Scrappy Ornaments Tutorial

Sew, Mama, Sew is having a tutorial contest on how to use up scraps, so obviously I had to join up. I was going to make a pillow back from scraps from the pillow top, but that's still not entirely ready. However I did notice my scrap bag wasn't exactly getting smaller, so I took the scraps from the pillow back, which were scraps from the pillow top, which were scraps from my scrap bag, most of which were scraps from an upholstery store down the street for this little project.

That's scraps to the fourth power! (Yes I'm a crafting nerd.)

First gather your materials:
scraps - scraps to the fourth power. For this I had a lot of greens, some blues and a few bright colors thrown in
backing material - this can be any size. The one used was a little over 10"x10".
Glue stick
Coordinating or contrasting thread
Ribbon (1/4" to 1/2" wide, approx. 1 1/2 yards for 9 ornaments)



Process:
Lay out your foundation piece with the right side facing DOWN. This will be the back of your ornament.

Then glue your fabric scraps to your backing piece. I used a sample upholstery square. I did this with my two-year old daughter. For hers I glues the entire backing before we started so she could just lay it down and grab another piece. For myself I glued sections of the backing to work on and sometimes just glued the back of the scrap piece before laying it on.
Pat each piece down as you go. Depending on how your backing piece looks you can leave parts bare like this on or cover the whole thing with scraps.

Eventually it will look like this:
Here's the two projects, one done by me, and the other by my two year old. Can you tell which one is which? This is part of what makes this a great kid's project. it's cheap, and the results are pretty much the same as adults that do it.








Next, sew down each piece to the backing. The glue stick will keep it mostly secure but won't dry in a way that will make it hard to sew. I sewed each edge of each piece, using a variety of stitches on my machine that my daughter helped me pick out. If you are sewing with a simple machine a zig zag stich ans a straight stitch will serve you well. (The eventual ravels of fabric edges add to the charm of it.)



Now even it off into a square or rectangle. For this one it was 10" by 10"

Then cut it into pieces for your ornament. I used somewhat wonky squares, more because I wasn't paying attnetion to my lines and I had a fabric scrap with a grommet in it right at the cutting line. For a 10"x10" square I cut 9 squares that were loosely 3 1/3". (It can be any shape really, think tree shapes, circles, stars...)


Cut 9 pieces of ribbon in 6" lengths. I used a brown satin ribbon under a light green lacy ribbon to bring out the bits of brown, tan and green in the squares.

Fold the ribbon in half and place it between the backing and a scrap piece. I used a corner so the ornament would look like a diamond.



Stitch the ribbon to the fabric as you stitch all around the edges. I would recommend an overcast stitch, satin stitch, or zig zag.







Embellish as desired. Add lettering, beads, embriodery, or whatever else you want to personalize the ornament. I'm planning on adding my daughters name and the year for true heirloom keepsake sentiment.






This is a fabulous craft for toddlers to do. The pictures here are of the one my two year old did! The only part you do completely alone is cutting the ornaments/ribbon, and the stitching. Even for that my two year old was sitting in my lap helping me choose stitches. (That ended promptly when she tried to feed the material through the machine. I saw her little fingers heading toward the needle and nearly had a heart attack!) But she picked her fabrics, helped glue them down, patted them to make sure they stayed, choose the thread and some of the stitches. Slightly older children could even be more involved in the sewing. I love that she chose some of the selvage edges, and they turned out so cute.

Recycled, Reused, Reduced

Recycled Gift bags

This week has been good for the environment. Most of what I've made has been with recycled or reused materials.

I bought an old wool sweater at a thrift store for 96 cents and felted it. I used it for craft projects before and had about half of it still sitting around on my craft desk so I made 4 gift bags.

The large one is made from the fronts of the cardigan. I left the pocket for added interest. The white ribbon down the sides is threaded through the button holes. The trick with reusing old clothing to make new things is utilizing whatever the garment gives you. The medium size bag is a sleeve with one end sewn up and a ribbon sewn on so I can be tied shut. I already used that one for valentine's day. The two little ones were made with the leftovers. One is a drawstring and the other has a flap that folds over. I had to embellish one corner with yarn because it had a small hole there.

Now I have durable, reusable gift bags suitable for many occasions.


Reusing old Valentines
My little Sprite came home with valentines on Friday so I took her valentines from this year and last year and made a place mat for her.

Placemat Materials:
cards/valentine themed stuff
plastic or cardstock cut to size of placemat
glue stick
packing tape


Process:
I laid the cards out on a piece of plastic (from a gift bag she also got) until they were arranged how I wanted them
Then I glued the back of each card to the plastic
Then I carefully laid down packing tape over the whole thing.
I did the same thing to the back side
Then trimmed the packing tape so it was just over the outside.



Reducing the Possibility of Loss
Then in preparation for the holidays (yes I'm starting early darnit or I'll never get any peace in the winter) I'm making my DH a gift certificate holder for his comic shop. They still give out paper gift certificates in plain envelopes, so I'm always afraid he'll lose it in the piles of paperwork on his desk. This should make it stand out. I used the same basic process for the envelope

Envelope Materials:
images from comics - I used pictures from the freebie preview newspaper the comic shop gives out
One envelope that I took apart
glue stick
packing tape


Process:
I laid the images out on the envelope until they were arranged how I wanted them - I love the skull, it's from a comic called apes and babes, which I know my DH does not read, but the graphic is awesome.
Then I glued the back of each comic to the envelope
Then I carefully laid down packing tape over the whole thing.
I did the same thing to the back side
Then trimmed the packing tape so it was just flush with the envelope.
I'm also planning on sewing on two buttons so It can be closed by winding string around them.

Making Cool Tools : Tutorial

I've been doing alot of knitting lately. I got a knifty knitter set for the holidays and am trying to figure it out. I practically destroyed the little tool that came with it because my stitches were too tight and I was being stubborn. So I got out giant paper clips and some poly clay and made these:

• knifty knitter tool (far right)
• a crochet hook (top)
• 5 stitch markers for knitting

Tutorial


Materials:

• Big paper clips
• poly clay (like Fimo or Sculpy)
  
• Needle nose pliers
  

Preparing the clay:
I rolled a thin strip of pink over and strip of blue over a log of yellow. Each stitch marker is one slice of this roll. For the crochet hook I rolled smaller canes and sliced them, then wrapped the around the paperclip to make spots. For the knifty knitter tool I tool the failed canes and just rolled them together to create a strip and rolled that around the paper clip.

Stitch markers: wrap paper clip in poly caly, leaving the largest loop open.

Crochet hook: bend the paper clip straight with pliers, then create a small hook that faces back toward the other end on one end with needle nose pliers. Wrap clay around it.

Knifty knitter tool: bend the paper clip straight with pliers, then create a small straight hook that faces up on one end with needle nose pliers. It should be 1/4 to 3/8 inch high. Wrap clay around it.

Then bake clay as directed. (I used Scupley III, so I baked it at 275 F for 20 minutes)

With my paper clip crochet hook, I made these:
Crocheted shoelaces:
I used red heart worsted yarn and chain stitched until it was 42 inches long.