Today is a big milestone with our CRAFT Pattern Podcast's 100th pattern! Do-do-do-dooooo! (That's a horn toot, by the way.) To celebrate, Anna of Mochimochi Land has created for us a new pattern called "Weeeds". This little knit duo popped up in the backyard garden and look how adorable they are!

If you like these patterns, you can check out the adorable ones she has in her shop. Also, bookmark the Mochimochi Land blog where Anna shares news on patterns, tips, and lots more!

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Craftzine Contributing Writer Rachel Hobson led this informative demo on hand embroidery basics at Maker Faire Bay Area 2009. She goes over tools, supplies, and a few stitch techniques to get you started!

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More:

CRAFT Video: Embroidery Pattern from a Photo

Most of you also know how Derek and Lauren are such a super crafty duo! Each Wednesday they have a new DIY project on design*sponge and they are also co-owners of the fabulous Curiosity Shoppe in San Francisco's Mission district. Wallpaper Projects is filled with the stylish projects you've come to expect and enjoy from Derek and Lauren. Some of my favorite projects in the book are the glass-covered side table, wallpaper patchwork, and adorable wallet and checkbook cover. I found myself drooling over all beautifully patterned wallpaper featured in each project. A definite source of inspiration as well as crafting entertainment!

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As we recover from Maker Faire and prepare some awesome new videos for you, we're bringing you this great project from the archives. Luanne Teoh and Richard Humphrey from Skates.com show us how to convert a pair of sneakers to roller skates, straight out of CRAFT, Vol. 07.

Subscribe to CRAFT in iTunes or download the m4v video.

From the pages of CRAFT, Vol. 07
"Roll Baby Roll!" by Luanne Teoh & Richard Humphrey, pgs 62-65. Check out the article in our Digital Edition.

I caught up with Bonnie Burton of StarWars.com and her crafty assistant Terri Hodges after their last Star Wars kids craft workshop at Maker Faire on Sunday afternoon. Watch the video and find out some of the cool stuff coming up in the world of Star Wars crafting!

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Check out Bonnie's Maker Faire recap on the Star Wars blog and Ewok Sock Puppet photos and Yoda Stick Puppet photos, as well as all of her photos around Maker Faire.

I walked around the craft area at Maker Faire and got some great short interviews with some crafters which I'll be posting up here for you each day. First up is Crafty Chica herself, Kathy Cano-Murillo where she and the team at Duncan's Ilovetocreate.com made glitter art and sparkly sequined treasure tins.

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From our CRAFT pattern podcast archives, crochet this cute pup from Tiny Yarn Animals: Amigurumi Friends to Make and Enjoy by Tamie Snow. Tamie has one of my favorite craft sites, Roxycraft where she has the most fantastic amigurumi patterns as well as a cool blog.

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Tami will be selling her cute wares at Bazaar Bizarre at Maker Faire and will also be teaching a demo, "Making a Successful Amigurumi" at the CRAFT booth on Saturday at 2pm. Here's a list of all of the CRAFT demos at Maker Faire.

Here's a video roundup of the great crafty activities that we'll have going on at at Maker Faire next weekend. We hope to see you there next weekend at the San Mateo County Expo Center on May 30th and 31st.

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This week's question comes from Liz Allen:

My 3½ year old son, Phoenix, has autism. One of the things he craves is skin-to-skin contact. However, it's not just any skin, it's my skin, particularly my stomach and back. He calls it "tummy" and he prefers that he's touching me with his feet. Because he's so young, he's never been able to explain this to us but you can see on his face that his anxiety goes away when he is touching me. We are trying to break him of this habit because it's become something like a drug that he craves. I know it makes him feel better but I can't lay in bed with him all day and night and allow this.

The other day he was talking about "tummy" and we started asking him why he likes it. He says it makes him feel warm.I asked him if there is anything that feels as good as tummy does, to which he replied, "Having warm water all over him," AKA a shower.

So I began thinking about what I could do to recreate this feeling for him. Something warm, portable, and that has a similar feeling to skin. Which brings me to my crafting question: With all the great minds and readers of Craft, maybe someone would have an idea to help my son, something I could make or have made that he could sleep with and take in the car.

In the video above, I describe how you can make a "warm pack," or fabric pouch filled with rice. You can pop it in the microwave and it will stay warm for about half an hour, or you can insert one of those hiker's heating packs into the inner velcro pouch to keep it warm for up to eight hours while in the car, etc. I used Ultrasuede, a very soft microfiber (not actually leather), which feels very much like soft skin. You can find it at most fabric stores in the upholstery section; look for remnants specifically (here's a site that sells swatches). I used sew-on velcro for the closure to prevent any adhesive fumes from being released when it's microwaved. I hope this helps, please let us know how it works for Phoenix!

