Think Crafts Blog - Craft Ideas and Projects - CreateForLess

By Recycled Crafts Contributor, Anitra from the blog “Coffee Pot People”.

Years ago, a friend told me a traditional holiday gift in her family was socks. Wow, I thought. I’ll bet there were some excited kids under  that tree!  I couldn’t imagine a more practical, prosaic, and boring gift.

Of course, that was before I started giving socks for Christmas gifts myself. Not just any old pair, naturally. These socks have become so popular with the girlie types in our circle that I keep a drawer full of the makings, just in case.

Here’s what you’ll need:

• Socks in the size needed
• “Eyelash” or “Fun Fur” yarn in a coordinating color, variegated is fun.
• Any crochet hook with a hook small enough to poke through the edge of the sock’s cuff

To begin, take one of the socks and push the crochet hook through, near the upper edge of the cuff, from right side to wrong.

Yarn over, and pull a loop through the cuff, and complete a single crochet stitch. You can also yarn over again and do a double or triple, if you like, but the single stitch seems sufficient to me.

Repeat what you just did, inserting the hook next to the place you just did the stitch in. Don’t worry about doing a stitch in every stitch of the cuff top; just a little way from the last stitch is good. Keep your stitches on the loose side, to preserve the stretch of the cuff.

Do that all the way around, ending with your hook pushing through in the same place as your first stitch. Yarn over and pull a loop up, snip the thread, and pull the loose end through your loop, just as you usually would to finish off. Trim the end to the length of the newly created fringe top.

Do that on the other sock, too, and you’re done!

This is a craft-to-love on a number of levels-the beginnerest beginner will have no trouble with it; there’s no such thing as a mistake, because the yarn hides all; there’s no counting involved, so  you can watch TV without worrying you’ll mess up the pattern; it takes less than fifteen minutes to complete a pair; and everybody seems to love getting them!

These make great stocking stuffers, and I like having these on hand as “extra” gifts for unexpected guests, and through the year for other occasions,too.

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)

Lately it seems like it’s work, work, work for me. I’m not complaining since I know having a job in this ecomony is a blessing, but I’m getting antsy to craft.  Do you have times like that? When I feel I need motivation to set aside time to craft during a busy time I like to reflect on people who I admire and remind me that creativity is an important part of our daily lives.

Recently I got to meet a “hero” of mine, Mary Engelbreit!  What a thrill it was!  Her career is truly inspiring.  She had goals and worked hard to make those dreams a reality.  I got to speak to Mary at the CHA Winter 2009 Trade Show.  She was signing her new book of needlework designs called, Home Creations published by Leisure Arts.

Mary’s work has a style that is unforgetable and always makes me smile! You can get a free cross stitch project on Mary’s site. Plus screensavers, desktop backgrounds, coloring pages, crafts, and recipes.

Do you have a crafting or creativity hero?  How do you find time to craft?  I’d love to hear what you are doing!

Welcome Guest Blogger Ricë Freeman-Zachery, writer and fabric artist and from the Blog “Notes from the Voodoo Café”.

I have the best job in the world: I get to sit around in my pajamas all day and call up artists and ask them nosy questions and then write about them. And then, in my spare time, I get to make fabric art. Every now and then–about once a year or so–I get to write a book–my newest one is “Living the Creative Life: Ideas and Inspiration from Working Artists”, and you can read more about it here. Art, writing–all without having to leave the house! What more could anyone want?

The Joys of Hand Stitching

I don’t know about y’all, but I have a ton of stuff I don’t use. Like, just for instance, four sewing machines, including the olive green Elna my mother used to make all my clothes when I was a kid. I have my trusty all-metal Kenmore from 1977. I have a heavy-duty Singer. And I have my shiny new Janome. Oh, I’m not saying I never use them: I use the Kenmore for doing all those things I would never dream of doing by hand, like mending seams. But that’s not what I think of when I think of “sewing.”

When I think of sewing, I remember learning to sew under the ironing board in my mother’s sewing room, playing with the scraps she handed down to me from her sewing table. My efforts weren’t pretty, but I learned to love the act of joining two pieces of fabric with a needle and thread.

I have never had any discernible domestic talents. None. Ask my husband. Although I took Home Ec in 7^th grade and made an apron and, at the end of the semester, a little dress, that was as far as garment construction went for me. I didn’t make any of my clothes in high school-my mother did that. What I did do, though, was to stitch on the clothes I had-lines of embroidery, stitched names, butterflies. Although I was too young to get the full benefit of growing up in the 60’s, I discovered Native Funk and Flash when it first came out in 1974, and, for me, that changed everything. The idea of altering your clothes to make them into personal talismanic garments seemed to be about the coolest thing anyone could do. I started then, with a bunch of work shirts and jeans, and I’ve never stopped.

