Advent-ure 2015: Stuffed Yo-Yo Trees Tutorial

 Who can resist the retro charm of yo-yo crafts?

Yo-yos are so easy to make and are great for using up scraps of all sizes. I used scraps in rainbow colors and scraps of soft linen to make these two stuffed yo-yo trees.

The pattern for these trees makes a 4" (10cm) tall tree - great for ornaments, dollhouse play, pincushions, or small trinkets to brighten up an office desk or windowsill.

Enlarge the pattern to make larger trees suitable for a mantle or tabletop display.

Download the templates and instructions to make your own sweet little trees.

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Advent-ure 2015: Cross-Stitch Gift Tags Tutorial

I love a tree skirt piled up with kraft paper presents.

"Brown paper packages tied up with string" (oh, Maria Von Trapp, will you be my mother?) become a neutral canvas against which you can choose a stunning palette of decorative colors each year.

Are you dreaming of a white Christmas? Maybe gold to honor the gifts of the Three Wise Men. Perhaps you'll just go traditional with candy can striped ribbons and garland. I hope you're not having a blue Christmas without them.

One of the ways I like to dress up those packages is with unique gift tags in my chosen colors of the year. This year, I'm going with bright reds, greens and blues. And the theme is "Ugly Christmas Sweater".

With this in mind, I created some cross-stitched gift tags and would love to share them with you. Not so ugly after all!

Download this PDF of instructions and pattern to make your own cross-stitched gift tags this year.

And to give you a little extra creative inspiration, I thought I'd share these gift tags I bought at the thrift store. I got two sheets and have added some embroidered elements to two so far.

 

 

Happy Stitching and Merry Christmas!

Recipe: Pumpkin Pie - American Style

The recipe for Libby's pumpkin pie has been on their canned pumpkin labels since 1950. It's the only one I've ever used that has consistently proven itself year after year. I make only a small change in spices since cinnamon is not my favorite.

If you have no canned pumpkin, make the pie using 2 cups of cooked mashed pumpkin. In the US, use sugar pie pumpkins. The look just like jack-o-lantern pumpkins but are smaller. In Australia, I successfully used Jarradale pumpkin to make a pumpkin pie that tasted as American as.....well, pumpkin pie.

This is a great tutorial for making your own pumpkin puree.
 

Here's the classic recipe with my tiny change. Oh, and if you don't have one deep dish pie crust, this recipe makes two regular pies. Please note that evaporated milk is not the same as condensed milk and it should never be pre-sweetened.

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 2 large eggs
• 1 can (15 oz.) pumpkin puree or 2 cups cooked mashed pumpkin
• 1 can (12 fl. oz.) evaporated milk
• 1 unbaked 9-inch (4-cup volume) deep-dish pie shell OR 2 regular pie crusts

MIX sugar, cinnamon, salt, ginger and cloves in small bowl. Beat eggs in large bowl. Stir in pumpkin and sugar-spice mixture. Gradually stir in evaporated milk.

POUR into pie shell.

BAKE in preheated 425° F oven for 15 minutes. Reduce temperature to 350° F; bake for 40 to 50 minutes or until knife inserted near center comes out clean. Cool on wire rack for 2 hours. Serve immediately or refrigerate. Top with whipped cream before serving.

Tutorial: Embroidered Luggage Tags

Whether you're headed over the river and through the woods to grandmother's house or down to Margaritaville to a hammock with your name on it, what do you do to keep the little one occupied on the long trip? 

Make a stuffed airplane plush. It's soft and cuddly and the pattern is available in my Etsy shop. Just in time to whip up before the holiday journeys begin.

Get it here in my Etsy shop. 

But it's a double whammy of travel goodness for you today.

Travel in handmade style with these hand-embroidered luggage tags on your bags. 

These tags use a small piece of linen, cotton, or lightweight wool and a bit of embroidery floss. Once you make the little pocket of a tag, slip a cardboard identity tag inside, wrap it around your bag handle and you're ready to go.

Download the pdf for instructions and pattern!

See you on the other side!

Giving Thanks for Natural Stuffing

Nope. I'm not talking about turkey (or tofurkey) stuffing, although we all have our favorite recipes. I'm thinking more along the lines of a recipe for natural crafting goodness.

This year, I am grateful for the increasing accessibility to natural fiberfill toy stuffing. Want to know why? Because I'm tired of people who want to sell us something telling us it's completely safe when it isn't. 


