Posts filed under 'Misc. Crafts'
Last month was Abbey’s birthday. I bought her the two DVD edition of Twilight . Like my birthday present we both laughed when she opened it.
Since the movie shares my name I had to see it. But I’m not a fan of the book series. I don’t like the thinly veiled abstinence until marriage message and other morality lessons weaved into the storyline.
The movie is another matter entirely. It was a hot mess and I loved it! I haven’t laughed that hard at a non-intentional comedy in years. During the dramatic climax I was laughing so hard I was crying. I wholeheartedly recommend it-just not for the reasons the producers had in mind.
When the DVD version came out featuring deleted scenes I knew I had to get it for Abbey. We made a girls day out of watching the movie and plan to do the same for the bonus material.
To wrap the present I used an old sewing pattern. The pattern was so old it started tearing as I was wrapping so it was perfect to recycle.
Then I cut some of the paper into strips and made a fun bow.
April 28th, 2009
I made this outfit back in 2003 and wore it to the Taos Recycled Fashion Show. A couple months later I wore it to the Santa Fe Recycled Fashion Show where I won first prize!
After posting this on Craftster I got requests for a pattern. Since I made it up as I went along this is more of a guide rather than a true tutorial.
The outfit took me about a month and a half to make. My hands would cramp if I crocheted too long so I had to take several days off during that time.
First find yourself a bunch of phone wire.
Take a seam ripper and cut open the outer casing. You’ll want to keep the wire continuous (it’s a pain to join on more wire so I kept it to a minimum) so wind the separate pieces onto bits of wood. Cut a chunk of casing, pull out the wires, separate and wind them and then go back to cutting more casing.
Double crochet the whole thing with an I hook. It’s hard to start so you’ll do a lot of tugging at first. The wire will bend and mold into the shape you’re making.
The skirt was made in four panels. Sew them together with more wire then crochet a brown border on top and bottom.
Sew a zipper between one of the brown and blue/green panels. Extend the top border a bit to make a flap for the bottom hole. There’s no need to make a buttonhole-you can just push the button through two stitches since the wire will bend. In my geekiness I insisted on the whole thing being 100% recycled-the button, zipper and thread are recycled as well.
You can make yours longer. I started running out of wire so I made the skirt shorter so I’d have enough for the top. I wouldn’t suggest too much longer though. Even though my skirt was short it was still heavy.
For the top started each cup at the bottom. Chain across until it looks like it would cover your breast. Crochet a few more rows. To make the cups “poof” out add a couple of stitches a row near the middle. You’ll see the cup starting to form and can add more stitches in the middle area as needed. When it’s poofed up enough stop adding extra stitches and crochet as normal. Decrease on the ends to make a rounded shape. Crocheted a row of brown on the outside to round out the cups.
For the straps make a chain that looks like the right length. Double crochet until you have the desired thickness. Sew the straps on with wire. For the closure wire on a button and make a wire loop on the other side.
Here’s a pic that shows the neck and back straps.
Since the wire is heavy it stretches. I had to dart the neck and back straps which was a pain. When I wore the outfit at the Taos show (the pics with my hair down) the skirt stretched from the weight and rode lower than I had intended. I threaded wire thru the top row of the skirt to tighten it up. It stretched out again at the Santa Fe show (pics with my wild hair) but didn’t ride as low.
Here’s a full pic of the outfit. My hair was full of cell phone parts. Phones are full of good materials-little screws, number pads and casing bits. I braided my hair around wire and then bent them into shape. Then I dangled some of the cell phone bits from the hair loops. I made rings from the tinier parts.
November 14th, 2008
This one is from 2004. Prana was a youngster back then.
This winter I put plastic over the windows to keep out drafts. Prana wasn’t too happy about this since it meant he couldn’t sit in the windows. So I made him a cat shelf. Everything’s recycled except the brackets.
I started with some scrap plywood, quilt stuffing, salvaged upholstery squares and shelf brackets. Upholstery worked best since furball has razorlike claws.
Sew the upholstery squares together big enough to wrap over plywood. (Prana is already showing interest.)
Next staple quilt stuffing onto plywood with staple gun.
Wrap upholstery around plywood and staple underneath.
Screw brackets to bottom of shelf and to wall.
Cat tested and approved!
November 6th, 2008
I dropped off recycling the other day and found two broken rice steamers in the tin area. They looked so full of potential. I brought them home and took them apart with a pair of needle nose pliers.
There’s a recycled art show where I live and I’m thinking of making a sculpture with the pieces. However, there’s also a recycled fashion show and I’m leaning towards making something for that instead. That’s more fun. Years ago, I created an outfit made out of telephone wires. It turned out super groovy!
I crocheted a bikini top and miniskirt. For my hair I put wires in my many braids and attached phone parts to the braids as well. In Santa Fe there was also a recycled fashion show and I won first prize for this outfit. I was overjoyed!
June 14th, 2007
I first heard about The Sampler via Craftypod. To subscribe to The Sampler you have to go to the webpage on a certain date and time to sign up. This is not the easiest for me to remember so I’ve been trying to subscribe for several months with no success.
