Sewing for DUMMIES

[partsandnoises.livejournal.com]

okay, this question will prob. sound really stupid to most of you, who seem to make the neatest stuff but thus far I have done all my sewing by hand and needless to say this has been very time consuming and just a general pain in the ass, so my question is this:

Why are needles on sewing machines so f****ing hard to thread?

does anyone have any tips, and is there a particular (cheap $) model that is easier??


help!

Homemade feminine products!

[thunderstorms.livejournal.com]

I suppose this post should have at least some bit of a disclaimer along the lines of "do not view if you are offended by a woman's body and her natural cycle" - so.. whatever. I made homemade pads, view them if you want, move on if you don't :-)

( Click to continue )

-- 4 Fairly Large Pictures Under the Cut

I had been throwing the idea in my head for some time... a friend mentioned wanting homemade pads, and well - I stole the idea for myself. So far, I have inspired a few people to begin making their own... they are sooo comfortable. I wore one without my period for a little bit, just to see how it would feel - and it feels like my regular panties - definitely an improvement from the plasticy/sticky feeling that a disposable pad may give you. In the long (and short!) run, they are cheaper, more comfortable and DEFINITELY waste-reducing... just think about how much plastic and other sorts of materials we waste on our disposable pads - the packaging included!

I got the inspiration to make them through the following websites: Hillbilly Housewife, Lunapads and GladRags.... I mainly adapted my pattern from Hillbilly Housewife and just changed the measurements and how i stitched it together... I stitched right sides together and turned it - so it would be a bit smaller, more finished looking and i wouldn't feel the stitches against my skin... it turned out better than i imagined!

(no subject)

[exousia.livejournal.com]

Celtic princess (unfortunately the gorgeous clasp is upside down in the photo, it is really silvery and pretty on the otherside!)

More like this clasp: http://img206.imageshack.us/img206/6228/216hl.jpg

( Made some new stuffs :) )

(no subject)

[dollyday.livejournal.com]

SCENTED Blueberry muffin soap!!!

this lil muffin is one of the soaps i made tonight ,hope that you like it:-)

the whole house smells AMAZING

(no subject)

[howcanueatthat.livejournal.com]

I've looked in a lot of different communities and stuff and I can't seem to find exactly what I'm looking for. I want to make a sling bag, basically in this style:

http://cgi.ebay.com/New-adidas-Compression-X-Large-Sling-Bag-Avocado_W0QQitemZ6839141646QQcategoryZ57882QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

I can kind of get what I need to do by looking at the picture, but I'd love to find a tutorial for one if I could. Do any of you guys have any tutorials that are similar to that bag, or any suggestions about how to go about sewing one?

Thanks,
Steph

(no subject)

[schnuckypuss.livejournal.com]

A hedgehog is a like a moleskine notebook only better. These notebooks were dubbed "hedgehogs" by wirewoman
She has instructions on how to make them at the yahoo group: hedgehogs forever (in the files section).

( Read more... )

journal making question

[technotaco.livejournal.com]

Hey hey crafty friends.
I have only made journals a few times, using the method shown here (http://bellsouthpwp.net/d/r/drv1913/0204.html)

I was wondering, to make a larger book, do I need to put more holes in my signatures? (and by larger I mean demensions...I'm wanting to make a book with pages larger then 8 1/2 x 11)

I looked in the memories and didn't find anything, so any of you experienced ladies and lads that could help me out here...THANKS!


also- is dental floss acid free?

I'll post pictures of some stuff I've done soon! Promise! (i have no digital camera, and have to beg friends to take pictures of my craftyness!)

(no subject)

[lisatrix.livejournal.com]

Ok, this is not, strictly speaking, a craft. So if it isn't allowed here, please take it down.

But I did use chalk pastels! Those are TOTALLY crafty! I was assigned to use them in an art project, but I hate them, so I did something as far from their intended use as possible.

These pictures were taken in an abandoned preschool. The chalk was done there, too. We were terrified that someone else would come in, but we got lucky.

( Cut for naked back )

playing with food

[dabblersupreme.livejournal.com]

my boyfriend and i had fun with beets this weekend.


( see more of the beet-rats and the end result. +5 )

x-posted to my own journal and foodplay

Bedazzler look alike?

[http://users.livejournal.com/_sushiflower/]

I bought some really cheap jeans that are the perfect color, fade and length ( I am barely 5 ft tall ). Unfortunately for $15.00, the embellishments on the jeans fell off in the wash (they were washed inside out) but I was trying to shrink them so I ran them through the hot wash and then the hottest setting on the dryer. It looks like they were some type of adhesive looking embellishment. They were these round flat gold embellishments. I was thinking taking them all off (they pull right off) since a lot of them fell off and replacing them with the studded kind. Something like this -- Not my picture.

I know this can be done using a tool like the once popular Bedazzler. Unfortunately they charge crazy insane prices for them on eBay. I would definitely bid on one if it did the job. But I am a little concerned if anyone else has used something like this and how well do they work on jeans seeing as jeans are considered heavy fabric. Plus the placement of the stones I want are along the seams on the jeans, where it is thicker than normal. I am not even sure if this name has a proper name so I can at least search for a tool similar to the bedazzler. Does anyone have any tool recommendations? Or something that will get the job done? Thank you in advance!

(no subject)

[africanviolin.livejournal.com]

Lunch bag came out awesome. Unsure about how to make it close. The flap thingys are too bunchyfull of stuff to fold over nicely like a brown bag.

