Make a Tunic With A Yoke

Remember the Sneak Peak? Before I pack up my sewing machine in order to work on my biggest challenge for this month, I wanted to finish a few things. One of them was the promised how-to on a tunic with a yoke. It took a bit of tweaking to get it just right, but now I am happy with it. I made 3 more tunics with matching shorts.

And the boy loves them. He does not even mind posing for me. And he changes in and out of the different sets throughout the day. Which is really cute right now, but I am sure will drive me crazy soon enough.

You can tell from the pictures that the yoke is a little bit different. The bottom pictures shows the new updated version, which is what I am going to show you how to do.

Some close ups.

So, from the last post you know how to make a simple tunic (or scrubs) pattern. It will not change much, and you can use the pattern you already made. Cut out a front and a back and the sleeves. Now, draw on your pattern how thick and long you want the yoke (bib looking part on the front) to be. Be mindful that you are drawing just half of the yoke.

 I drew right on the pattern. I changed my mind about the thickness of the collar part and only used the front (shaded).

 I traced it onto another piece of paper and added seam lines. Do not add seam lines on the fold.

 I also cut 2 inch thick strips on the bias.This will be the collar. Just measure around the neckline, take away the width of the front (bib), divide by half, add 1-2 inches extra just in case. Cut 2. And leave the diagonal edge.
more :  http://showtellshare.blogspot.com/2011/07/make-tunic-with-yoke.html

Tutorial: Quilted fabric postcards

It's Monday! We all know what that means.... a new video tutorial!

In this video I teach you how to make some quick and easy fabric postcards that can actually be mailed!

This has been a popular project in the crafting world for a while now but no matter how easy and common I think it is I always have new followers that have never heard of it so I was asked to make a tutorial for it. 

This is the perfect project to use up those fabric and batting scraps because that's pretty much all you need!

I like to sew paper to the back side of the postcard instead of fabric because its easier to write on and the mail stamps stick perfectly to them.  You can use whichever you prefer. 

This was also my first time using a new fabric glue stick that I was recently introduced to called the "Lapel Stick."  A big thanks to the makers of the lapel stick for sending me this complimentary tube for me to try.  It's for all kinds of fabric and I was really impressed at how it held together the fabric to the batting and also the paper to the batting on the backside.  It wasn't thick and gloppy like some regular craft glue sticks are. It slid right on and it goes on invisible.  If you want to see how it performed on camera check it out in the video tutorial below.

Hope you enjoy the tutorial!

DIY Tutorial – Make Your Own Beaded Stitch Markers!

Beaded Stitch Markers

This weekend the weather was terrible. It's been raining off and on for days, but this is Florida and this is the rainy season. Here's the view from my kitchen window yesterday...



Real nice, huh? If you look close enough you can see my yard and my neighbor's yard beginning to flood slightly. That's always nice...I know the dog really loves it when the backyard is completely saturated with water, not really actually.

I decided it was a good day to do some crafting, so in between laundry loads I made up some new stitch markers. Most knitters have these among their knitting paraphernalia and use them to keep track of where they are in a row as well as to remind them to do something like increase or decrease in a certain spot of their knitting.

The only skill that you need in making these is knowing how to make a simple loop on a headpin. I used various sizes of jump rings and split rings to hang my beaded dangles. The smallest sized jump ring used in this project is 8 mm, which will fit up to a size US 8 knitting needle. The size 10 mm jump rings will fit up to a size US 10 knitting needle. The split rings used for this project were 12 mm, which will fit up to a size US 15 knitting needle.

Here's what you will need to complete this project:

Tools:

• Round-nose pliers
• Flat-nose pliers
• Wire cutters
• Ruler or measuring tape

Materials:

• Headpins - need to be long enough to have room to make a loop
• Jump rings and/or split rings - 8 mm, 10 mm, 12 mm in size
• Glass, metal, plastic, gemstones beads in a variety of sizes, shapes and colors

Instructions:

To make your bead dangles, first string your beads onto the headpin.

Using either your fingers or the flat-nose pliers, make a 90-degree bend. Next, trim the wire using your wire cutters. I trimmed mine leaving a 1/4 inch of wire to form my simple loop. The length of wire you leave for your loop depends on how big you want to make the loop. This will be a trial and error process if you haven't made simple loops before.

I wanted a fairly small loop, so I placed my wire near the very tip of the round nose pliers.

Holding onto the beaded end with my other hand, I then turned my pliers to form a loop with the wire. I turned until a complete loop was formed. Your bead dangle is now done.

Next, open up a jump ring with your pliers and just slip the loop of the bead dangle onto the jump ring, then using the pliers again, close the jump ring. For attaching the bead dangles to the split rings, I opened up the loop of the dangle as I would a jump ring, placed it on the split ring, and closed up the loop with my pliers.

There's your finished stitch marker!

Not much too them really. A few basic beading skills are all that's really needed to complete these. They're a great rainy day project, and they make a fun gift for those knitters in your life.

source :  http://craftfloozy.blogspot.com/2011/06/project-12-beaded-stitch-markers.html

Happy crafting!

Tutorial | Gift Tags for Men

Handmade gifts and gift wrappings for men can be a huge crafty challenge. I like to add feminine touches such as bling, tulle and sheer ribbons to my projects, not exactly appealing to most of the men I know.
I have been wanting to create these gift tags for awhile, so when I ran across an interesting shade of Dye-Na-Flow from Jacquard Products, I decided it would be the perfect start for these mixed media tags.
I poured the Dye-Na-Flow mixed with water in a 1:1 ration into a plastic container and using jewelry tweezers, dipped the tags into the mixture of Pewter.
 
Next, lay the wet tags on waxed paper and use a heat tool to speed the drying time. To make the background more interesting, I used the jewelry tweezers to flick small dots of the paint mixture on the tags and heat set.

To add to the mixed media look and also add a little color interest, use some Lumiere in Halo Gold Violet and dry brush the tags.

I used a Castaway stamp pad in place of a watermark ink pad to stamp an interesting and man friendly image onto the tag.
  Sprinkle black embossing powder on the image and heat emboss.

Add a special touch using these super cute french vintage number plates. Simply insert brads through the holes to secure.
You may also want to add some texture such as fabric swatches. To add the sentiments, I printed small words from my computer onto Jacquard Inkjet Cotton Percale sheets.
Then cut them with scissors and glue to the fabric on the tags.
There are many ways to use the tags. Create an interesting gift bag...

Make a card by inserting the tag into a clear pocket...

I would love to hear from you- How would you use these tags? Bookmarkers? To dress up gift jars?
Live Life Creatively,
Source : http://mel-designs.typepad.com/my-blog/2011/07/mixed-media-gift-tags-for-men.html