Lots of the crafts and things I do on here are very involved and takes ages to make… so here’s a very quick little thing that takes no time at all 😀
This isn’t really a tutorial (because I think everyone’s done these are some point or other) but you can hopefully get some ideas ^_^ I used the last of the super cute yarn that Vintage Grrlmade for me 😀
Yesterday I showed you how to make a jumper/sweater into a cardigan and at the end I mentioned that I wasn’t going to add buttons or ribbon ties because I wanted to use cardigan clips. This is how I made them!
Clips like this can be really useful in jazzing up a plain cardigan and are also great for girls with bigger busts who find it difficult to find cardi’s that actually fit in that area!
This particular one was made as a graduation gift for the lovely Celeste^_^
So what you need:
Pretty beads, I’m using pearls and pink crystals
Clip on earring parts
Thread, needles, scissors
Felt
Decorations, I’m using bows and some little heart dangly things
Glue gun
Start my working out how far apart you need the clips to be to keep your cardigan closed and laying out all of your parts.
I decided to put a bow on each side then the heart dangle then alternate between pearls and crystals. It’s really important to use fairly heavy beads otherwise the clips won’t hang down in that cute arched way, they will just get pulled straight from the cardigan.
Now let’s make the beaded part. Using your thread secure it around the first bead (in this case the heart dangly).
Thread on all of your beads…
Tie it on to the other side too. I used jewellery wire for this one but I’ve used plain thread in the past too.
Now let’s take care of the clippy part. You can of course by these from a craft store but I have got an excess of old clip on earrings so I removed the bases of those to use. I cut out felt pieces to cover the front and back of the clips:
Then glued them on…
So that makes a pretty good base.
Now let’s put both of the pieces together! I glued the dangly heart bits on first:
Then added the bows over the top!
Now this is very important: when you put it together, before you glue everything make sure that the clips are pointing in the right direction! They should be facing opposite directions so they can be clipped to the cardigan like this:
It’s a good idea to lay everything out before you actually glue it.
All finished! Very quick and easy to make and a fun way to add some sparkle to a plain cardigan ^_^
Continuing the series of tutorials on making basic bows today I’ll show you how you can make the perfect bow out of ribbon.
This is what the finished product will look like:
You need:
Ribbon
Scissors
Needle and thread
Lighter
Firstly decide how big you want your bow to be by mocking it up with you ribbon.
Cut the length you decide on and make sure to add 2cm extra for seam allowance. Use your lighter to lightly melt the edges of the ribbon so they don’t fray. BE VERY CAREFUL YOU DON’T BURN YOURSELF.
Fold your ribbon like this with the edges overlapping in the middle…
Use you needle and thread to running stitch from the bottom to top. Make sure to tie it in a knot in the beginning so it doesn’t pull through
Now pull the thread and your bow will fold up on itself. Tie your thread off securely.
Now to add the bottom tail, measure how long you want it by folding like this:
Again knot the thread and running stitch up the folded tail like this:
Pull the thread tight and tie it off:
Sew the tail behind the bow part ^_^
Cut another piece of ribbon that is long enough to wrap around the middle of the bow plus 1cm. Fold the sides of the ribbon like this and seal the edges with the lighter.
Wrap the piece around the middle of your bow.
Stitch it in place ^_^
Cut the tails into what ever shape you like, I prefer them with “v”‘s cut out. Seal the ends with the lighter again and you’re finished! You can experiment with all different ribbons, I like to add a darker colour on top like this one:
Simple and very quick to make! You can add a bobby pin or brooch back or whatever to the back to attach it to hair/clothes or anything you like. Hope you’ve enjoyed this tutorial!
Hello, time for the first of a few very basic tutorials: how to make a basic hair bow!
This week I am going to try and have a post online every day so please keep checking back for everything! I’m also going to be showing you some of the reader requests I’ve been getting lately ^_^
Before we get to the tutorial, there is a bit of a special announcement. One of my tutorials has been featured in Eleanor Zine which is (I think) the first web-zine for Western Gyaru fashion! How cool is that? They have chosen to feature my tutorial on how to make Usa-mimi/pointy bunny ear headbands 😀 I might be doing more things in future with them so go check out Eleanor Zine and if you have a Gyaru trend you want me to show you how to make just drop me a line on my Contact Page!
So today after lots of requests I’m going to show you how to make a very basic hair bow just like this one you guys loved yesterday…
Gather your materials, this is what you need to make a basic hair bow:
Fabric
Scissors
Orange stick/Pen/something pointy
Needle and thread
Headband/bobby pins/brooch back/something to attach it to yourself.
This is the most basic way I know to make a bow so we’ll start out easy and in other posts I’ll show you how to make more complicated ones.
