Beaded Headband tutorial

About a year ago, I made a beaded headband inspired by my beaded necklace tutorial.  Since then I've been meaning to write up a tutorial to make one and just haven't found the time until now.

The tutorial includes the option to make a double or triple strand headband.  Once you've made the headband you can embellish it as you please.  I like to make fabric flowers and hand stitch them to the headband.  The tutorial does not include instructions for the flower, however there are plenty of great tutes available on the web.  I used this one for making the flowers.

Another idea is to add birdcage veiling around the flower.  I haven't had a chance to give that a try yet, but would love to see it.  If you make a beaded headband, please be sure to share on the pretty ditty show and tell flickr group.

Below is the pdf.  Download and enjoy!

Beaded Headband Tutorial

Bird and birdcage ornament tutorial

For Christmas this year I decided to make Christmas ornaments for my kids' teachers and friends of mine.  The ornaments turned out to be quick and easy to make!  In fact I made extras for unexpected guests that visit me over the holidays.  This way no one leaves empty handed.

I don't have a tree yet to hang them on; however, they do sit nicely on my shelf.

I also like them without the Christmas bling.  This one could be a year around decoration.  

Here's how I made the ornaments... 

Materials

• Bird template (link)
• Festive paper for making the bird.  For the fabric birds, I glued plaid fabric to card stock (another option).
• Spray adhesive glue (I used craft bond).
• Floral wire that looks natural.  I purchased mine at Michaels for under $4.00.
• Embroidery floss or string that matches the floral wire.
• Thread for hanging the bird.  I used nylon thread (not pictured) because it is clear.
• Safety pin or something sharp for poking a hole into the paper.
• Embellishments such as: glitter, berries, bells or flowers.

Lets begin!

1.  Glue the non-printed side of the festive paper together.  To do so, fold the festive paper in half so that the printed side is visible on both the front and back of the paper.  Unfold the paper and spray the wrong side (non printed side) of the festive paper with the spray adhesive glue and glue the wrong sides together.  You should now have the print on both the front and back of the festive paper.  

Fabric bird option - For fabric birds, cut 2 pieces of fabric the size of the card stock paper.  Spray the adhesive glue to one side of the card stock and glue the fabric to the paper.  Once the glue is dry, turn  the paper over and glue the fabric to the reverse side of the paper.

2.  Print out the bird template on plain paper to use as a tracing template or print the template directly on the festive paper.  If you are using it as a tracing template, trace the bird and wings image onto the festive paper or fabric.  

3.  Cut out the bird and wings from the festive paper or fabric/paper.  Cut the slits as indicated on the template.

4.  With a safety pin, poke a hole into the tips of each wing.

5.  Slide the wing's slit into the bird's slit.

6.  Fold the wings upward (along slit line) to create some dimension.  Set the bird aside until step 11.

7. To make the base, coil the floral wire until it is about 3" to 3 1/2" in diameter.  Cut off the excess wire.  A 3" circle is included with the bird template to help reference the size.  Using the embroidery floss or string, tie the end of the floral wire to the wire next to it (shown in the photo below).  It's OK if the base is uneven or "wonky" as I like to put it.  However, if there is extreme wonkiness to the base you may want to tie down some of the wires that are causing the problem to the wires that are more stable.

8.  From the floral wire, cut 2 wires that are 11" in length.

9.  Wrap one end of a wire around the outside wire of the base.  You only have to wrap the wire once to secure it.  Next, arch the wire to the opposite side and wrap the opposite end to the base.

10.  Repeat step 9 with the second wire.  With the embroidery floss or string, tie the wires together at the top of the cage.

11.  Thread the thread through the holes on each side of the wings.  Tie the ends of the thread to the top of the cage.

12.  Measure the circumference of the cage.  Cut a wire that is approximately 1 3/4" longer than the measured circumference.  Make a circle with the wire and overlap the ends by 1".  Twist the ends together. 

13.  Place the wire over the cage and slide it down to the middle of the cage.  The wire should be snug.  Optional - You can secure the wire in place by tying the circular wire to the cage where the circular wire and cage wires intersect.  

14.  Coil a piece of wire and leave one end straight for wrapping around the top of the cage.

15.  Wrap the straight end of the coiled wire around the top of the cage.

16. Embellish the cage to your hearts desire!  You can spray the cage with adhesive glue and sprinkle glitter on it, or you can wrap Christmas berries around the wires.  A few more options are bells, dried flowers, or you can leave it  a la naturale.

Enjoy!

Jamie

The Dalliance Glove e-pattern

In addition to my two new sewing patterns I'm excited to release this new PDF pattern...

