Slippers!

It is cold outside. Actually, it is cold inside too. So it should come as no surprise that my thoughts, and my creativity, should be all about staying warm.

Slippers.

Really warm and very comfy slippers.

What else do you think about when it gets cold?

Last year, I accidentally washed my favourite wool scarf. And I accidentally felted it. Problem? I thought so at the time, but really, it was an opportunity waiting to happen. Every year I buy another pair (or two) of slippers, and every year I hate that they aren’t warm enough, or don’t fit well enough, or flatten when I get them home, or… (there always seems to be something wrong with the slippers I buy). But this time, I had an epiphany about my cold feet and that accidentally felted scarf I had in my closet from last year’s laundry incident.  This was an accident waiting to be… slippers.

And they turned out to be warm and comfy. And funky (it turns out that when you make a pair of slippers from a crazy striped scarf, each one of them is different).

But they are warm. And they are a definite personalized fit, so they fit my feet perfectly.

I don’t have much more to say about this particular project. I would definitely do this again. And if I didn’t have an accidentally felted scarf to use, I would felt something on purpose – an old sweater  – or maybe I would have to knit some wool to felt in order to make some slippers. This is a 2 hour project at the very most. It is a basic sewing project. And it is a great way to turn something old and unusable into a new and totally fantastic way to keep my feet warm.

Yours too. So…. here is the challenge…. what would you reuse to make yourself a great pair of slippers?

I will post the pattern I used at the Daylilies site tomorrow, so you can take a peek at how I approached the project. I can say right now that it was easy, and it really started with me tracing my foot.

And – as long as I am talking about the Daylilies site, I was supposed to remind you today that I had posted the pattern for ‘button fabric’  today, but we had some issues with the new website layout and shopping cart this morning, and I haven’t had a chance to post this pattern yet. I will try and get to it tonight, but if I don’t, both the button fabric and the slipper how-to’s will be up tomorrow.

Will you take the challenge? Will you make your own very warm and comfy slippers?

Success!

Success! After 3 days of trying, I finally figured it all out. It is possible to
make a very pretty ‘fabric’ from buttons. And it turned out to be really easy.

A ‘fabric’ that works as a candle wrap, and will have many other possibilities
too. I can’t wait to try them all out. And I can’t wait to see what you come up
with too (if you decide to give this a try).

What you need:

Buttons. Lots of buttons. Any size will do but the buttons you use should all be
about the same size. They do not need to match. I used old shirt buttons and
they looked great, but were a little small to work with (I would use them again
though).

Wire. I used 28 guage brass wire. I tried a 28 guage silver wire, but it was a
little too tough to use, so I would suggest the brass wire.

Scissors to cut the wire. (You really don’t need a special pair – the wire cuts
easily enough – I would just make sure to use a pair that you don’t mind getting
dull.)

That’s it. That is all you need.

The trick is in knowing how big a piece of ‘fabric’ you will need for what you
want to do with it. For my candewrap, I measured the width of my pillar candle
and needed to use a length of 20 buttons. I chose to make the width of my wrap
the same as the height of my candle – and that was 6 rows deep. All in all, I
needed 120 buttons.

Once you know how big to make the fabric, and how many buttons you need,
you can get to work! And once you get the first row in, and have done the
‘stitch’ a couple of times, the rest of the project is just repitition. And easy.
The rest of this (free) pattern will be posted on the templates page on this site tomorrow- so go and grab it  and give it a try (I will post the link
again here on the blog tomorrow just in case you forget).

What will you use your fabric for?

Here is what my ‘fabric’ looks like (the backside is the pic on the bottom):

There is Always a Story…

Okay. So the story goes something like this: I was right that I needed thinner
wire to finish my button candleholder wrap project from last week (28 gauge
wire, actually). I was even on the right track with sewing the buttons together
in cross stitch style. And, after reading that how-to article posted for the
button coasters on craftstylish.com, I thought I had this figured out. How
wrong I was.