Cut a rectangle of fabric the size you want your bow to be. I generally work to the ratio that the long side of the bow should be 2.5 times the length of the short sides. You can either cut one large piece and fold it in half or two pieces the correct size.
You will also need to cut a piece for the middle bit to hold it all together. For thin fabrics like this you should make it as long as your index finger and 3 times as wide as you want the middle bit to end up… if that makes sense ^_^
Thread your needle with some matching thread. Now let’s make the large part of the bow. Fold your fabric piece in half with the nice side on the inside.
Start in one corner and sew up the side. Use a plain old running stitch and if you aren’t planning to edge your fabric make sure to keep a decent seem allowance to avoid fraying. I should mention that all of this can be done on a sewing machine but as a lot of you don’t have sewing machines I thought I would do hand stitching instructions then if you do have a sewing machine you can adapt them!
When you get to the corner, keep sewing around the other side. Keep going until you’ve sewn up everything except a 2cm hole. Tie off your thread.
Now going through the hole, turn the whole thing inside out…
You get something like this:
Now using your pointy object, poke it inside the bow and use it to wiggle the corners into nice points ^_^
Then you get this, which looks much nicer:
Now let’s close up that hole! Fold the raw edges inside the bow so they follow the rest of the stitching and form a nice pointy corner. Using your needle and thread hand stitch it closed.
Now it’s time to pleat it into a bow! Fold your bow in half…
Now on each side of that fold, fold the remaining fabric in half. It should look like a concertina and you should have 3 visible pleats.
Now use your needle and thread to place a stitch to hold it all in place.
Now let’s make the middle bit. Get your other piece of fabric and fold it in thirds. This is the first fold:
This is the second fold:
Now wrap it around the middle of your bow ^_^
Sew it around the back and cut off the extra fabric.
Easy done! Now how are you going to attach it to your head? I took a headband and slid it through the tie part of the bow. I have also used the same bow by sliding a bobby pin through the back. You could attach it to a brooch or even sew it onto a ring, the possibilities are endless!
Tomorrow I’ll show you the whole outfit I wore it with ^_^. Let me know if any of you try to make a basic hair bow like this!
Cancan hats are another trend that seems to be everywhere right now so here’s a cancan hat tutorial ^_^
Of course they’ve been around for practically forever with various names… straw boater, basher, skimmer, katie, senni etc. Here in Aus they are actually part of a lot of private school uniforms. I’ve always loved them because the remind me of picnics in the park with a nice cup of tea!
Anyway whatever you call it what I’m talking about is this:
Image found via google, full credit to the owner. I make no claims of ownership and am happy to remove if asked.
Because they’re popular now they are quite expensive. So I decided to DIY my own ^_^
What you need for this particular cancan hat tutorial:
Round top straw sun hat
Scissors
Needle and thread
Glue Gun
Ribbon and lace for decoration if your hat isn’t decorated already.
You can easily pick up a big wide brim rounded straw sun hat for $2 from a thrift store and if you check out junk stores you can probably find one new for not much more than that! I happened to have one from back in my Country Lolita days that I had decorated with ribbon and lace but I’ve never actually worn it because the shape looked silly on me… time to make it all flat and pretty 😀
Ok let’s get started!
At the top of the hat you will notice that the whole thing is made of a big spiral of straw which it stitches together. Carefully wedge your scissors into the top of the spiral and cut a few of the stitches.
Gently pull it apart, continue cutting stitches if you need to.
Start unraveling the spiral and cutting the stitches as you go ^_^
Keep going until you get to around this point:
When you get to here there are two options depending on the type of hat you started with. Some of these sun hats have very straight sides and some of them are basically a gigantic dome.
If you’re lucky enough to have one with straight sides then you can skip the next few steps.
If you have one with curved sides (like me) you will need to continue unraveling the hat until you to get to a point where the part that’s left is completely straight. This point might be different for you hat but mine was just above the ribbon band here:
Now you should get your needle ready and thread it.
Ok now it’s time to put it back together so the sides are straight and the top is flat!
Because the straw has been in a curved position for so long you will most likely need to bend it straight before you put it back together. Make sure to be gentle when you do this so you don’t damage it. I straightened it by putting it flat on the floor and gently bending it the other way.
Now you need to start winding the straw back into place. You can either do it the right way and stitch it in place or the quick way and hot glue it in place. Either way secure it as you go around.
You can see that the way I’ve put it back in place is much more vertical than the original pattern.
Keep going until you think your hat is tall enough and then do one more rotation around the top to make sure it is flat enough for the top of the hat not to be on an angle!
When you’re finished you should cut the excess straw off and secure the ends. I am going to cover the straw end with more decoration at the end so it doesn’t show.
Now let’s make the top! Get your left over straw and arrange it on a flat surface in a spiral.
