Easy Hart Bracelets

Easy Hart Bracelets

 

This a perfect time killer for the experience bracelet maker, and the beginner. The knot I show here is the same one used in most macrame bracelet making.

    The first thing you are going to need is embroidery floss You can buy individual colors at Michael's, or, if you want to make a lot with a variety of colors, you can buy the packs of color. These are usually the better deal if you want more color. But you have less control of colors.
    The only other thing you will need is either tape or a safety pin, depending on your work space and preference.

    For this bracelet I'm going to be using black and green string, you can use which ever 2 colors you want.

First you will need to cut for strands of each color, about a finger tip to the center of your chest in length.

    Next you will need to separate your colors in one group put from the outside going inward; green string, black string, green string, black string. in the other group put the same order of colors. There should be 2 blacks together when the groups are next to each other. 

    Tie the strings together and make sure the strings are in the same order. Tape the string to a hard surface or safety pin it to a pillow.

    Starting on the left side, tale the outermost green string, cross it over the top of the black string next to it. it should look like a 4. Pull the green string underneath the black string, then back overtop of itself. Pull tight. Do this twice. Take the same green string and do the same thing to the next string in line, should be a green string. Take the original green string and do the same over the next black string. Remember to do this twice on each string. 

    Put these for string off to the left out of the way. You will now do the same thing to the strings on the right side, only the 4 you make with the string will be backwards. Starting with the green on the end again. When you finish this side you should have 2 green string in the center (the same ones that were originally on the outside) Tie those two green strings together with a normal knot twice. 

    Now the outermost strings should both be black. Repeat the same process as you did with the green strings. You should now have 2 rows making a v shape. The first row all green the second row all black. These are what I'm going to call the standard rows, all one color.

    

If you only did standard row this is what your bracelet would look like.

(Sorry about the hair!  I gave this one to my boyfriend)

    Now is where it gets a little tricky. These are what I'm going to call the special rows. When we made the standard row, we started with the outermost string and went in, now we are starting on the second to outermost string. It should be the black closest to the outside. Take that black string, and do the same knot we've been doing, but around the outermost green string. We essentially are going backwards on this one. Tie this twice. Next take the green we just tied the black around and tie it twice around the next green string, then around the inner black string. Do the same thing to the other side. and tie together the middle strings.  This is the top of the heart, the curve. 

    We are going to do the SAME thing we just did, except it will be green going backward to knot around a black string then black string the rest of the way in. This is the filling inside the heart. This is the final special row for this heart. 

    Look at your strings. They should still be in alternating colors. The outside color should be green again. Make a standard row with the green on both sides. This is the bottom of your heart.

Do another standard row with the black that is now on the outside

This row of black will separate the hearts from each other

Now you will do another 2 special rows, then another 2 standard row. Do you see the pattern? 2 special, 2 standard. It takes a little practice, but it gets easier as you go!

When you are finished it will look something like this

Let me know what you think and how the tutorial was!! Thanks

Other crafts by me!

"Tie Dye" Ink Coasters

Minecraft Creeper Quilt. Quilting for beginners

Mincraft Quilt. Quilting for Beginners!!

MINECRAFT CREEPER QUILT

    Ok this was something that I made as a gift, I've always wanted to learn how to quilt, but never really learned. My Grandmother was a fantastic quilter so I did have some knowledge in sewing machines. This quilt was actually super easy to make, I was really surprised; I made it in 3 days!!
You don't have to do this face like it did, you can do any pattern or color! It's the same technique. INVOLVES A LOT OF MATH!!!

Hard Part First

(Math)

    The first thing you'll need to do is decide how big you wan't your quilt to be and how big you want your squares to be. The one I made is 16 squares across the top and 11 squares down. Which is a total of 176 squares. My squares are each about 3.5 inches.

    To figure out what size you want (smaller is better for first timers) take 16 squares times 11 squares ( or how ever many you want as the length and width) This equals 176 total squares, divide this number until you get an even number. I used 4 and got 44 which means I should cut each of my squares 4X4 inches.
    Then you need to decide how many colors you want to use in your quilt. Because I have the face in the middle made of black squares, I take how many will be black (20) and subtract it from the total number of squares. 176-20= 156. You want to have the same amount of each color so take that number, 156, and divide it until you get an even number. I used 6 because it equals 26. This then tells you that you will use 6 different colors each with 26 squares.
    Now you know that you will have 6 different colors and 26 squares of each. take 26 X 4 (4in was the length of each square) this equals 104. divide this by 36 (36 inches in a yard) and you get almost 3. This means you will need at least 3 yards of every color. You add the face you will need about a yard and a half of black.
    As for the black border around the quilt, I bought a single sheet from Walmart that was larger than my actual quilt for the back, then I used the extra around the edges for the boarder.
    If you are unsure of how much fabric to get, it's better to get to much (go half a yard larger!!!) Otherwise you'll have to go back and get more. So to be safe, add half a yard to what I have listed, especially if you are a beginner.

