I recently came into a large clutch of wooden eggs and have been wondering what to do with them that didn’t involve painting. So I present: the sampler eggs. These eggs are wrapped in fabric and embroidered with simple stitches you might find as part of an old fashioned embroidery sampler. For the giveaway, instructions below, I’m offering up two clutches of wooden eggs.
Tutorial
You need:
Eggs (plastic, wood)
Fabric
a Rubber Band
Thread
Embroidery Floss
Prepare the Fabric
These eggs are 35 x 50 mm large. To cover them I used a 6″ X 6″ size piece of fabric. Experiment with the egg and fabric you are using and cut the fabric to a size that works for your egg.
Wrap the Egg
Wrap the fabric around the egg and temporarily secure it with a rubberband.
Gather the fabric by sewing right beneath the rubber band. Remove the rubber band, wrap the thread several times around the “neck,” and secure the thread. The thread should be long enough to come out of the top so you can use it to hang the eggs.
Embroider
Now have at it. Embroider the egg however you wish. I looked up some stitches in Complete Embellishing, by Kayte Terry, I never seem to be able to remember how to do a French knot.
Alternatively, you can also embroider the fabric before you wrap it around the egg.
Finish
To finish it off, tie a little ribbon around the egg and Voila! You are done. Happy Spring.
The Giveaway
This time there will be two lucky winners: I’m giving away one clutch of five 35 x 50 mm sized wooden eggs, and one clutch of ten 25 X 30 mm eggs
For the giveaway, visit my Etsy shopGroundsel, pick a thing you like, and leave a comment here with a link to that item. The giveaway closes at midnight on March 3rd. Winners will be announced on Wednesday, March 4th.
Last week was a busy Thing-A-Day week which resulted in these projects:
A clock refashioning by printing a new clock face on sticker paper and carefully gluing it on the old face.
This also doubled as a book review while guest blogging on The NewNew blog:
By the way, this is a great blog to find interesting tutorials and recipes by New York/New Jersey artists and crafters.
Some quality toy making time with my darling child:
And misadventures with a soldering iron.
I’m still working on my paperclip attachment technique and got some excellent advice on the Thing-A-Day blog. One more week of daily creativity. After that I’ll need a month of decluttering and cleaning to recover from all that crafting.
I went on a trip to Philadelphia this weekend and brought some leftover yarn along to fulfill my Thing-a-Day obligation and to have something to do in the car. This is the outcome:
Here are the instructions:
This hat has a circumference of 17 1/2 inches and will fit a 4-5 year-old child.
Materials
Worsted-weight yarn in three different colors
Set of size 7 double-pointed needles or size to achieve gauge.
Gauge
10 stitches x 14 rows = 2″ x 2″
Directions
Hat
Cast on 88 stitches in color A. Close the round and knit 12 rows (@ 1 3/4″) for the roll brim. Add color B and knit 11 stitches of the chart. Repeat 8 times to set up 8 fish around the perimeter of the hat. Continue to follow the chart.
Finishing
After knitting 4 rows in color C (rows 42-46 on the chart), begin the decreases.
Decrease Row 1: knit 9 st, knit two together = 80 st
Decrease Row 2: knit 8 st, knit two together = 72 st
Decrease Row 3: knit 7 st, knit two together = 64 st
Decrease Row 4: knit 6 st, knit two together = 56 st
Decrease Row 5: knit 5 st, knit two together = 48 st
Decrease Row 6: knit 4 st, knit two together = 40 st
Decrease Row 7: knit 3 st, knit two together = 32 st
Decrease Row 8: knit 2 st, knit two together = 24 st
Decrease Row 9: knit 1 st, knit two together = 16 st
Decrease Row 10: knit two together = 8 st
Cut off the yarn leaving a 10″ end and pull the yarn through the stitches remaining on the needles. Pull tight and sew in the end. Finish the hat by weaving in the other ends resulting from the color changes.
Chart
Changing Sizes
For an adult hat with a circumference of about 21.5″ cast on 110 stitches and repeat the pattern 10 times instead of 8.
Last week I made my first needle felted bead for the Thing-A-Day project. I’ve since been asked how to do this, so here is a brief tutorial.
Needle felting, at least in my limited experience, is surprisingly easy. All you basically need is some carded wool fleece and a barbed felting needle that you use to repeatedly stab the wool into the desired shape. The wool fibers will stick to one another and felt. The longer you felt an object the harder, tighter the texture will become.
How To
And this is how I made a bead:
For a 3/4 inch bead I used a 4 inch long and about 1 inch wide piece of wool. Add a bit of a secondary color to this if you want a marbled effect.
Take the wool and tie a knot in the middle.
Place the wool on top of a foam pad (I used Styrofoam because that is all I had in the house), begin to wrap the wool around the knot, and repeatedly poke it with the needle. Continue to work it into the shape and texture you wish to achieve. Watch out! The needle is sharp!
Once you are happy with the bead, you can wash it with hot water and soap to felt it further.
Use the beads to make jewelry, to embellish something like a barrette or a garment, They would probably make awesome cat toys as well.
Materials
I got my wool fleece at a craft store when I went to visit my parents. It turns out, however, that Etsy is a fantastic resource for wool and needles. Just search the supplies category for “needle felting.”