Why do people sell something? They want you to buy it. But WHY do they want you to buy it?

Natural stuffing choices, like cotton, kapok, and wool, were the norm until the 1960s when polyester fiberfill, a revolutionary, washable, lightweight fiber was made popular as a toy stuffing in mass-produced stuffed animals. Polyester fibers are made from oil-waste and by the 1960s, what to do with oil-waste was becoming a big problem. "Pollution" became a topic of motivation to reinvent this hazardous waste.

So makers of plastics want you to buy their products, because they don't want you to complain about that hazardous waste going into in your landfills, waterways, and air instead.

But polyester fiberfill is listed in the US Toxic Substances Control Act due to its toxicity when 1) it makes contact with soft tissue (eyes, lungs, stomach) and 2) when it produces highly toxic fumes when it burns.

Polyester fiberfill manufacture requires the use of half a dozen known highly toxic, carcinogenic, and polluting chemicals including dichloroethane. The making of these fibers, even the recycling of them, can never be considered eco-friendly given the amount of toxic pollution it causes to air and groundwater. According to this toxicology report by the CDC (Center for Disease Control), dichloroethane has been found in peanut butter due to manufacturing run-off into local groundwater near peanut farms.

If you aren't quite familiar with what polyester fiber really is, read this fascinating article describing the formation of polymers and specifically polyester and why it is more toxic than we have been led to believe.

Thank goodness nature is still providing plant and animal fibers for use in crafting, sewing, quilting, and toy-making. If you haven't played with warming wool fleece, bouncy non-GMO corn stuffing, or luxurious kapok, you're missing out on a world of sensory delights. 

Ready to buy a natural fiberfill? Here's my latest list of sources for natural fiberfill and also fabrics. 

And if you want to know more about the toy stuffing performance of various types of natural fill, read this.

To-do: If you have any favorite natural fiber or fabric sources where you live, please share them in them in the comments or email me so I can include them in the list. 

PS: Click on the turkey photo for a link to the pattern by Angel Lea Designs.

Darned Embroidery

I was stoked to have a pattern darning sampler embroidery tutorial published on the Sew Mama Sew blog a couple of weeks ago. Pattern darning is a simple running stitch that creates a design over counted threads.

Since the post came out, people have been asking me for easy to read patterns. I thought, no problem, I'll just google pattern darning and refer stitchers to the many designs online. Unfortunately I found the patterns a bit hard to read.

 

Online pattern darning patterns are usually on a graph or grid. But when the patterns are presented in the same way as cross-stitch patterns, with blocks filled in, I find that the maker sometimes means take my running stitch over one thread (represented by the block) or over two threads (represented by the lines of the grid on each side of the block). It's not consistent and the cross-stitch pattern illustration method does not fit pattern darning designs.

The best ones I've found show stitching between threads and over and under threads, where it actually occurs.

Since these are far and few between, I decided to start drawing up these designs on graph paper in the same style as this image which is from the American Needlepoint Guild.

I'm so excited by my fresh new pad of graph paper, I can hardly contain myself. I have managed to list one pattern of eight designs in my Etsy shop.

 

You don't need much to create beautiful stitching: fabric, embroidery floss or darning wool, blunt darning or tapestry needle, scissors, and a pattern.

Imagine your clothes magically transformed by small borders of pattern darning. Turn linens into vintage era keepsakes with simple running stitches. Pattern darning has a long and rich history of transforming ordinary textiles into works of art and imagination.  

Visit the Sew Mama Sew sewing blog for tons of sewing and stitching tutorials, challenges, and to meet fascinating fiber artists and designers from all over the world. There's a project for every type of sewing, from clothing to softies to quilts to mobiles. And try out a bit of pattern darning while you're there.

Mending and Alterations: Make the Best of a Bad Pair of Jeans

This week, I'm giving you some links to jeans alterations. You know, they are too long, too short, torn at the cuffs, too wide, too skinny. So how can you make the best of a bad pair of jeans?

Turn straight jeans into skinny jeans

Lengthen kids' jeans

Hem jeans the professional way

Hem jeans the easy (cheater) way

Video for getting that waist to fit

Bootcut to skinny jeans

Ending bum-crack jeans

Replace the jeans zipper

Another extend children's pants

Toddler jeans into bellbottoms (cute alert!)

DIY bell bottom jeans