Z everyday things: November 2011

A kids' boutique is opening in my area, and they were advertising for crafters to consign their wares. I started working on a few ideas, and am currently trying a pair of boy's pants with piping. I've never worked extensively with piping before, and while it is a bit of a pain to make sure the original stitches are hidden, it's a lot easier than I expected.

The problem I'm having is that since I'm not working from a pattern, I'm unsure what measurements to use! I usually make everything customized for my children (my son has a big belly and butt, and is short; my daughter is very tall, with a ridiculously skinny waist) I hope it ends up being ok. I am only making things for this boutique that my children can wear if it doesn't sell, so I don't waste materials or time.

My waistband ended up being very uneven, and so to keep the integrity of the pockets, I'm going to have to make an attached waistband (PITA! especially on kid clothes)

Here's a sneak peek of the pants. So far, they're not really worth making to sell-it's taking me way too much time to figure out! But my hope is that it becomes easier and quicker with practice, because these are looking really cute so far.

getting to trace

Thanks to a friend, I was able to make soap this weekend. Two things you'll really want to buy or borrow to make soap-an immersion blender and a kitchen scale. The scale is a necessity-recipes are listed by weight, not volume. The blender isn't a necessity, but unless you want to stir by hand until soap reaches trace (which could take an hour!), you'll want this. It takes less than 10 minutes to reach trace.

There are a ton of recipes online, and if you want to make your own, you HAVE to run it through a lye calculator. This makes sure there won't be any active lye in your soap to burn your skin.

I didn't bother taking steps of the whole process, because there are a ton of sites with tutorials on them.

My recipe was a mix of mostly olive oil, coconut oil, and vegetable shortening (because I ended up not having as much coconut oil as I thought). I added some cocoa butter, honey, and fragrance after cooking it. It was originally going to be frankincense and myrrh, but I forgot I needed to melt the cocoa butter and that cooked off the fragrance, so instead these are plum spice.

Hot process is so easy. The soap will be ready to use as soon as it is cooled, although the longer you let it sit (with air flow around the bars), the harder and more cured it will be. It's not as fine or pretty as cold process, but not having to let it sit for six weeks or longer before use is better for me.

These will be nice to have on hand for holiday gifts. Who doesn't like a nice scented bar of homemade soap?

Cooked soap

In the mold cooling off

Pants with piping-in progress

Making hot process soap in the crock pot

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