Round up Jan & Wish List Feb

As promised here is my monthly round up of what I bought.

My sons got Harry Potter boxes for Christmas anyway the younger one found it hard getting his time turner on and off so I added gold cord to make a longer necklace. I’ve tons left if it breaks at any time.

Bottom left is the fabric I bought to make my Tie on Cushion covers for my back room. We’ve been updating things in the house so it actually matches and my old cushions were looking tired. Next buy is a table cloth to complement them.

Glue is always useful and was bought to make the cardboard drawers I shall be showing you how to make next month. It has also fixed 2 cups destined to be pen pots now! I love this glue for a mid price strong glue it sticks cardboard, fabric and other materials.

Top right I hope to produce some lovely crochet items I just need to get my knitting finished! I bought a variety of thread colours to make some doll clothes and some other exciting things.

I also received my rattan wreath but its a bit of a messy affair so will need some cleaning up.

I used my dowels (not pictured) to make a pom pom star.

Bottom right is a hair clip I plan to turn into a brooch. I shall update you once I can. This leads me to decide what things I need for next months craft plans.

Electrical wire  For the brooch I need this but this is proving expensive. However I’m still on the look out and if not my crochet skills may come in handy.

Earring supplies- I recently got my ears pierced for a second time after my holes closing over. I’m still on catch up mode and building up an earring stash. I had the brain wave of making some and excitingly found crochet earrings so I’ve a plan of a mini set of earrings to be made.

Ingredients. These are to whip up some sensory goodies for my youngest sons birthday to go along with his tuff tray. Should be fun.

Elastic. I have started making Scrunchies and they are so much fun! But I’ve used up my stash of elastic making 69 for a market night over at Dreambows.co.uk Facebook page. Keep an eye out because she hopes to repeat market night each month.

I also have sewing to do with fabric I bought months ago eeek.

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Pom Pom Stars

Over Christmas I had the idea to make all sorts of things and one of them was a lit star as didn’t want to spend £15 on one. I started off with dowels and tied them together. Started wrapping my lights…. and it looked naff. The lights were all wrong and it was too small.

Not one to be defeated or wasteful I decided it could still be a star but I would cover in pom poms instead.

To make your star even I measured 2 cm from each end and marked it. These are where you will cross the dowels. (1)

First off cross your first two that will form the top point(2). You need to make this first to get the angle of it right. Next up put the bottom right diagonal one on(3) and the horizontal one next (4).

Finish off your star.

At this point we’ve not mentioned how we secure it and this is personal choice. I clued mine with a hot clue gun but with round dowels I found some of the glue became unstuck so i wound wire round the inside cross overs then put glue over so it wasn’t sharp. For flatter dowels you will be fine just gluing. You can see in top left picture where I used wire and how in the top left (below) the pom pom then covers it over from the front.

To secure your pom poms on I glued along the dowels and added my pom poms. I then filled in the gaps by gluing the sides of each pom pom and placing one between (bottom right). You can do this to all the pom poms to keep them in place.

Here is a shot from the back of mine as you can see many pom poms don’t rest on a dowel.

Add a string or ribbon to the top to hang.

You can play round with colours and different sizes of pom poms or use all the same size big or small.

 

 

Scrunchies are back

I’ve wanted a scrunchy for ages I used to love them as a kid and always had one till the elastic went and it was useless. I looked and looked but they were all aimed at young girls and not my style or in sets with all kinds of hair things.

Then it dawned on me I can make one so here we are! These are so easy and quick you can make tons.

First off you need to decide what size you want to make. The above photo shows a few sizes and different materials used too. Top left is jersey and black one is cotton, bottom right is like a glittery polyester fabric that’s sheer so I back with black jersey. All 3 are 34 cm long and 10 cm width. The blue one is baby cord and is 45 cm long and 12 cm wide then the red one is cotton and a small one suitable for younger kids or if you want a smaller bobble this is 30 cm long and 5 cm wide. The difference is how it looks in your hair so I have categorised them by hair use.

or this tutorial I experimented with making a mini but slightly wider so I cut it 6 cm and I much prefer it as a small for adult hair  with the mini suitable for softer hair or even a doll.

Bulky: 45 x 10 cm

Less Bulky: 34 x 10 cm

Small: 30 x 6 cm

Mini: 30 x 5 cm.

Start with your fabric of choice. For this I’m using poly-cotton. I’ve found no difference is how the bobble grip so any fabric will do as long as it puts up with being used a lot.

Fold your strip over so long sides meet with pattern side of fabric together (1). Sew along the long side and turn out. Cut your elastic to length. The best advice for the bigger ones is cut it to fit around your wrist as you then can use it much easier someone with a smaller hand may find it too bulky to tie round if cut to one specific length. However 15-17 cm is a good aim. Anything more and you either end up with a baggy bobble or it won’t stay on your wrist, anything smaller you can’t wear on your wrist.

Pop your elastic in one end and secure with a pin or tack stitch. Thread to other side and secure with a pin. (2)

Bring the two ends of elastic together and sew together. For the mini and small this is the point you can get the elastic to how you want so remember to cut it longer than needed. A good way to check if its good to use is to stretch it on your fingers (see below) to check you can easily stretch it to use.

