Tag Archive for 'Tutorial'

Cinch It

Published
by
Simone
on May 18, 2010
in Sewing, The {NewNew} and Tutorial
. 2 Comments

This year, some of my bags will be sold at the Governors Island Treasure Chest boutique brought to  you courtesy of The {NewNew}.

My friend Kimm of KimmChi came into this funky fabric, and we thought we’d make it into a unique Governors Island souvenir for the store. Tada:

If you can’t make it to the Island, but are longing to transform a special fabric into a bag like this, you can find the tutorial I wrote up for the bag on the {NewNew} blog here.

By the way, don’t use this map to find your way around New York. Williamsburg is NOT next to Chelsea.

A Message from Australia

Published
by
Simone
on April 13, 2010
in Sewing, The {NewNew} and Tutorial
. 3 Comments

The other day I got a message and this picture from Renee in Australia. She had just completed this darling skirt for her daughter inspired by a tutorial I put together on the Crafty Daisies site almost two years ago.

I love Renee’s variation from my version below with the contrasting, overlapping ruffle and the pretty kanzashi flower.
Since we’re on the topic of tutorials on other blogs check out my latest project involving DIY iron-on embroidery transfers on The{NewNew} blog.

Stockings - A Tutorial

Published
by
Simone
on November 18, 2009
in Groundsel, Sewing, Tutorial and christmas
. 2 Comments


So you made yourself a felted sweater bag and still have two sleeves left? Turn them into Christmas Stockings!

Materials:

  • Felted Sweater Sleeves
  • Paper to make a pattern
  • Embellishments: Buttons, patches, embroidery thread, felted objects. . .
  • Optional: Bias Tape

How To:

Cut the sleeves from the sweater along the shoulder and the arm seam. Steam the sleeve flat and trace its outline on the pattern paper.

Within that outline on the pattern paper trace the shape of a boot. That is your pattern.

Cut out a right and a left boot. In other words, cut out one boot, turn the pattern over and cut out the second boot on the second sleeve. When you put the two halves together, the left sides should be touching.

From the remainder of the sleeve, cut out a 8″ x 1.5″ strip. This will become the loop to hang up the stocking.

Now it’s time to embellish the stocking. For the red stocking I raided my vintage button collection to create a button snow storm. The heel is decorated with a needle felted star.

The black stocking is decorated with a patch that I embroidered with a picture of my husbands vintage land cruiser. You could add appliques, yoyos or just leave it plain.

When you’re ready, put the two halves together with right sides touching and sew a seam around the stocking. I covered the seam with bias tape, but that step is optional.

The original ribbing of the sleeve provided the edging on the red stocking. For the black stocking I sewed a blanket stitch around the top.

Fold the strip in half and sew the loop in place on top. This one is again finished with a blanket stitch, but that is entirely up to you.

I’d love to see your variations on this theme.

Dry Feet - A Towel Mat Tutorial

Published
by
Simone
on August 4, 2009
in Sewing and Tutorial
. 9 Comments

We recently had to rethink our bath mat strategy after one too many cat accidents on the bath room rug. And here is the solution: a towel mat made of two older towels with colorful binding.

Materials

To make this mat, you need:

  • two bath size towels
  • a resident artist to draw the picture to be quilted on the towel using a washable fabric marker  (optional)
  • blanket binding or fabric remnants

Steps

  1. Cut the towels to size. This particular mat is 37″ by 27,” but the size depends on your requirements.

  2. Draw your design on the towel. I commissioned robots from my 7-year-old, but if flowers are your thing that would be a nice choice as well.
  3. Baste or pin the two towels together so they won’t shift when you “quilt” your design.

  4. With a wide zigzag stitch sew the towels together following your design. You may want to experiment on a piece of scrap towel to find the setting that works for you. That leaves you with two pieces of fabric sewn together.
  5. Finish off the edge of the mat with some binding. If you decide to make your own, measure the circumference of the rug and note that down. To make 1″ wide binding, cut 3″ wide strips of fabric.
  6. Sew the strips together until you reach a length equal to the circumference of the rug plus a bit just in case.
  7. Fold the binding in half lengthwise and iron it.

  8. Open up the binding and fold in the left and the right sides of the binding to meet in the middle. Iron this. You should now have a long strip of binding with three ironing marks going down the length of the binding.
  9. Right sides together fold over the short edge of the binding and sew the length of it to the mat following the line closest to the edge. I like to begin in the middle of a side rather than at the very top so I don’t have to deal with the corner and the matching of the beginning and end of the binding at the same time.
  10. Stop about one inch before the end of the side of the mat and make a mitered corner following Alicia Paulson’s Binding Tute on Posie gets Cozy. Continue all the way around.

  11. Fold the binding over the edge and fold under the quarter on the other side of the binding. Now you can either machine stitch or hand stitch the binding to the other side of the mat. Hand stitching took me maybe an hour or two and involved a lot less swearing.

That’s it. Enjoy your bath mat and keep your kitty off it, unless you decide this is the perfect kitty blanket.

Travel Crafts: Beaded Ring Tutorial

Published
by
Simone
on July 9, 2009
in Tutorial, beads and jewelry
. 8 Comments


A travel craft should be a small project you can easily stash away in your pocket or your bag. You should be able to work on it pretty much anywhere with few or no tools. Everything you need to make this ring can be tied into a handkerchief and squished into your coat pocket.

