a case of the Crafties » embroidery

Felt Keeley progress

CaLynn — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 06:02:05 +0000

She is coming along quite fantastically! I tried my hand at a few different methods to “ink” her outline. I settled on couching black yarn with black thread. Originally, the yarn I bought was way too thick so I had to trade that in for something thinner. I wish now that I went with more of a rope than yarn because of the fuzzies up close, but from far away (as she will be hanging on a wall) she definitely kicks butt like the superhero she is.

Good news, Keith will be in town in August so I have a solid deadline to get her finished. Sometimes I need that, you know? And thanks to my “step-grandmother-in-law” Ruth for the giant embroidery hoop!

This type of embroidery is new to me. Usually, my left hand is under the fabric and I can feel when my thread gets caught. Couching the yarn, however, means my left hand stays on top to guide the yarn as my right hand works the thread around it. As such, the back of this piece is horribly embarrassing – but to allay any doubt in your mind that I am making the awesomeness that this is and not faking it somehow through photoshop, I thought I’d share:

things on my table

CaLynn — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 18:06:10 +0000

I am sure you have been expecting pictures of my new kitchen but it has been really hectic here. Not only is there still much to be done with it, but Boy also has moved his company to a new location so that has taken a higher priority of our time. I will leave you with this tease though:

I also began scrapping again since I recovered my craft room. I posted all the pages I have made in my personal book, but I have yet to show you my Peru scrapbook. I started it shortly after my return in 2007, and school got crazy so I never finished. This is a shot of me trying to work out the layouts for the day trip to the national museum in Lima:

I also need to get in gear if I want to participate for the Sew Mama Sew giveaway, hopefully coming up in May. I’ve had so many ideas for covers but it is time to start working them through. This isn’t intended to become a cover, more like an idea board of options while I work through the problems and creative process and await my nice wool felt shipment. (I just may have purchased the dream bundle at WoolFeltCentral, ooo la la!)

And have you ever heard of 31bits? Apparently there are a few companies out there doing something similar but I must say this one rocks – anthropology for the win! One of the founders is a cultural anthropologist who saw these Ugandan women, having survived and been displaced from the civil wars, making paper beads and jewelry but with little market in which to sell. 31bits was developed as a way to give them a client base and therefore a way support themselves and their families. Unlike other “parties” out there, this one is neat and simple – you get a box of goods, you sell what’s in the box directly to your friends, and you ship back what didn’t sell. No overhead of shipping, waiting, or returns. No obligation to try to get to a certain price-point to get discounts. Just an honest transfer from their hands to yours. I’m not much of a jewelry gal but Boy felt the urge to buy me this bracelet:

(Oh, that background? Well, one day I must tell you of the gorgeous quilting my Aunt Sandy does – in fact if she is reading this, she should really consider having a website to show case her work!)

cubicle wall art

CaLynn — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 07:15:42 +0000

My friend Leslie gifted me lots of crafty supplies – fabric, binding, lace, ribbon, sheeps wool – all kinds of stuff. So when I started messing around with the table runner thing she gave me, I decided it would be hers. (I posted about it here and here). She has had a major adjustment or two in her life recently so I stitched the beginning of my favorite quote on it. The original idea was to stitch the whole thing but I decided it would be too cluttered. It will spruce up her cubicle wall nicely, don’t you think?

Just when the caterpillar thought the world was over,

It became a butterfly.

-Anonymous

fabric family tree

CaLynn — Sat, 18 Dec 2010 05:31:20 +0000

If you missed it, you can read about the creation of the fabric family tree. Im super thrilled to finally get it framed.

I ran into a slight bit of a problem as the size I wanted was 16 x 24, which is not standard for photo frames. It is, however, standard of poster frames but poster frames do not come in the “floating” style (nor are they glass, but Ill take what i can get). I ordered two as a quick way to put it all together, instead of finding plexiglass for the backside elsewhere.

I was prepared to work with tutorial at How Does She? to make my own floating frame: Floating Frame Tutorial. But i lucked out because i was able to use both plexiglass pieces in one frame without any hotglue or other additional work. (The jury is still out on how you can see the little tabs though …).

Its been delivered into the care of its new owners, yippee!

And now I have a frame without any plexiglass but Im not deterred because “empty frames” make cool art. For instance, Make It and Love It shows two project ideas just for the holiday season: Christmas Wall Vinyl and Simple Christmas Decor.

What do yall think?

a family tree

CaLynn — Fri, 17 Sep 2010 17:38:41 +0000

So Im gonna say it: Im pretty proud of this project. It took me upwards of about 30 movies to complete (all by hand!) so I dont really care to calculate the time spent on it but it was a good time (i mean hello, i watched more movies in a month than i have in the last 5 years combined – thank you streaming netflix!!). Its true what they say – hexies are addicting. I was afraid to start this project because I had never done paper piecing before, nor had anyone I talked to. However, the tutorial over at craftstylish was well explained and easy to follow. And paper-piecing is quite simple! Honest!

Here is the backside:

The idea for the project was a culmination of a couple of things. First, i had tagged this article at disdressed. I normally lean toward non-traditional quilting ideas, so hexagons-turned-tree-wall-hanging caught my eye. I have literally hundreds of things tagged in my RSS feed though, so it got lost in the pile for some time.

Then i was gifted lots of sewing things from my MIL when she needed to clean house to relocate. Included in that bunch were some items she had been in possession of since the passing of her mother. So here i was with pre-cut hexies waiting to be used for something special. But again, they were lost in a pile of fabrics awaiting the right time.