Resources
The Silver Penny. This online store has some excellent videos that explain the different fibers, tools, and techniques for felting, in addition to selling wool and felting tools.
Felting Forum: A discussion group about all things felt.
I just wanted to share our family’s newest obsession with you. Lately my daughter has become fascinated with pixel art. The idea is that you draw in a 100×100 pixel sized square to create these mini-pictures. She is using an old version of Photoshop, but there are quite a few free graphics programs out there one could use. You can find a list of them at about.com. On initial perusal I would probably try out paint.net. If anyone is using it, let me know what you think.
Thankfully the server is back up. Our host company kindly moved us to bigger and better space. Below are the latest things I’ve been working on for Thing-A-Day under the username groundsel. If you are participating in this adventure you can still sign up for the TAD swap until February 10th. Click here for swap information.
Book Club March 25
The next book club will be on March 25th. If you’d like to participate, please suggest a book or second one of the books suggested by Dawn and Cindy:
Today’s book is Bend-The-Rules Sewing by Amy Karol. It targets people just starting to sew and seeks to provide instructions that will help you circumvent frustrating experiences. Amy truly wants to share her craft and wants you to be successful at one of the things she loves most.
My favourite bit is the fact that Amy encourages you to be creative in each of the projects which is a really nice touch - it allows a lot more freedom and creativity. So it often feels that the projects are merely a starting point and you can take them in any direction. –Anita
Layout and Illustrations
The illustrations are colorful and inviting with lots of close-ups, bright colors, cute kids. You want to make these things when you see the pictures. There are drawings to illustrate the points she makes. It took me a little while to get the hang of this because the drawing is not right next to the instruction it illustrates. Rather, it’s part of the frame decorating the page. Pretty to look at, but not as helpful as it could be once you settle down to actually start on a project. That is my only peeve with regard to the book and it really is just a minor one.
Anita of Bake and Sew commented on the illustrations and found “I am not so keen on the drawings in the book of how to make the projects up. If you are a beginner sewer, you often cannot tell which is the right and wrong side of the fabric from the drawings, which could be confusing.”
Instructions
The book is divided into two main sections: What you need to know and Bend-the-Rules Sewing Projects. The first section covers the usual; tools, fabric, terms, and sewing techniques.
Anita said: “In general I like the book, and if you are a beginner sewer then the basic sewing skills section at the beginning of the book would prove to be very helpful, and most of the projects are quick and easy. Although it seems so many of the sewing books at the moment have a “how to sew” section, it seemed a waste to give over nearly the first 50 pages to it.”
My two favorite pieces of advice are: Keep the ironing board right next to your sewing machine at the same height as your table so you can just turn, iron, turn, sew. Simply brilliant. The other idea I liked was to ink stamps with fabric markers to decorate fabric. I’m going to buy some twill tape today to ink up.
Projects
Anita - The Zip pouch
“I have made a few of these over the past few months, they are simple to make and make super gifts. Before making this I had never inserted a zip into anything. The zips I bought are longer than needed, but Amy tells you what to do if that is the case. It was surprisingly simple to insert a zip and i was really pleased with how it turned out.”
Anita - The Heidi Headband
“I made this with all fabric, although Amy’s project is with linen and ribbon. It was a super easy project. My only issue was I make them for 5 and 6 year old girls and the twill tape makes them more difficult to put in their hair themselves. but for older girls who can tie a bow - it is a brilliant idea.”
First, awesome book! Perfect for beginners and quick projects for experienced crafters! I made two no-cash wallets and the artsy clutch. Both were gifts for family. I picked them for simplicity and size as they would be going in the mail. This is one of the few books I’ve returned to on several occasions. The directions are simple. The illustrations are a little too simple but still easy to figure out.
I really can’t complain about this book other than…where is book #2?
Simone - Charming Handbag
I made the Charming Handbag, with a few modifications. I added a zippered inner pocket because I’m a paranoid New Yorker and zippers give me an albeit imaginary sense of security. The length of the handles is doubled to fit over my shoulder with the purse tightly tucked under my arm. (Ditto the security issue.) I used, dare I say it, interfacing. (Amy doesn’t like the feel of interfacing.) The only flannel in my stash is bright red and I’m terrified it might bleed if it gets wet. As I’m writing this I’m reminded that I could have upcycled my old pajamas for this project. I’ll use that as backing for the bib I want to make next.
There is of course a Flickr group for the book that also addresses errata. This is a great resource to become inspired and to post or research any questions you may have about projects.
Amy also has this wonderful tutorial for sewing on bias tape:
In short, we all liked this book. In fact, Anita has already recommended it to others.
If you have made anything out of this book, please share your experiences in the comment section and don’t forget to add your pictures to the book club Flickr group. For instance, Julia of m.o.M. is sharing pictures of her lap quilt top that she is making for the book club and Thing-a-day.
The Next Book
The next meeting will be on Wednesday, March 25th. If you want to participate, please suggest a book in the comments. The next book will be announced next week. So far Dawn has proposed Sew Darn Cute–30 Sweet & Simple Projects to Sew & Embellish, by Jenny Ryan. Hot off the presses it came out yesterday.
