Posts tagged ‘scraps’

I’m teaching this free class at the Highland Square branch of the Akron-Summit County Public Library .

Iris Paper Folding Wall Art

Come use recycled paper and Iris Paper Folding techniques to make a 5″ x 7″ frame-able wall art. Iris Paper Folding is basically layering paper in a pattern and using it as a background behind a shape cutout. Participants are welcome to bring their own recycled papers such as envelopes, junk mail, greeting cards, or discarded books to use, but a selection of papers will also be available. If attendees have a paper trimmer, they are welcome to bring it, as cutting paper strips will be much quicker.

Sign up is required, and begins August 16, at 330-376-2927.

If you can’t make it to class, I also wrote a  tutorial for this project.

I made these beads from pages of an old poetry book.  My inspiration is from a similar project in Playing with Books-The Art of Upcycling, Deconstructing, and Reimagining the Book.  The only difference was that they rolled up triangles & I rolled up rectangles, so my finished beads have more of a tube shape.  With either shape, the basic idea is to roll up a long strip of paper (leaving a hole for beading wire to go through), use adhesive to secure it closed (I used decoupage glue), cover the outside of the bead with glue (for a protective finish), & let it dry.

It’s because I broke my collar bone playing soccer last Saturday.

For the sake of keeping blogging short (I have trouble blogging left handed) I will be mostly sharing links and photos until I get my right hand back. In the meantime I’ll be sporting this fashionable sling I altered by hand sewing a panel of upholstery fabric to the blue hospital sling. Yes, I used my left hand for this, and no, I don’t plan to do any more sewing until I can use my right hand again.

my box of books to review (minus the sewing one Devona wanted!)

Back in December I did a book review of Mixed Metals.  I decided to ask publishers to send books so I could review them.  A woman from Quarry Books asked what books I’d be interested in and sent me a box full.  So here’s the first review from that wonderful box of books.  My hope is to give you some information so you’ll know if it’s worth purchasing for yourself.

Sweater Surgery: How to Make New Things with Old Sweaters by Stefanie Girard.

Book Summary: Sweater Surgery shows you how to upcycle your sweaters into new wardrobe & home items.  You’ll learn how to wash, block, choose, cut, restitch, felt, and embellish sweaters.  There are 35 step-by-step projects with patterns, plus additional gallery designs.

Review Notes: I like the variety of projects.  There are lots of purses, hats & gloves & scarves, necklaces, headbands, stuffed animals (like the bird I made last week), pillows, and many redesigned tops, skirts, & dresses.  Plus there are some more unusual items like a magazine file cozy, place mats, pot holders, a laptop cozy, pet bed, knitting needle case, and a tissue box cover.

I’m pretty novice at sewing, so I found the “getting started” section very detailed & useful.  I like the suggestions to use existing design elements & edges in new projects and to unravel yarn from extra pieces & incorporate it in the designs (it’s free matching yarn!).  I found the hand & machine sewing basics clear & necessary for my skill level.  It tells when each stitch is used, how to do it by hand or by machine, it shows a diagram, and then shows a project where the stitch is used.  This section made me feel like I could actually sew sweater material without it unraveling & falling apart.  This has been the main reason I’ve been hesitant with knit sweaters in the past.

I’ve only made the “Hippie Chicks” project so far, but I found the instructions & pattern easy to use & clear to follow.  Here are some favorites I’d like to try:  ”Scarf of Many Colors”, which is a patchwork scarf made from remnant pieces.  I think it’d look good as an infinity-style scarf.  I also love “Snow White Scarf”.  The scarf is hemmed & fringed, and incorporates some beautiful sweater texture.  It looks like it cost a fortune.  ”Toot the Owl” is the sweetest stuffed animal.  And the “Lace-It-Up Cable Sweater” is the best wearable reuse.  The trim & ribbon look so fashionable.  I also like the “Kick-A$$ Socks”.  I never would have guessed you could get the toe & heel situated properly.

bird I made from a pattern in the book

My least favorite project is the “Pet Rock Sweater”.  Maybe I just don’t get it?  Is this something kids are into these days?   I’d probably never wear the “Peppermint Patti Swirl Necklace”, which is made of strips of sweater swirled into circles.  It’s just not my style for a necklace, but I’d use the idea for festive garland.  Or perhaps a bunch sewn together could make a headband?

Overall I really enjoyed the book.  There are a handful of projects I surely want to try & others I’d consider if I keep practicing my sewing skills (mainly the shirts).  This book is a great source of inspiration after a visit to the thrift store.

items picked up at ZeroLandfill Akron in February

If you’re artistic & want to build your stash of recycled supplies, come to Zero Landfill!  It’s an event where architects, interior designers, and graphic designers donate their discontinued samples & materials so artists & teachers can collect & reuse them.  You’ll find paint samples, tiles, carpets, wallpaper books, fabric samples, and binders, and you can have them for free!  The event will be happening in Cleveland on 3631 Perkins Avenue, Fridays in July & August.