Tuck your raw ends in as best you can and using a whip stitch close up the bobble. I found this easiest hooking over one fingers then folding the bobble round so I could see each edge. (4).

You’re done its that easy! The sewing can be fiddly so go slow and maybe try a big one first . Once you start making it’s so hard to stop making them.

Favourite Journal Pages

The last year I’ve really enjoyed bullet journalling. It never appealed to me but one day I decided to actually find out what bullet journalling was and I found information that described it as the perfect thing for those who love lists about lists.

It was immediate love!

I started off with a lined notebook to get me going but soon got my first dotted journal which I prefer to lined. I feel looking back the lines get in the way. My theme for this month is black and gold and although my January page is simple it sparkles ever so slightly. I love doodle pages and as can see from bottom 3 pictures I had great fun last month with Christmas theme decorations.

Last year I found my son was getting homework and I was always needing to google. I’ve always found learning easier by writing it down as I tend to remember it better so I created a special page to help me and my son with his homework which focused on prime numbers. I feel I’ve never really taken in what these were but now I know.

A google page is fab idea as I always forget what I want to know and the little people? Well I make doll clothes and I was stick of everything being in different places which is another great thing about journals you can put all that stuff you find useful in one place!

 

Lastly is my decorative pages. I’m not very artistic but I enjoy using watercolour pencils with water to mimic artistic skills. The top 2 are from an extra journal I started which is my happy journal. This is a place to only put nice happy things so if I’m feeling low I make myself look or do a page and it reminds me of whats good.

The perma model was told to me and is another good thing to sit and write out. It helps again to visualise how much you have in your life and it’s not designed to make you feel bad for being sad but to remind you that it’s ok to struggle but when you’re ready you’ve so much to pick you up again.

I borrowed this off a friend and it’s a mood tracker. I get bored with them usually as find them unhelpful and my mood can change so never know which one to note down. This allows you 3 emotions. Top of your planet is morning, middle is well middle of the day and bottom is evening/night emotions. With your key inside the rocket or a bit planet you end up with a multi coloured galaxy page.

I borrowed my 2019 from an image I found. Mine doesn’t do the design justice but I loved the seasons tree and I enjoyed doing it which is what journalling is about after all!

I hope you enjoyed my pages I’m working on more that I also love but will share with you soon!

MBJM Harem Romper Hacks- hooded zip up

I was looking for a zip up romper pattern with a hood but everything I found I was thinking that looks like a pattern I already own so I decided to have a go at hacking to see if I could save myself £8-10 on a new pattern. Here is the result  and is exactly what I was after. For this I used the MBJM harem romper and hood from eclipse top.

To start cut out all pieces as normal except the front piece. You need to cut this as 2 pieces mirrored but with an extra 1 cm at the centre. You don’t need to add anymore because the zip also adds tiny bit extra. You can cut this on the fold but place pattern piece 1 cm from fold then cut along fold or as separate pieces.

You will also need a 6-7 cm square.

Sew the romper shoulders together as per pattern.  Fold the square in half diagonally (1). The folded edge will need cutting and the remaining 2 edges sewn with right sides together and turned out (2) . Place the triangle  so the cut edge is parallel with the centre front edge and line the point up with neck edge as shown in picture 3. Next pin one side of the zip in place on top of the triangle (4) then fold the top half of the triangle down to cover (5).

Sew your zip in place on both side of the romper. I used a closed zip that was about an inch too long for the opening. Be careful sewing the top of folded triangle to ensure your edges line up.

Next we need to adjust the hood. As it is designed to wrap around you will need to straighten off the front edge (shown above). To do this make up your hood as per pattern by sewing the back seam. I chose to line mine so rather than cut the hood on 2 folds I cut 2 out on 1 fold at the top then sew both together alone front edge and flip lining inside.

Once the seam is sewn you can start to pin the outer hood on by lining up centre of the romper back with the seam of the hood (right sides together) then pinning till you get to the front edge of the zip then cutting off excess.

Sew the lining in place by folding up the lining to align with the sewing line of outer. then top stitch.

At this point I apologise for the lack of pictures for this step so will do my best to explain.

To finish where the zip ends you need to line up the front edges with right sides together and sew to where you want your zip to open to. Open up the seam and flatten. Then flatten the zip on top and sew across top of the seam through the zip (approx. one inch up from the bottom).

Finish off the rest of the romper as per pattern by adding cuffs, sleeves then finishing the legs.

Magazine File Tutorial

With a new year comes organisation. I’m looking at updating my crochet and knitting storage and with that comes the need for more streamlined sorting out. So rather than spend £5 out on a specifically sized file or wait 3/4 weeks for a cheap Chinese copy I decided to use what I had and make a custom size magazine file that perfectly fits my shelf.

I decided as I had no other cardboard and didn’t want to pay out for special materials I’d use the classic cereal box. This is a perfect shape for this as eliminates the need to actually make the box.

