Think Crafts Blog – Craft Ideas and Projects – CreateForLess

By Sewing Contributor Jessica, from the blog Life Sew Good. 

Day 3:  The Table Runner or Banner

You have table cloths, so why not just use what you already have and make it more special with a handmade runner? You don’t need a sewing machine for this one; all sewing is done by hand.

You Need:

• Felt
• Scissors
• Craft/Button Thread
• Needle
• Pins
• Fabric Pencil (optional)
• Leaf Template or Cookie Cutter (optional)

If you want, google “leaf templates” and you will have plenty of options to print for this project. You will need a bigger leaf and then littler football-shaped leaves. I used a Wilton leaf cookie cutter for my template.

Cut leaves out of felt. I used 10 “big” leaves and 6 “little” leaves. However, you can make as many as you want to make it longer, shorter, or fuller.

If desired, you can hand embroider words that represent what you are thankful for (i.e., family, friends, faith). If may be easiest to use a pencil to draw the word you want, then hand stitch over the top.

Lay out leaves in the order you like and pin together.

Using a running stitch, sew leaves together. It’s helpful to occasionally lay it out to make sure it’s straight!

If you want to make it a banner instead of a table runner, stitch a piece of hemp cord onto the ends and hang.

Project 3: Complete!

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

This is a very easy redo for a tote bag. All you’ll need for it is a t-shirt with a front or back you like, and a tote bag you’d like to dress up a bit. Your t-shirt front needs to be a little larger than the front of the tote.

First, flatten your tote bag so you can either draw around it to make a pattern, or cut around it, if you’re not worried about snipping an edge.

Now, lay your t-shirt out nice and flat. Put the pattern or tote on top of the tee, and cut, leaving ¼” to ½” extra all the way around to turn under. Turn under the edges to make the tee piece exactly the same size as your tote.

Most tote side edges are top-stitched or bound in seam binding. This makes them kind of separate from the body of the tote itself, which is why this is such an easy refurb. Starting at one upper corner of your tote bag, pin the tee piece right to that edge, and do a tight, close zigzag stitch all the way around.

That’s all there is to it–easy peasy, lemon squeezy!

(Note: My tee shirt front, as you may have noticed, was actually a bit short, so I let the hemmed lower edge be the upper edge, and blind stitched it across the top, rather than zigzagging. If you’re going to do that, make sure the shirt’’s design looks okay upside down!)

By Kid’s Craft Contributor, Gillian from the blog “Dried Figs and Wooden Spools”.

I’m not an embroiderer. Sure I pick up the odd assortment of embroidery floss now and again to add some pizzazz to knee patches or little boy ties, but on the whole, I don’t get around to a whole lot of embroidery. Which means that I don’t have a very good way of storing the thread. Instead, I tend to toss the leftovers from projects in with my ribbon and by the time I need it again, it’s such an unholy mess that I usually have to toss it out and buy more. My kids are seriously into friendship bracelets this summer and that means that, once again, I’ve had to go out and stock up on embroidery thread, but this time, I’m prepared for the onslaught of little colorful bundles of string. I’ve got clothespins. This method of storing embroidery thread is so simple and useful, you’ll wonder what you ever did without it!

Here’s what you’ll need:

• Clothespins
• Embroidery floss

1. Open the clothespin and then close it with the end of the thread on the inner part of the top, near (but not in) the smallest holes.

2. Start winding. Wrap the entire length of thread around the clothespin, keeping the thread between the spring and the large hole.

3. When you have reached the end, tug it through the end of the clothespin toward the larger hole. You can open the pin slightly iff necessary but you should be able to pull the string into place without opening the pin in most cases. The pin will hold the end in place until needed. When you want a section of thread simple pull it out from the end of the pin and unwind the length you need before refastening the new end!

By Sewing Contributor Jessica, from the blog “Life Sew Good”.  

Making your own appliqué is not hard, but it does take some practice to make it look good.  To make your own appliqué, all you need is Heat & Bond, fabric of your choice and something that needs embellishing!

