Bento tote bag

Boy, have I been busy these past few weeks! I've actually been making things in the pockets of time I've had in my busy schedule. I just couldn't find the time to blog about them, which is a tragedy! So here's my first one for March: a bento tote bag!

I found the tutorial for this incredible easy tote bag last year but neglected to note the website or the name of this particular design. I had to do a few hours of online 'investigative research' (re: endlessly scrolling through pictures of DIY tote bag designs) until I found the original blog post. I also discovered that there several different ways of constructing it. Between The Lines calls it the "wings" tote because the construction resembles a pair of wings folded upwards to form a bag. I went with Pretty Prudent's 'bento' tote bag, which I found to be much easier for beginners, but modified it to fit my needs. Check out both their posts to see which method appeals to you.

It took me about 30 miniutes to make my first one - which turned out PERFECT! - and I've been using it as my go-to carry-all for a few weeks now. There are a few different ways to construct and finish the bag - lined or unlined; flat, angled or boxed corners; single compartment or with pockets; short or long handles. I chose to line mine with an old bed sheet and finish it with boxed corners and a eight-inch handle from some thick cotton canvas.

 The great thing about this bag is that it's easy enough that you could experiment with it on a scaled down version (which is what I did for this tutorial) in order to understand the construction and modify it to suit your taste. Since there are only straight stitches involved, you can certainly spend  a little bit more time hand-stitching the bag if you want.

Check out how you can make this bento tote bag yourself after the jump.

Masala chai

I love warming up with a hot cup of tea every morning and every time I come out of the cold. Tea is one of those popular beverages that you can find anywhere you go. From China to Morocco to Britain, almost every country on the globe will have its own culture of tea-drinking and special brews. One of the countries I've been admiring from afar for its tea is India, which is second only to China for producing and consuming the most amount of tea in the world. India has a unique tea drinking culture where its tea, or chai in Hindi, is brewed with varying mixes of spices, or masala. There are no hard and fast rule to making masala chai, as there are a multitude of ways to customize your own spice combination. I started off with this masala combination from Manjula's Kitchen and, as usual, tweaked it to fit my pallet.

This recipe will make a spice mix for 10-12 cups of masala chai. You can brew your tea in milk only or a combination of milk and water, which is how I like mine. You can also sweeten it and spice it up to your liking. You can also brew your tea a little longer than 5-6 minutes to get a stronger flavour of the spices. Be careful not to let your tea boil over; once milk has reached its critical boiling point, it can bubble up within seconds boil over. Trust me, you do not want your kitchen smelling like burnt milk!

I grounded my spices in a food processor and then used a pastel and mortar to crush any remaining spices that were still whole. A pastel and mortar is probably more suitable for single-serve spices but if you're making a small batch as I did, go for the food processor or a spice grinder if you have it.

Check out the super easy recipe after the jump.

Tea towel pillow case

It's starting to look as though I've developed an obsession with tea towels, doesn't it? Well, I can't help it! They come in such fun colours and motifs, they're sturdy and their edges are all neatly hemmed. And when they go on clearance at Ikea, tea towels are impossible to resist! They also beat buying yards of fabric only to end up with bits and pieces that I can't really use for anything.

I've been wanting to give my throw pillow a makeover, so when I got these tea towels, I just played around and wrapped one around my pillow. Et voila! I discovered that I can make a pillow case out of this tea towel with just three lines of stitches and a button. It took me less than 30 minutes to make this pillow case. How easy is that?

This project is perfect for beginners since you only have to sew a few lines of straight stitches and you don't have to worry about measuring, cutting patterns, serging frayed edges or attaching zippers. It's also completely doable without a sewing machine. Do note, though, that this project requires a tea towel with a built-in loop and it makes a 12"x18" pillow case for a standard throw pillow.

Read on after the jump for the full picture tutorial.

Onesie dresses - make your own with onesies and fat quarters!

As usual, this DIY is a marriage between some plain items and some unused materials. My mom and I were looking for some baby gifts and we settled on these cute little onesies to make into dresses. Then my mom remembered the set of fat quarters that she never got around to making into a quilt. So I decided try this refashion DIY project and turn the plain onesies into adorable little onesie dresses with the fat quarters.

Fat quarters are 18"x22" precut quilting fabric pieces. If you don't have any fat quarters, you can simply cut any fabric of your choice to size. You can also adjust the width and length of the fabric to fit the size of your onesies. I used 9-month for this project.

Read on after the jump for the full photo tutorial.

Two-toned infinity scarf - from upcycled pashminas

So this is what happens when you buy things on impulse. I wear the hijab and I have a pronounced weakness when it comes to scarves. One of my ongoing quests is to reduce the number of scarves I buy because, really, I don't need that many. These two pashminas are the result of an impulse buy several years back. The colours are pretty but the materials is far too coarse for me to wear around my face so they've been sitting dormant in my drawer.

I decided to turn them into an infinity scarf after stumbling upon a few Youtube tutorials and seeing how easy it is to make one. Plus, I've also been craving for a new infinity scarf since winter set in. The two pashminas combined made a four-layer thick infinity scarf. Two days ago, when temperatures in Toronto dropped to almost thirty below, this scarf did its job in keeping my neck warm and toasty. It also doubled as a heavy hood which didn't flip too easily in gusty winds.

Because of the double layers, there's a few extra steps in this tutorial as opposed to making a regular infinity scarf. You can totally do this with just one pashmina for a thinner infinity scarf. Also, the final step of turning the finished scarf inside out can be a bit nerve-wrecking, but don't panic. Just keeping pulling and it'll all come together at the end!

Check out the full picture tutorial after the jump.