Stitch, Brinn, Stitch!

An Earring Holder! And Tutorial!

February 27, 2011 in Misc. Crafts | Tags: miscellaneous crafts, organization, recyling, tutorial, upcyling | Leave a comment

So after my recent adventures in earring making, it occurred to me that I needed somewhere to display them! So I made an earring holder, complete with tutorial for you lovely people!

Materials:

– Crappy old picture frame from the thrift store, preferably with kitschy 50s cross stitch or print
– Paint/paintbrush
– Strong glue, like E6000 or FabriTack. Or I guess you could use tacky glue (which I used) or hot glue. Whatever.
– Aida cloth or plastic canvas (something with holes in) (I used 14-count Aida cloth. If you’re using Aida cloth, go for 11 count cause it’ll have larger holes. I just used what I had)
– Pliers (probably)

Step one: Dissemble kitschy art:

(IDEK)

Step two: Grab your pliers and yank out the points of DEATH holding the picture in the frame.

Step three: Paint frame.

Things I will not judge you for doing at this stage:

1. Forgetting until you get home from the thrift store that you do not have any paint and using watered down puff paint instead.
2. Remembering that puff paint will peel off, lacking some sort of sealant, and saying out loud, “Ah, fuck it.”
2. Visible brush strokes. We’re going for shabby chic here. Or something.
3. Lacking newspaper to put under the frame/paint and using ONE ripped apart plastic bag even though you have about a billion plastic bags.

Ahem.

Step four: Measure Aida cloth against the glass that probably came with your frame.

Step five: Glue Aida cloth against the sticky-out bit of the frame. Let dry.

Step six: Add earrings, hang up in the back of your closet so no one can see your shoddy paint job. Or on the wall over the dresser, which is what I actually did.

(Also, I have more earrings than this and the singular ones have partners, they’re just downstairs in my boyfriend’s apartment and seeing as we’re on Spring Break, he’s not here to let me into it.)

Yay!

Incidentally, if anyone has any idea what to do with several pieces of glass from picture frames, I’d appreciate some ideas. I don’t usually use glass with embroidery, but my frames all come with it.

I Jeweled!

February 24, 2011 in jewelry | Tags: beading, earrings, finished objects, FO, jewelry, leather, upcycled | 2 comments

So beading… not my strongest craft. I don’t really have the finesse required. But I made things! I made earrings! I made three pairs of earrings!

For the first pair, I followed a tutorial by Mich L in LA

I LOVE how these came out but they’re SO fiddly. The chain kept falling off the pin and the jump ring and there were ISSUES OKAY. Also, if you read through the tut, what Mich says about safety pins is true: THEY ARE SERIOUSLY ULTRA-HARDENED KRYPTONITE. It took a super long time to bend the ends of the pins into loops. SO LONG. It was definitely the longest part of the process.

Still, I think they came out SUPER pretty, and Mich’s tutorial is fantastic. I’ll definitely have to make some more variations on these because they’re both punk and feminine-pretty. So yay!

The next pair of earrings I made were SUPER simple.

Just a couple of jump rings and some leaf-shaped leather cut outs. They’re dangley and pretty and I like ’em.

The last pair is like a combination of the above two:

Simple leather shape on jump rings and some nonsense with a big red craft bead from a garland I bought at a Target after-Christmas sale (I have approximately 2397097837 of these beads) and a smaller bead cause the holes in the read beads are ENORMOUS.

Of the three pairs, I like these the least but I do like the red-on-black color scheme so I imagine they’ll get a decent amount of wear.

Now I seriously need to make some sort of jewelry display as currently, all of my jewelry is in a jumble on either my dresser or table next to my bed. Should probably fix that so I don’t lose my new ones.

Sewing FO: Circle Skirt

February 22, 2011 in sewing | Tags: clothes, fabric, finished object, FO, sewing, skirt | 1 comment

I sewed a thing! It’s wonderful.

(Please do excuse the mess in the background.)

It’s a circle skirt I made from some fabric I got in a swap this past summer. It’s breezy and light and not at all appropriate for February, even though I wore it yesterday anyway with a long sleeved t-shirt and long socks (as you can see). It would have been nice with tall boots, but I wore purple mary jane style wedges instead.It’s also super swingy, it being a circle skirt.

