Video Podcast: How to Make a Handbag out of a Recycled Book. » Curbly | DIY Design Community « Keywords: handbag, purse, bag, book. I have a penchant for purchasing stuff that’s cool, but for which I don’t have specific plans or use. Case in point: I have piles of pulp and sci-fi novels from the 40s-60s. The art and colors are amazing, and the language provides for ridiculous quotes for ages. But after I slice out the illustrations, and force my way through the first and last chapters so I can say I ‘read’ them, these dimestore masterpieces don’t escape from their cardboard homes often. Thus, enter this project: an adorable handbag featuring the incredible art of ‘literature’. Click play, or go here to watch the video. Materials:• A hardbound book with an appealing cover• Fabric (1/2 yard or so)• Sewing machine or needle and thread• Scissors• Utility knife• Craft glue• Store-bought [or handmade] purse handle• Colored markers• Polyurethane finish, Mod Podge, or watered-down white glue 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15.
Don't forget to subscribe to the new Curbly YouTube channel. Tutorial: Shabby Chic Dangly Earring Display. This fun little shabby chic earring stand, made from an altered picture frame, is a great way to hang and display all your beautiful, dangling earrings. I had the idea for this project after we talked about my love affair with dangly earrings and how to display them. I don’t know about you, but I just love seeing them all hanging in a row! :) The next day I made this earring frame, and it was so quick, easy, and inexpensive to put together, I knew I had to share it with you!
Cost: Less than $10 Time: 30 mins Supplies: picture frame, 12′ of picture wire, acrylic paint & brush, staple gun (or nails/tacks, etc) I started out with a black 8×10 picture frame from Walmart, $3. Since the frame wasn’t real wood, I was a little concerned with how it would turn out once I painted it. But as you can see from the above images, this little inexpensive frame did great! I gave the frame a couple coats of paint with this almost-but-not-quite white acrylic paint using the brushes pictured. Double Knitting - Knitting Community. Double knitting is the exception to many knitting rules. You can double knit a stockinette scarf, and it will lay flat instead of curling. Color knitting will be reversible, showing a negative of the image on the back of the work instead of floats. How is this possible? Double knitting produces a fabric with the right sides showing on both sides of the work. This technique is fun to do and produces a thick fabric that is ideal for winter accessories, hot pads, and there are even patterns for double knit sweaters!
Cast on Cast on with double the number of stitches The cabled cast on is great for double knitting because it creates a flexible edge. Cast on with yarn held double You could also use the cast on of your choice, but with the yarn held double. How to Double Knit Single color double knitting instructions Double knitting with one color in the front and one color in the back Bring both yarns to the front and purl the next stitch with only the contrast color. Ten minute no-sew recycled t-shirt bag!
Tutorial time! I got a gig teaching a recycled t-shirt project at the library a few months ago, with a request for a recycled tee bag – the only bags I’d made from tees in the past had required sturdy sewing, and I didn’t want hand-sewing to be the only thing holding the bottom closed in a class version of the bags, so I started brainstorming about some kind of hand-sewing-friendly or no-sew bag idea…. and here’s what I came up with! The simplest version of these bags is great for smaller tees, or the more light-weight kind of girl-tees – just turn the bottom of the shirt into a drawstring and tie it closed! As you can see, even with a not huge tee, this will still leave a significant hole in the bottom of your bag, but for purposes like grocery shopping, this size hole shouldn’t really matter… But to make smaller holes, just make more than one of them! Here’s a bag bottom with 2 holes: You could make it rounded, V-shaped, or squared like this one: My finished Sonic bag!
STEOTCH: Fine New England Needleart. Most favorited all-time. How To Make An Easy Dress (For Cheap!) Two facts about me: I'm cheap. I love dresses. I wear dresses probably 6 days out of the week. It's not that I one day just decided to wear dresses to feel cute and girly. Back in November when I really started Talk2thetrees I kinda just wore pajama pants and sweat pants. Dresses are so comfortable, I can sit around the house and feel comfortable and cute. The only problem.. they are expensive! Here is a tutorial on a High Waisted Dress: For under 6 bucks! First you will need a ribbed tank top. I got mine from Walmart for 2.50 You could also use a t-shirt 3 yards of matching fabric. Clearance section is my favorite. Cut the tank top almost in half. (I cut mine a little too short.. oops!)
For the bottom part of your dress take the fabric and wrap it around your waist about 1 and a half times, and cut in a straight line. I never measure, I never use patterns... Next you fold your fabric in half. You have kind of a big blocky rectangle skirt. (You are sewing the raw edges, not the bubble hem) Embroidery + Metal? Here's something I've been noodling around with lately - embroidered metal discs!
Wait - what? I bought a bag of these perforated beading discs a while back, intending to make some beaded pieces a la Miriam Haskell. Only I never quite got around to those, and eventually a different light bulb went on over my head. I could use the holes as embroidery guides! The resulting discs are so cute and easy to make, and lend themselves beautifully to lots of crafts. Like this simple cuff bracelet! The stitchery part is dead simple. Just leave a few inches of thread hanging from the back when you start stitching. Then you just follow the holes, making stitches in different colors and patterns. At the end of the strand, tie the ends of the floss into a double knot.
The only thing to watch out for as you stitch is the fact that, for some reason, the outermost row of holes in the disc is not in a symmetrical pattern. Here, I glued a row of them to a paint-chip card. Cute, eh? Wipe Off Weekly Menu Board. I am a meal planner. I refuse to go grocery shopping without my week’s worth of meals planned out and list made. (It’s either that or wander aimlessly around the grocery store for two hours and then make ten more trips back during the week to get things I forgot.) Once I get the groceries unloaded, I usually forget what I planned for, so I put together this super easy wipe-off menu board to keep track of what’s for dinner each night!
Wipe-Off Menu Board Tutorial Supplies: Picture frame with glass front (I love these 12×12 frames I found at Ben Franklin for only $7!) 1. 2. 3. 4. Now everyone in the family knows what’s for dinner each week! I decided my frame would look better black in my kitchen, so I spray painted it black. Little Birdie Secrets are regular contributors to Make and Takes and was born from the crafting obsession of three friends living in the Pacific Northwest.