A Make A Week

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Week 8: Raised Bed Planters

Growing up as an apartment dwelling city kid, having a bit of growing space to call my own has always been a dream of mine. When my partner and I moved into our second apartment in Brooklyn, we quickly filled up our fire escape with growing things. For the most part though, the goal of being better gardeners has mostly been pushed aside for the past few years as we struggled to keep house plants and a few potted herbs alive.

Luckily the little cottage we rent in Berkeley has some outdoor space we can call our own. The drought took a toll on some of the ferns our landlord had planted so we ended up with a bit more space for growing this summer. I started by experimenting with some homemade self-watering planters made from recycled buckets, but still longed for a slightly larger growing space where our kale and herbs wouldn’t have to duke it out for space. 

Deciding that it was time to just jump in and build something we went to the hardware store and picked up some redwood planks. The result isn’t the most beautiful thing in the world, but together our two boxes hold 6 cubic feet of dirt and I’m hoping that our plants will be happy in their new homes! The best part perhaps is that if we decide to move at some point, our garden can come with us. Happy planting! 

Clues

Cut ten 2′ long boards

Cut four 25″ long boards

Following the diagrams below, nail one of the 25″ long boards to one of the 2′ long boards at a 90-degree angle.

Nail another 2′ long board to the other end of the 25″ long board, creating a ‘U’ shape. This is the beginning of the sides of your box. 

Nail three 2′ long boards to one side of the 25″long board creating the bottom of your box. You will have a little bit of wiggle room, which you’ll need for your box to drain properly. Brian and I choose to have the two outer boards be flush with the walls of the box and to have the middle bottom board centered with a bit of room on each side. 

Nail a 25″ board to the opposite side of the box from the 25″ long board you started with, nailing it into the walls and floor of the box.

Repeat with the other box.

Fill up with potting soil or raised bed mix (we opted for raised bed mix) and get planting!

Materials for two boxes

Six 6′ long redwood boards of your desired thickness

2″ box nails

Saw

Hammer

Measuring tape

6 cubic feet of potting soil or raised bed mix

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Week 7: Lottie Top

Back in March I made my first ever garment thanks to the help and guidance of sewing teacher and pattern designer Christine Haynes. I was lucky enough to catch a class with Christine at my favorite spots in the Bay, Handcraft Studio School in Emeryville. 

Through her well documented patterns and blog sew-alongs, Christine helps make learning new sewing techniques feel approachable and do-able. On this top I learned a new sleeve construction, how to place and sew bust darts as well as a new neck binding technique and side vents. 

Lottie comes with a lot of different options to play with and I plan on making the mid-length dress version soon and will probably size down or play around with a SBA on my next go-round. 

Pattern for Top

Lottie Pattern by Christine Haynes 

Materials

Around 2.25 yards of a textured Japanese cotton from Satin Moon Fabrics 

[amakeaweek]

Week 6: An Almada Robe for Nori

This past weekend I was lucky to celebrate my sweet friend Nori’s birthday with a celebratory weekend on the Russian River amongst friends. Nori is a painter with a keen eye for fashion, so I couldn’t resist sewing up an Almada Robe for her special day. The quilting cotton I found at Stone Mountain and Daughter, felt soft and comfortable enough for a lounge-y robe with enough structure to show off the architectural sleeves. Mostly I was drawn in by the pattern, which made me think of watercolor paintings and the South West. 

I decided to take the plunge and print the pattern at a copy shop at full size. I could imagine more than one Almada in my future (I definitely want one of my own!) and figured the investment to print it large and trace it was worth it. 

Fitting together the pattern pieces to a little getting used to but once everything was cut and pinned the sewing went smoothly. Next time I think I’d like to add interfacing to the ties (and the cuffs if using a thinner fabric) as well as potentially experimenting with French seams. 

Pattern for Robe

Almada Robe by Seamwork Magazine

Materials

A little under 4 yards of Painting in Morale by April Rhodes purchased from Stone Mountain and Daughter

1 package of extra wide, double fold bias tape in white

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Week 5: Birthday Socks

The first thing I ever tried to knit was a pair of socks. They were ragg socks and for weeks I sat in my dorm room in college chatting with friends, drinking tea and wondering how the thick itchy things I was knitting were ever going to be comfortable. My friend who I learned to knit with finished one purple sock, I in turn finished one red sock and then we both promptly gave up.

I had thought that knit socks were just not going to be a part of my future (who wants to knit two of anything?) but as luck would have it, I started knitting my first sweater, some how added 10 stitches to the bust and have been avoiding frogging it for the past month. Craving a project to work on during my long morning commutes I went to the yarn store seeking inspiration and fell in love with Madelinetosh Sock yarn. With my birthday around the corner I thought it would be a nice gift to myself to buy some fancy yarn (and also avoid my sweater project). 