I expect to get a lot of wear out of it when the weather warms up. I also intend to make a lot more cause I love wearing this type of skirt (though I’ll have to get some more fabric). The waistband is a little messed up (it’s a little large) cause I cut it a little big and my elastic wasn’t as stretchy as I’d have liked. The hemming took like an hour (partly cause I pressed it first), and I was very pleased when it was finished.

In knitting news, I am still working on those knee socks, but they are flying along. I’m on the eighth stripe of the 16 that make up the leg (and each one gets smaller around). I hope to do some more sewing soon (I want to get to the fabric store to get some tulle cause I want to make a crinoline), but for now, I do enjoy knitting.

Socks

February 20, 2011 in knitting | Tags: knitting, socks, swap, wip, work in progress, wwfy | Leave a comment

I finished my last pair of shark mittens! They’re all packaged up, so no pictures, but I’m pleased they are finally finished. I’m leaving the listings up so it’s entirely possible that I’ll get more orders, but I haven’t gotten any in at least two weeks, so I’m done for now.

I’m also working on more socks. They are for the same WWFY swap that the red socks I recently made. They are striped knee socks, and here’s what the first one looks like so far:

I’m not crazy, so I’m knitting them one at a time and also carrying the unused color up the side (because otherwise I’d have like, 40 ends to weave in and… no. So yes. They’re progressing quite well and I’m enjoying the stockinette (with decreases and stripes to keep my interest).

I also recently began a sewing project that should be done later tonight, so there’s that to show too. : )

FO: Twisted

February 17, 2011 in knitting, swap | Tags: finished object, FO, knitting, socks, swap, wwfy, yarn | 1 comment

Yay, I finished a knitting thing! It’s these blasted red socks I’ve been working on forever.

Plus bonus fishnets! Because I like layering tights.

Pattern: Started out as Twisted, then I gave up and just made twisted rib socks.
Yarn: Sanguine Gryphon Bugga!
Needles: US 1
Mods: None, since they’re just ribbed socks.

So, as I mentioned before, these are for a swap and I do not get to keep them. Which is disappointing, but they’re too big for me anyway as they’re for someone with larger feet than mine. The Bugga is, of course, lovely to knit with as usual, thanks to the delightful cashmere content and the squoosh factor of the plies. Yay.

Like I said, I started out knitting Twisted. That did not work out. I messed up the gusset then could work out how to modify the swoop for what I had and I didn’t want to pull out all of my gusset decreases, so I asked the person the socks are going to if I could finish them out in rib, and she said I could, so I did.

Of course, the twisted rib bit was a pain in the ass to knit. Any stitch pattern knit in the round that has more purls than knits is going to inherently be a pain in the ass. I HATE purling in the round. HATE. Especially when there are some knit stitches too. So these socks sucked to make, but they came out pretty well.

Still, I’m rather pleased they’re done. Now onto some striped knee socks for the same recipient and one last pair of shark mittens. Hurrah!

Valentimes is Serious Times

February 14, 2011 in embroidery, paper craft | Tags: embroidery, finished object, FO, gift, notecard, paper craft, they might be giants, valentine's day | Leave a comment

The above courtesy of my favorite thing on the internet, Teen Girl Squad, episode 12, I think. It’s basically the best thing ever.

So today is Valentine’s Day! Happy Valentine’s Day! Not that I need a special commercialized holiday to celebrate my love for my SO, but I did anyway, in the form of presents! I posted a teaser a couple days ago, and here’s the finished embroidery piece:

It’s stretched around some cardboard, framed, and everything. I think it came out super well and my boyfriend loved it. : ) The quote is from a They Might Be Giants song called “Birdhouse” and it’s completely adorable, and you should listen to it:

CUTE. Here’s a close up of my bird:

I also made Joe a pretty pretty card:

It’s frilly and lacy cause that’s what I like, damn it!

