(Photo above is a brooch made by Feli of AbsolutFeli (a girl living in my hometown, awww)- isn’t it gorgeous!)  

Yay!  we are so excited here at OneHourCraft.  It is not even December yet and the submissions for our DECEMBER CRAFT CHALLENGE are already coming in!

Also check out our Flickr group for more entries as they come in!  There is already a gorgeous photo there of a brooch made by Mystic Spiral.

Thanks.  And get cracking!  I can’t wait to see what you all have in store for us!

Mia

Ok, I know that these have been around for a while. But I love anything which promises organisation to me. My handbag is just such a mess!

Thanks to The Giving Flower for the photos and the link to a great Pattern and Tutorial to Make a Purse Organiser. All you need to do is go to this post, go to the comments section and leave a message asking for the PDF pattern and tutorial. I asked for the PDF and was sent it in less than a day! Not bad eh?

PLEASE READ CAREFULLY:  I DO NOT HAVE THE PDF, YOU NEED TO VISIT ‘THE GIVING FLOWER’ AND ASK HER FOR THE PDF.  IT IS NOT MINE TO GIVE.  PLEASE DON’T LEAVE ME ANY MORE COMMENTS ASKING FOR THE PDF! MIA

This would make great Christmas presents. Oh so many things to make and so little time to do it.

Thoughts?

Enjoy!

Mia

Don’t you just love these funky place mats?

I took the following tutorial from one of my Japanese craft books…..(below)  thought they might be lovely for the Christmas table.  I like the fact that they would not be too Christmassy – but could be used year round.

Here goes with the photo tutorial and my explanation.  Hope it is easy to follow…

1. Cut out the fabric with the dimensions as above.  Note that the measurement is in centimetres.  Use two different fabrics as shown, I love the same colours with different patterns – works really well.

2. Place the two pieces of fabric together, right sides facing each other.

3. Sew a line of straight stitching on each side.

4. Leave the fabric inside out and iron the edges facing outwards.  Leave a hem of about 1.5cm (this is a little different to what they have done, but it is easier I think).

5. Turn the fabric so that the right sides are facing outwards.

6. Adjust the fabrics so that there is an ovelap of the contrasting fabric on each side.

7. Take a thick thread (embroidery thread would be perfect) and hand stitch the bottom edges together.  Then stitch the top edges together.

8. The final step is to hand stitch down the mat (just inside the panel seam)

Voila, what a gorgeous, simple mat you have!

Thoughts?

Mia

Thanks to Three Little Birds for this lovely Pattern and Tutorial to Make a Soft Tree.

What an unassuming, timeless Christmas decoration.

Lovely.

Enjoy!

Mia

PS When I have made mine I will upload the photo.

(Colourful Kanzashi (Japanese folded fabric flowers) Brooch made by Emma Mill of OneHourCraft)

Ladies, Gentlemen, Here we are to announce our First ONE HOUR CRAFT CHALLENGE!. We all got so excited about the kanzashi that we thought about making these.

Then we decided to leave it more open and make December’s challenge for you to ……

MAKE A LOVELY BROOCH OR BOUTONNIERE! Just think how cute you will look at Christmas wearing one of these. They also make fantastic presents for Christmas.

(Brooch above made by Maria Binns of OneHourCraft)

This leaves you wide open to make any sort of brooch/boutonniere you like.

(Brooch above made by Maria Binns of OneHourCraft)

Ideas for broochs and boutonnieres that are gorgeous!

• You could make a brooche using a kilt pin like the second and third photos above.
• Make a crochet round (second photo) and add other things to the kilt pin. In this one I have added silver chain, beads, ribbons..
• Other things to add are limitless. You could add lace like Em did to hers, bits of fabric, fimo things like cupcakes etc.
• Buttons would look great, beads, knitted things, silversmithed objects, fabric flowers.
• Felted wool can be bent, sewn, moulded and twisted in a million different directions.
• You could use paper clay and make a gorgeous brooche imprinting leaves, lace, tulle etc.
• The SKY IS THE LIMIT – see where your imagination takes you!

Check out our tutorials and links to get started:

• Tutorial to Make Kanzashi
  
• Tutorial to Sew a Soft Circuit – the is so cool!
• Tutorial to Make a Geisha Flower Clip

More ideas for using kilt pins taken from Marie Claire Idees – these are to die for! And wait there is more!

Some ideas for using felt from Marie Claire Idees! Lovely!

So, I hope you can join us! Start creating!

Questions? Thoughts? Links? Tips?

Enjoy!

When you have completed your wild creation visit our new onehourcraft group on flickr and upload them!  That way everybody will be able to see them!

The Team at One Hour Craft

On Sunday, my little girl and I got some yarn from her stash (yes, she has her own) and made pom-poms.  I have loads of ideas of what to do with them.

But, when we had made about twenty I thought to myself that these would look fantastic strung together and loosely hung on a Christmas tree.