So – to regroup:

I started out to make a wrap for a glass tealight holder with some buttons that
came across my studio work table. I soon realized that I needed thinner wire,
and some further instructions, and the project was put on a hold for a day until
I could get the wire and find the instructions for a similar project. This is
where I thought I had figured out.

So I sat down today with everything ready to go, and things went surprisingly
smooth for a while. I got a line of 21 buttons attached to each other. And I got
them stable enough to attach another row of buttons to them.

Then, I did another row and another row and another row (5 rows in all). Each
row got easier and faster. Things were going good.

But then it came time to attach my rows together. And this is where the problems
started.

Even though I had the instructions as a reference in front of me, and I liked the
way that project had turned out, I didn’t like the way it was working out.
Everything I originally liked about the translucent ‘gem-like’  quality of the
buttons was getting lost. (I even tried to add in some extra beads to bring back
the whole jewellery appeal of this project, but no…it didn’t work.

So where to go from here? Do I scrap this idea and move on to other things? I
am not so convinced. You see, as I have been working through this project in my
head, I have become more and more intrigued about where else this technique
might lead. What if I made my own button type beads from clay and could make
an actual candle holder? What if the beading of buttons can form some kind of
button ‘fabric’  for sculpture or journal covers? I just don’t know if I can let
this go until I have tried everything to make it work.

I really don’t know how… yet. But for now, I did temporarily fasten the rows
of buttons together around a pillar candle (I decided that it looked awful
around a glass tea light holder) and it looks pretty good (nevermind the wire
sticking out from behind… this is only a temporary try out thing). But maybe this
particular project need only be as simple as that….?

Buttons…. All About the Buttons…

I just don’t know. I don’t know why I decided to turn my buttons into a
candleholder. I really don’t know. But if you were reading this blog back when
I used smocking in my journal making, you will know that sometimes, my creative
mind just doesn’t make a lot of sense (well – most of the time my creative mind
doesn’t make a lot of sense, but the journal turned out to be unexpectedly
beautiful, and I think that the same will be said of the button candleholder).

But the truth is that I wasn’t quite sure how to put it the buttons together to
match the picture in my mind. Obviously, my first few attempts yesterday didn’t
work as well as I would have hoped.

Not to be deterred, I struck out today to find some directions. I didn’t need
inspiration… I have enough of that. I needed directions. I needed to know if
anyone has ever done anything like what I have planned. And I needed to know
how they approached it..

After reading a book on buttons (it wasn’t very helpful, but I did learn that
there are a lot of different kinds of buttons, and that they can be used to
embellish very strange things), and doing a fairly extensive google search on
buttons and wire and button crafting and any other word combination I could
think of…

I found it.

Tucked away in a posting on craftstylish.com is a crafter that made a coaster
out of buttons, and the look is much the same that I am hoping to achieve with
the candleholder. And…there are instructions!

As it turns out, I wasn’t too far from the right approach in the first place. I
think that my problem was that I was sewing each button to its neighbour
completely and then moving on to the next instead of sewing up the entire
would-be length in the left hand side holes of the buttons and then back down
on the right hand side length.  (As I write this, I realize that it is probably
coming across clear as mud – but have no fear. I will post the whole project with
pictures and the full instructions in easy to read english on Monday).

In the meantime, I also found some neat ideas for your spare buttons that you
might want to peruse…

Martha Stewart embellishes a totebag...

thinkcraft.com shows you you how to make a really beautiful little pendant

And, the button wreath on the craftzine blog would make a really neat napkin
ring for the holiday season

Have a really great weekend! Happy creating – I can’t wait to see what you do
with your buttons

Gems Bathed in CandleLight… Is That a Button?

Have you ever wondered what to do with those leftover, spare, and mismatched
buttons that end up in the bottom of your junk drawer? You know – the extra
ones that clothing makers give you just in case you loose a button from the shirt
you just bought – the ones that you can’t find when you need them, even though
you have them?

So have I.

