Stitch/Craft

Reduce, Reuse, Recyclebot

Holly — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 00:09:48 +0000

My son decided yesterday that 6:23 a.m. was the perfect time to go through his clothes and “find the stuff that doesn’t fit and use it to make clothes for my critters,” (i.e., stuffed animals). While I have yet to provide Fat Kitty, Skinny Kitty or Huckle with any new clothing, I did go through his clothes, find the stuff that doesn’t fit and turn some of his shirts and new-and-improved versions thanks to this tutorial by Betz White that I have been meaning to try for a long time.

Transforming two long-sleeved shirts into one faux-layered shirt was surprisingly easy. Part of me thought, “Is it really worth it to save shirts that I probably spent $4 each on at Target and could just pass along to my nephew?” But there was something very satisfying about this project, and I can always hand the shirts down once he outgrows them a second time.

For the short-sleeved shirt, I used two short-sleeved t-shirts (duh) and used the technique for the bottom hem on the sleeves as well, since I wanted to keep the original hemmed sleeve of the outer shirt. Very easy!

Origami Organizer

Holly — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 15:34:17 +0000

I bought my friend and fellow-crafter One-Yard Wonders for Christmas, and she has been gracious enough to share it with me when we get together to sew! I think I might have picked the most complicated project in the book to start, the Origami Organizer, but 1) it just leaped out at me as a cool project and 2) it was written by Katherine of One Inch World, who was very helpful to me when I had no idea what I was doing setting up this blog!

I used some leftover fabric that I wasn’t crazy about for my first attempt, just in case I messed up. I found some of the diagrams a bit confusing, but once I figured it out, it was pretty amazing to see the boxes come together all at once.

I gave the organizer to my son, who is forever sorting little treasures he picks up and putting them in various boxes.

I won!

Holly — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 01:28:48 +0000

My last-minute Valentine I made for my son using one of his drawings won second place in the Sew, Mama, Sew! contest! My prize is actually the one I wanted most, a CD containing more than 20 Amy Butler quilting and sewing projects. At first glance, I thought it was just the patterns and instructions (which alone was impressive) but it actually includes software that lets you alter the designs, try out different fabric swatches, etc. I can’t wait to try it out!

photos from Amy Butler Design

Sneaky Valentine

Holly — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 17:47:32 +0000

For some reason, it has never quite occurred to my husband to get me chocolates for Valentine’s Day, even though I LOVE chocolate. Maybe he thinks its too cliche. (He did get me a nifty extension table for my sewing machine, which is also much appreciated). So this year I took matters into my own hands and bought both my husband and son small boxes of chocolate from Granite State Candy, our favorite local candy shop, in hopes that they would share. And I made my son this adorable hedgehog, using a pattern by Betz White. So cute! Next time I think I will wash the brown wool felt to make it a little fuzzier. I had an old felted tan sweater I used for the body, and have a bunch of grey pieces ready to sew together to make some of the mice also included in Betz’s pattern.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Last-minute Valentine

Holly — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 20:45:41 +0000

I decided at the last minute to enter the True Love Valentine Contest at Sew, Mama, Sew! and make this little fabric card and envelope for my son. I used the same technique that I recently used to make my husband a notebook cover, but this time, I used a smaller paintbrush and painted before embroidering, which worked better than trying to paint right up to the stitching. (and I used a picture he drew of me and him instead of Daddy and the cat).

I’m sure he won’t be terribly excited by it, but it will make a nice keepsake. And I know he’ll at least like the envelope, since he’s always writing letters to friends and relatives.

Charming Valentines

Holly — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 19:06:55 +0000

AP Photo/Holly Ramer

I know at some point I’ll have to let my son make or at least pick out his own Valentines, but while he’s still young enough to not have much of an opinion about it, I can’t resist taking over. I had been wanting to write about “The Polymer Clay Cookbook” for a while, so this was the perfect chance to try out a bunch of the projects. You can read my Associated Press article (and tutorial for making the ice cream cones) HERE.

AP Photo/Holly Ramer

Since my son’s school asks everyone to bring in signed cards that aren’t addressed to specific classmates, I tried to stick with the projects that would appeal to both boys and girls. I thought it would be hard to come up with silly puns for each item, but once I got going, it was pretty easy. My part is done, but it might take my 5-year-old longer to sign all the cards than it did to make the charms…

Painted & Embroidered Notebook Cover

Holly — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 14:11:18 +0000

Happy Birthday to my impossible-to-buy-gifts-for husband! He hates surprises and tends to buy things for himself before I get around to it. Add in the fact that his birthday comes just over a month after Christmas and a week before Valentine’s Day, and I’m usually scrambling for ideas. But this year, I think I did pretty well. I got him a new sport coat for work, a subscription to “Backyard Poultry” magazine (unless I talk him out of it, he insists we are getting chickens in the spring) and this notebook cover I made at the last second by taking one of my son’s drawings (that’s Daddy and our cat, Sammy), transferring it onto linen and then embroidering and painting it. I’m sure it would’ve turned out better had I not started it a mere two days before the big day, and had I taken 20 minutes to go buy a better paintbrush instead of using one I swiped from my son’s art kit. And I really do not know how to embroider. But given the design, I think it’s ok that it looks like a 5-year-old made it.

