Crafts from "Awesome"

Crafts from “awesome” to “why haven’t I finished that yet”. You start these crafts thinking you will spend thirty minutes on them, then reality hits. Three days later you have either an amazing piece or are still wondering where your motivation disappeared to. This obviously does not apply to those with maximum energy, strong will, strong focus, and enough time in their lives to actually complete things immediately. But for the majority... I suspect that you not only understand but, you feel these statements deeply.

So, what is it that one needs to complete a craft project? Tools? Well, obviously... but which ones? A good pair of scissors is a must. Thread, fabric, foam, beads, stones, leather, bells, coins, tassels, sewing machine, pencils, oils, canvas, pens, acrylic, the list goes on and on. Now for my most “AWESOME” craft project. I was bright-eyed and bushy-tailed.

Just at the beginning of my belly dance career (my style was tribal infusion), I wanted all the things... the amazing hip scarfs, the body mesh to hide my belly, the proper top with the great sleeves, I wanted it all... however, money was an issue. Insert crafts... I went to a leather shop and got leather scraps. Then at a later paycheck, I went to the bead store. Let me tell you, do not, I repeat, DO NOT let a belly dancer loose inside a bead store. I bought bells, coins, beads, stone beads, bone beads. I had so many ideas swarming through my head, it was inevitable that I spend more than I should. I went to the home improvement store and bought wire I could “sew” with. I needed durability for all that shaking of my hips.

Finally, I have all that I need. I can, at last, create my new hip scarf. Laying out the pieces needed to create the piece in my mind. Now for the tricky part. I have minimal sewing skills (hence the wire) and I have never created clothing before. So, I am taking this leather and wrapping it around my hips for measurements. Because, yes, I forgot to buy a tape measure. Using the scissors to cut the length and angles, basically eyeballing it. You can see that it gets a tad frustrating, some epithets later and bleeding from nips on the hands and I finally have the material how I want it. And I am DONE, for the time being. The next day I don’t even want to look in its direction.

Fortunately, I have a performance at the coffee bar the next weekend. Deadlines always help me, as I am a procrastinator that has a mild case of O.C.D. So, I have to complete things by said deadline. And as every procrastinator can proclaim, I waited all week before I looked at the darned thing again. But now I HAD to get it done. Which made me sit down and finally complete it. Sitting down at the table feeling the pressure with the need to complete it, I just look at the supplies until I calm down and get the motivation to start again.

Picking up the leather and remembering my goal. I break out the needle nose pliers and the wire. Sewing together the brown leather with approximately three-inch gap between scraps with a zig-zag pattern of wire. Inside those gaps, I put the stone circle pieces to draw the eye. Along the rear of the piece, I sew in lines of coins and bells and bone beads. I burn the leather scraps to seal all the possible fraying along the outer edges as well as the “sewing” holes. Alas, it is finished. I place it on my hips, one of the zig-zag patterns landing on my right hip, the other down the middle front. Tying together the whole thing in a knot on my left hip. It looks AWESOME, I absolutely LOVE it. The sense of completion and stress relief felt amazing.

My not-so-great craft is on a much larger scale. My great-grandmother's four-piece couch, solid strong, comfortable, but ugly. They are so old that they used salmon-colored carpet fabric to upholster them. So “let’s reupholster them”. So much easier said than done. Again, I still have not figured out the art of pattern cutting for the material. It’s something I am working on. This time I at least had the tape measure.

Gathering all the materials, the good scissors, the fabric, the foam (which I did not get enough), the sewing machine, thread, buttons, mesh, screwdriver, staple gun, staple remover, zippers, I think that was all. I start, and oof! Holy cow, there are so many staples in this thing. I pull all the staples and the fabric off the back. I have to put on gloves to clean out the cotton padding, as you can imagine after approximately 50 years it’s filled with rat pellets and smelled... well... quite unpleasant.

Since eyeballing material worked so well for me before, I do so again. Not the smartest of ideas, I thought if I added more than the eye could see, I would be fine. I was not. I had to fold and twist the fabric scraps to make certain everything was covered. In my defense, I chose to start with the corner piece, the most challenging. I started this back in August of 2020, it is now June 2021 and I have yet to finish the one piece. Granted I need more foam, for the backing and cushions, which costs approximately $200 more than I currently have. However, I can finish the backing on this one piece and have yet to do so.

There has been stress, as well as lack of funds, that has prevented me from finding the motivation to complete my project. However, my main issue is simple. I have not had a deadline. Now I have a deadline, I have to move at the end of June. I want to have them completed. Financial issues may prevent it. But I can manage to complete the corner piece, without the cushion. I will complete the main part of the corner piece before I move, guaranteed.

Alas, finding any pictures of my Awesome hip scarf, anywhere seemed impossible. I do however have a picture of the piece of couch, before and current. Which you can see. The moral of this story is... Always have a good pair of scissors, measure your fabric and cut properly to prevent waste. And most importantly, stay motivated, give yourself a deadline, and feel a sense of completion with every craft you start. If you are waiting to complete it for some unknown reason that you can prevent, just force yourself to complete it and give yourself a deadline. You will feel a sense of pride in yourself, even if it is not what you initially imagined.