Glass and Paper Bead Bracelet Tutorial

My new fixation is paper beads. I have drooled on them for awhile (more like one day), and decided to make them. So I made some this morning, but my mom wouldn't let me bring them to school, for fear of poking someone's eye out with the skewer I was using to roll the beads on. I used an old music sheet: Family Guy. Yuck. That, and the fact that it plainly stated I was a third trumpet and not a first, gave me no qualms about cutting up a perfectly good music sheet.

So, you will need some paper (newspaper, book pages, magazine pages, etc.), glue, mod podge (optional), scissors, and something to roll your beads on.

1. Cut out long, skinny triangles. I free handed mine, but they were approximately 1" by 11."

2. Roll the triangles tightly onto your skewer, pencil, toothpick, etc., starting from the widest part.

3. For about the last inch from the tip , use glue to stick the end down and seal the bead.

4. If you have a long wooden skewer, you can leave your beads there and then coat your beads with mod podge or some sort of spray on sealer so that they're shiny.

5. String them on! Make a bracelet with glass beads, clay beads, metal charms--the possibilities are endless. I used green glass beads and embroidery floss and then joined it with a fisherman's joining knot, like so:

I got this pic from this site. Enjoy your new paper beads--I hope you like them as much as I do. :)

More yarn...

I won a yarn giveaway! I can't wait. I'm getting some recycled ribbon yarn and other yarn. I plan to knit a shawl with the green one, or maybe a shrug or cape. Then with the other yarn I might make a hat and fingerless mitts. I haven't decided. Hurrah!

Dolman Top Tutorial

I saw one of these tops in a magazine, and I thought it looked really comfy, like an artsy sweatshirt or pullover. (most of my clothes fit into three categories: artsy, comfy, and sporty. [notice how they all end with y's] Or stained. But that doesn't really count.) So I looked up a dolman top tutorial, and found this tutorial. I decided to make my own tutorial, so it looks more like a sweatshirt. It is based on Hungry Hippie's tutorial, but it is slightly different design.

Materials: jersey knit fabric (or some other soft, stretchy, drapey fabric), scissors, sewing machine, something to draw on your fabric with, long sleeve shirt that fits

1. Fold your fabric in half, so that the fold forms your shoulders and the top of your sleeves. Place your shirt on top and draw around it, leaving a large seam allowance. Make your sleeves big and narrow them down at the cuffs. Cut out a large neck so that it is off the shoulder.

2. Cut out your sleeve cuffs by the length you want and double the width you want. Cut out a waistband as long as it wraps around your waist by 6" and a neckband with a 3" width.

3. Sew up the sides of the shirt and the bottom of your sleeves. Turn right side out.

4. Fold your cuffs in half lengthwise and sew the ends together for your cuff. You will now have a double layer tube. Repeat with the second cuff piece. Sew it onto your sleeves.

5. Repeat step four with your waistband and sew it to the bottom of your shirt. Make sure it is big enough to fit around you, mine's kind of small.

Done.

Wear with pride! :)

Stay Tuned...

Just came back from weeding and climbing a tree. My back hurts. Anyways, a new tutorial is coming soon, so get ready, and buy your supplies now. (hint: go buy some jersey fabric)

Bob-omb Bag

I really love this. I need it. Unfortunately I'm not the best crocheter and I can't find my crochet hook... But I can try. I absolutely love Mario related things. Like my Goomba earflap hat. And once I made a Mario chess set for core class. I'd use this all the time, instead of a purse or bag. That would be so cool to make a giant one for a backpack. Yum... :)

Flower Hair Pin Tutorial

I was looking for some cow fabric in our closet for another project when I found some black-brown acetate like material. So I made some flowers with it. I cut out some circles (eight to be exact)...

Folded them in half... Strung them on a needle and stitched the bottom...

Then I thought of a lot of fabric flowers I've seen on Etsy and I sewed a pearl in the center.

Sew it on a bobby pin and ta-da! A glamorous hair pin.

After I made it we went to see the movie Tangled. It was funny. I wish I could have magic hair. Sigh.

Seashell Shirt

I call this shirt (well, in my mind) the seashell shirt, or a pinwheel shirt, because of the swirly, ruffly design. I tried to resize my shirt, but made it too small, so I added panels to the sides, and that worked well. So I then reattached the sleeves, made a ruffled strip, and sewed it into a spiral pattern. Finished:

The machine was hard to manipulate to get it to move in a spiral, but I finally managed. Tutorial on Made By Lex.

Sorry...

I haven't posted for a couple of days. This is just to get my guilty conscience to stop nagging me. I am going to start knitting a bit. I will try and post some more tutorials. Will post soon. :)