Tutorial--Thread Dispenser

My laziness has really fueled me to be creative.  The thought of opening a drawer, get the thread spool out and cut a piece of thread already tires me out.  So, what can a lazy sewer do?  A thread dispenser is the answer.   

Got a scrap fabric from a pair of shorts, sew up the sides to make it into a little pouch.  At the bottom of the pouch, poke 3 holes and apply eyelids.  Pop in the thread spools and tag pin onto the wall. Voila.

Now I could hand sew without fuss.

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August Aha!

I have two identical chalk holders/pens.  One for light color chalks and the other, dark color chalks.  Having two of them saves me time changing chalks.  So I can always be ready to mark on either light or dark color fabrics.  But…the only problem is that they look exactly alike!  Most of the time when I pick one up, it’s not the color chalk I need.  So I ended up spending extra time checking if I’ve got the right one.  What a pain.  My solution is to stick a small sticker on my dark color chalk holder to set the two apart.  You won’t see me pulling my hair over this one now.

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For the bags and pouches that I make, I much refer the rounded corner  than the boxy look.  To round corners, you often need a round plate, a mug or can as a guide.  My craft table is already jam packed with stuff and has no room for dishes.  So, I took a piece of card stock, cut it into two squares (roughly) and rounded each corner with different sizes plates and mugs.  Punch a hole so I could hang it on the wall.  See, there's no need for dishes in my craft room.

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I've be using fabric paint to style up the girls' plain Ts.  One of the things that annoy me is applying tiny dots.  I used a sewing pin, but was irritated that there's not much to hold on to (plus, the end is pretty sharp!)  I needed an "extension" for the pin so I stick it into the eraser end of a pencil.  Bring on the tiny dots, I could handle them now.

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Thread Cutter

Did you guess it right?  In my end of July post, Take A Guess, I posted this little guy.  If you guessed it's a thread cutter, you are right.  To be exact, it's a thread cutter necklace.  I pupped open an empty dental floss and used the inside.  

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I ripped the lid off another dental floss and taped it to my sewing table.  It works like the build-in thread cutter on the sewing machines. 

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Box That, Would You?

This was where my pin cushion used to be., sitting comfortably in the tin pail.  

But right after our cat adoption, I quickly realized the truth of the saying “curiosity kills the cat”.  Our 5 year old tabby, Lala, often accompanies me by my sewing table.  His lazy naps don’t really bother me, but his “give me some love NOW” moments are quite frightening.  He would walk around my sewing machine and rub his chubby body against anything that comes in view.  I became fearful that he might accidentally release some of the pins and poke himself.  So I had to box my pins and pin cushions.

Needless to say that boxes became necessities on my sewing table from then on.

I box my clear/rubber stamps.

I box presser feet.

I box glue tubes and misc. things.

Humm, perhaps I should have just boxed my cat?

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