Decided to curl up with a crochet hook and season two of Arrested Development. I think I finally have a good handle on a pattern that will work for "noisy" trim. Realizing how many beads and coins this will take, too!
Pattern:
1. Create a crochet chain as long as you want the trim to be.
2. Turn. At the 2nd loop, SC across entire row.
3. Chain 1 and turn.
4. *SC, Chain 2* every other loop.
5. Bind off at end of third row.
Using a thinner yarn/thread, stitch to the center of each loop. String bead pattern, wrap around end bead or coin, then return needle through the first beads. Stitch to next loop and repeat.
This should be cool when I have the time to put the whole thing together as a hip scarf.
My belly dance teacher makes her own hip scarves with hand crocheted coined & beaded trim. Her friends have urged her to teach a class on how to do it, but she doesn’t have time. I took a look at them and decided to try my hand at creating the trim.
Crochet is not my strong suit, but I can usually figure out a written pattern after a few attempts. My how-to book has a pattern for mesh background, and that seemed like as good a place to start as any.
I strung beads on the yarn, then tried to work the beads into the pattern. My conclusions so far are that I’m on the right track with the yarn thickness, hook size and gauge. I need to work more beaded strands into the pattern, replenish my inventory with larger beads, and find some coins for the finishing touches. I also need to keep my eyes open for a good base fabric for the hip scarf, or write the pattern as the entire scarf (would take much longer to make that way).
Fun to test this out, but will shelve starting the actual hip scarf project until I get a few other projects finished – like the harem pants I started two weeks ago.
Indy’s been having trouble with separation anxiety lately, which means coming home to puddles on the floor. We are literally scouting the house for messes when we get home, and at least half the time we are finding them. This is part of the reason he is going to doggie daycare now.
Unfortunately for Indy, we still need to leave him alone from time to time, so I looked into doggie diapers. Aaron thinks this is quite undignified, but agreed that we need to do something about it. Most of the things I found online are harnesses that hold baby diapers, and I’m not quite ready to drop $$ on something when I am not sure if it will work. A number of the things I found didn’t look like they would fit a greyhound’s physique well, either.
Enter the belly band. Apparently a number of greyhound organizations send their adopted male dogs home with these to alleviate the problem of marking and house training. I found an online tutorial to make them (thank you One Pearl Button!), Aaron donated a T-shirt, and off we went. It only took about an hour to cut and sew together, and I really like that the whole thing is washable and doesn’t require an investment in environmentally unfriendly baby diapers to complete the ensemble.
I’m going to let him wear it around the house a bit while we are home to get him used to it, and hope that it does the trick next time we have to leave him alone for a couple of hours. If it works, I will probably make a few more.
Tutorial:
www.onepearlbutton.com/2009/05/tutorial-doggie-belly-band…
I got a super cute "Tech Girl" t-shirt for Christmas that was kind of big on me, and I didn’t want to banish it to pajama land.
I’ve made a couple of T-shirts before (short and long sleeve) and the end results were less than desirable.
After doing a bit of reading and looking at lots of pictures, I finally mustered up the courage to try it again.
I was very disciplined about it instead of cutting and sewing on the fly like I usually do. Even used the dressmakers chalk! Spent a fair amount of time adjusting thread tension, which was interrupted by a drastic need to clean out the lint below the feed dogs. Basted, tried it on, seam ripped, re-basted, and frequently ran to the full length mirror in the other room to check my work.
Finally got it how I wanted it, and finalized the seams. Should have been a bit more industrious and used the serger for the final seams, but adjusting serger thread tension is more of a pain than adjusting the sewing machine.
Very happy with the results, and it has given me the courage to try it again!
Please join me at SCRAP‘s 8th annual Holiday Bazaar! My vendor space will feature jewelry and picture frames, with a focus towards bold colors, Mexican folk art, and misunderstood monsters. This is the only show I am participating this holiday season, so take advantage of this chance to pick up my quirky works of functional art. All handmade, all one of a kind. (Of course, my Etsy shop is open year round!)
This is my third year participating in the bazaar, and I am consistently amazed with the variety of items for sale. There are 25 vendors vendors this year. Trilliam Artisans will also have a presence at the bazaar.
All items in the bazaar are made from at least 75% recycled materials.
Shop locally! Support local artisans! Pick up unique holiday gifts that you won’t find anywhere else.
SCRAP (School and Community Recycling Action Program)
Date: Saturday, December 19, 2009
Time: 11:00am – 5:00pm
Address: 2915 NE MLK Jr. Blvd. Portland, OR 97212
View Map
Outside of the varnish, these are 100% recycled materials. I started with paper grocery bags. These were cut into long strips, folded, then looped to the size of a bracelet. The one on the left used cereal box cardboard as a base.
They each got about three layers of paper mache, then had to dry for about a week. In the meantime I cut up a tattoo magazine for decoupage.
Once they were dry, I decorated them with the magazine clippings. Several layers of varnish (and even more drying time!) they are ready to go.
These will be for sale at SCRAP’s holiday bazaar this Saturday December 19th.
