I love this idea of using brooches as gift toppers from Laura of Bugs and Fishes. It's a fun way to add a little extra gift to your gift and include something that won't be thrown away. I also love how she's used yarn in place of ribbon - so lovely!

Randy Sarafan grew up near apple orchards, like me, and shares with us his method for making delicious apple cider donuts.

San Francisco resident Marque Cornblatt of Gomistyle recently started documenting his indoor urban gardening efforts and he presents some really neat ideas and suggestions. Despite the fact that he does have a little yard, he got tired of sharing his harvests with the neighborhood raccoons and decided to take his garden indoors. He replaced traditional pots with big black plastic storage bins from Office Depot because of efficiency and cost-effectiveness. Marque experimented with growing vines, including tomatoes, pole beans, cucumbers, and peppers, by creating hanging planters from plastic one-gallon jugs.

These soon got replaced by more black plastic bins with holes drilled in them (as seen in the top picture). This is such a great way to maximize his window space and conserve water too. Here's a closeup of his lovely thriving cukes:

My favorite part is that Marque is admittedly no master gardening. He just experimented to see what works best. He even begins his blog post by saying: "Let me begin with a simple admission. I don't know much about gardening. Until a few weeks ago, I had never planted a seed, or maintained houseplants. My thumbs weren't green, they were red and swollen from playing Xbox. " That put a smile on my face. He plans to post updates and details as his garden grows.

As a special preview for MAKE's upcoming Alex Rider Dream Gadget Contest, we're giving away two copies of Eagle Strike by Anthony Horowitz, part of the Alex Rider series! Just leave a comment in this post and tell us why you or your kid(s) needs one of these books. That's all you need to do to enter! Please make sure you include your email address in the comment form field (it won't be published). All eligible comments will be closed by Noon PST on Sunday, November 8th. The winners will be announced next week on the site. Good luck! For a sneak peak at Eagle Strike, check out a sample chapter at MAKE.

More:

• Alex Rider's Smokescreen Bike Pump
• Alex Rider's Geiger Counter Game Console
• Alex Rider's High Tensile Yo-Yo
  

Here in Austin, we're lucky enough to be able to take classes in person from the uber savvy, Jennifer Perkins. If you aren't lucky enough to make it to Austin, you have a chance to hear her discuss her crafty business advice this Sunday at 6pm CST on Inspired at Home on Blog Talk Radio.

I will be chatting with Tiffany Windsor, daughter of Aleene Jackson. Ya as in Aleene's Tacky Glue. We are going to be talking about all kinds of stuff from crafts to crafty business. Not to mention there will be a roundtable discussion afterwards with a whole gaggle of awesome crafters!

Most of the baby clothes my son wears are hand-me-downs or flea market finds, but my very favorites are usually the vintage ones. They don't look like all the other baby outfits you see running (crawling?) around and they're usually better made, too.

The drawback is that they don't always have snaps in the legs. I loved this pair of 80s overalls, but there's no way I am putting on or taking off overalls more than once a day. It was an easy fix, though! I ripped out the old seam, made a new one along the edges of the legs, and sewed on six snaps. Now diaper changing will be a (dare I say it?) snap.



I turned the seam under for the length of the legs, but left the cuffs folded over so they weren't too bulky. If the pants you're modding are thinner, go ahead and turn the seam under all the way.



When sewing the snaps on, make sure to use strong thread and stitch a little more than you think you need to. You don't want those things popping off and ending up in your little one's mouth!



Here are all six snaps sewn on. Learn from my mistake and make sure you have the two sides of the snap in the right order (I accidentally sewed on two backs)!

This week's CRAFT Pattern Podcast is the Jumping Paper Frog by Matt Hawkins, featured in CRAFT: 05. The PDF includes full instructions as well as the template for the paper frog. All you need to do is cut out the template and glue the tabs together. Then simply add a paper clip to create a spring so your paper frog can now JUMP!

