IndieSpotting » {make}

{make} Fabric Ruffle Pouch

Erika, IndieSpotting — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 17:14:37 +0000

Katie at punk projects emailed me this adorable little tutorial for sewing a zipper pouch with a fabric ruffle.

You just need three different fabrics and a zipper to make it, too. For the full tutorial on how to make your own fabric ruffle pouch, click here.

{make} Sweet Candy Bottles + Free Printable

Erika, IndieSpotting — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 18:55:36 +0000

Kayla at Sweet Anne Designs has come up with an adorable Valentine’s Day DIY project that makes use of recycled iced coffee bottles. Kayla is a graphic designer, so she’s also provided a free printable you can download to make the little labels for the bottles.

For the full tutorial on how to make these Sweet Candy Bottles and the link to the free printable, click here.

Make sure you stop by her Etsy shop, too ~ she has some really cute printable templates and quick craft projects!

{make} Illuminated LOVE Canvas

Erika, IndieSpotting — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 20:55:36 +0000

This little project is absolutely perfect for Valentine’s Day, but I definitely intend to keep it up all year long in my house! Inspired by the famous Philadelphia landmark, this illuminated LOVE canvas is relatively easy and surprisingly inexpensive to make! I bought the 16×20 canvas in a two-pack on sale, so it only cost a couple of bucks. The white lights were on clearance after Christmas for around a dollar, and the paint is only about a dollar. I already had the awl on hand, but I think your average scratch awl is only about five bucks.

What you’ll need ~

16×20 canvas
Strand of 35 white lights
Awl
LOVE template (download here)
Scotch tape
Pencil
Red acrylic paint
Paint brush

How to make it ~

Start by printing out the free LOVE template (link above). Each letter prints out on a 8.5×11 piece of paper and is perfectly sized to fit the 16×20 canvas. However, if you want to do your own LOVE design, have at it!

Cut out each letter and tape them in place on the canvas. Take a pencil and lightly trace around each letter. Once you’re done outlining the letters, remove the paper templates and paint inside each letter with your red acrylic paint (I used DecoArt Tuscan Red). Allow to dry thoroughly, probably about 30 minutes.

For this next part, you can use the templates again, or you can just eyeball it. Gently tape the letter templates back in place on the canvas and use your awl to punch through each hole that is marked (these are spaced just right for a standard string of lights).

Once all your holes are made, remove the paper templates and start adding your lights! Start at the lower right corner – the letter E – and place the light closest to the plug there. Push a light through each hole. Now just plug it in and let it shine!

{make} DIY Magnetic Shoe Clips

Erika, IndieSpotting — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 17:06:26 +0000

I love shoe clips ~ they’re such a simple way to dress up plain shoes or to give new life to an older, well-loved pair. I decided to make magnetic shoe clips so they’re easy to take on and off, plus they don’t damage your shoes at all like certain clips do.

You only need three materials to make these “tuxedo bow” shoe clips, and they’re inexpensive to boot (no pun intended)!

What you’ll need ~

Ribbon
4 small round magnets (the stronger, the better)
Hot glue

How to make them ~

I bought a velvety ribbon with a bit of sparkle for my shoe clips, but this works with just about any ribbon, though I do recommend choosing one that’s right around an inch wide. Cut two 8″ lengths of ribbon and two 2-1/2″ lengths.

Lay out the longer piece of ribbon front side down. Fold each end in toward the center and glue in place with a dot of hot glue. You should have the two loops of your bow now.

Take the shorter piece of ribbon and wrap it around the center of your bow and glue it in the back. The bow is finished, so repeat for your second shoe clip.

Finally, attach a magnet to the center of the back of each bow with hot glue. Once they are completely dry, you can attach your clips to your shoes with the other two magnets.

Note: Before you attach your magnetic shoe clips to shoes that are light in color, be sure that your magnets are nice and clean and won’t leave any discoloration on your shoes.

{make} Hedgehog Valentine’s Day Ornament

Erika, IndieSpotting — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 21:00:46 +0000

This little fella is from last year, but he’s so darn cute that I had to bring him back around for this Valentine’s Day!

