June 2011

Simple quilts for beginner quilters

by kath_red on June 30, 2011

in Quilting

There are so many gorgeous quilt designs available – it can get a little overwhelming – as a beginner quilter where do you start? What design/fabrics do you choose?

Here I have gathered up some simple quilt designs/patterns that can be found online – perfect for beginner quilters.

Simple and colourful quilts

Quilting Resources:

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Books – Block Party

by KateG on June 29, 2011

in Quilting, Reviews

Block Party–The Modern Quilting Bee: The Journey of 12 Women, 1 Blog, & 12 Improvisational Projects. Alissa Haight Carlton & Kristen Lejnieks. 2011, Stash Books.

I know that there are a lot of how-to crafting books on the market, and many of them very excellent books at that.  But this book is a how-to story that is sewn together with a common thread, following a journey of twelve women and twelve quilts across the United States, and bound together online by a love of colour, design, quilting and friendship.

Sewing and quilting has a long tradition of people working together to create an item together, as well as being a social event and an opportunity for collaboration and learning.  Lots of quilters have evolved this traditional Quilting Bee into an online experience, where people from diverse backgrounds and locations collaborate on quilts, using the postal service and the internet to share and connect.

Block Party; The Modern Quilting Bee follows the journey of an online quilting bee ‘Block Party’ established by Kristen Lejnieks and Alissa Haight Carlton.  Over the course of a year, the twelve women who belong to this online group each designed a quilt and made a block for each of these quilts.  You can have a look at the blog that started it all at blockpartyquilting.com

Each quilt in this book is presented as a finished object, clearly describes the design process and the process of coordinating the other quilters in the book, and provides instructions and photographs for the reader to use the techniques to make a similar quilt block.  How great is that, to have a finished quilt, a story, techniques and instructions, all in one place!

Apart from the well formatted, clear, well photographed and easy to understand techniques and projects in this book, I think that my favourite part is reading about the people behind each quilt, and the decisions each one made when she was designing the quilt.  I also really love reading about the challenges that each quilter had and has overcome, some quilters were really pushed out of their comfort zone when asked to use a certain technique or colour palette, but each one felt that they had learned and become better quilters for being nudged by understanding friends.  I also love the story of community, and how online friendships can be started by a common crafting interest, and can help people to create the most amazing things.

So if you are a beginner or an experienced quilter, interested in crafting groups, interested in online groups, interested in process and learning and growth and creativity, Block Party will likely give you the warm fuzzy feeling in your belly and your brain like it does to me.

Meet the quilters:

Follow on the rest of the blog tour:

About the reviewer: Kate is a busy mother of four with many craft projects on the go, including, but not limited to, crochet, knitting, sewing, dyeing, paper making, spinning, felting and bookbinding. Kate has challenges in the areas of finishing things, saying no and craft supplies storage. She also has a very very patient and tolerant husband.

Disclosure: Stash Books provided Whipup.net reviewer Kate with a free review copy of this book. The Amazon links are Affiliate links.

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Guest post: The Shirt off Daddy’s back

by contributor on June 28, 2011

in Green Crafting, Guest Blogger

Guest post by Wendi Gratz: You can find Wendi online at Shiny Happy World where she is on a mission to teach beginners of all ages how to sew. All of her patterns are especially designed for beginners and include links to free video tutorials teaching every skill you’ll need to complete the project.

Today Wendi is introducing a Workshop she is running called The Shirt Off Daddy’s Back Sewing Workshop which begins 10 July. The workshop will teach participants how to make girls’ clothes out of men’s shirts, and will include skirts, dresses, and aprons using both knit and woven fabric (from T-shirts and dress shirts). All patterns are included as well as video lessons for each project, plus a few extras such as how to crochet a scalloped border, embroider a pretty hem, and sew on knit ruffles. Find more info here. Wendi is giving away a free spot in the workshop to a Whip Up reader! Just leave a comment telling me about your favorite thing to make for kids. Contest will be open for 48 hours. Congratulations Cinnamon. You have been contacted via email.


