknown, always singing in our perfect soprano voices.
Yep, Zoe has inspired several projects for my etsy shop even. I got some bunny charms just for her because she is also known as Zoe Bunny. She is a lovely young woman now, almost 16 and her awesome parents know just how lucky they are to have such a blessed daughter♥
No comments:
Post a Comment