Here’s what you need:

• Heat & Bond—make sure it’s the kind you can sew on
• Fabric that you want to use as part of your appliqué  **Make sure you pre-wash it!!
• Scissors, Iron, sewing machine
• Clothing, towel, bag or anything you want to appliqué on!

1. Cut out a piece of fabric you want to use for your appliqué.  I found this bird & love it! Notice I decided to keep the fabric between the legs.  I decided that they are small enough that they would get when I sewed between them; thus, easier and better looking in the end if I left it.

2. Using your Heat & Bond’s instructions, apply your piece to your project.

3. Here’s the harder part that sometimes takes some practice. You need to choose a stitch to sew around the edges of your appliqué. You have some options. If your machine is pretty basic with few stitches, go for a zig-zag. If you have lots of options, you may want to play with what you think looks best. I chose to use #11 on my machine. After using different stitches, it was my favorite.

4. Starting in a less-conspicuous spot of your design, sew around the entire outer edge, making sure your stitches are always catching your appliqué.

Here’s another example of an appliqué a friend did on a towel:

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

Several years ago, I inherited a small treasure-trove of craft items, including two little plastic doo-hickies that purported to be needle threaders. I looked at the odd little gizmo and thought, What in the world? How could that possibly thread a needle?

But I decided to actually read the directions, and give it a shot.

Let me explain first that my eyes aren’t the greatest. My usual method of threading a needle is to hold it up and look for the eye. Sometimes I can see it, so I do the threading like anyone else would. Other times, it just looks like a bit of featureless wire, but I know there’s an eye there somewhere, so I just start poking the thread at the place where the eye should be. If I think the thread has made it through, I try moving it from side to side, and if it won’t jiggle sideways, I know the needle is threaded. It’s a bit trying, this non-visual trial and error. Finding a “machine” that would take actually being able to see well out of the equation would be a Very Good Thing.

So here’s the gizmo:

Am I the only one who’s never seen one of these before?

Lay the thread across the V.

Drop the needle in the chimney.

You don’t have to worry about which direction the needle’s eye is facing. The threader turns it, if necessary.

Press down on the little paddle.

If you look closely, you can see thread and a fine wire poking out now, above the paddle. The thread I used was rather thick, so the wire shredded it just a bit where it pushed it through, but I just cut that part off later.

Pull the thread through.

Release the paddle, and grab the thread, pulling it through until the free end comes through the hole in the gizmo.

Lift the threaded needle out.

The “chimney” of the needle threader is slotted at the back, so when you lift the needle out, the thread comes with it, and you’re holding a threaded needle in your hand.

Is that the coolest thing, or what? It is, hands down and eyes closed, my new favorite tool.

I’ve actually been thinking a lot about favorite tools this month, trying to choose, if I had to, which tool tops the rest. I’m enthralled right now with paper punches… My spot welder is a true treasure…The laminator is useful in so many ways….

Then it hit me: The one tool that is absolutely essential, completely ubiquitous (sorry—it’s just such a fun word!), and so basic to our lives that it’s virtually invisible is…

SCISSORS!

Scissors rule. Scissors for paper, for fabric, for tin, for food, for hair, and nails. Scissors for clipping the stems of flowers, or shaping hedges. Scissors with straight-edged blades, or pinked, or fancifully shaped. More types of scissors than you can shake a project at.

I gave six pair with fancy edges to my granddaughters. I keep a folding pair in my purse. There are scissors in every room of my house except the living room. A quick walk through my daughter’s home showed me three pairs, without even opening a drawer. My husband is remarkably unhappy if he cannot readily find a pair. Our children get their own when they’re kindergartners, or younger, and use them throughout their lives.

I wouldn’t recommend hugging them, but have you treasured your scissors today? I do believe they are part of the very fabric of the Universe. Where would we be without them?

By Kid’s Craft Contributor, Gillian from the blog “Dried Figs and Wooden Spools”.

