Fringe Scarf Tutorial

Since our family pictures last year when my daughter used this fringe scarf that our photographer Ashley Mae had,

I’ve been wanting to make me one similar and here’s what I came up with:

Supplies:
Several different skeins of fuzzy/furry yarn ( I used 6)
Scissors
Directions:
Step 1: Cut 4 strands at about 48 inches of each of your yarn.  Because I used 6 different types of yarn I had a total of 24 (48 inch) strands.
Step 2: Put all your strands together lining one end of each strand up and then tie it to something sturdy about 20 inches from the end ( I used my sliding glass door)

Step 3: Then divide your strands into 4 strand segments (mixing the different yarns together) putting a knot about 4 inches from the knot where you tied all your strands to the sturdy object.

You should now have as many segments of 4 strands as you had different types of yarn with each segment having a knot about 4 inches from the big knot.
Step 4: Do you remember making friendship bracelets?  The same technique used to make friendship bracelets is what we are going to use to form sections of your strands that are all connected together. 
Take and hold each strand separated by a finger in your non dominant hand except for the farthest left strand.

You’ll want to hold these strands tight. 
Step 5: Now take the farthest left strand and loop it around your thumb and then loop it under the next strand going down on the right side of the strand and coming back up on the left side and through the loop your thumb is helping to create.  

Here’s a little diagram that might help to demonstrate what I’m trying to say.  (You can see my talent doesn’t lie in drawing on the computer)

Pull the loop down until you reach the knot in each strand.  You want to do this looping stitch twice on each strand all the way across otherwise your scarf will start to twist. 
Do three rows (each time you start with a new strand on the left that’s the start of a new row).  This is what it should look like after your three rows:

Step 6: Then about 4 inches from your last row of stitches you want to do a knot again like we did in Step 3.  Then repeat Steps 4-6 until you reach about 20 inches from the end of your strands.  Now you can untie your scarf from the sturdy object.
Step 7:  (Optional) I then finished my scarf off by tying a knot about 4 inches from the very end of each of my four strand sections (at both the beginning and end of my scarf).

Now your finished!!!

I was roasting by the time I finally got this picture right, but then again what do you expect when it’s 80 degrees outside, your wearing a sweater,a scarf and your 7 months pregnant; LOL!!!
I would love to hear if you give this a try and as always if you have any questions just leave a comment or send me an e-mail!!!

Cupcake and Ice Cream Cone Onsies

I made these cute little appliquéd onsies for my friend’s little girl.

Here’s the pattern for the appliqués.    I included a little 1/2 inch square so you can check if it prints out at the same size as I used. Click on the picture to print a larger size.

  I used Wonder Under to iron the shapes down.  I started with the cup and cone first, ironed them on, and then stitched around the edge.  Then I proceeded to layer the rest on (ironing it, then stitching it, then putting the next layer on).  For the stem of the cherry I used green DMC floss and stitched it on by hand using a back stitch.

A “Twist” on Zipper Rosettes

I got together with some of my friends today to make zipper rosettes.  They are so much fun and easy to do.  Then I started fiddling around and came up with this “TWIST” on the rosettes!!!

Materials:
Zipper
Hot Glue Gun
Felt
Instructions:
Undo your zipper completely cutting off the end so you can remove the zipper head.  So it looks like this:

Then fold the excess fabric at one end over and glue it in place.

Fold the end tightly over and glue it in place onto a square of felt.  The size of your felt with depend on how long your zipper is.  It’s better to have too much felt then not enough.

Now twist the loose end of your zipper.

Twist it pretty tight and then start gluing it down to the felt.

You’ll keep twisting and putting some glue down to hold it in place rotating all the way around several times.  When you get to the end just glue it down.  Once your glue is cooled off and dry trim the excess felt away and then add some more glue where the zipper lays a little loose still.

Now you can attach it to whatever you want, just like the other zipper rosettes.  I made two smaller ones and attached them to a headband. 
This was my attempt at taking a picture of me wearing the headband, but then I gave up and convince my daughter to put it on and let me take a picture!!!

Patriotic Star Door Decor

My door has been sitting empty of any decor since Christmas was taken down.  So I decided to put something together that wouldn’t take much time and that I could do while chilling with the kids outside.  I came up with this cute arrangement:

It’s styled after all those wreaths we saw around Christmas time with the scrap fabrics just tied around a wire.  For mine I used a wire coat hanger.  To make the even points I measured approximately how long my hanger was after undoing the twisty part at the top.  Then I divided that number by 10 because that is how many bends I was going to need to make to get my 5 points.  So say your wire measured at 42 inches.  That means you need to make a mark every 4 inches for a bend (the extra 2 inches will just be worked in at the end as an overlap to connect the two ends together).  You will want to alternate your bends back and forth in a zig-zag like method.  Since my hanger had a natural curve in a sort of circle I did one bend inwards and one bend outwards.  I really hope I’m making sense.  Once you reach the end twist the two ends together.  This is a little difficult and may require a pair of pliers and perhaps an extra set of hands.

