Category: Crafts

Craft projects of mine

  • Craft Room IKEA Hack

    Craft Room IKEA Hack

    In 2024 we embarked on a pretty major home renovation, and once we were moved back in I spent a lot of time thinking about how I wanted to set up my office. I knew that I wanted a dedicated sewing table where I could have both my sewing machine and overlocker set up, with all my tools and supplies in easy reach. I also wanted a cutting table (preferably height adjustable), and somewhere to set up the ironing board for a sewing session. I also needed storage for my fabric and wool.

    In terms of assets I had an existing IKEA Bekant standing desk, which serves as my computer workstation but can also conveniently double as a cutting table. I have a large cutting mat that I leave on it, and I can pretty quickly clear away everything when I need to cut something big. I also have a rolling office chair. Beyond that, the room was a blank slate.

    I did a lot of googling at what others had done, and I was very inspired by this Garage Workbench DIY. I realised that the IKEA Lagkapten/Alex desk combination was a good starting point, but it had one significant drawback — durability. The Lagkapten has a honeycomb core, and apparently it will sag over time if you put a lot of weight on it. (That’s why IKEA always show a center leg on any of the longer desks.) And guess what? Sewing machines are pretty heavy. I read a lot of posts about people using “stiffening rods” and such to try to reinforce them, but eventually realised it would be a lot simpler to just use an actual wooden desktop. Bunnings make a pre-finished timber panel that I realised would work perfectly. With all that in mind, I used SmartDraw to mock up the floorpan and see how everything would fit.

    Office Floorplan

    Once I had the plan, it was time to go shopping! Protip: before you make any major IKEA purchase, check to see if you’re able to access any discounts. We learned that Macquarie Bank sell IKEA gift cards at 6% off, which was a nice savings for not much effort.

    Thankfully, we were able to find everything we needed. First step: protect the floor.

    IKEA rug

    I wanted to protect our lovely new wooden floors from the rolling wheels of my chair. This is the IKEA Vedbäk rug. It’s not real wool, but I don’t mind so much in here. We put out an underlay first to keep it from shifting around, and then unrolled the rug. I put some boards and boxes down on it overnight so help it flatten out.

    Then it was time to start assembling.

    Putting together Alex

    I started with two Alex storage units. Here they are put together and set aside. I made sure that the door openings mirrored each other. The Alex units come with a panel with pre-drilled holes that you can use as the top or the bottom, depending on how you want to set them up. Here I made sure the holes were at the bottom. (You’ll see why in a bit.)

    Assembled Alex units

    I knew that I didn’t want to just rest the desktop on the units, but instead to bolt everything together so it would be rigid. Before I put the other two Alex units together, we wisely had the idea to use one of the bases to mark out holes for pre-drilling the desktop. We also attached the base plate for the Adils leg. (While I knew my desktop would be strong enough without it, I figured it wouldn’t hurt to have it. We pushed it as far back in the center as we could.)

    Prepping the desktop

    Here you can see Rodd marking the holes for drilling. The Alex unit bases have 4 holes, and we decided to use the inner set for securing the upper units (on the top side of the desktop), and the outer set for the lower units (on the bottom side of the desktop). That way the screws had no chance of hitting each other. We lined the base up flush with the back and edge of the worktop and used a pointy screwdriver to mark the spot.

    Marking holes

    Here’s Rodd drilling one of the holes. We worked out the depth needed based on our wood screws and the depth of the Alex base plate, and he put a piece of tape on the drill bit to show him how far to go.

    Drilling

    We also had the idea to put something in between the Alex units and the desktop, to add some cushioning and to protect the desktop a bit (in case we wanted to use it for something else in the future). I’m not really sure this step was needed, to be honest. But I bought some of IKEA’s Variera drawer liners and used the Alex bases to cut out appropriately sized pieces.

    Cutting drawer liner

    Here you can see one of the drawer liner pieces, ready for final assembly.

