Last spring I blogged about a Sharpie bag project. Here is a simple tutorial to follow so you can make your own!
When I was down visiting family in Texas, my sister-in-law had these really fun wine charms that we would use in the evening. She mentioned that a friend made her own using small hoop earrings. Well, it got me thinking so when I returned home I went to the bead store where that sell such things but they had none left. Instead I just got a spool of silver wire & made my own. It was much more inexpensive & also super easy. For the “charms” I decided to make little flags out of leather scraps. I punched holes & hammered in some x-small rivets. This project was very quick & you could really use anything to mark the glasses. I think a hostess gift will be in order the next time we’re invited to a dinner. (Are any of my friends reading this? hint, hint….)
Check out the link in the side bar for a new class offered (March 13th at Common Threads). It will be all about recycling old garments into really cool bags. Can’t wait!
I posted this tutorial back in June & at that time I may have had my 5 closest friends & my mother following this post. Since then, the audience has grown slightly outside that circle so I decided when I’m in a pinch for time it would be fun to just repeat some of my favorite posts. Please forgive me if you happen to be one of those 5 people that saw the original tutorial the first time around.
Enjoy!
With an iron on applique you can make a really graphic image on a pillow very quickly. Personally, I like how it creates a very clean line that looks much neater than when I sew something on because I’m not such a great sewer & my stitch lines can go all over the place. This is a technique I can control better.
How to make a no-sew applique:
- Trace your image onto the paper side of an adhesive bond paper. I used Heat-n-Bond which you can find at any fabric store.
- Iron the adhesive paper onto the wrong side of your fabric. Cut along the edge of your drawing.
- Arrange image on fabric that you will be bonding it to so you know the general look & layout.
- Peel backing off back of image. It will have a rubbery feel but won’t stick to anything yet.
- Place face down in the location you want & follow directions for heat & steem on the package for best results.
- I decided to make some grey linen piping to sew around the edges since they will be a set of pillows. Make sure to clip the corners so they turn easily. Also, make sure to sew the piping on the right side of your pillow as the picture.
- Attach piping all the way around.
- Take the back side of the pillow & put the face sides together. Carefully sew them together using the same stitch line you followed from the piping.
- Leave a hole big enough to turn the pillow inside out. Stuff then sew up the hole by hand.
The pillows find a home
I found this beautiful (very large) cashmere sweater at a local thrift shop. It is a 2 ply cashmere from Sax Fifth Avenue so I knew it was quality goods. I bought it purely for the fabric & thought I may make something out of it someday. Earlier this week I took it out & decided that it just might be salvaged as a real sweater for myself. Out came the scissors & after a snip-snip here & another snip-snip there I turned it inside out, drew some chalk lines to reduce the size then sewed it along the lines. After cutting off the excess fabric & turning it right side out again I found myself with a more fitted & slightly slouchy (which I like) raw edge, cherry red, very wearable sweater. The whole thing took no more than 20 minutes. I thought this was an appropriate color for Valentines week. Are we tired of red yet? No way!
I spent most of Monday making these as Valentines gifts for my kids. I figured the chocolate part of Valentines Day would take care of itself once they went to school. Since Valentines day is smack in the middle of winter it was a good opportunity to make them something that would keep them & their bed warm during these colder months. I was going to make a straight up rectangular pillow then thought better of it as there is always room for improvement. The foxes are exactly the same except for the fact that I switched the order of the fabrics so they could tell them apart. This is a relatively easy gift to make & it can take any form. I tested it out in the microwave to heat it up & it worked like a charm.
Happy Valentines Day! Stay warm!
I picked up a regular old cork board at the local target & slapped on a coat of red paint. Afterward I had a rubber stamp in the shape of an irregular circle that I stamped across it. Since the print was so light I used it as a guide & painted in the circles with light blue paint. Then I went back in & painted a 1/2 circle in darker blue. Done. I like to use those little paint testers that you can buy at a hardware store. There are tons of colors to pick from & they are very reasonably priced. It’s so easy to make something so basic a little more special especially since it’s hanging in my kitchen.
A couple of years ago when I started getting into carving the rubber block prints I figured out how to get pictures transferred onto them to create these more realistic prints. If you have Photoshop this can be very easy. Getting the right picture can be tricky because you really need to find one that translates well into black & white. This basically just takes trial & error playing in photoshop with different photos in stamp mode. Once you find the photo that works well, it’s just a matter of transferring the picture to the rubber block & VERY CAREFULLY cutting away so the original feeling still remains. As you can see, the copy from my printer & from the rubber block are very similar but not exactly the same. That’s the fun of it. You never really know if you succeeded or not until you apply the ink with the brayer & have a go at it. I haven’t done this for a while & felt a bit rusty. It also didn’t help that my ink was very light on the block. In the past I’ve had a much better image transfer. Well, all in all I’m happy with the results & the real test was when I showed my son. He approved!
More Print Examples
For the past couple of months my jewelry has leaned toward brass & leather. I like how both materials tarnish & change over time. I’ve also simultaneously become enamored with the simple, natural wooden bead. Yesterday was cashmere & beads, today it’s brass & beads….. I especially like the scandinavian vibe going on.
This necklace can easily be made in less than 5 minutes. I get the brass ball chain by the foot at my local hardware store. At a bead store I found the brass rings that keep the chain together. It’s not fancy but it does the job. You can do any arrangement of beds that you like & just string them on. I’m thinking of trying a triple strand with 1 bead (small to large) on each strand. I also like that I can wear this arrangement for a day then change it & reuse the chain or beads for something else. It’s like temporary jewelry.
….Now I’m a furry purse! I found this detachable faux fur collar at a local vintage store. When I folded it in 1/2 it instantly looked like a warm fury & very hip little purse. The following is a step by step DIY. It wasn’t complicated but because of the material all the stitching had to be done by hand. I use heavy thread so I only need 1 strand. The zipper is hand sewn in first then I very carefully tucked the fur inside the bag as I sewed around the outside. In the end, I added a long wooden bead pull that can be used as a wristlet or a functional zipper pull. I’m heading out tonight & plan to break it in!
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