DK-93 Manual Snap Press

Back in March I mentioned that I had received the DK-93 Manual Snap Press for Christmas after reading Lena's blog.

Here is it set up on the workbench in the garage ready to be used,

and here are the dies I have acquired to use with it:

From GreenBeans Australia

*  DK-93 Size 20 Die Set, this is for the plastic snaps that GreenBeans Australia supplies.

*  10.5mm Nickel Ring Snap

*  12.0mm Nickel Ring snap

Then I ordered from Minkus Margo the following dies:

*  Hole Punch die mold

*  Jeans Button die

* 9mm Double Cap Rivet and 9.5mm Nipple Rivet

Then last month I got the chance to use my DK-93 press for a special birthday Henley I was making for my BIL.

I wanted to add some snaps to the placket and used the Snap Source Size 16 Smoke Open Prong Ring snap fasteners with the the DK-93 press and the Nickel 10.5mm Ring Snap.

Luckily I had found a great article in Sandra Betzina's Power Sewing ToolBox Volume 1 on page 107 on how to get "Snap Success".  Now this is for the Snap Source snap-setting tool however the same principles apply to my application.

I tried a few test samples first and soon realised that standing on the ground next to the DK-93 press wasn't giving me a snap that that I couldn't get my fingernail underneath.

So I searched the web and found that you need to put your whole weight on the arm of the DK-93 press, so I set up a small step ladder and found this set up gave me the perfect snap.

To mark where I wanted the male snaps to be placed I used a green Frixon pen, and then used a prong to mark the spot.

Then to line up the corresponding side of the snap, I rubbed some chalk on the socket and pressed it down onto the opposite side.

and the finished placket.

Now I need to decide if it will be a pair of jeans or a jeans style skirt next to test out some of the other dies.

Tribute to Tribal

I've found some more time to bead and realised the other necklace colour I was missing was yellow and orange and luckily my sister had given me a box of beads for Christmas 2013 which contained just the right beads called Tribute to Tribal.

For this necklace I thought I would let the beads do the talking and used links and small yellow beads to join the striped beads together and then added some antique spacers to break it up a bit.

and the earrings

This set really looks great with my lemon t-shirt and I do have some gorgeous orange merino jersey earmarked for a top.

Me-Made-May 2016!

Besides finding May has crept up on me, I have really struggled with whether I should join the Me-Made-May 2016 challenge this year, as I do wear my handmade clothes and jewellery the majority of the time.

So I have been trying to think of a challenge or two and have come up with the following pledge:-

"I, Sharon from Petite & Sewing, sign up as a participant of Me-Made-May '16;I will wear handmade clothing (except lingerie) for the duration of May.  My challenge is to finish the Burda wool jacket I started in January this year as well as lengthening the 3/4 sleeves on my Miette cardigan."

The jacket is the same jacket as Kristy has made, Burda 7286 and I took it to Camp Sew & Sew;in Armidale back in January to get fitting assistance as well as spending some time with some fantastic ladies.

Now my Miette cardigan has only been worn this once back in May 2014 when I noticed that the lace pattern at centre front was wrong!  So it has been frogged, and reknitted, however in my haste I forgot to lengthen the sleeves as 3/4 does not work with this warm wool, I need long sleeves.

last seen 2014

Both of these garments will be very useful as the weather cools down so this challenge is perfect.

Now to try and keep up with what is happening on the Flickr Group.

Spinach necklace

I have been reviewing my jewellery compared to my garments and realised that I didn't have a long green necklace.

So during the long weekend I spent some time beading, again using one of the Jesse James Beads bead strands that I have purchased from Spotlight.

This bead strand is called "Spinach 1" and I forgot to take a photo but this is what the current "Spinach 1" looks like at JesseJamesBeads.com

I decided to try my hand again at Byzantine chains which I haven't done since April 2012.

The good thing is that this necklace will work with all lot of garments in my wardrobe.

When I purchased the "Spinach 1" bead set I also purchased a pack of the same Inspiration Mix,

which included among them the two brown beads I used for the earrings.

There are a couple more necklaces I need for my wardrobe so now I need to find some more time to bead.