Spooky Sewing Tweet Day

Spiderweb Table Runner from The Crafty Cupboard

The temperature may feel like June, but the calendar is saying it’s October. And time for Halloween sewing! Unless, of course, you’re running the Chicago Marathon today.

In case you’re not making a Halloween costume (you know, you don’t have to be going to a party to dress up for Halloween), and you’re just NOT going to applique yourself a Halloween sweater, here are some fun Halloween sewing projects that we tweeted out yesterday with the hashtag #spookysewing. Enjoy!

• Free Cats & Bats quilt pattern from the blog of Lovely Frankenstein’s Quilt Laboratory (great name!)
• An adorable Halloween pumpkin baby bib from LoveToSew.com
• Charlie the Ghost is a cute doorstop or companion to watch out for trick-or-treaters. From Polka-Dot Umbrella.
• Not enough time for a Halloween quilt? Sew up a goblin-friendly door hanging with this free downloadable PDF pattern from Cranston Village
• This fab spiderweb table runner will test your cutting skills. Tack down with pom-pom spiders or fabric tack for a no-sew project. From The Craft Cupboard.
• It doesn’t get much cuter than this Felty Frankenstein applique! He’s a quilt
  block, hanging, or sew him onto a treat bag. From Holiday Crafts & Creations.
• These super-cute FREE Halloween ponchos from Simplicity almost make you wish the weather was cooler, don’t they?
• We’ve all seen dog costumes, but these Halloween dog costumes have to be a collection of some of the best. A corn cob, Underdog, a dandelion and a French outfit for your French bulldog! From Doggie Stylish.
• Pick a peck of pumpkins with this Halloween pumpkin wall-hanging. Instructions from Jo-Ann Fabics and Sewing.org
• Da-da-da-da-da-da…Bat-mobile! (The scary part is if you remember the music from the original Batman series!) from Sew4Home.
• Don’t forget to hang this Vampire Bat Softie upside down; he prefers it that way. Free tute from Silver Bug Studio
• What would Halloween be without zombies?! This is a cute book with patterns to “raise” 16 zombies from the undead.
• Halloween bunting! Mix black, s-lime green, orange, spiderwebs and purple for a fun look! Tute from Yards and Yards.

Here’s an extra #spooksewing link that wasn’t tweeted yesterday: A video tute to needlefelt Halloween scary eyeballs from the crafty folks at Etsy.com.

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Follow us on Twitter at @sewchicago. We share tips, links on the Web and from other tweeters.

September 15: Make a Hat Day

Today, September 15, is Make a Hat Day! It’s also Felt Hat Day, but we’ll just focus on making any hat, whether it’s felt, cloth or another material. Hats are again back in style since Kate & William’s wedding. Have you ever made a hat?

Make a Hat Day is is a day for fun! Design, make, and wear your a hat for yourself today. Put your personality into it. Or, make a hat from a character you would like to imitate for a day.

This day is very popular with preschool, kindergarten, and grade school teachers and students. Early in the new school year, teachers look for fun and interesting projects to break up the classroom routine, or for art projects. Kids, who love arts projects by nature, can use their creativity in making a hat that fits them!

The rules for Make a Hat Day are quite simple. Just make a hat, any hat. It can be for you, or for mom or dad. Wearing the hat is optional. But, it’s half the fun.

Source: Holiday Insights

Spoiler Alert! #makeahatday Tweets

How can I resist a themed day of tweets? Don’t read any further if you don’t want to know what today’s tweets are. I’ll be using the hashtag #makeahatday today with links to patterns and tutorials (tutes) of various hats. Usually I re-cap the day after the themed tweet day, but since today is MAKE a hat day, I’m giving you the links today so you can make a hat today.

• Hot Pattern’s Sunny Side Up Sunhat at Fabric.com. Perfect made from canvas or home dec.
• Get ready for Halloween with Hot Pattern’s Bad Witch/Good Witch Hat & Fascinator at Fabric.com.
• These flowered ear warmers from PrudentBaby are too cute. C’mon cooler weather!
• Make this beautiful cloche hat from Weekend Designer and bling it with a rhinestone buckle.
• Make a hat for someone in need, make a hat for Halos of Hope to distribute to a cancer patient. Patterns are free on their website.
• Love this cutout beret tute from CraftStylish.
• Feeling a bit like Julia Child? How about making a chef’s hat…a toque? Easy instructions are here.
• Bucket hats are perfect in solids and prints. Simplicity has a free tute.
• If you’re making the bucket hat for a fisherman, you’ll need to catch some fish. Here’s a cut fish hat tute with free pattern from Lilybug Designs.
• A little math is needed to make this fab-u Wide-Brimmed Summer Hat from Weekend Designer.
• Threadbanger shows us how to make a pillbox hat in this video.
• Hat + Hardcore Sewing Tutorial + Independent Designer = How to make a hat from an old pair of pants video from Threadbanger.
• An Art Deco Schiaparelli Mad Cap tute from the Art Deco Society of California.
• Young artist, Olie, shows how to make a felted hat on a ball in this video.
• Added 16 Sep: Didn’t see this one until after Make a Hat Day: Upcycle a sweater to make a cute kitty hat for cool weather.

