I got a few new books during the last months, which means y’all will be inundated with book reviews. The first one is Sew What! Skirts by Francesca Denhartog and Carole Ann Camp.

The premise of the book is that you can create your own funky designs with their instructions and a few basic sewing skills. The 16 different styles featured in the book are variations on two patterns: the straight skirt and the A-line skirt. The writers provide straight forward instructions on how to measure and draw the necessary patterns. In addition, they explain how to finish edges, make darts, sew hems, add different kinds of waistlines, and insert zippers.

Exhibit A, my Memorial Day project, is a fairly simple A-line skirt. It’s based on the East Meets West skirt in the book except I changed the zipper around, added a lining and used bias tape for the hem.

I love this hem. It was super fast and looks very neat.

It took me about an evening to make the pattern and cut out the skirt and three hours to put the whole thing together. The waist ended up being about 1.5″ too wide. Next time I would make the pattern smaller, and the A-shape less wide, and maybe try darts for the waist.

What I like about the book is that it gives you a solid basic footing to go forth and experiment with whatever look, fabric, trim, etc. you want to work with. A Flickr search renders 530 pictures. Below is just a small selection of what I found. If you do end up getting this book, make sure to go to the publisher’s website for the errata page. There are a couple of mistakes in the book that you would want to correct before you start cutting up your fabric.

I think Storey redid its website because the errata page I downloaded two days ago disappeared. (Thank you to Meredith for noticing this.) For anyone who has an early uncorrected edition, the corrections on the pdf were as follows:

Page 65 Half Circle Wrap:
All you need is 1 length of 42″–45″ fabric (about 2 1⁄2 yards for the average person), plus 1⁄8 yard for the waistband and ties. If you are larger than average, or prefer a fuller skirt, it’s better to use fabric that is 58″–60″ wide (about 3 1⁄2 yards, plus waistband yardage).
. . .
You will need to add to the W measurement to allow
for fabric overlap in the back of the skirt. To do this, measure where your waistline will be, then add 12″ to 14″ (or the amount you want it to overlap). Divide by 3 and round up to the nearest 1⁄2″. Then make your string compass as instructed.

Page 117 Nature’s Child:
under Stuff You Need it should read:
2 lengths* of 42″–45″ fabric
3⁄4–1 yard of complementary fabric

The teacher appreciation luncheon for our school is coming up and we were in need of favors for the teachers. Back in December I saw this tutorial from Creative Outlet Designs in a Sew Mama Sew round up and suggested that we could make these lavender scented wheat sacks for the teachers. You use them as hot or cold compresses by heating up the bag in the microwave or keeping them cold in the freezer.

100 lbs of bulgur wheat

8 yards of fabric

1.5 oz of lavender oil

75 yards of ribbon

73 eyelets, cards, and plastic baggies later, they are finally done:

Thank you to Kerry, Laura, Meg, and Kirsten for supporting me in my crazy crafting endeavors.

Now I just need suggestions how to get 100 lbs of inert mass from my apartment to the school. Any ideas?

Just a quick reminder, if you are participating in the softie swap, your creations need to be mailed by May 21.

This post features the remains of my unloved jeans that I cut up for this bag. I’ve been toying with the idea of a recycled denim bag, but was trying to come up with a variation on the theme. So here it is, a reversible bag.

You can either display the jeans side and make a recycled fashion statement, or you can be more low key about your lifestyle, turn the whole thing inside out and display a cool lining.

The jeans pockets become practical places to stash away your phone, mp3 player, glass baby bottles, in other words, all those treasures you find in your jeans pockets every day. So before you send your denims off to the Goodwill store, take a good luck at them and consider what kind of reincarnation you could create with a sharp pair of shears.

As my handiwork attests I’m a terrible stamper. I never seem to be able to avoid getting the rim of the stamp onto the paper, the ink doesn’t distribute evenly, I could go on and on. Any hints on how this is done would be greatly appreciated. However, as a concept piece and for a birthday present for a seven-year-old, I think this works: I cut out a piece of brown wrapping paper to fit the present, and then proceeded to stamp Daniel’s name all over it. For recycling purposes a brown paper bag would work equally well, but for some reason they only do plastic in NYC.

While stamping the D-A-N was still a very Zen experience, by the time I got to the I-E-L part, I was ready to pack it up. Fortunately he didn’t have a lengthy name like Balthazar. (That would have been Elizabeth’s name if my husband had had his druthers and she had been a boy.)

The bow used to be part of an exercise video tape. I got that idea from Danny Seo.

Note to self: Don’t try to remove the ribbon from the tape case five minutes before you have to leave for the party.

I finally found the time to make this skirt from this pattern:

Farbenmix is a German company, thus the European sizing. Their patterns are pretty straightforward and leave you with lots of room to personalize the finished piece. You can access step-by-step, illustrated instructions in English for many of the models. They also feature examples of many variations for each pattern to inspire your inner designer. And, for all you craft fair participants and etsy shop owners, they allow you to sell your finished piece based on their pattern as long as you are selling individual items and not churning out mass produced clothing. This is a list of their retail partners including some American online shops.

P.S. No, this is not a paid endorsement, I just like their stuff.

As of 4/25/08 1:42 p.m. EST all swap slots have been taken. But don’t despair, we’ll have another one soon.

FYI, as of this morning there are three more slots left for the softie swap.

Some more tutorials:

Gecko Girl’s Cherry Amigurumi

Jhoanna’s very cute Ruby Doll

Darncat’s Pandy Bear

Announcing another Crafty Daisies Swap. After our successful Summer, Tea Towel, and Bookmark swaps, we continue with our tradition and introduce the Softie Swap. For this swap you are invited to fashion a softie. This can be an animal, a doll, or an item; you can knit it, sew it, crochet it, or felt it, in short it’s up to you.

