Think Crafts Blog – Craft Ideas and Projects – CreateForLess

FunStitch Studio and Stash Books make it easy and fun to teach kids how to sew. From the We Love to Sew Book that is full of pretty projects that your child will be proud to show off, to the Forest Fairy Crafts Book with projects to spark their imagination, you’ll find the perfect start for your beginning sewer.

You might find yourself with a dilemma on your hands once your crafter can start working without supervision. Should you let them use your nice fabric scissors? What if they waste that precious thread that matches your favorite print perfectly? Stash Books and CreateForLess are here to help you build a sewing kit for your kids and take that worry away. They’ll love having their own supplies and you’ll love that your favorite scissors will stay safely tucked away.

Head over to the Stash Books Blog to see some recommended sewing supplies for your little one and enter to win a CreateForLess gift certificate to help build your sewing kit!

By Crafts-a lot Contributor, Mable who is an avid reader of craft blogs & magazines and is always looking to improve her crafting skills. Join Mable on Facebook to socialize and share with other crafters!

DIY fashion has become more and more popular over the years, and we’re so glad! The latest trend in fashion now seems to be the creative use of craft supplies to make your own fashion statements. From basic supplies like fabric paint, to surprising uses of zippers, we’ve found some of our favorite craft supplies used in unexpected ways. Make a statement with these DIY projects!

P.S. I Made This proves that you don’t need to sew a color block blouse, you can paint it with some fabric paint!

Glamour Magazine says that the next big hair trend is yarn in your hair. It looks beautiful and bohemian.

Lovely Indeed brings yarn from your head to your feet with these pom pom shoe clips.

The Experimental Home uses zippers in a unique way. Show off your craft skills this summer!

Or, check out another creative way to use zippers. Plan B Anna Evers adds them to a blazer to give your outfit a pop of color, and you can lengthen or shorten your jacket!

Use buttons to create a colorful design on a cardigan like Lana Red. It’s a great way to use up your leftover buttons!

By Craft Trends Contributor, Gillian from the blog Dried Figs and Wooden Spools. Check out our Craft Trends board on Pinterest!

I’m a big fan of mending things instead of replacing them. I have to be… I have one of those children who can rip the knees out of pants and the elbows out of shirts (and, most fantastically, rip holes in the stomachs of tops – how?) in a heartbeat. So I’ve learned out of necessity to be a good mender. And one of the things that keeps it interesting instead of frustrating is learning how to mend in style. I like to darn socks in wild colors, patch jeans with material embroidered with faces and close holes with lace or doilies or funky fabrics. It makes it fun and it means my kids clothes, rather than being “patched” are “cool”. Which is a win-win in my book.

If you’re facing a big pile of mending these days, here are some inspirationally patched projects to help you turn the blahs into ta-das!

I’ll tell you a secret, I think I’d purposely rip a pair of my own jeans so that I could patch them like this! I love it! Color and fun stitches and style! In fact, I think I’m going to have to go search out my most threadbare pair of pants and help them along so that I can dive in with this.

4 Secrets to a Well-Mended Wardrobe – Design Mom

Need some ideas for creating funky embroidered patches? Check out these embroidery templates. I know from experience that they make great patch decorations (my son used to love spaceships and star from one of her books on the patches of his jeans!)

The elbow holes in the sleeves thing is an issue I face with ALL the members of my family. Myself included and my husband most of all. I don’t know why but we always seem to have holes in our elbows so I’m constantly adding elbow patches to things. I love these contrasting color patches on the elbows of this sweater. It almost makes it more stylish, don’t you think?

4 Secrets to a Well-Mended Wardrobe – Design Mom

Check out these and other ideas for mending in a trendy way on our Craft Trends Pinboard!

By Guest Blogger Diane from the blog CraftyPod

In addition to her fantastic sewing and craft projects, Diane’s blog CraftyPod gives insider tips and ideas for selling your crafts and your blog.

I get thousands of emails each week, begging me to offer more plastic canvas coverage on my blog.

(…Okay, well – perhaps that actually happens only in my mind. But still.)

I’ve been noodling with these needlepoint pendants lately, and liking both the process and finished product. They make up quickly, and use up odds and ends of embroidery floss. Plastic canvas makes a great base for these, because it adds a “heft” that helps the pieces drape well.

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By Guest Blogger Diane from the blog CraftyPod

In addition to her fantastic sewing and craft projects, Diane’s blog CraftyPod gives insider tips and ideas for selling your crafts and your blog.

Ever since I did the fabric postcard tutorial for CraftStylish last week, I’ve been obsessing over this pendant idea. Seemed to me that if you just shrunk the postcard project a little, it would make a really cool pendant. I like the result!

Here’s how I made it:

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By Home Decor Contributor Typhanie, from TP Design.

I came up with this project while redoing an office in Irvine. I had a small budget but wanted to add decorative window treatments that wouldn’t dent the budget. I’m a big fan of two tone curtains especially in masculine spaces, so I decided to make my own. Here’s how to get the look on a budget…Happy Sewing Everyone!

Materials needed:

• White curtain {got mine from Ikea}
• Fabric
• Hem tape
• Measuring tape
• Scissors
• Sewing machine
• Iron

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By Guest Blogger Diane from the blog CraftyPod

In addition to her fantastic sewing and craft projects, Diane’s blog CraftyPod gives insider tips and ideas for selling your crafts and your blog.

This design showed up in my sketchbook a long time ago, but I resisted making it because I really don’t need another pincushion. But I do have a pretty serious yo-yo habit, and finally broke down when I couldn’t resist playing with my yo-yo maker any longer.

So, this project begins with 6 to 8 yo-yos. I used my beloved Clover Yo-Yo Maker. If you prefer to kick it old school, then use Heather Bailey’s gorgeous tutorial for making them from scratch.

Warning! Math-y Bits!

So, let’s figure out some sizing for your pincushion. I promise, being very math-challenged, I’ve tried to keep this part as painless as possible.

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