Image source:
Art Deco Society of California

Whew! that was a lot of tweets! I hope you were inspired to make a hat today. If you make a hat, send me a picture. I’d love add it to our Flickr album.

Follow us on Twitter at @sewchicago. We share tips, links on the Web and from other tweeters.

Tweet Day: Shark Sewing

(Image source: http://www.aquirkygirl.com)

Shark Week. It’s become not just a must watch of Discovery Channel for the past 24 years (yes, 24 years of Shark Week!), but also spawned themed sewing posts around the blogsphere.

At the end of Shark Week, we tweeted an entire day of shark-related sewing patterns, tutorials and inspiration with the Twitter hastag #sharksewing. Did you see it? Did you follow us? Well, if you missed one or two or even a few, here’s a recap of the tweeted links.

Happy shark hunting!

• Cute shark stuffie tute (tutorial) from In A Handbasket
• A shark hooded towel tute from Kissed by a Frog
• Super easy shark fleece scarf. A no-sew project, if you use fabric glue.
• Shark sock-puppet pattern. Great project for kids
• Shark-ingly cute fabric…in board shorts! From @QuilterPatSloan
• An amazing shark quilt
• Super easy and cute baby shark hoodie from @seekatesew. Probably a 1-hour project. You only need a grey hoodie and white felt.
• Beautiful leopard shark quilt
• Have you ever seen a sharktopus? Here’s a cute half-shark/half-octopus on @craftster
• A denim shark stuffie. Love the zipper for the mouth
• “Live Every Week Like It’s Shark Week” cross-stitch, posted on @craftster
• Not a tute, but you might be able to figure out how to make this shark costume
• This isn’t a pattern or a tute, but it might give someone an idea for Halloween. Dress your dog as a shark!
• One for the knitters, @HalosofHope has a shark hat pattern available for limited time. Make one for you and one to donate. Note: Sorry, but the limited time for this pattern has expired. However, Ravelry.com has a similar shark pattern available…and it’s free!
• A big shark pattern (free and downloadable) from Thread the Needle Through
• The big shark toy was also posted on @BurdaStyle

Watch for another day of tweets with a theme. Who knows what the next topic will be. If you have a topic that you’d like to see, tweet me at @SewChicago or email me.

"Woo Woo sharkies" available on Spoonflower.com

Also be sure to check out other shark fabric at Spoonflower.com. Or will you design your own for next year’s Shark Week?

Follow @sewchicago

Cover-Ups Link-tastic Day

Yup, we did it again. Another link-tastic day. This time the theme was cover-ups and cozies. Did you follow the hashtag #sewingcoverup and catch our tweets to all the fun covers to make?

Covers for you, your pet and around your home. If you weren’t able to follow all our tweets or missed one or two, no worries because we’ve rounded them up here below for you. Click through the list and see what you can put under wraps.

Ice cream cone cozies from Spincushion

• Lots of iPad covers
• Three links for golf club covers! Perfect for Father’s Day pressies. CraftStylish’ version of upcycled sweaters, a simple pattern from CraftyMoms and Babylock‘s fuzzy covers for Dad
• Stethoscope cover – who doesn’t need one? 🙂
• Keep the yuckies away with a grocery cart cover
• Love these ice cream cone cozies from Spincushion! Using terrycloth is a great idea, too! 
• Psst! Since we’re talking about treats, here’s an extra link that wasn’t tweeted: a freeze pop cover from Under The Table and Dreaming…keeps fingers from getting cold!
• Keep your hands from burning in your car with a steering wheel cover. Will u make it in sports-themed, frilly or fuzzy?
• It’s picnic time! Need to have food cover-ups to keep the pesky bugs out of the yummy food.  Use an appliqué if you don’t have an embroidery machine.
• Between grilling, cover your BBQ with a fun cover. Make it outdoor fabric to withstand the sun. Or how about foregoing the pattern and just drape your BBQ grill? It’s a short, wide figure that has a few fitting needs. 🙂
• Who remembers swim caps? Here’s a swim cap pattern from Sundrop Textiles in Canada. Make it from waterproof Lycra nylon.
• Some simple beach cover-ups for you and little tykes.
• Makeover your mousepad, especially if it’s one that you got from the office. Cover it with pretty fabric to brighten your day.
• Keep the sun out of baby’s eyes with this baby car seat/carrier cover from blogger Vanilla Joy.
• Freshen your closet with lavender-filled hanger covers.