    Drawer liner

    For the bottom supports, I went with two of the Alex drawer units. For these, I made sure that the base with the holes was on the top since we’d be screwing into the desk. I was a little worried about how well they’d stand up to the weight we’d be putting on top (desktop plus another Alex unit). IKEA don’t really seem to recommend stacking them. I decided therefore that a little extra support couldn’t hurt. We bought a couple packs of these corner braces at Bunnings…

    Corner braces

    And I screwed them into each corner on the back of the Alex drawer units.

    Reinforced corners with feet

    You can also see that we purchased Eket feet to use on the bottom units. These are adjustable, so I knew that would help to level the whole thing given that the front would be sitting on the rug. Happily, the screws for the foot base plate didn’t run into the ones for the corner braces. Here’s one of the bottom units upside down. Important note: while you can use longer screws for the outer holes since they run down into the sides, you need to use pretty short ones for the inner one to avoid breaking through the base.

    Eket foot plates

    Hopefully this will help illustrate what I mean.

    Illustrating screw depths

    And now it’s finally time to start putting the thing together! We set up the bottom two Alex units, placed the drawer liners on top, and then placed the desktop on top of that. Then I reached up from the inside with a hex key to screw in the wood screws. (These are the ones that come with the Alex and would normally be used to attach it to the Lagkapten top.) I had to first poke through the drawer liner, of course, and then it was a bit of faffing about to get the holes exactly lined up with the ones we predrilled. But eventually I managed to get them screwed in. Remember, on the bottom we secured just the two outer holes, front and back.

    Screwing the desktop to the Alex

    Here’s what we had so far. So that’s two Alex drawer units on the bottom, each with reinforced corners (on the back side) and Eket adjustable feet underneath. The desktop is screwed to the top of each from inside the top of the Alex units (using the two outer holes). There’s also an Adil adjustable leg at the center back.

    Secured desktop and bottom units

    Next it was time to stack the upper Alex units. I put down my pre-cut drawer liners and then carefully placed the upper units. Again, I had to poke through the liner and then laboriously shift things around until I had the holes exactly lined up. But eventually I was able to get each one screwed down, this time using the two inner holes.

    Screwing down the upper units

    Here it is with one upper unit attached…

    With one upper unit attached

    …and now with both upper units attached and all the drawers inserted!

    With both upper units attached

    The space in between the upper units was perfect for two of the Skådis pegboards. We first used some of the connectors to mount them directly to the desktop…

    With pegboard

    …but I realised quickly that this wasn’t ideal. There was no opening for the power cords for my sewing machines, and because the pegboard was so low I really couldn’t make full use of it. So the Snook kindly broke out his hammer drill and helped me mount the pegboards directly to the wall.

    Drilling the pegboard

    And this is my favourite thing of all. I discovered that some nice person designed a sewing thread spool holder that fits the Skådis pegboards, and which can be 3D-printed. My awesome friend Bobbie printed a dozen of them for me, which allows me to store 60 spools of thread!

    Spool holders

    And here’s the end result! Raising the pegboard makes it much more useful, and allows me to run the power cords down the back of the desktop. My sewing machine sits on a special vibration mat that it came with, and the overlocker is sitting on a spare cutting mat. I picked up a couple Eket cubes off Facebook Marketplace that I simply stacked on top of the Alex to add some additional storage for all my prettiest wool skeins. I’ve also got a ring LED light that I can turn on to add light when I’m sewing. And the ironing board can be stored and set up on the left, with a power strip down at the bottom to plug in the iron.

    Finished IKEA craft station

    I bought a bunch of the different Skådis accessories to hang and store my tools. I’ve had a lot of fun figuring out the most efficient place to put things! I also organised my circular knitting needles by size into Ziplock bags, which I then threaded onto split key rings and hung from a hook. Very tidy!

    Pegboard

    The upper right Alex unit has my fabric stash, with scraps on the bottom and project-sized pieces on top. (Not pictured are the two giant boxes of old fabric that I donated to The Sewing Basket. 😬 I’m working on hoarding less stuff, and making sure that what I have is useful.)