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!

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Note: The PDF includes a tiled version as well as a full page pattern.

Download the Pattern PDF | Subscribe in iTunes

Book Launch Party Event
If you are in the SF/Bay Area, join Lotta Jansdotter at her book party at the Museum of Craft & Folk Art (51 Yerba Buena Lane in San Francisco) this Saturday, May 16th from 1pm-4pm.

Sew up this little colorful brooch using a LilyPad tri-color LED and three small potentiometers for a customizable color wardrobe embellishment. No programming required!

Subscribe to the CRAFT Podcast in iTunes, or download the m4v video.

Potentiometers are variable resistors. They change the amount of electricity that can pass through them based on the turning of the knob, thereby dimming and brightening the three channels of the tri-color LED. The colors mix and diffuse through the roving, producing any color in the rainbow. Here's the front,

and the back,

and here's the diagram for sewing the components together.

Materials and tools:

• conductive thread (E-sewing Kit)
• coincell battery (E-sewing Kit)
• sewable battery holder (E-sewing Kit)
• LilyPad tri-color LED (Sparkfun)
• 3 small 1K-ohm potentiometers (Digikey)
• small on-off pushbutton switch (Digikey)
• brooch template (cardboard or illustration board)
• fabric
• needle and thread
• pin back
• wool roving
• felting needle
• felting surface (upholstery foam scrap works great)
• scissors
• pliers
• alligator clips for prototyping

More:

• CRAFT Video: LilyPad Arduino 101
  
• CRAFT Video: LilyPad Arduino Blinking Bike Patch
  
• Electronic Embroidery - CRAFT Video Podcast

In the Maker Shed:

LilyPad E-Sewing Kit

Download the Pattern PDF | Subscribe in iTunes

(Photo by Rachel Hobson)

Don't miss the Sublime Stitching Journal (see Rachel's review) and the Stitchable Stationery. Cute!

Check out Jenny's flickr set of sketches which show how her patterns began!

Today and this weekend, Jenny will be at the Summit of Awesome in Washington DC as a keynote speaker and will be doing also workshop there as well. You can catch up with Jenny on the Sublime Stitching blog.

We'll be back next time with another LilyPad Arduino tutorial, but this week check out this classic from our archives where Dolin O'Shea of Lulu Bliss shows us how to convert a photograph into an embroidery pattern!'

MP4 Video | QT Video | HD | Subscribe in iTunes

From the pages of CRAFT: 06:

Refresh your Spring wardrobe with crafter Nancy Flynn's Tie Top Tank. This is one of my favorite patterns because it's very easy to sew and Nancy's step by step tutorial shows you how to measure and create a pattern for yourself. Make it on Saturday and wear it out on the town on Sunday! You can catch up with Nancy on her craft blog, Belle Epoque.

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We originally posted the Tie Top Tank in August 2007. Nancy also demoed how to make this at the Maker Faire Bay Area earlier that year.

In this intermediate soft circuit tutorial, I show you how to make a light-up patch that can be used on your backpack for fun and bike safety. If you missed my LilyPad Arduino 101, you may want to watch that first. The theme of this year's Maker Faire is "Re-Make America" so I thought I'd add some red, white, and blue LEDs to my messenger bag. I added them to a removable patch (from the fatlab, an artist collective I'm part of) so I can easily remove it at the airport, in the rain, etc. I used a rechargeable lithium polymer batter to power the whole thing because it's flatter, lasts longer, and can be recharged instead of thrown away. I also made an Instructable where you can find links to all the supplies I used. You can download the source code and schematic for this project to get started on your own!

Subscribe to the CRAFT Podcast in iTunes, or download the m4v video.

In the Maker Shed:

Lilypad E-Sewing Kit

LilyPad Pro Kit

More:

CRAFT Video: LilyPad Arduino 101

Hannah Kopacz of Made with Love by Hannah shows you how to make this colorful Felt Appliqué Hex Sign Rug in this week's CRAFT Pattern Podcast. In this PDF are full instructions as well as the pattern pieces to make up this cool rug.

You can also catch up with Hannah on her craft blog, knick knacks & ric rac.

Download the Pattern PDF | Subscribe in iTunes

Get started with the LilyPad Arduino! It's a sewable microcontroller that lets you embed lights, sounds, sensors, and much more into your wearables, perfect for clothing and accessories. In this video I'll show you how to attach the LilyPad and power supply to each other, and upload a basic program that blinks an LED. You can use Arduino with Windows, OS X, and Linux. Next time I'll show some more advanced topics including hooking up a sensor and using it to change the circuit's behavior.