Matt is the creator of Custom Paper Toys and you can find more downloadable paper toys and info on his site.

Download the Pattern PDF | Subscribe in iTunes

One of my favorite blogs is Creature Comforts. Ez, the author, has a constant stream of beautiful things to make and see. Last week she moved to a new and way more wonderful site. Creaturecomfortsblog.com is the new url, and the switch brought with it quite a few improvements to the information presentations. All the content is the same amazing quality, but with a very cool new vibe. All the projects, printables, fonts, and inspirations are collected into categories that make browsing for ideas much easier. When you visit, check out one of my favorite tutorials, this butterfly wedding accent that could be incorporated into any lovely event.

Calli writes:

A cozy bed warmer is one of my favorite things. Put them in the microwave for a few minutes and they work wonders for cold feet, aches and pains, or plain old stress relief. Bed warmers make a such a wonderful gift. They are easy to make, inexpensive, and both pampering and useful.

Instructables user Jayefuu writes:

This is a recipe for a fantastic green thai curry paste. The original recipe I've long since lost, I make up a large batch once every 6 months or so and freeze it in blocks. Once made I can pull a block out the freezer any time I like and fry it with chicken, coriander, carrots, beans and coconut milk to make a wonderfully creamy curry.

I love this sweet matryoshka doll card from Jessica at Zakka Life. The fold out design to mimick the nesting of the dolls is brilliant! She's provided a template and a how-to so you can make some of your own!

Sarah James at Instructables is a tireless force when it comes to holiday eats (and food photography, holy delicious!). Behold her candy apple tutorial!

More than a step-by-step tutorial, I like to hear about a crafter's process in creating a new project. I love to hear the stories of how they brainstormed, sketched, scavenged and came up with solutions to their crafty dilemmas. Such is the case with Pam's post over at Gingerbread Snowflakes as she shares her large scale advent calendar. She talks about tackling this project that has been in her head for almost a decade, and walks us through how she slowly took that idea and executed it, using mostly supplies she had on hand. She even shares some tips on a new favorite craft supply that you get at the hardware store! I love following her process, and she's done a beautiful job of sharing not only the technical steps she went through to create the calendar, but also her loving story of how she was finally able to bring this back burner idea to fruition.

For folks interested in the intersection of arts and science, the PBS series Independent Lens is presenting a fascinating in-depth look into origami titled Between the Folds. The film documents "a determined group of theoretical scientists and fine artists who have abandoned their careers and scoffed at their graduate degrees to forge new lives as modern-day paper folders."

Featured in the film are MIT's youngest-ever tenured professor Dr. Erik Demaine; mathematician, sculptor, puzzle maker, and self-taught computer scientist Marty Demaine; master free-style folder Vincent Floderer; pioneering Israeli educator Miri Golan; mathematics professor Dr. Tom Hull; trained artist and instructor Paul Jackson; one of the most technically accomplished folders in the world, Eric Joisel; one of only a few handmade origami papermakers in the world, Michael LaFosse; origami "hyper-realist" and physicist Dr. Robert J. Lang (who was profiled in CRAFT Volume 05); material artist with a masterful understanding of patterns and geometry, Chris K. Palmer; and the father of modern origami, Akira Yoshizawa.

Screenings are part of the Independent Television Service's (ITVS) Community Cinema series, which are free, followed by discussion panels and access to resources.

Between the Folds will be showing in the Bay Area in Oakland on Tuesday, November 17 at 6:00 p.m. at the Oakland Asian Cultural Center and in San Francisco on Wednesday, November 18 at 5:45 p.m. at the San Francisco Main Library. For a list of screenings taking place across the country, check out the film site.