Alot lately – I came across a whole pile of them and was struck by how pretty a
whole lot of plain shirt buttons can be. I have seen lots of neat things done with
them (everything from the tasteful and beautiful to the bodacious and way
overdone) and I thought that maybe I would try my hand at working with the
pile of buttons that crossed my studio work table this week.

My first thought? A really neat candle holder cover (to go around a glass
tealight holder).

My second thought? A really neat candle holder cover (to go around a glass
tealight holder).

My third thought? You guessed it.

I really liked the idea of a button collage, and I was tempted to work on
something like that, but Thanksgiving is coming up and I still really do like a
pretty table. I also think that the transparent/reflective properties of these
plain little shirt buttons will be beautiful when bathed in candlelight. I think
that these little cast offs could become almost gem-like.

The big question is how to make it all happen.

So where is my starting point for this project?

I know that I want to use the buttons. I know that although they are all similar
in size, they are really all different shapes. I know that all the buttons I want
to use all have 4 holes.I know that I would prefer to keep this project
symmetrical. I do not want the buttons to be all thrown together. And I know
that I just want the button candleholder to be a sort of sleeve to slip over an
existing glass tealight/votive holder.

My first attempt had the look and feel that I am looking for, but it didn’t have
the stability that the buttons would need to hold a vertical ‘wrap’ position. I
used a transparent jewellery thread to sew the buttons together.

My second attempt wasn’t much better. But to be honest, I knew that it probably
wouldn’t work. I had decided that if I used wire, but did the same type of sew
ing as I tried in my first attempt, that I would have the problem solved and a
beautiful button candle holder in no time. But -I did not have any thin wire in
my studio. So – even though I knew it probably wouldn’t become what I wanted,
I tried to use a heavier wire. And even though it didn’t work (even though I
used bigger 2-hole buttons for this trial the wire was too thick to get the buttons
as close together as I wanted), I think that it worked enough to go out and find
some thinner wire and try again for real.

Ideas and Choices (Oh… and Merry Christmas Too!)

Today is one of those days that I just couldn’t seem to stop searching the
internet. Every time I thought that I would stop my search and turn off the
computer, I found another interesting something and I went on to read and
search some more. The big problem (if you can call it a problem) is that I found
a site that lists A LOT of other sites with free patterns and ideas. Every link I
hit ended at another fantastic site and… I just kept searching. (If you are looking
for good quilting and stitching ideas, you can check it out the same site at FreeQuiltPatterns.info).

So what drove me back to the internet for more ideas?

I just can’t decide what to do with that crayon patchwork quilt square.

It seems to me that my biggest issue with deciding what to do from here is that
I have only one lonely quilt square. I have learned that if I had more, the
decision would be an easier one.

Having said that, I have been given a few suggestions. I really like the twist on
the whole runner idea – putting the quilted square as the centre of a tablecloth
– a sort of inset hotplate, if you will. And I agree that it would make a great
wall hanging if you had the perfect place to hang it. (Since that suggestion was
made, I found a free pattern for a Christmas swag from KiwiQuilts.co.nz that
could be an interesting approach to a making wallhanging from my crayon
patchwork square.)

That, and I am still working with the idea of the quilt square as a gift basket
(the free pattern is found on SewandQuilt.com).  But then again, my little quilt s
quare might just become a very pretty doll quilt.

I think more than finding the perfect thing to do with this particular quilt
square, the most important part of this project is finding that crayons can make
a great faux patchwork effect. And this will have great implications for my
future creative endeavours.

For instance, I can see wonderful Christmas tree skirts with handcoloured and
machine stitched scenes.  Or… if I had coloured in a board game layout instead
of a patchwork quilt square, I would have a really great travel gameboard.

But I think that the most interesting idea came from Dana-made-it.com with her
tuturial for a quilted notecard. I can just imagine how great a crayon
handcoloured quilted notecard would look! What a wonderful way to say Merry Christmas

Colour – A – Quilt Square

I finished colouring. All I can say is I must be a very slow colour-er because it
took me longer to colour the 12 inch square than it did to do a little machine
quilting on top of my colouring!

