Zippered Pencil Pouch

  

I wanted to make a simple pencil case as a gift. I've made many of these over the years, but it seems like the last two years I've only made masks. I forgot what dimensions work well and overdid how much I took off the corners. My second attempt was too big and too floppy.

The second attempt

My goal of being quick and simple was long lost. I decided to use one of my favorites as a guide, but smaller. I cut 8" x 10" of heavyweight cotton, thin batting and a cotton lining, slightly smaller on the batting.  It's a tight fit for pencils. A bit longer would be better. I used a zipper foot and ½" seam allowances.

My goal of being quick and simple was long lost. I decided to use one of my favorites as a guide, but smaller. I cut 8" x 10" of heavyweight cotton, thin batting and a cotton lining, slightly smaller on the batting.  It's a tight fit for pencils. A bit longer would be better. I used a zipper foot and ½" seam allowances. 

First I took the three layers and sewed lines through all the layers. 

Then I installed the zipper right sides together on the right side of the heavyweight cotton using my zipper foot and adjusted the needle position. After doing both sides of the zipper tape, I topstitched. 

This style of bag is nice because of the way the seams incorporate the zipper. 

With the zipper half way open, center the zipper over the bottom with right sides together. 

Sew across the two ends and then create the corners.  I boxed all four corners and took 1” off.

Just big enough for a new sharpened pencil.

Finished size is about 8”.

Quinoa Rice Bowl

We actually just call it Quinoa Rice, but it's much more than that.  I love this dish because I can have a filling warm meal in about 15 minutes.  Another thing to love is that my ten year old also enjoys it!

I started making this after having Panera's Baja Bowl and finding copy-cat recipes.  Initially, I always added chunks of avocado, halved grape tomatoes, and feta cheese.  More recently, I have it without those extras and add some Mexican cheese.

The ingredients are

brown rice

quinoa

a jar of black bean corn salsa

a can of rinsed black beans

a tablespoon of salsa verde (optional because sometimes I forget)

My 15 minute prep:

First choose a medium sized glass bowl and fill with one cup of water and one cup of par-boiled brown rice.  Cook in the microwave for 5-6 minutes depending on the strength of the microwave.

In a small saucepan, add one cup of water and 1/2 cup of quinoa, bring to boil, then cook for 12 minutes on low.

While things are cooking, open a can of black beans and drain and and rinse.  Open the jar of salsa and salsa verde.

Once the rice is done, dump in the whole can of black beans, the whole jar of salsa and one tablespoon of salsa verde if you like the added zip.

When the quinoa is done, I add it right into the rice, salsa, bean mixture and eat it right away!  The quinoa instructions usually recommend letting it sit, but I don't find it necessary.  I don't rinse my quinoa either!

With room temperature beans and salsa, the mixture is a little on the lukewarm side, but it's
not terrible.  A quick zap of the microwave can bring it up to nice and warm.

I often eat this in a bowl topped with Mexican cheese and sometimes some corn chips.  The ten year old likes it in a flour tortilla.  This recipe yields 4+ meals.

Chalk Bag for Gymnast

Gymnast Chalk Bag

New regulations require each gymnast to have their own personal chalk bucket.  I've seen pictures of gymnasts around the country using different types of containers.  Some are modeled after chalk bags used by climbers, others are just using some sort of plastic container.  Ever since I heard about the possibility of gymnasts needing their own containers, I have looked around at the possiblities.  Chalk bags for climbers are on the small side as they typically chalk one hand at a time.  Gymnasts like to get both hands in there.  I liked the idea of using fleece inside to help contain the chalk dust and nylon at the top to help keep it contained.  My daughter wanted to use a plastic container she found.  I created a bag which would do both, hold the container and hopefully hold the chalk as well.

Because the plastic container was about a 7.25" circle and 3.5" tall, I started with these dimensions and then cut a bit bigger.

I wanted to make a prototype first and started with an 8" by 25" rectangle and an 8" circle for the bottom (an 8" plate was perfect to trace).  I used a bottom weight material for the outside. For the inside, I used a 5" wide by 25" fleece and 3.5" wide by 25" nylon and an 8" circle.




Ultimately because my daughter wanted the plastic container inside, we decided to make the walls a bit taller.  If the sides were all solid, they'd be 25" long by 9" tall and an 8" circle.  The inside was 5" by 25" of fleece and an 8" circle.  The nylon was 4.5" by 25". 

