Think Crafts Blog – Craft Ideas and Projects – CreateForLess

Welcome guest blogger, Mable who is an avid reader of craft blogs & magazines and has aspirations to improve her crafting skills.

Mable Craftsalot  

I love going to craft fairs, Saturday Markets and festivals and browsing the craft booths. I always come home with a new pair of earrings, purse, hand-made soap, photography print… What’s great about crafting is it’s highly unlikely you will see that piece anywhere else. I love reading craft magazines and blogs, I love the pictures! I’ve been reading Think Crafts for the last year and it always makes me anxious to get crafting. I’m what I like to call a “challenged craft dabbler”. My ‘challenges’ are getting impatient with my lack of skills, getting distracted by something shiny, wanting to try all crafts and not having any craft projects around.

My craft dabbles have so far included: crocheting, knitting, scrapbooking, clay work, beading, and using my knifty knitter as an easy way to make hats. Majority of my craft dabbling has been with knitting. I have perfected the knitted scarf! I like to give handmade gifts so my relatives have gotten a scarf every Christmas while I was in college. Since they live in North Dakota, the scarf was practical and very easy and inexpensive to make. Unfortunately my knitting skills have yet to progress past rectangular shapes, but I plan to try other shapes and even patterns very soon! And now that I’ve graduated, it’s time to step up my crafting game.

As a beginner, I have found it’s best to start to learn a craft with a kit or a book. Kits are convenient because the instructions are simple and the pictures are going to be exactly what you are going to be doing. And kits come with the supplies you need. I learn best with pictures because I like to see how to do it, then once I learn the skill I can adjust or change how I feel. 

My goal is to finish the craft projects I start. I want to find project ideas and kits that allow a newbie like me to be able to be successful and also learn a few things. Also I want to improve my skills and maybe find some I didn’t even know I had! For my first project I wanted something new! Something fun!

Everything you need to make a sock monkey

I found this Sock Monkey kit on CreateForLess and had to try it. This kit was easy for a sewing novice and came with everything you need to make your own sock monkey. The kit came with 2 tube socks, felt, buttons, material, instructions, thread, embroidery floss and even a sewing needle. However, you will need to use a sewing machine and have fiberfil stuffing. Making the sock monkey I hand-stitched on the arms, tail, head, ears and hat and also learned a few embroidery stitches for the face and teddy bear. I placed a plastic bag of popcorn kernels in the seat of the sock monkey before I closed it up so it would sit up straighter. Hopefully you can’t tell from the picture, but I really need to improve my blanket stitch (well all my stitches actually!)

Meet PeeJay!

Keep the instructions when you’re done because you never know when you will have two tube socks that need to be turned into a sock monkey!

Blog Contributor, Crafty Mom and Writer, Gillian, from the Blog “Dried Figs and Wooden Spools”.

Once upon a time, when I taught elementary school, I spent  a lot of time wearing an oversized denim apron with huge pockets stuffed with Kleenex, hand sanitizer and other flotsam and jetsam of life with kids. I still have that apron and the pockets are still filled with the debris of childhood, Playmobil flashlights, dolls shoes, you get the idea.

Lately my daughter has been asking for an apron of her own. Either she’s becoming finicky about keeping her clothing clean (not likely as she is three) or she sees me wearing it and, as is the way with three year olds, wants to mimic mommy. I made her an apron from some vintage tea towels which turned out beautifully. Too beautifully. I can’t bring myself to let her wear it while she grinds pink Playdoh across her belly. So this weekend we set out to make a sturdy, but still pretty, apron for my little dirty princess.

Apple Stamp

I picked up a canvas tool apron at the hardware store. The advantage of these is that they are relatively small, so are a good size for kids, and they are dirt cheap. But any canvas apron would work. We also picked out fabric paint (pink! of course!) and I dug out some fabric scraps and a package of rick rack from my sewing bin. Since it’s almost back to school time I chose to use an apple for making prints but you could carve shapes out of a potato, cut up dish sponges or pull out that stamp collection that’s sitting in your craft cupboard.

For the apple, I chose the most apple shaped apple in my fruit bowl and carefully sliced it in half, leaving the stem on and popping out an errant seed so I was getting a nice clean profile. The paint adheres better to a dry surface so we patted the apple half dry with a paper towel before dipping it in paint and stamping away.

Stamp or paint any design

Because the apron had an emblem painted on the front pocket, I also had my daughter stamp the fabric scrap which I cut to size with pinking shears and glued in place with fabric glue. As a final touch I also glued rick rack around the edge of the apron and the pocket. An adult sized version of this would make a great back to school gift for a new teacher and I have it on good authority that grandmas love them as well.

So quick and easy, yet so cute!

*If the neck of the apron is to big for your child, as it was for mine, cut the strap at the center point and tie a knot in the end to prevent fraying. This allows you to adjust the apron for fit and coverage.

My apron model

Click here to read more of Gillian’s blog.

In1982 President Ronald Regan declared September National Sewing  month. The declaration was “In recognition of the importance of home sewing to our Nation.” Sewing is not just a hobby or a passion, it’s also a practical and economical skill to have and develop. Save money on repairing your torn clothes, fixing or replacing buttons, hemming skirts and pants. Or just adding your own personal touches to make your outfit unique!