In any case, I can honestly say that I am still not entirely happy with the
studio, and they like the colours. I guess it is just one of those personal taste
things.

So what did I do?

Okay – just to back track a little bit, these instructions are based on using
beeswax crayons or fabric crayons. I have no experience with using regular
crayons with this type of work, and although they may work, I cannot speak
from any sort of experience. If you want to try this with regular crayons, you
will have to experiment a little yourself.

Here is a quick pic of my project (so far…) but please understand that this is
one of those projects where the picture does NOT do the project any justice.
This looks MUCH better in person.

Once I had finished colouring my square (to see how I got my pattern, check yesterday’s blog post), I placed the fabric face down on a piece of paper and
ironed it on the backside of the design, on med heat with the steam function
turned off. It didn’t take long (just seconds, really) to melt the wax and set
the design.

After ironing, the design seems just a little more stiff, but just ignore that. It
has no impact on the rest of the project, and will soften again as you work.

Then, I cut a piece of quilting batting (I prefer to work with a natural quilt
batting like cotton or wool – but any kind of quilt batting will work.) and another piece of the broadcloth to the same dimensions as my original piece of broadcloth. After
pinning the pieces together in a sandwich fashion – broadcloth with my design
on it, right side facing up, then the batting, then the last piece of broadcloth
as a backing – I took to the sewing machine.

Now, I decided that I wanted to sew on every line I had drawn so that it would
mimic a quilt square, but there is nothing saying that you have to do this.

You can choose how much or how little sewing you want to do. In fact, as I
started sewing, I decided that there were some areas of the square that I
wanted to have more stitching, adding rows and some decoration. And, as I
look at it again, there are still some areas that I might add some more.

But the question of the day is much the same as yesterday – Now that all of that
is done (and it only took about 30 minutes to sew), what am I going to use the
single quilt square for?

I still can’t decide. Any thoughts?

Beyond Glue… Let’s Talk Crayons!

Okay. Since I promised not to talk about glue any more, I thought that I would turn my attention to crayons.

I was working on some product development work in the studio last week, and all my spare time was devoted to finding fabric crayons. I remembered using them when I was a kid, but couldn’t seem to find them anywhere when I needed them last week. I finally found them, but not before I got a little inventive and started trying the regular crayons I have around the studio. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the child-safe beeswax crayons just new to the studio work fabulously on fabric. Not only that, but they stay on through a cold water wash whether they have been heat set or not.

Perfect.

But the real reason I bring this up is because when I was searching for the fabric crayons online, I came across a fabric artist, Carol Ingram, that was using crayons with quilting to do some phenomenal work. Sulky of America has posted instructions for one of her projects for free on their site, so go and check it out – it is gorgeous

Now that I knew I had crayons that worked well on fabric (each brand of crayons is different, so you will have to check out the crayons you want to work with before you start a project like this… make sure you test them in the wash too!), I was intrigued with the idea of using the crayons in some sort of quilting work. I liked the way Carol’s project turned out, and I wanted to give some version of it a try.

But I have never really quilted before.

So… I knew that I would be biting off way more that I should if I tried that project as is – my project needed to be simple. Something with simple sewing and lots of crayon colouring.

A basic quilting square!

I went to my trusty quilting book (yes, I have a trusty quilting book even though I don’t quilt. There is no explaining my mind sometimes…) by Better Homes and Gardens called 101 full-sized Quilt Blocks and Borders. I picked a pretty basic square, traced it onto my piece of broadcloth fabric with a regular fine marker (mine wasn’t a fabric marker, and it kind of bled a little when I left the marker on the fabric too long, but that is okay because I ended up colouring over my lines anyway).