Here are my 6 colors and my black, each cut at 4X4 inches. Remember 26 of each color, and at least 3 yards of fabric of each color.

    Picking out your fabric is the best part I think, there are so many options! You can make baby quilts with different colors, or a quilt of shades of your favorite color, or even all different colors and patterns! It's so hard to choose colors! I used a mix of plain colors and patterned colors.

You will also need:

  1. Several Yards of yarn (your choice in color)

  2. A Large needle (Large enough to thread the yarn through it)

  3. A sheet of Batting (Large enough to fit your quilt)

  4. A sheet, or piece of fabric large enough to cover your quilt for the back. (Buying a sheet is cheeper than buying fabric)

  5. Lots and lots of pins

  6. SEWING MACHINE!!

  7. Rotary cutter. This isn't needed you can use a scissors but it Makes cutting the fabric so much easier and Faster!! I recommend getting one!!

  8. A self healing mat if you use the rotary cutter.

  9. A 5x5 inch plastic square measure. This makes measuring your square pieces and cutting them out so much easier! I also recommend this.
 10. Sandwich sized plastic bags

              Ok so now that all the boring stuff is out of the way, we can start to make our quilt!
    The first thing to do is wash and then iron all your fabrics.
Next, fold all your fabric evenly, lay your square plastic measure on the fabric close to the edge, place it on the self healing mat, and cut along the edges with your rotary cutter.
Make sure that you cut out enough squares!! Do this to each of the fabrics until you have enough, or more, squares of each one.
    Go to a large flat surface and lay our all your pieces exactly how you want your quilt to look

I ended up rearranging my squares because I didn't want light and dark green stripes.

After you lay out your quilt, start with the first row on the left at the bottom. pick up each piece in that row in order. At the end the bottom piece should be onto. Place this row in a plastic bag and label it ROW 1. Continue to pick up each row in the exact same way, placing them into bags and labeling which row it is.

    Go out to your sewing machine and make sure it is set up properly. If you aren't sure follow the instruction manual.

    Take out your bag labeled ROW 1 and grab the first 2 pieces, which are the bottom 2 of that row. place the front sides of the fabric together and line up the edges. Pin the fabric so it wont move while sewing, and so that the sewing machine needle can pass over the pins easily. I used the edge of the foot as my guide. The seam is about 1/2 an inch from the edge if you put the edge of the foot along the edge of the fabric. Do this for all the seams!!

    After you have sewn these to pieces together open it up so the from sides are up. Take the next piece of fabric and place it face down on the already sew fabric. Pin these to together and sew them. Continue like this for all the squares of this row.

    When you have finished this row, you will need to iron the seems all flat in the same direction. I ironed my first row so all the seams were laying flat towards the top. Sew the next row just like you did the first. When you are done with this row, iron all the seams down in the opposite direction of the first row.

    This next step is a little trickier. take your 2 rows and lay them front to from, like you did with the individual squares. take your pins and pin them together through the seam, so the corners of the squares will line up. If you don't pin them through the seams they wont line up and the quilt will be off. When you have done this, go to the sewing machine and sew these two rows together, making sure that the seams stay down in the direction they were ironed. Use the same distance for the seam as you did before, the edge of the foot to the edge of the fabric. 

    Continue to sew together the rows, making sure to iron the seams in opposite directions, and sewing them together.

This is my quilt after sewing together a few of the rows. Notice how all the corners of the squares line up.

Here is the front of my quilt finished.

    Now you will need to lay down your sheet or large piece of fabric, and place your length of batting on top of then, and then place your quilt front on that. Cut the batting to be a little longer than all the sides. This will be how much of a border you will have. My length border was 3 inches, and my height border was 5 inches.

I have a white sheet underneath on the floor to keep our dog hair off the black sheet. I also cut the corners out of my batting, but DON'T DO THAT, its unnecessary and adds more work later.

    Take your yarn and thread your large needle. Start on the top of your quilt at one of the intersections of the corners of the squares. Push the needle through all of the layers, and come back up right next to where it went in. Pull the tread all the way trough, cut the yarn and tie it. This requires a lot of patience and arm strength. Continue to do this across the quilt, ever on alternating squares and rows. Don't tie them to much or the fabric on the back will bunch a lot. This keeps the batting and backing from moving around inside the quilt when you use it or wash it. This also helps to keep the layers from moving when you sew it all together. You can see on the photo above where I placed my ties. 

Finishing UP!

    The Next thing to do is to fold the edges of the black fabric over to cover the batting and about half an inch of the front piece, fold the 2 long sides first then the 2 short sides. They should overlap in the corners. Pin everything together. More pins are better!! Keeps the fabric from moving around.

