Crafty Mermaid

I finished sewing this top from Butterick pattern B4516 I really need to learn how to alter patterns so that I don't have loose armholes. I also need to change it so it has a smaller neck. But its a living and learning experience! I do like the colour and its great to wear under cardies and jackets to work!

I saw this in a shop in town - and love the colour and style! Doesn't it hang great?

I have a pair of tights I love but unfortunately on my way to work I got a hole in them. (Damn zips on knee high boots, grrr.) So I took them home and washed them. I hate throwing things out (is there a pattern emerging?). I had two canvases on frames and decided to give art creation a go! So step one. Find tights/pantyhose you like with a nice pattern (preferably preused so you don't go adding to the landfill/general waste). Get a small ish canvas on a frame (it can be bigger than the one in the picture as tights stretch) and assemble a scissors! Next place the canvas into the tights and find a spot that you haven't ripped! Move it around until it looks good. Cut the toe off and the leg leaving about 1 inch/ 5 cm on either side of the canvas. This is roughly what it should look like. Affix each end of your tights to the wrong side of the canvas using a tack. I've used a large thumb tack here so you can see it properly but you can use small thumb tacks or small nail...

I figured out what was really wrong with my top and made a sash in remnant satin (yea, for remnant bins) for it. I think it works so much better now! I'm almost finished the skirt that broke my sewing machine :) I just need to hem and attach an eye and hook. I'll post it when its done but I used the left over material and lining to make another tote bag. I figure I'll use less plastic bags if I have alternatives I want to bring with me. I didn't use any interfacing for the handles so they're not as comfy as I would like. Still doing the job though as I've been using it all week. Finally for this installment. I created a care instructions card for my Aunt's scarf, which is now all wrapped up and addressed and just waiting for the appropriate postage! Have a great weekend everyone!

I bought a lot of remnant material in Spotlight yesterday and there was one pattern I didn't like so I was going to make placemats. But as I was going to a houseparty this evening and I want to spread the use of reusable bags, I made up a tote to carry some cupcakes I was taking with me! Big enough to carry a few books so hopefully some use will be made out of it! I made the base fairly big (below) and lined the bag with the same material. It was thermal lined curtain material. And inside are my cupcakes! I iced them using icing sugar made with lemon juice and topped with rind. And a close up of my cupcakes! I'll try to post a picture of all my remnants but some of them are still drying (of course you have to wash them first).

My flatmate has a particular fondness for cord. I made this cushion to help her out (and get to grips with my new sewing machine!). I think the buttons work quite well. And two photographs of the top I finished in Monday night's dress making class. I think it looks much much better tucked in and would probably benefit from a large chunk taken off the end but it'll do for now! There was a special on cotton yarn in my local shop and I was on the look out for something that would be suitable for a wash cloth. This is the first time (since primary school) that I used double crochet so while it didn't work out wonderfully - it was a first attempt that will keep my face clean! The next one I'm working on at the moment looks so much better. Finally, a series of thank you cards for people who have helped me out over the last while and a birthday card for my aunt (to go with the green scarf !). A productive day! (And I even got some real work done as well. Why is that the...

The first three cards use a set of stickers that were really cheap in my local craft shop. I think they're quite effective. I really like the first one. It reverses the colours - a really bright landscape (three scraps of handmade and metallic paper) and a white out background. This was the main design for my christmas cards last year. I mocked up the stick tree using lines in photoshop and then photocopied the design onto card. I used tracing paper over it and added jewels and a ribbon. These guys are a set of stickers I was given for my birthday last year (thanks, E). Not a lot of labour involved but again I like the look of them! I may have a problem hoarding scraps. The translucent orange on the second one is a recycled sweet wrapper and the jewels on the last one were on a tshirt at one stage. I think the ribbon came from somewhere else too. Better reuse than recycle I suppose!

I've started a quilt! Yeap and very happy about it too! It will be made of three coloured blocks made from old sheets via a charity shop. I'm quite excited about it and its taking shape faster than I expected. Though it isn't the most exciting thing in the world to cut out the squares so that's what's holding the process up!

I've been clearing out my computer and looking at my old craft photographs. I loved this T shirt and have spent the last year trying to find t shirts I like the fit of that I can play around with. It was cross stitched using waste canvas. This design for the dinosaur is from a great pixel art picture , I just converted each square into a cross stitch. I made up the design for the caveman as the dinosaur was a little too low down! I learnt a valuable lesson about spacing! Not the greatest photograph, but it'll have to do! I haven't been able to make a lot of cards since I arrived in the Southern Hemisphere as I hadn't realised how much I relied on the stuff I've accumulated over the last few years. I also think I over dosed on making cards as I was making wedding invites for friends. But here's a few I'm proud of! I'm a huge fan of recycling nice paper packaging and the last card is from a Monsoon paper bag - I love their colours! A definite pink them...

Spring is strange here. A few weeks ago I wore shorts to work, then it changed to doubling my nightware so I wasn't woken by the cold at night. So I should fit in use of my mittens before the summer begins in earnest. The mittens are a bit asymmetrical but they fit and I didn't work to a pattern so that's just the risks you take! I'll be visiting the Northern Hemisphere at Christmas so I might get some more wear out of them then. I finished my aunt's scarf and added a few buttons to finish it off properly. I like the scarf and hope she does too. If I didn't have so many scarves I might make another one for in a similar colour (that green wouldn't do me any good). And one more because I'm very proud! I also made a little bag that doesn't have any interfacing so it will roll up nice and neat And a close up of the lining. Recognize the fabric flower? Yeap, I found it a home !

Today has been a good and a bad craft day. Grrr. I'd promised my flatmate that I would make him a tie to match a dress I had just finished so we could go out some night together and look particularly pathetic. He'd been on at me for a while so this morning I got up bright and early and took apart a tie he hates. So. The next step was unpicking the thing to use as a template. There were a few surprises. I didn't know they had padding (obvious in hindsight!). And there was a weird little bumpy thing at the end too. And this is the material! Can't really see why this is so much better as a tie. All pinned up and ready to sew. All sewed up and the padding from the old tie inserted. I needed some lining so I cut out bits of an old pair of trousers (don't tell my flatmate!). And the finish product. :) I also stopped off at the jewelery store near my work on the way home. I needed to get a pair of red earrings but I haven't been able to get a set I like. So obv...