Last month I was finally in front of the computer at the right time. I signed up and got my first Sampler the other day. Here’s some of the goodies I got:
The Bitch blank card rocks and will be used for a friend’s birthday. The octopus patch is pretty clever. The sushi keychain is so adorable and is my favorite. Two arty blank cards which is nice because I never have any when I need one.
Looking through my goodies I discovered so many indie shops I had never heard of. Yay! The Sampler was neat but it’s only little stuff. Wouldn’t it be cool if we could get yarn ball samples or fat quarters of indie fabric? Maybe that’s unrealistic but I wish it were possible.
About that knitting… I’m having trouble. Abbey and I still can’t figure out the next few steps for the sweater. We’re thinking of going to the LYS to plead for help. I’m going to search the web more to see if anyone else has run into problems.
Thebes and I were out of town last weekend so I barely got any knitting down. However, I’m up to the ribbing for the sock and hope to get it done this week.
Prana has gorgeous markings. This picture shows his back off.
May 17th, 2007
For my tutorial I like to think of it as a recipe instead of precise instructions. If you make a needle case based on my tute please email me. I’d love to see pictures. Some history of the project can be found at this post.
To make a needle case you’ll need a sheet of plastic canvas and some yarn. At the time I didn’t realize there were different sized plastic canvas. I did use some stash yarn that was thick so the squares would be well filled.
My old paper needle holder served as a guide to cutting out the plastic canvas. I cut two pieces instead of one figuring one larger piece wouldn’t close as easily.
Tieing the yarn on I prepared to weave.
Weaving the ends is pretty simple. The only trick is to make sure you weave in the same direction.
The edge consisted of weaving one square. For the middle rows I weaved into two squares.
The longer the yarn the less knots you’ll have to make. When joining a new piece I made the knot at the side.
The completed pieces. While weaving I noticed one side hid the plastic better. I’m not sure why but I suspect it has something to do with yarn tension.
I trimmed the knot tails and sewed them down with matching thread. I’ve circled those areas with yellow. The blue circle is a spot I had to tack down because the yarn got wonky.
I sewed the two pieces together with matching thread and illustrated that below with blue lines. In hindsight I see that I could have left one long edge bare on each piece and then weaved the two pieces together with yarn. But the thread works just as well.
I cut some fabric a little larger than the combined pieces.
Tucking the edges under as I went I handsewed the fabric down to the outer layer. I also sewed a line down the center where the two pieces meet thinking that would “guide” the case to close.
The ties were just a length of yarn knotted on each side. The tail was sewn under the fabric. I’d suggest putting in the ties before sewing down the fabric.
And voila! A completed needle case.
March 16th, 2007
I finished my needle case and am really happy with the way it turned out. This project was done based on my childhood memory which admittedly wasn’t the best way to do it. But it turned out just like I remember my mom’s needle case. I also got new needles because I’ve had my old ones for years.
A front view. I love this yarn!
The needle case doesn’t close completely but the needles stay put in the fabric.
I took pictures while making this and plan to post a tutorial soon.
My next project is adding some knit trim to some pants that are a bit short. I plan to make the trim in a feather and fan pattern. My test swatch turned out well. It’s an easy pattern to memorize.
March 10th, 2007
My stash skirt is coming along slowly because I had to frog several inches. I had a plan to increase the top portion and it just wasn’t working out. So I frogged out that section with the added stitches and started again. Since this is my own pattern I didn’t mind having to rip out stitches. Progress is slow but steady.
I’ve started a new project. It’s going to be a needle case. Sticking with the Knit From Your Stash theme I’m using the leftover yarn from my No Pattern Purse. I’m weaving it into plastic fabric.
This project is based on a needle case my mother had when I was a child. She disowned me when I was 18 so unfortunately I can’t ask her for help. Somehow working on this project is making me feel closer to my mom which is unexpectedly nice.
Plans for the needle case are as follows. I’m going to weave the yarn into the plastic fabric pieces and then sew them together. If I were to do it over again I’d leave one row on the side of each piece empty to weave them together. Then I’ll sew in fabric and add ties to hold it closed.
February 26th, 2007
I made a record clock a few months ago and it’s one of my favorite projects.
For the center I decoupaged a flower picture from a magazine.
The clock mechanism was bought at a craft store. Just slide it through the record hole, insert a battery and set the time.
I wanted to keep the numbers simple to show off the record. I used marble magnets for the 4 time marks.
To affix the marble magnets I put another magnet on the other side. Though they’re held in place they are not permanent. If I every want to change them for another design I can.
Not Martha has an excellent tutorial on making marble magnets.
January 25th, 2007
I finished my wine cork board and am really happy with how it turned out. The corks don’t fit snugly; there’s a space around all the sides. If I would have arranged them differently and cut some corks I could have had a tighter fit. But I thought half corks would disrupt the pattern so I left it as is.
A side look at the board-
I want to make wine bottle shrinky dinks for tacks.
November 25th, 2006
Previous Posts
