The trait I got from my dad that I’m the most grateful for is the ability to look at something and figure out how it’s done. He prided himself on being able to make it by hand, even if it cost more to do it, even if it took so much time it wasn’t worth it, even if it sat in the garage for years on end, he was a self-sufficient mountain man trapped in suburbia, and there was virtue in just doing it on your own.
I’ve got that same streak in me and there are times when I love it (like when I’m saving a fortune on tiling a floor) and times when I curse it (like when I can’t bring myself to buy a $60 sweater because I can figure out how to knit it myself despite the fact that the yarn alone will easily cost $100 and then take me 6 months to make.)
Whenever I can’t sleep and I’m strolling through the internet, I always stop and bookmark something wonderful for sale somewhere that I could figure out how to make. It goes into the folder labeled “I Can Make This,” waiting for the day that I’ll suddenly run out of projects (Ha!) and need an idea of something new to make just because (Ha Ha!).
Want to take a guess how many projects within the “I Can Make This” folder I’ve actually made? Yeah. None.
So, hoping to inspire others as well as myself, and to help me in my efforts to blog more frequently, I’m going to start posting things from this folder every Friday. Maybe if I have to look at it whenever I update, I’ll actually feel inspired to do something about that. But probably not. At least my blog will look pretty thanks to somebody else’s work.
Here’s my inaugural I Can Make This project:
Anthropologie is a freaking fantastic store. They have incredible products, with incredible displays, and they appreciate the creative folk. With my “Make It Myself” streak, I frequently wander through stores with a camera or a pen and paper sketching down cool stuff, and I frequently get kicked out of those stores. Anthropologie is the only store I’ve ever been in that invited me to come back with a camera, gave me a catalog, talked about my work, and invited me to bring it in to consign. They LOVE the creative folk. My only complaint is that their prices are really high, so I’ve never actually purchased anything from them. I found this bracelet the other day after some internet friends were discussing how to incorporate their embroidery obsession into jewelry. This bracelet is to die for.
Of course it’s only $328, so I’ll run right out and snap it up. Gulp. I can’t even type that without breaking into a sweat.
I think the way I’d make it is to bead on a piece of gauze or linen, surround the beads with cording adhered by a couching stitch or a light weight acid free fabric glue, and then either glue the piece or stitch it to a light weight piece of leather. I think it’s exquisite and totally achievable. We’ll see.