by VioletLeBeaux | May 2, 2011 | Clothing-Tutorials, Craft, Tutorial
I love capes 😀 When I saw this one in the shape of a gigantic bow from JD I was struck with lust. I’ve seen quite a few in that shape over the years but this one was just beautiful… and also $500+ ;_;
I had a heap of white faux fur left over from a commission several years ago so I decided to try out a diy version. This is my end result:
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What you need:
- Faux fur
- Fabric for the lining
- Sewing machine/overlocker
- Pins
- Needle and thread
Cut out the main shape out of the cape from the faux fur:
Cut out the same shape from the lining and also cut out a rectangle for the middle part of the bow in both the fur and lining fabric.
Pin the main part on the cape together with the lining, good sides sandwiched together. Around the edges poke as many of the tufts of fur into the inside as possible so they don’t get caught on the outsides when you sew it all together.
Over lock the top and bottom edges so you have something like this:
Do the same thing with the little rectangular piece: pin, overlock together the top and bottom seam.
Turn both of the pieces inside out.
This is roughly what you should have…
If you want you can overlock all the raw edges at this point but because they will be encased in fabric and this isn’t going to get much wear and tear I didn’t bother.
So now we need to pleat the edges to form the bow shape. I pleated into 3 folds:
Use the needle and thread to hold them together and repeat on the other side too:
It’s a bit hard to see what I’m doing in the photos here but basically the small rectangular piece is going to join the two pleated ends together. Poke the pleated part into the middle of the rectangular piece and sandwich it between the fur and lining. Fold the edges of the rectangular piece under so nothing is exposed and then hand stitch it all in place.
Repeat on the otherside and it’s a nice big bow 😀
You can see the pleats and stitches better on the inside:
And the finished outside…
And me wearing it!
So tenchincally this was free because I already had the materials but to buy faux fur like this is only around $15p/m at Lincraft so I imagine you could very easily get everything you need for under $20 and probably more around the $12 mark as you don’t need a whole metre for this!
What do you all think?
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by VioletLeBeaux | May 1, 2011 | Clothing-Tutorials, Craft, Tutorial
This isn’t really a full tutorial, mostly because when I started it I was planning something completely different for this fabric which didn’t work out. I wanted to make a comfy romper/playsuit type thing to wear on snuggly couch days but as it turns out non-fitted rompers look terrible on me! So not wanting to waste the fabric I improvised a comfy frilly jumper/dress thing out of the remains ^_^
This was my end result:
The fabric I used was stretchy polar fleece and the light pink was left over muslin from other projects.
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 The pieces I started with are below. The middle section is a basic tube which is wider at the bottom. It has the top corners cut off to form arm holes and the neckline is basically a cut out semi-circle. The arm pieces are 4 long rectangles with the corners cut off at one end so they match at the arm holes.
First thing to do is sew/overlock down the sides of the middle tube from the bottom of the arm holes to the waist. Next overlock the arm pieces in pairs starting at where it will meet the arm and continuing to the wrist.
Open the arm piece and the top of the middle tube so you can pin the arm hole all the way across…
Over lock it on each side and you should have this…
Now overlock around the edges of the sleeves and the neckline. Overlock the tops of the sleeves together and you’ve got a simple jumper!
Add a ruffle to the bottom seam out of muslin and that’s about it. I wanted to keep it a bit raw and homemade/comfy looking so I didn’t both turning the overlocked edges under.
I could totally picture it all dressed up on an adorable fairy kei girl but for me it’s the perfect thing to wear for hanging around the house 😀
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by VioletLeBeaux | Apr 26, 2011 | Craft, Storage/Utility-Tutorials, Tutorial
You might remember when I visited the Melbourne flower show I saw a pretty rose pillow that I wanted to try and replicate? Well it was super easy!
This is the one I saw at the flower show:
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What you need:
- Base fabric to make the pillow cover, I’m using pink cotton
- Soft fabric to make the rose from, I used muslin but you could use silk or something of a similar texture
- Sewing machine/overlocker or a lot of patience to hand stitch it all!
- Button (optional)
So first thing is to decide how big you want to make the cushion cover. Squares work best for these pillows.
Cut out a square in the size you want plus a couple of cm on either side for seam allowance.
Now cut out the back, you will need 2 rectangles that overlap around 10cm in the middle. This is how we will get the pillow in and out of the case! You can see below the square is on the bottom with two rectangles over the top showing how they overlap in the middle.
Now let’s cut out the pieces of the rose!
Cut strips of muslin around 15cm wide. I needed 4 to cover my case but you will need more/less depending on the size you’re making. Cut one of the strips to a point on one end, this will be the middle of the rose. Muslin works really well for this because even when the edges fray they look really delicate and pretty.