Subscribe to the CRAFT Podcast in iTunes, or download the m4v (iPhone) or mov movie.

Download the code you'll need for Arduino to execute this example. It's also here:

In the Maker Shed:

Lilypad E-Sewing Kit

LilyPad Pro Kit

More:

Electronic Embroidery - CRAFT Video Podcast

This week's CRAFT Pattern Podcast features this adorable embroidery pattern "The Party's Over" by Tamie Snow of Pimp Stitch and Roxycraft. Stitch this on a favorite bag or clothing, or on a piece a fabric to adorn on your wall.

Find more patterns and how-to's on embroidery at the Pimp Stitch blog!

Download the Pattern PDF | Subscribe in iTunes

This week's question is from Violet:

Quite often when I'm crafting, I find that I have a need to sew a "loop" of elastic - similar to what you'd find inside the waistband of your favourite 'jamma pants. I slightly overlap the two ends of the elastic and, using my machine to run a quick line of stitching, I try to attach them together. Inevitably, I'm left with a gigantic mess of thread - knotted and clumped - on the underside of the elastic. Sure, it holds the pieces together, but it's not pretty and it doesn't lay flat and, in short, NOT GOOD. Can you help? My machine is in great shape (regular tune-ups and care) and I'm using sharp needles.. What's the correct process? What am I missing?

I have the same problem. In this video I show three ways to help prevent this from happening. The main problem with sewing elastic is that the unstretched rubber easily catches (with a lot of friction) on the needle and thread in the sewing machine, causing various forms of unsightly and decidedly non-flat knots of thread. One method is to stretch the elastic while sewing it, helping pull some of that looseness out of the bits of rubber so they can't catch the thread so much. Another is to zigzag between the two pieces of elastic so you're not sewing through two layers at once. The third is to anchor the elastic to its casing (your waistband, for example) at the same time as you join the ends of the loop. The extra layer of fabric between the elastic and the bobbin/feed dog area will help uncatch the elastic from the needle and thread as it passes through the layers. Be sure to email me your crafty conundrums at becky@craftzine.com!

Subscribe to the CRAFT Podcast in iTunes, or download the m4v (iPhone) or mov movie.

In this week's video, I'll show you how to turn a 2D barcode into a knitted scarf! This is a fun way to get information from a garment into an electronic device, such as a cell phone equipped with a barcode-scanning camera. Anyone who takes a picture of my scarf can decode the message. I used Photoshop to modify the QR code I got from Kaywa (whose barcode scarf inspired me to make my own!) into a usable knitting pattern, but you could easily use graph paper instead. I programmed the pattern into my computerized knitting machine, a Brother KH 930. If you know how to do stranded knitting (learn how here), you can knit this without a machine - just use really small needles! As a side note, a friend and I are working on an interface to download patterns directly from the computer to the knitting machine, instead of having to sit there and input every colored stitch. We'll keep you posted!

Subscribe to the CRAFT Podcast in iTunes, or download the m4v (iPhone) or mov movie.

More:

• QR Code Cake
  
• Semacode Needlepoint
  
• Space Invader and 2D Barcode Scarf
  
• Skeleton Cardigan - CRAFT Pattern Podcast
  
• Skeleton Cardigan Part 1 - CRAFT Video Podcast
  
• Skeleton Cardigan Part 2 - CRAFT Video Podcast
  

We are so happy to feature this Loop-d-Loop Curtain project from Susan Beal's new book, Button It Up: 80 Amazing Vintage Button Projects. This beautiful curtain is an easy no-sew project by simply using two tea towels. Just glue on the button design enclosed in the pattern.

Be sure to add your finished curtain to the Button It Up Flickr Group and visit the book companion site at buttonitupbook.com. And you can catch up with Susan Beal on her West Coast Crafty blog.

Download the Pattern PDF | Subscribe in iTunes

At the last Phoenix DIY meeting, Lisa Jacobs ran a paper making workshop. We learned how to use recycled office paper as the base for art papers, to which we added colored napkins for pigment and dried flowers, glitter, conductive thread, and many others as "inclusions," the things that jazz up the paper inside and out. With some simple supplies, this is a really easy, fun, and kid friendly project. Thanks to Conspire Phoenix for hosting!

Subscribe to the CRAFT Podcast in iTunes, or download the m4v (iPhone) or mov movie.