    Go to your sewing machine and change the stitch to a zig zag. Use some of your extra fabric to find a wide zig zag to use, and practice with it.  Grab you folded quilt and bring it to the machine. The zig zag should go right on the edge of the border and the front. Mine went over both, half the zig zag was on the front, and half was on the border. Sew all the edges to the quilt. YOu will get little pockets where the fabric is folded over each other. Go a head and sew those pockets shut with the same zig zag.

    Make sure you remove all the pins from the quilt, and go rinse it in the washing machine, and dry it. When it comes out of the dryer, iron it to get all the wrinkles out. Congratulations! You finished your quilt!!

   A lot of these instructions are things that I've found work for me. The more you work the better methods you'll fins that fit your working style!!

I'm looking forward to making this quilt again, but with out the Mincraft creeper face, and in other colors. 

Please leave comments telling me what you thing and any suggestions or questions you have!! Thanks

Other Crafts by Me!

"Tie Dye" Coasters

Easy Heart Bracelets

"Tie Dye" Ink Coasters

      I saw this craft while surfing the internet for something to cure my boredom with! I was really excited to try it because the results were so beautiful and unique. This is a perfect craft for beginners and experts, it has it all; plus they make perfect gifts for everyone because they can be customized by color and with names.

WHAT YOU WILL NEED

1. These are not pictured above, but you will need plain white tiles. I got 8 of them 3X3 inches from the flooring section of the Home Depot. They only cost 13cents a tile. Again plain white glazed tiles. Michael's does NOT sell tiles  :)

2. You will also need Alcohol Blending Solution. I bought mine from Michael's for about 4$ the brand is Adirondack

3. The color!! You will need Alcohol ink, the same brand, Adirondack, as the blending solution. I found mine in the same place as the blending solution in Michael's. This is the most expensive piece to the puzzle. The inks come in packs of three and each pack is about 9$. You only need one pack if you like the colors, but I liked the variety. 

4. Sealer, This is important because you don't want your ink to rub off or stain anything. I used a glossy finish Mod Podge, but is can be worn down by heat. If you get a spray fixative make sure it is alcohol free, otherwise it will smear and smudge your coasters when you spray them. 

5. Cork or felt pieces for the bottom. I bought a non-adhesive cork roll from Michael's, but they have adhesive cork and adhesive felt circles that will work just as well. If you get the non-adhesive cork make sure you have a glue to attach it!

6. The last thing you will need is some cheep paint brushes. Michael's has some cheep black staining brushes in their art supply section if you don't have any paint brushes lying around. You will need at least 2.

Let the Fun BEGIN!

The first step is to wash and dry all of your plain white tiles. Use soap and gently scrub them to remove anything that has gathered on the surface of the tile. When they are clean dry them off completely.

Next lay out a clean tile and squeeze about a teaspoon of the alcohol blending solution in the center of the tile. Use one of your paint brushes to evenly spread the solution all over the surface of the tile, it's worse to not have enough solution than to have too much!

Now, choose what colors you want on the coaster. Drop the color where you want it on the tile. it should spread out from where you drop it. Continue to drop your colors around the tile until you are satisfied. Remember the color will spread out so you don't need a lot. Make sure you do this step quickly so the alcohol solution doesn't dry.

If you want to get creative try using other tools to drop the alcohol, such as a paint brush or a que-tip.

Finish all your tiles, using what ever colors and patterns you want. It's impossible to make a mistake, but if you don't like the way one looks just go to the sink and squirt some of the alcohol solution on the tile and rub off the color and start over. 

After the colors all are dry to the touch, about 15 mins to be sure, take your Mod Podge or spray fix and seal the surface. wait for each layer to dry completely before doing the next one. Do between 4-6 layers of sealer.

If you want to personalize the tiles with a name or symbols, put one layer of your sealer on and wait for it to dry. Take a permanent marker and add what you want to the surface. When that is dry add the rest of you sealer layers.

This is where I found some good online stencils. 

http://online.rapidresizer.com/make-name-patterns.php

After everything is completely dry add your cork or felt pieces to the bottom. I cut my sheet of cork into  2X2 inch squares  and glued them the the bottom.

I used my regular glue to attach the cork, if you bought the adhesive kind you don't need any glue.

FINISHED

That is the end! you now have several beautiful coasters that you can use for yourself or for gifts!

I have the idea of making a few of these tiles without the cork and buying an old table from somewhere and covering the surface in these beautiful things. When I do that I will post a tutorial!

AGAIN: I will add more step by step photos soon, the ones I had just didn't turn out well. PLEASE let me know what you think of this tutorial in the comments! Suggestions and your experiences are welcome :)


Other crafts by me!
Minecraft Creeper Quilt, Quilting for Beginners

Easy Heart Bracelets