Choosing Shirts to Refashion

I love a good wardrobe refashion. It’s good for the environment; it pleases my thrifty soul; and when it involves reworking my husband’s clothes into outfits for my daughter – I find it incredibly sweet. She loves to wear her daddy’s old clothes!

When I started out refashioning, I was just cutting old garments apart to reuse the fabric. I’ve learned to go a step further and now I also work to reuse a lot of the finish and detail work from the original. It preserves some of the character of the shirt I started with, and it also gives me some great details in the finished piece – with less work! Here’s what to look for. . .

  1. A good hem. For dress shirts I love curved shirt tails – those look lovely at the bottom of a skirt or dress. Many casual button-down shirts have straight hems – but some of them have nice notches at the side seams and that’s also a nice detail. For T-shirts – make sure the hem is intact. That double-stitched hem is often the first seam to go on an inexpensive tee. But you can dress up those plain t-shirt hems in lots of cute ways.
  2. Pockets. Pockets with curved bottom corners are nice. So are nice details at the top edge.
  3. Shoulder yokes and back pleats. Both of these details add a lot to the construction time if you do them yourself. Some strategic cutting on a shirt with them already in place will add a professional finish and take you no extra time.

A word on fabric

If the fabric feels good – use it. Remember – if you’re sewing for kids, comfort is the most important thing. If it’s stiff or itchy they won’t wear it, no matter how great it looks. One of the great things about using worn clothes is that they’re already ‘broken in’: t-shirts are buttery soft and dress shirts that are no longer “crisp” enough for business are perfect for a drapey skirt. Let your fingertips be your guide. Find more info here.

 

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Crafty links, news and more to kick start your week

by kath_red on June 27, 2011

in Features, Link Love

Every week I get lots of email – and also love to trawl through my rss feeds for cool things – so here i give to you some of my finds and some things that landed in my inbox this week.

If you would like to send press releases or submit your own project please send to submit[at]whipup.net.

Tutorials

Inspiring cool things

  • Jillian Tamaki’s embroidery
  • Embroidered children’s artwork by Molly
  • How to organise yourself
  • Amy Butler has put together a raffle to help support the relief efforts after the earthquake and tsunami in Japan and the tornados and flooding throughout the Southern United States. Tickets are on sale now through July 7, Click Here.
  • Westminster Lifestyle Fabrics’ catalog and their designer’s brochures is online. www.scribd.com/wfilifestylefabrics
  • Christine has completed her 52 crafts in 52 weeks she is now inviting people to join in.
  • Kiba Kiba Books, is kicking off the summer with a new online art project for kids 7-12 years old - kid who creates artwork/illustrations/images for the song Eat like a rainbow (by Jay Mankita) will get their artwork published in a “mash-up” art book – details here.
  • Teddies for Tohoku – Rosemary collected a few bears to give to children affected by the tsunami, unfortunately she didn’t have enough for each child and so her new goal is to get enough bears for every kindergarten child in Rikuzentakata. Read about it here.
  • School House Craft conference will include photography classes, Etsy shop hints, and how to enter the publishing world.

For even more crafty news, tutorials, reviews, special offers and updates subscribe to our newsletter via email.

 

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Guide to fabric design online

by kath_red on June 26, 2011

in Home+Decor, Sewing+Fabric

Seems like everyone is getting into fabric design – and companies like Spoonflower mean that anyway can create their own fabric designs. But how do you do it – what methods should you employ – is there a standard way of designing fabric? lets explore the possibilities…

Resources and inspiration:

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4 super books for kids and kids at heart {giveaway too}

by kath_red on June 25, 2011

in Food, Reviews

Thank you to Andrews McMeel Publishing for donating a copy of each of these books to giveaway to Whipup.net readers. I love being able to give stuff to my readers – as a little thank you for stopping by. So to be in the running to win ONE of these books please leave a comment telling me about what sort of things you like to cook for your kids – and what they love to cook too (or if they are too little to help what they love to eat) – I really want to know about your healthy choices not their favourite junk foods! {entries will be open over the weekend and will close Sunday night/monday am}. Winners will be contacted via email – Winners are: Jenny, Inge, Maya and Lisa.

