Paint Chip Upcycle

Do you have as much of an obsession with paint chips as I do?

Do you gather them with no idea how you want to use them like I do? Hehehe... Yeah... 

Well, here's an easy way to use the paint ships to create something cute!

Supply list:

A jar and lid

Glue

Preferred paint chip colors

Cute stickers or pictures

For my jar I found this! For this project, we are only focusing on the lid.

If there are any stickers remove them and clean the top. 

Once that is done bring out your paint chip! I used the lid as my template to cut out this shape. 

Now we glue it down! I like to use superglue. :)

Lastly comes the stickers or images! This little piece of paper is left over from my mission in Japan two years ago!

Trim it down to fit the lid. Once you like how it looks, glue it down and you are done! :D

Now you can fill the jar with whatever you like! 

Here's the other two I made earlier! I like to use them as "Travel Temari Kits". 

Have fun making your own!

Signing off ~Thimblechaser

DIY Father's Day Tie

I'm working on a fun post about this last weekend that I got to spend with my mom! It was really fun, but in the meantime, I'd like to talk about an upcoming event. Father's Day! I don't know about all of you wonderful people out there, but buying gifts for this special day can be really tough! There's always the classic (and kind boring) tie gift. I propose, we take that boring tie, and turn it into awesomeness! ;D

Here's what you need. 

SUPPLIES

an old/ugly tie

Fun new fabric! This can be anything. We are working on the bias so we are going to need 1/2 a yard and that will be plenty!

Scissors

Iron

Hand sewing needle

Step one: find an old tie

You can get these cheep at any thrift shop!

Step 2: gut it!

Carefully unpick all of the seams. Don't do too much damage here, we are going to use the old tie as a pattern! With that said, unpick every single seam! We need each piece to be separate for the pattern. As a quick note, seam rippers work like this! The little red ball goes down into the seam! It seriously works like magic!

Once finished you should end up with a pile that looks like this. 

This tie had two main body pieces, two body linings, and one small triangle lining. Keep the linings for later!

Step 3: cut out the fabric

Now that we have our pattern, let's get snipping! Press the pattern pieces and fabric flat first, so you get an accurate shape. Remember, place the pattern at an angle! I'm using an old Hawaiian shirt for fabric. :)

Step 4: sew the body

First stitch the two body pieces together. 

Next up stitch the lining on the point. Make sure to put right sides together. 

Once you've pressed the seams open, lay the tie out on your ironing board. Then place the inner lining centered on the wrong side of the fabric. 

Step 5: pressing

Press the fabric around the lining. 

Once the fabric has been pressed over it will looks like a tie! Tuck one of the sides under to hide away the raw edge.

When you fold the edge under, make sure the points line up. 

Proceed along the length. Once complete, we are now at the point where you can put on a movie, and  hand stitch the tie closed!

Step 6: hand sew 

Hide the knot in the fold of fabric then proceed with a blind stitch or any kind of hand sewing technique .

Since this is a tie, it's not going to see a lot of heavy use. That means you don't have to go crazy on your stitches! Just enough to keep it from coming apart. =D 

It's done! Wrap it up, give it away, then watch their faces of delight! =D 

Or you can keep the tie to use on your stuffed animal collection! 

I think it looks great on Mr. Grouchy, don't you?

If you make one, post the pictures in the comments! 

Ohisashiburi! お久しぶり！

The title for this article is in Japanese and says "Its been a long time!"  It just sounds odd to say that in English for some reason. The feelings behind the words are just a bit different I guess. *shrugs*

Anyway, school is out for summer 🎶 Woohoo! We started it off with a sibling road trip to Disneyland and California beaches. :) it was a fantastic trip! Two of our number hadn't been before, but I'll be putting up more about that on a later post once we get our pictures amassed. =D

I brought home a fun bag full of small seashells with the idea of making a pendant necklaces. 

Here's what you need to make this. 

A shell

Wire

Super glue

Pliers with wire cutters

---optional--- rounded pliers 

Step one: clean the shell. 

