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November 5, 2009

How-To: Flowery Felt Ponytail Holder

Header Supercraftykidz

How-To: Flowery Felt Ponytail Holder
By Diane Gilleland

Two simple strips of felt transform into this sparkly flower hair accessory. You can use similar colors of felt for a subtler look, or two contrasting colors for something wild.

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Posted by Natalie Zee Drieu | Nov 5, 2009 12:00 PM
CRAFT Projects, Super Crafty Kidz | Permalink | Comments (1) | Suggest a Site

Screen-printed Bags for the Memories

My grandmother never threw anything away, and kept all of her possessions in pristine order. As a child, this was a little hard to deal with -- don't sit on the bedspread, no shoes on the couch, fold the towel after you dry your hands -- but as an adult I've come to appreciate her fastidious care of her items, some of which I now possess and thoroughly enjoy.

This WWII Army Housewife bag is one of my favorite hand-me-downs. Apparently, it included a sewing kit back when it was issued, and these kits were issued by the Brits and the Swiss as well. Nowadays, this little Army Housewife bag holds my jewelry on overnight trips. And it makes me smile every time I look at it.

When I started to think about making gifts for my family, I decided that I wanted to try and capture that same smile-inducing nostalgia for my relatives. Since we've got a few silkscreen-type machines in the office, I thought I'd beg one friend to make me a design and another friend to show me how to use the Yudu machine (I've used the Gocco printer before, but wanted to try a new device).

I'm loving the results! So much that I've now screen-printed about 12 bags and 8 dish towels, and am wondering if I can get away with giving nothing but self-branded textiles for all my gifts. (And thanks to Daniel and Brookelynn for helping me out, not to mention everyone else who helped with the manual labor in the name of learning!)

How-To: Rose Petal Applique Tee

Kayte Terry shares a project from her new book, Applique Your Way, for this stylish rose petal applique t-shirt over at Etsy's Storque. The rose petals are actually made from additional tees, making it a great way to upcycle old or thrifted clothes.

Mad Hatters Galore

Threadbanger's Mad Hatter Halloween costume tutorial video made a huge splash this year, just check out all the viewers' versions of the outfit! What a great costume, tutorial, and response!

Crafty Chica Fall Products Heading Back to Michael's

Kathy Cano-Murillo's Crafty Chica product line is returning to select US Michael's stores this weekend. She's announced a list of locations that will carry the line. If your local Michael's isn't on the list, give them a call and request they carry the line. When her first line of products debuted last year, supports were snapping pictures in the store and sending out reports of what merchandise was left. Now, Kathy is forming a street team to help get the word out. If you live near one of the stores and are interested in helping, just get in touch with her. I remember checking in at my Michael's several times last year when her line first debuted. It's been such fun following her progress on this dream of hers, and even more fun seeing the generous members of the craft community so enthusiastically support her!

3-Armed Baby Costume

CRAFT friends and Instructables folks Eric and Christy dressed their baby girl, Corvidae, as a 3-armed baby for Halloween. They posted up a tutorial for the costume, made from two identical baby outfits and a doll arm.

While we wanted to be subtle, this was almost too subtle - she wore the costume all day, and hardly anyone noticed! But when they finally detected a problem, the responses were excellent.

Over And Under Embroidered Art Show in Austin

I can't wait for the opening of Over and Under, an embroidered art show curated by Jenny Hart, this weekend here in Austin at Yard Dog Art Gallery. Jenny has been featuring some of the artists' work on her blog, and I'm really looking forward to be able to see it in person. Featured artists include Annie Aube, Deborah Baker, Kate Bingaman Burt, Dana Carlson, Diem Chau, Orly Cogan, Emily Eibel, Veronica Fuentes, Takashi Iwasaki, Joetta Maue, Michael Aaron McAllister, Johnny Murder, Christopher Niver, Jennifer Porter, Shannon Rankin, Richard Saja, Kate Westerholt and Kathie Sever. The show opens with a reception Friday from 7 - 9 pm and runs through December 6.

Over and Under Art Show Opening
Friday, November 6 from 7-9 pm
Yard Dog Art Gallery
1510 S. Congress Ave
Austin, TX 78704

Dym's Logo Removal Service at Non*Mart Opening

Non*Mart design studio and shop in San Francisco is having their grand opening this Friday, November 6th from 6 to 8 p.m. and part of the festivities include Miriam Dym's Logo Removal Service. Dym writes: "I remove unsightly, unwanted logos from otherwise decent products, replacing the absence with plain or patterned material, creating a poetic form in the process. Love your North Face jacket but hate seeing the logo every time you zip up? Special interventions are sometimes required." Awesome. Opening night special events also include a Swapstyle clothing swap and Bookswap. Check out the site for more details.