Basically to form the rose we’ll put the strips in a big spiral, this is how it looks roughly laid out…
I personally hate pins while I’m sewing but I know that a lot of people are more comfortable using them so I’ll show where to put them in this tutorial. To start the rose, pin the pointy end of first strip of muslin to the middle of the square .
Following a tight spiral keep pinning until you reach the end. Don’t pin the next strip yet because having that many ruffles in one place makes it too hard to sew. The tighter you make the spiral, the more ruffly the petals will be in the end.
Take it to your sewing machine and starting at the centre sew directly down the center of the muslin strip following the spiral. If you want, while you sew you can pleat the muslin a little bit to make the petals more ruffly or stretch the muslin to make them stand straight up. I made mine point up in the middle then ruffly on the outside 😀
This is what mine looked like after the first strip was sewn on. The dotted line below is where you should be stitching, see how it folds in half and forms the petals?
Over lap the next strip a bit with the first and then keep sewing following the spiral.
After the second one’s finished…
When I added the next one I started pleating the muslin as I sewed to make the petals more ruffly.
When you reach the end of the last strip stitch it as close to the last row as you can so the end looks clean.
This is the finished rose:
On the back you should be able to see a clear spiral of stitches…
Yay! Now we just need to turn it into a pillow case!
Overlock one of the long edges on each of the rectangle pieces. The overlocked edges (in the middle below) will form the hole to get the pillow in and out of so they need to be finished well.
Fold them over and pin in place…
So lay the rose square out face up.
Fold all of the petals of the rose in so they don’t accidentally get sewn into the sides. Pin in place.
Put the first rectangle over the top of the rose with the folded edge facing up. Pin in place like this:
Add the other rectangle to the other side and make sure the two rectangles overlap a decent amount in the middle. Pin!
Overlock around the outside of the square! Remove the pins and that’s pretty much it ^_^ Trim loose threads and turn it inside out.
On the back you can see that the ends are all folded under and out of the way. If you feel the need, you can add a button there on the back or velcro to give it an extra closure.
And the front 😀
Then all you need to do is stick a pillow inside! The whole project took me maybe 30min to do. So you could realistically make a whole bunch of matching ones in an afternoon.
I think mine is pretty close to the original so I’m happy! What do you guys think?
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by VioletLeBeaux | Apr 23, 2011 | Craft, Other-Tutorials, Tutorial
Cute little yarn covered headphones have been floating around the internet EVERYWHERE lately. I’ve seen a bajillion people selling them or similar ones that are crocheted but a similar idea. So I decided to give it a try but rather than using a hook to chain over them I decided to bust out my popular-in-the-90’s-kids-craft: friendship bracelets.
Sooo many people at my primary school had these! There were the flat ones and also the big round technique which is what I’m using here.
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What you need:
- Tape
- Flat Surface
- Headphones
- Yarn/cotton/embroidery thread
- Scissors
Tape the top of the headphone to a hard surface. I’m just using the floor here but you could use a table or a book or anything as long as you can tape to it securely without damaging it. Make sure it’s not going anywhere.
Tape the end of the thread next to the top of the headphone.
Now this is how to do the basic technique which is repeated over and again.
Hold the yarn with your finger and cross it over the top of the headphone cord to form kind of a backwards number 4.
Now bring the ball of yarn back the way it came but this time go underneath the headphone cord.
Pulling the yarn through upward put it over the top of the beginning of the yarn. Essentially what you did was loop the yarn around the headphone cord but instead of making a spiral you made a knot.
Pull it tight and up to the top of the cord and it should look like this:
Do it again!
After repeating a few times you should have something similar to this. Basically because you’re knotting around the cord you will have a row of knots on the right side and loops on the left.
That’s really it! Keep going and going and going until you reach the “Y” point where the headphones join together.
If you want you can twist the knots around the cord as you go so it forms a pretty spiral.
Once you get the hang of it this is a good mindless craft to do when you’re watching a movie or something because you don’t need to may too much attention to it ^_^
Cut off the extra yarn leaving a tail of around 3cm. Now you’re 1/3rd done 😀
Repeat on the other headphone cord as well. This time when you get to the join don’t cut off the yarn.
Now continue down the cord but instead of tying the knots around just one of the cords, do both for a couple of knots then continue over the joiner part until you’re back down to the cord.
Now all you need to do is continue to the end of the cord!
Lastly to tie off all the loose ends use a needle to poke them back up through the knotting and you’re all finished!
Finished! You can add deco to the hard plastic bits to finish of if you like too.
If you use variegated yarn I imagine this would look even cooler! I totally want to make a different pair to match all of my outfits now XD I bet you could add in some little beads or hanging drop jewels or something. The possibilities are endless. Hmm now to decide what to add next. Maybe a little piece of attached velcro to keep them tidy in my bag!