Then I took the crayons to the fabric and started colouring. I am not done yet – really only half way through (I guess I am a slow colour-er?). I don’t love my colour choices, but I am dedicated to seeing it finished because I have learned that there are a lot of times I really don’t like the project at the half way point only to love it at the end. In any case, here is what it looks like so far:

I really don’t know what it will be when it is done – a pillow? a bag? maybe part of a larger wall hanging? – but that is a problem for tomorrow. Right now, I am going to enjoy how relaxing colouring is (I had forgotten how enjoyable the simple act of colouring can be) and the rest will have to work itself out by tomorrow at this time. I really can’t decide what it will be…

Windows?

I don’t want to belabor the whole miracle glue thing, but as I wandered the aisles of Michael’s this morning, I was astounded at the amount of Halloween decorations out already (this whole season always comes well before I am ready).

And as I walked down aisle after aisle (I have to go down every aisle even if I only run in for one thing – I think that it is the curse of the creative mind, but I digress…) and got past my shock at how fast the seasons are changing, I actually got into the spirit of the whole thing.

…but then it hit me…

What a more perfect way to decorate for a fleeting holiday like Halloween than using the impermanent/permanent homemade glue? (if you missed the recipe, I posted it here on Wednesday’s blog post.)

Just bear with me one more moment – yesterday I was so caught up with the possibilities that this glue and some basic paper would have with my Thanksgiving dinner table that I did not give any time to think about how easy it would be to put up and take down decorations on windows.

Yes, windows.

The reality of this situation is that warm water dissolves the glue, so anything you glue (paper only, of course) to the window can easily be taken down with a sponge and some warm water.

What could be more perfect?

Black cats, jack-o-lanterns, bats, spider webs, witches hats….

I am headed back to the studio – I am right in the middle of designing a family fun pack for preschoolers and their families for Daylilies, but I really wanted to share my creative thought for the day. But don’t just take my word on it… mix up some glue and give it a try yourself. And don’t just limit this idea to Halloween! Christmas is coming, then New Year’s, and Valentines… or how about pink flamingos for someone’s birthday…? I can’t wait to see your pictures (send to debra at dayliliescreative.com).

The Festive Season is Coming…

I had so much to say yesterday that I literally ran out of space. The reason that I was so excited about the permanent-til-wet quality of the miracle glue is because whatever I do can be undone. And so, I tested out the theory with the vase. I had bigger plans and I wanted to make sure that my suspicions were right; that this glue would indeed unglue itself with warm water.

After decorating the vase, it took less than 5 minutes under warm water to bring it back to its original clear glass. (This is when I did a little dance of joy.)

You see, it really is only a couple weeks before Thanksgiving. I don’t have a lot of time, but I do like a beautiful Thanksgiving table.

Enter the miracle glue.

This year, I can use that glue to make my plain old glass plates just a little more festive. And then, when the holiday dinner is over, my plain glass plates can once again be my plain glass plates.

This is easy. This is quick. This is inexpensive. And this is fun (if not sticky) to do.

Here are my project pics (2 plates and a beer glass):

So what exactly did I do? Well, I turned on my computer and powered up Word so that I could print ‘Thankful’ in a nice font that would fit where I wanted it to go.

Then, I printed the page with my words on it – onto a piece of lightweight vellum. You could use whatever paper you wanted… I chose the vellum because I wanted the whole frosted effect, but if you would rather have a bright orange background, then use orange paper – this project should definitely be done your own way.

With paper in hand, I trimmed it to the size I wanted and then put glue on the plate (or glass) first before I stuck the paper down, making sure that there were no air bubbles under the paper. You can glue the paper first, but I found that this glue tended to make the lightweight paper curl and stick together before I could get it in place.

Finally, I did a quick sweep of glue over the paper just to seal and protect the paper from ripping.

Done.

The plate with the leaves was done much the same way, except I traced some clipart onto some scraps of the kite paper I had leftover from a previous project (still) and then glued them down as I did with the vellum and the words.

An easy project that will make any Thanksgiving (or Christmas, or Easter, or Halloween, or…) table/party much more festive. If you (or your kids) take on this project, will you send me pictures of your festive table? Email me at daylilies@dayliliescreative.com.