Showing posts with label tutorial. Show all posts
Showing posts with label tutorial. Show all posts

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Deer Silhouette

Happy Valentine's Day! 

Remember how in the awesome party in a box post, I mentioned that I also added a gift she could open up at the party? Well, here is that gift.

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Deer kitchen towels. S'cute right? I guess I am not over my deer/antler phase.

First, print off a deer silhouette (I found mine with an easy google search). 

Trace it onto the paper side of freezer paper and then cut it out. I had to use tiny, sharp scissors to get to all the small places.

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my deer all cut out and ironed on my towel
Once your deer is cut out, iron the shiny side of the freezer paper onto your towel. Make sure the freezer paper adheres well to the towel.

Grab some fabric paint (I found my at Joanns) and a stencil foam brush (a regular foam brush would probably work fine, too) and dab that paint on.

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Let dry for a few hours or pull out your blow dryer (if you are impatient).

Once it is dry, gently pull off your stencil. It should come off very easily and you are done!

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Thursday, November 3, 2011

Two-toned Infinity Scarf

Guess who is posting a tutorial today? ME! Yay!

It is for this bad boy:
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A two-toned infinity scarf! Pretty cute, amiright?

First off, you need two colors of knit fabric (mine each measured about 24x70ish inches).
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my fabric is actually folded in half here so it doesn't look as long as it is
With right sides together, zigzag or stretch (if your sewing machine has one) stitch down the two long sides (so you get a long tube). Sorry, no picture...

Switch that tube right side out. Fold your long tube in half (hamburger style - so the open ends meet). Now, it might get a little confusing, but bear with me. I folded my fabric so that the light blue fabric was sandwiched on the inside. I started pinning my light blue fabric together (only through those two layers). Like so...
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Keep on pinning. When you reach where the dark blue fabric is (or whatever color you have on the outside of your fabric sandwich), just readjust your fabric and only pin through the dark blue fabric. Keep on going until you have about a 4-5 inch gap from where you started. The bulk of your fabric might get bunchy, but just try to keep it out of the way.
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And now start sewing where you just pinned (starting on the light blue or inside color)... again with a zigzag or stretch stitch.
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with this picture you can also see what I mean by the fabric bunching up...
Once you are done sewing and you readjust your fabric, you will notice that gap we left open (so we could flip the seams we just sewed inside).
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Now just hand stitch that opening closed and you are done! 
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Here is another way to wear this cute scarf:
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I had extra knit fabric on hand, so I made another one! (I used less fabric on this one so it isn't as long).
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Sunday, July 10, 2011

Tribal Belt

Lately I've been loving fashion/style blogs. One trend that I've picked up on is that tribal prints are coming back. I didn't want to get too out of my comfort zone but thought I'd give the trend a shot with a belt.

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I've had this ribbon for a few years now and had no idea what to do with it... I've also had this belt buckle-thingy for even longer. I don't even know what it technically is - it just came in a random assortment of buttons and notions I got FORever ago. But it works just great for what I had in mind.

Here is what you'll need if you want to recreate this belt (if you can even find a similar buckle-guy, but you could use a ring of some sort in substitution). Ribbon, buckley-thing, Velcro, and a sewing machine (or glue?).

First off, stick one end of ribbon through one side of buckle. Sew (or glue) down.

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Measure the belt around your waist (or wherever you want it to sit) and add about 3 inches. Cut to length (it would also be a good idea to Fray Check your ribbon ends). Figure out where Velcro will go.

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Sew Velcro down (on WRONG side of ribbon). Tip: I sewed the "hook" part of the Velcro (the scratchy side) on the very end. I did this so that when I am wearing the belt it won't accidentally scratch my clothes because when worn that part of the Velcro will face away from my body.

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Wear belt and try not to feel stupid while posing for pictures. :)

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Yes, I know I need to weed and throw away some cardboard. Thanks. :)
And here is another closeup.

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Monday, September 20, 2010

Anthro Inspired Lamp Shade Tutorial

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This tutorial has been sitting as a draft for weeks now. I've been hesitant to post it because I had hangups about whether or not I liked the very tippy top of the shade... but I think I'm finally ok with it now.

Remember those lamp bases I painted black a bit ago? Well, they needed some shades. But I'm cheap. Like realllly cheap. So I bought some ugly lamp shades at the Goodwill for about $2/each hoping I could make them cuter. For a few weeks I was stumped on what to do with them. It hit me one evening to check out lamps at Anthropologie and once there I had my answer: the Mariemont Shade.

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I knew I didn't want my shade to be identical but here is my version (that looks more like a slightly ruffled shade). I wanted my layers to have a clean finish and as little fraying as possible so this is what I did. If you don't mind the frayed look you could cut out a few of these steps and save yourself some time. 

