1 post tagged “valentines day”
For Valentine's Day, I decided to be
crafty and make Rob's gifts this year.
I'd bought a sewing machine about a year ago and only made a few things with it, so I decided to sew a pair of pajama pants for Rob. I picked out a pattern and some cute material a week and a half before our VDay celebration, figuring that would give me plenty of time to sew.
On my first attempt, I got about halfway done before I realized the material was upside down. Arrgh! I went back to JoAnn Fabrics, bought some more material, and started over with only three nights remaining to work on the pants. The pattern I was using (Simplicity 9900) was pretty crappy, and I don't think this is just due to my being an inexperienced sewer. One of the pieces was bigger than all the others, and the crotch was really low (as in, several inches above the ankles). I attempted to cut the crotch higher (like normal pajama pants) and succeeded in making the pant legs too narrow. I tried fixing them Saturday morning but it just wasn't working. I cried, and when I got done crying, I called Rob and told him how I wanted to make him pajama pants and how I'd managed to screw them up twice. He told me not to worry, and I promised to make him some when I had more time. I still needed something to give him that night, though, so I took some scrap material and quickly made him this pillow:
And it only took about $45 in materials to make this! Wow! A $45 pillow! Oh well. If you go into Pottery Barn or one of those yuppie stores, they charge $45 for pillows, right? The lesson I learned is this: Homemade gifts only look cheap. They aren't cheap to make. If you want to show someone you care, save yourself the time and just spend a lot of money on a store-bought gift.
In addition to the pajama pants idea, I also decided to make these really cool magnets, which I saw here and here. They were a lot of fun and very easy to create:
On my first attempt, I got about halfway done before I realized the material was upside down. Arrgh! I went back to JoAnn Fabrics, bought some more material, and started over with only three nights remaining to work on the pants. The pattern I was using (Simplicity 9900) was pretty crappy, and I don't think this is just due to my being an inexperienced sewer. One of the pieces was bigger than all the others, and the crotch was really low (as in, several inches above the ankles). I attempted to cut the crotch higher (like normal pajama pants) and succeeded in making the pant legs too narrow. I tried fixing them Saturday morning but it just wasn't working. I cried, and when I got done crying, I called Rob and told him how I wanted to make him pajama pants and how I'd managed to screw them up twice. He told me not to worry, and I promised to make him some when I had more time. I still needed something to give him that night, though, so I took some scrap material and quickly made him this pillow:
And it only took about $45 in materials to make this! Wow! A $45 pillow! Oh well. If you go into Pottery Barn or one of those yuppie stores, they charge $45 for pillows, right? The lesson I learned is this: Homemade gifts only look cheap. They aren't cheap to make. If you want to show someone you care, save yourself the time and just spend a lot of money on a store-bought gift.
In addition to the pajama pants idea, I also decided to make these really cool magnets, which I saw here and here. They were a lot of fun and very easy to create:
Rob likes to take cool photos from magazines and create his own
magnets, so I thought he would appreciate these crafty "marble" magnets.
And last, I made him a carrot cake -- his favorite -- from a recipe I got from his friend. As far as "domestic" things go, I'm pretty terrible (see: the pajama pants screw up), but I can actually bake.
And last, I made him a carrot cake -- his favorite -- from a recipe I got from his friend. As far as "domestic" things go, I'm pretty terrible (see: the pajama pants screw up), but I can actually bake.
Anyway, even though the morning was a disaster, we did have a really nice VDay. We had dinner at Bin 36 and then Rob surprised me with tickets to Blue Man Group.