    Fabric stash

    On the left is my stash of knitting wool and supplies. This is the utilitarian wool, while the prettier stuff is in the Eket boxes on display. (Again, I donated a bunch of old stuff to charity.)

    Knitting stash

    For the sake of completeness, I’ll show my desk as well. It’s got a large self-healing cutting mat, and on top of that I have a large gaming pad under my keyboard, mouse, and duckyPad. My Mac Mini sits on the bookshelves next to the desk, and I’ve got a USB dock in that corner where all my stuff is plugged in. When I want to use the desk as a cutting table, I can pretty quickly shove everything back in that corner and raise the desk up to a comfortable cutting height. Depending on how big a piece I’m cutting, I may not even need to move the monitor!

    Desk

    I also managed to fit in a Svenarum shelving unit alongside my desk. I especially like how it gets thinner towards the top, which helps feel like it’s not crowding the doorway too much. This allows me to show off my vintage sewing machines (the bottom two belonged to Rodd’s grandmother and mother), as well as my craft books and some of my Roald Dahl collection.

    Bookshelves

    And here’s the finished office/craft room! In the Alex drawers, I’ve got various sewing supplies all stored on the right side (buttons, trims, zipper, tracing paper, etc). On the left is general office and crafting supplies. I’ve got two plastic floor protectors over the rug that allow me to roll my chair easily from the desk to the craft station. I’m really happy with how it’s turned out. Together with the closet, I’ve got ample storage for all my projects and everything I need is within arm’s reach.

    Finished craft room

  • Photo Post

    Made some good progress on the Easy Eyelet Yoke Light today! I’m well into the pink->blue transition… 🧶 #knitting

    Made some good progress on the Easy Eyelet Yoke Light today! I’m well into the pink->blue transition… 🧶 #knitting

  • Photo Post

    Knitting at the cricket. Given the colour of my project, I think I’ll cheer for the @sixersbbl today! 🧶🏏

    Knitting at the cricket. Given the colour of my project, I think I’ll cheer for the @sixersbbl today! 🧶🏏

  • Photo Post

    Easy Eyelet Yoke Sweater is past the sleeve division! I made the same modification as last time – immediately knitting the sleeve cuffs so I could keep the colours aligned with the body stripes. Now it’s just the long stockinette body slog… which I’ll be doing at the cricket tomorrow! 🧶 🏏

    Easy Eyelet Yoke Sweater is past the sleeve division! I made the same modification as last time - immediately knitting the sleeve cuffs so I could keep the colours aligned with the body stripes. Now it’s just the long stockinette body slog… which I’ll be doing at the cricket tomorrow! 🧶 🏏

  • Photo Post

    New (reclaimed) knitting project! I finished the Sugar Maple sweater (last photo) two years ago but rarely wore it. The style just didn’t suit me. So a couple weeks ago I unraveled the whole thing, winding it into a cake as I went. Then I used my swift to turn the ball into a hank that I then washed and dried to remove some of the kinks. I’ve now rewound into a cake and I’m knitting another Easy Eyelet Yoke Lite, a style that I know I will wear. The yarn is @hobbii_yarn Twister, a great choice for warm places like Sydney! 🧶 #knitting

    New (reclaimed) knitting project! I finished the Sugar Maple sweater (last photo) two years ago but rarely wore it. The style just didn’t suit me. So a couple weeks ago I unraveled the whole thing, winding it into a cake as I went. Then I used my swift to turn the ball into a hank that I then washed and dried to remove some of the kinks. I’ve now rewound into a cake and I’m knitting another Easy Eyelet Yoke Lite, a style that I know I will wear. The yarn is @hobbii_yarn Twister, a great choice for warm places like Sydney! 🧶 #knitting

    New (reclaimed) knitting project! I finished the Sugar Maple sweater (last photo) two years ago but rarely wore it. The style just didn’t suit me. So a couple weeks ago I unraveled the whole thing, winding it into a cake as I went. Then I used my swift to turn the ball into a hank that I then washed and dried to remove some of the kinks. I’ve now rewound into a cake and I’m knitting another Easy Eyelet Yoke Lite, a style that I know I will wear. The yarn is @hobbii_yarn Twister, a great choice for warm places like Sydney! 🧶 #knitting