Now just start forming your bends more distinctly so you have a more pronounced star look. 

Gather up your scrap fabrics you want to use.  I used 2 different red, 2 different white, and 1 blue.  I tore my fabric into about 1 inch strips and then cut them into 3-4 inches long sections. 

Once your strips are ready just start tying them in a knot around the star.  I chose to pattern mine as red, white,blue (and then just alternated between the two different reds and whites).

The closer together you squish the tied fabrics the fuller your star will appear.  After I had my star all done I took it out to display and decided that my star a little lonely and out of place. 

So I gave her three little stars friends to hang out with. 

To make the friends I sketched a star that was about 2-3 inches tall.  I cut two stars of each of the three fabrics I chose (6 total stars).  Then I just did a 1/4” stitch around the edges of two stars wrong sides together.  To make the fray look on the stars I brushed my fingers over the edges.

I attached the stars using white pipe cleaners/chenille stems and hot glue.  For the red and the white star I put a little bit of hot glue on the inner point and attached them to the middle pipe cleaner to help them lay how I wanted. 

That’s it.  It probably took me about 2 hours and most of that was spent sitting and tying all the little strips.

My door is happily decorated, for now…….

Baby Shower Sail Boats

A friend of mine had a baby shower about a month ago.  I had seen how people were presenting some simple gifts like receiving blankets as cute little flowers and wanted to do something like that except since she was having a boy I wanted it to be boyish.  So I came up with these cute little sail boats:

Materials:

Receiving Blanket

Burp Cloth

Wash Cloths or Cotton Balls

1/4” x 12” Dowel

Baby Toy (Optional)

Shredded Paper Strips

Gift Bag

Instructions:

I made my own receiving blanket and burp cloths.  The receiving blanket was 36” square and the burp cloths I think were 12” x 24” (I’m not 100% sure on the dimensions of the burp cloths).

Making the Boat:

1 & 2: Lay out your receiving blanket and then fold one corner of the receiving blanket to the opposite corner forming a triangle. 

3.  Grab another point and fold it over making a smaller triangle. 

4 &5.  Keep grabbing one point and folding it over. 

6.  Once you get it folded to the size you want your boat (I folded mine six times) then tape across the points that want to fold away from each other.

7.  Push the middle point up into the center of the last fold you did to create a flat bottom.   You may want to do a little taping along the side to keep it closed.

8.  Sit your boat up and stick your dowel through off to the side that doesn’t have the folded point in the way.  Now either use your wash cloths or some cotton balls to stuff inside the boat around the dowel to hold it in place. 

Making the Flag:

1. Lay your burp cloth out.

2.  Fold it in half

3.  Fold one corner over to form the triangle.

4.  Keep folding until you have the size you want for your flag (I made 4 folds including the folding in half in step 2).  Then tape the corner to hold it together.

Putting Boat and Flag Together:

Slide your dowel up through the middle along the folded side.  You will probably want to put a few strips of tape along both open sides especially on the bottom side, right next to where the dowel goes into the flag.

Plop a toy into the boat and now your ready for the packaging.

I made my own paper filling by taking two shades of blue construction paper and sending it through the CD slot on my paper shredder.  It made the perfect little strips.  After that I just scrunched the paper strips in my hands.

Now just get you a gift bag (I used one of my Scentsy delivery bags and it sure smelt good!!!).  Layer the paper shreds on the bottom and then insert a sailboat or two.  Tie the top with some ribbon and add a card and your ready to go!!!!

Frayed Fabric Bangles from Ribbon Spools

I have several empty ribbon spools lying around my house.  I didn’t want to throw them out without giving some thought on if I could recycle or reuse them.

So I came up with the idea to take off the cover, wrap some fabric around it and create these bangles:

Supplies:

Empty Ribbon Spools

Fabric

Hot glue gun

Scissors or rotary cutter

Tutorial:

Tear the front and back cover of the spool off so all you have left is the inner ring:

 

You’ll want to make sure you tear off all the little extra papers that are still around the edges.

For the smaller spools I used a strip of fabric that was half of an inch wide (1/2”) and for the wider spool I used a strip that was 1 inch wide (1”).  The length of your strip will very depending on how much you overlap your fabric, but if you don’t have enough you can always add another strip to where you ended.

 

Adhere one end of your strip to the inside of your circle using hot glue. 

 

Then start wrapping the fabric around at an angle.  If you run out of fabric just cut another strip and start from the inside of your circle where you left off (be sure to adhere both ends with your hot glue).

 

And there you have it Frayed Fabric Bangles

 

*I did not treat mine with anything but I’m sure you could put a little Mod Podge over the fabric if you wanted

**FYI these are not water proof, they will probably ruin if they get really wet.