What is it about hand stitching, about pulling thread through fabric? It’s not about fancy stitches-I know only three embroidery stitches:  I know the running stitch, which is like saying I know how to breathe; the split stitch, which is so sturdy it will still be holding on when the fabric around it has worn to threads; and the French knot, which I learned just to show off. For me, it’s not about doing rows of fancy little stitches. For me, it’s about altering something, making something new, with nothing but my hands and a rainbow of floss.

And here I’ll admit: it doesn’t even have to be embroidery floss. When I did make clothes from scratch, my favorite part was always the hem, and it was always a blind hem, done by hand. There’s something about creating a perfect, invisible hem that just made me happy. Yeah, I know that sounds pathetic, but what can I say? I love to stitch. I love to sew, and I love to mend, and I love to decorate-if I can do it by hand, I’m happy. One of my favorite things in all the world is to sit on the front porch and stitch. The only thing that keeps me from being my great-great grandmother is that I’m stitching words and appliquéing skulls rather than creating little daisies on the edge of a pinafore. It could be scary, but there’s something comforting about imagining myself flowing into old age with my needles and a bag of bright thread.

It’s calming. It’s meditative. It’s downright Zen.

And it’s the height of being hip: taking scraps of fabric, or clothes faded by years of wear, and keeping them alive  by working on them with your hands-that’s about as green as you’re going to get. Zen and hip? What more could you want?

Click here, for more posts from Ricë.

Returning Guest Blogger, Diane Gilleland from the Blog and Podcast “CraftyPod“.

How to Make a Wallet Shrine

Our Church of Craft project this month was Shrine Wallets. These are based on Mexican Shrine Wallets, which are small, tri-fold pocket shrines. Unfolded, they reveal pictures of saints, a miniature rosary, and a printed prayer folded up into a pocket. There’s a photo of one here. My version is a more generalized pocket shrine, which can commemorate anything you like. I love the idea of carrying one around in your bag as a reminder of your favorite people, places, or things.

It all begins with two pieces of felt, cut to the same size. Mine are 3.5″ tall by 5.5″ long, but you can really make them any size you like.

You’ll want to mark the center of each piece. I do this by folding each one in half, and placing a couple of pins along the fold. These pins help keep you from placing any embellishments over the fold - because that could become a problem later on.

. . . Did someone say “embellishments?” Now’s the time for those. It’s so much easier to decorate your felt pieces before you assemble them into a shrine. So you can really go to town here - embroidery is great, ric rac is great, beads and sequins and felt applique. Here are some samples I have in progress:

(Learn to make these ric rac flowers at Primrose Design. I love them!) 

You can add photographs, too! I glued this one down to the camel-colored piece with good old Aleene’s Tacky Glue, and then glued the light-blue frame over it. (I did the couching on the light blue before I glued it down.) Those are my great-grandparents - aren’t they cute?

And you can add stuff like little pockets, and tags, and charms. You’ll quickly become addicted to this part.

Once you’ve torn yourself away from embellishing, it’s time to assemble your shrine. Put the two pieces together, right sides facing out. Join them along three sides with a whip stitch. But leave the top open.

Now, use those pins you placed to mark the center as a guide, and run a little running stitch down the center to help you fold your shrine. You now have two openings in the top of your shrine. You’ll want to insert a piece of cardstock into each one, to give your shrine some body. (The cardstock can be any old thing - an old greeting card, some junk mail, etc.) 

Just cut the cardstock so that it fits inside the two panels of your shrine. The pieces should be short enough to leave you some room to stitch up the top. If you want to be extra shriney, you could also insert something secret into the inside of your shrine - like a picture, or a handwritten note. That would be really cool.

Okay, so now you can stitch the top closed. And if you like, you can add some ribbon ties or a button-and-loop to hold your shrine closed. 

If you want to make a three-fold shrine, you can start with felt pieces that are a little longer - mine are 6.5″ long by 3.5″ tall. And the process is pretty much the same.

The only crucial thing to remember with a three-panel shrine is that the panel that will fold to the inside of the shrine should be a little narrower than the other two panels. (In other words, all three panels shouldn’t be the same width. If you made it that way, it wouldn’t fold up nicely.)

When you’re looking at the inside part of your shrine, this narrower panel will be the one on the right-hand side.