Here are a couple of interesting excerpts from the documentary to get a flavor for it. The following clip features Paul Jackson, an origami artists and art teacher living in Tel Aviv, Israel, speaking of the "one fold":

And this clip shows Michael LaFosse, a master artisan who not only makes origami, but is one of the only handmade origami paper makers in the world, providing a window into his workshop and processes:

Here's a quick and easy soft circuit project from Instructables user craft-tech:

There are a lot of really cool iPod remote control projects: some have simple buttons, some react to heartbeat or body motion, and others are designed to interface directly with software running on a computer. However, not one of them is truly wearable, or speaks to the unique needs of e-textiles designers. They have been mostly prototypes, and are seldom intended for serious, daily use. With this in mind, we took our time to design a system that is tiny, robust, and very easy to incorporate into your project. The end result has three components:

1. a tiny, complete circuit that sits *inside* the dock connector

2. four pieces of conductive fabric that form the two buttons of the remote

3. two-channel conductive yarn to connect the sections (we spin it ourselves)

More:

New Soft Circuit Kits in the Maker Shed and Massive Soft Electronics Roundup

There's a spot I retreat to in the hills of New Hampshire where three heavily laden apple trees are completely overlooked by the locals in the fall. I'm not certain of the apple variety, but, other than the occasional black spot and worm hole, the fruit is incredibly crunchy, tart, and flavorful. The trees are flanked by a few smaller crab apple trees and, um, a graveyard. Some people could be creeped out thinking of their apples being fertilized by the dead. I, on the other hand, see it as a splendid way to participate in the inevitable cycle of life.

I managed to pull down about 40 pounds of apples a few weeks back and, upon returning to my humble city apartment, cooked up 15 pints of apple butter. Because, really, when is the last time you had some local, wild-foraged apple butter?

Maria Merlino, of Crochet Living, has transformed the peacock papercut into a fillet crochet pattern! Her work in crochet is creative and skillful, and she just happens to also be a member of the Guild of American Papercutters. Maria's pattern is the perfect intersection of two distinct craft medias, and I love that she created the crossover. And I love even more that she has offered to share it with all of our readers! A PDF download of the pattern, with two graphs and detailed instructions, is available for everyone, with only the condition that it be used for personal, not commercial purposes. For more of Maria's amazing crochet patterns, please visit her etsy and her blog. Cheers, and happy paper crafting!

My grandmother never threw anything away, and kept all of her possessions in pristine order. As a child, this was a little hard to deal with -- don't sit on the bedspread, no shoes on the couch, fold the towel after you dry your hands -- but as an adult I've come to appreciate her fastidious care of her items, some of which I now possess and thoroughly enjoy.

This WWII Army Housewife bag is one of my favorite hand-me-downs. Apparently, it included a sewing kit back when it was issued, and these kits were issued by the Brits and the Swiss as well. Nowadays, this little Army Housewife bag holds my jewelry on overnight trips. And it makes me smile every time I look at it.

When I started to think about making gifts for my family, I decided that I wanted to try and capture that same smile-inducing nostalgia for my relatives. Since we've got a few silkscreen-type machines in the office, I thought I'd beg one friend to make me a design and another friend to show me how to use the Yudu machine (I've used the Gocco printer before, but wanted to try a new device).

I'm loving the results! So much that I've now screen-printed about 12 bags and 8 dish towels, and am wondering if I can get away with giving nothing but self-branded textiles for all my gifts. (And thanks to Daniel and Brookelynn for helping me out, not to mention everyone else who helped with the manual labor in the name of learning!)

Kayte Terry shares a project from her new book, Applique Your Way, for this stylish rose petal applique t-shirt over at Etsy's Storque. The rose petals are actually made from additional tees, making it a great way to upcycle old or thrifted clothes.

Threadbanger's Mad Hatter Halloween costume tutorial video made a huge splash this year, just check out all the viewers' versions of the outfit! What a great costume, tutorial, and response!

