Posts Tagged ‘craft’
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Crafty times: the zipper flower part 2
Well crafters, there’s good news and there’s bad news.
The good news is, the zipper flower is done. Ish.
The bad news is that it just about defeated me and I’ve finished this project with one zipper amoeba and a whole new appreciation for Velcro, snaps and ties.
Zippers are a tricky business, and to turn one into a flower, well, I think that takes a little more dexterity than your correspondent here could muster. Only those who play fast and loose with the whole representational thing are likely to call my little craft a flower. It is a zipper amoeba.
Here’s how I did it, along with a few tips on how NOT to do yours.
First, I consulted a very handy tutorial on craftster.org. Once I had an idea of what I was doing (or thought I did), I gathered my crafting components: needle, thread, scissors and zipper. I had run out of black thread and so had to buy more, which nudged my costs above the £5 mark, but not too far out of reach: all in, my bill was £6.30.
Everything you need to make a zipper flower
Posted in Crafting, Fashion, Uncategorized
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Learning to knit – part 2
Several weeks ago I wrote of my plan to learn to knit with Stitch & Bitch London.
Last night I attended my first Stitch & Bitch meeting where I met some very friendly and interesting people, including founding member Deadly Knitshade, who was to be my teacher for the evening.
I took part in a knitting lesson over a gin and tonic, and even managed a few stitches on my own (the bitching part comes naturally to me, so no pointers required there).
I showed up at the National Theatre’s Long Bar at about six o’clock. Deadly Knitshade (I really can’t get enough of the name!) told me she was expecting a crowd, as the South Bank venue was very popular with knitters… and she was right.
Posted in Crafting
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What 3 long pieces of jersey fabric can do..
Quick post: We love it when people try our tutorials - when you’ll see Gretchen’s version of BirdyMoola’s neck piece you’ll see why!
Gretchen writes: “I came across a tutorial for this necklace this morning and thought I just had to give it a try. It came out well. I think I will try making one thinner and longer. I know some people LOVE the chunky jewelry thing. I never jumped in on that. Anyways, all you do is cut 3 long peices of jersey fabric and braid them together! Give it a go!”
Let us know if you’ve made one too!
Posted in Crafting
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Learning new crafty skills
There’s no two ways around it: I love craft. I could wax lyrical about cute crafty stuff that’s being made RIGHT NOW all over the world, but at the end of the day I always wish I could make more of my own stuff. And the only thing that’s really stopping me is knowledge and experience.
I’ve been a big fan of Sublime Stitching’s cool embroidery kits for a couple of years. In fact, I even own a mod ‘60s kit with graphics of scooters, targets and cute dolly birds. But the sad fact is that I don’t really know any embroidery stitches, and I’ve never used an embroidery hoop in my life. In the meantime, plans for making my own gifts (embroidered tea towels, pillowcases, T-shirts and baby all-in-ones), have been put on hold, whilst I continually resort to panicked present purchases at the last minute.
But that’s all about to change, because I’ve just enrolled in an embroidery workshop at The Make Lounge in North London. I’ve been meaning to check out The Make Lounge for a while now, so I’m pretty excited now I’m all signed up. I love the fact that all sorts of crafty groups have been sprouting up all over the world, where people get together to learn new (forgotten) skills and bond over slipped stitches and French knots. The Make Lounge offers a myriad of exciting craft classes, from making your own sexy knickers to creating your own festive fascinator. Click here to see their full line-up of workshops.
I’m hoping that I’ll finally get the confidence (and inspiration) to make some really beautiful, personal gifts for family and friends over the coming year. And maybe save some money while I’m at it!
The Make Lounge
49-51 Barnsbury Street
London N1 1TP
Tel. 020 7609 0275
Email: create@themakelounge.comAll images courtesy of The Make Lounge.
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DIY tutorial of the week: make your own statement neck piece
Statement necklaces are big this season, and are excellent for adding interest and detail to a plain t-shirt or dress. I recently spotted a really cool plaited jersey neck piece in an East London boutique for about £60, and thought I would have a go at making one myself. It actually turned out waaay better than I had initially planned – with a bonus ‘rose’ detail that came about by accident when I was trying to work out what to do with the ends.
It’s relatively quick and simple to make and you don’t need any specific skills – apart from the ability to plait. I wore it on Sunday and attracted loads of comments from people wanting to know where I bought it!
Here’s a step-by-step tutorial to making one yourself.
