Craft | My Home Makes

May 21, 2013
by My Home Makes 4 Comments

Dandelion Heads

I’ve been messing around! Somehow time has flown by. Maybe because I have been spending time in the garden where I have no idea of time. Unless I keep track, a quick half hour outside turns into several hours, then time for other projects disappears.

This week has been just like that. I have been pottering outside and not getting anything done that I had planned. One evening, I found an app for the iPad called Brushes and tried experimenting to see what I could do with it. It is free although you can pay to upgrade to have layers to build up images. I had fun with the single layer trying different brush styles, altering the pixel size, colour and transparency as I went. You can tweak the settings of each brush to change the effects. My first thought was some kind of background that could be printed on transfer paper and used for an embroidery background when ironed on to fabric.

If I get more of a hang of it, it could be used for all sorts of projects. It is like finger painting for adults!

In the end, I think the time I have spent in the garden showed and my favourite image was one of dandelions.

I think it will make a nice card design printed on photo paper.

May 2, 2013
by My Home Makes 1 Comment

Needle Felt Stash

While sorting out, I came across a piece of needle felt fabric I had been working on. It is a mix of dyed wool tops, yarn and fabric scraps worked over a piece of interlining from curtain making. It is punched together with an embellisher machine with six barbed needles needles pushing the fibres of the various materials together. I couldn’t decide what to do next with it, whether to carry on or change to machine embroidery. I like the effect but am not sure what to make with the finished piece, so it just got left.

Picking it up, I like how the colours work but have decided to wait until I am sure of what I want to make before cutting up.

My Denim Heart

April 30, 2013 by My Home Makes | 4 Comments

We have family coming to stay for a couple of months during May and June which has made me view our guest room with a critical eye. I know that before they arrive the temporary plant nursery on the long window sill will have to move into the greenhouse (fingers crossed for some warmer nights soon). The room seems to be the place for all those things transitioning out of the house, the ones that haven’t quite made the charity shop drop off yet and the “should I keep?” items. It is time to spring into action.

While sorting through, I found an old denim shirt and some linen fabric.

I cut a heart from the denim and ironed interfacing onto the linen background and the heart. I then spent a very restful hour embroidering around the edge of the heart and adding some buttons. An old picture frame was rescued and now it is hung on the wall. Maybe the title of this post should be my recycled heart!

I have a bag of shirts and am wondering what other projects I can do that will turn this bedroom into a more welcoming space. Hopefully, in a couple of weeks, I will be able to post the results.

April 26, 2013
by My Home Makes 7 Comments

I’ve sewn a skirt!

The sunshine has come out and I’ve realised that as much as I like Spring and Summer, most of my clothes lean towards colder days. I’ve recently watched the odd episode of the BBC series Sewing Bee where there is a competition running on dressmaking and tailoring skills. It has prompted me to buy a pattern and have a go at sewing a skirt. It is a simple Burda Pattern for a pencil skirt that I will be able to make up in several fabrics to ring the changes.

The pattern came up a little smaller than the sizing (or I am bigger than I thought!) so I made the next size up which is a good fit. The instructions were clear and it was quick to do. It was fun making something for myself as most of my other makes are either for home or I give away. It was also good to start with something easy as the last time I made clothes for myself I was at school… so all these years on my dress making skills are very, very rusty!

Here is a close up of the fabric below:

Ps. You will have to excuse the photos, my camera is broken so this is taken with the iPad which isn’t as crisp.

April 16, 2013
by My Home Makes 8 Comments

Big Knitting Bath Mat

I finished the big knit mat that I was making with the needles my Dad made. Considering the t-shirts that got cut up to make the yarn, I have a very small mat! It will be just about the right size to hop on out of the shower.

The needles were great and as an impatient person, I liked being able to knit something large so quickly. Although the needles are a bit difficult to move around and made my arms ache after a while, with more recycled fabric or t-shirt yarn, I think I could make a rug. Now I know the rough number of stitches to length, and how hungry big knitting can be, I will keep a bag of “well beyond saving” clothes and ask for donations from family until I have enough to give it a go.

Next time round, I will sew the balls of yarn together as I go as I did find it was difficult to join the different coloured lengths neatly and ended up tucking ends round the back and securing with a few stitches.

April 12, 2013
by My Home Makes 5 Comments

Neon Bright Glasses Case

I am old enough to remember the trend for neon back in the 80′s. Now a a little older and hopefully a little wiser, this time round a little neon goes a long way!

I like the current trend enough that I wanted something and I found a pack of fat quarters with some lovely bright colours that I could not resist.

This glasses case is the end result, made in subtle linen and not so subtle pink neon!

I followed a great at tutorial at Sew Fantastic which has easy to follow instructions and photographs.

My companion while I was sewing just snoozed on….

April 9, 2013
by My Home Makes 10 Comments

Owl iPad Cover

When my husband arrived back from a business trip to the USA with an iPad, I wondered what the point of one was as I’d been very happy with our laptop.

It gradually crept up on me what you can do with one, some very useful, some just a waste of time. I like that I can take a picture and write a blog post with such a small portable device and never fail to be amazed at the a amount of information out on the Internet at my finger tips.

In a time when I am considering what possessions and purchases we really need our lives and what we can live without, the iPad is one luxury I am pleased we have.

It needed a case as I am fairly accident prone and wanted something to protect it. Following on from the owl phone cover I made from felt, I came up with this owl iPad cover. It is made from denim with appliqué shapes and lined with the remains of a fat quarter and some wadding. It took a little unpicking and adapting here and there to get something that fitted well. I think as ever, practice makes perfect and my next attempt would be better.

Now my question is, if you saw this at a craft fair and it was at the right price, would you consider buying?

Your reply would be appreciated as I would like to start selling craft items with a longer term view to earn that way. For now, it’s a nice hobby around my current paid employment.

April 4, 2013
by My Home Makes 7 Comments

Big Knitting With Lovely Needles

After seeing some needles I happened to mention it would be fun to try some out but that the ones I had seen were expensive.

A little while later my parents visited and Dad gave me a mystery package. I was so pleased when I opened it. The clever man had made me some knitting needles from broomsticks and not only that, he carved mushrooms on the end which he painted. He joked that if I get bored of big knitting, they can be used as decoration in the garden border. He’s very good at making things out of not very much!

I had been cutting up some old t-shirts to recycle into yarn but wasn’t sure what to do with them. I thought I would try making a knitted mat to put outside the shower. This is as far as I have got.

March 28, 2013
by My Home Makes 9 Comments

Felt Owl Phone Cover

I decided it was time to start making some of the ideas I have been merrily pinning away on Pinterest.

This owl phone cover is the result using scraps of felt and a couple of buttons from my button box. I did some very rustic embroidery on the wings before stitching the pieces together with blanket stitch. The cover is lined with felt.

I think if the pattern was scaled up, it would make a good iPad cover too.

One pin down… About 300 to go!

March 26, 2013
by My Home Makes 3 Comments

Vintage Blanket Cushion – No2

A few months ago I bought a blanket from a charity shop and as some of it was stained, I cut it up and dyed the damaged pieces grey. I needed to recover two cushion covers for the living room and grey suited the colour scheme.

I had left the better parts of the blanket their original blue and decided to have another go covering a big square cushion with a mix of blue and grey. I liked the idea of keeping the blanket label and having it show as part of the vintage feel.

It is good to recycle fabrics and I like working with the slightly felted fabric of the washed blanket. I’ll be on the lookout now for more wool blankets when I next visit a charity shop.

My Home Makes

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Category Archives: Craft