 

Steampunk Softies: Scientifically-Minded Dolls from a Past That Never Was, by Sarah Skeate, Nicola Tedman. Published by Andrews McMeel Publishing (2011)

This incredibly detailed book – is not a kids craft book at all – its for those with a childlike heart, who love to play and experiment and have a little fun. These gorgeous characters, inspired by film and literary imagination, have been created by illustrator and character designer Sarah Skeate and costume designer and model maker Nicholas Tedman. This is not your usual DIY crafty softie toy how-to book. Its more of a guide to entertain and amuse and make these unusual and wonderful characters. They are not necessarily difficult to make – however you will need to have some sewing skills as there are not a lot of techniques explained and there is a huge materials list required. But if you are up for a challenge and you love everything steampunk, nerdy and kinda cool, then you will completely fall in love with this book.

Jurassic Towel Origami. By Alison Jenkins. Published by Andrews McMeel Publishing (2009)

This is a hilarious book – totally left of field for me – having never heard of towel origami before – but seems like it is a thing that people do. And Alison Jenkins is reviving it! I wasn’t quite sure what to make of this book – but my kids assure me its pretty weird – but in a good way! and off they went with towel and book in hand.

Ready, Steady, Spaghetti: Cooking For Kids And With Kids. By Lucy Broadhurst. Published by Andrews McMeel Publishing (2009). Originally published by Murdoch in 2007.

This book is a steal – I can’t believe its under $8 at Amazon at the moment. I don’t usually mention how much books cost – but really I was very surprised as it is a big colourful book and great value at twice the price! Most of the recipes are given a double page – with clear step-by-step photos, which are really handy so you can see what the mixture is supposed to look like along the way. The recipes don’t reinvent the wheel – rather they are a timely reminder for busy parents and budding cooks about some simple, fun and healthful recipes that can be made easily and quickly with fairly common ingredients.

There are quite a few recipes that kids can tackle on their own (depending on age) and many more where little hands can assist. There are many healthy choices for busy parents like simple stir fried vegetables and sausage pie and few others that are a bit more demanding time wise but worth a little effort if you have a little more time – like gnocci and fish cakes. This is not a health food book though – its a real food for real families book – there is a treat section and party section – and anything homemade with real ingredients is a step towards teaching kids about real food.

Bean Appetit: Hip and Healthy Ways to Have Fun with Food. By Shannon Payette Seip and Kelly Parthen. Published by Andrews McMeel Publishing (2010).

Shannon and Kelly are founders of the kids cafe and cookery school – Bean Sprouts - which looks like fun – anyone been there? This book is sort of aimed at kids – it’s bright and colourful with fun character illustrations perfect in a kiddo book. However as the kids it’s aimed at are preschool age and not likely to be reading yet (unless they are genius children), and older (7+) kids might think this book is a little cheesy (my kids did), so then if this book is really for the grownups it is a little hard to look at. Instead think of it as a book for preschool age (and younger) kids and parents to use together.

But design aside – the recipes, ideas and concepts that it discusses are really good. It is more than a cook book – it is an activity book which includes creative ways to encourage healthy eating and creates a positive attitude toward meals, making food and cooking fun, and using interesting and colourful ingredients. [Woman's day has some sneak peaks of a few of the recipes you will find inside.]

Disclaimer: The publisher provided Whipup.net with a review copy of these books. The Amazon links are affiliate links.

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5 free and easy patterns for beginner knitters

by kath_red on June 24, 2011

in knitting+crochet+yarn

Are you just learning to knit? Or want to get started – here are five easy, useful and satisfying projects to get you going.