No picture on this one. Just make sure it isn't gunky. :)

Step two: prepare the wire!

Depending on the size of your shell, you can cut a long or short piece. It doesn't really matter since it's going to be tucked into the shell anyway. :)

 Fold the wire in half. This is going to be the loop up top.

I like using the rounded pliers here to get an even loop. Twist the wires to close the loop

Next up we fold the tails a little bit so it fits inside the shell. I like to make a loose circle like shape with the tails so that it has more to grip the inside.

Step two: glue

I like to put some paper or something disposable underneath the piece I'm gluing so my surface stays clean! 

Before gluing test the wire to make sure it fits inside! Adjust as necessary.

I'm using a crazy glue all purpose small applicator deally-o. 

Apply glue all along the length of the wire, just be sure to keep the loop for the top clear!

Once it's been glued place it inside the shell. 

You can just see inside where the wires are tucked away. I like to leave just the loop exposed up top, so it looks like it's holding on by magic. :)

At this point I like to apply a little more glue around the loop to give it extra security. 

Once it's dry you are done! Just find a chain and string it on!

A Crafty Weekend with Thimblechaser

Have you ever seen those students walking around campus with their black clunky looking portfolio art bags? Here's what I'm talking about.

A bit nondescript and not really encouraging to the artistic mind. At least, that's how I feel about this color. They really are great bags though and work wonderfully for carrying art projects around. I just don't like the way they look! XD Also, I didn't have any money to buy something I wouldn't really be happy with anyway, so instead I whipped this puppy out! 

The big black thing you see inside is a piece of cardboard that I use to stabilize the bag when I pull my drawing pads out. I feel it also helps protect the precious cargo. Since I've carried this around, I've had a fellow student commission me to make one for them. I'm going to use that bag to show you how easy it really is to make something you will enjoy.

What you need:

At least *1yd at 56"wide of fabric.

Some kind of handles. Just enough to make two over the shoulder straps. You can also make shorter ones for your hands.

Step 1: Fabric. 

There's so much fabric to choose from, and really anything could work, just keep in mind a few things when you are making your choice. 

a) is this going to be exposed to the elements frequently?

 If the answer is yes, you can find fabric that is water resistant. There are also products out there to help waterproof your fabric.

b) how long do you want it to last?

If you want it to last a long time, then you probably also said yes to the above question. Make sure to choose something heavy duty and not like the linen I used on my bag.

c) how much are much are you willing to spend on this?

This is completely up to you. :) Something that is always nice to keep an eye out for are coupons! If you can, wait for that sale to get something you will love without hurting the pocketbook. Remember too that you don't need more than 1 yard.

d) *do you want/need extra fabric for pockets?

This is where you might need to get a little more fabric. If you want any pockets or flaps, you will need to get a little more. My client didn't want any pockets so I'm not sure how much you would want, however another 1/4 would be plenty to make a small pocket.

Here's the fabric I'm working with for this project. My client found it in the home fabric section. 

Once you have your fabric, it is time to get making!

Step 2: Even out.

By the time the fabric comes home from the store, you probably have noticed that the cut edges aren't exactly forming right angles. That's easy enough to fix with a snip snip! 

Step 3: Pin.

Fold your fabric in half with the selvage edges touching if you haven't already. Since we are using a French seam on this bag for the seam finish, place wrong sides together. I prefer the French seam method on bags and when there is no serger available.  If you want to use a different seam finish skip to the end of this tutorial for the different steps. ****

The folded edge will be the bottom of the bag, and the two shorter sides will be, well, the sides! =D

Pin along the edges so the fabric doesn't shift. Be careful as you are pinning so the fabric doesn't move around! I'll have a video about pinning techniques later. 

Step 4: Sew!

For this first seam I'm taking a 1/4" allowance. For some machines, this lines up on the outside of the foot. Make sure to measure first if you are not sure! Also, be sure to back stitch at the beginning and end. 

Once the seam is finished, press it flat, then flip the fabric so right sides are together. I like to press again here so the previous seam is snugged right up against the edge. 