For my shelf I measured along the back edge which resulted in 10.25 inches. I then measured 5 inches on the opposite edge and joined them up. Repeat on other side and join up the lines along front and back edges and cut out.

Next up you need something to cover. You could cover with plain paper or a thin layer of papier-mache to paint over, book cloth is an option for something a little more upmarket or you could nip to your local DIY shop and get an off cut of wallpaper.

Lay your new file down on it’s back (tallest edge) onto your paper so the outer edge is about 1 cm from edge (1) then keeping the box on that edge mark around remembering to add extra 1 cm on other outer edge. Flip the box to continue mark the base and front section (2). You are aiming to end up with a strip of paper that is wider than the box back/edge/front and slightly longer too.

Lay it on its side and trace round only adding extra to top slanted edge, repeat for other side remembering you need two sides that are mirrored and not the same. (3)

Once you have your pieces cut out lay the front or back of your box onto the strip so there’s 1 cm either side and above the edge. Mark where the corner is then glue from the edge to that mark (4)

Once glued and stuck down with the extra still unstuck snip down at first edge as shown (5) then fold the sticky edge inside the box. (7)  Do the same at the corner snipping in enough so you can turn the edges up. (6) You may need to lay box down and press down from inside. Repeat to base and back so you end up with picture 8. on both sides.

We need to now cover one side in glue and match up edges at bottom and the side with extra at the top(9).  Fold the excess inside the box and repeat for other side. Again you may need to press from the inside to make it really stick.

I then had some Washi tape which I found in the decorating section. You will need to only stick half of it down so it can be wrapped round (10). I started at the front (shorter edge) by sticking it down along outside (11) trimming along bottom but leaving extra at top. Carefully stick to front of box and pop excess inside box. Next you will need to stick the top along back and base of box but on the outer corner so it doesn’t bend. Snip down at the corner so you can smooth down the back then the base neatly. (12)

I added extra tape inside the box largely to neaten but mainly to help secure the paper. (14) I used normal craft glue stick but put lots on and it stuck fine. You can use PVA or other glue but may take long to dry.

Be sure to only use what need as can see from my photo (13) if you use too much you end up unsightly overlap. I enjoyed myself so much I made two.

 

I also decided my sons games needed a better place after putting all our DVDs in a folder the games were floating about on the shelf.

I used a bigger box for this so first up was to tape up the open top (1 above). Next job I measured about 9 cm from the corner and joined them up like picture 3. I then cut the lines out but didn’t remove excess. I then stuck the excess down inside the box to give it sturdier sides (2). I made the sides slightly slanted so it was less like a box or tray. I only measured down at the front 3 cm but you may want more or less.

I debated how to go about covering this so opted for placing the box in middle of my paper a bit like wrapping a present. I then drew lines from the edge of the short side to paper edge (1 above). I did same other side.

I then filed it up stuck it along the side and folded it inside. For the front and back I folded the excess so it was in line with the box edge (2 above) and again stuck it to the side and inside the box. I had a lot of excess so I trimmed it down or it’ll get messy folding inside.(3)

I then cut a rectangle 1 cm larger than the base. (4 above). I folded the edge under by 1 cm and stuck it inside (1 below)

The edging of the box once stuck looks neat but I enjoy using my tape so stuck with the theme of finishing edges off like I did for my red ones (2 above)  I included tape inside too.

The finished product needs filling but it’s a great tray to keep the controller in too and is perfect height for the unit it’s sat on (4 above)

i used brown paper to cover this one which worked well and was pliable enough for wrapping whilst not being see through and it’s sturdy.

I can’t wait to see what you make why not share it on the Facebook page.

New Crochet Patterns

I realised I had a pattern published on Ravelry I hadn’t shared and 2 more not even written up from 2016!!!!! Seriously woman what are you doing. I also have 4 new patterns to show you all aimed at dolls.

Today is a biggie as I’m sharing them all with you but going forward pattern sharing will likely only be 1, however if you’ve ever had a paid pattern of mine you will know they are packed full of details and information.

First up is a mitten pattern. These are super simple to look at, simple to make and easily adjustable for any child. They are aimed at 6-18 months and you can get as a free download on Ravelry.

Next up I decided to do each of my dolls a hat and scarf set partly as I wanted to use some pretty wool. To access each pattern click the picture. (L-R) 1. Scandi Sweetheart Hat and Scarf 2. Knitted  Hat & Snood 3. Lacy Beanie and Scarf 4. Beanie Time Hat & Snood (ages NB-12 months)

Back in December 2016 I made this cute Santa dress for a 6 inch doll. It comes with knickers and leg warmers. Now I know its January but this dress is a cute dress, can be dress up in any colours you wish so doesn’t have to be a Santa version and I’m not sure I can wait another 10-11 months to release it! This is paid pattern which can be purchased through Ravelry and Soon etsy also.

Last but not least I also designed and made this bear outfit again for a 6 inch doll and in 2017 so this has been waiting a while to be seen. This is a footed trouser, hooded and fasten up the front hoodie complete with little ears and tips to make your own mask.

Here is a link to my Etsy store.