I used 3" wide of this cute gymnastics print with interfacing on the back pieced with the bottomweight blue.

the bottom

the inside

Sewing steps:

1. Sew short ends of 25" x 8" rectangle together, right sides together creating a tube.  I used a 1/4" seam allowance and slightly widened the seam towards the top.  Many chalk bags have a smaller top than the bottom.

2. Sew the tube to the bottom 8" circle, right sides together, forming the outside of the bag

3. Sew nylon to fleece, on the long side, right sides together.  I did serge the nylon edges to help with fraying.

4. Sew short sides, right sides together, leaving a 2" opening in the fleece part.

5. Sew nylon and fleece to fleece 8" circle.  The nylon goes on top, the fleece part is sewn to the fleece circle.

6. Install grommet to outer fabric only:  the smaller bag was centered about 1.5" down from top edge, the bigger bag was 2.5".

7. Sew the inside to the outside right sides together.  

8. Flip outside through the small opening in the lining, then sew up small opening

9. Top stitch around top edge

10. Thread lacing or elastic cord through grommet and around the bag.  Use cord lock and tie ends of lacing.

Making Masks

People all over who are able to sew are sewing masks.  There's a strong need for first responders, health care workers and everyone else too.  I started making masks to donate, then for myself and my family and finally to sell to others, though I still will donate as needed.

I have made cute child sized masks and extra large adult sized masks and everything in between.  Once I ran out of elastic, I started using strips of performance stretch material that I had leftover from making gymnastics leotards.

 And after learning that surgical caps are also needed, I have made those too.  I made a few adjustments to the pattern I bought in order to have fewer raw edges and to take advantage of my serger.

 Mask patterns out there are great and I've used one in particular and then adjusted to my preferences which removes some of the steps shown in the video.  I took pictures to help my youngest make masks too.  The sizes I cut out are
Adult 7.75" x 15" - finished width 8"
Teen 7" x 13.5" - finished width 7.25"
Youth 6" x 12" - finished width 6.25"
Preschooler 5.5" x 11" - finished width 5.75"
I have made custom sizes based on people's measurements too.  I suggest cutting a paper towel to see what size works well.  Here is a video which shows the features.

After cutting the fabric, finish the two shorter ends.  I have serged them, but they could be finished with a zigzag stitch or overlock.

I use 1/4" seam allowances.
Fold in half with right sides together and sew in about 1.5" inches from each end leaving the center area open.






Iron the sewn area so that the "finished" edges are flat.  This area becomes the open pocket for filters.

Flip right side out, then arrange so that the opening is in the upper 1" of the back.

Flip to the front and iron in three pleats.  I find that it ends up about 3.5"-4" long at this point.  For teen and child sized masks, I end up using only 2 pleats.

Sew around all edges, about 1/4" seam allowance except for the top near the "pocket."  I sew near the pocket very close to the top edge.  This allows enough space for the nose wire.

 I have been using twist tie wire from the garden department.  It comes on a spool.  I cut this to 6.5" for the adult.  It allows for about 1/4" of no wire from each end of the pocket.

Insert wire into the little pocket at the top of the mask.  Then sew down the upper pocket area close to the finished edge.

Next add 2.5" wide strips of fabric to each side in order to make a casing.  Sew right sides together and overlap each end a bit and fold over.  This encloses the raw edges.  The front of the mask is the side without the open area for the filter.

After sewing, press down the seam that was just made and the small folded-in sides.  Then fold this flap in half towards the mask allowing the raw edges to be enclosed again.

 Sew down the casing close to the folded edge.  The mask is done.  Now the elastic alternative or ties can be threaded through the casings.  For fabric ties I use 1.5" strips that are 42" long at least.

I used black performance fabric here and cut about 1/2" wide.  As I pull on the strips of fabric, they naturally roll.  This can now be knotted into ear loops or knotted behind the head/neck. Here's another video showing knotting the elastic alternative. After knotting at the right spot and testing, knot can be pulled tight and ends can be trimmed.

Quinoa Tuna Salad

After looking around for some new recipes containing quinoa, I settled on this one from Cooking Light.

I made some slight modifications and tried out the dressing which was a delightful surprise.  The Quinoa Tuna Toss is really tastey, fills you up and is healthy.  I will certainly make this again.

I will note my changes next to the ingredients below.