    New (reclaimed) knitting project! I finished the Sugar Maple sweater (last photo) two years ago but rarely wore it. The style just didn’t suit me. So a couple weeks ago I unraveled the whole thing, winding it into a cake as I went. Then I used my swift to turn the ball into a hank that I then washed and dried to remove some of the kinks. I’ve now rewound into a cake and I’m knitting another Easy Eyelet Yoke Lite, a style that I know I will wear. The yarn is @hobbii_yarn Twister, a great choice for warm places like Sydney! 🧶 #knitting

    New (reclaimed) knitting project! I finished the Sugar Maple sweater (last photo) two years ago but rarely wore it. The style just didn’t suit me. So a couple weeks ago I unraveled the whole thing, winding it into a cake as I went. Then I used my swift to turn the ball into a hank that I then washed and dried to remove some of the kinks. I’ve now rewound into a cake and I’m knitting another Easy Eyelet Yoke Lite, a style that I know I will wear. The yarn is @hobbii_yarn Twister, a great choice for warm places like Sydney! 🧶 #knitting

    New (reclaimed) knitting project! I finished the Sugar Maple sweater (last photo) two years ago but rarely wore it. The style just didn’t suit me. So a couple weeks ago I unraveled the whole thing, winding it into a cake as I went. Then I used my swift to turn the ball into a hank that I then washed and dried to remove some of the kinks. I’ve now rewound into a cake and I’m knitting another Easy Eyelet Yoke Lite, a style that I know I will wear. The yarn is @hobbii_yarn Twister, a great choice for warm places like Sydney! 🧶 #knitting

    New (reclaimed) knitting project! I finished the Sugar Maple sweater (last photo) two years ago but rarely wore it. The style just didn’t suit me. So a couple weeks ago I unraveled the whole thing, winding it into a cake as I went. Then I used my swift to turn the ball into a hank that I then washed and dried to remove some of the kinks. I’ve now rewound into a cake and I’m knitting another Easy Eyelet Yoke Lite, a style that I know I will wear. The yarn is @hobbii_yarn Twister, a great choice for warm places like Sydney! 🧶 #knitting

    New (reclaimed) knitting project! I finished the Sugar Maple sweater (last photo) two years ago but rarely wore it. The style just didn’t suit me. So a couple weeks ago I unraveled the whole thing, winding it into a cake as I went. Then I used my swift to turn the ball into a hank that I then washed and dried to remove some of the kinks. I’ve now rewound into a cake and I’m knitting another Easy Eyelet Yoke Lite, a style that I know I will wear. The yarn is @hobbii_yarn Twister, a great choice for warm places like Sydney! 🧶 #knitting

    New (reclaimed) knitting project! I finished the Sugar Maple sweater (last photo) two years ago but rarely wore it. The style just didn’t suit me. So a couple weeks ago I unraveled the whole thing, winding it into a cake as I went. Then I used my swift to turn the ball into a hank that I then washed and dried to remove some of the kinks. I’ve now rewound into a cake and I’m knitting another Easy Eyelet Yoke Lite, a style that I know I will wear. The yarn is @hobbii_yarn Twister, a great choice for warm places like Sydney! 🧶 #knitting

  • Completed sewing project: Arkie shirt

    Completed sewing project: Arkie shirt

    Arkie shirtI knocked out a quick sewing pattern this week: a new Arkie shirt in some Liberty Tana Lawn I bought in Tokyo back in June. (This is the same pattern I used for the AWS Shirt last December.) I made the biggest size, but it’s fairly roomy and I think I could easily go down a size and still be fine. I think I did a decent job setting in the sleeves, even if I did use a million pins. 😂 I left off the front patch pockets, mostly because I didn’t think they’d add anything and you wouldn’t even see them with the busy print. For buttons, I just used four small pearlescent ones from my stash.