Joe wrote me a jazz ballad for Valentine’s Day, cause he does that, and it’s wonderful and romantic and pretty. It also uses rhythms and melodies from the Valentine’s Teen Girl Squad, which I linked above (and you should have watched already, but I’ll wait while you do so now) and I wish I could share it with you, but I can’t. But know that it’s great. : )

So yes. Happy Valentine’s Day! Go forth and say lovely things to people you love.

Teaser

February 10, 2011 in embroidery | Tags: embroidery, gift, surprise, valentine's day | Leave a comment

Sorry I’ve been rather quiet on the blog front recently. I’m still working on the red socks from the last post (except now they’re just twisted rib socks because I apparently can’t read directions). I’m also making shark mittens. Nothing that fascinating.

I did recently finish a thing, but I can’t show you yet because it’s a Valentine’s gift for my boyfriend and it’s meant to be a surprise and he reads my blog sometimes. I can, however, show you a couple teaser pics cause he knows the general category of thing that it is. I’m super proud of it, but more on that after the 14th.

Knitting…

February 3, 2011 in knitting | Tags: commissions, knitting, mittens, sharks, socks, swap, wip, work in progress, wwfy | 2 comments

So, yes. I’ve been knitting. I’ve been working on a pair of socks for a WWFY swap:

Pattern is Twisted (from Knitty) in Bugga! That’s the cuff there and it’s FINALLY up to the heel flap. FINALLY. I’ve been working on these socks forever.

I’ve also been knitting shark mittens:

I’m trying a new yarn for the grey part (it’s Wool of the Andes, which is a bit thinner but it also cheaper and softer). It seems to be working out.

In other news, I think I’ve forgotten what it’s like to knit for myself.

Sewing FO: New Purse

January 29, 2011 in sewing | Tags: bag, fabric, finished object, FO, messenger bag, purse, sewing | 3 comments

I made a thing! Out of fabric! And it’s not a shark!

It’s a new purse!

See, here’s the thing about purses. I love messenger bag-style purses. I love the flap for securing my belongings while easily allowing me to get in and out. I love the cross body strap so it stays in place and doesn’t fall off my shoulder. I love that it is wider than it is tall so I can find stuff relatively easily. I love messenger bags.

The purse I was using before this one is also a messenger style bag. It’s the one I got from the Rainbow Swap on Craftster after I was flaked on and had to have an angel. I adore that bag and I’ve used it for a couple of years–it’s sturdy and I love the side pockets. The problem with that bag is A, it’s just a tick too small and B, it’s a really casual bag so it doesn’t really work for occasions where I have to put on a pretty dress.

I have SCOURED thrift stores and regular stores and online, and it is absolutely impossible to find the exact purse I want as I see in my head. In my mind, it’s about 10″x12″6″, adjustable crossbody strap, flap closure, side pockets and inner pockets, and made of red leather.

That bag does not exist. It doesn’t exist for $20, it doesn’t exist for $200. It does not exist (not that I would pay $200, but still). Enter solution: I make my own damn bag.

I love this one, but it’s still not exactly what I want. This is more formal, but still not right. Still, it was good practice and should I happen upon some cheap red leather (probably in the form of a thrift store skirt or jacket), I’ll be able to make the one I really want.

For now though, this one is super cute and I love it. The outside fabric is an interesting gold/silver (depending on the light) brocade, which I picked up at a thrift store for about $2 for around 3 yards (hell yeah). The lining is two different brown cotton canvases, which I got at the thrift store for about $.50 each (around half a yard of each). I didn’t have enough of either fabric, but they go together well enough that I used both.

I constructed the bag similarly to how I made tote bags, which means that it’s totally reversible and there are no exposed seams anywhere. The whole thing is top stitched (oh how I love top stitching), including the strap, which is a thing I don’t normally do but love how it looks here.

So basically, I’m totally in love with my new bag. Now back to shark mittens.

Ahh, sharks!

January 27, 2011 in knitting | Tags: commissions, finished object, FO, knitting, life, mittens, shark mittens | 1 comment

So it snowed last night, and I participated in a snowball fight and made a snowman. It was dark though, so there aren’t any pictures. We still had class today though, but I made my own snow day and spent the morning finishing up some shark mittens:

That’s three pairs. I still have like four more to make, plus four pairs of socks.

So yeah. Knitting.