Sometimes I can be so dang cheap about the silliest things. Since we moved into this house three years ago I’ve needed to get wastebaskets in all the bathrooms, but I could not bring myself to spend $25 on something that no one will notice except when they need somewhere to put a used kleenex.

I’ve searched and searched for a cheaper option. All the usual places – Ross, Marshals, etc. – cost just as much as Target for a lamer selection. I stalked Linen’s and Things when it was going out of business and they never got cheaper than $20. I even looked for something at the dollar store and didn’t find anything that wasn’t disposable. For all the money I’ve spent on gas while on the quest, I probably could’ve just bought the dang pricey trashcans three times.

Finally I found these cheap black plastic trashcans at a discount store, and bought them out of desperation, figuring I could do something to make them work.

I used a special spray paint for plastic to turn the awful black plastic into a color that would fit in in the bathroom. I planned to only cover the outside so the inside could still be wiped clean when necessary.

I cut a piece of fabric to fit the outside of the trash can. If your trash can is shaped like mine, you need to allow for it to be wider at the top than the bottom. A 1/2 yard of fabric was plenty for this project, so I just cut the fabric several extra inches taller than the trashcan and that was enough to account for that curve. Spray a spray adhesive over the trashcan a few inches at a time and smooth the fabric over.

Cut the fabric flush with the top edge.

Fold the raw edge under and glue down using a fabric glue.

Fold the fabric onto the bottom of the trashcan and glue in place. This is easiest if you cut slits into the fabric and then fold those pieces on top of each other. Then I covered the whole mess with a circle of flannel.

I cut a stip of fabric 2 inches wide and made some bias tape out of it by ironing the raw edges in towards the center. A bias tape maker makes this job a breeze. Then I just glued it onto the rim of the wastebasket with fabric glue and used binder clips to hold it in place until it dried.

Each wastebasket took about 1/2 a yard of fabric, but for one of the trashcans I used fabric I had left over from another project in that room. So at $3 for each can, $4 for the spray paint, and $4.50 for the half yard of fabric, I made two wastebaskets for the grand total of $14.50. That’s a whole lot better than the $50 everyplace else was charging.

A couple years ago already, I found this incredible maxi skirt at a vintage clothing store near me. I just fell in love with the fabric, but I had the same dilemma I always have at vintage stores – nothing fits my 21st century frame. I bought the skirt anyway because there was so much fabric I knew I had to be able to do something with it.

I figured it would make a great cover for a cornice in my studio. Cornices are a favorite window treatment of mine since they’re a way of taking something as soft and ethereal as curtains and adding a clean hard edge to it. Plus, they’re ridiculously simple to make. You just need a piece of wood in the shape of your cornice.

For this simple straight forward one, I wanted it to be eight inches tall, so I got a 2 x 8 and had a piece cut to how wide I wanted it to hang across my window. Then I had two pieces cut to how deep I wanted the cornice, minus two inches so the final measurement would include the width of both pieces of wood.

I lined up the two pieces perpendicularly and put three screws through the top piece and into the side piece.

Then to make it super sturdy, I used a bracket on the inside of the cornice.

Pull out your trusty staple gun and cover the whole thing with quilters batting. I used a couple of layers to make it look nicely upholstered instead of just a wrapped up piece of wood.

Since I was using a salvaged fabric, I had to sew some strips together to get it wide enough for the whole board, but after I did that I just stretched it across the front and stapled the fabric to the back. Don’t be shy with your staples, and try to keep those corners neat.

I didn’t have enough of the skirt fabric to make a lining for the cornice, so I used some random cheap lining fabric I had in my stash. As neatly as I could I folded the edges under and stapled the lining down.

To hang this up, just get some L brackets, screw one end into each of the side pieces, and the other end into your wall. Easy Peasy.

You might also want to remember to account for any other window treatments you’ll be using when you determine your width. The last time I made a cornice I forgot and I had to jam a curtain rod up in there in a very unattractive manner. This time I didn’t worry about it because I knew I didn’t have the fabric to go any wider, so I figured I’ll just staple some sheers to the inside.

Bear had a great Aunt who made us a couple of handmade washcloths as a wedding present, and I have to confess, back then I could not understand why you’d go to that much trouble for a washcloth when paper towels are so cheap. Ten years later, I always smile to myself when I pull that washcloth out to wash the dishes with. Oh younger me, how silly you were to not appreciate the indestructible glories of a handknit.

Those first washcloths have finally given up the ghost, so I thought it was time for a whole new batch of them. They are hands down the very very best things to use to wash dishes or wipe counters. The yarn makes all these lovely ridges that are great scrubbers, they are tougher than any sponge out there, they’ll never scratch anything delicate, and they just get tossed in the wash so no nasty little germ factories like what normally sits by the sink, and no dead trees. For relatively little effort you get a healthier family, healthier home, and healthier planet. Win, win, win.

I’ve made tons and tons of the fantastic washcloths from the gals at Mason-Dixon and they are really great, but I absolutely detest weaving in ends, and that one requires a lot of it. But it has that great texture, and I really wanted to keep that.

I also really prefer the process of crochet to the process of knitting. It’s easier on my hands, it goes faster, it’s more mindless for me, but crochet creates this big bulky fabric, and knitting can create this lovely smooth fabric, so I usually go for the knitting. This was a perfect project for crochet – bulky only works in it’s favor – and I could seriously crank out the yardage in a hurry that way. I found this basketweave stitch and knew it was perfection.

I used Lily Sugar ‘n Cream cotton. Out of 3 balls I got two washcloths. Here’s my quick pattern:

Chain 29

DC in third chain from hook and 26 times more to complete the row. Ch 2, turn.