Kathy Cano-Murillo's Crafty Chica product line is returning to select US Michael's stores this weekend. She's announced a list of locations that will carry the line. If your local Michael's isn't on the list, give them a call and request they carry the line. When her first line of products debuted last year, supports were snapping pictures in the store and sending out reports of what merchandise was left. Now, Kathy is forming a street team to help get the word out. If you live near one of the stores and are interested in helping, just get in touch with her. I remember checking in at my Michael's several times last year when her line first debuted. It's been such fun following her progress on this dream of hers, and even more fun seeing the generous members of the craft community so enthusiastically support her!

CRAFT friends and Instructables folks Eric and Christy dressed their baby girl, Corvidae, as a 3-armed baby for Halloween. They posted up a tutorial for the costume, made from two identical baby outfits and a doll arm.

While we wanted to be subtle, this was almost too subtle - she wore the costume all day, and hardly anyone noticed! But when they finally detected a problem, the responses were excellent.

I can't wait for the opening of Over and Under, an embroidered art show curated by Jenny Hart, this weekend here in Austin at Yard Dog Art Gallery. Jenny has been featuring some of the artists' work on her blog, and I'm really looking forward to be able to see it in person. Featured artists include Annie Aube, Deborah Baker, Kate Bingaman Burt, Dana Carlson, Diem Chau, Orly Cogan, Emily Eibel, Veronica Fuentes, Takashi Iwasaki, Joetta Maue, Michael Aaron McAllister, Johnny Murder, Christopher Niver, Jennifer Porter, Shannon Rankin, Richard Saja, Kate Westerholt and Kathie Sever. The show opens with a reception Friday from 7 - 9 pm and runs through December 6.

Over and Under Art Show Opening
Friday, November 6 from 7-9 pm
Yard Dog Art Gallery
1510 S. Congress Ave
Austin, TX 78704

Non*Mart design studio and shop in San Francisco is having their grand opening this Friday, November 6th from 6 to 8 p.m. and part of the festivities include Miriam Dym's Logo Removal Service. Dym writes: "I remove unsightly, unwanted logos from otherwise decent products, replacing the absence with plain or patterned material, creating a poetic form in the process. Love your North Face jacket but hate seeing the logo every time you zip up? Special interventions are sometimes required." Awesome. Opening night special events also include a Swapstyle clothing swap and Bookswap. Check out the site for more details.

Halloween's over for this year, but you can start thinking about next year! Check out ModMischief's Ludo costume from the David Bowie-tastic movie Labyrinth.

You'll be surprised to see how simply this decorative felt ornament starts out when you check out the tutorial for making it on Zakka Life. A few circles of felt are transformed into this intricate-looking design.

Get some holiday shopping done this weekend! Here are the upcoming craft fairs, along with a call for entries. If you have an event you want listed, please add it to our online calendar. If you have a call for entries you want me to include, . Click on the jump to see the call for entries.

Coming Up This Weekend:
Gama-Go Annual Holiday Sale
San Francisco, CA
Saturday, Nov. 7, 12pm - 5pm

Indie Mart
San Francisco, CA
Sunday, Nov. 8, 12pm - 6pm

Excavating Treasures Boutique Sale
San Carlos, CA
Thursday, Nov. 5, 5:30pm - 8pm

Contemporary Crafts Market
Santa Monica, CA
Friday, Nov. 6, 10am - 6pm
Saturday, Nov. 7, 10am - 6pm
Sunday, Nov. 8, 10am - 6pm

Holiday Arts & Crafts Market
San Diego, CA
Saturday, Nov. 7, 10am - 5pm

Texas Pottery & Sculpture Guild's 22nd Annual Holiday Sale
Ft. Worth, TX
Friday, Nov. 6, 5pm - 9pm
Saturday, Nov. 7, 10am - 4pm

The Girlie Show
Oklahoma City, OK
Friday, Nov. 6, 8pm - 12am
Saturday, Nov. 7, 12pm - 5pm

Westacres 35th Annual Craft Fair
West Bloomfield, MI
Saturday, Nov. 7, 10am - 4pm

The 23rd Annual Christmas Festival
Boston, MA
Friday, Nov. 6, 12pm - 7pm
Saturday, Nov. 7, 10am - 7pm
Sunday, Nov. 8, 10am - 5pm

Now that Halloween is over, I feel like the holiday season is ready to begin. I love all the cooking and baking that happens this time of year, but most of all I love how the family gatherings always end up in the kitchen. I'm going to help you get ready for the first big one — Thanksgiving — by providing you with recipes and tips throughout the whole month of November.

