Nov 26 2012

Rock Climbing Cross Stitch

Posted on November 26, 2012 by Rachel

Over the weekend I cross stitched Joshua’s rock climbing ornament. I made a few adjustments to the rock climbing man/pattern. Here is my rock climbing cross stitch.

naked rock climbing man?

I asked Joshua what color he wanted his rope and belt to be, and his response was “I want to rock climb naked” :/ So the little guy is naked and without equipment. I guess that means he’s bouldering and not rock climbing.

background done

At this point it looks like a “It’s a Boy!” announcement to me.

I put a border to help curb that look.

One last step, I backstitched around the rock climbing man the same color as the border.

finished

Joshua’s guy is complete! Well, the stitching part anyways.

Nov 23 2012

Paw Print, How to Cross Stitch

Posted on November 23, 2012 by Rachel

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After I drew my paw print pattern I got to stitching! Here’s how to cross stitch. First I’ll go a little backwards with photos of doing the cross stitch with a border I’m putting around it. But a starting note, remember, is that there is no knot at the end of the thread, you simply leave about an inch on the back side of the fabric.

take the needle through to the front side of the canvas from the bottom hole

pull through and go to the next row over, up and to the right diagonally, pull needle all the way through to the back of the canvas

next go to the hole directly underneath the hole in the previous step and pull the needle through to the right side of the fabric

after you’ve done another diagonal stitch, go to the hole underneath the one previously used and pull needle through to the right side of the fabric

now go up and diagonal to the left

the first X is complete and now repeat

go diagonal again to complete the second X

In my pattern I have a lot of half squares which could be confusing. But really it either means a half of stitch, literally a half of a stitch where the needle goes through the center of the square making the diagonal half of it’s usual length.

Pattern Complete

This is the pattern complete! But I needed a way to finish it, make it actually look complete. So I decided to make a border around it.

It still quite wasn’t what I hoped so I added another border.

almost complete

That looks much better to me, so now I’m going to fill it in with a cream colored thread to leave no square unstitched.

background is filled in

To finish the stitching part of this I decided to backstitch around the paw print to highlight it. This is easier, I think, than back stitching in sewing because it has the holes to put your needles in to make your stitches the same length and it is often used as a finishing stitch in cross stitch.

Stitching is Finished!

I put a pencil next to it to give a size reference. Now I need to figure out how to turn this into an ornament.

Nov 21 2012

More Cross Stitch Patterns

Posted on November 21, 2012 by Rachel

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I’ve drawn more cross stitch patterns! I’ve gotten the pattern making bug! But thank goodness for pencils and erasers because I used them a lot! 🙂

I made more patterns because I made Rusty a cross stitch pattern, which will be turned into an ornament that I decided my husband and I needed one too. Granted they are very basic, beginner cross stitch patterns, but they are my first group of patterns I’ve ever drawn. I can’t really draw that well to begin with but I wanted to try.

I have decided not to do a color legend for these because I wanted to keep my options open, as in, I wanted to make sure I had enough thread in my thread mess ball.

my pattern

I couldn’t decide what to make for Joshua, my husband, so I sketched a couple of his hobbies and let him choose which one I made.

running shoe

mountain climber

snowboard and goggles

He picked the mountain climber so now I have two more ornaments to stitch and make into ornaments! Still deciding on whether or not to backstitch the year onto it.

Graph paper really is a girls best friend when trying to draw cross stitch patterns.

Nov 15 2012

How to Make a Knit HeadBand

Posted on November 15, 2012 by Rachel

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I’m going to the Harvard vs. Yale football game this Saturday and realized I don’t have a lot of Crimson to support Harvard. I have plenty of orange and navy to support the Fighting Illini and Da Bears but not much else. I decided on a knit headband.

So I took the extra maroon yarn from my felted knit bag and counting the slip knot, cast on 7.

tiny yarn ball

I went until I had little yarn left and finished it. It ended up being 11 3/4 inches long.

all knitted up

supplies

Then I got one yard of black ribbon a little bit smaller in width than the knitted piece, cut it in half and hand sewed it to the knitted piece. I used a running stitch along the top, bottom and down the middle of the ribbon. I tried to make sure not to go over the knit stitches so the black stitches wouldn’t be seen. I also put the ribbon about four inches onto the knit piece to give the head band some strength.

