Art, Craft and Needlework, October, 2010

A place for Artistry, Crafts and Needlework; Decorating and Holidays.
User avatar
Harriet
Moderator
Posts: 16505
Joined: Wed Jul 09, 2008 6:48 am
Location: The Carolinas

Art, Craft and Needlework, October, 2010

Postby Harriet » Fri Oct 01, 2010 11:03 am

"Handmade is the new haute couture." :shock:

Can you believe that's a quote from a June, 2010 ABC News story? It was about the surprising staying power of crafts publishing, during economic times that have made fashion magazines close their doors.

Crafts/creativity editor Jo Walker was quoted as saying, "There's some kind of quest for something that feels a bit more genuine, a bit more real, a little bit less rushed and mass-produced."

ABC pointed out the world-wide trend by noting that circulation of the Australian crochet and "kitsch" art magazine "Frankie" grew by 31 percent in 2009.

And, to think, all of us are already right here on the cutting edge! 8-)

We hope you'll join us here in this thread, to chat about enjoying all types of creative outlets!

User avatar
Harriet
Moderator
Posts: 16505
Joined: Wed Jul 09, 2008 6:48 am
Location: The Carolinas

Re: Art, Craft and Needlework, October, 2010

Postby Harriet » Wed Oct 06, 2010 6:29 pm

BookSaver had mentioned making several small gift items at once and I thought of the bookmarks that dd and I have made. They are good for assembly-lining. I'm a little frustrated right now not to have one photographed yet, but HRH is using the camera and that will have to wait a bit.

We pieced a rectangle as we liked, then used it as a template to cut a backing fabric. We sewed the front and backing, right sides together, on the left, right and bottom, leaving the top open, clipped corners and turned it. We cut a piece of very cheap, ordinary interfacing from the cloth store slightly smaller, and slipped it inside. She picked a 1/2-inch ribbon and bead, threaded the bead, and slipped the two ends into the opening, too. We tuned in the raw edges and sewed an edge-stitch all the way around, with more stitching through the bookmark along seams.

It wouldn't be nearly so cute without the interfacing. As far as which to buy, I don't know how to describe it. Feel them and ask yourself which one feels like a bookmark to you. ?? This one is not thick, but holds the shape. Cost pennies.

User avatar
Nancy
Member
Posts: 23443
Joined: Wed Jul 09, 2008 6:52 pm
Location: Washington state in the Pacific Northwestern part of the USA.
Contact:

Re: Art, Craft and Needlework, October, 2010

Postby Nancy » Wed Oct 06, 2010 10:24 pm

On the view today I saw a segment on doing a mom cave
an it had a really cute patch work footstool!

I've started a prayer shawl in white.

User avatar
Nancy
Member
Posts: 23443
Joined: Wed Jul 09, 2008 6:52 pm
Location: Washington state in the Pacific Northwestern part of the USA.
Contact:

Puppet Directions / crochet

Postby Nancy » Thu Oct 07, 2010 12:32 pm

Puppet directions
Crochet

I Chain 25 with four ply yarn on H. or J. hook.
Attach into loop on first chain to create a circle with a slip stitch for puppet body.
Make 25 rounds.

Make mouth opening.
For mouth opening chain 12 attach to body continue with 6 more rounds.

Begin shaping for top of puppet head.
Make 10 more rounds.
Skip every sixth stitch to shape head of puppet.

Close top with herring bone stitch
or crochet together when it is to 6 stitches.

Turn right side out.

Above mouth make eyes of crochet with four
stitches in four rows.

Crochet around mouth opening with contrasting solid color.
Reduce one stitch at each corner every round until it is 6 stitches then close..

Make tongue with four stitches at the end of opening after
closing when it reaches the size of six stitches.
Fold mouth inward.

Make 6-10 strands of 4" long yarn pieces
with yarn for hair. Attach at top of head by tying yarn hair on puppet.

Make every six rows a different color for a striped puppet
Or use variegated yarn.

This is a great gift with a book!
Yellow for duck,
or various colors for animals to go with the theme of book.

I've made a lot of these and am sharing my pattern with all that might
like this today! Enjoy!!!

User avatar
Nancy
Member
Posts: 23443
Joined: Wed Jul 09, 2008 6:52 pm
Location: Washington state in the Pacific Northwestern part of the USA.
Contact:

Re: Art, Craft and Needlework, October, 2010

Postby Nancy » Sat Oct 09, 2010 12:39 pm

I have made more progress on the white prayer shawl.
I am half way done with another granny square throw now also. :D

BookSaver
Administrator
Posts: 2970
Joined: Mon Jul 14, 2008 10:08 am
Location: E Iowa

Re: Art, Craft and Needlework, October, 2010

Postby BookSaver » Sat Oct 09, 2010 10:30 pm

Thanks for the bookmark idea, Harriet. I will ponder that ...

