I have knitting on my mind.  No idea why, since we are heading into summer down here and knitting is the last thing you’d want to do in a Perth summer (unless of course you are at the beach and still haven’t finished your bikini to wear so you take it with you to do the finishing touches??).

 Everyone loves a visit to Crazy Aunt Purl.  She is hilariously funny, quick-witted and has some wonderful tutorials to keep you Northerners warm.  Now I must admit that I could not finish these knits in an hour, or two or even a day.  I have this strange dyslexia when it comes to knitting needles.  When I see my mum and how fast she can do it, it makes me feel like a complete moron. 

So, for all the knitters out there, try out this great tutorial to knit the Brangelina Hat.  And if you want to knit one for me, I gladly accept presents from all over the world.

Also try out this amazing little tutorial on how to make a knitted (felted) bracelet bag.  This bag is a little round bag that has bracelets as handles.  It is perfect for a night out clubbing, where you want to make sure that your purse is near you at all times.

Have Fun!

Mia

Check out SuperEggplant for this easy tutorial to make these tote bags.

To make them interesting add anything you want to embellish them; ribbons, lace, cornelli work, embroidery.  Use vintage fabrics, hand-dyed fabrics, hand-printed fabrics or any cotton fabrics you already have.

Have Fun!

Mia

Ok Ok so I know I am officially on holiday but I couldn’t resist this link to make a t-shirt into a Cami.  Visit CraftZine for a closer look at this pattern and instructions.  Thanks to Sew Teen for this pattern.

Have fun!

Mia

PS I am starting a new category for One Hour Craft called TeenCraft, obviously for crafts that teens would love.

I am going to take me a week’s holiday, maybe two, from blogging.  I am all blogged out.  Maybe my twin sister will add a few posts, I hope so because she is the most creative, perfectionist twin in the world.

See you on Friday evening in one, probably two, weeks.  I have to tend more to the thing which make me $$$ and keep me off those streets.

Mia

Thanks to Allsorts for this very cute tutorial and pattern to make the Scottie Dog pictured above.  What more can I say?  It is easy to understand I am sure that it will be a very lovely present for a niece, nephew, daughter, son etc.

Thanks to Vicki for this other softy, Lambkins (Lambkins, what do you think?  I will make you one for sure).  Click here to download the pattern and instructions for Lambkins.

Happy Crafting.  I hope these creations give you pleasure.  When you have finished,  send me a photo, I would love to see them.

Mia

This is the best crafting activity. I just can’t tell you how many times I have taught workshops using this. Every time I have done it, it has worked. Last time I did this workshop, it was for fourty children, most of whom had behavioural issues. And it was a great success. Every child made one and loved them. The boys all made black.

I have made them with kids from 4 to 17 and everyone has enjoyed them.

How to Make:
You will need:
*10cm of vinyl, fake leather. You can find some great colours like bright orange and pink but keep in mind that boys and teenagers prefer black.
*A Stanley knife
*A stud kit
*A hammer (the fun part!)
*All sorts of stuff to attach to the cuff like coloured beads, satefy pins, loads of crafting studs, ribbons, strips of leather, sequins, glitter paint and anything else your mother is throwing out of her sewing room.
*A VERY good sense of humour if working with kids

The Recipe:
*Measure a strip of fake leather with a ruler. Little kids look better with skinnier ones and older children can look good with wider strips. This one is 5cm (just over two inches) wide.
*Take the strip and measure it around the child’s wrist. Leaving about 2cms on each side, cut the strip.
*Ooen your stud pack, read the instructions and hammer the studs into each end. Make sure that you put the studs on the correct sides that they will close properly. Note: Girls tend to love the pearly studs you can buy.
*Add whatever you like to the wrist cuff you have made.
*Spend some time with the child planning what will look good on it. Make sure they don’t just do it or you could end up with a real mess of glitter etc on your hands.
*For the cuff above I cut out a red heart from a scrap of vinyl I had and attached it with studs that are used for scrapbooking. Before we attached the studs we attached sequins to them.

Then we put some pink beads onto red safety pins. To attach the safety pins we I made two slits and put it the pin through the back of the cuff.

And VOILA a cute wrist cuff for a little girl! We had great fun. It took us about an hour to finish.

Note: Older children can sew beads onto them, braid strands of leather and attach them, sew lace and sequins onto them. The sky is the limit!

