Handworks Crochet and then Some!

Another BWOF top from the March issue. Check my review for details on Patternreview. This was an easy top to make.. I adore zipper tops!!!! I got alot of compliments on this last night! I finished my punch needle jeans!!! And wore them out to. Punch needle is so fun and I've recently discovered someone makes an electric punch needle!!! Here's a couple of pics from last night at the restaurant. You can see in the pic on the left people got a little crazy!!! But thats ok... they were making it rain all night! Which goes in the 'tip money for fabric' fund!!! whoo hoo!

I LOVE this top!!! I can't even tell you how easy this was. Seriously if you've never tried BWOF this is the month to get the magazine. Several easy tops in this one. This top was only 2 pattern pieces. I made my usual size 38 and taper off to 36 in the waist area. I had to take up the shoulder seams about 3/4, it was very low! And thats the only adjustment I made. I used a decorative seam finish with my serger instead of binding. I used a YLI black metallic ribbon thread to give a little sparkle on the edges. Fabic I used , a solid black slinky from Wal Mart $2 a yard, which is actually a pretty good fabric coming from wal mart. The sheer slinky with the chiffon tie dyed pieces attached I got in Philly on Fabric Row for $14 a yd (I think!) I will make more of these tops!!! Here are the Kitty dolls I was working on Tues. They're called The Mousers. They need a few more touches and they're all done! I gotta make more little mice for their pockets!! The black one ...

I started working on a new punch needle project last night while the Bald Man yelled at Microsoft for 5 hours about Vista.... It seems Vista has decided that it will not recognize my Pfaff card station USB device. It worked perfect for about 3 months, then all of a sudden... just stopped recognizing !!! I loaded my software on to an old lap top with XP and it worked.. so its not Pfaff .. Its that evil Vista!! Anyways... this punch needle kitty appears to be peaking up out of a pocket. I want to make a felted purse with a pocket on the front and applique kitty peeking out the top. I'm going to Goodwill tomorrow with one of my 'sewing challenged' friends and hopefully will be able to find the right sweater to go with it. I also worked on 4 dolls yesterday and will finish them up today! Back in the day... early to mid nineties I was very much into fabric painting. I painted (mid nineties ) this dress I wore to church for Easter. Its Noah's Ark and little painted anima...

Well, here they are.... 4 days ago this was 2 pair of My Bald Mans old jeans... a pair of CK and a pair of Lee. Now they are 1 custom, fabulous pair of jeans for me! I used my copied MUDD jeans pattern for these. Its amazing the difference in using good denim!!! The fit is so much better, they feel better... ofcourse the old jeans used were already broken in! I'm extremely happy with the fit!!! And I like the little felted sweater tulips and yarn... I still haven't went to Jo anns to get more rivets!!! or to a hard ware store to get some sand paper. Ofcourse the rivets will add to the traditional "jean look" I think they need more of a distressed feel... Bald Mans old jeans were in perfect shape and I want them to look more 'used' The fit, the fit, the fit!!!! It drives me crazy!! I have made this Copied RTW Mudd jean pattern 2 other times.. and the fit was very good.. but the cheap denim I had... which is ALL I can find... stretched a bit and didn...

Here's my new felted purse. I made it from the same sweater I cut up to make the tulip shapes for my new jeans... btw, which are done !!! Pics will be taken tonight when we go out!!! Back to the purse... It has a purple faux crocodile strap, a d-ring decoration holding a chain of coins with RD at the bottom and a silver heart embellishment. The edges and inside pocket are trimmed with a pretty yarn using the felting machine. I lined with a pretty purple cotton print, made a cell phone and an extra pocket. And a magnetic snap closure.... I think felted purses are my favorite purses to make... they are so different. And I think its cool to make something that can't exactly be remade. I'll never find another ugly sweater at Goodwill like this one.. and even if I did it may not "felt up" the same way. Also, my Mom had a good ideal to use a mans shirt to line the purses with... and since I like to line purses with prints and stripes, thats perfect! Plus The Bald Man h...

If you've ever read my blog.. you know I love jeans.. I'm quite obsessed with them. I have been extra obsessed every since The bald Man bought me my first pair of Allen B's and I realized how dressy/casual/unique my look in jeans could be. The trend for awesome jeans is never ending... every year no matter what is on the runway in NY or Paris ... people wear jeans. Jeans range in price from $20 to $1200 and beyond! Me n' My Bald Man were recently in ATL noticing that some restaurants that did not allow jeans, now allowed them. Bald man thinks its not because the pricier restaurants are getting to casual... its because how do you tell someone they can't were their $390 pair of Gucci jeans in to a restaurant? Good point! I need casual jeans like MUDD and XOXO, designer like Paper Denim and Blue Cult and on up to extra unique designer like Allen B's. My closet would not be complete without all these "kinds" of jeans.... *sign* , all those wonderful jeans....