I'm lucky that as a young bride, my mother-in-law gave me some excellent tips when it was time for me to host my first Thanksgiving. I especially appreciated her tips on how to roast a turkey. She introduced me to brining, something I had never before heard of, but I knew that the turkey I had eaten at her home was the best I'd ever had, so I followed her advice. Here is my twist on the brine recipe she first gave me as well some great tips for roasting a flavorful turkey. Anyone who's ever eaten my turkey says it's the best they've ever had. And it's all thanks to my mother-in-law. I'm lucky to have such a sweet one!

The leftover turkey carcass from this recipe makes the best homemade turkey broth, but you'll have to stay tuned throughout the month for that recipe, along with ideas for your side dishes and our family's favorite pumpkin pie recipe.

Remember the amazing paper cutouts that I found at the thrift store last week? Well, I went back and picked up 10 sets to mail off to some lucky readers. Just leave a comment on this thread about your love of paper crafts for your chance to win one! The paper cuts are in pretty vintage envelopes, with multiple designs and colors in each. And their crafting potential is endless! The winners will be selected tomorrow so please enter by noon PST Thursday. And please include your email in the form field to be eligible (emails will not be published). Good luck!

If you have a question for Ask CRAFT, shoot me an email at becky@craftzine.com, or drop us a note on Twitter! We'd love to answer your crafty questions on any topic: technique, projects, crafty culture, or anything else! Each week the answers are here; include your name, where you're from, and your website or blog if you have one!

Eyela A. from Oregon writes in:

I love to sew, but am not quite at the level where I can design or modify patterns. However, I'm getting there out of necessity. My biggest problem is that the chest darts in dress and blouse patterns aren't sufficiently long to accommodate a larger cup size. It's also not useful to buy larger patterns since the rest of the proportions stop working. I've searched high and low for a good tutorial or guide for how to appropriately re-size a dart, but there's not much out there. I wonder if you know a good resource?

I can point you to two books and one website that will help you get the shape you want out of your pattern. You should read up on bodice pattern construction and learn all about the the bust point and where you'll need to move it on your pattern.

Here are my two favorite books about pattern construction/manipulation:

How to Make Sewing Patterns by Donald H. McCunn features a whole section on changing dart locations.

Patternmaking for Fashion Design by Helen Joseph-Armstrong is a substantial book containing almost everything you'd want to know about making sewing patterns, and has a large section on darts. If you want the book but don't like the high price tag, look for previous editions that contain basically the same information. This is a textbook that is continually revised, and is priced as such.

Lastly, have you heard of BurdaStyle? They have a bunch of free tutorials for sewing techniques (including pattern manipulation) created by staff and users of the site. Check out this fullbust adjustment for princess seams turorial, a trick for natural-looking bust darts, and the staff tutorials on turning darts into princess seams and constructing the basic bodice block.

Looking to add a personal and crafty touch to your holiday table? Be sure to check out this tutorial from the folks at ReproDepot. I love the effect of the trim around the edges. See how they create it here.

Gareth @ MAKE writes:

Eric Testroete, a 3D character artist from Vancouver, sent us this awesome self-portrait costume, an homage to Big Head Mode in videogames.

More photos at Eric's Flickr.

I'm exposing myself a bit here as I admit that I've never sewn a French seam in my life. They always seemed a little ... complicated and fancy. This tutorial on easy French seams from Sew to Speak, though, makes me want to finally give them a try!