You should measure the spiral to make sure it fits the top of your hat exactly and pin it in place.
Now stitch or glue your top in place.
Continue until it is the right shape and diameter. You should stitch the end of the straw around so it forms a circle like this:
Cut off the excess and this is what you get:
Do make sure that it fits the top of the hat before you cut the ends so you don’t have a gaping hole in your hat!
At this point I cut off the elastic string which holds the hat on your head because it was pointless and in the way.
Now on the inside of your hat, glue/stitch the top in place 😀
You should get something like this:
Hurray it has a flat top!!
Now we’ve made the top shorter and flatter the large brim looks a bit silly! So let’s make it shorter 😀
Find the edge and snip the stitches. It should come apart very easily.
I pulled out maybe 3 or 4 rows of it. Now secure the edge back in place.
And you get this…
Last step is decoration! I wanted a nice big rosette style thing on my hat so I cut off the long tulle tail…
And added another one of top. This also covers the join around the hat. Again hot glue or sewing is fine here.
TAADAA!
And there you have it, an adorable cancan hat that cost me nothing 😀 And I have another cute hat to add to my arsenal of bad-hair-day-hiding-tools 😉
What do you guys think? Are any of you going to give the cancan hat tutorial a try?
This usamimi tutorial is a reader request post, see I’m slowly making my way through them all!
Lately everywhere I turn around someone is wearing one of these funny little pointy scarves…
Image found via Google, credit to the owner (who I couldn’t find). I make no claims to own this photo and would be happy to remove it should the owner have a problem with it’s use.
Apparently the points are supposed to look kind of like bunny ears depending on how they’re worn. They seem to be really popular in Gal fashions at the moment! I don’t know how much these go for but if they’re anything like other imported accessories they can get pretty pricey! Anyway a couple of you have requested a tutorial on how to save some money and make one so here it is! ^_^
What you need for this particular usamimi tutorial:
Fabric (for an alternative see below)
Scissors
Thin wire
Needle and thread
I decided to go one step further on the saving money front and instead of using fabric I saved time and effort by using a pair of stockings that I bought but didn’t end up fitting 😀 They had a cute patten so I’ve been looking for another way to use them and this is perfect!
So first step! If you’re using fabric, measure out how long you need the scarf to be (measure around your head and then add extra for the point little ears) and cut two long rectangles. Because I am using stockings I’ve skipped this step.
Now cut the ends into points. I folded mine in half to ensure that the ends were exactly the same shape.
If you are using normal fabric then sew down the straight sides to form a long tube (don’t sew the ends yet!). If you’re using stockings then you already have a long tube like below ^_^
Now get your thin wire ready! I am using 2 lengths of wire because the wire I had was too thin to shape the fabric properly. So cut a length of wire that is long enough to go all the way around the outside of your tube. Leave an extra few inches so there is room to tie the ends together.
Turn your tube inside out. Fold the wire in half.
Using your needle and thread, sew up the pointy end. Use a plain old running stitch, nothing fancy. I’m hand stitching because my sewing machines are all in storage but if you can use a machine or an over-locker I would definitely suggest it!
Now let’s start adding the wire, this is what will make the ear parts nice and stiff. Line the wire up with the point and starting from there use a blanket stitch to attach the wire to the edge of the fabric. When you stitch you should only pick up a few threads from the fabric, this will ensure that when you turn it inside out you can’t see gigantic stitches.
Keep going all the way down the side until you reach the other open edge. If you started out with fabric that you sewed together then you might just be able to weave the wire through the stitches you already made.
When you get to the other end use a running stitch to close up one side and then continue with the wire up the edge. You should have a little wire overlapping the edge which we will use to close it up later.
Now repeat along the other side but stop when you reach the opening.
Now using the hole, turn the whole thing inside out…
This is roughly what you should end up with…
And as you can see I have left over wire poking out from the top.
Cut the wire down so it’s only 1cm longer than the tip, then twist the two ends together and fold them down. And you end up with this:
Now hold it flat, fold the raw edges in and sew up the gap like in the picture below. Try to hide your stitches as much as possible by only poking through a tiny bit of the exposed fabric. Make sure to sew the points of the wire really well so it doesn’t pop through ^_^
You hopefully end up with something like this…
Which will hold it’s shape like this!
And when you put it on you will look something like this XD
So there you have it! They are really quick and easy to make and very popular right now ^_^ Let me know if you give the usamimi tutorial a go!
Illustrator. Strong tea, knitting, watercolours, and making a video game called Moonlight in Garland. Living with her adorable husband Jimmy, fluffy puppy Miss Lottie and Bergamot Bunny in Melbourne, Australia.
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Wouldn’t it be awesome to have a list of all of my downloadable tutorials? OMG so convenient! I know right?