Download the Pattern PDF | Subscribe in iTunes

Related:

Check out more of Tamie's cute amigurumi in her book Tiny Yarn Animals. We featured her
Amigurumi Pup pattern in a previous CRAFT Pattern Podcast.

It's time for the first installment of Ask CRAFT! This week I cover a question from Pollie in New Jersey about adding new elements to vintage dishes, while keeping them food-safe, plus Theri from Ohio writes in with a craft fair ethics question. Don't forget to email me your crafty conundrums at becky@craftzine.com. If I didn't answer your question this week, it doesn't mean I've forgotten you! I've been receiving some stellar questions and I'm saving some of the best ones for future installments. Keep 'em comin'!

Subscribe to the CRAFT Podcast in iTunes, or download the mov, mp4, or iPhone version of this video.

Here's a video tour of CRAFT Magazine vol. 10. Funny-lady Amy Sedaris graces this party-themed issue where we feature instructions to help you create the perfect mixtape for any party, make a keepsake wedding book, design beautiful invitations, and make customized plates and coasters, fancy hats, party cakes and cake toppers -- even put together the ideal cocktail bar. You just found a great excuse to throw a party! To find out more of what's inside CRAFT: 10, visit the table of contents page.

Subscribe to the CRAFT Podcast in iTunes, or download the mov, mp4, or iPhone/Android video of this video.

Buy CRAFT: 10 in the Maker Shed today!

More:

CRAFT: 10 Celebrate! On Newsstands Today!

Red wine vinegar is really easy to make at home. All you need is some leftover red wine, some water, red wine vinegar mother, and a few tools. You can look for red wine vinegar at your local homebrewing shop, but mine was out, so I ordered it online. It's basically "live" red wine vinegar which contains the bacteria Acetobacter, which eats alcohol and turns it into acetic acid, the tangy flavor we know as vinegar. This project appears as an article in CRAFT, Vol. 9 by Alastair Bland, which you can preview in our Digital Edition.

Subscribe to the CRAFT Podcast in iTunes, or download the mov, mp4, or iPhone/Android video of this project.

Make your own red wine vinegar at home! Thanks to Alastair Bland for the original article in CRAFT, Vol. 9. Get the PDF of this project and then check out CRAFT: 09 for more great projects!

As Tina recently noted, I have a new sewing book (my first!) coming out next week called Sew Darn Cute: 30 Sweet & Simple Projects to Sew & Embellish. The newest issue of CRAFT features an excerpt from the book--a felted and recycled Silly Snake toy--but I thought I'd also whip up a project exclusively for Craftzine blog readers. I hope you enjoy it!

The Happy Acorn Pouch is a fun way to experiment with appliqué and embroidery while creating a useful and cute accessory. The embroidered accents are done with super simple running stitch, but you can get as fancy as you like (or add the details with fabric paint if you're not confident with your stitching skills. You could dress it up even further by adding a charm to the zipper pull when you're done--just use a bit of ribbon or a jump ring to attach it.

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Also! One lucky Craftzine reader will win a signed copy Sew Darn Cute! Just leave a comment on this post by 11am PST on Saturday, January 31 telling us why you need this book. Please make sure your e-mail address is included in your profile so we can contact you if you win.

Linoleum asphalt mosaics, also called Toynbee Tiles, are artworks permanently embedded in pavement. In this video I'll show you how to construct your own from inexpensive materials. You can get real linoleum (don't use vinyl flooring) for this project by ordering free samples online. By cutting out a mosaic design in the linoleum and sandwiching it between layers of paper, wood glue, and asphalt crack filler, you can affix the mosaic very permanently to an asphalt surface, such as your driveway. You may choose to use a heat gun to make the linoleum easier to cut, or even a laser cutter. The earliest examples of these tiles were found in the 70s and 80s on streets in Philadelphia, all bearing the same (or very similar) message: "Toynbee idea / in Kubrick's 2001 / resurrect dead / on planet Jupiter." They are speculated to have been created by the same person until they began to gain a following. There's an active message board on the topic which shares sightings and other information. If you make one, please share your pictures in the CRAFT Flickr pool!

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Thanks to my pal Matt Mechtley for his help on this one. In this video I used this cc-licensed photo by Flickr user mojunk. The music is "Regurgitation Pumping Station" from the World of Goo soundtrack by Kyle Gabler; used with permission.

Just a quick update for you folks who had downloaded the Seams to Me pattern podcast--we were recently made aware that the instructions didn't include the actual templates for the project. So, the kind folks at Wiley sent those over to us. You can download them here. Thanks for your patience!