Since September is National Sewing Month, CreateForLess is celebrating by giving you the chance to win.  Join the celebration of sewing by entering our National Sewing Month Drawing.  We want to hear about what you’ve been sewing lately, from adult and kid’s clothes to purses and even pet clothes.  We’re going to have an online fashion show at CreateForLess!  Simply pick out your favorite sewing project, enter here and you could win a $100 CreateForLess shopping spree!

In honor of National Sewing Month, save more with extra sewing specials at CreateForLess. Save on seam rippers, rotary cutters, bobbins, books, thread and more.

Recycled Sweater Vest Bag

I love felting wool sweaters and making them into stuff.  I’ve made tote bags, purses and patchwork blankets and jackets. Here’s a quick project that you can make out of a man’s sweater vest in about an hour!  One of the neat things about felting your own wool is that you can control the density of the fabric by the amount of time it spends in the hot wash cycle.  For this project, you want dense, substantial felted wool. 

I used the “Whitest White” setting on my washing machine (about 60 min.)   After a quick trip in the dryer, my sweater was the perfect weight to make an unlined bag.  It’s important to start with the largest sweater you can find, because they shrink A LOT.  My size large sweater shrunk to a small child size!

Here’s what you’ll need

•  A wool sweater vest (I like lambswool or merino wool)
•  A pair of sharp scissors
•  Rotary cutter
•  Small square ruler (I like Creative Grids because they don’t slip)
•  YLI Jean Stitch Thread (or other heavy weight topstitching thread)
•  All purpose thread to match fabric
•  Sewing machine
•  4 decorative buttons

Step 1

Start by cutting off the binding around the neckline – I save all this stuff for some future project that might need a little black edging.

Step 2

Using chalk, draw an enlarged neck opening that is squared off at the bottom.  The bottom edge of the opening should be level with the bottom of the armholes.  With the sweater laying flat on a cutting board, cut along the chalk line through both layers.  -The opening, together with the armholes, form the handle of the bag.

Step 3

Lay sweater flat, with the side seams centered.  The side seams are now the center front and back of the bag.

Step 4

Create a box bottom. Using a small square ruler draw a 2 ½” square in each lower corner.

Step 5

Cut the squares out.  Pin the bottom edges together. 

Sew bottom edges using a ½” seam allowance.  Press seam allowance open and use a triple zig-zag to topstitch over the seam.  This will reinforce the bottom of the bag and hold the seam allowances open.

Step 6

The stitching sinks into the nap of the felted wool to make it virtually invisible.

“Pinch” the square opening closed so that the bottom seam is centered.  Sew across the diagonal opening using a ½” seam allowance. Press seam allowances open and topstitch like you did the bottom seam.

Step 7

Define the bottom of the bag by folding the bag and topstitching between the seams sewn in step 7.  Using chalk, draw a line across the front and back of the bag connecting the ends of the seam created in step 7.  Fold along the line and topstitch 1/8″ away from the fold.  The fold is the very base of the bag and the fabric between the two folds forms the bottom of the bag.

Step 8

Give the bag a unique shape.  Form a box pleat centered on both sides of the bag between the armhole openings. The width of the pleat should be about 1 ½” and take up all the space between the armholes. The pleats should be facing inside the bag.  Use Jean Stitch or other heavy topstitching thread to hand sew the pleat in place.  I whip stitched over the top edge.  Sew a decorative button at the center of the pleat.

Step 9

To finish the shaping of the bag, form a smaller pleat at the center front and back of the bag.

Step 10

Whip stitch the pleat in place.  Add a decorative button to the center front and back. 

Finished!

Click here to read more of Jennifer’s Blog.

More and more artists and crafters are using the web to sell their items. There are online auction sites, online craft fairs, and opportunities to create online shops. A key element of selling on such sites is to have crisp, clean photographs of your work.  You can find a list of photography tips here on ThinkCrafts.com.

Most online artists and crafters offer these tips to get the perfect shots:

• Take your photos outside to get the best light on your items.  Cloudy days are best as the filtered light helps bring pop to the photo.
• Display your item in an interesting way, but don’t let the background or display become too busy. You want your item to be the main attraction.
• Contrast your background and item. Light items on dark backgrounds and dark items on light backgrounds.
• Take photos from many different angles and select the one that gives the best view of your item.
• Use a tripod. Shaky hands led to unfocused images. Practice and get comfortable with your camera.

Knitting is one of the most popular crafts today. It’s a craft that each generation teaches to the next, meaning there are often whole families that knit together. Currently specialty yarns are hot especially yarns that include bulky or intricate fibers. 

Socks are hot! As are scarves, belts, purses, totes, and baby quilts. Jewelry artists are also including knitted elements into their designs. Another hot trend in knitting is knitting for charity. There are so many wonderful ways you can use your talent with knitting needles and yarn. I knit small baby caps for premature infants that I donate to local hospitals.

I found this delightful story about a 93-year-old woman who has knitted 100 teddy bears for the Mother Bear Project.

It has motivated me to help sponsor a few bears. You can sponsor a bear if you don’t have time to knit or don’t know how to knit. For $10 you can give a child a soft friend to cuddle.

Here are some other ways you can contribute to a better world by knitting:

Warm Woolies (mittens, socks, booties)

Blankets for the Gulf (blankets for hurricane victims)

Prayer Shawl Ministry (shawls for prayer and comfort)