A Weighty Issue

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I have been sewing a lot lately, way more than normal.  Don’t get me wrong, I actually really enjoy sewing, but I don’t really have a dedicated place for it, so it’s difficult.  I usually only sew when I have a large project or multiple projects to work on – all of which are true right now.  In the past few months, I finished my oldest daughter’s high school t-shirt memory quilt, made a quilt out of a couple layer cakes, and I have been working on a new costume for my Alter Ego.

While I was working on one of the apparel items for my costume, I was grumbling about pinning and how much I hated it.  My mom mentioned that she hated it as well, and really wanted some pattern weights.

I had NO IDEA such a thing even existed.

Not even a week later, I stumbled across this tutorial and this updated tutorial on the Craftiness is Not Optional blog, and this tutorial on the Piccoli Piscell blog.  Since both Mother’s Day and my mom’s birthday are in May, it’s almost as though the Internet was hinting at something.

Fast forward a couple of weeks, and I got to work on my project with the help of my 13 year old daughter, Reagan.  The weights are very easy to make, and she had no problem at all figuring it out and going to town.

The first thing we had to do was purchase some washers, bolts, and ribbon.   Then it was simply a matter of gluing them together and adding the ribbon.

We glued the washers together in groups of four, and the bolts were glued in groups of two.  This seemed to be a good weight that would hold fabric or patterns down when they are being cut.

Once the weights were glued together, we measured a length of ribbon that would cover each of the respective types of weights and started wrapping.  We put a drop of hot glue under the starting end of the ribbon.  I also put a drop of glue each time the ribbon wrapped over the top of the weight, but I don’t think that is really necessary.  Sometimes I am the Queen of Overkill.  Once the entire weight was covered in ribbon, I glued the finish end on the inside of the weight so the end wasn’t as visible.

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The weights ended up being so easy, we made a set for Todd’s mom, Anita, as well.  My mom is already thrilled with the weights because she has a super-secret project (tons of graduations, etc. in the coming months) that will be much easier and faster without the need to pin patterns.  You’ll have to forgive the messiness – I took these pictures not paying attention to all the little hot glue strings hanging everywhere.

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Reagan is going to start making additional sets to sell as a fundraiser for her 8th Grade History trip to the East Coast (Philadelphia, Williamsburg, DC, New York, etc.).   We are right in the middle of remodeling our entire house, and she as working on them while we were working on the house.  I found these pictures on my phone, and this is the set we gave to Anita.

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She even experimented with this set and made a couple weighs half and half colors.

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