Strangely, time aligned itself in such a way that I finished the pair at the stroke of midnight, making one sock the last thing I knit as 26 and the other the first thing I knit as 27. 

Quick notes on this pattern are simply that I really enjoy knitting with it! the heel turn feels like beautiful magic each time and I love the ease of the toe finishing! I’d definitely recommend them as a first sock, or even as a first knitting pattern.

Pattern for Knit Socks

Knit Socks from Made by Hand by Lena Corwin 

Materials

2 hanks of Madelinetosh Sock (although they are huge and the socks are pretty little, so I’m hoping to get 4 pairs total out of these two hanks)

1 set of size 2 DPNs

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Week 4: Gingham Wiksten Tank

I had a lot of fun sewing up this pattern, which offered lots of learning opportunities including how to apply a patch pocket and an opportunity to finish a garment with fancy french seams. I also did my first attempt at pattern matching which was of mixed success. 

Next time I want to use a contrasting bias tape and make some small personal adjustments to the pattern including bringing up the neckline a touch and shortening the length by a few inches as I’ll mainly be wearing it tucked into high waisted jeans (you can see the rumple across the middle from wear already in the photo above!). I also have plans to try out this Wiksten Tank ‘hack’! 

Some resources that helped me along the way:

Christine Hayne’s excellent guide to facings

The “best hemming trick ever” from the Craft Sessions Blog

Grainline Studio’s guide to French seams

Pattern for Wiksten Tank

Wiksten Tank Pattern by Jenny Gordy

Materials

2 yards of gingham cotton from A Verb For Keeping Warm

1 package of extra wide double fold bias tape

[amakeaweek]

Week 3: Beach Tank

For the past few months I’ve been making an effort to learn more about clothing production and slowly embarking on a journey to make more of my wardrobe. My dear friend Gillian has been my partner in crafting and wrote this beautiful blog post, which so perfectly sums up so many of my feelings about consumption, creation and covering my bod. 

I started knitting this tank while on a long drive with my partner and his mom up to The Avenue of the Giants race in the Humboldt Redwoods State Park. The tank was a pleasure to knit and came together rather quickly. I loved making my first i-cord and am already scheming about making another tank with a slightly lighter drape. I can’t wait to wear this on a long weekend on the coast later this month. 

Pattern for Beach Tank

Beach Tank Pattern by Jess Schreibstein

Materials

2 skeins of Quince & Co. Chickadee in Iceland

4 skeins of Quince & Co. Kestrel in Turtle

Obligatory Goof-tastic Action Shot

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Week 2: Scallion Powder

One of the many perks of living in Berkeley is having Berkeley Bowl as my neighborhood grocery store. While my mom was visiting earlier this month we made a trip to Berkeley Bowl where we found a gigantic bag of beautiful scallions in the discount grocery section. My mother being basically a grade-A earth angel offered to cut and wash all 20+ bunches of scallions so that we could make a giant batch of scallion powder together. 

I’ve been enjoying the fruits of this labor on top of scrambled eggs, sprinkled over popcorn and over a shmear of cream cheese.

Recipe for Scallion Powder

Adapted from Bar Tartine: Techniques and Recipes

Ingredients + Tools

Green scallions, leeks or green onions

Dehydrator

Food processor, spice grinder or mortar and pestle 

Clues

Wash and dry your scallions.

Trim the roots off of the scallions, cut the scallions in half length-wise and then cut into 1-inch pieces.

Place chopped scallions in the dehydrator for 12-14 hours at 125°F.

Once the scallions are dry pulse them in your food processor or spice grinder until they are a flakey powder.

Put the scallion powder back in the dehydrator for another 12 hours at 125°F, or until the powder doesn’t stick together.

Store in an airtight jar.

The gorgeous bowl in the photo above was turned by my amazing mom!

[amakeaweek]

Week 1: Rhubarb + strawberry crumble

A little over a month ago Brian and I planted some tiny strawberry plants in terracotta bowls on our porch. I’ve been diligently watering and loving on them and in return they’ve sprouted little white flowers and a beautiful mess of new leaves. Here or there we get a bitty red berry surprise, but the plan for now is to harvest this first (tiny) batch of homegrown strawberries while they’re still green to put up as pickles. 

The plants do act as a daily reminder of how damn much we both love strawberries though. For a while as a kid I was allergic to strawberries after eating an entire flat pack of them in one sitting. I spent a few sad summer breaking out in hives on my stomach whenever I ate more than one or two, so I especially savor getting to eat strawberries itch-free now.