The Dalliance Glove sewing e-pattern

There are so many reasons why I adore these gloves.  First of all the folds... I don't know what it is about fabric manipulation that I find so addicting, but folds in fabric gives me the same happiness feeling that chocolate does, but without the calories.  Secondly, it's a sewing pattern! I wanted to make a few fingerless gloves as Christmas presents, but I could not find any that weren't crochet or knit pdf patterns.  If I had the time or talent to knit that would be great, which brings me to my third reason - it's a quick pattern.  Lastly, this pattern works well with cotton stretch fabrics and a woven fabric with some stretch or loosely woven fabrics.  It's nice to have fabric options.  

The pattern also includes tips on sewing with cotton stretch fabrics on a home sewing machine. 

Here's a better shot of the folds...

The pattern is a PDF with instructions, illustrations and full size pattern pieces.  Because it's a PDF there are no shipping charges and it's emailed to you within 24 hours. 

The Dalliance Gloves sewing e-pattern is available at jamiechristina.com, phatfabric.com and Pretty Ditty (etsy shop).

Cheers,

Jamie

Baby Spider Peg

This is Ella the baby spider peg of Bethany.  

I made her by gluing 2 wooden peg heads together and then adding the legs so that it can stand alone horizontally.  The heads I used are smaller than the ones I carry in my shop, which posed a problem for adding the last 2 legs to my baby spider.  I recommend going with the medium and large size heads which will allow enough room for adding all eight legs.  

The texture of Ella's legs come from wrapping the wire in newspaper shreddings.  I like how the black and white text gave her some Nightmare Before Christmas interest to her.  Fun fact...I still haven't seen that movie in it's entirety since my husband can't stand creepiness and my kids get scared walking through Michael's during the Halloween season, so I'm sure that movie is out of the question for them.  

Maybe I'll find some me time this season to see it.  

Cheers,

Jamie

Mohawk Hooded Scarf

Hello!  

Motherhood has kept me quite busy here.  Our school year thus far has consisted of: ear infections, nagging coughs that don't allow any sleep, and a black eye that my older son got at baseball practice.

The irony of it all was that we cancelled his football registration because the coaches/parents seemed "too aggressive".   (I totally sound like one of those parents don't I.)  At his second winter baseball practice he was accidentally hit in the eye socket with a baseball.  It was awful!  My son had thought his eye popped out and was yelling that he was blind.  We ended up staying over night in the hospital for observation because he had concussion symptoms.  Thankfully, he is fine now and enjoys the attention at school.  He makes sure to say, "Hi" to every person walking down the school hall and then waits for them to respond with, "What happened?"  The story never gets too old for him to re-tell over and over again.  

I am thankful that these are only minor issues in the big picture =)

Despite the sport injury we are still a sport loving family.  During this time of the year we go to quite a few football games.  As the football season progresses it can get cold out there sitting on the bleachers, so to keep my little shooga boog warm I modified the Hooded Scarf pattern to become a...

Mohawk hooded scarf.  

His rocker sign is the I love you sign.  Too cute!  I'm not going to correct him =)

Here's how to modify the pattern... 

1)  Use the template for the basic hooded scarf and cut out your pieces.

2)  Decide how wide you want your mohawk to be and add 1" to the width for the seam allowance.  Next, measure the length from front to back of the hood (curve and all).  My measurement was approximately 22" because I extended the front of the hood by about 1" so that his older brother can wear the scoodie too.  For the scoodie, I cut a piece of fax fur to measure 4" x  22".

3)  Pin the fur side to the right side of the hood.  If the faux fur is on a woven fabric or doesn't have much stretch, you should stay stitch the hood fabric first (assuming the hood fabric is a knit).  This will prevent the hood fabric from stretching as you sew.

4)  Stitch the fur to the hood.

  

I trimmed the excess fur after I stitched the other side of the hood to the fur.

5)  Repeat with other side of hood.  Stitch other hood to un-stitched side of faux fur. 

6)  Assemble lining the same way.

7)  Follow instructions in the pattern for assembling the rest of the scoodie.

The Hooded Scarf pattern is available at:

Jamie Christina.com

Pretty Ditty

Phat Fabric

Here's a link to more shops that carry the pattern.

Rock on!

Jamie

Bibury Capelet by Natalie

The Bibury Capelet as made by Natalie of Hungry Hippie...

Natalie sent me a pic of her Bibury Capelet creation and I just had to share it with you all.  She used a cotton poplin fabric, which turned out simply divine!  Here's a link to her post about the capelet.  She also made some beautiful Anthro inspired headbands to go with the capelet.  Me like-y a lot!

Jamie 

Do you speak German?

The current issue of German Burda Style magazine features my Peg Doll Kit!  

Now, if I could only read German.  I'm pretty sure they wrote nice stuff about Miss May and that peculiar librarian Abigail. Or at least I hope they did? 

Jamie

Little Birds Book

This unique and creative book called Little Birds: 26 Handmade Projects to Sew, Stitch, Quilt & Love by Stash Books is the best bird crafting book ever! I'm not just saying this because I happen to be one of the contributors in the book. Honestly! Ok...maybe.