2 tsp of olive oil - I doubled
1 tsp of red wine vinegar - used apple cider vinegar doubled
1/2 tsp Dijon mustard - used yellow mustard doubled
1/2 tsp lemon juice - doubled
dash of salt - skipped
dash of pepper - added

1/2 cup cooked quinoa* - I made 1/2 cup uncooked which fluffs up to much more
1/2 cup canned chickpeas - I used a small 7.5 oz can of chickpeas rinsed and drained
1/4 cup cucumber - I used more, what looked right. It was about half of a seedless cucumber.
5 cherry tomatoes, halved - I used a bunch of grape tomatoes, halved to match the cucumber quarters
1 TB crumbled feta cheese - doubled
1 2.6 oz pouch of tuna - I used a 6 oz can of Yellowfin Tuna
Added 1 medium sized yellow pepper

The recipe says it is one serving, based on my modifications, it yielded 2.5 generous lunch sized servings.  Next time I will measure the total quantity before trying.

*The recipe says 1/2 cooked quinoa, but then in the directions it says to cook 1/2 cup uncooked quinoa with 3/4 cup water.  It's unclear how much they used.  I liked my proportions, though others might appreciate more dressing.

Classroom Door Window Shade

For lockdown drills, covering the glass in the door has become a necessity.  However, the shade needs to be open most of the time.

After seeing what other people are making, I decided to create my own.

First, the size needed to be determined.  For my classroom door, the window frame is 8"x32", the glass itself 1" smaller.  I figured an inch or so on each side of the frame would be needed.  I also took into account where the shade would be mounted to give enough clearance for the window to be visible when the shade was tucked away.  I estimated the shade bundled up would need about 3.5"-4", therefore my finished size should be about 40" long.  The goal of my width was 10".

Many people have some sort of weight at the bottom, most using dowel.  I decided to use dowel too.  It's about 9.5" to fit nicely between the topstitching.

In order to hang the window curtain, many people use Command™ hooks and create loops at the top. I thought that seemed to work well.  Many also use loops to hold the curtain up when not in use.  I considered that, but then decided it might be easier to have a separate mechanism for opening the shade.  A concern was that the whole shade might be knocked down while removing the loops.  I went with hook and loop and a strap or tab.

How to make a classroom door window cover:

First choose some fabric.  Many sites suggested using black on the backside.  I chose black on the back and something fun on the side which would face into the classroom.
A piece of dowel, wood or something else to give the bottom edge some stability and weight. ~9.5" long

For my finished 10" width, I cut the width of the fabric at 10.5" and used a 1/4" seam allowance.
For the finsished 40" length, I cut the length of the fabric at 40.5" and used a 1/4" seam allowance.

For the tabs, I used the excess fabric cut at 3.5"  x 11" - some of length will be cut off (The width could be bigger or smaller, much smaller and it's harder to turn.  I made one with a 4" width and that worked well too.)

For the loops that connect to the hooks, I used 1.75" x 11" of scrap - this will be cut in half

Iron and cut the front, back, tabs and loops

Loops: 1.75"x11" print
Fold in half lengthwise and iron, then fold in each long side towards the fold and iron.  Fold over again enclosing the raw edges and iron. 
Topstitch down each long side.
This will be cut in half to form the two loops. 
(If you keep it together until the very end, you're less likely to lose one little piece!)

Tabs:  (2) 11"x3.5" black
Fold in half with right sides together the long way.  Sew down the long edge.  Turn right sides out, iron (I did seam in middle), and top stitch down long ends
Turn down one short end 1/4" and iron, then turn over again about 1 1/4" to form a spot for the velcro
Install matching loop velcro on small tab

Take black "back" piece of fabric (10.5"x40.5") and lay the tab pieces with velcro facing the right side of black fabric.  Tabs are about 1 1/4" in from the side edges. 
Cut the loop piece into two equal pieces.  Fold each in half and pin to top edge of black fabric between the tabs and the side edges.

Add print fabric on top of the black with right sides together and sew through all layers on all four sides.  Leave an opening at the top between the two tabs.

Trim corners and turn right sides out.  Iron and top stitch - still leave the top area open!

Check the size of the short bottom edge between the topstiching.  If it is about 9 3/4", cut some dowel about 9 1/2".  If your sizing is different, test out the dowel and cut more as necessary.

After inserting dowel and sliding it to the bottom of the curtain, sew a seam just above the dowel to create a pocket for the dowel.

Topstich across the opening at the top.  Add the hook velcro to the top edge and go through the tabs that are laying on the black backside.

Front

Back

You are done!  Hang up your curtain and test out the rolling and the unrolling.  

It can be fun to customize the prints to the teacher or the classroom.