sewingoflove

All is well and good when it comes to crocheting a single color blanket or scarf, and even striping is easy. It’s totally different however, when you begin blocking colors and designs. I’ve crocheted an American Flag as well as my newest project, a scarf with zig-zags. I’ve gotten pretty good at this design. It took a me a while to find a way to work it though; I couldn’t find a tutorial or video online. So, here’s mine!

Start by making your chain, or whatever your crochet pattern is up to where your design changes colors. Drop the loose end of the color you’re working and pick up the new end. Continue the pattern, making sure the first color is actually INSIDE the crochets in the pattern of the new color. Do the same thing to switch back, and if you don’t need the second color again, you can drop it completely.

Now, the second row is where things can get kind of funky. You CAN do it the same way, but you’ll end up with some color bleed. What will happen is that one string of yarn of each color will end up “in” the other color block. It won’t be really noticeable in a zig-zag pattern, but very specific patterns (such as stars, lines, circles and letters) need to be done differently. You can see in the top row of my American flag that I hadn’t discovered the technique I’m about to teach you. And then I figure it out in the middle of the stars, and the rest looks great. Go figure, right?!

Just for reference–when I crochet, I end up with a horizontal texture because I onlyuse half the stitch on the row below rather than the whole thing. If you use the whole thing, you can utilize what I described above.

As you finish the first color block and get to the second color section, drop your first color, but lay it over your crochet hook. Push you hook through the stitch below and wrap it in the second color, then finish your stitch. That’s it!! Nice and completely simple If you’re doing a double crochet, you wrap your hook using the second color before going through the lower stitch. Any questions? Let me know!

Happy stitching!

So this here is my favorite part of making these cuffs–cartridge pleating! It’s a form of pleating that was done in the 16th century European styles of dress. Even the Queen Elizabeth is seen in some portraits wearing a gown with cartridge pleating. If you need to see a picture bigger, right click and choose “View Picture”. Anyway, onward!!

First, I just want to mention something. You’ll need to make sure you have a good, study thread for the pleating. You’ll be yanking on this thread some, so you need to make sure it won’t break whilst you do. Trust me, it’s frustrating when it does! In fact, using the sturdier thread in all the handsewing for this is probably a good idea. I’ve had pretty good luck with Gütermann All Purpose Polyester thread. I honestly love all their threads! (The embroidery is soo pretty.) Let’s get started!

The ruffles start similarly to the wrist band. Actually almost exactly the same. xD You’re going to make a LONG tube of fabric. Make your cut twice as wide as you want your cuffs, plus about half an inch for seam allowances. Mine was about four inches wide, and the finished cuffs are approximately an inch and a half long. If you want your cuffs much higher than two inches (or particularly stiff/crisp) you’re going to want to sew in some interfacing, so when you press the cuffs they’ll stay straight and pretteh.

Honestly, I’m sure there’s a way to determine exactly how much fabric you’ll need if you want the pleats to run from one side of the band right to the edge of the other. Personally, I didn’t care so much. I used 44 inches of fabric for my tubing. I could probably have made that do the entire width of the wristband, but I wanted shallow pleats rather than particularly full ones.

Like before, pin closed two of the edges. Since this tube is significantly longer and much easier to drift on when you’re sewing, I turned back and forth and trimmed off any overhanging material. Sew closed the short and long end, and trim the corners. Turn your tube inside out and use your chopstick on the corners. Press the entire tube (it’ll be much easier to work with). Turn the edges of the open end inside and pin them into place. Either hand or machine baste this opening closed and take the pin out.

Time for the pillow closure! Get your needle and double-thread it. Angle your tube end so you can see the inside of the opening. Catch a little bit of fabric from one side and bring the thread through the other side, being careful to only take the inner layer. Continue this whipstitch from the same side until you’ve closed the end. Take out your baste stitches and press the edge. Congratulations, you’ve got a new tube!