I had a playdate with a theatre friend yesterday for what I thought would be a day of costume sewing. She's one of the background singer/dancers in a live version of The Rocky Horror Show on Halloween so she needs a rather outrageous costume.

Funny enough, what I ended up doing was DEconstructing rather than constructing. She was given a red corset from someone who used it in a Mrs. Santa costume so it had long white fake fur around the the top and bottom edges. Once I trimmed all of that fake fur off, it looked as if the red corset had been edged in white velvet trim -- actually kind of pretty so we decided it didn't need any other trim on the edges.

Then she wanted to make an apron but I suggested that we go to Goodwill before going to the fabric store in case we got lucky and found one already made that we could decorate. We didn't find an adult apron, but I did spot an adorable little girl's dress, with a red sequin front bodice. The skirt was white sheer fabric with a red/white polka dot ruffle, a line of red sequins trimming the ruffle, and 2 layers white net petticoat underneath. It even had a long red/white polka dot sash.

All I had to do was unattach the sash from the dress, open up both sides of the skirt and cut across the back so all of the gathers at the waist stayed together. The fabric was the kind that doesn't fray. My friend said she could handle sewing the red/white polka dot sash to the top of the skirt -- instant costume piece that looks like a 1950s frilly hostess apron! I also suggested that she make a heart-shaped pocket from the red sequin part of the bodice.

We're both looking for a plastic toy piece of pie that she can attach to a round of plastic canvas to make a hat. That will complete her sexy diner waitress costume.

Other than that ... hmm ... was it last spring that I unraveled a royal blue sweater to reuse the yarn? Also had a red sweater with long fringe trim that was looking ratty, so I started taking off the fringe and found it wasn't cut pieces, it was just long loops. That meant I could wind that yarn into balls, too. The past couple of weeks I have used both of those recovered yarn colors on my small round knitting loom to make long skinny scarves.

This morning while watching tv, I experimented with the same small round knitting loom and some variegated purple yarn to make a fingerless mitten. Now I need to count how many rows it took so I can make the other one.

Hey, that would be another idea for quick gifts. Fingerless mittens out of fleece fabric, with knit or crochet cuffs from fancy froufrou yarns.

User avatar
Nancy
Member
Posts: 23443
Joined: Wed Jul 09, 2008 6:52 pm
Location: Washington state in the Pacific Northwestern part of the USA.
Contact:

Re: Art, Craft and Needlework, October, 2010

Postby Nancy » Sat Oct 09, 2010 10:54 pm

I'm nearly finished with the granny square
throw that I"m currently working on. I only
have one more round to do then decide if it
needs a shell stich around it or not. If
I have enough yarn left.

Finished that project yea!

Thanks for the apron link yesterday Harriet!

User avatar
Harriet
Moderator
Posts: 16505
Joined: Wed Jul 09, 2008 6:48 am
Location: The Carolinas

Re: Art, Craft and Needlework, October, 2010

Postby Harriet » Sun Oct 10, 2010 6:56 pm

Oh, you're quite welcome, Nancy. You are getting so many projects done. Will the white one be a gift? I think puppet-making must be fun, especially with bright yarn.

BookSaver, I loved that story, and was amused at anyone altering a corset to make it into something new! Have you seen this book, partly about Goodwill shopping (and recycling) for sewing? It is mostly about the great fabric left in used men's shirts that could be made into quilts, but also about sewing/recycling of formerly-used items in general.

The whole concept brings up a challenge for me, because I see how much I need to declutter, but also how cool some of my saved textiles really are. I'm sure I could use some things that another person would no doubt throw away. For instance, my recent pincushion making has me looking at non-quilt fabrics I'd usually ignore with a new appreciation. (fancies, textures)

User avatar
Harriet
Moderator
Posts: 16505
Joined: Wed Jul 09, 2008 6:48 am
Location: The Carolinas

Re: Art, Craft and Needlework, October, 2010

Postby Harriet » Sun Oct 10, 2010 6:58 pm

3bookmarksSept10.JPG



Finally, here is the photo of some of our bookmarks. On left, one of my serendipity curved-piecing experiments "framed", adn with a double ribbon. In the middle, one of dd12's favorites with her fussy-cutting of Taz and jungle fabric. On right the next one I'm working on. It's easier to make odd piecing look significant when you put it in a "frame", lol.
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.

User avatar
Twins' Mom
Member
Posts: 16701
Joined: Wed Jul 09, 2008 5:41 pm
Location: Southeast

Re: Art, Craft and Needlework, October, 2010

Postby Twins' Mom » Sun Oct 10, 2010 7:02 pm

Harriet, how pretty and sweet and such nice piecing!
Be at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let every new year find you a better [wo]man. Ben Franklin


Return to “The Creative Home”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 9 guests