Materials

  • White Handkerchief. This will be your work surface. The white cloth makes it easier to see your beads and prevents them from rolling around. If you want to make this project more portable, you can lay the cloth on the water bucket tray in your hotel room, or the pie pan of your vacation rental.
  • Beading Wire size .012
  • Delica Beads or Seed Beads size 11. The hole in the bead needs to be big enough for the wire to pass through twice. If you are going to use the seed beads for other beaded ring projects, you may even want to use the slightly harder to find size 10.
  • 4mm beads. For a 6.5 ring I used nine Swarovski crystals. Play around with what you have in your stash or happen upon in a bead shop.
  • Scissors or nail clippers in a pinch

Steps

1. Measure out some wire about the equivalent of 5.5 Bic pen lengths, (24 to 30 inches) and string a 4mm bead onto the middle.


2. Add 4 seed beads to the left and the right of the 4mm bead.


3. String a 4mm bead onto the right end of the wire. Guide the left end of the wire through the opposite side of the bead so that the wires cross within the bead.


4. Pull the wires taut.


5. Repeat Steps 2 through 4 until you reach the desired length. For a size 6.5 ring I used 9 crystals. You should end with 4 seed beads on each side of the 4mm bead.


6. Now close the ring by threading one wire through the first bead and the other wire through the opposite side of the bead in the same manner as Step 3. Pull the wire ends taut.


7. Continue threading the wire through the ring along the first pass through, essentially doubling the wire. This gives the ring more stability and helps you weave in the ends. Cut off any excess when you close the round.


Now show off your latest jewelry and when somebody asks you about it tell them, “This little thing? It’s something I just threw together on the road.”

Mother’s Day Flowers

Published
by
Simone
on April 22, 2009
in Other Blogs and Tutorial
. 2 Comments
Ann Maria Reeves Jarvis and Anna Jarvis
Ann Maria Reeves Jarvis and Anna Jarvis

The other day, I researched Mother’s Day and learned that it wasn’t a holiday created by a card company, but a day envisioned by Anna Jarvis for each family to honor their mother. In honor of her mother Ann Maria Reeves Jarvis, a social activist, Anna Jarvis lobbied for years to make Mother’s Day a recognized holiday. As part of this campaign and in memory of her mother, she distributed white carnations in front of her mother’s church in 1907. In 1914, Congress declared the second Sunday of May Mother’s Day. It was never Anna’s intention for this day to become such a commercial event. In fact, she declared

“A printed card means nothing except that you are too lazy to write to the woman who has done more for you than anyone in the world. And candy! You take a box to Mother—and then eat most of it yourself. A pretty sentiment!”

However, I think she would have approved of these flowers as Mother’s Days gifts:

Fabric Flower Tutorial by Blair of Wise Craft:

Beaded Rose Tutorial by Beaded Flowers:

Or, for some international flair, how about these Kanzashi Flowers by Mookychick:

Favors

Published
by
Simone
on April 9, 2009
in Tutorial, Uncategorized and beads
. 0 Comments

Since wedding season is upon us, here is an idea for a quick favor. These wine charms are for a bridal shower. Incidentally, we will also make them as a teacher-appreciation-day favor. All you need are wire hoops from a craft store or jewelry supply store, beads, and little favor bags. Instead of the wire hoops you could also use memory wire. String a few beads or charms onto the hoops, bend the wire end up to close the hoop and you’re done.

For more favor ideas, check out The {NewNew} blog for instructions on:

In fact, the entire month of March on the The {NewNew} blog was dedicated to wedding planning, so if such an event is on your horizon, you should definitely pay a visit.

(F)Etching

Published
by
Simone
on April 7, 2009
in Tutorial
. 3 Comments

About a year ago, I decided to move away from plastic containers for my dry food storage and use glass jars instead. I now have a lovely collection of former wheat germ jars I use for rice, sugar, couscous, and so forth. For a while now, I’ve been planning to embellish the jars with glass etching. Today I finished my first one:

Materials

  • Glass Etching Cream
  • Clear self-adhesive Contact Vinyl
  • Sharp Crafting Knife
  • Rubbing Alcohol
  • Protective Rubber Gloves
  • Permanent marker or other writing utensil that won’t smear on the vinyl

Instructions:

Trace your design on the front of the vinyl with a permanent marker to make a stencil.

Make sure the glass item you want to decorate is completely clean and wipe off the surface with alcohol.

Either adhere the vinyl onto the glass and then cut out your design with a craft knife, or cut out your design first and then place the vinyl on the glass. The second method was easier for me, but you may want to experiment a bit.

Make sure there are no fingerprints on the area you want to etch. If necessary, carefully clean the area with rubbing alcohol.

Put on the gloves and with a paint brush, apply the glass etching cream onto the stencil and follow the manufacturers directions. I my case it took five minutes for the cream to do its job.

Rinse off the etching cream under running, cold water, remove the stencil and, voila! there is your design. Remove any remaining adhesive with window cleaner and/or soap.

Only six jars to go. . .

Other Resources

Fig and Plum has a great list of glass etching resources; SuperCute! uses masking tape instead of vinyl

or search “cream glass etching tutorial” for other suggestions.

Pony Tails

Published
by
Simone
on April 1, 2009
in Recycling, Sewing, Tutorial, etsy and thing a day
. 4 Comments

Just mailed off a batch of hair accessory sets that will be included in ten raffle bags at the Spring Handmade Cavalcade.

And here is how I attach felt embellishments to ponytail holders:

First, sew the center button to the embellishment. Then sew through the button, the embellishment, and loop around the ponytail holder. Repeat this several times until you are convinced it will hold. Still using the same thread, sew on a small circle to the embellishment that covers the spot where you attached the ponytail holder to the embellishment. The felt circle will blend into the embellishment. Oh and I suggest you use button thread for a strong hold.

So, you bought your ticket to come to Brooklyn on May 9th and 10th, right?

Sampler Eggs - Tutorial and Giveaway

Published
by
Simone
on February 26, 2009
in Holidays, Tutorial, giveaway and thing a day
. 24 Comments

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 shop Groundsel, 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.

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