» DIY: Tank Dress with Pockets! academichic At long last, I present a tutorial for the tank dress I made a few weeks ago before the end of the semester blindsided me. I’ve been seeing these tank+patterned skirt all over the place lately, but frequently they were too short or too short-waisted for my particular proportions. After some googling, and studying the really excellent skirt tutorial and t-shirt dress tutorial at Ruffles and Stuff and the skirt with pockets tutorial at Freshly Picked, I decided that even my fairly rudimentary sewing skills could handle this project. And since I celebrated my height yesterday for Dress Your Best week, it seems appropriate to post a sewing project prompted by my need for a longer-than-in-stores dress. Supplies: a tank top2 yards or so of patterned fabricscraps of a coordinating fabric for pocketsmatching threaddisappearing fabric pen or chalk Steps: 1. 3. 4. Pin and cut out a pair. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. A note of warning. I can imagine so many fun variations on this.
Paper Crave knot trivet last month i bought lauren a set of “the family creative workshop” books for her birthday. we’ve been having a blast learning all sorts of new things as we make our way through the incredible variety of projects collected in the volumes. one section we were particularly excited to explore was all about knots, which we’ve long admired both for their usefulness and their beauty. this project is based on a “carrick bend” and is great for creating trivets and placemats, but you could just as easily hang it on your wall to be admired for its decorative charm. have fun!derek & lauren CLICK HERE for the full project after the jump! here’s what you’ll need: -14 feet of 1/2” rope for an approximately 8” trivet (we recommend you play around with different lengths and thicknesses of rope until you find a size and style you like. the cotton rope is great for this project, but we couldn’t resist the nylon rope with its amazing patterns and colors.) 2. form a loop with the right (longer) piece as shown.
Felt Ogee Ornament Tutorial I woke up this morning with an image in my head of a felt snowflake. So I asked my kids to make a few traditional fold and cut paper snowflakes for me before they left for school. I wanted to use them as templates for my idea. Instead, my 10 yr old showed me a 3D paper snowflake they had made in his art class. …it worked! Step 1: Cut one 6″x 6″ square of felt. Step 2: Using a straight edge and an Xacto knife, cut along the first line from the corner to about 1/4″ from the diagonal line. Repeat until all cuts have been made, keeping the felt intact at each corner on the diagonal line. Step 3: Lift the corners of the center square and hand stitch the ends together with matching thread. Step 4: Turn the piece over and lift the corners of the second square. Step 5: Continue turning the piece over, overlapping points and stitching until all 4 squares are stitched. Step 6: Create a hanging loop at one end with a clear monofilament thread.
Perfect Summer Bangle Here's a fun tutorial on how to make a message bangle that's one-of-a-kind, done in the sun, waterproof and weatherproof. Even after several trips to the beach, it won't fade or wash off! Essentially, it's the Perfect Summer Bangle. Used in this tutorial: Inkodye Red Prepare. All you'll need for this project is a raw wooden bangle (we got ours from DIYBangles.com), a black paint marker, plastic wrap, and some Inkodye! Transcribe. Perfect. Pour. Brush. Wipe. Wrap. Tape. Expose. Develop. Cut. Reveal. Wash. Enjoy.
Reversible Coffee Cup Sleeves « I’m gonna tell you right now, you can’t throw a rock and not hit a tutorial for a coffee cup sleeve out there on the web. Reversible, not reversible, buttons, Velcro, skinny, wide, you name it. For that matter, you can probably work a pattern out yourself. However, just in case your rock lands here, I’m going to share my version with you. I’ve made a few of these for Christmas and birthday gifts. I was trying to decide which fabrics to use for a new one and my wandering eyes landed on my seasonal fabric stack. To make one, you’ll need this coffee cup sleeve pattern . Cut one from cotton batting, two from ironing board cover fabric and two from cotton fabric. I happen to have scraps of batting and ironing board fabric, but if you don’t and will be buying the supplies, another product you can use is InsulBrite. You’ll only need half of the hair tie, so zigzag stitch through the center, about 3/8” long, then clip through the center. Next, cotton fabric, face up. Last, the batting. Lay flat.
Paper Filigree Snowflake Gallery I've switched over to using acid free paper and glue to make my paper filigree snowflake ornaments now. I figure there's no sense in putting this much work into something that might fall apart in a few years, and with practice, they're starting to get pretty enough that I'm planning to make quite a few of them. In my search for paper that will hold up over time, I was looking for archival quality paper, but there wasn't much available that wasn't too thick, or too yellow. I visited all sorts of art, craft, scrapbook, and office supply stores in my paper quest, but the pickings were pretty slim for archival paper in shades of silver and white, so I went with mostly acid free paper and will see how it holds up. There are a limited number of shapes you can make by pinching a curled sliver of paper, but I've found that looping the paper adds bunches of additional possibilities. I can't wait to find the time to experiment with more of them!
kate’s uncommon valentine valentine’s day is right around the corner, and i’ve decided to make something for my boyfriend that is a little unconventional and can last beyond the holiday. i used some vintage jewelry pieces (read: ugly eighties earrings), and some other knick-knacks I have collected over the years. for a personal touch i also included a few souvenirs from our times together (you are either smiling or gagging right now, i know). I recommend using a monochromatic palette for this project because I think the image come across more clearly, but if you have some pieces you don’t want to mess with then I encourage you to lay out your image first before you paint anything. the great part is that you can do any shape you wish, or even play around with text. happy crafting, and happy valentine’s day! -kate CLICK HERE for the full project instructions!