The ends of the ribbon will fray so it’s best to fold over the end, to create a hem and sew to enclose the end of the ribbon.

front view

back view

I tried my best to get a good shot of me wearing it but apparently I am no good at it, and every straight on view, I looked a little cooky so maybe I’ll get some good pictures at the game!

from the front

Now I have a nice unique headband to wear to the game and just a fun winter accessory!

wool yarn, cast on 7 on size 6 needles
knit stitch until about 12 inches long
2 pieces of 1/2 yard ribbon
sew ribbon to knitted piece
wear and look great!

Nov 9 2012

Knitting Washcloths

Posted on November 9, 2012 by Rachel

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My next project was knitting washcloths using different stitches. It requires all cotton yarn, because you need to be able to use and wash them regularly.

yarn for wash clothes

The first one, a plain knit stitch wash cloth, I have cast on multiple times. I find 100% cotton yarn to be much more difficult to work with than wool and alpaca. Maybe because it’s a stiffer material. Also, I found the pattern in the book for the first washcloth, which is to cast on and do a knit stitch which creates a garter stitch, to be quite large for a wash cloth. So I cast on only 35 stitches. But, I found that 35 was a bit smaller than my other wash clothes but not so small that I couldn’t use it. But cotton is not my favorite. I can see why the book suggests to do just a knit stitch for the first cloth. I was having a lot of problems with it.

issues

I probably cast on five different times until it looked close to normal and once I got to knitting, I found it different to keep the end of each row as tight as the other stitches. But this is the finished result. I think it looks nice.

knit stitch

Next one is using a purl stitch. This was my first project with it. The cloth has a knit stitch border.

-knit stitch a few rows for the top border

-knit stitch a few stitches to continue border, I used 5 stitches,

-purl stitch the row until the last 5 stitches, knit stitch those

-knit

-repeat until last few rows

-knit last few rows for bottom border

-bind off

purl stitch with a knit stitch border

I obviously had a couple of issues, but that’s what happens when you’re watching the newest episode of Revenge, thank God for Hulu Plus :), and not paying enough attention to your needles, so from now, after I complete a few rows I’ll always check to see if there is anything I should fix.

Next was the basket weave washcloth! Probably my favorite, pattern wise and the colors in the yarn. This is what I did:

-cast on 50

-knit 5, purl 5, continue pattern

do this for 5 rows

-purl 5, knit 5, continue pattern

do this for 5 rows

-continue to alternate until desired length is reached.

-bind off

I just did it until I ran out of yarn. I used my row counter for this just incase I forgot what stitch to start with and even wrote out, row 1-5 start with knit, 6-10 purl, 11-15 knit, 16-20 purl, and so on to keep me on track.

basket weave

As much as I do not enjoy cotton yarn, I know I’ll use it again if I redecorate and I make wash clothes and other kitchen items.

completed wash clothes

So now I have three wash clothes to use in my kitchen 🙂 Maybe I’ll enjoy cleaning more knowing I created/made the wash clothes I’m using? Hopefully?

Nov 4 2012

How to Sew a Dog Bed for a Crate

Posted on November 4, 2012 by Rachel

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When Rusty has to go into his crate all he does is sleep. I decided to make him a bed for his kennel so he is a little more comfortable while I am away. First I gathered supplies. You’ll see that I actually bought a dog bed foam kit. I did this because I had a coupon and that made it cheaper to buy the kit than it was to get the 1.5inch foam cut to my specifications since a coupon wasn’t available for the foam you get by the yard. Then bed is an oval which is why in later pictures you’ll see that the bed has rounded corners and doesn’t extend to the corners of the kennel. Also, I put a zipper on the bed so I can wash the fabric.

