Turk's Head Knot Bracelets

Hi everyone!  Karen here from Renegade Homestead.  It's not even the end of November and I'm knocking out presents left and right (granted, I'm a dog walker so it could be that I have more time on my hands than most crafters).  Today I finished a few Turk's head knot bracelets for my college girl friends.  

I used this tutorial and found that each one took about 20 minutes.  Perfect for stocking stuffers and easily accomplished in front of the TV.  

And I have to share this - the funniest thing happened while I was taking pictures of the finished bracelets!  See anything out of place in the picture below?

That would be a wild turkey on the right.  A whole flock of them wandered into my photo shoot!

Happy to see there were some survivors from Thanksgiving right in my own backyard.  To anyone who celebrated it last week, I hope your holiday was as good as theirs!

Surprises - v - perfect fit . . .

I made my daughter (age 18 and away from home at university) a silver ring for Christmas.  Would it fit the finger she'd prefer to wear it on?  Would it fit any of her fingers? Would she even like it?  As the weeks have passed, I've got more nervous so when I saw her on Saturday I let her see the ring and try it on.

Surprise spoilt but she loved the ring and I can now re-size it to fit perfectly. 

Next I have to make a surprise gift for her!

Christmas cards with a sparkly gift!

Hello everyone!

I'm wowed by so many lovely ideas - seriously re-thinking some of my original ideas!

I've been beavering away creating some affordable pressies for selling at a Christmas Craft fair, but thought these ideas could also be little pressies for friends at work, or even adapted for a child to make to give.

I've made little jewellery presents & attached them to handmade cards as a true "gift card" (as opposed to those credit card sized pieces of plastic that you load up with cash to give to someone to spend in that store). I've a bit more info on my blog, but you can probably work it out!

First to show are wine glass charms (x 6, all different, otherwise what would be the point?!!) - on a Christmassy sketched card that shows it off like a belly ring! The other 5 are in the envelope as part of the present.

Then, for the other design I've lino-printed a Christmas tree (that took me back - sticking the lino on the radiator to warm it up a bit before cutting!) Then I've punched holes & stitched on a necklace to adorn the tree.

I'm sure there are lots of similar things you could do to mix card & gift in one go!

I've also made a non Christmas design with a flower brooch.

Back to sewing now though ... byeee!

Introduction and Liberty bracelet

Hello fellow crafters, I'm Cecili from Sewing and so on. Thanks Tilly for letting me join this awesome club, I've had a look at the members' ideas for Christmas gifts and there are so many great things to be inspired by!
I'm planning to give all my relatives handmade presents this year, I'll make a vintage shirt for my boyfriend and I'll probably focus on accessories for the girls, bags, pouches, hair ornaments, jewelry... Actually I've just finished a Liberty bracelet that turned out quite nice -well, you're rarely wrong when you use these wonderful fabrics^^- so here's the tutorial in case you'd want to make one too.

You'll need fabric, a pair of choker clasps, a lobster clasp, a few links, pliers and glue.


First measure around your wrist to find the size you want for your fabric strip, mine was 14cm (5.4").
To determine the final size of your fabric strip you also need to measure the width of your choker clasps, mine were 1.6cm (3/4") and since you'll fold the fabric in two you must double this number (here 3.2cm / 1.3").
You need a 1cm seam allowance on both lengths but not on the ends since they will be encased in the clasps!
So the final strip for my bracelet was 14cm x 5.2cm (5.4" x 2").
I fused a thin strip of interfacing on each end to make them stronger since they will be perforated by the clasps' teeth.


Fold your fabric strip in two with right sides together and sew.


Turn the fabric tube inside out and iron it flat. I've cut a strip of cardboard the same width as my fabric tube and slid it into the tube to help flatten it while ironing.


Put a little glue in the choker clasps, insert the strip's ends and close the clasps pressing them with pliers. Let the glue dry then add a lobster clasp to one end and a few links to the other.




Et voilà! You're done :) Later I added a tiny blue flower bead to the end on the chain to give the bracelet extra cuteness. I hope you enjoyed this tutorial, if you have any questions or suggestions to improve it please tell me!

Hello, Tilly here, long time no post, but yesterday some friends came over for Craft Club, so I have some craft to show you!

Here is a lovely (if I do say so myself) felt rose brooch I made using Marie's wonderful tutorial. 

I sewed a brooch back onto a circle of felt to attach to the back (excuse the slapdash stitching).

Hélène made a pink one to go with her lovely top. Very easy, very satisfying, highly recommended! I think I'm going to make quite a few of these for all the ladies in my family...

I also made a pretty poppy bead necklace under careful instruction from my friend Anna. This is destined for one of my female relatives.

And finally, a two minute project made from buttons threaded onto organza ribbon. I think I'll keep this one!

Fabric flower power

Hello again, Scruffybadger here & big thanks to Lore, a contributor for Crafty Christmas Club in this post for motivating & inspiring me to make a silk/ organza flower.

I used two shades of organza & crimson silk. The central "moustache" is made from embroidery silk. As I was in a hurry I used an old pink button instead of beads in the very centre. I stitched some petersham to the back to then secure a brooch pin to.

I couldn't wait for Christmas though & have already given it as a present for someone as a thank you gift! ...and it was very much appreciated... :-)

Can I just encourage others to try it - it's very simple & extremely satisfying. I'm going to be making more of these beauties, experimenting with other fabrics as well.

Loopy flowers

Here's a step by step way of making the flower brooch I showed in my last post as requested:

What you'll need:
A square of felt
Scissors
Needle and thread to match
Brooch back
Pins

Step 1:
Cut strips of felt about 1cm thick, or as desired but be aware the thicker the strips the thicker the 'petals', I use nine strips for each flower.

Unlike me, use large scissors so that your lines are a bit straighter, but I don't mind wobbly petals.

Step 2:
Loop all of the strips four times and pin to secure

Step 3:
Stitch each pinned piece to keep the loops from slipping and then stitch all of the groups of petals together to make your flower shape.  Try grouping them together before stitching to get an idea of what works where as it needs to be a general roundish shape to look most flower-like.

Step 4:
Once all the loops have been stitched together, cut a circle of felt big enough to cover all of the raw edges and to make a flat base to stitch the brooch pin to

I've used a different colour here for it to show up better on the photo but it's probably best to use the same colour felt so it all blends in.

Step 5:
Attach your brooch pin and if you're lucky enough to have read this post and have received your order, you can also attach your labels too!

Step 6:
Stand back and admire your handiwork.  All you need to do now is find something gorgeous you want to accessorize your new flower with and await lovely compliments!

Roll up, roll up!

Karen in the previous post showed a wonderful tutorial for a sewing roll, & it got me thinking - I fancy making a jewellery roll, & although I have one I could make a pattern from, I did 5 seconds research & found some tutorials online- thought I'd share them with you .. they are slightly different ...

This one by Helen at Angharad

& this one at AfrikanKelli.

and lucky three, this one by Helen at Stitch & Shoot

Hopefully this will kick start my Christmas making ... :-)