Learning the basics of how to make your own chainmail is one of those skills that can have far-reaching applications in your crafts. This week's flashback comes from way back in 2006, from the pages of our very first issue of CRAFT magazine. Annalee Newitz provides you with the know-how you need to get started with chainmail. And for you collectors out there, you can still pick up an issue of this classic over in the Maker Shed.

Battle Chic
Craft a wardrobe of medieval armor with DIY chainmail.
By Annalee Newitz

Henrik Olsgaard, aka Henrik of Havn, has been proclaimed King of the West six times. Obviously the guy is deft with a sword — you don't get to be King in the Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA) without winning several bouts in the annual Crown Tournament. But his triumph is also testimony to his skill at making chainmail. Henrik has been fashioning chainmail of every description for the past four decades — from beautiful, sterling silver belts to a 50-pound battle hauberk (a knee-length shirt).

And now, I'm going to teach you what he taught me: how to make your own chainmail. With just a few basic patterns, you'll have all the knowledge you need to fashion a helmet, shirt, belt, coin purse, and even a full hauberk.

As a special preview for MAKE's upcoming Alex Rider Dream Gadget Contest, we're giving away two copies of Eagle Strike by Anthony Horowitz, part of the Alex Rider series! Just leave a comment in this post and tell us why you or your kid(s) needs one of these books. That's all you need to do to enter! Please make sure you include your email address in the comment form field (it won't be published). All eligible comments will be closed by Noon PST on Sunday, November 8th. The winners will be announced next week on the site. Good luck! For a sneak peak at Eagle Strike, check out a sample chapter at MAKE.

The folks at Nice Package have a new tutorial showing how to turn plain metal-rimmed gift tags into stylish, more personalized tags with simple supplies you likely have on hand. They've even provided a free download of vintage images and prints in case you want to save time or don't have images of your own you'd like to use.

I have a story to share. The other day, I bought some pumpkin gnocchi, and last night I decided to make it with sage fried in brown butter to cheer up my sick husband. I checked my trusty copy of How to Cook Everything for the cooking time (they're done one minute after they rise to the surface), and put the water on to boil. Now, as the book said, the gnocchi rose to the surface, bubbling merrily away. It was 7:46 pm. I'll just give it an extra minute, I said to myself, to make sure they're really done. At 7:48, I reached for the pot to drain it into my colander, and all that was left was pumpkin water. (We had angel hair pasta with sage and brown butter sauce and it was delicious, thank you very much.)

So, this is all to say that despite my disastrous relationship with gnocchi, this sweet potato gnocchi recipe over at Sassy Radish looks good enough to tempt me to not just get back on the horse and cook gnocchi again, but to make it from scratch! But don't worry, I'll be watching that clock like a hawk.

I am not a parent, but I was a full-time nanny for 5 years. One of my favorite things was helping kids make creative and crafty gifts. All the children that I cared for loved making this Sugar Scrub. It's the easiest thing in the world to put together, and in the end, it's a gift for mom (or anyone!). Kids know that no one will let them eat a bowl of pure sugar, but they sure love measuring and mixing it. Imagine leaving your little ones with the sitter, some sugar, and this tutorial, and then coming home to a pile of completed holiday gifts! All I ask is that you make sure the nanny gets to take one home too!

Look for Natalie Zee Drieu's posts later this month on more kid-friendly projects from the Klutz Natural Beauty Book.

Book Giveaway Time!
Three lucky CRAFT readers will each receive a copy of The Shrinky Dinks Book along with Shrinky Dinks - Extra Shrinkable Plastic refills! Please make sure you include your email address in the comment form field (won't be published). All comments will be closed by Noon PST on Friday, November 6th. The lucky winners will be announced later on the site. Good luck!

Clever and simple costume via PT @ MAKE: "Low Resolution."