We had so much fun making these!  Little children need a template to make these.  I made a template like this:

1.  I took a piece of cardboard and traced two circles (actually I traced around two glasses).  Then I took a smaller cup and traced around it in the circles, to make a smaller inside circle.
2. Then I cut out both circles and the holes in the middle, until I was left with two cardboard donut shapes.
3. Then I put these two donuts together and took the yarn and began windng it through the donuts, close together.
4. Then I let my daughter take over (even children as young as four can do this).
5. When she had finished winding around it, I took the yarn and finished the pom-pom.
6. I left a piece of yarn hanging at the end.
7. I took scissors and cut the wound yarn on the outer edge where the two donuts met.
8. Then I put the yarn at the end, made a gap between the two donuts with my fingers and wound it around the threads tightly.
9. I ended this with a few knots and this made a lovely pom-pom.

For the pom-poms I made I used this fantastic Tutorial to Make Pom-Poms (the adult way, would be too difficult for little people) by Bella Dia has kindly posted on the Net.  Once I got the hang of not making the yarn so tight that it cut off circulation to my fingers, it was fantastic.  I made a lot of pom-poms in a short amount of time.  Pom-poms using this technique literally take three minutes instead of thirty for the other way.

The fun part was giving the pom-poms a good old hair cut.  My pom-poms needed a lot more trimming than the other ones!

Now we have a mass of pom-poms, strung together, and they will be the tinsel on this year’s tree!

Enjoy!

Mia

Hi ya,

I know, we have not included any tutorials for Christmas things to make.  The reasons are many, one is that there are too many on the net already.  Our main reason is that we are sick of Christmas and other holiday crafts. 

Australians are known for our less-is-more approach to decoration (maybe we are all minimalists at heart), but in the last few years, Christmas decorations around our cities are becoming more and more obnoxious.  I can’t stand it.  I hate to go to the shops during this period.   Enough is enough, loud carols blaring, santa bells, visual onslaught of fake holly and fir trees (don’t grow here), snow (it is 40 degrees outside), Dancing Santas, Elves, Reindeers.   I leave the shops with a headache and a grim view of Christmas.

Where did all the loveliness go?  Where are the handmade cards made by grubby little hands who have misspelt words?  Where are the ten year-old stockings ready for their holes to be mended?  Where is the simplicity? 

Where is the acknowledgement that we do need space, serenity, detentes, peace, even during the festive season?

Anyway, back to original talk.  I have not included Christmas tutorials because I am too overwhelmed by the mass of them and the glitter. 

But I have found some lovely, simple little ideas, which may seem silly in their simplicity.  And I will include these in the next few days.

Ok.

Mia

Hi ho everybody-o,

This is a call for ideas.  We are planning our first One Hour Craft Challenge.

We will choose a craft idea from one of the tutorials on the site each month and ask our readers to join us in making it.

Now, which one to choose?  Leave us a note in the comments box and let us know which craft we should go for, for our first challenge.

How it will work…

1. We will set the monthly challenge.
2. We will ask you all to get to it!
3. We will provide a site to send your photos to.
4. We will choose a winner out of the submissions.
5. We will give a prize.
6. We will all feel happy because we have all made something and making things is just great!

Hmm, now we need a prize.

Yes, we have in mind that Christmas is around the corner, so maybe a craft item that would be great as a decoration or present would be the best to start with.  Don’t know – it is open to you all!

Ideas?

Mia

Photo above of a lovely wristlet which is machine embroidered with a dragonfly (gorgeous) using a normal sewing machine. Photo from ‘When Bambou Sews’.

Well, I have found a great tutorial on a French craft blog called ‘When Bambou Sews‘ that I read. Take a look at this easy photo Tutorial to Machine Embroider a Bag.

Below I have translated the important parts for you:

Materials Needed

A normal sewing machine

Tissue paper

Lead pencil

Material

Coloured thread

All the other things needed to sew with.

How to Machine Embroider

1. Take your pencil and trace the image you want onto the tissue paper.
2. Pin the tissue paper onto the material you are going to embroider.
3. For little parts of the image, you can replace your machine needle with a needle with a smaller head, also reduce the length of your stitch.
4. When you have embroidered the image onto the tissue paper, pull the paper away.
5. Voila, you are left with a lovely machine embroidered image.

A few tips from me:

• The amazing original freezer paper is ideal for this because you can iron it to the material and it won’t move while you are sewing.
• Embroidery thread is a must. You can buy metallic threads which would look great.
• To get images search Google images, or you can find images anywhere and reduce them to lines in Photoshop (but that is another tutorial in itself)
• A free pattern for a very cute wrist bag, perfect for this, is available at Butterick Patterns.
• You could use this technique on tshirts, socks?, bags, pencil cases, pillow cases, towels, dresses, hats, the sky is the limit!

I am in love!

Bambou has used the same technique to create the beautiful flower motif on the bag below!

Thoughts?

Enjoy!

Mia

Thanks to Anna Torborg of Twelve 22 for a wonderful Tutorial to Make a Mouse Mat Cover.  This tutorial is easy and well written.  When you get to the site all you have to do is download the PDF to make this.

I think with Christmas coming up things like these make perfect stocking fillers.  I like her idea of using bright patterned fabrics – yay!  I love the photo above, the mat is made from Kaffe Fassett material.

Enjoy!