To finish our #sewingcoverups tweet day: a Swiffer mop cover from Berlin’s Whimsy!

We hope you had fun following along with our cover-up tweets. Some were pretty unusual, weren’t they? Just shows that if you can sew, you can make anything you can imagine. Now, go cover something!

Sew long for now! Are you following us on Twitter? Follow @sewchicago

No-Fear Lace Bowls

I love to make what I call “no-fear” projects. Basically, they are projects that you really can’t go wrong, but if you do make a little boo-boo, no one will notice. Have no fear to try this project.

British textile artist, Jan Tillett, for Colouricious demonstrates how to make pretty lacy bowls from thread scraps, candy wrappers and water-soluble facing in this lovely video. This is one of the few videos I’ve seen that is not only clear, but shows a beautiful end-result. It must be very easy to make, too, because if you listen to the background, Jan Tillett must be at a tradeshow booth to demonstrate this project.

I like her tip of cutting the excess facing so the water doesn’t become too “gloopy.” Enjoy! Let me know if you try this with your bits and bobs.

Wouldn’t it be pretty as a pocket overlay? Or embellished with beading? How about a long piece for a pretty scarf or wrap? Maybe this is an excuse for me to eat more candy so I can save sweets wrappers? 😉

You can follow Coloricious on Twitter at: @Colouricious. Are you following us on Twitter, @sewchicago?

Add Dimension With Corded Pintucks

(Photo source: Craftstylish)

Last year, some of the Sew Chicago NG members took a class about heirloom sewing Eveyln Cummings, co-leader for the Joliet Desperate Stitchers NG. That’s where many, including me, discovered the wonders of the twin needle. How lovely are  the rows of bumpy rows.

Where do you go from there? And are pintucks only for heirloom sewing. Colette Patterns shows how to add cording to the pintucking to create some added dimension. Sewn in a zig zag or lazy curves and it has a completely different feeling than heirloom sewing.

(Photo source: Colette Patterns)

Colette Patterns has a tute (tutorial) that is so much better to read for yourself than I can reduce here. She uses thick embroidery thread wound on the bobbin to give the pintuck an extra dimension and applies it to a pretty tap pant. It’s a nice extra embellishment.

Definitely something to try for a next garment, quilt or even a handbag. Wouldn’t this be just delish on a yummy soft leather? Or fun in rows on a grey flannel pillow? Maybe follow a couple rows of pinstripes on a wool suiting for a bit of nubby texture.

(Photo source: Craftstylish)

Nancy S. from Sew Chicago and I also played with a wide twin needle on fleece at this year’s Original Sewing & Quilt. The effect had almost a tarpunto feeling.

Here’s a cute idea: use a thick corded pintuck and make a corrugated cup holder. Keeps the hot coffee at bay while giving your fingers something to grip onto.

(Photo source: Craftstylish)

This would probably be good for little people’s fingers to learn texture or to hold onto. Does your cat like texture? Maybe sew up a bunch of cat toys with this texture to distract kitty from scratching up your favorite chair. Here’s a link to the tuteon Craftstylish.

Get out and play with your (twin needle) feet! As always, please send us pictures or post to the ASG Chicago chapter Flickr album to share with everyone. We love to see what you’re making!

Star Wars Day Sewing

Happy Stars Wars Day!
May the fourth be with you! 

I can’t believe that I almost let this get away. But here’s a quick round-up of some fun Star Wars-inspired sewing.

How could I have gone for so long without a Millennium Falcon Neck Rest? Follow this tute and cover your buckwheat neck pillow to look like Han Solo’s ummm…trusty craft and you won’t get whiplash when you hit hyperdrive.

(Image: starwars.com)

Again from StarWars.com, make your own cuddly Bantha to roam Tatooine. Starwars.com has several sewing crafts of character puppets that you can make for or with young sewists, including a space slug draft dodger and a Chewbacca sock puppet.

