Items Archives ~ Day by Day

Safety pins are so simple and practical. But before 1849, they didn’t exist. According to popular belief, Walter Hunt invented the safety pin because he owed his friend money, and turned to inventing as a way to earn some extra cash. And thus came into being the absolute safest method of pinning.

To celebrate today, it’s suggested to make some sort of invention. Now I’m no MacGyver, but I’m sure I can find something to improve.

Looking around, something immediately catches my attention. For the past few days, I’ve been hand-sewing fabric face masks for my boyfriend and I. The sewing material and masks are laying haphazardly all over the coffee table. The table is slatted, so I always have to be careful of dropping thread, pins and needles between the slats. I dropped a needle the other day and it took me twenty minutes to find on the wood flooring. I’m sure I can invent up some sort of sewing organizer thing.

First, I gather all the sewing material I use, to see what I need to include in the organizer.

Two spools of thread, fabric, elastic, a thimble, a pincushion, the working fabric, and scissors. — Doesn’t look like much…

Okay, so I need:

A compartment to house the spools of thread
A compartment to contain the pincushion
Somewhere to put the thimble
Somewhere to put the scissors
A compartment for the fabric and elastic

That doesn’t sound too hard! I’m pretty sure I can make something janky with just cardboard and duct tape. Both of which I have in excess. So I start out by planning where each item will go.

Then, I cut out the base and make the main structure. I add partitions and stuff too. At this point, I change the plan up a bit and put the spool compartments in the front. The duct tape is a bit hard for me to tear with my clammy, clammy hands, but we’re pulling through all right.

Finally, I add in some reinforcement and small details. I poke tiny holes into the front of the spool compartments for the thread. I also have the great idea of adding a small magnet for the working needle. If I had stronger magnets, I would add some on the bottom for the box to stick to the metal table. Just a bit more clammy duct tape on some edges, and voilà! All done!

I’m actually happy with how it turned out! It isn’t pretty, but it’s super functional and really makes the tedious work of hand sewing a bit easier. Here are some close up pictures of details.

Thread holes, a magnet, and a thimble, oh my!

There you have it! A simple sewing helper made completely out of cardboard, duct tape, and enterprising ingenuity. Now I’m going to put my new invention to work.

Happy International Safety Pin Day!

I am so glad the humble pencil has its’ own day. Graphite pencils are so reliable, universal, and did you know the shavings are compostable? In a world of fancy pens in every color imaginable, graphite pencils may seem mundane, but there’s a simple beauty to them. Sometimes we have to remember the simple things.

For pencil day, I’m going to keep it simple and attempt a pencil drawing. Now, it’s my birthday today, and my boyfriend has been doing so much for me all day. He’s been cooking, cleaning, doing the dishes… Really going above and beyond to make today excellent. So I’m going to make him a drawing of his beautiful cat, Alexandre. Here’s the picture I’m going to use:

In university, one of our required courses was visual art. I didn’t do too badly in the course, but when I expressed interest in continuing on that path, my professor told me very cleary– I needed to take a drawing class. I still haven’t done that, but I wish I had. Just knowing how to draw is such an undervalued basic skill. Being able to put down on paper anything I’m visualizing would have made a difference, in retrospect. It’s never too late to try!

I start with the reverse front cover of a lined notebook and trusty pencil. Then I add shapes, as I’ve seen other do.

It looks weird, I’m not sure about my technique, but I soldier on. It’s a good thing I can erase pencil. I erase some of the lines in between the shapes and add definition to what’s left.

Okay, now I’m going to do the bulk of the work. I continue shading in and adding elements. I draw pupils, whiskers, fur markings, and all the little details. I’m getting sleepy at this point, so I rush to finish. I’m done within an hour. It’s not perfect, but I’m not mad at how this guy turned out!

Not bad at all! I go to close the notebook on my pencil day drawing, and I notice a fatal flaw– I drew the picture upside down. Oops!

Happy Pencil Day!