  1. Hat: Rikke Hat - DK / 8 ply yarn – garter stitch
  2. Kids hat: Business card hat - Aran / 10 ply  - garter stitch
  3. Scarf: Noro scarf – ribbed self striping yarn
  4. Cowl: All the way around cowl - Bulky / 12 ply – garter stitch
  5. Toy: Fast and easy finger puppets - Worsted / 10 ply

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Wool applique and embroidery

by kath_red on June 23, 2011

in Fibre+Needlework

I have a lovely quilty crafty neighbour whose children are all grown and who has the most wonderful wall of neatly folded fabric I have ever seen. I love to pop over and share books and inspiration and advice. My quilty neighbour recently lent me a pile of felt applique and stitching books.

Three of the books were by Sue Spargo. Sue is an inspirational and prolific teacher and author and maker. Her work is many layered, dense, tactile and colourful with a folk art feel to it. Sue uses wool quite a lot in her work – wool felt and wool threads for applique and embroidery. Her motifs are simple bird and flower shapes but with many layers of colour and stitching they become this amazing tapestry of colour and texture. One of the books in my pile of loaned books is her latest book is Contemporary Folk (you can see more here). This book – interestingly – is written in both French and English. And the templates are printed in the book at 100% size ready to photocopy.

More woolly things I love:

 

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To dye for … experiments in dyeing

by kath_red on June 22, 2011

in Fibre+Needlework, Green Crafting

Experimenting with colour is a lovely meditative and interesting process. It is part art, part science, part cooking and part childhood game. Around Easter time this year the kids and I had a hoot dyeing eggs – and then I continued with my natural dye experiments on wool I had recycled from a fine cream coloured skirt. I have had a long on and off again fascination with dyeing fabric and in fact my mini quilt in Whip Up Mini Quilts is a Shibori Sampler.

Dyeing – either with natural – readily found ingredients like beetroot and red cabbage or with harder to find woodland materials like lichens, moss and plant leaves, or if you want to go use indigo and cochineal or even if chemical dyeing is more your thing – its tricky – fun – and addictive!

How to:

  1. Dip dye clothing
  2. Sweet Paul Magazine Summer has an article on natural dyeing
  3. Dye shoe makeover
  4. Great article at Craftzine on natural dyeing (pictured)
  5. Natural wool dyed table runner

Experiments

  1. Some clamp and fold experimentation and more lovely experiments here (pictured)
  2. Resurrection fern keeps a dye journal - beautiful and interesting. (pictured)
  3. Abigail has been experimenting with dyeing bracelets. (pictured)
  4. Jude’s onion skin dye experiments
  5. Lichen dye experimentation

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Camping tips, diy and games

by kath_red on June 21, 2011

in Holidays, Kids Crafts

I seriously love to go camping. I don’t love everything about camping – the dust, the disorganisation, the long car drive, the packing and unpacking – all that is not fun. But what is great is the family togetherness. The cooperation, the cooking, eating and doing together. With no tv or electronic diversions there is a lot of playing cards and backgammon, reading books, sitting chatting, cooking on the campfire. Plus the adventures – swimming, hiking, nature, sounds of the wild, rain and sunshine – being out in the elements! It is all so raw and real.

We often go camping with the kids for a week or two at the most – its all we can manage to get away from work and our lives. But those weeks are wonderful. And when we return we just want to plan the next trip straight away. Next time we are taking off or 4-5 weeks and going on a bit of a bigger adventure halfway across the country – to the desert. To Lake Eyre – one of the biggest lakes in the world – when it fills – which is hardly ever – but it is full now. And along the way we plan to stop off at other interesting and exciting places. Hot springs, beaches, bays, sand dunes and historic sites. There will be quite a bit of dust, dirt roads and desert. But also some amazing landscape, history and nature.

We are not heading off until later in the year – but for now many of you might be doing some travelling and camping of your own – so here are some inspirational stories, adventures, tips, and ideas to get you excited about camping. And if you have kiddos – make sure to take with you a copy of Issue 4 of the Action Pack - which is full of camping and travelling games, recipes, crafts and adventures.

Diy camping projects

Camp cooking and recipes

Camping inspiration and stories

Pretty camping

 

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For more kids craft, creative ideas and activities go to the Action Pack website

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