This is for Rach, Faye and Faye's mom.... I looked for a link that could maybe describe this better than me but couldn't find any good link on the machine at all... lots of felting by hand links though.... Anyways, the felting machine a great embellisher. It has no tensions or thread... it uses 5 barbed needles that allow you to take one fabric and "punch" in into another... fusing the fibers. Like my bolero to the left here... its an old Goodwill sweater. I washed it twice in hot water and dried it, cut it into a bolero (after you've "felted" something in the washing machine like this it will not ravel)... then I took eyelash yarn and punched it all around the edges. Then I took ribbon metallic serger thread and punched in it randomly... steam ironed it... and yes, its permanent! And SO easy! You can punch yarns and wool roving into cottons, denims, wools... from what I learned at the seminar in ATL ,"I felt like it", you can punch any fabrics...

This is a pair of jeans I'm "upcycling" by doing punch needle embroidery on one of the bottom legs... the back pockets and alittle on one of the front pockets. I'm using metallic embroidery floss so it has the effect of looking beaded.. which if I were doing this with real seed beads it would take forever! I've worked on it for 2 days on and off while me n' the Bald Man have been watching my Project Runway season 2 DVDs. Which I have to say my Bald Man is really getting into .... and he said he didn't want to watch them because we already knew who won! He knows he likes watching all that drama! hahaha

Definition: "Upcylcled" Taking a ugly, plain, un-usable, out of style item and making it into something fabulous and totally usable again. Aka, Recycling, which is good for everyone! So as you can see Project Ugly Dress is now a cute, stylish corset top. I made up a shrug to go over it yesterday to with some left over fabric from Miami. I gotta go to Goodwill more often!!! My "upcylced" top was way cheaper than the fabric I made the shrug out of!!!

This is what I'm working on today... putting this embroidery design up the leg of these boring jeans! Here are my projects from yesterday!!! I am SO hooked on felting!!!! I love it! This cute bolero was a hideous sweater just 2 days ago and now look! And this adorable purse too... a sweater no one would have ever worn... is now stylish.. unique, and due the the nature of felting, one of a kind!! The metallic threads and eyelash yarn on the bolero are not sewn on... they were punched in by the felting machine. So was the yarn trim on the purse. The felting machine has 5 needles and you have to be really careful not to pull your fabric out until the needles are all the way up and stopped, or you break the little expensive needles really easily... Ask me how I know this! haha While my embroidery works away I'm working on turning this once ugly dress into a cute "corset" type top... I'm actually not feeling real confident about this project.. but if I ruin it, it was...

Yes! Another machine... my new Pfaff felting machine. I love it! This is my first felting project... tapestry fabric that I've felted different wools and yarn into. It going to be one of those cute new circle purses. I should have worked on this today, my new belly dance costume... but I was lazy... I did some needle punch and thats about it... went to Goodwill and got some sweaters to felt... went to BAM and got the new magazines...Burda, Machine Embroidery and this cool Canadian magazine called A needle Pulling Thread... lots of fiber arts stuff.... Wow, I have been a slacker today!

Here's a larger belly dancer purse... that I didn't forget to put the magnetic closure in!! Also made with d rings and it has 2 separate pockets... made with a soft faux suede and lined with a cute printed cotton... I like this one alot... tomorrow I'll make the 3rd one using the tiger strip faux suede! You can see inside the pockets for a cell phone and then divided to make an extra pocket... oh yeah... and the magnetic snap closure! I guess I need to start dinner and stop playing with my purses!

The packed out expo was CRAZY! I have so much stuff... from lots of fabric to Russian punch needle supplies to felting supplies... well I had the hand felting supplies... today I went to my wonderful Pfaff dealer... Sewing Machines Etc here in Knoxville and bought a felting machine. More about that later. I'm just trying to get back into the swing of things! I got home about 9:00pm Saturday night... The Bald Man, who I missed horribly, was waiting at the door with these roses below and dinner. I had to hurry and eat, throw on a costume because I was booked to belly dance at a fairly big party at 10!!! Sunday we were invited to Alexia's home, where she and her wonderful husband Stan made me and the Bald Man an amazing 5 course meal!!!! Complete with an Irtish coffee like I've never had before! I have to think of something cute to make Stan sometime because the effort he put into that meal was incredible. Yesterday I tried to sort through all my expo stuff! And I cut out so...

The Expo!!!!! WOW! I never imagined it would be like this... and its only our first day here!!! Here to the right is the product of the first class me and my mom took .. isn't it an adorable purse?? It has a large pocket and a cell phone pocket inside.. a nice monogram applique'... and the best part... the handles easily slide off and onto another purse... so you can make interchangeable purses!! Its called a Karma Bag!!! Too cute. I can't wait to make more... it was very easy. I made this cute rug hook "mug rug" at one of the vender's booths. Its not completely finished on the back... it was a fun quick project. This very nice man at the Expo had all this gorgeous fabric!!!! I say he's very nice because this is very good quality fabric that was not expensive... This fabric here is more amazing in person... stretch lace on the far left... the one on the right is stretch too, but very textured.. its so awesome! Here we have a beautiful stretch white, red a...