(Image: starwars.com)

Applause to this BurdaStyle sewist for modifying and drafting her pattern for a Jedi cloak and costume.

(Image: BurdaStyle)

Make your own Yoda and Darth Vader puppets for the ultimate battle of good vs. evil. If terrycloth were they made of, very useful would they be, hmmm?

(Photo: stumblesandstitches.blogspot.com)

There’s so much more, but I thought four would be appropriate for this special day. To find more, just search on “Star Wars sewing crafts.” In the words of Master Yoda, “Feel the Force!”

[EDITED] I couldn’t resist one more. For the quilters out there. A Star Wars quilt.

(Photo: bellsbellsjo Flickr album)

How Does Your Garden Grow

Where flowers bloom so does hope. — Lady Bird Johnson

The snow has finally melted and flowers will soon be showing their colors. But if you’re like me and have a black thumb, you’ll have better luck with making some flowers with fabric, needle and thread. In addition to the beautiful pieces from Candace Kling and Soutache Ribbons, here are some floral embellishment ideas that will hopefully inspire you and brighten your day.

(Image source: mantua-maker.blogspot.com)

These beauties are brooches from textile designer Ruth Singer‘s flower/corsage workshop. Study this picture and you’ll see flowers made from felt, leather and yo-yo’s. Ever see a pretty button, but have no idea what outfit you would put it on? How something like these pretty flowers?

Imagine this next bunch of hydrangeas as a pocket on a swingy, skirt or clustered on a jacket…a sewn-in corsage! Or make it in an embroidery hoop as e tells tales does and enjoy over a kitchen sink or in your sewing studio.

(Image source: http://e-tells-tales.blogspot.com)

(Image source: http://thecraftingchicks.com)

I wonder if this flower was made in green, if it would look more like an artichoke? 🙂 Crafty Chicks’ tutorial on their blog will show y0u how to make this vintage-looking rose.

This next floral display of poppies(?) simply screams spring with its color and fun spirit. Sure, the colors aren’t true to Mother Nature’s palette, but there just seems to be a fresh feeling to it. Could be that the vibrant colors are set against the crisp white cotton.

(Image source: CraftholicsAnonymous)

And you don’t have to give up if you’re working with knits. Imagine a trail of these next posies on your garment or a pillow. A beautiful tone on tone, texture effect. Sew It All has a full tutorial how to make this on their site.

(Image source: sewitallmag.com)

(Image source: Clotilde)

Clotilde’s Garden Zips pattern has some fun with zippers! And what’s a garden of flowers without a few floral-friendly insects? Sew cute!

When you take a flower in your hand and really look at it, it’s your world for the moment. I want to give that world to someone else. Most people in the city rush around so, they have no time to look at a flower. I want them to see it whether they want to or not. — Georgia O’Keeffe

Happy Spring! If you make any of these or any of your own flowers, please be sure to send in a picture or post it to our Members’ Projects Flickr album. We’d love to see what you’re making!

Sewing With Nancy

(Image source: Louisiana Public Broadcasting)

Did you know you can watch full episodes of Nancy Zieman’s Sewing With Nancy shows online? From the Wisconsin PBS Station. Yay public television!

 

Video Tweet Day List

Did you follow the tweets of videos yesterday? Did you follow #vidtweetday or did you follow on the blog? I really hope you liked them; I had a fun time finding various topics and not-the-norm videos.

In case you missed any, here’s a list of all the videos:

1. Threadbanger’s How to Wet Felt a Beret
2. The art of tambour beading as done in French Haute Couture Embroidery at Lesage in Paris
3. The Making of a Chanel Haute Couture Outfit from New York Magazine
4. VogueFabrics’ Mac Berg shows how to use the stilleto when sewing and pressing
5. Embellishment With Bias Strips from Sandra Betzina
6. Haute couture French crochet beading from Corinne Meunier and photos
7. Bespoke tailoring in U.K.; mobile tailors set up in pubs and the suits are made in Hong Kong
8. Traditional shibori tying & dyeing
9. Shingo Sato, extreme pattern making: Transformational Arm-Hole
10. Francesco the tailor, Italy (I wish there was more to the video)
11. Julian Roberts Subtraction Cutting by an Indiana University student under Julian’s direction
12. Japanese kimono maker. I love his foot action and mesmerized by his adept needle-handling.
13. A two-fer deal: Spoonflower’s tutorial of how to design without Photoshop and creating wall art with custom-printed fabric

I hope you enjoy these videos! I’ll try to do another Video Tweet Day every few months.