If you want to see how Devona & I used ZeroLandfill items from our previous visits, do a “ZeroLandfill” search on our sidebar.

Colleen and I joined forces to make this bib necklace. The pairing is perfect, as it uses my skills with fabric and sewing and Colleen’s excellent jewelry making skills. And check out the final result! Just the right amount of over-the-top to dress up a simple shirt and cardigan combo.

This was something we’d been talking about doing for a long time, but just needed the motivation to get it started. So, what was that motivation? We’ve entered our project in the ReadyMade magazine MacGyver Challenge. The challenge was to repurpose a necktie. Keep your fingers crossed that we win!

Since I use men’s dress shirt bodies all the time for dresses and rompers, I often wonder what to do with the sleeves. I chose men’s shirts as a medium because of their detail and the quality of fabrics. It seems wasteful to toss out so much of the fabric, not to mention one of the most detailed part of the shirt- the cuff.

I had once tried to make a pair of bloomers from the sleeves, but they hadn’t turned out and I’d abandoned the idea. Since then I have improved my pattern making skillz. I gave it another try, and with spectacular results! These pants are super cute on all three of my girls, either as pants/bloomers on the baby, cropped pants on my three year old, or shorts on my five year old. I am looking forward to narrowing down my stash of sleeves by making a zillion of these!

I did it. Cressida has a new pair of shorts. And there are 4 more shirts that are on the chopping block.

I used my serger to attach the elastic, which was easy once I got going. But I am not as good at making the elastic stretch evenly on the serger as I am on my standard machine. Hopefully the next few pairs will go better.

I recently participated in a pincushion swap with some of the ladies from the Akron Stitch ‘n Bitch group.

I spent a lot of time fretting over what kind of pincushion to make and decided on a nice, multi-colored pincushion crocheted out of Perle Cotton thread. The fun thing about this pincushion is that it is made up of eight hexagons that you join as you go! I love joining as I go because I hate seaming. I’ve been known to crochet all the squares for an afghan and then leave them stacked nice and neat for over a year so joining as I go is highly valuable to me.
I was able to quickly crochet this pincushion up over the weekend. I really liked this pincushion and was a little disappointed to swap it away. The day of the swap, I gave my beloved pincushion away to Pam after I had received my pincushion from Amy. Would you believe that Amy crocheted me the exact same pincushion? I couldn’t believe it either. I was so excited!

All the pincushion business has gotten me in the mood to use hexagons. The fun thing about crocheting with motifs is that they work up quickly. The hexagonal shape in itself is visually interesting and therefore eliminates extra work, like the need to add a border, for example. Of course, you could always do that, but I like to keep things simple (or perhaps I’m a bit lazy). Additionally, depending on the pattern of your hexagon, you can join as you go.

I was brainstorming what I could do with a hexagon and have decided to use the pattern to work up my sock yarn blanket. In case you haven’t heard about sock yarn blankets, they’re simply knitted blankets made up using small scraps of sock yarn (about 20-25 yards per sock yarn square). If you’re a fast knitter, then this probably isn’t a problem. I however, knit incredibly slowly and after having accumulated close to 100 tiny balls of sock yarn (and having only knit 6 squares in four months) have come to realize that a knitted sock yarn blanket may just take me the rest of my life. I settled on using the scraps to crochet up hexagons instead, each being approximately 4” across at the widest point. In the course of an hour I was able to work up three hexagons. This blanket will definitely go much faster than my previous knitted version. Now, if only I could find someone to ball up all those tiny hanks of yarn.

Read more about guest blogger Andrea Sanchez.

When a crafter sets forth on a mission, there is not much that can stop them as long as there are scissors around. The mission I have set upon is to run a “barefoot” half marathon in May. To run “barefoot” I am running in Vibram Five Fingers shoes to protect my soles on the roads from debris and other things. But this is Northeast Ohio, and it’s still essentially winter, so I need socks. This creates a problem when there are toe pockets. Even toe socks get bunched up in there. So I hacked a pair of wool athletic socks to be toeless, but still stay on my foot. I used a small stitch between my big toe and second toe to keep the sock from slipping. It works amazingly well, and once I’m running I have no idea they are there. My feet are warm, which is important. Sorry that my socks are a little dirty in the picture, I just came back from a run, I wanted to make sure that it worked before I posted it!

The other problem I have is wanting to use the Nike + iPod gizmo to track and share my runs. But since I am not using the Nike + shoes, how I needed a hack to keep my sensor on my shoe. I took some commercial vinyl fabric I got from Zero Landfill that matches my shoes and made a pouch for the sensor. There is an overlap for the in the opening flap so I don’t lose the sensor on a run, and there is a strap to loop over the velcro shoe closure on my shoe.  This sensor pouch could also slide over shoelaces if you plan to run with the Nike + thing but have a pair of trainers you really love, so it’s not just for us crazy Barefooters.