How-To: Ludo from Labyrinth Costume

Halloween's over for this year, but you can start thinking about next year! Check out ModMischief's Ludo costume from the David Bowie-tastic movie Labyrinth.

How-To: Felt Circles Ornament

You'll be surprised to see how simply this decorative felt ornament starts out when you check out the tutorial for making it on Zakka Life. A few circles of felt are transformed into this intricate-looking design.

This Week In Craft Fairs

Get some holiday shopping done this weekend! Here are the upcoming craft fairs, along with a call for entries. If you have an event you want listed, please add it to our online calendar. If you have a call for entries you want me to include, . Click on the jump to see the call for entries.

Coming Up This Weekend:
Gama-Go Annual Holiday Sale
San Francisco, CA
Saturday, Nov. 7, 12pm - 5pm

Indie Mart
San Francisco, CA
Sunday, Nov. 8, 12pm - 6pm

Excavating Treasures Boutique Sale
San Carlos, CA
Thursday, Nov. 5, 5:30pm - 8pm

Contemporary Crafts Market
Santa Monica, CA
Friday, Nov. 6, 10am - 6pm
Saturday, Nov. 7, 10am - 6pm
Sunday, Nov. 8, 10am - 6pm

Holiday Arts & Crafts Market
San Diego, CA
Saturday, Nov. 7, 10am - 5pm

Texas Pottery & Sculpture Guild's 22nd Annual Holiday Sale
Ft. Worth, TX
Friday, Nov. 6, 5pm - 9pm
Saturday, Nov. 7, 10am - 4pm

The Girlie Show
Oklahoma City, OK
Friday, Nov. 6, 8pm - 12am
Saturday, Nov. 7, 12pm - 5pm

Westacres 35th Annual Craft Fair
West Bloomfield, MI
Saturday, Nov. 7, 10am - 4pm

The 23rd Annual Christmas Festival
Boston, MA
Friday, Nov. 6, 12pm - 7pm
Saturday, Nov. 7, 10am - 7pm
Sunday, Nov. 8, 10am - 5pm

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Thanksgiving Feast: How-To Brine & Roast a Turkey

CRAFT: Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving Feast: How-To Brine & Roast a Turkey
By Katie Goodman

Now that Halloween is over, I feel like the holiday season is ready to begin. I love all the cooking and baking that happens this time of year, but most of all I love how the family gatherings always end up in the kitchen. I'm going to help you get ready for the first big one — Thanksgiving — by providing you with recipes and tips throughout the whole month of November.

I'm lucky that as a young bride, my mother-in-law gave me some excellent tips when it was time for me to host my first Thanksgiving. I especially appreciated her tips on how to roast a turkey. She introduced me to brining, something I had never before heard of, but I knew that the turkey I had eaten at her home was the best I'd ever had, so I followed her advice. Here is my twist on the brine recipe she first gave me as well some great tips for roasting a flavorful turkey. Anyone who's ever eaten my turkey says it's the best they've ever had. And it's all thanks to my mother-in-law. I'm lucky to have such a sweet one!

The leftover turkey carcass from this recipe makes the best homemade turkey broth, but you'll have to stay tuned throughout the month for that recipe, along with ideas for your side dishes and our family's favorite pumpkin pie recipe.

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Quick Craft: Homemade Play Dough

Header Supercraftykidz

Homemade Play Dough
By Nancy Dougherty

Homemade Playdough Main
Recently, I had fun spending a day with my 2-year-old niece, Lola. At first, a day with a toddler seemed daunting. I tried to remember what I did with my children when they were that age. It started to come back pretty quickly, the need to occupy their young hands and minds with tactile things. Then I remembered my old recipe for play dough that I used to make with my own children. I found it in the metal recipe box between paper maché and zucchini bread. You may already have all the ingredients, as they are commonplace.

Download the PDF

About the Author:
Nancy Dougherty enjoys poetry and crafts, and lives in Sebastopol with Dale, publisher of CRAFT & MAKE.

Related CRAFT Project:

Gluten-Free Play Clay Beads

Paper Cutout Giveaway

Remember the amazing paper cutouts that I found at the thrift store last week? Well, I went back and picked up 10 sets to mail off to some lucky readers. Just leave a comment on this thread about your love of paper crafts for your chance to win one! The paper cuts are in pretty vintage envelopes, with multiple designs and colors in each. And their crafting potential is endless! The winners will be selected tomorrow so please enter by noon PST Thursday. And please include your email in the form field to be eligible (emails will not be published). Good luck!

Ask CRAFT: Re-sizing Bust Darts

If you have a question for Ask CRAFT, shoot me an email at becky@craftzine.com, or drop us a note on Twitter! We'd love to answer your crafty questions on any topic: technique, projects, crafty culture, or anything else! Each week the answers are here; include your name, where you're from, and your website or blog if you have one!