You will need:
• 90cm x 150cm of jersey fabric in colour of your choice (if you want to make a longer necklace, you will need more than 150cm in length)
• Extra scraps of jersey to make two ties – I had enough left over because I bought a metre-length of 150cm-wide fabric
• Water-erasable fabric pen
• Scissors
• Gaffer tape (or someone to hold your braid)
• Ruler
1. Lay your fabric out flat and mark out 30cm points along the shortest length. Do the same on the other side.
2. At your first 30cm point, rule a line with the water-erasable fabric marker along the longest length so you create a 150cm x 30cm strip.
3. Cut along the line so you end up with a length of 150cm x 30cm fabric.
4. Rule another line at 30cm along the shortest length – this should divide the length of fabric in half. Cut along the line. You should now have three separate strips of fabric measuring 150cm x 30cm. Dab out any visible pen marks with a wet cloth.
5. Gather the ends together and gaffer tape the ends to a chair – leaving around 10cm of fabric loose at the end. (Warning: make sure the chair doesn’t have a varnished or painted surface as the tape may damage it. You might want to choose some other surface, or alternatively, ask someone to hold the end for you.)
6. Start plaiting the three lengths of fabric together. Ensure you keep the tension consistent so the plaiting is even.
7. At the end of the plait, use a narrow scrap of the same fabric to secure it by tying a double knot. Ensure you leave around 10cm loose.
8. Unstick the plait from the chair and use the ends of one knot to tie a double-knot around the other end. Do the same with the other end of the plait. You should now have a plaited loop.
9. Line up the ends of the plait in your hand and trim it to make sure they’re even.
10. Pull out and fan the ends to create a flower shape. That’s it – you’re done!
TOTAL SPENT: £9.10
COST OF DESIGNER NECK PIECE: £60
TOTAL SAVED: £50.90Check out the video below to see how I made it…
Make your own statement neck piece from OolaMoola on Vimeo. -
What would grandma do? Make a granny blanket!
Last year the crafty blogosphere went a little bit nuts over Cath Kidston’s £160 vintage-style crochet square blanket (see left). I actually liked the colour palette so much I cut the pic out of the catalogue and stuck it in a scrapbook for inspiration. Now, I can’t crochet to save my life, so I’m not exactly an expert on crafty stuff, but a lot of bloggers were talking about how easily you could make one yourself – and for a whole lot less than the hefty £160 price tag.There are a load of online resources to help you get started on making a crochet square from scratch. One of my absolute favourites is Pip’s tutorial for ABSOLUTE BEGINNERS over at Meet me at Mike’s.
It sounds unbelievably straight-forward, and Pip gives excellent advice on such matters as crochet hook size and exactly what kind of yarn to buy. She’s also posted here as well.
She also links to some other cool resources for making granny blankets. Check it out – it might just get ya hooked (geddit, geddit?).
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DIY tutorial of the week: Spring basket
Check out this timely and super-pretty Easter craft tutorial over at MayaMade. We love the detailed instructions and awesome step-by-step images. Let us know if you made it!
Many thanks to MayaMade for sharing her super-clever tutorial with us, and to Meet me at Mike’s for telling us all about it!
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What would Grandma do? Recycle ribbons
Recycling ribbons and wrapping paper was a common-place practice in my household growing up – anything deemed salvageable would be carefully folded and packed away in the cupboard for use again.
But I’ve taken the recycling thing to a new level recently, by squirreling away the ribbons from the bags of one of my favourite brands, COS. They’ve always got such lovely grosgrain ribbon handles in a variety of colours. I just tear off the handles and pack them away in my ribbon box.
Here they are adding a simple and chic touch to brown paper parcels:
TOTAL SPENT: £0
COST OF NEW STRIPED GROSGRAIN RIBBON: £2.77/metre
SAVINGS OVER A YEAR: £16.62 -
A year’s supply of greeting cards [Part 2]
Holey moley. Has anyone out there made 35 cards - requiring medium-to-advanced skills - in one day? If so, you have my deepest admiration. It took me a total of 15 hours. And that’s allowing for the fact that I (coerced) begged my husband to help me get the job done (he’s a graphic designer, after all, so he’s far more skilled in this area than me). Here’s a breakdown of how the Day Of The Cards unfolded:
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A year’s supply of greeting cards [Part 1]
I recently did the maths to work out how much I actually spend on greeting cards in a 12-month period. I love pretty cards so I usually spend around £3.50 on each one, and I purchase on average 33 a year. My total annual spend? £115.50. I was actually shocked to see the total in black and white.