It’s been so exciting to see my son’s first real attempts at drawing, and I’ve been so eager to incorporate his creations into some kind of project. I was inspired by the wonderful bookmarks Amanda Soule made with her children’s artwork, and probably should’ve stopped there, with just outlining the drawings with embroidery. But a few days ago I stumbled upon the painted embroidery by Melissa Crowe at Checkout Girl. Please take a look at her amazing artwork, and you’ll see what a pale, pale imitation my attempt is. I’m envious both of her talent and location (Portland, Maine), where I once lived and probably would’ve stayed had my job not been temporary. (Actually, Amanda lives in Portland, too. There must be something in the water!) To make the notebook cover, I followed this tutorial at Bloom And Blossom, though I ran into a bit of trouble. The directions called for cutting the fabric 1.75 times the width of the opened notebook, but that seemed like way too much, so I just ended up wrapping the fabric around the notebook and figuring out how much I needed to cover it and make the flaps. But I really like the tutorial overall, because unlike a lot of other notebook cover tutorials out there, there aren’t a lot of layers of fabric and bulky seams in this one.

Handmade Mini Treehouse

Holly — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 01:07:34 +0000

I’m finally getting around to posting what probably was my son’s favorite Christmas gift, and it is one for which I can take only the smallest sliver of credit. I suggested to my husband that our 5-year-old might like a mini treehouse like this one, but I was sure we could make one for far less than $130. (Of course I now see similar items on Amazon for about $60, but at the time there wasn’t much out there. And even $60 is a lot). He took some cut-up tree limbs and branches from a friend’s debris pile and bought the round cuts of wood and greenery at the craft store. My father-in-law cut the pieces to make them level, and my husband screwed them to the round cuts. The ladder is made out of popsicle sticks hot-glued to string.

I still want to do something to the base (I would’ve painted it to look more like grass … but was happy to leave the construction to someone else), maybe add some wool felt, or a felted stone wall. The wooden furniture is purchased dollhouse furniture. We’ve turned the armoire into a refrigerator, and filled it with some little charms like the ones I made for his girl friends and cousins, minus the jewelry findings.

Santa also managed to find a little Huckle figurine on eBay, who is right at home with the other animals.

Be My Valentine (but keep your germs to yourself)

Holly — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 01:44:02 +0000

I have no idea what we’ll do this year yet, but last year I made 20 tissue cozies for my son’s preschool classmates. I’m sure the kids would’ve preferred candy but figured the parents would appreciate the tissues during cold and flu season.

Depending on how far you want to carry the theme, attach a card with the following message:

“Knock, knock.”

“Who’s there?”

“Ah-choo!”

“Ah-choo who?”

“Ah-choose YOU for my Valentine!”

Grown-ups may gag at the punny sentiment, but at least a tissue will be close at hand.

You can click here to read the how-to article I wrote for AP. This really is a very easy project, but the written instructions make it sound more confusing than it is, so here’s my attempt at illustration via Photoshop.

I’m hoping to find an idea for this year here:

Gifts for far-flung friends

Holly — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 01:35:01 +0000

I just spent three days with my best friend who lives much, much too far away. In addition to the good company and good food, I also got a chance to see her family and inspect whether they REALLY liked the Christmas gifts I sent them. Though I’m sure it’s possible they only took them out for display purposes before I arrived, they did seem to genuinely like everything I sent.

Here’s the Mommy & baby Black Apple dolls I made for my friend’s adorable daughter, featuring pigtails heavily inspired/directly copied from Larissa at mmmcrafts. If I was smart, I would’ve made the baby doll using the full size pattern and then enlarged the pattern to make the Mommy doll, but I didn’t decide to make the baby until after I made the Mommy. It was pretty tricky to make such a small version, and I ended up leaving the entire bottom edge of the body open to stuff it. (but here’s one smart thing: if you’re adding pigtails, leave the opening in the head where one of the pigtails will be, so when you turn the doll right-side-out, you can cover up your messy hand-stitching with a bow)

And here’s the recipient with an armful of babies:

I made my friend’s 6-year-old son a personalized space-themed pillowcase using my tutorial, and tooth pillow using Larissa’s darling pattern. It’s the same pattern I used to make my son’s tooth pillow, but this time I also made a little hat.