Once Boys brother had set a date for the wedding, I began poking around for ideas. A quilt came to mind, but are you kidding me? Im too much of a newb to take on that task and something that large doesnt interest me (yet). Eventually, I decided to lean toward doing some sort of family tree, since I know Kev is really into those things. And somehow all these dots got connected and I knew what to do!

I picked the pre-cut hexies that I thought the couple would relate to the most and went out to buy matching colors. (Quilters cotton and heavyweight interfacing were the ingredients.) I even found this cool hexagon generator over at incompetech which i was able to size exactly to the pieces cut by Grandmother Dolores. The font I used was eye-balled from my favorite ever font GirlsAreWeird by John Martz/Robotic Attack Fonts (but I used the custom preview option at dafont to help me visualize the names).

I sewed a little sweetheart on it, which was akin to the image on their Save-the-Date cards.

Two little apples at the bottom for their kids and bam! Project complete :D

Now, those 30 movies did involve lots of accidents and learning so I doubt it would take me that long to do it over again. And yes, there are some hiccups that really irk me and i now know what to do and not do for a future project like this, but overall I think its sweet! Congratulations to the happy married couple:D

Next post = 100th Special! :D

crafting!

CaLynn — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 17:14:45 +0000

While my house may be under construction, i have squeezed in some artsy time. Im working on a super secret project that i cant post about until after a wedding, but its coming up so I thought id put a shout out there to watch for it.

What i can share with you is this super sized bookcover. I will eventually post patterns but they arent ready yet so chill out there, cowgirls. Patience is a virtue:) I am happy that now Ill be able to offer two sizes : the standard “mass market paperback” size and the standardish larger “trade paperback” size such as this one:

Purple Butterfly, a la Heidi Grace
Felt and Embroidery (Chain stitch and back stitch)

Check out size descriptions here: Wikipedia Paperback Types

Crafternoon!

CaLynn — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 17:52:33 +0000

A while back I discovered the idea of a Crafternoon. Unfortunately I dont remember where the idea came from, but when you google it, you can see different takes on the theme. The general idea is to get together and make projects while you hang out. Since a lot of the people I know either have kids or young people in their lives, I thought a Tooth Fairy Pillow was in order.

I printed out the pattern from Larissa at MmmCrafts and gave everyone a folder with some felt. I also had tons of colored felt, buttons, thread, stuffing, etc for people to get creative with. The skill levels ranged from advanced to very beginner. Even the kids got to participate.

And of course we had snacks. It was pretty successful overall! Almost everyone left with completed pillows – I still need photos of two more but I was excited to share the idea with you (I noticed that the craftier a person was, the longer it took them to make one – doesnt that seem like reverse pyschology?!)

Here is the one I made. I suppose I might give it to my niece when she comes of age (Im considering making a new one or showing her mom how):

Doesnt she have a bit of a Flamenco Dancer to her? If I were to do the pillow again, I might use white fabric (so the mouth pocket doesnt show through as much – I just had the craft felt on hand) or something colored. If you check out MmmCrafts other works, the colored ones are pretty sweet: mmmcrafts turns two and tooth pillow for Isabelle. Thank you so much for posting the tutorial, Larissa :D

thread art experiment progress

CaLynn — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 17:50:24 +0000

I added a butterfly with a different piece of the lacey cloth. Up close, the butterflys body has a faint outline. Its my first experience with the dye in the thread bleeding but its not enough to bother me that much (though it did rub a bit on the white flower…)

experiments

CaLynn — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 19:47:34 +0000

I havent been crafting as much as Id like to lately, but ive been doing some much needed things around the house so i forgive myself. I have been playing with some ideas though and learning more embroidery. This is my sample so far (candidate for worst photo on thecrafties thus far):

The first few stitches can be seen in detail here. So far I have learned something like 24 techniques. Here are the latest ones, so you can see them better:

Huh, maybe i shoulda pulled out the iron for that. But anywho. I also worked a bit more on this thread art experiment thingamabob. I decided it should go vertical. Im still pondering on how to fill in the empty space up top, as you can see.

And I made this bookcover a while ago, but I hadnt posted about it. I made a fabric flower for the detail by somewhat following a How-Tuesday post at Etsy. I havent decided yet if I will stitch the leaves up at all, and this is the first cover I made with a fabric glue on the page marker. I like the way it turned out but Im not sure if the marker is too stiff now. The book I am currently reading isnt the right size to give it a go so the jury is out on that at the moment.

thread art experiment

CaLynn — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 18:01:59 +0000

I get a lot of inspiration from crafters who use natural fabrics with delicate things like doilies, tatting, and lace. The look is very simple and clean but still elegant and sophisticated. Recently, I was happy to have been gifted a lacey table runner with a flower motif.

But I just dont know what to do with it quite yet. The previous owner set me in the right direction I think by including some pieces she cut off. I took note and clipped a flower out.

As an experiement, I grabbed some linen that was cut incorrectly for a book cover and thought I would try stitching the flower to it with colored thread to make it pop. The thing is, I really like it (whatever it will become) but now I am limited on what it can be because it was a very timely project and on scrap cloth – I wish i had known i would like it and worked on something more manageable, but c’est la vie.

Im thinking maybe something I can frame? I think Ill add more things to the cloth but what those things will be is still in question. What do you think?