Sign Up

To enter, email your full name, web or blog address (if you have one), shipping information, and whether you would ship internationally to craftydaisies@gmail.com.

Dates

The sign up closes on Wednesday, April 30th and is limited to the first 20 emails we receive. On May 1st we will notify you of your swap partner. Your softie has to be mailed by May 21st.

Important

If you sign up you must complete the swap or you will not be eligible for participation in future swaps. If you are unable to send your softie by May 21st, for whatever reason, you must contact your swap partner and the swap admin (Simone) as soon as possible. Please be mindful that this needs to be reciprocal – if you sign up, please follow through. Please note however, we at Crafty Daisies will not be responsible for items not shipped.

Inspiration

For ideas of what you might want to make, check out these sites:

• Softies Central, a blog devoted to softies
• Softies, of course there has to be a Flickr group for this sort of stuff

For tutorials follow these links:

• A scotty dog
• A teapot
• A Super Sock Pig
• A Sea Nettle

The Softie Flickr group also has a tutorial discussion thread.

Let the Swap Begin!

Lately, I’ve been lurking on German crafting blogs; maybe a little homesick, looking for some inspiration for the next great project. In my browsing I was impressed by the number of multi-lingual blogs out there offering glimpses into someone’s life who strickt, tricot, or het breien instead of knits.

Here is a very abbreviated list of some of the blogs I came across; there are many countries, cultures, and languages that will not be included and I apologize to anyone I left out. If you have other suggestions please add them in your comments. I think it would be exciting for all of us to learn about fellow crafters around the globe.

Germany

Okay, Simone started it all for me so she will be the first one in the line-up. I think I discovered her through a comment she left. She writes her blog www.seemownay.de in German and English and shares her family life and crafting explorations. She is especially known for her clever geese.

Next is Katharina. She recently started blogging in English as well as German and maintains a blog called Nähsucht (Sewing Addiction). She loves fabric. You have to check out her awesome Amy Butler Flower Bag.

Finland

Hanne writes in Finnish and English on Väkerrellen. Her motto is the “Thinner the Yarn, better the Knit.” Sadly, WordPress recently ate her older posts, but you can check out her amazing yarn stash if you follow her links to her Flickr profile. (Note to self: always back up.)

Belgium

Isabel lives in Belgium and blogs at Tarte Tatin in: Dutch, French and English! She has great pictures of her projects, purchases, and just sundries around her house.

England

Florence blogs at Flossie Teacakes about her musings, projects, the Zebra Girl and Dinosaur-Boy. Reading her blog always makes me want to make myself a nice cup of tea to sip while I accompany her on her day.

Portugal

Manuela has this wonderful blog at Macati. She writes in Portuguese and English about her crafts, swaps, You Tube finds and other things that move her.

Australia

Di has been blogging at Clementine’s Shoes since September 2, 2004. How’s that for endurance. She’s a prolific knitter and seamstress and has some fun patterns to share. Right now she’s in the middle of a bathroom renovation project.

I hope you enjoyed this roundup. Maybe you rediscovered some old favorites or found some new talented people you’d like to read about. And please, if you have links to other international blogs share them with us.

Remember Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder? While I was making this afghan I was reminded of all the craft projects described in that book. I thought that this would be the sort of thing that Laura’s mother would put together for her girls as a Christmas present (except it wouldn’t be cashmere, and the sweaters wouldn’t have originated in China, and [fill in the blank]).

So, these are the steps I followed to put the blanket together:

Materials

• 3 sweaters — The final product measured 42″ x 52 1/2″. You could felt the sweaters, but I wanted to maintain the light, airy feel of the original knit.
• Bias tape or scrap fabric to make your own tape
• 8 1/2″ x 8 1/2″ template to cut out the squares. (Guess why it’s that size )
• Lots of thread (zigzagging takes way more thread than I had anticipated)

Step One

Cut out 30 squares. I wanted to show off some of the details of the sweaters. Consequently, I included side seams, shoulder seams, ribbing, and pockets in the squares.

Also, don’t forget that the “wrong” side may end up being the “right side.

Step Two

Lay out your design.

Step Three

Sew. Using a zigzag stitch at the widest setting, sew together strips of 6 squares each abutting the edges. You could also overlap the edges, whatever technique you prefer.

Next, put the 5 strips together by first joining the “intersections” of the squares and then sewing down the length of the strip. You now have a 5 x 6 square blanket.

Step Four

Finish the edges. Originally, I intended to blanket stitch around the whole thing. Then I watched Amy Karol’s Bias Tape tutorial, read about this nifty tool on Alicia Paulson’s blog Posie gets Cozy and decided to make my own tape.

This is a 1/2″ tape maker. They come in different sizes, but this is the only one they had at my corner store. You cut up your fabric to the requisite width, feed it through the tape maker and it comes out perfectly folded on the other side. You then fold the tape in half and iron it flat.

Next, you open up your store bought or home made tape (see Amy’s tutorial for the finer points of sewing on store bought tape) and align the edge of the tape to the edge of the blanket. Sew along the line created by the fold closest to the edge.

For instructions on how to create mitered corners, follow Alicia’s tutorial.

Once you’ve attached the binding to the edge, flip the binding over to the other side and top stitch alongside the folded edge.

That’s it.

You can add an appliqué or two if you wish or just leave it as it is.

I’ve set up a Flickr group where you can share your creations at www.flickr.com/groups/sweaterblankets/.