Sunday, June 29, 2014

Mason Jar Mug Cozy...

My daughter bought herself a HUGE mason jar mug. So, a cozy was in order. She picked the colors and I went from there. No pattern. Just crocheted it to fit snuggly.

The orange is 3 rows of single crochet, the white is 1 row of single crochet and the navy blue is 1 row of double crochet. I crocheted an edging of white in single crochet and created the ties from braiding all 3 colors.

To get a good fit, we measured the jar with a tape measure and then I crochet my chain to stretch to about 2 inches shorter than our measurement. It may seam too short, but once you start to crochet your rows, your piece "magically gets bigger" (At least for me it does - don't know why). It worked out good.

I hope you have a wonderful week and find time to create something fabulous.

{hugs}
Laura



Be Proud to be a Girl...



Saturday, June 28, 2014

Crocheted Triangle Bunting...

These little triangles were fun to crochet. Super easy too. It made a cute little bunting to hang up. I am very happy with how it turned out.


The pattern:

chain 2
2 single crochet in the first chain
chain 1 and turn
2 single crochet each stitch
chain 1 and turn
2 single crochet in the first stitch and 1 single crochet in each stitch after
chain 1 and turn
repeat *2 single crochet in the first stitch and 1 single crochet in each stitch after * until your triangle is as big as you want it.

I crochet 13 rows using Lily Sugar 'n Cream and a size J/10 6mm hook. I also crocheted a row of chains/single crochets across the top for hanging. 



This is the first time I have ever blocked a crocheted project. I folded and placed a beach towel on the carpeted floor in a spot where no one would walk on them. I laid out and pinned down my triangles, giving them a nice shape with a little tension but not pulled too tightly. And then I got them really wet with water using a spray bottle. The hardest part was leaving them until they were completely dry.

But, it was worth the wait. They are nice and flat and well shaped.




You'll have to let me know if you make your own crocheted triangle bunting. I'm sure you'll love it.

{hugs}
Laura

Sunday, June 15, 2014

Fabric Wrapped Embroidery Hoop, Tutorial...

I have always loved the look of fabric wrapped hoops for displaying your embroidery. 

And, even though it's pretty easy to figure out how to wrap fabric around the hoop, I was wondering how other crafters were finishing the backs of their hoops. Although, after looking online to find tutorials, I found very few. 

For the hoops that I have made in the past, I left my embroidered fabric long, pulling it tight together using needle and thread and covering the whole back with a circle of felt or fabric. It looked nice, but it was a lot of extra work. 

Well, I recently notice at a craft show a couple hoops finished with the embroidered fabric cut short and hot glued inside the edge of the hoop. I like the simplicity of it as well as being able to see the back of my work. I try really hard to keep the back of my embroidery neat and I don't mind seeing it. Although, for gifts or for selling, it would be nice to glue a circle of felt or fabric to the back. Maybe I'll do that next time... 

I hope you find this tutorial helpful.

{hugs}
Laura



After finishing my embroidery and making my crochet accents, I am ready to get started.
I used a rotary cutter to cut thin strips of fabric. My hoop is 4 inches and I cut 2 strips of fabric that were 1/2 inch wide and 24 inches long. They don't have to be perfect because the edges don't really stand out after it's wrapped. So, if you don't have a rotary cutter, scissors will work great.
For wrapping the fabric, I used school glue. It worked great keeping the fabric in place and it's thin consistency doesn't add any extra bulk like hot glue would have.
 Just start with about an inch of glue on the inside of the outer hoop.
Now, just tightly wrap the fabric around the hoop, overlapping the fabric as you go. I started as close to the end as possible, wrapping my fabric over the metal "L" bracket.
 Then, when needed, add more glue and continue wrapping.
When you get to the end of your fabric strip, apply some glue to the fabric as well as the hoop to secure the end.
Then, start the new strip of fabric over the top of the first.
 Continue around, adding fabric strips as needed, until you get to the end.
At the end, trim your fabric so it's long enough to finish on the inside of the hoop and glue it in place. Beware, your fabric strips will unravel a little as you wrap. I just used my embroidery scissors and trimmed the threads off.
 Next, I trimmed the embroidered fabric to a little less than a 1/2 inch.

I did not wait for the school glue to be dry before putting my hoops back together. Just make sure everything is lined up perfectly and then tighten the screw.
Using a low-temp hot glue gun, I applied a small amount of hot glue to the inner hoop and gently pressed down the fabric with my fingers, making little folds here and there where needed.

 The final thing to do was to hot glue on my crochet accents and I was done.



Thursday, June 12, 2014

Hoop Art...

I have recently created two embroidered hoops with crocheted flowers to hang. I have been wanting to do something like this for a long time and I am really happy with how they turned out.

I will be posting a tutorial for wrapping the hoop with fabric very soon.

{hugs}
Laura