First things first, I went through my fabric stash and found various shades of white, off-white, and creams. I cut them into various lengths but they were all 2 inches wide. As for how many to cut, your guess is as good as mine. I happened to be very lucky and cut the exact number I needed.
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Then I spent some quality time with my iron. For each strip I ironed down about a half inch on the ends. Then I ironed the strips in half (hot dog style).
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After that I sewed the strips shut (as close to the raw edge as possible) so they would be easier to attach to my shade. 
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Then I went outside (because the spray adhesive I was using had a very strong warning about it being flammable and dangerous and yadda yadda) to start attaching my strips.

I'm not sure how many people have used spray adhesive before but be warned that it is sticky. Your fingers will be tacky for a bit (even after washing them). I had to peel and rub it off for about 5-10 minutes after I was finished. Because of how tacky and sticky it is, make sure to cover your work area completely or go outside (like I did!). 

Start at the bottom of the shade. For the first layer I grabbed 2 strips that would fit around the base with as little overlap as possible. I sprayed directly onto the base, a little at a time, and quickly attached the strips (overlapping the edge a little) by simply pressing the fabric to the shade.
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After that it was easier to spray the back of each strip (one at a time) and attach as you go, randomly picking which color to use. I used my stitching as a guide of where the bottom of my next layer of strips should go. Don't be afraid of this part. The spray adhesive allows some flexibility so if you don't like where or how it attached just peel it back off (but you may need to respray it if it is no longer very sticky) and start over. 
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You'll find that at some point you'll have an area with a gap and all of your strips are either too big or too small to cover the gap. Here is how I solved the problem. Once the gap has been closed, just continue to coil the layers up and around.
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Soon, it'll look like this with only the very top left to cover.
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For that I went back inside and cut a new strip of fabric 4 inches wide and long enough to wrap around the circumference of the top of the shade. I ironed down the ends like I did with the other strips but instead of ironing it in half, I folded the sides in to meet in the middle. Like so:
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Then I went back outside and used my spray adhesive to glue my folded-in sides down (so they wouldn't flap about and would be easier to attach to the shade).
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Now here was the part I wasn't so sure about. At first I just sprayed one entire side of the strip and folded it over the edge of the shade and pressed down.
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Well, I finally finished the shades to my satisfaction. Instead of using a spray adhesive I used my glue gun and just glued down that last piece of fabric. Let me tell you, I sure am glad I didn't use my glue gun on the whole shade (using spray adhesive was a lot faster). But now I am happy.
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And here are my completed lamps (not bad for $4 a piece eh?):
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Friday, September 17, 2010

Candy Corn Hoops

Blank wall before:
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The cute and festive after:
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I love how quickly this project came together AND how it didn't cost me a thing. Luckily I had all the supplies on hand. It is probably easy enough to figure out on your own but I put together a tutorial anyway.

Grab a bunch of embroidery hoops (check thrift stores!) and various white, yellow, and orange fabrics (check your stash, thrift stores, and the remnants section). Lay out the fabrics until you get some combinations you like and cut (or rip like I did) fabric to size.
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Iron the fabric (if it needs it... mine obviously did). Layer fabric in desired pattern over the bottom ring. Assemble hoop. Pull fabric taut.
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Trim excess fabric (I left about a 1/2 - 1 inch).
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Either hot glue (to the inner rim on the back of the hoop) or tape fabric to the back. I chose to tape because I want to reuse these hoops in the future. Yay for cute and noncommittal decor!
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I used a few more pieces of tape after I took the picture... but you get the idea
Hang on wall and admire. I seriously love how fun, subtle, and festive this is. Even my husband loved it. To paraphrase him: "It works great for Halloween since it is candy corn but it can be left up for the rest of the fall because of the color scheme." So true! :)
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Linked to Craftaholics Anonymous Fall Frenzy party.

Thursday, August 26, 2010

Give Me the Bird

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Last night I was looking in my hall closet (I don't even remember why) and saw a random board from an old abandoned project and some cork I bought a few weeks ago. As my eyes went from one to the other, I had the sudden urge to put them together and make myself a cork board. So I did.

First I painted the edges of my board a pretty blue (I mixed North Sea blue with some white to get the color I wanted). It took 2 coats.
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(This is not what the blue actually looks like... but you get the idea)


Then I grabbed some brown craft paper, drew a bird and cut it out.
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I used some spray adhesive on the back of the paper to stick it to my cork.
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(I decided to flip my image)


Then I grabbed my stencil foam brush and dabbed on my white paint.
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I should have let the paint dry a little first before I peeled off my paper, but I didn't. Fortunately the paint didn't smudge much.
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Once everything was dry, I pulled out my rotary board and ruler and an exacto knife (NOT my rotary cutter, I didn't want to ruin it by cutting cork) and carefully (and slowly) cut my cork to my desired size.
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Then I used my glue gun and glued on my cork (I hear wood glue would also work well for this part). I worked from one side to the other so the glue wouldn't cool before I was able to attach the cork.
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And ta-da! Here is my adorable new cork board.
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To finish it off, you can always add some cute button push pins like I did.
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giveaways
Also linking to:Making the World Cuter, C.R.A.F.T., and Keeping It Simple

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