Current Mood : Satisfied with m'self
Today really was inspired by Clean House and Hoarders - did ya'll know that the website for the latter has unaired footage available to view right on the site ? And if ya don't get A&E, you can watch episodes, too.
Anyway - you might remember that, last weekend, part of my thrift store finds included a bundle-bag of fabric pieces. About half of it became part of my ongoing ‘catch and release' program, and was packed for eventual release back into the reuse stream, but I kept the ones I wanted. And one I only sorta wanted. It was a nice lavender eyelet piece, but once I unfolded it, I noted that it was faded and sort of tired-looking. It looked much better folded up !
It was going in the ‘donate' pile, too, but I remembered...I have a half-bottle of dark green dye in the laundry room, a leftover from my disastrous attempts to dye a doll. I liked the fabric's style, it was merely the color I didn't really love - and let's face it, if I don't adore the fabric, I don't need it. I have too much already ! But I wanted some experience dyeing, and eliminating another bottle in the laundry cabinet sounded good to me...
So I got off my butt and experimented. Read the directions on the RIT label, decided to use the washer for this trial. Unfortunately, the fabric didn't get to soak as long as it should have, but still... it looked great ! The darker threads on the eyelet parts really stood out on the pale green fabric under it. Gorgeous ! Rinsed ‘til the water ran clear, then washed the new green material with some stuff that, if it got dyed, no one would care. Then I washed the washer according to the RIT directions. But the next load of regular laundry I do will be a dark load - just in case ! Wheee ! I can dye fabric now !
With all this going on, there was still a lot of time to relax and do other stuff. Toilet ran over, so I mopped up the spill, then cleaned the floor with bleach. Ick. Sad but true, I've been needing to mop in there, but I prefer to sweep first !
I also needed a quick peek into a reference book, but it was a struggle to get it off the shelf. Everything on it is tight from so many books. Next to the one I needed was Things to Make for Children, the volume that contained the plans for my Dollhouse. Since that was all I wanted out of it, the book is also returning to the reuse stream. Plus, I have scans of the Dollhouse pages already. May ditch a few more later.
I also grabbed the recently purchased ‘Fashion Play' Barbie lavender-and-white lacy teddy and repaired it. I'd intended to re-sew the elastic waist down, from where the stitches had broken, even as I wondered why such a tiny stretchy teddy would need elastic there in the first place. As I turned it inside out, the elastic crackled and curled - it had already begun to rot. Happens. So instead, I got the seam ripper and removed it completely. Fits our ‘naughty nanny' Mary Poppins quite well ! Noted a few missing stitches at the top of it, and fixed those, too.
Retrieving the seam ripper got me to thinking about the rack in the Lab. It's small and white (and peeling), four wire shelves. One holds sewing stuff I haven't used in months, one holds a box of doll clothes needing repairs, another holds tiny fabric scraps, another holds larger bits. And it bumps my butt every time I try to eeeeaaase my way between it and the sewing chair when I need the closet or the ribbon bin. I'm thinking of ditching it. Tired of tiny fabric bits being in my way. I was ‘saving' them for appliqué, but I already know that I need larger pieces, and testing's so rare now, I use the fabric I'm gonna use later anyway. And the doll clothes can go into the sewing boxes. So I can ditch it, rack and all.
Dearest Son got into the act, too. He cleaned up one of his cars - a Bratz one he likes to use with his stuffie Stuart Little - and told me he was ditching a mostly-wrecked other car. It kept stalling out, he told me, and if it doesn't work for him, out it goes ! I'm so proud of him. Even if he's just pretending, it took me 40+ years to get that ‘it works or it's gone' philosophy into my head !
