Must or Bust : Everyday Tote Bag and Oily Hair Fix

Hey, everyone! It's time for another Must or Bust. . . just because I said so. I get so excited to share the projects I've tried that I have a really hard time waiting to post them.

After crocheting my little heart out, I decided to break up the monotony a bit by dusting off my sewing machine. I had some left-over fabric from the playpen sheet I made in the last Must or Bust HERE, and so I figured I'd try my hand at making a tote.

Everyday Tote:  MUST


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This tutorial over at Singer's website HERE was fairly simple and straightforward. I didn't have quite enough interfacing to make the full 20" x 32" tote, so I made it 20" x 24" instead.  It worked out fine! I ended up using flannel as the lining and it worked amazingly! And one other thing-- I happened to have ribbon that was iron-on and so I skipped the whole "apply basting tape to ribbon" step and just ironed it on instead. Then I sewed around the very edge like it tells you to; just to secure it a little more. There were a couple things I was a little unsure of in the instructions and they were as follows:

-- On step #9 it mentions how to sew on one of the handles, but it didn't say what to do with the second one {at least not that I saw}. One goes on the top like shown in the diagram, and then the other one is sewn onto the bottom.

-- When it tells you to put the bag inside the lining, it doesn't mention where to place the handles while sewing around the top. Place them inside; between the lining and the tote. When you turn it right side out, your handles will be on the outside like they ought to be. {Learning that concept was really tricky for me when I was first learning to sew}

-- When it came time to place the cardboard thingy in the bottom, my measurements must have been off because the thing was at least 1 1/2" short on either side. As a result, it doesn't stay in the bottom very well and just flops around all over the place. I attempted to fix it by using stick-on velcro, but the sticky stuff doesn't stay on the flannel very well. I would suggest attaching some sew-on velcro to the bottom of the lining and on the cover for your cardboard piece BEFORE you assemble the bag. Make sense?

 

Yay. So fun!

. . . . .

"Dry Cleaning" Oily Hair : Bust


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I have a confession to make. Sometimes the last thing I want to do during nap time is take a shower. I would much rather spend it reading a book, crocheting, sleeping, watching a movie, or even sewing a tote ;) . . . so I was hoping this method found over at "One Good Thing by Jillee" HERE would save me from having to wash my hair so often.

Unfortunately, I'm here to announce that it is no substitute for hygiene. I may have just not sprayed on enough for it to work, but it didn't seem to help as much as I thought it would. Granted, I was able to find courage to go into public after using it whereas before I wouldn't have dreamed of it, so I guess that's a good sign. But as far as my hair looking as though I just washed it? Nope. Sorry.

Maybe next time.

{UPDATE: A good friend pointed out after reading this post that I needn't wash my hair every day and that it's best to wash it every other day at the most. She's completely right and I agree 100%. What I didn't really want to volunteer was that I hadn't showered in, like, three days or so. Gross, right?! :) So, yeah. I think this cleaner would work much better should my hair have not been so dirty that the poor stuff didn't even know where to begin. Capeesh?}