    The thing I’m proudest of though is that for once I remembered to sew in a label! I’ve had these for ages and never used them before.

    I also realised in the course of sewing the shirt that I had never changed the needles in my overlocker. I dug out the manual, started flipping through it, and realised that I’d never actually serviced the thing ever… in nine years. Yikes. After a quick trip to Spotlight for a new bottle of oil and a packet of needles, I got to work. I unthreaded the machine, removed the old needles, cleaned out all the dust and lint, oiled her up, and then rethreaded. I discovered that using all 4 threads is probably overkill for most of my sewing, so I cut it back to 3 and just a single needle. Once I had everything put back together, she was purring like a kitten! I also cleaned out the lint on my sewing machine. I’ll have to put in a recurring task to do this more often. 😬

    Servicing the overlocker

  • Photo Post

    Quilt repair complete! My Mom (@the_quiltshop_at_essenhaus) gifted us this quilt she bought at an auction many years ago, and we’ve used it so much that the binding had worn out. After many texts with Mom for advice, I just completed the repair job! I cut new strips of binding, joined them together, attached over the old binding on the front (single fold method), and then spent several hours hand-tacking it down on the back. (I know; I should have mitered the hex angles, but I was lazy and treated them as curves.) Very satisfying, and I’m glad I’ve extended the life of this lovely quilt. ❤️

    Quilt repair complete! My Mom (@the_quiltshop_at_essenhaus) gifted us this quilt she bought at an auction many years ago, and we’ve used it so much that the binding had worn out. After many texts with Mom for advice, I just completed the repair job! I cut new strips of binding, joined them together, attached over the old binding on the front (single fold method), and then spent several hours hand-tacking it down on the back. (I know; I should have mitered the hex angles, but I was lazy and treated them as curves.) Very satisfying, and I’m glad I’ve extended the life of this lovely quilt. ❤️

    Quilt repair complete! My Mom (@the_quiltshop_at_essenhaus) gifted us this quilt she bought at an auction many years ago, and we’ve used it so much that the binding had worn out. After many texts with Mom for advice, I just completed the repair job! I cut new strips of binding, joined them together, attached over the old binding on the front (single fold method), and then spent several hours hand-tacking it down on the back. (I know; I should have mitered the hex angles, but I was lazy and treated them as curves.) Very satisfying, and I’m glad I’ve extended the life of this lovely quilt. ❤️

    Quilt repair complete! My Mom (@the_quiltshop_at_essenhaus) gifted us this quilt she bought at an auction many years ago, and we’ve used it so much that the binding had worn out. After many texts with Mom for advice, I just completed the repair job! I cut new strips of binding, joined them together, attached over the old binding on the front (single fold method), and then spent several hours hand-tacking it down on the back. (I know; I should have mitered the hex angles, but I was lazy and treated them as curves.) Very satisfying, and I’m glad I’ve extended the life of this lovely quilt. ❤️

    Quilt repair complete! My Mom (@the_quiltshop_at_essenhaus) gifted us this quilt she bought at an auction many years ago, and we’ve used it so much that the binding had worn out. After many texts with Mom for advice, I just completed the repair job! I cut new strips of binding, joined them together, attached over the old binding on the front (single fold method), and then spent several hours hand-tacking it down on the back. (I know; I should have mitered the hex angles, but I was lazy and treated them as curves.) Very satisfying, and I’m glad I’ve extended the life of this lovely quilt. ❤️

    Quilt repair complete! My Mom (@the_quiltshop_at_essenhaus) gifted us this quilt she bought at an auction many years ago, and we’ve used it so much that the binding had worn out. After many texts with Mom for advice, I just completed the repair job! I cut new strips of binding, joined them together, attached over the old binding on the front (single fold method), and then spent several hours hand-tacking it down on the back. (I know; I should have mitered the hex angles, but I was lazy and treated them as curves.) Very satisfying, and I’m glad I’ve extended the life of this lovely quilt. ❤️

