My Life In Sketches: July 2013

Thursday, July 25, 2013

This week, Eric & I drove to Globe, AZ to deliver the kids to

Grandma and Grandpa for a few days. These are some road

trip sightings, rendered in General Sketch & Wash pencil.

It was a lovely drive -- the desert is lush from the monsoons,

and the sky was full of fluffy clouds. We even saw a bit of rain!!

Thursday, July 11, 2013

As I mentioned previously, a skate leash is a handy way of keeping

roller or inline skates tethered together for hauling around or hanging up.

The pictures in this tutorial show my kids sewing up their own skate

leashes in about ten minutes -- it's that easy!

Start with a strap of some kind which can be doubled up and still

pass through your sewing machine. The instructions that follow refer

to grosgrain ribbon, sewn with regular poly/cotton sewing thread

and a #14 sewing machine needle.

1) Cut strap to 48" length (if this skate leash is for a small child, you may wish

to adjust this down -- my seven-year-old prefers a 36" starting length).

2) Starting on one end, iron the ribbon under about 1/2".

2) Fold the ribbon under again, this time another 3 inches.

3) Press.

4) Using your presser foot as a guide, sew down the ribbon at the

3" fold. Secure this end of the loop with a small rectangle of stitches

and then an "x" criss-crossing the rectangle. This encases the frayed ends

of the ribbon and strengthens the loop. Trim loose strings. Iron one more time.

Your ribbon end should look something like this.

5) Repeat steps 2-5 with the other end of the strap, making sure

you are folding the ends under to the same side of the ribbon as before.

6) Your skate leash is complete! Pull the ribbon strap partially

through one end to form a loop.

Repeat with the other end as well.

7) Position the loop you just made over part of the skate --

the toe stop, the front wheels, or the boot itself. Pull to tighten.

The other end attaches to the other skate, and you are ready to go!

My Life In Sketches