Tag Archives: hand stitch

Dec 10 2012

Chevron Cross Stitch Case Iphone 4 Pattern

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I ordered a cross stitch cover from ThinkGeek! I am so excited to have a chevron cross stitched phone case. The case actually came with three colors of thread, needle and some patterns and the company has more case patterns at Leese Design. Just go to the bottom right of the page and click the red “chart” box. There are a lot of patterns to choose from but most were of certain themes/holidays and I wanted something to that didn’t look out of place throughout the year. I decided to create a chevron stripe pattern because I’m kind of obsessed with them at the moment. I didn’t know which way I wanted the stripes to go so I found some blank graph paper at Better Cross Stitch Patterns website, and started coloring. These are the two I made.

 

chevron cross stitch iphone horizontalvertical chevron cross stitch

Black and white versions

b&w horizontalvertical black and white

I don’t have the little camera hole in the upper left corner on the patterns because I figured it’d be pretty simple to omit it. Now I need to decide which pattern to use!

 

Nov 26 2012
rock climbing

Rock Climbing Cross Stitch

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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.

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.

with background

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.

with border

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

rock climbing cross stitch

finished

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

 

 

Nov 21 2012

More Cross Stitch Patterns

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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.

needle cross stitch pattern

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 cross stitch pattern

running shoe

climber cross stitch pattern

mountain climber

snowboard and goggles cross stitch pattern

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 2 2012

How to Sew the Whip Stitch

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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.

whip stitch

repairing a rip

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

whip stitch

start on wrong side of fabric

Go over the rip to the top of it.

whip stitch

go over rip

circle

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.

whip stitch

whip stitch

Go to the top over the rip

whip

Closing the rip

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

whip

front view

whip

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

whip button

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.

EDGE

Loop around the edge

whip

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.

whip

front view

stitch

back

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

button

same whip stitch from Rusty’s Lion Mane Costume

 

all stitches

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.

 

 

Nov 1 2012

How to Sew the Running or Basting Stitch

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The past couple of projects I have used a couple of hand stitches. One is the running stitch and the other is the whip stitch. I tried my best to draw it but here are a couple of pictures as well.

– 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.

The first stitch is a running stitch. Also called a basting stitch because you can increase the length of this stitch and use it to mark/baste fabric and then easily remove the stitch.

tie

Tie a Knot

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.

Take needle from wrong side of the fabric through to the right side of the fabric

from right side to wrong side

This is where I need to decide how long I want the stitch to be, because I need even straight stitches, which takes practice but even length stitches should always be the goal.

running

So you go just as far on the wrong side of the fabric as you do on the right side of the fabric.
baste

equal stitch lengths

Continue with even stitches until you’ve reached the end.

running stitch

finished, front view

back view

back view

The wrong side of the fabric should look like the right view of the fabric.

tie

tie off the stitches

After the stitches are complete, I need to tie it off so the stitches don’t come out, unless I’m basting, I take the needle underneath the last stitch and into the loop it creates to create a knot. I then tie another knot to make sure it is secure.

tie

make a knot with the thread

fnished

finished

Tomorrow I’ll go over how to do two different variations of the whip stitch.

 

Oct 27 2012

Finishing Knitting, Weaving in the Tails

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Now that the scarf is finished we have one thing left to do, weaving in the tails into the scarf.

Weaving in the tails is pretty easy. I used a size 16 Plastic Canvas needle, that I use to do the needle point for the doll workout equipment, because I didn’t have an actual finishing needle but it got the job done.

weaving in

Need a needle

needle

Thread the Needle

This can be a little tricky, use a threader, trim a little yarn, or use some spit to make the yarn thread the needle easily.

weave

Next take the needle to a row and start to move the needle through the ripples

continue to weave

Continue to weave the needle through the ripples to where you have weaved a couple of inches

pull

Pull the needle all the way through the last ripple

off

Take the needle of off the yarn

cut

Cut the excess yarn from the scarf

yay!

And the scarf is finished!

scarf

Beautiful finished scarf!

I almost want to keep this but that wasn’t my original intention so it’ll remain a gift and eventually I will have to make one for myself. I just hope my nieces love the scarves too!

Oct 17 2012
hand made reflective leash

How to Sew a Reflective Dog Leash

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So I have two how-to’s already written out that I had done for others so I thought I would share! The first one is a reflective dog leash and the second is a double sided door draft.

Today I’ll share how I made Rusty, my dog, a reflective leash. Meet Rusty. He just turned three and is a cockerpoo, cocker spaniel/poodle mix. This is what he does when I lay fabric out on the floor, when my table isn’t big enough, to measure and cut. He loves to “help.”

Materials:

  • nylon webbing
  • matching thread
  • reflective fabric tape
  • clip
  • sewing machine with heavy duty needle or hand needle
  • tape measure
I picked out black nylon webbing at 3/4 in wide and had the clip from the old leash my dog chewed through. My dog is only 35lbs but if your dog is bigger or smaller you should adjust the size of your nylon. You should be able to find the nylon and clip from craft stores or online.
Next is figuring out, measuring and cutting the right size leash for you. I tie this leash around my waist when Rusty, my dog, and I go on runs so I wanted it to be about 5ft long so it was long enough to give us some slack but short enough to keep him close by but I think the average length of most leashes. When figuring the length out, you also have to add to the length the amount it will take to attach it to the clip, about 2in and the hand hold, I added 14in for that. Measure it out and cut!
Next it’s time to sew! Either use a heavy duty sewing needle in your machine or hand stitch. Do not use a universal needle in your machine, it’s not meant to go through the nylon and could mess up your tension which could result in having to get your machine serviced and that can be costly.
I started by slipping the nylon through the clip and put enough through to where there was enough to sew and sewed until I felt like it was secure. If you’re hand sewing, I suggest cutting about a foot of string, tie a knot at the end and go from there. If your pup likes to pull when going on a walk, more thread might be needed to keep it in place.
Next came the hand hold.  I measured out 7.5in from the top and folded it down and sewed, making the handhold a total of 14in not counting the part I sewed. I also put from some Fray Check on the ends of the leash after I sewed them down just in case.
Now the easy part. The reflective fabric tape, which I assume you can just peel the backing off and stick on the places you want but I had reflective tape on hand but it wasn’t for fabric. :/ But no worries, I cut up the pieces I wanted, I choose to have three stripes of at the bottom and both sides of the leash along with a pieces a couple inches long at the top on both sides of the hand hold. I decided not to cover the whole thing in the tape because I want people to see us but I don’t want to blind people either. I then placed some fabric glue on each piece and adhered them to the leash and allowed them to dry.
After a couple of months the reflective tape is showing a little wear but if it does come off I am going to get the fabric reflective tape to replace it.
Enjoy! I know Rusty and I are 🙂