We are all about handmade gifts in our house this year, right down to the pets, because they are part of the family too, right? And while we could, and probably will, make some homemade dog treats for our precious puppy, we also decided that a new dog collar would be a fun present for her, and luckily, they are easy to make. You’ll want to vary the size of the strapping according to the type of dog you have, smaller dogs will require thinner strapping and vice versa. For our very average sized dog we used 1 inch thick strapping.

Here’s what you need:

• Nylon strapping – measure around your dogs neck and then add 6 inches. 
• Grosgrain ribbon, the same length, but about half the width of your strapping
• Buckle with an opening that matches your strapping
• D ring with an opening that matches your strapping
• Sewing machine
• Heavy duty thread
• Pins
• Scissors

1. First pin the ribbon onto the strapping, centering in it evenly all the way down. 

2. Stitch just inside the edge of the ribbon on both sides to secure it to the strapping.

3. Slide one end of the buckle onto the strapping. Fold the raw edge under and sew in place by either sewing back and forth several times or sewing an X where the strap overlaps.

4. Slide the D ring and the other half of the buckle onto the other end of the strapping. Secure around your dogs neck to determine the size.

5. Stitch the second buckle into place and then fold the remaining strapping (trim if necessary)  under and slide the D ring between the end and the buckle, sewing it into place and finishing off the other end.

By Sewing Contributor Jessica, from the blog “Life Sew Good”.  

For quite some time, I have been meaning to make an Advent Calendar.  I searched online and knew I wanted to do something that I hung up in my home.  I love the blanket stitch and decided to incorporate that somehow.  I finally came up with the idea of using round circles and decorating them like ball ornaments.  Here are the pieces:

I like them a lot, but they took a lot of time and effort.  After further brainstorming, I decided to give you the tools to make these, without the commitment of making 25 of them! 

Instead of making a calendar, consider making personalized tags or ornaments.

Here’s how . . .

First, you will need:

• Paper
• Pencil
• Pins
• Felt or fleece
• Round object to trace
• DMC Thread,  I used size “5″, although you can use all the threads of size “25″.
• Ribbon, rick-rack, or other decorative pieces of your choice

1. Trace your round object (or use a compass) onto a piece of paper.  Use this pattern to cut 2 circles of your felt or fleece.  In this illustration, I used fleece.

2. Using your thread and a large-eyed needle, hand-stitch what you want on one piece of your fabric.  It could be a person’s name, or you could use a words like:  love, joy, peace, wish, snow, or Christmas.  Just use the thread continuously. 

3. When you are done, knot your thread in the back, looping the needle through your stitches twice.  On the second loop, push your needle through, pulling tight against the fabric, forming a knot.

4. On the same piece, you can uniquely decorate it according your style!  I simply made a bow and sewed it on.

5. It’s time to use our blanket stitch.  Place your blank piece of fabric underneath your decorated one, wrong sides together.

6. Begin by pushing your needle from the between the pieces through the bottom piece. 

7. After pulling it all the way, bring your needle around both pieces, then push it through the top piece and pull it all the way through the bottom piece.  Pull it though, but leave a little bit of space.  This will create a loop over both pieces.

8. Bring your needle around both pieces again, and  this time push your needle up through the loop you just created. 

9. Pull it through, then push your needle into the top piece, pushing through both pieces again.  Pull your needle all the way out the bottom piece, but don’t pull too tight. 

10. Bring your need around to the front again, pick up the loop with your needle and push back though both pieces again.  Repeat.  Repeat.  Reapeat.  ***Note:  I actually only stitch the 2 pieces together about 2/3 the way around, (leaving the top open), then continue the blanket stitch ONLY on the top piece.  For the Advent Calendar, I will put treats inside.  For a tag or ornament, you could choose to do either—leave it open & stick a little piece of chocolate or a candy cane inside OR use the blanket stitch to bring both pieces together all the way around.

11. It should look like the picture below when you are done.  To finish, you will make your last stitch overlap the first stitch, like you see in the photo.  Tie off your thread as directed in step 3.

12.  At this point, stitch a little loop of ribbon onto the bottom piece.  You can attach a string or more ribbon to tie on a tree or on a gift!

And there you have it!  A sweet, personalized tag or ornament that one can treasure forever!