It’s been far too long since I did some proper Sew Fun posts but here’s a little one to tide you over. Today we’re going to learn to use your new best friend: a quick unpicker.
Basically this tool is a little pointy blade on the end of a handle which makes unpicking crappy stitching a breeze!
Here is the basic anatomy of an unpicker…
So taking a look at a standard hem on a skirt, there are two parts of the stitching: the overlocking/surging and the hem seam. The hem seam is the part you want to unpick if you’re undoing the seam.
So pick a spot to start and poke the point of the unpicker through one of the stitches.
Continue sliding it upwards and break the thread with the blade. It will probably pop up like this:
Now wedge the unpicker into the stitch next to the broken one and angle the blunt end up so it pulls the broken end of the thread through and undoes that stitch too.
Continue using the unpicker to unthread stitches like this. You can just cut them but then you have to clean up a million tiny pieces and thread.
This way you can have one long thread to get rid of at the end.
Done!
Now unpicking things like zippers is a little more difficult.
This is the back of the zip.
When you gently pull the zip away from the fabric you can see the seam holding them together.
Gently poke the unpicker through the gap between them and use it to hook a stitch.
Slice the stitch and it will pop open and probably take a few either side of itself under the pressure.
Continue popping stitches like this until you can get the entire zipper out.
Pull the zip away from the fabric gently so you can get at the threads easily. Be careful not to cut the fabric with the unpicker.
All done!
And that’s it! You now know how to use a quick unpicker! Hopefully you found this edition of Sew Fun useful and let me know if you have any suggestions for what I should cover next!
A nice easy tutorial today, I’ll be showing you guys how I wear my clip in hair extensions!
Clip in extensions are awesome. They are very versatile and if you buy ones which you can style then you can do all kinds of things with them. I have a lot of length with my natural hair so today I’ll be using them for volume.
To begin with, style your extensions to match your actual hair. Mine is straight so I’ll be straightening my extensions. Keep in mind that you can only heat style some types of extensions so make sure that you check first because if yours are synthetic you may melt them with that much heat!
My hair naturally from the back:
First thing to do is section your hair from the ears up and pin out of the way. Apply the first long track of hair here by clipping it just below the part line.
Like this!
When you let the rest of the hair down it should be invisible. You need to make sure the clips are as close and flat to the scalp as possible.
Section the hair a little further up and repeat again with another track.
Repeat again and again until you feel you have enough on the back. Make sure you don’t cross the tracks over anywhere you’re planning on parting the hair later or else they will be visible.
I like to apply a few smaller ones on the sides of my head as well. Not too many as it’s much more visible in this area because the hair is thinner.
Once you’re finished, brush through everything so the natural hair blends with the extensions.
Long and volumous!
At the back you can see the placement of my tracks below:
I think these give a really good thickness to my natural hair. I like to use them in styles like braids too because they give a lot of body to the designs.
Hope you enjoyed and let me know if you have any other requests!
Less of a tutorial today and more of an adventure in baking! A while ago, Kim came over with the idea that we could try our hand at baking together. Craziness ensued but we managed to product a perfectly good Japanese style deco cake roll out of it. We went with a strawberry theme inside and out!
The basic process is fairly easy, the recipe is for a basic swiss roll batter which is divided into various colours and then piped. First you draw all of the little details onto baking paper in various colours. Kim was clever enough to print a template to use under the baking paper.
So we piped on the spots and stalks of the strawberries and baked it for a few minutes so it was dry.
Then we piped the rest of the strawberries and baked that too. Lastly we added the rest of the plain batter to make the full roll. In the end when you turn it all out you can see the pattern really clearly.
Once it’s all cooled down you added whipped cream and strawberries to the inside and then wrap it up.
Once it’s set in the first it should look something like this!
Omg so yummy! These are the perfect amount of sweet without being too much.
They go perfectly with a nice cup of tea!
Of course some extra strawberries don’t hurt either!
Now that I understand the process I really want to experiment with more designs and recipes! Seriously SO yummy!
Another yummy recipe from my childhood! Today we’re going to make Honey Joys ^_^
Out of all of the childhood foods I’ve been eating lately, these are definitely my favourite. They are sweet without being too sweet and they are crazy cheap to make.
For this tutorial you will need:
4 cups of corn flakes
1 tablespoon of honey
1/3 cup of sugar
100g of butter
You will need a bunch of these little cupcake wrappers. Mine are extra tiny because they are for holding chocolates.
Preheat your oven to 150C.
To begin with, melt the butter, sugar and honey together in a pan
Heat it until it start to bubble. Make sure you keep mixing so it doesn’t burn or stick to the bottom.
Add in the corn flakes and mix thoroughly so they are totally coated.
Spoon the mixture into the cupcake wrappers. I like to heap them so they are nice and tall.
Bake them in the oven for around 5-10 minutes depending on your oven. You don’t want to burn them, just heat them enough so the liquid gets into the corn flakes.
Now allow them to cool and then pop them in the fridge to store… or eat them all straight away >_>
Yum!
Enjoy! They won’t be around for very long!
I like to make them a little bit fancier by dusting them in some edible glitter. You could also add some sprinkles or cachous for more sparkles.
Let me know if you give it a try, they are so yummy!
Today I thought we would make a fun little decoration. I love hot air balloons and I thought a bunch of them would look really cute hanging from the ceiling ^_^
This is my end result!
For today’s tutorial you will need:
Origami paper in various colours
Thumbtacks (These were a gift from Pure Girl Blue!)
Wire
An acorn cap or something similarly whimsical for the basket
An eraser
Take a square of paper.
Fold it in half into a triangle.
And fold it again to form a smaller lopsided triangle like this:
Repeat with at least 7 more pieces of paper. This looks best with a rainbow of colours!
Now let’s construct the balloon part.
Use a thumbtack to poke holes in each end of each triangle.
Stack the triangles with the thicker side up onto a thumbtack.
Bend them into a curve so it’s easier to make a ball later.
Now fan them out.
Cut a small piece of eraser and put it on the end of the tack so it holds everything in place, be careful not to prick yourself!
Now stack the other ends onto another thumbtack at the bottom.
It should look something like this, now stack another piece of eraser on too.
Fan them out to close the gap you’ve been working in so it becomes a full ball.
Easy! Now let’s just make the basket.
So we have some way to hang it, take a piece of wire and wrap it around the top thumbtack. Twist it into a loop at the top.
I made the basket out of an acorn cap. To hold it on I used two more pieces of wire wrapped around the bottom of the balloon and then around the cap. You could easily just glue them in place too.
Cute and ready for take off!
Hope you guys enjoyed the tutorials and let me know if you give it a try!
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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