bind-it-all - product name or swear?

how about both??

i recently purchased the bind-it-all having this grand idea of making wire bound books using a lot of my paper stash. i've been working in a plain paper art journal and when i'm done i'd like to use mixed pages, which is where i got the idea.

it looks easy enough. and is easy enough once you figure out how to use. the swearing comes in when i realized there are no clear or detailed instructions that i can find on how to punch a large cover bigger than 3x3. (which is what the size of this book is.) the zutter website was pretty much useless and so is the little instruction booklet you get with your bind-it-all. everything is written in such ... technical ... terms that my brain can't process it. the only pages i found easy to understand where the tips pages at the end of the booklet that step by step guides you through pushing your binding together.

what i learned: that scrap paper is your friend. just figuring out the punching mechanism and how to do a long row require just lots of patience and lots of scrap paper so you aren't ruining your project. i learned the hard way.

i'm not going to give up though! i need mixed paged books!

the potter pillow

made for my friend sara's birthday; she's a massive harry potter fan.

i wanted to turn it into a tote bag but then decided that if it was ever washed the ink would run and ruin it. the image is from a google image search i was doing for 'science' and all i did was print it out onto white fabric through my ink-jet printer. i'm considering making an entire series of these from my favorite books for my couch!

Simple Sewing with a French Twist?

While flipping through Simple Sewing with a French Twist at the bookstore I happened upon a montage of pictures of things meant for the home. (It's divided by room) I believe it was the bedroom section. It was the loveliest pink and white fabric wall pocket hanging snapped onto an antique coat hanger. It was adorable but there was no pattern or directions for it in the book that I could find. So I made a quick sketch and made one of my own.

This is what I came up with: using a vintage pillowcase (one of my favorite patterns) I made a simple rectangle and pocket. I used heavy interfacing and for the ribbon loops, I used my pliers and eyelets. I liked the idea of snapping it onto a hanger but the only antique hanger I have is in a frame...so eyelets it was. I guess I tossed the directions for my pliers, but found this SUPER handy video on You-Tube for setting eyelets into fabric.


With mail, which is what I think I'm going to use it for when I find a place to hang it.


About the book: I did not buy it. It seemed silly to pay nearly 30 dollars for a book of pretty pictures and somewhat unusable patterns. Directions seemed clear enough, but they also seemed incomplete. Also, a lot of the projects were more for embellishing than creating something from scratch. It's beautifully photographed, though, and was rather inspiring to look through.

I see more of these in my future!