My project is titled A Bird In A Cage.  It's similar to my fabric birdcage, but the base is painted and decoupage with floral fabric motifs. To add to the birdcage's charm, red wooden beads are attached to the base as a stand. Also included in the project are directions and pattern pieces to make the bird.

I have quite a few favorites from the book.
 I love, love, LOVE, Samantha Cotterill's  Mildred the Dove with Baguettes...

Then there's Amy Adams' Fancy Peacock...

And who could overlook the Birdhouse by Abigail Brown...

Every bird deserves a happy home like this.

Eleanor Brice's Edward the Owl is a must make for me...

I could go on and on about this book since there are quilts, embroidery and even an apron - all bird themed.  Being a bird lover, it was the perfect book for me to be a part of. 

You can view all of the projects by watching this promo video.

The book is available here and here.

Have a great weekend!

Jamie

Pill Box Hat

The other day I stumbled upon a Pill Box Hat tutorial by Humble Bumble B on the Threadbanger YouTube channel (link).  After watching the tute I had to make one! 

I had a little trouble stitching the curve, but for the most part it was pretty easy to make.  Although to be honest, I think some of my stitching looks as if I was drinking and sewing.  I wasn't.  I promise. It was late at night.  Anywho, the hat was quick to make and requires very little fabric to complete it.  You can probably get by with using some scrap fabric if you have a stash.  In the tutorial, Ms Humble Bumble doesn't mention interfacing, which is probably because she uses a wool felt fabric in the tute.  However, when making my hat, I did fuse interfacing to the fabric pieces before I stitched the pieces together.  It all depends on the type of fabric you use, so it's something worth considering before you make the hat.  

The flower and birdcage netting is my own embellishment.  For the flower I used dupioni silk from Joann's Fabric.  I cut a 1/2" strip of the fabric, folded it in half lengthwise and wound it up.  While I wound the strip I dabbed glue along the base of the strip and glued the layers together.  For the birdcage netting, I found a great etsy store called Birdcage Supply (link).   They have all sorts of Russian, French, and English Veil netting.  

Here's how the hat looks on my noggin...

To secure the hat to my head, I stitched a small buttonhole on one side of the hat. Then, I pinned a bobby pin through it to secure the hat to my hair.  I pinned a second bobby pin through the birdcage netting to secure the opposite side of the hat. This was enough to make sure the hat wasn't going to fly off into the sunset with one little blow of the wind.

I love the hat, even though I have no idea where I'm going to wear it.

Cheers,

Jamie 

Yarn Button Tutorial

Today, I thought it would be nice to show you how to make that cute yarn button featured in my Hooded Scarf sewing pattern.  I've had a few emails asking if I made the button and if so, could I share how.  The answer to that question is no I didn't make that particular button, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night.  

Ahh I couldn't resist.  

Anywho moving on.  As I was saying, I didn't make that one, it was an extra button from an Anthro sweater of mine, but I do know how to make them.

As you can see, you can make these buttons with many different types of yarn and embroidery floss colors (yellow button).  I prefer a mohair type of yarn, because I like the look of it and you can thread it through an embroidery needle.

Materials needed...

Yarn - About 2 yards will be enough for this project.  If you have too much yarn it will be difficult to wrap around the plastic ring.

Needle that is big enough to thread the yarn through.

Plastic ring - I used a 1 1/8" plastic ring found at Michaels.  However, the Anthro button has a center bar (I felt it), so I believe they used a belt buckle or something.

Directions

1.  With one end of the yarn, tie a knot around the ring.

2. Begin to wrap the yarn around the ring.  When you wrap the yarn, be sure to wrap the little yarn tail from the knot.  Do not cut the yarn once you have finished wrapping the ring.

3.  Once you have wrapped the entire ring, begin to fill in the center by stitching a Satin Stitch.  First, begin where you finished wrapping the ring (see #1) and insert the needle into the opposite side of the ring, making sure that you stay within the ring (see #2).  Next, pull the yarn through so that the yarn is taut.  After pulling the yarn through, insert the needle next where you began (#3). Pull the yarn up and through nice and tight again. Repeat these steps making sure your stitches are close together. Work your way to the opposite side of the ring.  If you find your ring is not thick or has some holes, repeat the stitching across to the other side again. 

4. When the button is nice and thick, decide which is the front and which is the back of the button.  Bring the yarn towards the back and begin to weave it through the yarn on the button (careful not to weave to the front of the button), making your way to the middle.  If you are going to sew the button to a sweater or some type of loose knit, you can use the yarn tale to do so.  Simply stitch the button to the loose knit using the yarn tale.  However for most fabrics, the yarn may be too thick to stitch with.  If this is the case, tie a knot and cut off the yarn tail.

5.  Thread your needle with matching thread and tie the thread to a couple strands of yarn.  Make sure the thread is centered and secure.

6.  Stitch your button to the fabric.

That's it!

To give you an idea of how they look on a sweater, here's the Anthro sweater from the original button.  

Cheers,

Jamie