{pics and tutorial later}

I didn't use a pattern, I kinda thought about it last night and went at it today.

jewlery.. stars

[heathercooze.livejournal.com]

sorry these are bad photos. 2 necklaces and a pair of earings I made

( meeep )

Earring Holder

[ojosverdes12.livejournal.com]

A couple of months ago I was visiting a friend and I noticed she had made a very unique earring holder. Check it out!
( Read more... )

"Power Words"

[bubbledragon.livejournal.com]

I'm looking for for interesting lists of power words. You know the "Live/laugh/love/dream/create/etc" type words you see singly on mirrors or framed. Maybe something geekier like "PWND" or "1337" or something. I've searched by cannot find a website with a vast list.

I'm also thinking of etching a "chinese food" themed set of dishes for a friend, so if anyone can think of a good list of words for that, I'd appreciate it. Perhaps even a very short fortune, or how about "Lucky Numbers: XX XX XX XX" What do you think? Know a fortune that short?

For something educational, I got these reusable adhesive stencils maid by Plaid at walmart, and they work great with armour etch! I'll edit this to put up pics of my test trial later.

What I did over my winter break...

[giraffecrafts.livejournal.com]

I did a bit of sewing on my break and here's most of it! Too bad school starts tomorrow, otherwise I'd sew a bunch more. :\

( 18 Things )

Thank you for looking!

Knitting! Fulling!

[geekpunkgrrl.livejournal.com]

I apologize in advance for when I leave my LJ client set to "craftgrrl" and write something irrelevant on the community page. I do it all the time.

( four photos )

bag pattern (I modified it to be knit in the round, bottom up and mine is a bit taller): http://helloyarn.com/miniskulltote.htm

squirrel chart (not mine): http://www.knittinganyway.com/freethings/Charts/squirrel.htm

Chocolate cherry cordials, Batman!

[lisatrix.livejournal.com]

Oh man. You know those chocolate-covered cherries with a layer of liquid sugar goo surrounding the cherry like amniotic fluid surrounding a fetus? I totally got a book that tells how to make them! I thought you had to use some kind of special machine or dark magic or something, but no! It's... uh, not simple, but not, technically speaking, impossible.

The secret is this: you wrap the cherries in fondant (aka the fluffy sugary filling in semi-fancy chocolate assortments), which mixes with the cherry juice and liquifies. Problem: fondant is so, so easy to screw up. That was what my friend (the half-naked model from my earlier post) and I did yesterday: try and utterly fail, twice, to make fondant.

But today, we suceeded! In only four hours! Do not do this alone, ever. If you actually manage to do everything, which you won't, you'll be bored out of your skull.

Anyhow!



( Instructions! )

(no subject)

[africanviolin.livejournal.com]

DIY lunchbag
( as promised! )

New Page

[crimson-queen.livejournal.com]

These are pictures of the page I completed today.

( Clickety click )

X-Posted to scrapbookers

(no subject)

[http://users.livejournal.com/eatstars_/]

Hey!

I have a question for everyone... have you used any of these sites to sell your crafts through cosignment?
And if so, how successful were you to sell your items?

-www.cutxpaste.com
-www.copacetique.com
-www.plainmabel.com
-www.etsy.com

Thanks!

(no subject)

[redglasscurls.livejournal.com]

Wooohooo! I finally cracked and forced myself to figure out knitting shortrows (which by the way are ridiculously easy) so that I could knit the beyond amazing Tychus hat from Knitty. I used some self-striping yarn I had left over from another project, because I loved the colors so much and wanted more than 2 colors in my hat;) I also chose to single rather than double strand the whole thing so it wouldn't be so heavy.
This is me modeling, ignore the weird face please (also, let me know if the pic is too large, I will happily hide it behind a cut):

The colors are a bit off in this one, it's more burgundy/purple than red/blue...you can see more accurate colors here ( Read more... )

Added bonus- the pattern knits up big enough to fit on my big head;)

Japanese Website with Panty Patterns

[millipede.livejournal.com]

I want to make some panties and I found this website today and thought I'd share it.

Some of the website is in Japanese but, you know, there are many, many language translators out there on the internet. Primarily the panty making pages are in English.

The website has instructions for making panties and bras. If you translate the index page, with all the broken English translation, it seems like all the instructions are for making women's underwear for men:

Man underwear romantically...
キュートな男性下着　柳腰亭



Are you the normal man?
As for you is there a self-confidence in the sense which jokes?
Do you lovelily love the thing?

If is certainly, it believes you can sympathize to the man underwear to which the slim waist cottage proposes.

Whatever that means . . . but I felt like maybe it means men who like women in lacy underwear. Or something. Turns out its for making lacy boxers for men.

Don't worry about the semantics.

But the underwear is super feminine and easy to adjust for whatever size you wanted.

Anyway, the website has instructions, lots of pictures and patterns for making all kinds of sexy panties and thongs, and bras, and camisoles. Some of the patters are for "hanties" which I first thought was some mispelling but turns out refers to panties made with handkerchiefs. Cute.

And there are patterns for men's boxes and bikinis (which I consider a total no-no for men but that's just me).


Main site
http://www.max.hi-ho.ne.jp/hotaru/

Hanties:
http://www.max.hi-ho.ne.jp/hotaru/panty/

Enjoy!

(no subject)

[jillybean956424.livejournal.com]

I have a dumb question. I just taught myself how to knit and this ( http://www.knitblog.com/onmymind/Rag%20Bag%20Pattern.gif ) is the first project I am doing.
The first instructions are
Cast on 20 sts.
Knit 2 rows.
Row 3: K6, Cast off 8 sts, K6
Row4: K6, Cast on 8sts, K6

OK so where it says on Row 3 cast off 8 sts, what I did was just Cast them off like I would if I was finshing something, is that how that should be done?

But my real problem is where it says (Row 4: K6, Cast on 8sts, K6)
How would I go about Casting on 8sts?

I know its a dumb question but I am a newbie

So thanks for any help you can give!
: )