Bed Supplies

fabric
sewing machine
ruler and measuring tape
scissors
thread to match
marking chalk/pencil
pins
foam
kennel
long center zipper for end of bed

First thing I did was measure the kennel floor. Then I went and bought the foam and fabric to fit the bed, so I added a few inches in length to cover all sides of the bed.Then I remeasured the kennel floor and cut the foam to fit it.

measure kennel

Next I placed the fabric down, put the foam on the fabric and folded the fabric over the foam, connecting the right side edges of the fabric. I could measure, draw and cut, but this way seemed easier to me. I did make a faint line on the fabric around the edges where I wanted to cut giving myself and extra inch to sew the seam.

measure the fabric

Then I cut the fabric.

Cut and Sew

Next I remove the foam, pin the fabric together, get out my machine, and sew a 5/8 inch seam along two sides of the bed. The long side is a fold in the fabric and the other shorter side is where I’ll sew a zipper.

Next I get my long center zipper out, I think it was 22 inches. I pin it to the right side of the fabric.

Pin and Sew zipper

I change to a zipper foot on my machine and sew it in.

Zipper

Then I place the foam in the giant pillow/bed case, zip it closed, and it’s ready to go into the kennel giving Rusty a comfy bed to sleep on while I’m away.

Trying out his bed

I think he likes it!

Nov 3 2012

How to Knit the Purl Stitch

Posted on November 3, 2012 by Rachel

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Purl stitch day!

We know how to do the standard knit stitch, so it’s time to switch it up a bit, well literally switch it up with the purl stitch. The purl is the opposite of the knit stitch.

With the knit stitch, the yarn starts in the back, but for the purl stitch the thread starts in the front.

start with the thread in front

Next take the right hand needle through the first stitch on the left hand needle, going from the back of the needle to the front of the needle.

back to front

another view

Then take the yarn over the right hand needle.

wrap yarn around needle

Like with the knit stitch, pull the right hand needle out catching the yarn.

catch yarn while pulling right hand needle out

catch

Then push the stitch off of the left needle and pull the yarn a bit to keep the stitch tension consistent.

push stitch off

There’s the purl stitch! Now I can create more patterns with knitting.

Nov 2 2012

How to Sew the Whip Stitch

Posted on November 2, 2012 by Rachel

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Here is my awesome drawing again! 🙂 Alright yesterday was the running stitch, and today I’ll be going over the whip stitch. It is a very versatile stitch and it is just a loop stitch. I have used it to repair holes in fabric that are not on the seam, to edge a button hole to give it strength, to combine different fabrics for sewing and knitting, and I’ve used to to combine my plastic canvas pieces for the doll workout equipment.

Reminders:

– On my fabric you’ll see a R and W written on it, this is for Right side of the fabric or the side everyone sees when the project is finished and Wrong side of fabric or the underneath part people don’t see.

– Another side note, I found out the hard way that this wasn’t the greatest fabric to do my tutorial with, it breaks and pills very easily. It’s an old pillowcase.

– For all hand stitches, use two of string only about forearm length so you aren’t tangling or doing extra unnecessary movements. Also, tie a knot at the end of the thread, sometimes more than one knot in the same place is needed so the knot doesn’t go through the fabric.

I’ll show two different types of whip stitches today, first one will be to close a rip in fabric that is not near a seam. It’s a little messy, so try to find thread that best matches the fabric.

repairing a rip

Start on the wrong side of the fabric just below the beginning of the rip.

start on wrong side of fabric

Go over the rip to the top of it.

go over rip

looping it around, wrong side of the fabric

I’m creating a circle with the thread and come through the right side of the fabric below the rip again.

Go to the top over the rip

Closing the rip

The whip stitch is used to close the rip and to prevent it from getting bigger.

front view

back view

This is a little bit of a messy stitch job, but my point is made. You want to get your stitches as close to each other as possible to create a lot of strength and try to keep the stitches even. When the stitching is complete tie a double knot in the thread like I did for the running stitch.

Whip Stitch number two: button hole

hole for whip stitch number two

After I tie the knot I go through the wrong side so the needle comes out on the right side.

Loop around the edge

Creating a loop or circle around the hole

For this whip stitch, I only bring the needle from the wrong side to the right side because I am edging or finishing around the hole. So I am just making a circle with my thread enclosing the edges with thread.

front view

back

Once you have gone all around the hole, tie a knot.

same whip stitch from Rusty’s Lion Mane Costume

All Stitches Front View

All Stiches Back View

It’s a great idea to practice these stitches before using them on a project. Also, it might be helpful to have a swatch of fabric like the one above with the labeled stitches. It is a good reminder of how to do the stitches. I like to have one anyways.