Once you pin, it should look like this. 

Notice that the pin heads extend past the fabric for easy grabbing.

This time, our seam allowance is going to be a bit bigger at 3/8". This isn't far from the edge of the foot. Backstitch at the beginning and end again. 

Once it's been sewn it comes out like this!

Can you see how there are no raw edges on the inside or outside of the bag? The French seam locks the raw edges up inside the seam itself! This makes it extra sturdy. 

Almost there!

Step 5: Hem

Now we are ready to tackle the top of the bag! Get your iron ready and press the fabric down 1/4". 

Once you get this pressed down all the way around, press it down another 1/2 inch. It should look like this. 

Doing this locks the raw edges on the inside! Woot! While pressing, don't forget to pin it as well so it is sewing ready.

Keep your seam allowance just shy of a 1/2". Make sure to catch the folded over part in your stitches. 

Step 6: Handles

 Measure in an equal distance from both sides and pin the handle ends in place. Repeat on the other side.

With the handles in place, trace around the edge to make a square on the handle, then make an "x" inside the square. 

And the bag is complete! Just stick your sketch pads in and you are ready to go!

Thanks for joining me today for this tutorial!

For those who wanted steps for a different finish.

**** 

Step 3: Fold fabric with right sides together. The folded edge will be the bottom of the bag, and the two shorter sides will be, well, the sides! =D

Pin along the edges so the fabric doesn't shift. Be careful as you are pinning so the fabric doesn't move around! I'll have a video about pinning techniques later. 

Step 4: Take a seam allowance of 5/8". Make sure to back stitch at the first and the end.

Step 4b: This is the part where you can do different finishes. Two of the most popular are the surged finish, and the zigzag. Whatever you end up choosing, make sure to do each seam individually.  If you have any questions, feel free to message me!

Finishing goes the same as the above instructions, just hop back up to Step 5. 

****

If you have any suggestions for tutorials you'd like to see let me know in the comments below! 

Stitching off for now,

 ~Lali

NO SLEEP pt. 1

I don't know about many of you, but once school time comes around there is something I dread even more than loads of homework. This dreaded thing is falling asleep in class! Any lecture class, any desk or chair, within 15 minutes, I'm playing the stealthy headbob game. Sometimes I can fight it off, but usually it's a loosing battle.

This post is the first of many more to come about the crafts I do so I don't slumber when I should be learning numbers! (or whatever)

Here I have a simple case for my ipad that I bought during the bookstore sale here at school. It has fun colors and all, but I missed out on the chevron craze and am not too crazy about it myself. Just not my favorite. All in all, when I see this case and feel the material, I think "boring". Also, if I ever set my device on top, everything slides right of because of the very smooth texture. Blegh!

My vision? Something that says creative and classy while being romantic at the same time. Honestly the hardest part is choosing the fabric. With much deliberation and the realization that if I didn't like it, I could change it, I chose the fabric. 

Step 1: Choose the fabric. This came from my stash of upholstery fabrics. I just love the colors and pattern! Paisley=always gonna win.

Step 2: Measure and cut fabric leaving enough of a margin to fold under. This doesn't need to be a science, just something rough will do. You can also fussy cut it if you really love a design in the fabric.  Since this isn't a large case, every space counts. I needed two big pieces and I also cut an additional skinny strip to make into a strap thingy for my stylus to fit into. 

Step 3: Fold over edges and pin into place. *make sure to bring along enough pins* I only had a few so I had to rotate them around a bit. You can see that I didn't pin the fabric right to the edge, that is fixed with the next step!

Step 4: Hand sew! Since I'm no expert on this, I won't tell you how. All you have to do is make sure the fabric reaches the edge you need it to! Since it's been folded over already all you have to do is take time and stitch. 

There it is! I admit that I finished it after class was over, but it served its purpose.  Now I have a fun and unique case that I made while I combated sleep! There's no stylus holder for now, but that's just going to be a project for another day. :) This will work for now.

~Stitching out

          Lali