Now, you’ve got a couple of options. Well, two really. It’s time to mark the pleats, but how do you know at what intervals? Option number one is to mathematically calculate the optimal pleat depth. To do so, take the length of the tube and subtract the length of the band. Divide this number by the band length. In my case, I have 44 inch tube and 6 inch wrist. The 44″ bang minus the 6″ wrist piece is 38″. 38 divided by 6 is 6.3. I could then mark the pleats 6.3 inches apart, but the pleats would be like three inches deep. You can divide this number then in half, or in half again. Then you’d have 1.58 inches between each marking. However, I’m lazy and only just worked it out for this tutorial. I used the width of my thumb. You can make markings on an index or business card if you decide to use the mathematical method to help you keep things in line. Keep your markings about half a centimeter from the end. Make SURE that you begin and end your markings on the very ends of the fabric, or you’ll have this weird loose piece flapping around in the middle of your cuff. Not very attractive.

Once you’ve done this, take your sturdy thread and double thread your needle once again using about twice the length of the piece this ruffle is going onto. I just wrap my wrist with the thread five times for good measure. Since this is also going to be straining a bit, I knotted the end about four times. Starting at one end, make a running stitch along the length of your tube on your markings. I ran my stitch about a half centimeter from the edge so it’d be pretty well hidden by the pleats when sewn into place. When you get about halfway through your thread, you’re going to bunch up the fabric by sliding it together down towards the knot at the end of your thread. Continue on through your markings until you reach the end. What I usually do then is to leave an additional maybe three or four inches of thread on the end and knot off. Pleating! Yay!

This next part can be a little more difficult. you’re going to take your wrist band and adjust the pleated section so it’s the same length. Line it up against the side, so when you wear the band, it’ll stand straight up. Now, you can pin it in place, but I always have trouble with the pin slipping around and pulling out and ending up back where I started. So I used safety pins. As you stitch the ruffles on, they’ll migrate a bit, and the safety pins will allow that to happen without losing your place. I pinned mine on each end, in the center, and in between those three places. You’re going to start under the wrist band, come up through the marking you made on the edge/corner of the ruffle, and pull it tight. Whipstitch it down, using two stitches per pleat right on the edges of the pleats. You may have to readjust the spacing of your pleats along the way, but it’s not a big deal at all. Tie off at the end, and then tighten up the loose end of your pleating thread. That’s it! You’re done! If you’re afraid of the ruffles flapping about, you can go along the other side and stitch down those pleats as well. I didn’t bother. So far it seems secure. Let me know if you’ve got any questions!

Happy stitching!

So I’ve gotten plenty of questions on just how I made the jester cuffs for my Harley Quinn outfit. Let me tell you, I agonized on them for the longest time!! The first set I made did the job, since the convention was the next day, but they weren’t GREAT. Since I plan on using the costume again, I decided that there were plenty -coughcough most- of the pieces of the costume that I wanted to re-make. This was the first. I absolutely ADORE these new cuffs–they fit better, as well as looking fabulous!

Now, the great thing about this part of making these cuffs is that you can use it to make really any sort of band that goes around a body part. Wrist band, arm band, ankle band, thigh band…pretty much anything. The example that comes to my mind is if your costume or outfit has a sweatband on the wrists. Doesn’t that get kinda warm in the summer months? You can use this to make a band to go aroun your wrist out of non-stretch fabric that’ll look really clean and nice! Anyway, onto the tut!

The first thing that you’re going to want to do is measure the body part that this is going on to. Since I already made the RIGHT cuff, I want to measure my left wrist. This can be a pain in the butt–measuring my right wrist is so much easier, but different sides of your body are going to be different sizes, unfortunately. And since we’re working with non-stretchy fabric, this is a rule we need to abide by closely. So my left wrist measures just under 6 inches around (my right is exactly 6). [Note–if you need to see any of these bigger, right click and choose “View Image”]

From here, you’re going to measure out the amount of fabric needed for your band. I made mine a little small (you’ll see later on, when I’m attaching the snaps) but I used six and a half inches of fabric LONG (that’s the part that goes around the wrist) by two and a quarter WIDE. The width of the fabric is going to be doubled over, PLUS the seam allowance, so I know my band will be about an inch wide when it’s finished. Make sure you add over half an inch to your measurement around the body-part to make sure you’ll have enough room for the seams on the side.

Next you want to fold your band in half and pin it on two sides. Keep one of the short ends open so you’ll be able to turn the band inside out for a more professional and finished look. Nobody likes seeing seams! Sew the two sides with just under a 1/4 inch seam allowance. Cut across the corners as shown, including the ones that are opened. Turn it inside out and, using a chopstick or a pencil or something long and skinny, push the corners out. Stick it in the open end and just maneuver it until your corners look less round and more, well, corner-like!

