Wonderful World of Buttons

Feb2

To me, one of the most versatile craft/sewing notions is the BUTTON.  Not only are they practical, fun, and whimsical but beautiful to look at too, especially some of those vintage buttons.  They are also a great item to use with children to rouse the creative juices and to introduce sewing interests.   All ages enjoys dipping their fingers into a big pile of buttons!!     

With very little ones and with the supervision of an adult, you can just string buttons onto a heavy twine or crochet cotton thread (size 3).  Make squilly little snakes, catepillars or pretend your button string is a train, whatever the imagination dreams up.  Your can introduce colors to little ones too, just by sorting your buttons into piles of red, green, blue, etc.   Then replace them back into your container for the next time you have a button moment!!

Older children would enjoy making a sock puppet – simply take that old sock that has a hole in it or the one you never found its mate (probably eaten by the washing machine or dryer) and sew buttons onto the heel of the sock for eyes and a nose.  Felt could be used for a tongue, lips, ears or big circles sewn under the button eyes, then eyelashes could be added.  Just have fun!!

Buttons can be used to decorate the front of a tee shirt – trace a heart shape onto the tee shirt, then sew buttons onto your tracing line to make a button heart.  Be creative, use different colored thread for each button.  No need to match colors of buttons to thread colors.  Another idea would be to use DMC floss as your thread.  Placing button on your tee shirt, sew the thread from the right side to your shirt and back through to the right side, then tie the button with a square knot and leave about 1/2″ tail after making the knot to give another dimension to the look.

HOW TO MAKE A SQUARE KNOT:  take your two threads, one in the left hand and one in the right hand.  Tie the right thread over the left and pull tight, then tie the left thread over the right and pull tight.  Makes for a very secure knot.  A quick way to remember how to make a square knot is the saying:  right over left and left over right.                                                                                 

The ideas are limitless:

  • Sew buttons to the edges of your jean pockets
  • Decorate the bottom of your jeans with different colors and sizes of buttons
  • Take a shirt and sew a flower design onto the pocket
  • Add them to a cuff of a shirt and have a build-in bracelet look
  • Or sew them to the neckline of a tee shirt
  • Use with construction paper and sew or glue them to make a picture of funny animals or a mosaic design
  • Check out Artists Helping Children arts&crafts

Just keep a large jar readily available and fill it with buttons that have been removed from a shirt, coat or blazer.  You can purchase bags of inexpensive buttons at a very reasonable cost and dump them into your button jar for those rainy day craft moments.  Ask grandma or grandpa for any old buttons that they might have to add to your colorful collection.  Don’t forget to check out clothing at a garage sale for that really unique button too.  Buttons are just the best!!!

HAPPY CREATING!!

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Abbreviations in Crochet Patterns

Jan30

 

I know from experience that reading a crochet pattern can be intimidating but with practice, it definitely becomes easier.  For starters, I’ve listed below some of the more commonly used abbreviations that you will find within a crochet pattern’s directions.  About.com Crochet is a wonderful site to find good demonstrations on these various stitches:

  • alt           –      alternate
  • beg         –      begin/beginning
  • BLO       –      back loop only
  • bls          –      boucle loop stitch
  • BPdc      –      back post double crochet
  • BPsc      –      back post single crochet
  • C             –      crossed stitch
  • CC          –      contrasting color
  • Cdc         –      crossed double crochet
  • ch           –      chain stitch
  • ch-sp     –      chain-space
  • CL          –      cluster
  • cont       –      continue
  • dc           –      double crochet
  • dc2tog  –      double crochet two together
  • dec        –      decrease
  • dsc        –      double single crochet
  • dtr         –      double treble
  • ea          –      each
  • Els        –      extended loop stitch
  • Esc        –      extended single crochet
  • FLO      –      front loop only
  • FPdc     –      front post double crochet
  • FPsc     –      front post single crochet
  • FPtr      –      front post treble
  • hdc       –      half double crochet
  • inc        –      increase
  • KS         –      knot stitch
  • lks        –      locking stitch
  • lp          –      loop
  • ls          –      loop stitch
  • MC       –      main color
  • och       –      overlaid chain
  • pat st   –      pattern stitch
  • pc         –      popcorn stitch
  • pm       –      place marker
  • qtr        –      quadruple treble
  • rem      –      remaining
  • rev dc  –      reverse double crochet
  • rev sc  –      reverse single crochet
  • rf          –      relief stitch
  • rnd      –      round
  • RS       –      right side
  • sc        –       single crochet
  • sc2tog –      single crochet two together
  • Sl st     –      slip stitch
  • sp         –      space
  • st          –      stitch
  • tch       –      turning chain
  • tr          –      treble
  • tr2tog  –      treble two together
  • WS       –      wrong side
  • yo         –      yarn over