Love is in the air for all creatures big and small! I adore Valentine’s Day and thought, “What better way to celebrate than with a handmade ornament?” It may not be as satisfying as chocolate, but I think the cuteness factor more than makes up for it. Keep reading for complete step-by-step instructions and photos for my little hedgehog of love! He measures about 4″ wide and 2-1/2″ tall (excluding hanger).

What you’ll need ~

Brown, tan and red felt
Red and white 6-strand embroidery floss
Coordinating red ribbon
Scissors
Needle
Hot glue gun
Template for hedgehog (I have provided a free downloadable template, but you can cut the shapes out freehand, too)
Freezer paper and permanent marker

How to make it ~

If you’re going to use our downloadable template, go ahead and print it out. Next, I took a piece of freezer paper and traced my shapes onto the paper side (not the shiny side) with a marker.

Cut the shapes out of the freezer paper. For each hedgie you’re making, you’ll need two tan body shapes, one brown back shape and one red heart shape.

To easily cut them out of the felt, place your freezer paper stencil shiny side down on the appropriate felt color, turn an iron on low heat and iron the paper for a few seconds. The freezer paper stencil should be sticking to the felt, so you can cut out the shape with sharp scissors, peel off the paper stencil and repeat as necessary.

Once you have all of your felt shapes cut out, you can start assembling the ornament. I wanted my hedgie to be flat, so I didn’t stuff him – though you certainly could if you wanted to.

Start with one of the tan body pieces. Take your needle and a 6″ to 8″ length of red embroidery floss (separated into a section of 3 strands. If you try to do this at the end of the floss, you’ll wind up with a tangled mess. Just gently pull apart at the middle, and you’ll have two sections!). Knot the end and use a few small stitches to attach the heart to the hedgie’s nose. Finish off with a small knot.

I used a French knot to create the eye, which is fairly simple. Use the remainder of your short length of red floss and knot the end. Decide where you want his eye to be, then bring the needle up through the felt to the front (1). Next, wrap the thread around your needle about three or four times, keeping the tension taut (2 & 3).

Push the needle back down through the felt just barely to the left of where it came out (4), continuing to hold the thread tightly in your fingers. Pull the needle all the way through to the back (through the knot) and you’ll have a cute little eye! Finish off again with a knot in the back.

Next, it’s time to start working on the hedgehog’s back and spines – the brown piece of felt. After a little trial and error, I decided it was best to start with a rounded edge for the back piece (hence the shape on the downloadable template) and then hand cut the little spikes afterwards.

So, before cutting the spikes on the back piece and attaching it to the body, I decided I would stitch the red spines first. Take a longer piece of your red embroidery floss (three strands again) and stitch the spines, starting near the bottom of the brown felt. There’s really no scientific approach here – just do what you like the looks of. I would just recommend varying the length of each stitch slightly to give it visual interest. Finish off with a knot when you’re done.

When you’re satisfied with your stitched spines, heat up your hot glue gun and attach the piece to the hedgehog body (the front piece with eye and nose). Then, using very sharp scissors, snip little triangular cuts out of the dark brown felt to create the look of spikes. Be sure you don’t go too deep – you don’t want to see the tan body through the spines.

Now that the hedgehog’s details are complete, you can sew the two body pieces together. I switched over to three strands of the white embroidery floss for this, though you can stick with the red if you prefer.

You might want to pin the two halves together to make sewing easier. I used a blanket stitch to sew the body together (see more detailed instructions below, if you need them). You can start anywhere on the body, just be sure to leave space for your ribbon at the top.

Cut a 6″ or so piece of ribbon and fold it into a loop. I did a blanket stitch up until where I wanted the ribbon hanger, then switched to a few small stitches to hold the ribbon in place, and finally resumed the blanket stitch on the other side of the ribbon.

There you have it! Your very own hedgie Valentine’s Day ornament. Feel free to make him a matching girlfriend ~ you could use pink instead of red for her!