Take the open end of your band and tuck one side onto the inside, followed by the other. Be careful to make sure you do it relatively evenly. One end of mine was slightly higher than the other, but it didn’t bother me since the ruffle from the jester cuff would cover it up. Pin it together like this, and then sew a line across either on your sewing machine or by hand. If you’re making ruffles, the seam will not be seen. If you’re making just a band and don’t want the seam there, you’ll have to sew it closed like you would a pillow. If you need more help with that, look at my next entry. I’ll be explaining the ruffle, but I’ll have a bit on the pillow closure.

Next you’ll want to test your band and make sure it fits the part you’re making it for. I made mine a little small, as you can see the edges just touch. (Man this was an awkward camera angle!) The nice thing about snap closures though, is that you can make one end a hanging snap, which will allow the two edges to meet up just right!

To attach your snaps, first you have to disconnect them. I was really confused when I first bought them, I didn’t understand the packaging at all! But it’s easy enough. Unsnap them, put one end aside, and figure out where you want the other end to go. The trick of the hanging snap is that one is completely on the fabric, while the other is held onto the other side of the fabric by a single hole. I chose to put two snaps onto this because it is wide enough that a single snap in the middle would cause the edges of the fabric to bend in and look strange. The easiest way to attach your snaps is the whipstitch, but I prefer the button-hole stitch. There is an awesome tutorial on attaching sew on snaps here. The main thing to keep in mind is that you only want to go through ONE layer of fabric at a time–it’ll hide the snaps and make it look like MAGIC!

Make sure you align the fabric (try it on again) and figure out where your other snap has to go. It’s attached just the same way! If you’ve got a hanging snap, you only attach one of the holes to the fabric and the rest will just hang around. It’s recommended that you use four stitches to hold it in place, but since I figure my ruffles will pull on it a bit, I used seven or eight for each snap. Make sure you align and try on your band a couple of times before you finish, otherwise you’ll be upset if you have to rip out the seams and try it again.

And that’s it! You’re done!

If you didn’t want to or can’t understand using snaps (they can be annoying if you don’t get it just right) Velcro is also an awesome option ^^ I just happened to have snaps lying around in my sewing bucket from when I made the collar for Harl’s costume. Any questions, leave a comment and let me know!

Happy stitching!

I will admit, I’ve always adored that.

System.out.println(”Hello World!”);

<body>Hello World!</body>

No matter where you go or what language you’re learning, the first thing you ALWAYS say, is Hello World! Though, when I was in Java, I changed it to “Hello Mr. Quint!” but I was a bit of a nerd

So, welcome! Welcome to my lovely blog, in which I will discuss my many craftings. I love crafts, and making stuff! Most of my past year has been involved with crafting stage sets (I work in a theatre at school), crocheting blankets (I’m on my first scarf!, and sewing costumes and outfits. I love sewing! I’ll write all about whatever I happen to be doing, as well as some tutorials and explanations of certain aspects of what I’m doing. Pictures will be included!

As I’m sitting outside here, enjoying the sun and preparing my first REAL entries (which will show up tomorrow!) my cat Salem is alternately rubbing his head on my feet, licking my legs, and biting my toes. I don’t think he realizes how much that hurts! If only he came closer to my hands, then I’d actually PET the guy. You’ll  definitely hear me talk about my animals in here as well, by the way. Salem, Boncuk and Little Girl are all my cats that stick around home when I go to school. My dog is Sparky. And this summer I got a pair of gerbils, Sunny and Emeril (yes, after the cook) to accompany me to school.

Anyway, onto the real dealie here! First I’ll be discussing my Harley Quinn wrist cuffs, which were by far the most difficult thing to conceptualize for me. I’ve gotten questions on it, so that’s up first! Well, the second version of them are. The first were pretty awful. I’ll be finishing up taking pictures and explaining tonight, so it should go up around noon tomorrow. After those, I’ll explain an show the shoe covers I worked out for Garnet, perhaps followed by  some crocheting stuff. :] We’ll see as we go!

Happy stitching!