Recipe for rhubarb + strawberry crumble

Adapted from A Modern Way to Eat by Anna Jones

Ingredients 

1.5 pints of strawberries 

2 large rhubarb stems

1/2 cup of coconut sugar

grated zest of 1 lemon

1 vanilla pod

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

1 cup almond flour

1 cup steel cut oats

2 tablespoons of poppy seeds

grated zest of 1 orange

6 tablespoons of cold butter 

Clues

Preheat your oven to 400°F

Quarter the strawberries and chop the rhubarb into 1/4″ slices

Mix the strawberries and rhubarb together in a pie pan with 3 tbsp of coconut sugar, lemon zest, vanilla seeds and vanilla extract

Allow mixture to macerate for up to two hours in the fridge or covered on your counter top

Mix the almond flour, oats, poppy seeds, 1/2 cup of sugar and orange zest together in a bowl

Cut the butter into small cubes and add to the bowl, using your fingers to incorporate the butter and create a sandy texture

Pile the mixture on top of the strawberries and rhubarb and bake for 25 minutes (if your oven is weird and old like mine, you might want to cover the dish half way through the bake with tin foil to stop the topping from getting singed) 

Secretly I love eating this for breakfast with a heaping dollop of cottage cheese! However I imagine that it’d be amazing with vanilla ice cream a splash of cream.

Also to be noted: The beautiful cutting board and spreader featured in the photo from this post were made by my incredibly talented mother. 

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Week 0: Naturally tinted lip balm

A few weeks ago I took a class with Rachel Budde, founder of Fat and The Moon at the Berkeley Botanical Garden. In the class Rachel taught us how to make active and passive oil infusions with natural plant materials to be used in cosmetics, as well as walking us through recipes for salves, activated charcoal eyeliner, tinted vinegar hair rinses and dry shampoo. 

I especially loved Rachel’s focus on the use of cosmetics as adornment or decoration, rather than simply as a tool to fix faults. In the weeks since, using my little pot of coral lip balm has felt festive and healing, and I’ve been enjoying sharing my bounty with friends and family.

Recipe for tinted lip balm (active infusion)

Ingredients + Materials

Double boiler, I improvised with a stock pot and a heat-proof Pyrex measuring bowl

Metal sieve, or funnel with cheese cloth or a coffee filter

Wooden spoon, that can get some dye on it 

Sunflower oil, chosen because it is colorless, odorless and shelf stable

Beeswax pastiles 

Powdered natural dyeing agents*

Essential oil of your choice is optional, I added 10 drops of rose geranium to the whole batch to help fight any bacteria from use and as a calming scent

Clean tins or glass pots for storing and sharing your lip balm

Clues

Mix your powdered dyeing agents* together and measure them in volume.

Mix 1 part powdered dyeing agents (plant matter) to 5 parts sunflower oil in a double boiler and simmer for 5+ hours, stirring occasionally.

Take your mixture off of the heat and allow to infuse (covered) overnight.

Separate the oil from the plant matter using either a metal sieve or a funnel with cheese cloth/coffee filter. For the batch above I used a funnel with a coffee filter, which left me with just the tinted oil. The final product is a light, sheer color. If you want more of a lip tint, a quick pass through a metal sieve will allow for more the particle matter to stay in the oil and create a deeper color. 

Measure your strained oil in fluid ounces.

Take your oil measurement (in fl oz) and multiply it by .3, the number you get is the number of ounces in weight that you will need in beeswax. As an example, if you have 2 fl oz of oil then you would need .6 oz of beeswax.

Mix your measured oil and measured beeswax in a double boiler and stir over a low heat until all of the beeswax is melted. You’ll want to make sure that the oil and beeswax are fully incorporated together so mix well!

Turn off the heat and add your essential oil if desired (a little goes a long way, for around 35 pots I used 10 drops).

Mix again for good measure.

Pour your mixture into clean tins, tubes, glass or plastic pots and allow to cool (this happens surprisingly rapidly!)

*On powdered dyeing agents: I used a 50/50 mix of beetroot and hibiscus as a base with a touch of alkanet and some turmeric. I had never worked with alkanet before Rachel’s class, and it has a strong earthy smell to it, but creates a beautiful deep crimson red. Turmeric is a nice addition to create a pinkish-orangeish undertone to the mix. I have a beloved pot of beetroot and hibiscus lip tint, so I wanted to try experimenting with those plants as well. 

I’m sad that I didn’t take measurements of when cooking up my batch at home, but if I had to guess I’d say that I used an ounce of beetroot, an ounce of hibiscus, 1/2 of an ounce of alkanet and a teaspoon of turmeric.