I have been practicing a little embroidery. This is a (slightly modified) Richard Brautigan quote. (Not modified on purpose..) I think that embroidered handwriting is just so sweet. I'll have to gather more quotes to do this with.

I was home sick today. My stomach is feeling dodgy. Oh well. It will get better.

This is going to be my focal piece for the next 12 months:

Is there a no-sew (apart from hemming etc) way of making a half or three quarter circle skirt, with no side or back seams? I just can't get my head around how you might be able to do it by folding fabric etc.

Any tutorials or tips would be much appreciated!

...but a few more beetles have crawled out of the woodwork in the last few weeks. One inspired by counting too many cells as part of my thesis and one by a thundering toothache.



The other beetly family members are here. I've bought some mount board and a mount-cutter to start matting them, but I am a bit stumped about how to do it. Any tips?

For a very long time I had the desire to paint a gheisha. In my childhood I had visited the office of a doctor and he had a painting with a beautiful gheisha. It was so graceful and serene that I never forgot it. Finally this Saturday and Sunday I had done it. I hope you like it.

I'm looking for a pattern on how to make a skirt with what I think is called 'coffin' ruching, this was the best picture I could find to illustrate what I mean:

Click on the picture to see it bigger:


But I was hoping to find a pattern for a more pleated look instead of the gathers in the picture. I'm hoping one of you helpful people on here knows what I'm taking about and has some advice and/or knows where a pattern for such a thing can be obtained. Thanks in advance!

My friends and I just got back from seeing John Barrowman in La Cage Aux Folles in London. We decided the scrapbook should be kind of vintage French Postcard on the front but vibrant on the inside. This is what we came up with:

( Read more... )

Have any of you guys done DIY basketball jersey lettering and have it come out looking clean? Someone wants me to make a dress out of that nylon or polyester athletic mesh and have some jersey-style lettering. I'm going to guess paint/ink is probably not the best option, and all the pre-made letters I've seen are either not the right color combination, size, style, etc. Think I can get away with using a different color mesh, fusing it to the dress, and doing a quasi satin-stitch around the edges? I have no idea how fusing would react with two layers of synthetic that have those tiny holes. Any input?

No Wire Hangers wreath idea.

I got two boxes of 48 ornaments and used probably 1.5 boxes, so maybe 60-70 ornaments? It took me an hour while watching Dexter :), plus an extra half hour of trying to tie the ribbon nicely and just failing. The ornaments I got this year from Lowe's on black friday, and they were super nice. The ornament wire part "snapped" onto the ornament ball part, so no glueing was required. The few times ornaments popped off, I was able to snapp them back onto the wreath with little effort. There were three different sized ornaments in four colors and I used them all.

Ornament Wreath


( closeup of the pretty ornaments )

When you can't leave the sofa for a week (ugh, flu!), you start coming up with clever ideas to keep you busy. Here's one of them...A holiday wreath ornament:





So, so easy to make and I just used some scraps I had laying around. I've still got plenty of yarn left so I'm thinking about stockpiling some and hiding them away for next winter...

I know someone was looking for a firetruck... I didn't find that, but the current issue of Crochet World has a train, it might be modifiable...

http://www.crochet-world.com/inthisissue.php

:)

Though it was frigid outside with snow on the ground, I got my tree eyes project completed today! I made three sets: straight, right, and left looking eyes. I mounted these with small nails and then colored the nail heads black with a sharpie. Did I mention that there is snow on the ground! My hands are still cold!

Sorry for the text only post, but I have a quick question that I'm sure someone here could give me insight on. I accidentally got bleach on one of my work shirts; not a whole lot (I likely just brushed up against a surface I'd recently sanitized, so there's a big pinkish area across the front), but it's noticeable, so I figured I'd try dyeing it so I can still wear it. It's black, so I'm not worried about color matching or anything, but there is an embroidered logo on it. I'm wondering how I can avoid dyeing that part. I was thinking about putting some tape over the logo (and on the reverse side as well), maybe some packing tape that couldn't be penetrated by the dye, but I'm not sure if that would work. I don't have any experience using dye (except for hair dye!) Will this work, or does anyone have a better suggestion? I don't mind if there's a little difference in pigment around the logo, as long as the bleach marks are covered and the logo is untouched. I'd really hate to have to retire this shirt since it's fairly new and in otherwise good condition. Thanks in advance!

Edit: I tried using a Sharpie and it worked quite well. I realized while I was doing so that my shirt was kind of pilly, and some of the bleach only got on the fuzzy outer layer (I don't know how to describe it so I hope you get the drift, lol), so I went over it with a disposable razor as well. It looks a lot better and it's not noticeable at all. Much easier than dyeing it. Thanks to all for the suggestions!

This is my last project - entirely hand stitched mid 17C stays, linen and canvas, boned with 1/4" round reed.

I even Hand Stitched the eyelets.

Current Project- 1690 stays, entirely hand embroidered all over.

Another quick post with Lots of patterns...

More Christmas patterns!
this time for the knitters amongst us (okay, I slipped in one crochet pattern, but it's so CUTE!).


free seamless Christmas tree by Sarloz/Sara



free too CUTE crocheted Rudolph reindeer by Lion Brand

I know it's the knit post, but omigosh! isn't he CUTE??!! ;o)
Go check out the patterns at http://www.lionbrand.com for more!


Some of these patterns are really simple ones and would be good introductions for novice knitters, too. There are so many wonderful patterns for Christmas related items, it's amazing! I just wish I had more time to look through and play with them. I hope some of you will get a chance to make some of these fun things! :o)

( Lots of Knit Christmas Patterns!! .... )

Please forgive me if there are duplicates... I'm in a rush!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!

These are my newest Sackboy dolls, they are currently available over at my Etsy store.....www.Chiwaluv.etsy.com

my bestie loves the ocean. i made her this for christmas.


( two more under here )

( Read more... ) These are some of my Sackboys and Girls Custom orders I have filled recently, ( Read more... ) Plain sackboy, Goth Sackgirl, Sackboy with specs, and my NEW (scaled down to 6 inches) Sackboy "Phantom of the Opera" soon to be listed in my Etsy store for sale. I am working on several that will be available for sale soon, so keep watch. Happy Holidays Everyone!

www.Chiwaluv.etsy.com

Well, it's no secret by now that I LOVE this symbol. Here are my three most recent creations with it. One or two might have been shown already, but one I just uploaded tonight.

( bigger pics here )