    Quilt repair complete! My Mom (@the_quiltshop_at_essenhaus) gifted us this quilt she bought at an auction many years ago, and we’ve used it so much that the binding had worn out. After many texts with Mom for advice, I just completed the repair job! I cut new strips of binding, joined them together, attached over the old binding on the front (single fold method), and then spent several hours hand-tacking it down on the back. (I know; I should have mitered the hex angles, but I was lazy and treated them as curves.) Very satisfying, and I’m glad I’ve extended the life of this lovely quilt. ❤️

    Quilt repair complete! My Mom (@the_quiltshop_at_essenhaus) gifted us this quilt she bought at an auction many years ago, and we’ve used it so much that the binding had worn out. After many texts with Mom for advice, I just completed the repair job! I cut new strips of binding, joined them together, attached over the old binding on the front (single fold method), and then spent several hours hand-tacking it down on the back. (I know; I should have mitered the hex angles, but I was lazy and treated them as curves.) Very satisfying, and I’m glad I’ve extended the life of this lovely quilt. ❤️

  • Photo Post

    A closeup of the Autumn Gingko Leaves scarf… ❤️🍂🍃 #knitting

    A closeup of the Autumn Gingko Leaves scarf… ❤️🍂🍃 #knitting

  • Photo Post

    Blocking. Now that it’s opened up, you can really see why the pattern is called “Ginkgo Leaves”. 🍃🍂 #knitting

    Blocking. Now that it’s opened up, you can really see why the pattern is called “Ginkgo Leaves”. 🍃🍂 #knitting

  • Smart, Sensational, Sun-Protecting (S3) Bucket Hats for Dementia Australia

    Smart, Sensational, Sun-Protecting (S3) Bucket Hats for Dementia Australia

    As you probably know if you’ve followed this blog or any of my social media accounts, back in 2018 I worked for Amazon Web Services and I had the idea to sew myself an AWS dress to wear to tech events around the world. It was so popular, my colleagues even made t-shirts and stickers! In 2023 I raised the bar with the AWS dress v2, which had matching sneakers.

    As of 2024 though, I’m retired and it seems a bit silly to hang on to these dresses. Why not turn them into something fun and raise money for an important cause? So the dresses have become 14 Smart, Sensational, Sun-Protecting (S3) Bucket Hats, and you can win one by donating to this fundraiser.

    Dementia is a terrible disease that has affected our family in recent years. It really, really sucks to watch someone you know and love just change and disappear. I’d like to help other families going through this, and hopefully even work towards a cure.

    To do that I need your help! Please make a donation to support my efforts and help me reach my goal to beat dementia. You can donate through:

    1. My Facebook fundraising page
    2. My standalone Dementia Australia fundraising page
    3. Or if neither of those options work for you, feel free to donate to a dementia-related charity in your own country*.

    All funds raised (through channels 1 and 2 above) will support the work of Dementia Australia to provide vital support services for people living with dementia, their families and carers. These services include counselling, support groups, education and training.

    For every $25 AUD* you donate, you’ll get one entry into a raffle for one of the 14 hats. I will draw the winners at random on November 1st, 2024, and I will cover postage anywhere in the world. Please make sure you are contactable if you win! You can donate as many times as you’d like but you can only win one hat, and you don’t get to choose which one you get. (They’re all the same size anyway.)

    * If you donate via option 3, please email me a screenshot of your donation and I will ensure you are entered into the draw. You’ll get 1 entry for the equivalent of $25 AUD in your own currency.

    Disclaimers: Obviously I don’t work for AWS anymore, and I don’t claim ownership over their logo or any of their service icons. The hats were made by me from the dresses I wore as part of my employment for AWS, and I won’t ever be making any more. If I can’t contact you within a week, I reserve the right to draw a new name and send the hat to somebody else.

    Thank you for your support.

    PS for the sewists: if you’re curious about the pattern I used you can download it for free here! Each hat is fully lined, which means I actually had to sew 28 hats (30 if you count the prototype I made). 😅