Patchwork Central

Felt birthday crown

2011-02-06T00:28:00.001-08:00

My baby is turning one in a couple of weeks and I have already started the preparations to organise the most beautiful first birthday ever.

Browsing the web for DIY party decoration and food as well as birthday cake ideas I came across this great crown template fit for my prince and decided to make one of my own.

I just changed the number the a 1 and added some beads to the original design and of course chose colours to my own liking.Yellow and green seemed like such a good fit as the decorations will sport the same colours to the most part.

If you want to make a birthday crown for your angel all you will need is

two pieces of 0,5 m felt (2 different colours of course)
a crown template that you can download from this wonderful blog
elastic for the back of the crown to make it fit
beads (optional)
thread and a needle or sowing machine if you have it

The best thing to do is to pin the template to the felt so it won't move while you are cutting it out.

After cutting out the form in both colours, cut out the birthday number of your baby from the felt piece you will place above so that the one under it will show through.

Sew the two together by adding the beads (or not) and your birthday crown is ready. Have fun making your own!

DIY- Copper wire ring

2011-01-25T00:20:00.001-08:00

I know I have been away for some time now but as my son is growing and sleeping less and less during the day I find that my time to do things for myself is being cut shorter and shorter.
I'm not complaining though, he is a joy to be around and I do steal some time away as often as I can to focus on myself.
Yesterday was such a day and I ended up using my free time to make a a ring from some old beads I had laying around for a while now. Its very easy to do and takes less then 30 minutes. So here is the tutorial for you.

You will need:

brown and green beads (or any other 2 colors you prefer and that merge in the bead you will use for the center)
a larger bead as the center piece
copper wire (about 50 cm)

Step 1

Step 2

Step 3

Step 4

and the finished ring is ready to wear

Have fun making your own!

More DIY- Blugirl inspired handbags

2011-01-03T05:42:00.000-08:00

Happy holidays everyone!

They have been happy indeed, for me at least, this being the first holiday I spent with my little family, at it being my son's first Christmas. I especially enjoy giving presents and this year I ended up making some of them myself.

Remember the Blugirl inspired silk chiffon flower handbag I made based on a secretlifeofabionerd video which I shared with you? Well I ended up making two more as presents for my family.

If you like them and would like to make some yourself check out the tutorial.

Plaid jacket Tutorial

2010-10-14T11:22:00.000-07:00

Do you like plaid? I'm usually all for monochromatic jackets but I found this great material that I just couldn't resist (especially at the bargain price of 3$) so I bought it, combined it with some red material I had fro some time and the result, well...I kinda love it

I used a cardigan- that has seen better days, and I was no longer wearing it but I love the silhouette- as a pattern- usually I use my old clothes as patterns. This is the front of the jacket

and the back

I put the front and the back wrong sides facing and sewed them together with a running stitch

I made a second jacket from the red material, which was going to be the lining. after the two jackets were done I put them over each other, wrongs sides facing, left an opening at the neckline and turned it inside out after having sewn them together.

the collar

again, wrong sides facing, the white lace that was going to show was sewn in between the two layers

...and for the closure of the jacket I made a brooch from the same materials, using a safety pin to pin it in place. For a tutorial on how to make the flowers, you can check out this post

So long story short...this is my jacket.

Do you like it?

Storage Baskets Tutorial

2010-09-23T23:51:00.000-07:00

I've said this before, I love finding tutorials on the net and making things myself and I have become especially artsy-crafty since my son was born. The latest in a long line of things that I have made are some hanging storage baskets for his toys. I found a wonderful tutorial by the Mother Huddle based on which I made them.

If you are thinking of making them yourself I will walk you trough on how to make them.

First of all you will need the following materials:

three 20x 25.5 cm (8 x 10 inch) wooden panels (in the tutorial mentioned above you will find that Plexiglas sheets were used which you can also do, but wood was more accessible to me)
three 47 x 72 cm (18½ x 28 inch) fabric pieces from you outer material and the same size three pieces from your lining material
three 10 x 27 cm ( 4 x 10 ½ inch) pieces
a curtain rod for hanging the baskets

First you will need to fold your large pieces in half with right side in, short ends together and them sew up the sides, leaving the top open. Like this:

do the same to your lining material as well

Next, take your fabric and fold your corners down like shown in the picture below. Measure 8.5 cm (3¾ inches) from the endpoint and pin across on both sides like so:

Then turn your fabric right side out, place in the wooden panel, then your lining material and pin the top by adding the smaller material (hem the sides of it before inserting) to what will be the backside of the basket.

sew it up, insert the rod and you are done

For more on how to make these wonderful baskets visit the tutorial on: http://www.u-createcrafts.com/2010/07/creative-guest-hanging-storage-baskets.html

DIY- top refashion

2010-08-09T00:21:00.000-07:00

I have a thing for flowers lately, and this top was looking kinda boring so...I gave it a touch of color by adding these red yo-yo's and a new red waistband

this was the original blouse and the skirt I cut up for the waistband and yo-yo' s (both thrift shop finds:) )

the original blouse

after I removed the black lace

I cut out the waistband (you can only see half of it here)

I folded it in half and added two yo-yo's to the side

I pinned the waistband to the bottom of the blouse before sewing it on, in such a manner that no frayed edges were left

left an opening on the inside to introduce the elastic

then basically just made a bunch of yo-yo's - you can find a tutorial for making yo -yo's here

after having pinned on the first row of yo -yo's

and voila: the finished blouse!

Love it? Hate it?

DIY- Blugirl inspired handbag

2010-08-05T11:33:00.001-07:00

Remember one of my previous posts were I shared a secretlifeofabionerd video with you on how to make your own Blugirl inspired silk chiffon flower handbag? (you can see the Blugirl handbag on the left)

Well I have gone and made my own. My son's christening is coming up and I needed a little bag to match my dress and since I like this bag so much and the tutorial made it seem easy enough to do, I decided that I was going to make a handbag of my own in purple.

The bag is 24cm x 13cm and it only took me six flowers to embellish it. The tutorial shows a bag with many smaller flowers but I found that this solutions was just as good and less time consuming. However if you make the handbag yourself you are free to choose whichever solution you like.

If you choose to make the bag, these are the materials you will need to do it:

silk chiffon for the bag (2 pieces of 25cm x 14cm)
lining material (same dimensions)
one zipper
leftover lining and silk chiffon material for the flowers, some lace if you have it in a similar shade
rhinestones to embellish the flowers
chain (length depends on how you want to wear your little bag)
ribbon to weave into the chain (length depends on the length of the chain)

here are some pictures of my work in progress:

these are my 4 pieces of fabric, the outer part of the bag and the lining, as well as the zipper I used

the pieces sewn onto the zipper, before final assembly

after top-stitching

the petals

the finished flowers

the bag, the flowers, the chain and the ribbon before I weaved it into the chain

and the finished bag

paired with the dress I am going to wear to the christening

Thoughts?

Sailor suit for my baby

2010-07-27T01:12:00.001-07:00

My son's christening is coming up and I wanted him to wear something made by me so that I could always remember that when looking at the photos. I chose to make a sailor suit by using similar size clothes as patterns. That is usually what I do with all of my projects, use clothes that I already have as patterns, take clothes that I no longer use apart and then trace around them. But you don't need to deconstruct things if you still wear them you can just fold them in half, trace them on paper and use the paper patterns. It takes somewhat longer but you get to keep your clothes intact.

Materials needed for this project

1,5 m x 1 m white linen
3 m navy ribbon
some scraps of red satin for the bow and collar
elastic for the pants
4 small navy colored buttons
white, red and navy thread

Getting started

the first thing I cut of were the pants, because they were the easiest part of he outfit and I like to start with what is easiest just to get warmed up :) As you can see I had already attached the ribbon here

next was the blouse. This is the front of the blouse with the ribbon also partially sewn on already

this is the front and the arms, with the ribbons also already sewn on (I like to sew them on before assembly, that way there are no frayed edges)

the front, the arms and the back of the shirt

the front of the collar

the front with the back flipped over just so you can see that I lined it with red (that actually happened because I ran out of the white linen, but it turned out to be a nice touch)

and the back of the collar

the shirt before I sew the bow and the buttons on and inserted the detachable front piece (so the baby can fit its head through it and you don't need a zipper on anything else of the sort just some velcro for the detachable piece)

and the finished suit

since I don't know how to make shoes I was so happy to find this cute pair of sandals that go just perfectly with the suit

white and navy! How lucky was I to find these :)!

Did you like the tutorial? Did you ever make something similar yourself? Any clothes for your baby?

Floral summer dress tutorial

2010-07-25T05:39:00.000-07:00

Remember the tutorials I have shared with you from the scret life of a bio nerd? Well I decided to put them to good use and make a cute new summer dress for myself, while summer still lasts.

I used two tops that I got from a friend who was no longer wearing them and knew that I like refashioning clothes. They turned out to be the perfect ingredients for my newest project.

These are the tops that I used: a linen tank top and a stretch tube top.

first I started with the linen top

I took it apart and used the bottom part as the skirt part of the dress

then I pinned the tube top to the skirt

and used the scraps left over from the top part of the linen top to create flowers

what I ended up making were 4 yo-yos

I used my rotary cutter and a glass for the shape

step 1

step 2

step 3

step 4

if you want the tutorial for these you can check it out here , but I guess it's pretty obvious how to make them from the photos as well.

For the other flower that I made you can find the tutorial here. Mine is not exactly the same but you can always change it up and have fun with it just to make it your own.

what I did was cut out 18 petals

stack them over each other

sew them together with a long running stitch

and then pull on the thread

the final product

and a closeup of my flowers

me wearing the dress with my yellow thrifted H&M cardigan

Do you like the dress? Did you find the tutorial to be helpful or inspiring?

Thanks for the feedback. (any feedback!!!)

Do It Yourself Flowers

2010-07-14T00:55:00.001-07:00

If you like accessorizing your clothes, bags, home decor items...these flowers will definitely come in handy.
I found these tutorials to be very helpful so I just wanted to share them with you!

Have fun making flowers, they have a tendency to brighten the day, and imagine what they can do if they never wither!

1 skirt +1 skirt= 1 dress

2010-06-29T11:05:00.000-07:00

Continuing with my redesigning projects, here is my newest creation- a long summer dress, that I have made out of two skirts I was no longer wearing

I took the skirts apart and pieced them together so that they would look like a cohesive new piece
and here is my brand new summer dress, ready to be worn out (praying for warm weather :)!)

A shirt from way back when

2010-06-28T22:40:00.000-07:00

I bought this shirt in my senior year of high school...haven't worn it since, but after making these alterations its time to take it out of the closet again.

All I needed was some:

textile paint
elastic
an iron

(Just make sure the paint dries before you iron it to make the painting permanent!)

Feathered hair barrettes

2010-06-09T06:29:00.000-07:00

If you are thinking of making your own all you will need to do is go to your local arts and crafts store and buy some

feathers
superglue
barrettes
sequin

These are a couple I have made today:

one to match a dress I recently bought

and red for all occasions

Bubble Dress Update

2010-05-30T10:41:00.000-07:00

Well...

I ended up making some changes to my bubble dress in the end. I absolutely loved the bottom part but the top was not my best work...so today I took it apart, kept the bottom but scraped the top part and made a totally new one. I am quite happy with it.

It looks best paired with my black-and-white patent pleather belt.

Here is the dress without the belt

and me and my son ready to go out for our Sunday afternoon walk.

All new Bubble-Dress

2010-05-29T13:10:00.000-07:00

I had a dress that I just loooved.... and wanted to make one just the same.
But as it often happens with me I rethink the design during the process and end up making something totally different in the end. That is kind of the short story of my bubble dress as well.

So I had this dress and it inspired me

I took my materials

and started cutting

pieced the dress together

but then I realized it would look better this way!

And thus the bubble dress was born.

My black shirt gets a face-lift

2010-05-25T03:09:00.001-07:00

Another huge shirt that I had I finally got around to restyling.

This was the original shirt

I used a wide elastic band and some fuchsia colored thread to revamp it

Then I measured, marked and cut of the bottom part of the shirt

I used the different types of stitching I had on my sewing machine to add some color to the neckline

and then added the bottom part that I had cut down , by also adding the elastic band, in order to reshape the shirt.

And this is my end result.

Quite nice for 30 minutes of work I think! :)

Another blouse revamped

2010-05-17T06:06:00.000-07:00

...another one of my pregnancy blouses that I was never going to wear.

The first one is the before picture and the second one is the after picture.

I don't intend to give to many explanations but rather let the pictures speak for themselves.

The original

Step 1

Step 2

Step 3

Step 4

Step 5

THE END! :)

My new tiered dress

2010-05-14T02:39:00.000-07:00

Boy these sowing skills will come in handy if our government keeps cutting those funds! I will end up making all of my clothes myself, maybe some for my family...!

Anyway this is my newest creation. I used an old flower-pattern skirt I haven't worn in a while, some lace, elastic gray material for the base and some elastic for attaching the layers.

First I built the base of the dress from the elastic gray material that I had lying around for a while now.

Then I cut up the skirt into 3 strips of fabric for the layers and attached these to the base of the dress. I used the same material for the straps as well.

The last step was attaching the lace (which was elastic as well) to the dress top...

and here you go: my end result.

Like it?

The Romanian Government is paying for its mistakes by taking away childcare

2010-05-12T23:41:00.000-07:00

The Romanian Government is planning to reduce childcare from 85% of the cumulative salary for the last year of work to 600 RON (182$) for all mothers, irregardless of the taxes they paid for their earnings.

I usually do not address such topics on my blog but this time I have to make an exception!

As a new mother myself I found it to be an outrage what is happening in our country at the present moment.

We have watched in the past few months how pensions have been cut, how the public educational system and health-care have been reduced to ruins - and its not over yet- and now we are expected to stand by and watch how mothers get their childcare taken away from them and have to raise their children on less then 200$ a month, in addition to paying their bills and mortgage.

The government is changing the rules as they go along. When I paid those huge taxes on my salary nobody seemed to be offended, but now that its time to give back, suddenly we are expecting to much. Even sadder is the fact that there seem to be people siding with this view. Have you no mothers or children of your own? Try and raise a child, or more, on 200$ a month, after having had a decent salary and having paid taxes for much more than that!

I urge all mothers, future mothers or anyone who cares about the future of this country to sign this online petition to maintain the 85%.

http://www.realitatea.net/petitie-online--mentineti-indemnizatia-pentru-mame-la-85prc--din-venit--semneaza-aici_713324.html

Let's not punish our children for the mistakes of government officials who have built castles and bought luxury cars from the taxes we have paid!!!

My first pair of pants

2010-05-03T10:41:00.000-07:00

...another project with a happy ending.

This is the fist pair of pants I have ever made and they turned out to be quite nice.

Spring is here, although the heat makes it feel more like summer, and I needed a new pair of breeze pants.

I had a pair of green linen pants that I really loved but they were not in a very good condition so I took them apart and used them as a pattern for a new pair that I made out of black linen. The material for the new pair of pants cost me less than 10 $ so it was quite a bargain.

this is the pattern I used on the new material

the new black linen pants cut out

the pockets that I attached before sewing the front and back together

and my end result

Bow-bow-blouse

2010-04-27T22:47:00.001-07:00

My materials:

green and white striped fabric

white lace

elastic

I cut out two identical square pieces of fabric for the front and back, hemmed them and attached the white lace

then I attached the elastic, sew the right sides together

and there you go:

I am pretty happy with the result! What do you think?

White Satin Top

2010-04-27T03:21:00.000-07:00

This white satin top is my newest creation and I am extremely proud of it as it took less the an hour to make and the result was unexpectedly nice.

I had this material laying around for quite some time now and after finally making my own dress form today I decided to make a top out of it with the help of my newly created dress form.

this is my material and the top that inspired me. However I decided to give my new top a twist through the bow on the side.

This is the blouse as I pinned it together on the dress form

and this is my end result

Not bad for an hours work if I say so myself!

Black-and-Brown Tunic

2010-04-22T11:19:00.000-07:00

...another project modeled by my sister.

I found this wonderfully interesting silk at my favorite thrift shop

and decided to make a tunic out of it.

My work in progress

and you can see the result at the top of the page!

Tutu Tulle Skirt

2010-04-22T07:04:00.001-07:00

This was the most fun project I have had in a long time. My sister's birthday is coming up so she asked me to make a tutu skirt for her so she could were it to her sweet sixteen.

She chose the tulle herself, since it was to be worn by her and I didn't want to make any of the choices alone. What we ended up with was lilac, white and black.

Originally she wanted pink and black but the choices were kind of limited...so we settle on this.

If you are thinking about making a tutu skirt yourself these are the materials you will need:

6 meters of tulle (2 meters in each color)
a wide black elastic band

It is real easy to do. You just cut stripes in the length you would like to have the skirt in, I cut them so that the lilac on top would be the shortest, the white a bit longer and the black on the bottom the longest.

This is the skirt just before assembly

this is me sowing away (my sister took the picture)

and this is what my sister ended up with

She likes it very much, its fun, young and the most appropriate for a sweet sixteen.

Have fun making your own!

Patchwork shirt

2010-04-16T04:53:00.000-07:00

My latest project was revamping a black shirt that I absolutely loved, but that doesn't fit my post-pregnancy body.
So I decided to make it bigger, better and more colorful!
I used two materials I had previously purchased in my favorite thrift shop.
This is my shirt on the left before I took it apart and the materials I used to remake it.

This is the work in progress, the new patchwork front of my shirt as I was building it:

and this is my end result.

I am quite pleased with it and cant wait to wear it with my favorite pair of jeans.

Thoughts?

LBD with a twist

2010-04-01T11:05:00.000-07:00

Continuing my closet refashioning project- update!

As I have previously mentioned I'm cutting up most of my pregnancy blouses and clothes that don't fit me anymore and making them into something new.

This black lace I have had for some time and I decided to turn it into a LBD with a twist.
I bought some nude stretch fabric for an undergarment and decided to make this double layered dress. The black lace is elastic as well.

The stretch was very hard to work with and my sowing machine isn't particularly suited to work with such a material. It kind of has a mind of its own and moves the way it wants to. So I ended up doing some hand stitching as well...as I didn't dare risk using the machine for certain finer touches.

However the end result is pretty nice, I think. I wore the dress here with a large black cardigan and one of my favorite accessories, the beige flower brooch.

Here are my materials: the black lace and the nude stretch

and my end result

New Shrug

2010-03-31T01:15:00.000-07:00

There are several projects I am working on for revamping my closet, this is one of them...partially finished.

I took one of my pregnancy blouses and used it as a base material. The end result should be a shrug and a tiered dress. For now I have the shrug ready and I wanted to share as I am very happy with the end result. Once I am done with the dress as well I will show you how it looks on me.

These are my materials I have used: my knit pregnancy blouse, black and white satin.

Step 1

Step 2

Step 3

and my end result:

Be back with an update on the final look!

Small change, Big difference

2010-03-25T02:01:00.000-07:00

Continuing with my project of revamping my closet I just made some small tweaks and changes to one of my pregnancy blouses and am very happy with the result.
The first picture is of the original blouse, you can see the shape of the blouse, bell shape, the material as it widens towards the bottom of the blouse...I was quite sick of this shape as this is the shape of all of my pregnancy blouses and I had no option of wearing anything else for the past months....so I decided to change the shape of the blouse by using some elastic and giving it a baby-doll look. That is what you can see on the second picture.
The whole change took less then 20 minutes and I am very happy with the result.
The change process:
original shape

cut off the binders

add the elastic

Thoughts?

My patchwork dress

2010-03-21T03:22:00.000-07:00

I wrote some time ago an article about the patchwork dress (http://patchwork-experiments.blogspot.com/2010/02/patchwork-dress.html) and mentioned that I couldn`t wait to make my own.
Well the opportunity has presented itself now that I am refashioning just about everything I have in my closet!
I had this (size 2!- will never ever fit my cleavage area ever again!!!) little black dress since for ever and I like it very much as it could be worn both as casual and you could also dress it up...but now it just wouldn`t fit me so I decided to restyle it so that I could keep wearing it in the future.
I decided to use a pillow case that I bought in a thrift shop to reach my goal.

This is my little black dress and the pillow case I was about to cut up in order to refashion it.

The tools that I have used...

I started by measuring and cutting 3 stripes from the pillowcase material: 2 for the sides of the dress and 1 (10 cm wide) for the bottom. The stripes for the side widen at the bottom (6cm to 10 cm).

I opened up the dress on the sides and pinned in the side-stripes
then sew the materials together on the inside so you don`t see the seams

added the material for the bottom and did the same thing.

My end result! Like it?

Have you made any patchwork dresses of your own? I would love to see them!

Cleaning out my closet

2010-03-13T04:16:00.001-08:00

As you could see from my recent post I finally gave birth to my little darling...it has been 10 days since then and I suddenly felt an irresistible urge to reevaluate my wardrobe that has consisted of nothing but maternity wear (which, quite frankly I was getting more then tired of) in the last five or six months.

So as a first step I decided to throw out everything I had in my closet just to see what I would keep, what I would give away and what can be reused and restyled for my new "condition."

Now ten days postpartum you can imagine that most of my clothes won't fit me...but there are a few that already do. There are also a few I know I am never ever going to wear in the form they are in today. But they have great potential for being refashioned and customized to my newfound needs.

I will keep you updated on the transformation as I re-cut and sew my old clothes into exciting new outfits.

That is....as fast as I start to loose that baby weight and as much as my son will allow me to spend time on this project.

He has been an angel so far...so I guess time shouldn't really be a problem.

I'll be back with updates. Until then, happy blogging!

MY SON

2010-03-09T12:35:00.001-08:00

Hello bloggers out there!

Sorry for being out this much... but I have a pretty good excuse: I finally gave birth to my son.

My last post about Sienna Miller came just minutes before I went into labor (so you see I don't miss any chance to write). Three hours and forty minutes later my son was born.

I never thought that I could love somebody this much from the very first moment I saw him....he is just perfect.

This is a photo of him 5 hours after birth

and this is in the hospital "chillin"

and these are our first minutes at home

I love being a mother!

Baby Bedding Set and Organizer - update

2010-02-24T11:33:00.000-08:00

I promised an update on my latest bedding set...I'm almost done with the crib bumper as well. These are some pictures of the crib with the new bedding set.

As you can see I pinned the bumper on, I still have to attach the buttons on there, but this is pretty much what the end result will look like.

Thoughts?

Murano Glass Earrings

2010-02-23T22:59:00.000-08:00

A few weeks back I found my dream medallion at a store in the center of my bellowed little hometown...

Well the good people from Millefiori are back to make me happy!

I just found the cutest Murano glass earrings at a bargain price (less then 3$).

Is this cuteness overload or what?

Baby Bedding Set and Organizer

2010-02-23T09:46:00.000-08:00

I mentioned it in one of my previous posts that I would make a new bedding set (the last one for now) for my baby...who is still keeping me waiting with that birth :).

So far I have made a pillow case and a duvet cover...

....but then decided to make something new for this bedding set and since I can always use storage space, this is what I came up with...

An Organizer !!!!

this is my base material,
50cm x 55cm green linen

these are the figures I cut out to make pockets out of

these are the threads I used... three different colors to make it more fun

and this is my end result

I still need to make the bumper. I will be back with an update on the entire "look".

Patchwork owen mittens tutorial

2010-02-22T04:24:00.000-08:00

Although there isn't a pattern in the book for an oven mitten I decided to make one.
I used my mitten that I got for Christmas as a pattern.

then cut it out

and cut out the wad padding as well

and the end result:

Like it?

Patchwork owen mitts tutorial

2010-02-21T23:19:00.000-08:00

As mentioned in my previous post this is the pattern according to which we are working. I have made a few changes concerning the materials. I am not using the colors seen in the pattern but ones I had at home.

The main idea is to have 4 different colored fabrics, so that the pattern can be realized.
Whether it is different shades of blue and yellow, or something else is entire up to you.

Start by cutting out 8 triangles 4 in one color and 4 in another (here 4 blue and 4 yellow). The size 7cmx7cm. Don't forget to leave 0,75 cm for seem allowance.

Then cut out 20 rectangles, size 3,5 cm x 3,5 cm. Don't forget to leave 0,75 cm for seem allowance.
You will need 4 of one color (here dark blue) and 8 of another color (light blue) and 8 in yet another color (even lighter blue).

You will also need some wad padding and a 20cm x 20cm material for the back side of the mitt. You can cut out the back side from any of the materials you are using. Ideally, the one you have the most of..

You will also need to cut 4 stripes for the margins. Mine are 22 cm long and 3 cm wide.

Start by sewing the triangles together so that they have the shape seen in the first picture. Sew them two by two and then you can sew the rectangles that resulted together.

Then sew the rectangles together one by one. When you have a row ready you can sew it onto what resulted from sewing the triangles together.

And the front side is ready.

Sew the three layers together

then come the margins...
and you are done!

How did your project turn out? Send me pictures or post a track back link on my blog!

Oven mitts

2010-02-21T09:34:00.000-08:00

As I have mentioned in one of my previous articles I will be taking the patterns found in my Patchwork book one by one and realizing the projects.

I will be taking you step by step through the projects so you can make them yourself if you want to.

The first thing I will be working on is oven mitts. This is a fairly easy project, one that even beginners can realize, so it is perfect for all of you amateurs out there.

The pattern for the oven mitts is this one.
I won't be using the same color materials, and you don't have to do that either. If you find it easier to stick to the same colors you can do that, but I chose to use materials I had instead of going out and buying new ones.

These are my materials.
I will be back with updates on how to cut the patterns and how to sew the materials together!

Patchwork materials and accessories

2010-02-21T08:16:00.000-08:00

If you have also decided to embark on this wonderful journeyer of discovering patchwork and creating and sewing your own ideas or based on patterns, you will need a few accessories to make your vision come true.

One of the first things you will need in order to be able to cut your materials in the exact shape and size you want to have them is a set of tools consisting of a cutting mat, a ruler and a rotary cutter.

I bought a set from OLFA, called a Premium Quiltmaking Kit, it cost me 23,69 Euro+VAT, but it was worth every penny.
My cutting mat is a medium sized one of 45x30 cm. If you plan on making larger things, such as adult bedding sets or blankets, it would maybe be a good idea to purchase the largest cutting mat they have, as I am pretty limited by mine. My ruler is 15x15 cm, which I think is an OK size. I really think that working without a rules and a rotary cutter makes creating patchwork pretty much impossible.

The next thing you will need is of course textiles. Nowadays you can find textiles especially cut out for different patchwork projects, or you can use scraps from you previous projects, materials you buy in thrift shops or anything you have laying around the house that might be to small to use for anything else. Creating patchwork projects can actually be pretty inexpensive if you use the right resources.
When choosing your textiles you have too make sure that you have as many colors and patterns as possible, to make your work interesting, but also that that these materials would not loose their color in time, or stain other materials they are combined with.

As already mentioned before you will need some cutting tools. Certain materials can be cut with scissors. There are certain types of scissors you can buy that are especially made for patchwork, but cutting will always be more exact if done with a rotary cutter.
There are 3 different sizes of rotary cutters, the smallest ones are the most appropriate for cutting curves. In order to use a rotary cutter you will need to also own a cutting mat.

Rulers are used in order to make sure that you cut with your rotary cutter as precisely as possible. With the help of the rules you can cut out different patchwork shapes without having the pattern, in the correct angle , may that be 30, 45 or 60 degrees.

Tracing paper is used to copy patterns and motives you will want to use for your patchwork projects.

Trick- markers are used for copying patters onto the textiles. There are special trick-markers that can be used in case the lines should not be seen after the work is done. These types of trick markers dissolve in water, so once they are washed, they disappear.

The next thing you will need is quilting threads, in as many colors as you can get.
Cotton yard quilting threads are the most commonly used ones, but there are also special quilting threads, such as the gold thread and the invisible thread, that are often used by creators.

The next thing you will need is pins. They are fairly cheap and totally indispensable. There are special pins that are longer and have a glass head, that are special patchwork pins, but the ordinary ones will do just as well.

Quilting needles and quilting sewing machine needles
are also needed.

Quilting needles are short and sharp, making your job much easier.

Machine quilting needles are especially useful if we want to use the sewing machine. They help keep the materials in place.

Dream seamer- the dream seamer is a small brass button with a hole in the center. It is used to mark in a perfect seam allowance, by putting your marking pen in the button's hole and drawing around your template. The outer line will be the cutting line.

And last but not least, you will be doing a lot of pressing. So don't forget to always have your iron and ironing board at hand!

Happy quilting!

My new brooches

2010-02-19T03:21:00.000-08:00

This was a fun new project: I made two brooches.

These were the materials I used (some satin, beads and safety pins to have something to attach the brooch with)

and this is what resulted

and then they found a nice home in my welcoming jewelry cabinet... just until I take them out to wear...

Jewelry made of semiprecious stones

2010-02-18T23:46:00.000-08:00

Diamonds may be a girls best friend but semiprecious stones aren't bad either :)!

For all those jewelry fans out there who just love to have a necklace for every occasion, earrings for every dress, in every possible shape and color, this blog is worth visiting.

You can choose from the many beautiful pieces on the blog or have yours custom made, they are all just one click away.

do you prefer a coral necklace with earrings

or a labradorite masterpiece for a special occasion

or maybe a jade and agate necklace just so it makes you feel like the day you put it on is special :)

I personally love these serpentine and jade combinations with the delicate flower

or maybe you like rodonit

amethyst

garnet

or moukaite

I also love these bookmarks, that I think are just pure genius as a gift...you know mothers day is coming up.

I would also like to just show you some of the beautiful earrings I found on this blog.

But since all of these are my favorites, you might want to check out the blog for yourself to find your personal favorites:

http://giuvaer-dcristal.blogspot.com/

You can search by stones, check out the prices and order or ask for something to be custom made for you.
I hope you like the tip. Happy shopping!

The patchwork dress

2010-02-17T09:12:00.000-08:00

I fell in love with patchwork not to long ago, while making a Christmas baby quilt for my niece.
I knit it for the most part...there was little sewing involved, but it got me started on looking for patterns and learning more and more about how to make quilts, and baby bedding sets...I also got more familiar with my sewing machine.

If you want to see some of my patchworks you can visit: http://patchwork-experiments.blogspot.com/.

But what got me really intrigued lately is the patchwork dress.
Now patchwork or "pieced work" is a that involves sewing together pieces of fabric into a larger design made up of patterns built up with different colored shapes, simple rectangles are the easiest to cut and sew. Patchwork was originally designed as a way of using up scraps of fabric, but today you can purchase small pieces of fabric especially cut out to get the patchwork colors and patterns you want.

So it naturally didn't take long until the patchwork made its debut on the runway as well. Light years away from the patchwork quilt we find Anna Sui's patchwork dresses gracing the runway giving patchwork a whole new meaning.

But Anna Sui wasn't the first one to put a patchwork dress on the runway. Yves Saint Laurent had shown a patchwork wedding dress in his Spring/Summer 1969 collection.

Marc Jacobs also made some beautiful patchwork dresses

...and this Herve Leger knee long dress is also a real stunner. The long sleeve, V neck patchwork dress is made of leather and ornate beading. It is definitely a dress for a special occasion.

Stars don't shy away from wearing patchwork dresses either. Here is Whitney Port in a cute little number:

and here is Paris Hilton wearing a Diane von Furstenberg patchwork dress

Some patchwork dresses ended up in the closet of several stars, like this Roberto Cavalli Fall 2008 patchwork dress, which was worn by Leona Lewis and Leelee Sobieski as well.

Heidi Montag was not one to pass on this trend either.

And last but not least one of my favorite patchwork dresses

can't wait to start working on a patchwork dress myself... :)

Materials

2010-02-17T04:45:00.000-08:00

I stopped by my favorite thrift shop today and found a bunch of interesting materials.

You can see them in the picture on the left...

The entire bunch cost me less then 10 bucks, you can't beat that.

I just bought anything and everything that seemed to show promise and didn't really think about what I would used them for. It always tends to work out.I just buy materials I like and decide later what I will use them for.

I bought a lot of pillow cases that I will most probably use for my patchwork projects but also found some materials that have summer clothes potential.

This material I absolutely loooove.
This is a potential, top, blouse...upper part of a dress...
don't know yet, but it will come to me.

The same case...this will make maybe a nice summer top :)

And this will be a nice basis for a patchwork bedding set for my baby...that will be the third bedding set I make for him before he is even born...I think I should stop making them, or I will have too many.

Statement Jewelry

2010-02-15T23:02:00.000-08:00

The newest trend for spring 2010 is chunky jewelry, large necklaces, rings and large bracelets.

I decided to make one as I am very fond of making jewelry and this seems like a fun new project to have.

This multi-strand necklace caught my eye so I decided to try and make something similar myself.

I had some pearls and took off a flower from one of my scrunchies

and this is the end result!

Like it?

Baby Bedding Set - Flowery Car pattern- Update

2010-02-15T09:59:00.000-08:00

Hello,
I'm still standing...meaning my baby is not in a rush to be born...so I managed to finish the Flowery Car pattern Bedding Set.
Here are some photos of the final look:

Thoughts?

Patchwork patterns

2010-02-14T03:17:00.000-08:00

Not that I was lacking any source of inspiration...but it never hurts to learn new things, especially technical things.

Benefiting from other peoples experience is always a good thing so I was pretty happy when my husband decided to surprise me with this book.

It doesn't just contain nice patterns and advice on how to DIY, but it also includes a crash-course on how to achieve different effects, how to secure that your work stands the test of time, and so on...

It's full of fun little tricks and tips that I am looking forward to sharing with you as I start working on the patterns I found in this book.

So until then have fun with your patchwork, and I'll keep you posted.

Baby Crib Bumper update

2010-02-14T03:08:00.000-08:00

I still haven't given birth...but I have had a lot of visitors so my work kind of suffered the consequences...but I have had progress with the crib bumper and I would have finished it today, but unfortunately I am lacking some materials that I will only be able to buy tomorrow.

So this is where I stand now:

I have sewn everything on I just need to buy the wad padded cover and finish everything up.
Until then...have a nice valentines day!

Baby Crib Bumper

2010-02-11T03:56:00.000-08:00

I saw my gynecologist yesterday and he said I might not have long before giving birth, so I decided to hurry it up with the crib bumper for the flowery car baby bedding set, so that I would have it ready by the time I have to go to the hospital.

I wanted to do something different, yet still very colorful, while keeping in tone with the color palette of the bedding set and using much of the same materials.

My base color is green:

this is quasi what it will look like, I just cut it out and am starting to sew it.

I will be back with the end result soon. (Provided I don't give birth today :) !)

My new jewelry cabinet

2010-02-08T09:06:00.000-08:00

My new jewelry cabinet- or jewelry shrine, as my husband who made it for me likes to call it- made my day :) .

I have been complaining for a while now that I have no place to store all the jewelry I collect and make myself, so he finally decided to surprise me by turning an old mirror that we had in the bathroom into a jewelry cabinet.

This is how it all started

work in progress...

mirror, mirror on the wall...

and the most important part: the inside where all my riches are hidden. (less valuable then cute, but still)

My new brooch

2010-02-06T03:06:00.000-08:00

I have decided to turn a dress I got for Christmas into a shrug, a bag and a belt...it is going to be fabulous.
But until I am done with it here is a little preview of the color palette I am working with.
This is a brooch I made for the shrug.
These are my raw materials:

* a safety pin

* some lilac yarn

* lilac and purple colored beads

* some purple satin material

and this is the end result:

Handmade Lamps

2010-01-31T21:44:00.000-08:00

I'm writing again about something I didn't personally do but felt the need to mention.

Creativity runs in the family :), maybe even more so with my husband than me.

So when we moved into our new house that needed a loooot of work, he decided to make all the lamps in the house himself.

This way we didn't only save money but also have unique lamps that make our house one of a kind.

This is our living room lamp, made of wood and heat resistant material. The lamp is embellished with dried flowers :).

This is our bathroom lamp, made of wood, heat resistant material and rice paper.

This is our bedroom lamp, made of wood, heat resistant material and colored fabric that matches the pillows and curtains.

And this is the newest addition to our lamp-family:

it is in a corner of the living room and makes for great ambiance lighting.
There are several more around the house but I can't really post all of them. Some are found on the first picture.

Don't you just love these unique lamps?

Tablecloth

2010-01-31T11:25:00.000-08:00

This is my newest tablecloth I made to match the colors of my living room, which is mostly "dressed" in orange and brown.

I found the material at a thrift shop, bought it for less then a dollar and voila...

I only cut out the appropriate size, hemmed it and pressed it. So I didn't do much but I really like the end result. How about you?

Baby Bedding Set - Flowery Car pattern

2010-01-29T04:06:00.000-08:00

I got some material from my mother and I had still some others laying around so I decided to make another bedding set before my baby is born...just to have something to switch it up.

These are the materials I have:

I decided to cut out some of the cars from the larger material I had and also some flowers. The blue material is going to be the pillow case so I wanted to incorporate that color into the duvet cover as well, that is why I cut out some leafs from the blue to put them next to the flowers.
So here are all my materials cut and prepared to be sew:

This is how the pillow case turned out:

And this is me sowing on the flowers and leafs to one piece of the duvet cover:

and the work in progress...

my end result!

Like it?

Hand Painted Glass

2010-01-29T03:02:00.000-08:00

So these beautiful items aren't actually my work, but the works of the nicest lady ever...

I do have them in my house though and I found them to be so extremely beautiful I wanted to share them whit you all.

She will paint whatever glass item you might own and would want vamped up in the color you want you just have to leave the forms to her creativity.

So here are some of the things she painted for me:

And some of the painted plates I'm extremely fond of:

Curtain call

2010-01-25T05:59:00.000-08:00

Hello again!
every since I discovered my sewing machine I can’t stop creating new things. And as I am not to crazy about the l art pour l art philosophy, but love creating practical things, I usually make stuff that I can actually use.

My newest creation? Curtains!
Yes, curtains. I'm changing the look of our bedroom and going for a green-yellow overall combination. So I found these amazing yellow IKEA curtains in a thrift shop but they were tooooo long and also see through (as one of our bedroom windows faces the street that's not really ideal) so I decided to restyle them.

The pictures I posted show the curtains in their original form and then the stages of the"makeover".

The end result!Like it?

Crib bedding set and bumper update

2010-01-25T05:49:00.000-08:00

I promised to post a picture of the entire bedding set in the crib as soon as it was ready.
So here it is.

Thoughts?

Crib bumper

2010-01-20T02:21:00.000-08:00

So I promised that I would update my previous post by adding the pictures of the crib bumper as soon as it was ready.

Unfortunately the crib will only be done at the end of the week so I don't have a final picture of the entire bedding set and crib bumper in the crib, I will however add that picture as soon as I can as well.

The pictures I have now added are (as usual) showing my work in progress...

Picture no. 1 shows the cutouts I used...the sleeping cartoon characters

Picture no. 2 shows the cutouts sown on the material

Picture no. 3 shows some of the other materials I used as well as my tools, my cutter and cutting mat (from Olfa).

Pictures no. 4- 7 show the stages of construction of the bumper...

Baby Bedding Set

2010-01-13T23:48:00.000-08:00

This one is for my son :) still growing in my belly!

I really liked the col ors but as they were a bit to serious I tried to add a note of playfulness by sewing on the sleeping Silvester on the pillowcase.

The crib bumper is not ready yet, but it will have sleeping Silvester on it as well, also sleeping Tweety, sleeping Roadrunner and the sleeping Coyote that's not chasing the Roadrunner for a change. :)

The pictures show the cutouts I'm going to use, me at the sewing machine, sleeping Silvester on the pillowcase before he was sewed on and the last one shows the Quilt (3 colored case), the baby pillow and bed- sheet.
I will post photos of the crib bumper as soon as it is done, as well as of the bedding in the crib.
Enjoy!

Peyote once again

2010-01-10T07:24:00.000-08:00

This is another experiment, I think a more sophisticated bracelet this time.
I chose to use larger beads so that it wouldn't take forever to make and so I could try out another pattern...
See if you like it !

Peyote bracelet

2009-12-30T00:06:00.000-08:00

This is my first peyote bracelet. This end of 2009 seems to be one of many firsts (J).

I made it for my sister for Christmas. I am pretty pleased with the outcome, especially as I was quite skeptical about the results when I started making it.

I used three different colored beads, the colors I used are pretty much my sister’s favorites, I followed a pattern I have found in a crafts-

book I also bought her for Christmas.

But enough theory…the pictures above and below show the pattern I used as well as my work in progress.

Looking forward to your comments!

Christmas baby quilt

2009-12-18T00:07:00.000-08:00

I made it for my goddaughter, it is the first patchwork quilt I have ever made.

It is not so much sewn as it is knitted, since I knit each piece in part and then knitted them together.

The sewing part only came later, when I sew the green material on the borders and then on the back the wad padded cover.

I finished by hemming the Christmas quilt with a Christmas themed material.

The baby quilt is not devoid of mistakes, but I have definitely learned a lot by making, sufficed to say that certain mistakes will not be repeated.

I attached some pictures that show my work in progress…

Looking forward to your comments!