These are pretty standard abbreviations that you will find in most American written patterns.  When starting a new crochet project, I would recommend reading through the pattern to familiarize yourself with the abbreviations used.  Most of the time, you will find a stitch guide within the pattern or pattern book itself showing you or telling you exactly how to make a certain stitch or cluster.

One of my favorite books to use as a reference is The Complete Photo Guide to Crochet by Margaret Hubert.  Within the pages of this book are wonderful colored pictures of stitches, tools, tips, techniques and some patterns.  I like to have it readily available especially if I’m working on a new pattern and have to refresh myself on how to do a certain stitch or planning a new project.

Should a pattern use a new stitch for you, why not practice that stitch over and over again with some old yarn (making swatches) so that you will have it mastered and looking perfect for your special crochet project.  This would be a super time to encourage crocheting to a young child; you both could practice the new stitch/cluster together.  What a wonderful and creative way to spend an hour or so one-on-one making your own swatches!!!

HAPPY CREATING!!

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The Hook Says it All

Jan26

What exactly is a crochet hook?  They have been defined as a needle with a hook at one end used for drawing yarn or thread through knotted loops.  Whereas in knitting, you use two needles to complete a project, in crocheting you basically use only one hook to make your stitches.

The size of a crochet hook is measured by the thickness of the tool’s shaft which will ultimately relate to the size of the stitches created.  So in a nut shell, the larger and thicker the crochet hook, the larger and thicker your stitches will be. With that in mind, you will more than likely need a thicker yarn when crocheting with a larger hook.

You will find several different systems used to determine the size of a crochet hook.  The American (letter/number system), Continental (metric system) and UK system.  Check out Crochet Hooks You for a very informative crochet hook conversion chart, click on sitemap and then click on chart.   Most of the time, the more common aluminum hooks are imprinted with both the letter/number size and the numeric metric size.  This is useful because some patterns say to use a size G or specify a 3.25mm crochet hook.  Just remember, the higher the number or farther down the ABC ladder, the larger the hook.  Oddly enough, steel hooks are really the opposite.  The higher the number, the smaller the hook.

Karp Styles Crochet & Knitting is a wonderful website giving you intricate details about various hooks and their qualities.

I know it is important on some patterns for you to be exact when it comes to your hook size and yarn weight so that your gauge matches with the pattern requirements and your crochet project fits perfectly. However, depending upon the pattern and the outcome you want, it can be fun to experiment using different size hooks with different weights of yarn.  Keep in mind, if you take a thread pattern and want to use a 3ply yarn even if you use the recommended hook size, you will probably need to purchase more yarn than what the pattern calls for.  Don’t be afraid to crochet “out of the box”!!

Crochet hooks are available in a wide variety of materials too; aluminum (probably the most common and readily available), plastic, acrylic, steel, wood (bamboo, rosewood, birch, and other exotic woods). Laurel Hill Online has a wide selection of handmade crochet hooks.

If you are a beginner or are wanting to teach a child how to crochet, probably a large sized aluminum hook (N – 9.00mm) would be a good one to start with.  They are light, have a large tip for grasping the yarn, and the yarn will work off the hook with minimal effort.

However, if you’re a crochet “junkie” like me, then maybe it is time to treat yourself to an exotic wood crochet hook or put that request on your wish list.

