Cut-Up Couture

Upcycling guide. Image via Sew Daily newsletter.

Do you subscribe to Sew Daily's email newsletter? The Sew Daily site is a product of Interweave, a publisher of sewing and other craft books.

The newsletter highlights projects and books designed to keep creative juices flowing. A recent email featured "Cut-Up Couture," a book on upcycling men's garments, which are easy to thrift and frequently have fabric to spare.

Trompe l'oeil jumper from a men's T-shirt. Image via Sew Daily newsletter.

According to the email, projects include:

• Capelet (from sweatshirts)
• Tunic (from twin T-shirts)
• Trompe l'oeil jumper (above, from a men's T-shirt)
• Ruffled dress (from men's shirt)

Reviewing the images in the newsletter, I don't know if these garments exactly are my speed. But they could be low risk and cheap to create and a good way to brush up on sewing skills and to try out different silhouettes. Plus, the Japanese aesthetic (the author is Japanese) is intriguing.

What sewing books are you fawning over these days?

What They Made: Baby beard

My sister-in-law made this for Paul!

Check out Paul's latest head wear: a crocheted hat and beard, stitched with love by his Aunt D! Way cool.

Some stuff I've made lately

Following are few notes on my recent doings and whatnot:

Green-and-gold socks and brownies.

Recommended Reading: Wildwood

Recommended Reading highlights articles, books, and sites that I think are worth checking out.

Satisfaction is finishing a good, thick book.

When I'm not reading books with the words "baby" or "management" in their titles (strangely, I have not read a book with both "baby" AND "management" in the title — yet), I like a good fictional yarn.

"Wildwood" is an adventure tale of a girl, Prue, whose baby brother is abducted by a murder (yes, a murder!) of crows and her odyssey into Wildwood to recover him from an exiled queen with dangerous intentions.

Cook's Illustrated challenge: Salt-Baked Potatoes

Baked on a bed of salt.

"If someone told me they were a baked-potato aficionado, I'd turn tail," I told Mark while making this recipe. "It's like saying, 'Hi, I'm the most boring person you'll meet today.'"

So now you know where I stand on baked potatoes.