Now starts the Basketweave pattern:

Row 1: Back Post Double Crochet (BPDC) (see below) 3 times (the 2 chains from the last row make your first stitch) [Front Post Double Crochet (FPDC) (see below) 4 times, BPDC 4 times]* repeat * twice more, Ch 2, turn.

OK, all that sounds terribly confusing, but really you’re just making seven blocks of four stitches, alternating the Front Post and Back Post stitches.

Row 2: FPDC 3 times, [BPDC 4 times, FPDC 4 times]* repeat * twice more, Ch 2, turn.

Row 3: Repeat row 2. I think you’ll see here that you just FP the FP’s and BP’s the BP’s until it’s time to make a new square.

Those three rows create the square. To make the square that alternates it, you just have to flip the FP’s and BP’s. So the next square would go like this:

Row 1: FPDC 3 times, [BPDC 4 times, FPDC 4 times]* repeat * twice more, Ch 2, turn.

Row 2: BPDC 3 times, [FPDC 4 times, BPDC 4 times]* repeat * twice more, Ch 2, turn.

Row 3: FPDC 3 times, [BPDC 4 times, FPDC 4 times]* repeat * twice more, Ch 2, turn.

Then you’d have your second row of squares, so you’d go back to that first way for the third set of squares.

I hope that makes sense. If it doesn’t just reading through it, then try it as you crochet. It’s really simple, I think it will just pop out at you as you work it.

OK, now there’s those special stitches:
These work just like a double crochet stitch, but instead of going through the loop, you go around the post made by the previous row. Which direction you go around the post, makes the stitch either push forward, or pull backwards.

Back Post Double Crochet:
Yarn over, and insert the hook from the back

Go around the post and push the needle back towards the back. Yarn over and pull it all through.

Then treat it like a regular double crochet. Yarn over, pull through two loops. Yarn over again, pull through two loops, leaving one loop on the hook.

Front Post Double Crochet:
This works exactly the same way, except you come at the post from the front, around the post from the back, and then through to the front.

If you know how to crochet, you can totally do this. Just read as you’re working instead of trying to make sense of it all. It really doesn’t make sense unless you’ve got the crochet right in front of you.

I meant to do this project in the Spring. It just seems like a Spring kind of project, new washcloths, perfect to have ready for all that Spring Cleaning, but when Spring was here I was busy working on Halloween projects. I got all turned around trying to work ahead for magazines, and I really didn’t enjoy that. I’ve never realized before how much the season affects what I’m inspired to do.

This timing worked out OK too though, because after all that Halloween madness, I needed a seriously mellow palate cleanser, and this was just right to work on during this never ending sickness.

Amy Butler’s In Stitches has a really great pattern for embellishing bathroom handtowels with a band of great fabric and a hook to hang it coming out of the bottom. Not content with perfection, I decided to create my own version. I think Amy’s method of including the fabric (it covers the whole bottom, front and back) is better than mine, but the way she has the hooks set in wouldn’t really work with what I wanted to do, and mine doesn’t require as much fabric, so, you know, pros and cons.

It was seeing that hook on her design that inspired what I wanted to do in the bathroom. I really don’t like traditional towel bars so I wanted another way to bring some color and some utility into our guest bathroom. Guest bathrooms always seem to have the same problem. If the towels look remotely elegant, people don’t seem to want to use them. In the bathroom off the front door I’ve got a bunch of towels rolled up in a bowl and I can’t tell you how rarely those get used. People always seem to come out wiping their hands on their pants rather than disturb those towels. Since this would be a guest bathroom for overnight guests, I wanted to make sure it looked comfortable, but still nice. Once I saw that loop she put on her towels, I thought of a bunch of towels hanging up in a locker room on hooks, and I thought I could do it in a way that bridged that formal/informal divide.

The coat hooks came from Cost Plus Imports. I mounted them pretty high on the wall, maybe five feet up? My artist sister is making me some watercolors to go up above them at the very top.

The towels are pretty darn simple. A set of two took almost exactly 1/2 a yard of fabric.

Cut 2 pieces 31″ x 4 1/2″. The longer measurement is the width of your towel, so you should probably measure the towel you’ll be using and adjust that measurement if necessary.

Iron over a 1/4″ seam allowance on both long sides of the band of fabric. Pin in place on each edge of the right side of the towel, and sew down as close to the edge as you can aim. Push the short side ends in between the fabric and the towel, and press in place. Sew the short ends down.

Cut one piece of fabric 3″ x 8″. Match right sides together and sew down the long side to create a tube. Turn the tube right side out and press down with the seam in the middle of one side. Turn the raw edges into the tube about 1/4″ and press to make them stay.

When I student taught a kindergarten class, we would say for the next step: Fold the towel hot dog style. So the towel would be folded down the middle to make it long and skinny. Short sides matched in half. Make sense? You have to make those sewn bands of fabric perpendicular to the loop so that as they’re hanging you see as much of that fabric as possible. When your fabric is folded this way, pin your loop onto the middle of the towel.

Sew in place by sewing a square, and then crossing diagonally. This looks nice and finished, but it also makes the hook way strong so it won’t rip off the first time someone needs to grab a towel.

In honor of my inspiration, I used fabric from Amy Butler’s Daisy Chain line, contrasting the band and the loop.

I’m really pleased with how these turned out. I think it’s an appealing display, but something about it doesn’t seem as untouchable as a set of neatly hanging towels in a color that matches the bathroom. I think someone might just get up the courage to wipe their hands on these.