HAPPY CREATING!!

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Fun with Felt

Jan23

Felt is one of those great materials that can be used for all kinds of crafts and/or projects.  It is a great medium to use with children because it doesn’t fray or ravel, it is very colorful, soft to the touch, glueable, sewable, etc.

I like to use it to help teach young children some basic sewing stitches too.  Felt can be purchased in several different colors and it is already cut into perfect squares and ready to be crafted into something fun.  For a very simple sewing project, let the child select the two pieces of felt they want to work with and just have them whip stitch the two pieces together.   You could also have them put two pieces of fabric together and do a straight stitch, either very long stitches or short stitches will work.  What stitches you show the child, will depend on the age of the little one and their coordination abilities.

If you are working with an older child, let them cut the felt into shapes, like circles or triangles and then sew these together.  Or cut out different colored ovals and circles and stitch together to form a flower. You could have them do a straight stitch along the outer edges of the felt shapes before they are sewn together for a more textured and colorful flower design.  Let imagination take center stage!!

These are activities that should be supervised by an adult.  Remember, don’t use a regular sewing needle, too sharp and too small.  There are actually plastic yarn needles available that will sew through felt and are perfect for little ones.  If you are working with children 7 or older, you could probably use a metal yarn needle or tapestry needles.  These also have the larger eyes with blunt tips too.

There are lots of choices available for your thread selection too.  You could use bright, colorful DMC floss or a ball of crochet thread or even a skein of yarn probably a size 3 or smaller.   Using bright, cheery felt squares with colorful thread makes for a fun craft project.  When using DMC floss, I would suggest using three strands to sew with.

Don’t forget to embellish your finished sewing project.  Felt is a great material to glue things on it.  You can either cut up felt scraps to make eyes, hair or geometric designs or use pompoms, big plastic buttons, cotton balls, construction paper designs; the list is endless.

Enjoy your activity, be creative, expose your little ones to sewing mediums and maybe an artist interest will develop in the process.

HAPPY CREATING!!

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Sewing Must Haves

Jan18

Having the right tool for the right job is always a plus even for sewing projects.  I’m sure anyone who does crafting or sewing, even the very casual sewer, has the very basic items readily available; like a good pair of scissors, needle and thread.

Here are some worthwhile tools that I’m sure you will find helpful to give your sewing projects that professional look and feel.   A well equipped sewing room always has a seam ripper at hand, maybe even two.  You will just have those moments when it will be necessary to utilize the seam ripper and this tool does make fast work of taking out thread.

Another great tool to have at your disposal is a knit picker.   You know how your favorite sweater will get a snag and you end up with a pulled thread, well the knit picker makes fast work of pulling that loop to the wrong side of the material and you cannot tell that there was ever a snag.

Fray check is another one of my personal favorite sewing aids.  The name says it all!!  This liquid, when dry, helps to keep fabric and/or threads from fraying.   Easy to use and is machine washable and dry cleanable.

Sewing snips are a convenient item to have for cutting threads.  They are lighter than a pair of scissors and  you use only one motion for snipping those threads.

A needle threader, tweezers and a soft measuring tape are very useful items to have readily available too.  A turning/stuffing tool is super nice to have when you have to turn a corner to the right side or getting batting into small areas.  Actually, I have had success using a knitting needle or a chop stick to help make a crisp corner or pushing that little bit of batting into place.

Elastic  threaders or a bodkin are great to use to help pull elastic through a casing.   Safety pins are a must too and can also be attached to the end of elastic for threading through a casing.

A couple of more unusual items to have in your sewing basket are a telescopic magnet and a magnifying glass. The magnet is a great tool to help pick up those pins that you know are going to spill or to find that one illusive pin that dropped onto the rug and you can’t see it.  Speaking of can’t seeing, the magnifying glass gives you that extra oomph when looking at very small, detailed work.

These little sewing aids are not only perfect for the seamstress/crafter but also having them available in a little bin in your closet or desk drawer at work for those times when a clothing mishap presents itself would be an unexpected pleasure!!

HAPPY CREATING!!

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