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by VioletLeBeaux | Apr 21, 2011 | Craft, Outfit Of The Day
Time for some more random completed projects. One of the things that’s been missing from here for a while is pictures of me actually wearing the crafts that I’ve made. A couple of people have pointed out that they miss it so there are some photos in this post of me wearing some of the things I’ve made recently!
My biggest recent project (that I’ve actually finished) was knitting this skirt. It was really just a way to use up my yarn stash and also try out making a skirt for the first time.
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It took around a week of knitting during eps of Buffy at night.
Taadaaa…
Much shorter and not my normal style but I think I like it anyway. I didn’t really have anything to go with so I paired it with a plain singlet.
I’m not usually comfortable without something covering my arms though so I re-coordinated it in a more “me” way with a cardigan…
Much more comfortable and still pretty cute! Looking at these photos reminds me I need to add more pink to my hair though!
Another random knitting project I completed was a very basic 1 hour pompom sleepy kitty scarf. I was a bit disappointed with the yarn because the amount of string between pompoms caused gaps. Maybe better in garter stitch but I can’t decide if I have enough patience to try it again XD
A lot of people requested photos of the overalls tutorial I made so taadaa…
They are insanely comfy for wearing around the house… not that I wear stockings and heels with them usually haha!
And now my most comfy outfit! This is what I wear when I come home from a big event and I’m too tired to take out the hair and make up straight away. Throw on a big comfy jumper and big fluffy slippers and BAM relaxation. The jumper is from my tutorial on old sweater customisation here.
Ok now to update those posts with the photos XD
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by VioletLeBeaux | Apr 20, 2011 | Clothing-Tutorials, Craft, Tutorial
Another sewing tutorial 😀
This time I’m making some nice comfortable room wear to lounge around at home in ^_^ I spend a lot of time at home working and I like to be nice and comfy while I’m doing it so cute house clothing is the key!
The set I’m showing you how to make is a very basic loose shirt and tight pants. You reeeeally can’t get much more basic than this. The fabric I’m using is a stretchy soft towelling so it breathes well in summer and is nice and soft for relaxing. It is also nice and stretchy so it’s forgiving if you make a mistake or you’re a beginner.
It was quite hard to take photos for this one as I didn’t have a big enough space to spread the fabric out completely, I’ll be as descriptive as I can but let me know if it doesn’t make sense!
This is the result, not the prettiest but damn comfortable!
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What you need:
- Comfortable fabric that’s a little stretchy
- Sewing machine and overlocker
- Scissors
- Pins
- Optional pretty edging like pompoms
We will make the tunic/shirt part first, it’s super easy! You need two rectangles of fabric, the longer side should be as long as you want the shirt to be from the end of one sleeve to the other and the short side as long as you want to be from shoulder to bottom hem. |
Place the two rectangles of fabric on top of each other then fold them in half from right to left.
Now we will cut a neck hole along the fold that we just made. Because it’s a simple tunic you can create the neck hole by snipping of a decent chunk of the corner like this:
When it’s unfolded it looks like this:
Using your overlocker or sewing machine stitch along the top seam from the end of the sleeve to the the beginning of the neck hole.
Now you need to decide how big you want the tunic to be around your waist/bust. The easiest way to do this is to try it on and pin in place!
Leaving a seam allowance cut along the line you pinned and then down again to the sleeve. You should be cutting out a big triangle chunk like this:
Repeat on the other side!
Now stitch all of the seams together and also overlock all the loose seams. You should have something like this, big loose and comfy!
Decoration time 😀 I added a row of this pom pom edging I had left over from another project around all of the seams ^_^
Taadaa!
Now it’s time to work on the matching pants! I wanted mine to be 3/4 length so I cut 4 pieces in that length then cut out a big “J” shape for the crotch area. Always cut your pieces bigger than you think you’ll need, it’s easy to take things in if they’re too big but if they’re too small you’re screwed!
Again the easiest way to get the right size is to try it all on and pin it so it fits. First off I made the pants loose and straight with no tapering to the ankle. I stitched the seams down the sides and down the inside of the leg.
Then I stitched the crotch together so it formed pants 😀
After trying them on I decided to make them more fitted around the bottom of the legs so they were more like yoga pants or leggings so I pinned and re-did the seam up the inside of the leg.
After I was happy with the fit I had this…
Again it’s fairly important to do simple pants like this out of fabric with a stretch to it otherwise you won’t be able to get them over your hips! Now you also need a way to keep them up so they don’t fall down unexpectedly XD
I achieved this by stitching elastic into the waistband. After that was done, time to decorate again 😀
Again I added pom poms edging to the waist and ends of the legs!
Taadaa pants!
Now put them together and you’ve got a nice set!
And there you have it! Cute and comfortable room wear made in about an hour.
Perfect for chilling out on the couch or writing important business emails… just remember not to offer to video conference call while wearing them XD
This is the kind of post that will eventually have an accompanying pattern. Let me know if you want it and I’ll move it up on the list of to-do’s 🙂