Eyela A. from Oregon writes in:

I love to sew, but am not quite at the level where I can design or modify patterns. However, I'm getting there out of necessity. My biggest problem is that the chest darts in dress and blouse patterns aren't sufficiently long to accommodate a larger cup size. It's also not useful to buy larger patterns since the rest of the proportions stop working. I've searched high and low for a good tutorial or guide for how to appropriately re-size a dart, but there's not much out there. I wonder if you know a good resource?

I can point you to two books and one website that will help you get the shape you want out of your pattern. You should read up on bodice pattern construction and learn all about the the bust point and where you'll need to move it on your pattern.

Here are my two favorite books about pattern construction/manipulation:

How to Make Sewing Patterns by Donald H. McCunn features a whole section on changing dart locations.

Patternmaking for Fashion Design by Helen Joseph-Armstrong is a substantial book containing almost everything you'd want to know about making sewing patterns, and has a large section on darts. If you want the book but don't like the high price tag, look for previous editions that contain basically the same information. This is a textbook that is continually revised, and is priced as such.

Lastly, have you heard of BurdaStyle? They have a bunch of free tutorials for sewing techniques (including pattern manipulation) created by staff and users of the site. Check out this fullbust adjustment for princess seams turorial, a trick for natural-looking bust darts, and the staff tutorials on turning darts into princess seams and constructing the basic bodice block.

How-To: Holiday Fabric Placemats

Looking to add a personal and crafty touch to your holiday table? Be sure to check out this tutorial from the folks at ReproDepot. I love the effect of the trim around the edges. See how they create it here.

Big Papercraft Head

Gareth @ MAKE writes:

Eric Testroete, a 3D character artist from Vancouver, sent us this awesome self-portrait costume, an homage to Big Head Mode in videogames.

More photos at Eric's Flickr.

How-To: Easy French Seams

I'm exposing myself a bit here as I admit that I've never sewn a French seam in my life. They always seemed a little ... complicated and fancy. This tutorial on easy French seams from Sew to Speak, though, makes me want to finally give them a try!

Flashback: Battle Chic DIY Chainmail

Learning the basics of how to make your own chainmail is one of those skills that can have far-reaching applications in your crafts. This week's flashback comes from way back in 2006, from the pages of our very first issue of CRAFT magazine. Annalee Newitz provides you with the know-how you need to get started with chainmail. And for you collectors out there, you can still pick up an issue of this classic over in the Maker Shed.

Battle Chic
Craft a wardrobe of medieval armor with DIY chainmail.
By Annalee Newitz

Henrik Olsgaard, aka Henrik of Havn, has been proclaimed King of the West six times. Obviously the guy is deft with a sword — you don't get to be King in the Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA) without winning several bouts in the annual Crown Tournament. But his triumph is also testimony to his skill at making chainmail. Henrik has been fashioning chainmail of every description for the past four decades — from beautiful, sterling silver belts to a 50-pound battle hauberk (a knee-length shirt).

And now, I'm going to teach you what he taught me: how to make your own chainmail. With just a few basic patterns, you'll have all the knowledge you need to fashion a helmet, shirt, belt, coin purse, and even a full hauberk.

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Another Alex Rider Giveaway!

As a special preview for MAKE's upcoming Alex Rider Dream Gadget Contest, we're giving away two copies of Eagle Strike by Anthony Horowitz, part of the Alex Rider series! Just leave a comment in this post and tell us why you or your kid(s) needs one of these books. That's all you need to do to enter! Please make sure you include your email address in the comment form field (it won't be published). All eligible comments will be closed by Noon PST on Sunday, November 8th. The winners will be announced next week on the site. Good luck! For a sneak peak at Eagle Strike, check out a sample chapter at MAKE.

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Most recent posts: page 2 of 6 1 2 3 4 5 6
Browse the complete archive by category or month.

Craft:

How-To: Flowery Felt Ponytail Holder

Screen-printed Bags for the Memories

How-To: Rose Petal Applique Tee

Mad Hatters Galore

Crafty Chica Fall Products Heading Back to Michael's

3-Armed Baby Costume

Over And Under Embroidered Art Show in Austin

Dym's Logo Removal Service at Non*Mart Opening

How-To: Ludo from Labyrinth Costume

How-To: Felt Circles Ornament

This Week In Craft Fairs

Thanksgiving Feast: How-To Brine & Roast a Turkey

Quick Craft: Homemade Play Dough

Paper Cutout Giveaway

Ask CRAFT: Re-sizing Bust Darts

How-To: Holiday Fabric Placemats

Big Papercraft Head

How-To: Easy French Seams

Flashback: Battle Chic DIY Chainmail

Another Alex Rider Giveaway!

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