When you’re looking at the outside part of your shrine, this narrower panel will be the one on the left-hand side.

To read more of Diane’s posts, visit her website “CraftyPod“.

Welcome Guest Blogger and Designer, Phyllis Dobbs.

Phyllis Dobbs began her creative career 20 years ago designing in the needlework and crafts industry. Phyllis’ designs reflect a sense of whimsy and she is driven by her passion for color. Phyllis has created over 1500 designs that have been published in books for cross-stitch and quilt designs.

Phyllis' new fabric collection - It's a Dog's Life

For the past two or three years, a big trend has been “retro” with various decades being a hot trend influence.  When I see remembrances of these decades in fashion or home décor, I also recall the crafts that I was doing when I was wearing the original versions of these fashions. (Yes, even bell-bottoms!)

I started crafting at an early age and learned cross stitch, sewing and quilting from my mother and aunt.  Although needlework has remained my “craft specialty” and the medium that I have devoted most of my designing career to, I have tried and loved them all. 

Because of my great love of crafts, I started designing.  My career started in the 80’s during the height of another craft dynasty - counted cross stitch.  At that time, there was a cross stitch shop on nearly every corner.  I jumped in with both feet and self published cross stitch books and leaflets.  I was successful and enjoyed my new career. 

When cross stitch began losing its popularity, I also began designing quilt patterns and started a freelance design career. Giving up self-publishing, I designed for other publishers for magazines and books.  I continued trying new craft mediums and created designs using these mediums.  I designed with beads, creating jewelry, tassels and adding them to cross stitch and quilting. I loved ribbon embroidery and authored several ribbon embroidery books.  In hard crafts, I loved to design mosaics. 

For the past 8 years, I have been painting.  I have translated my painting into product design through art licensing.  With my love of quilting and fabrics, I have been thrilled to have my art licensed for fabrics with Quilting Treasures.  My newest fabric collection, It’s a Dog’s Life is debuting next week at the International Quilt Market.  Throughout all my years of crafting, my style has evolved into whimsy combined with brilliant color.  My career as a designer started with seeds - all those seeds of being taught by my mother and aunt, and then from all those various crafts I loved over the years.  If you love something, it can take you on a path you never anticipated. 

It's a Dog's Life Fabric Collection

Happy crafting,

Phyllis Dobbs

Click here to read more of Phyllis’ posts.

Welcome Guest Blogger, Jenny Hart, founder of Sublime Stitching.

Vintage Lamp Hoodie

So, by now you either have the new patterns in your stitchy little hands, or are anxiously awaiting them. Wanna project idea? How about this one using the Vintage Lamps and Glow-in-the-Dark thread? What a bright idea…

x - x - x - x - x

Who: You!

What: Hoodie w/ Vintage Lamps and Glow-in-the-dark (GITD) thread

When: Right now! Or, when you have time. Give yourself 1-2 hours

Easiness Level: Beginner to Intermediate

You’ll need:

 * Vintage Lamps patterns

* GITD Thread (optional, but nice touch!)

*Floss in Pastel Palette (or your choice)

* Stabilizer (optional)

*Basic embroidery supplies of needle, hoop and scissors

* White hoodie, light-colored cotton jacket
(or a shirt you like)

Vintage Lamp Pattern

A transfer tip: The best results for getting a pattern on knit fabrics is with an iron-on transfer or transfer pen. Carbon transfer paper, while great for smooth fabrics like cotton weave, just doesn’t take too well to spongy, soft surfaces. Dangit!

Oh and: I worked with a hoop on this project. When working with stretchy fabrics on a hoop, be careful not to overdo (overstretch) it. if you really stretch the crud out of your fabric, your work will scrunch up in a way that will make you go boo hoo when you take it off the hoop. There will be no boo’ing and hoo’ing. 

INSTRUCTIONS
x - x - x - x - x - x

Instead of going over the instructions for getting a transfer pattern on fabric (those instructions come in each pack) or the basics of embroidering, I’m going to show you how to do whipping for the glow-in-the-dark accent. Let’s whip it! We’ll whip it good! (You had to see that one coming.)

Embroider the design completely. I worked everything in back stitch, which is so easy, but looks so, so…embroidered. After you’ve finished the embroidery, re-load your needle with GITD thread. I chose to match the color of the GITD thread to the color of each lamp for maximum stealthiness.

Whip It! Come up from behind your fabric just like you would to begin embroidering. Then, pass your needle and thread under and over your stitches, always keeping your needle to the topside of the fabric (not piercing the fabric). Your stitches will wrap around the worked embroidery like so: