Joint venture: Cell phone cover

A little while ago, my friend Gabi was visiting me for the weekend - and while sitting out in the garden talking, we made a colourful cover for her new cell phone together.



First, she knitted a double overlapping strip in garter stitch, with some red crochet cotton and some variegated sock yarn, decreasing the number of stitches in the end - and then I showed her how to punch the knitting with the embellisher to densify the wool and make the cover stiffer.

At this point, we both saw the face of the snake taking form - Gabi embroidered the eyes, I punched the tongue and added a strip of punched glitzy neon fabric to the back, decorating it with a black zig-zag free-motion embroidery - she sew the cover together with the sockwool and added the glasses, which she made out of a piece of wire and some button hole stitches. Finally, we found a bit of red Velcro-tape in my stash and sew it on for closure.

It was ready in no time and we had quite some fun with this joint-venture!

(German summary: Ein kleines, buntes Handytascherl, daß meine Freundin Gabi und ich beim Plaudern im Garten eigentlich so nebenbei gemeinsam gemacht haben - witzig, oder?)

A little leisure: Sweet mushroom

While sewing and cutting and stitching, I realize I'm suffering from a constant lack of pin cushions - not a single one in sight when I need them! The small ones I did last year always seem to have disappeared without a trace ...

And from time to time it's nice just to play around and do some little thingy, nothing serious, just a spontaneous malfatto project in between!

And so I took a break and made myself a sweet mushroom by recycling a small plastic container which had held some screws. For the filling I used a handful or two of all those threads and fabric scraps laying around on my working table, but first I did put in a couple of small pebbles from the garden as a bottom weight, as this mushroom is a bit taller than usual and I didn't want it to tumble.



Every part of this pin cushion is recycled - some small leftovers from earlier embellishing projects, which I punched together with the embellisher along with some coloured scrim (used for cleaning up while dyeing!) to get a slightly larger piece - then a bit of free motion machine stitching - and a few centimeters of a really kitschy ribbon and some plastic confetti (!) which were easy to poke a hole into with the needle and to use as flower sequins.



It even fits into my little mobile sewing kit!

(German summary: Anscheinend leide ich an ständiger Nadelkissen-Not - auf jeden Fall macht es Spaß, zwischendurch so ein kleines Dingsbums aus den Resten zu fertigen, die da am Arbeitstisch herumliegen ... Ein Plastikdöschen, ein paar Zentimeter kitschige Borte, ein paar Filzfuzelchen, am Embellisher zusammengepuncht, zur Füllung einige Steinchen aus dem Garten und eine Handvoll Woll- und Stoffschnippelchen vom Arbeitstisch - und fertig ist das Schwammerl!)

Small Xmas-project IV: Crocheted star garland/Weihnachtsprojekt IV: Girlande aus Häkelsternen

If you happen to have an evening left - and some bits of sockwool - you could still make a small star garland for yourself or for a friend ...



I found this very easy-to-follow tutorial on Ellen Bloom's blog - though instead of acrylic, I decided to use some leftover variegated sockwool, both 4-ply and 6-ply, with a crochet hook 3,5 mm - and I spaced them a bit more, about 25 chain stitches inbetween, as I didn't have the time to make that many ...

My 4-ply stars are about 4,5 cm, the 6-ply about 5,5 cm big - so this is a small and sweet garland - but of course you can use whatever yarn you have stashed.



And if you don't find the time now, remember there will be a new Christmas time next year!

(German summary: Eine feine und doch einfache Häkelanleitung für kleine Sternchen habe ich auf Ellen Bloom's blog gefunden - mit Sockenwollresten schauen sie noch einmal so süß aus, finde ich!)

Bottlecap recycling/Flaschenverschlüsse recyceln

I guess you know me by now - and that I have a faible for recycling things, especially if they come in some form of textile context.

Finding recycling possibilities for beverage cartons/tetrapaks or PET-bottles isn't even that hard - but for quite some time now I've been looking for a good solution on what to do with those bottlecaps.

And finally I've found one - it's provided by Jen Segrest, alias 'verybigjen', who turns them into sweet, tiny pincushions of all sorts - here is the link to her very clear tutorial on flickr.

So below you can see the ones I made - don't you think they would make a nice, small gift for X-mas? Really easy to do and you can use the tiniest of scrap supplies! And - they really come in more handy than you might think: I'm using mine all the time now!



(German summary: Schon lange habe ich überlegt, was man mit den vielen Flaschenverschlüssen machen könnte, die sich so ansammeln. Bei 'verybigjen' auf flickr gibt es eine einfache Anleitung, wie man daraus winzige Nadelkissen machen kann - genial! Vielleicht als ein nettes, kleines Geschenk?)

Deep down the dustbin .../Fasermonster-Familie

... there once lived a fiber monster - although I never knew.

One day, it popped out of the bin and layed down under the needle foot of my embellisher.

Then it had a full service beauty surgery and became a bookmark.

Nice, huh?

(German summary: Wer hätte denn gedacht, daß sich ein Lesezeichen-Monster im Papierkorb versteckt? Ein bißchen 'Schönheitschirurgie' am Embellisher, und schon war's geschehen!)

Pixel Patchwork Project/Modernes Pixel-Patchwork

What if one was to combine a pixel pattern with patchwork?



When I held the latest issue of the French magazine 'Marie-Claire Idées' in my hand and saw this beautiful work, it seemed to me like a rather new and exciting approach on patchwork:



Still, this would mean a lot of time and fuzzy, tiny patchwork pieces, each to be sewn down with a 5 mm seam - real miniature work - which I'm not up to at the moment.

So I decided to simplify both the pattern and the technique - aiming at that fabric pixel effect, but in a more 'malfatto' way ... faster, easier - and not too exact. :-)

In one of my cross-stitch books, I found this somewhat smaller rose pattern - with not too many colours.



As there are three different reds (and one pink) in this pattern, and I wanted to use the scraps available, I sorted the red ones in three colour 'families', instead of using the same fabric allover for one specific shade of colour. - This is an experiment on the go, so we will see how it turns out in the end!

Then I started cutting up suitable fabric scraps into 3 x 3 cm pieces - using a roller cutter and a cutting mat. Some of the thin or fraying fabrics needed to be doubled with a thin iron-on-vylene.

For guidance, I drew up a 3 x 3 cm grid with a pencil directly on the background fabric and sprayed it lightly with a temporary positioning glue.



I worked the pattern in smaller segments, bonding the squares with a zig-zag seam and then attaching a new piece of background fabric, when the first had been completed.

It's almost like laying a jigsaw puzzle!

(German summary: Pixel patchwork - die Idee an sich aus einer Zeitschrift, allerdings habe ich sie etwas abgewandelt, um ein schnelleres und nicht ganz so aufwendiges Ergebnis zu erreichen. Ich verwende einen Haftspray und nähe anschließend die 'rohen' Quadrate mit Zick-zack direkt auf den Untergrund fest.)

Mini Summer Project III: Tiny neck bag/Kleines Sommerprojekt III: Winzige Umhängetasche

Since it's raining cats and dogs almost every day lately, I decided to do the best of it and curl up under a warm throw on the couch and amuse myself with listening to audiobooks while knitting or crocheting ...

After having treated myself to a small MP3-player I now needed some kind of tiny bag to hang it around my neck - so I came up with this:



The whole bag is quite small, only 9 x 9 cm, still it can hold both the player and the ear phones along with the cable.

I took some sock wool scraps and a 3,5 mm crochet hook, doing 10 chain sts and working scs for three rows, then connecting the rings to one another with a couple of stitches, using the yarnend left.

The neck string is simply done with double yarn and chain sts - this is the 'backside' of the bag:



(German summary: Diese winzige Umhängetasche haltet MP3-Player, Ohrhörer und Kabel bereit für meine Hörbücher - sie ist aus Sockenwollresten gehäkelt und nur 9 x 9 cm groß.)

Mini Summer Project I: Brooch/Kleines Sommerprojekt: Brosche

While sitting in the garden and chatting with my Mum, I worked on this small brooch -



- all by hand and with scrap materials found in my glass jar. I think it looks a bit folkloristic Scandinavian, especially with this white blouse.



(German summary: Nur eine kleine Brosche mit Material aus dem Resteglas, das ich gemacht habe, während ich plaudernd mit meiner Mutter im Garten gesessen bin - ich finde, es hat etwas Skandinavisches, oder?)

Red deer crossing/Rotes Kreuzreh

'Not doing it properly' - but bending the rules - is another way of setting creativity free, I think.

Take cross-stitch for example. We've all been taught to sew it neatly row-wise, stitches in one direction only, same size allover. What if you don't?

If you just regard them as stitches, ment for filling a space, covering a background, producing a colour field or even just lighter and darker areas - then it doesn't really matter what size they are, in which direction they're looking, if they're overlapping or not. On the contrary: variety will add further interest.

The yarn I used for this deer is real recycling stuff: I found it when enravelling an old cord and tassel ...

(German summary: Einen Stich nicht akkurat auszuführen kann manchmal sehr belebend sein :-). Wenn man z.B. den Kreuzstich als Flächenfüller, Bodendecker, Farbenmaler sieht, ist die Stichlänge, -größe, -anordnung plötzlich sehr nebensächlich ... Die Fäden, die ich hier verwendet habe, sind übrigens hauptsächlich der spannende Inhalt einer alten Kordel ...)

It's just another cat, my deer!/Raubtierhirsch

Funny enough, it seems as if the scrappiest of scraps boost my imagination the most!

This is today's deer, where I had to assemble three outline patches (and even add a bit of additional drawing) to achieve one animal.



Here you can see the three fragments joined:



I found a piece of wildcat fabric in my stash and decided to use it for the body.



Then I took a clear plastic envelope for tracing the outlines - this way I could see where to position the eye best:



The beads on neck and back are not only embellishments, but also help holding the fabrics together.

And as I seem to be in a creative upswing right now, I made this ring for myself today as well - it's basically a piece of black rubber, some natural beads (coral and bone) and a platinum covered metal bar with a removable knob.



(German summary: Je anspruchsloser die Reste, umso mehr wird anscheinend meine Experimentierlust angestachelt! Drei Reststücke und etwas Raubtierstoff bilden heute das Gerüst meines neuen Hirsches - dann noch ein paar Perlen und Metallpailletten für's Geweih ... Ja, und der Ring kam heute auch noch zustande: Gummi, Naturperlen und ein Steg mit abschraubbaren Verschluß.)

Elk in action/Fortlaufender Elch

And I wondered what would happen if I'd use a black/white paper cord for outlining this elk (or moose) ...

I couched it down with one of my hand-dyed cotton threads -



- and then grabbed a Japanese newspaper I had at hand :-) ... and pasted it down with some napkin glue.



*** to be continued ***

By the way, go see these inspirational YouTube videos about Léa Stansal and her overwhelming fabric work: here is the first one, here the other one! - And for those who don't speak French: it's well worth just looking at the pictures ...

(German summary: Diesmal hat es einen Elch getroffen - ich habe die Konturen mit einer schwarzweißen Papierschnur 'nachgezogen', und diese mit einem selbstgefärbten Baumwollfaden festgestickt. Ich habe auch kleine Stücke Zeitungspapier mit dem Serviettenkleber an den Stoff geklebt ...

Außerdem noch zwei Links zu YouTube und der fantastischen Textilkünstlerin Léa Stansal!)

Oh deer! Fabric Wildlife/Rotwild im Musterwald

A friend sent me some scraps of a cotton fabric, which had the outlines of different deers printed on it.

And like in a drawing book, these outlines just asked to be filled in with colour ...

I chose strands of cotton threads and some light weight fabrics from my stash palette - the pictures show work in progress, of course.





Furthermore, these gorgeous linen-blended wool strands are hand-dyed by Dornröschen and now waiting for me in a basket beneath my spinning wheel ...



And - I've bought myself a new pair of shoes ... running gear, almost like walking barefoot!



(German summary: Die Konturen dieses Stoffes haben richtiggehend nach Farbe und Inhalt gerufen - ich verwende Moulinégarn und dünne Stoffreste dazu. - Spinnfutter von Dornröschen - diesmal eine neue Mischung, mit Leinen! Und dann habe ich mir noch ein paar neue Schuhe gekauft ... fast wie barfuß laufen!)

Pin cushion ring/Fingernadelkissen

I made a great invention today ... a pin cushion ring! (Yes, I know, there might be others - but this is mine! :-)

The idea struck me when I was about making a pin cushion on a jam jar - as a matter of fact, I am one of the few persons out there who has hardly got any decent pin cushions, although I sew regularly, both by hand and on the machine.

And when I'm sitting outside in my garden, sewing or embroidering, I never know where to put those cut-offs - don't want to throw them on the ground, neither put them in my coffee cup ... Therefore I need the jar: first to hold thread and scissors, then to collect the cut-off threads and fabric snippets.

Both pin cushions were glued on with a hot glue gun - one to the jar lid, the other one to a simple copper ring I had laying around.



And while working, I thought I could as well make a third one - it's a personal version of the flower pin cushion, I just added an extra cushion on the top, in order to separate the sewing needles from the normal pins.

(German summary: Und ich dachte, ich hätte eine neue Erfindung gemacht, mit dem Fingernadelkissen ... :-)! Auf jeden Fall habe ich jetzt sogar drei verschiedene Nadelkissen parat - jedes erfüllt seinen besonderen Zweck auf unterschiedlicher Weise.)

A Japanese Knot Bag/Eine japanische Knotentasche

I found a nice vintage fabric in my stash recently, and decided to sew one of those Japanese knot bags out of it.



For the lining, I used a scrap piece of striped cotton fabric, which had been in my stash for ages at well.

I'm quite pleased with how it looks, but as the vintage fabric I used is rather heavy, I think I'm going to make the long strap a bit more narrow so that it will be laying smoother on my shoulder.



I would also like to make another one, lengthening the strap to reach diagonally over the chest and using a medium weight cotton fabric instead.

If you would like to sew a knot bag yourself, the pattern I found when googling about it is here - the explications are in German, but with clear pictures and a scale pattern. You'll find a smaller 'handbag' version with instructions in English here.

(German summary: So, jetzt habe ich mir auch eine japanische Knotentasche genäht - ein genial einfacher Schnitt, geringer Stoffverbrauch - man könnte auch Reste zusammennähen - und sehr praktisch!)

Happy Easter!/Frohe Ostern!

I'm back from a very interesting visit to Sara and her daughter Sophie in Alicante - and as this is holiday time, I just want to wish you a Happy Easter and a very nice Spring week-end!

I made this fast Easter bunny above with a pattern I found at Allison's blog - here is her free pdf-download in English and German.

Although my bunny looks like if it was knitted in form, it's actually sewn out of an originally knitted and then felted knitting sample.

(German summary: Ich bin zurück aus Spanien und wünsche euch allen Frohe Ostern und ein schönes Frühlingswochenende! In Allison's blog gibt's das schnelle Hasenmuster auf deutsch und englisch!)

Scrap fabric on paper/Stoffschnipsel auf Papier

A short while ago, I found an interesting idea how to find use for the tiny fabric scraps I use to collect in a glass jar on my working table.

Take a piece of craft paper - or a paper grocery bag - cut it flat the size you desire, then arrange those tiny scraps of fabric and trims onto the paper, sticking them to the paper with a bit of glue stick or PVA glue. You don't have to glue very accurately, just enough to keep the scraps in place.

When the glue is dry, you might want to iron the collage - sandwich it under a sheet of newspaper to keep your iron from getting sticky.

Then use your sewing machine and a zigzag seam to complete the collage. Now you have a fabric paper sheet.

At Mamume's blog (in German), where I first found this idea, she uses this sheet for cutting it up into tags, which is a great idea - but I think this material is sturdy enough to be used for something more lasting, like for a book cover for example.

This is a book cover which I made as a birthday present for a friend:



As I wanted the title of the book to show through, I cut out a 'window' in the fabric with a craft knife and replaced it with a piece of clear plastic from a transparent envelope.



I also added a cotton ribbon for a bookmark and an elastic ribbon for holding book and cover shut.



Another use for this 'new' material would be to sew a kind of document bag out of it,



closing it with a zipper or a velcro strip.



(German summary: In Mamume's blog (auf Deutsch) habe ich eine nette Anleitung gefunden, wie man kleinste Stoffschnipsel auf Papier aufnähen kann - und gleich sind mir ein paar weitere Ideen gekommen, wie man diesen 'neuen Stoff' auch noch verwenden könnte ...)

Hommage à Jude ...

Yesterday night, I sat down in the middle of xmaspreps and started this "Hommage à Jude", a kind of what-if-project, using some of my favourite scraps (and the Jacaranda haze-thread!) which Paula sent me recently.

I needed a break, slipping out of that Mrs-Santa-costume, and I needed to do some stitching again:

I wanted to know what it felt like to be stitching like Jude ... and I do now realize that you can really get addicted to filling the fabric with those running stitches - it reminds me of weaving - taking you further and further, stiffening the cloth and at the same time shaping and re-shaping the surface ... Through the slow process of stitching, you come to care about the material in a new way.

And I enjoyed the fraying of the fabric, giving the piece a worn and kind of weary expression. Of course my thoughts went to Jude as I chose the dotted fabrics - which I had asked Paula for when swapping. While adding french knots for the illusion of more dots, I thought of Sara, who is frequently using them on her pieces of work.

I'm pleased with this sublime and still worked-upon look and will certainly return to this piece and probably integrate it with other special scraps ... next year.