Alto Recorder Renewed

I bought a second-hand wooden alto recorder, I'd only had a plastic one.

It didn't look very well with the old chipped laquer.

I used two grit sizes to remove it completely.

Finaly I just wiped it all with an olive oil.

We named her Beauty :-)

Heart Case for Bellydance Fans

Present for my friend, great dancer and creator and director of a belly dance show Dreams Come True. I was returning her the led-light silk fans that we used for the show.

The logo of the trademark. I printed it on paper and sewed through it to transfer the font on the fabric. I tore out the paper.

I set a very short zig-zag stitch and I sewed each shape twice. There's a fusible web at the wrong side and I used an embroidery frame for the best results.

I quilted through two fabrics and batting. It's a nice heart pattern. It will be a hearty heart with a heart logo. Madness :-P

Two quilted hearts.

I made a strange looking pocket for the batteries. I didn't want to damage the quilting with straight lines so I just retraced some of the hearts.

The fastening. I quilted through one strip of fabric, cut it in the middle and swapped the halves.

I sewed two squares of fabric to each end. 

I folded the edges inward and sewed in the zipper.

The bottom is a single layer of twill because it must be wider than the top and it would look strange I think if it was sturdy and keeping this shape all the time...

The edges are sewed together, cut to two milimeters and covered with bias tape.

When I woke up in the morning, I found my cat sleeping inside this :-) I couldn't get her out...

Handle. Ironed like this with interfacing on the wrong size, folded in the middle, ironed again and sewed.

Finished.
She could use it as a handbag for dance lessons if she wants to. Or at least for three fans.

Viking Quiver

A quiver, possibly a Viking one. That was the assignment.
So I found this lovely quiver made according to excavations from Hedeby. Although in my opinion this wasn't the actual correct interpretation of the excavation pictures, I liked it a lot and the pattern looked quite easy.

So I cut the quiver body (I tried to make it so that it wouldn't reach the feathers) and sewed along the edges. When I was reaching the top, I cut four more pieces for the "ears", sewed each two together and inserted them into the quiver body.

I cut two panels which would serve as decoration as well as cover when the arrows are not used. I sewed on the little cross to one of them, with front stitch.

I didn't sew the sides at the bottom of the decoration panels so that the little ears could be used for hanging the quiver. I cut slits in the cover for the fastening.

The arrows I'd bought had a tape at the tail. I covered it with wool - I made this loop, wound the wool leftwards around the arrow, tucked the end to the loop and pulled the little tail on the right so that the loop ended up hidden somewhere in the middle.

When the quiver is used, the cover is rolled down and serves as reinforcement. Unfortunately I had only one big piece of leather. And it was far more tough than I would need so the rolled cover is way too bulky, canvas-like leather would be a lot better.

I think the original version looks much better. You know, I'm still learning...

Beer Mug - Glass Grinding

I borrowed a dremel tool. I was lucky that it had this adapter - you screw in this pipe and it passes the rotation of motor to the chuck at the other end. You don't have to hold the weight of the dremel when you work and it really feels like drawing with pencil.
I'm really excited.

You can draw the design on a piece of paper or just print it. I drew it and sticked it to the inner side of the beer mug. I drew the basic proportions. Then I removed the picture. I put some black stuff inside to see better and worked on details.

After sime time focusing on the drawing and grinding at the same time is exhausting for the eyes. I closed one eye like an archer to see both just once but anyway after a while my eyes were crossing...
By the way, for glass I used the bit that looks like little metal ball.

The name could have been lower, but the half litre measure was in the way. I filled the letters completely (it looks almost like etched, only the edges aren't that sharp).

My husband as I see him :)
I just love how easy it was to draw something with dremel tool. You don't have to be real artist and it still looks really cool.

Our pissed warrior cat :-D

Wooden USB Flash Drive - Celtic Knot

I saw a nice video tutorial on making a wooden flash card and wanted to try out - I'll make one for my beloved husband :-)

I took a lath, cut out two pieces with a circular saw. I had a faulty piece of wood where a bit of bark was left, which I found ideal for my flash card. I made inner side flat on a sandpaper, using only big grain.

I outlined the bougt flash card. I've chosen one with a hole so that the card could not be pulled out from the wooden case.

The longer side of chise is used for the vertical outlines, then I flipped the chisel and removed the material on angle towards the cut outline.

I made a slot at both the pieces. I accidentaly tore out a piece at the front. I wish I repaired it then...

No matter.

I used a hot glue to set the flash card in place. This fullfils any space that's left, especially around the hole. I used a glue for wood to attach the inner sides together.

I clamped it between two laths for the glue to dry out.

The wrapper piece seemed too thick to me so I carefully removed the excess with a chisel. I like the V-shaped pattern at the side.

I sanded all the sides and the edges too. Not very much fun, but with good TV series, not a big deal :-)

I drew a simple celtic knot and I removed the wood around it.

Then I took more precise chisels and cut out all the little curved areas, always using the longer side for outline, flipping the chisel and removing the wood with the other side of blade.

I covered the metal part with a paper tape, hanged on a wire and sprayed on several layers of transparent laquer, letting each layer dry perfectly. Here it is.

This is a coat for my friend who is a great fan of fantasy, especially J. Kulhánek.

I took a patter from some old coat that he borrowed me.

Cat bags

Hi, I've been totally in love with this stretching cat bag for some time and now I finally had time to make one for myself :-)

No mention about bag sewing, just the applique: I drew a cat on a piece of fabric. I lowered the feed dogs and put my quilting foot on. I sewed three times the same path - just a bit inside the shape. Then I cut out the black fabric along the drawn line and frayed the edges. There were some longer threads - I decided to keep them, I just shortened them, so that the cat would look a little bristled.

So these are two sides of my new cat bag.

A friend of mine saw it and wanted to buy one for her mother's birthday, so I drew another two cats and made a smaller bag. I tried to place the tail more in A shape but finally I prefer the first version.

And as I knew the lady loves cats too, I put a short message in the inner pocket. In English, it might sound like "Made with love for cats" :-)

Cow Handbag

Once I made a baloon skirt for my friend from a cow printed fabric, now I'll make her a bag from the leftover fabric. I wanted to try to make this one. I like pattern manipulation and this could be fun :)

So I made a pattern (I will not share it here, it would be unfair to the designer...), I cut out all lining and outer pieces. I quilted the LINING. It may sound strange, but I wanted the bag to be sturdy and the outer pleats would look too heavy if I quilted the outside.

I sewed the lining and outer parts. I sewed together the seam allowances of the bottoms. I ironed the upper edges, inserted the handle and sewed through the upper edge.

One little bow and here it is. Not very spacious inside, probably because of the thick lining, but there's still enough space for some women's necessities.

I didn't make a zipper there, I just sewed on two pieces of satin strip, so she cat tie a bow inside if necessary.