Oh and adults can wear them too!

Oh My Goodness.  Beate’s Fabric Art site is a jaw-dropper. I just can’t believe how beautiful these cards are. 

I don’t know a lot about it, but apparently a lot of women on the Net are creating these tiny masterpieces and exchanging them with each other.  You know what?  I can just see my little sewing room filled with framed postcards from creative women.  This is inspiring.

To make a fabric postcard, just take a piece of card (not too thick), and cut it into the same shape and size as a regular postcard.  Then decorate the card.  You can glue and sew other fabrics onto it, ribbons, seed beads, bigger beads,  You can use felt that you have made or bought.  You can try out a whole bunch of different embroidery stitches, you could crochet little flowers and sew them on.  You could knit something little.  You could do some silk ribbon embroidery or cornelli work.  The sky is the absolute limit,

Let me give you a challenge:  Make the most beautiful postcard you can and send it to me and I will put them on this site.  I am going to make one in the next few days myself.  Meanwhile here are some more sites to look at for some delicious ideas. 

If you have any information on swaps then let me know, and if you are keen to do a postcard swap, let me know.  The beauty of these little pieces of art.

Mia 

Making pom-poms was one of my favourite things to do when I was a kids.  Check out this Pom-pom tutorial  and photos from Bella Dia.

Pom-poms are so cute and can be used to decorate just about anything: sweaters, socks, shoe laces, dog collars (well maybe not), cushions etc.  They can be made in one colour or in many diiferent colours. 

For a REALLY cute project try making this pom-pom boa at Expresssew.

Mia

 (The above jumpsuits were appliqued by my twin sister, Emma Mill.)

The photo above comes from Stardustshoes and she also includes a post on How to Make Gorgeous Baby Jumpsuits.

These jumpsuits are very easy to make. 

Materials required:

Jumpsuit – Bonds are really great

Material scraps

Ribbon if you desire

Applique paper, which is also called double-sided interfacing

Iron

Sewing Machine

How to:

Decide what you would like to applique onto the jumpsuit.  I always try cutting out a few shapes and seeing how they look before I sew them on.  You need to do this to get the right balance of colour.

Cut out the patch that you are going to applique onto the jumpsuit

Iron it onto one side of the applique paper

Pull the paper from the other side of the applique paper and iron these patch onto the jumpsuit (if you are using an acrylic material this can be a little harder to do, just make sure that you use a warm iron.  This has worked for me before.

When all the patches are stuck to the jumpsuit, use a straight stich (or a fancier stitch it you want) and sew around the inside edge of the patch.

and Voila, a gorgeous jumpsuit.

Tip:  I would also recommend experimenting with using lace, ribbons, vintage buttons, different sorts of fabrics, rick rack.  You could also have one of the patches as an iron-on transfer that you have made or you hand paint the fabric or sew fabric pompoms to it.  You could embroider on the patches. 

The combinations are limitless and the jumpsuit becomes the canvas for you to experiment and create something unique.

Happy Crafing

Mia

Thanks again to Cat Morley at Cut Out and Keep for the photos and great tutorial on how to make a comic cushion.  She includes a link to a tutorial which shows you how to print on fabric.  This is great.  It means that you can print anything you like straight onto fabric, you don’t have to use that special transfer paper and then iron it on.  I have found that using the transfers is a pain, they stay fine for about five washes, then the transfer begins to crack and peel off.  Printing straight onto the fabric is a much better way to go.

I found this beautiful calico cat cushion tutorial this morning at Coatscrafts, a craft company based in the UK.  It is gorgeous and I intend to make one in the near future.  Obviously it requires a certain skill in embroidery, but trust me, embroidery is as easy as pie. 

If you would like something more romantic, Simplicity Patterns has a free tutorial and pattern to make a heart pillow.  It is gorgeous and really easy to make.  I know that my little girl would love one of these. 

When making cushion, I find that the hardest thing to do is insert an invisible zipper.  But, once you can do it, your cushions look amazing.  I found a great tutorial at Simply Furnishings on how to insert the perfect zipper into a cushion.  Even if you are a beginner, they have a load of tips which is easy to follow.

If you make some great cushions, please send me the photos and I will post them on this blog.

Oh, so many things to make and so little time!

Mia