Blanket Stitch Instructions ~

Learning the blanket stitch is super easy, trust me. I used to swear I would never be able to sew, but this came to me pretty easily after a little practice. You might want to test the stitch on scrap fabric until you’re comfortable with it and are getting nice, even stitches.

Here are my completely non-technical directions for the stitch (though there are plenty of video tutorials online if you’re more comfortable learning that way): Start with a nice long length of embroidery floss and knot the end. Pull the needle up through the front of the top half of the two pieces you’re planning to sew together ~ I’ve had pretty good luck stitching about 1/8″ or so away from the edge of the felt.

Put the two pieces of felt together (wrong sides facing each other), and insert the needle between 1/8″ and 1/4″ to the left of where you started. Pull the floss almost all the way through, leaving a nice little loop sticking out. Put your needle through the loop (moving from the back to the front) and tighten somewhat. For your first stitch, leave it a little on the loose side (this comes in handy later).

Continue in the same fashion: insert needle to the left of the last stitch; pull through toward back most of the way; insert needle through loop and pull through toward front. Easy, right? Just keep your stitches as uniform as you can so it looks nice and pretty!

These next images and instructions are for if you encounter corners to stitch around, as well as how to finish off the last stitch.

When you reach a corner, imagine a square on that corner. Place your last stitch where the bottom, inner corner would be on that square. You’re going to insert your needle in that exact same spot and complete a second stitch – this will give you a diagonal line through your imaginary square.

Now, go through that same spot one more time (3rd stitch) and complete a stitch to give you another line across the bottom of your imaginary square. Now that you’ve rounded the corner, you can continue with your blanket stitches as usual.

When you’ve stitched all the way around your felt and are ready to wrap up, you’ll be using that loose first stitch again (See? Told you it’d be handy). Insert the needle under that “almost-diagonal” first vertical bar and pull through.

Flip your felt over so you’re looking at the back – you’ll see the perfect spot for your next stitch. Insert the needle there but only through the back layer of the felt so that when you pull through, you come up through the top, in between both pieces of felt. Pull nice and tight.

Lastly, insert your needle under that vertical bar you just created on the back and make a knot. Insert your needle in between the two pieces of felt and pull through at another spot (wherever you want) so you’re hiding the knot and tail end of the floss. If you need to, you can always snip the thread and use the needle to gently tuck it away inside so you can’t see it. That’s it!

WhipperBerry.com

{make} DIY Sequin Headband

Erika, IndieSpotting — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 20:24:52 +0000

I have a serious case of the sparklies ~ that is, I crave sequins on anything and everything. So, I decided to make a sequin headband, which turned out to be really easy, and I love the results!

What I like most about this project is that you can use any headband and then simply slide the sequin decorations on and off as you please. Now, on to the project!

What you’ll need ~

Headband (skinny ones are best)
Sequin trim (2-3 yards of each color is more than enough to make several adornments)
Felt
Hot glue gun

How to make it ~

These instructions are so easy, and they can be applied to just about any shape ~ I think I’ll use my leftover sequins to make some hearts or stars. Anyhow, I started with simple circles in three different colors: light pink, dark pink and gold. Since the sequins were only $0.99/yard, I got 3 yards of each color so I could get my sparkle on.

Cut out three circles (different sizes look cool) from your felt. Fire up the glue gun, and when it’s hot, you’re ready to apply the sequins! Place a dot of glue in the center of the circle and attach the end of your sequin trim.

Now, you’re going to glue your sequins down in a spiral pattern. Add a little glue (seriously, just a little or you’ll melt your sequins ~ I speak from experience), then wrap the sequins around and around until the felt is completely covered. It’s good to let each circle of sequins overlap a little.

Once you have all three circles done, cut a small strip of felt for each one. An inch long and 1/2-inch wide should be more than enough. Glue the ends of each strip to the back of the circle. This is where you’ll slip the circles on and off the headband.

Couldn’t be much easier, right? I’m thinking this would be a really cute Valentine’s Day accessory!

WhipperBerry.com