Oct 31 2012

Lion Mane Dog Costume

Posted on October 31, 2012 by Rachel

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Happy Halloween! Yesterday I showed how I made Rusty’s lion mane dog costume. Here is the finished result!

Top View

Give me treat!

He is a very scary lion! Or an adorable one!

Ready for the day!

I love how his ears turned out in this costume!

Hope you all have a safe and fun Halloween!

Check out a second version of a lion mane dog costume here!

Oct 30 2012

How to Make a Lion’s Mane Dog Costume

Posted on October 30, 2012 by Rachel

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I decided Rusty needs to be a scary lion for Halloween. So I needed to figure out how to make a lion’s mane dog costume. His fur is already the right color so now all he needs is a mane. First thing I did was get online to search for some possible fake fur and order some samples.

fur swatches

I went with the coppery color from Mendel’s. It was a very close match to the color of Rusty’s fur. I took a tape measure and measured around Rusty’s neck. I didn’t need a lot of fur, a less than 1/2 yard but I went ahead and ordered 3/4 yard because I’ve never worked with fake fur fabric before.

Fur!

I first placed the fur around Rusty’s neck and placed a couple pins where I will need to cut the fake fur.

Place around to help measure

Pin/Mark desired length

Next I drew dots along the cut line constantly measuring the width to keep is the proper amount and then I connected the dots and cut along the line. Also, since the fabric is so thick and I knew it would not bleed through, I used a permanent marker so I could easily see the line.

Mark cut line

Connect the dots for cut line

I wanted the mane to really highlight Rusty’s face and have the fur going in multiple directions so I decided to hem/roll over the fur around his face. First I needed to roll over and pin the fur.

Roll over and pin

Rusty wasn’t too sure about this…

Rusty is not sure about this

then this face happened because I wouldn’t let him lay on it

I then hand stitched the hem because I wasn’t too sure how my machine would handle it and I didn’t want to risk it. Because of the fur you couldn’t see my uneven stitches, so I appreciated that 🙂 Next I needed to figure out how to keep the mane on Rusty so I went with velcro, a couple of inches long.

Cut velcro

I put the newly hemmed mane on Rusty and marked with pins where the velcro should go.

pin where velcro needs to be placed and trim away the fur

One part of the velcro needed to go on the right side of the fur so I needed to trim away the fur where it was going to be placed. I tried to hand stitch the velcro but I broke a couple of needles because of the thickness of the two pieces so I used Liquid Stitch and glued the pieces down and waited overnight for the glue to dry.

glue velcro down

After all of that work for the velcro, I put it on Rusty to test it out, and although I thought he looked adorable, Rusty wasn’t really having it and started to shake and actually shook hard enough for the velcro to come undone! So I had to come up with another plan. I went with a button, and it worked out quite well. I went into my button bag and found one that was similar in color, I think it’s an extra button from a coat I use to own, and hand sewed it underneath where the velcro is,

added a button

Next I needed to mark, cut and whip stitch the button-hole. I cut the hole to be a little smaller than the button itself so it would be secure and then I whip stitched around the opening to prevent the hole from stretching.

button-hole

Next I placed the mane back on Rusty and marked, with a pin, where his ears begin and end and then removed it from Rusty and drew a line for me to cut along.

mark where ears are

draw line and cut along it

I did the same thing for where his D-Ring on his leash will peak through, so I’m able to actually take him outside and celebrate.

inside minus D-ring hole

See what he looks like tomorrow!

Finished Results.

Check out another version of a lion mane dog costume here!

Needles and Know How

Putting my Needles to Work

Tag Archives: free

Rock Climbing Cross Stitch

Paw Print, How to Cross Stitch

More Cross Stitch Patterns

How to Make a Knit HeadBand

Knitting Washcloths

How to Sew a Dog Bed for a Crate

How to Knit the Purl Stitch

How to Sew the Whip Stitch

Lion Mane Dog Costume

How to Make a Lion’s Mane Dog Costume

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