Mandala Magic

Hi,

I have been busy admiring all these wonderful crochet mandalas people have been creating on their blogs and have finally got round to having a go myself.

I decided to have a go at the pattern Lucy had created on Attic 24 and I was surprised how quick and easy they were to crochet.  So I sat in the sunshine and one Sunday afternoon later this was my result.

Realising how quick they were to create I thought I would make my own contribution to Lucy's Yarndale challenge so I visited Zelna on Zooty Owl and followed her pattern for the Granny Mini Mandala. I used similar colours as before but was pleased with the result so just need to post it.

Visit Lucy and Zelna's blogs and have a go!

Bye for now

Von x 

Dressmaking- Part 4

I have continued making my dress by starting with the skirt now that the top half of the garment is completed. I have sewn together the panels of the skirt as directed in the pattern; this is the final result:

Next, I have sewn the top half of the dress and skirt together. I decided not to include any lining in the skirt, which meant that I had to fold over the lining in the bodice and pin it to give a neat finish. Then I have sewn and slip stitched it down to ensure that no stitching would be visible on the right side of the garment.

The next stage was to sew an invisible zip into the dress. In the pattern room has to be left in the skirt for the zip, however, I decided not to do this as no lining would be covering the zip in the skirt. I have sewn the invisible zip into the top half of the dress only:

I included a hook and eye above the zip to give a neat finish:

I double folded and pinned the hem. I then tacked it into place to make it easier when sewing; I then sewed an invisible stitch across the hem of the dress to avoid any visible stitches. Finally, I pressed the hem with the iron.

I used a roller usually used to remove dog/cat hair off clothes to get rid of any loose threads on the dress.

After ironing the dress, this was the final result:

I hope you enjoyed reading this tutorial, I will be back with another project soon.

Bye for now,
Heather :) 

Hooded Baby Jacket

I thought I would have a try at crocheting a baby jacket for my friend's baby girl and was browsing through my "Simply Crochet" magazines when I came across this Hooded Baby Jacket in issue 11.

 

I bought this lovely yarn from "Hobbycraft" which is the Women' Institute Soft and Silky 4ply in the lilac shade.  It is an acrylic yarn but was lovely to work with.

 

I am really pleased with the finished results.  I have never made a baby jacket before and found this fairly straight forward.  I would definitely have a go again.

 

Need to think about my next project now....

 

Bye for now,

 

Von x

 

Fabric Gift Tags

Had lots of fun making some fabric gift tags this week.    Now that I have finally made some (this has been something that I wanted to have a go at for a while)  I feel inspired to make lots more so that all of the Christmas presents and birthday presents that I wrap for the rest of this year can be wonderfully wrapped.   

 

I always seem to have the best intentions of wrapping presents beautifully but then end up throwing presents into wrapping paper in a last minute rush!!     

 

 

 

Also managed to incorporate a little bit of sewing with paper into this crafting project  so feeling pretty chuffed about that that ... after all it was only March of this year that I said I felt inspired to have a go at sewing with paper and although this is only a little piece of cardboard written on and sewed to the fabric it was still sewn on with my sewing machine so I think it counts!!!!  lol.   

 

 

Julie
x

 

 

 

Transform a jar into a decorated vase!!



The children are back at school after the May half term and this week has gone like lightening ... the childrens social lives are very busy and today has been another busy day so tonight it was lovely to sit down, relax and watch Britains Got Talent with the children.   Soooo glad that a very deserving Collabro won it.  They were amazing .. would love to see them sing live.   Although Darcy was very good too ... did wonder if he was actually going to manage to get out of that one tonight but very cool and collected as always! 

 

After having some withdrawals symptoms from the lack of time to do much crafting this week I  decided to fit in a little crafting this afternoon ... this is so quick and easy to do and is a great way to turn a plain old jar into a really nice little vase to either give flowers to someone or to decorate the home. 

 

 

 

All you need is a Jar, a glue gun and some spray paint!!

 

First of all draw onto the jar using a felt tip pen the design (in this case a heart), or the lettering , that you want on your vase and then, using a glue gun,  go over the top of the template that you have drawn on the jar so that the glue is raised above the glass surface as shown above.

 

 

Once the glue is dry ... spray paint the jar (all over).   I would suggest that this is best done outside as it can get a little messy to say the least.

Allow the spray paint to dry and you have the finished result ready to use ...

 

If you decide to have a go at this then please leave us a comment to let us know how your vase turned out.

 

Julie
x

 

 

Rabbit Snuggle Blanket

 Hello there,

I thought I would share with you my latest creation.  A close friend recently had a baby girl and this has given me a good excuse to make all things baby related.  I had seen young children with similar small blankets made from fleece and I thought I could have a go at one of these in crochet.

 

 



I added a rabbit head, using embroidery silks to add the facial features.  Then underneath I attached a soft piece of fabric.

 

I used Sirdar Snuggly Pearls DK which has a lovely soft feel and a glitter effect.

Really pleased with finish.  Will try to write up my pattern for this soon.

Bye For Now

Von x