About the contributor: Charity is a mother and crafter – she blogs at indie tutes – her past tutorials include re-purposing men’s shirt sleeves into kids sleevy pants and kids snack backpack.

Hey, do you have too much of this?

I do. Every time I get something factory new, I always end up with more packaging than product. Not content with just tossing the stuff away, I’ve been pondering how best to deal with this surplus packaging.  Vinyl packaging happens to be pretty useful stuff. Many items made of cloth and some types of toys come pre-bagged in their own heavy duty vinyl wrap, often decked out with zippers, snaps or velcro used as closures. This is packaging to be reckoned with and begs to be reused. Still, after storing all my off-season clothing, bagging up every last one of my toiletries, making terrariums, and mining them for notions, I still have a few vinyl packages kicking around.

Time to bring it to the sewing machine.

Here’s is one way to re-purpose excess vinyl packaging.

This little pocket organizer is just the right size for storing the small stuff that gets misplaced like craft supplies and jewelery, or hang it low for the little ones, who love to sort, organize, and generally poke things into pockets.

To make your own clear pocket organizer:

1. gather up your sturdy vinyl packaging
2. some fabric for the backing (I used an old button down dress shirt)
3. medium to heavy weight iron-on interfacing
4. fabric strips (or pre-made double-fold bias tape) for edging both the pockets and the outside frame
5. two eyelets for hanging
6. A grid ruler and rotary cutter is your friend for this project, so bring them out too if you have them.

Begin by cutting the backing fabric and interfacing both into 14″ by 11″ rectangles. Iron the interfacing to the wrong side of the fabric rectangle, following the manufacturers directions.

Cut a 12″ by 11″ rectangle of vinyl. Divide that vinyl rectangle into three equal sections of 4″ by 11″.

Cut three fabric strips for edging the vinyl pockets, 1 1/2″ by 11″ wide (or cut three 11″ long pieces of the double-fold bias tape). Prep the strips by folding each them in half length-wise, wrong sides together, and pressing flat. Open up the strip and fold the raw edges in to meet the center fold. Press. Once more fold and press the center.

Open up a fabric (or bias tape) strip and align a raw edge, right sides together, with the longer side of a vinyl strip. Machine baste the fabric to the vinyl. Refold the fabric strip over the vinyl edge and stitch fabric to vinyl. Repeat for other two vinyl pieces.

Position the vinyl strips onto the right side of the fabric backing as shown:

The bottom strip should align with the bottom raw edge of the backing and each vinyl strip above should sit just above the fabric lined edge of the strip below. The top 2″ of backing will remain uncovered.

Stitch the bottom of each strip to the backing 1/4″ from the edge.

Next, divide the three vinyl pockets into nine by making two vertical lines of stitching. This is when having material with vertical stripes is quite handy. Otherwise, use tailor’s chalk or faint marks with a pencil to mark vertical lines at 3 2/3″ intervals from the side edges. Stitch from the bottom edge of the organizer straight up to the top edge of the top pocket. Reinforce the top edge of the pockets by taking a couple of back stitches as you sew by.

Cut the fabric for the outside frame into two 1 1/2″ by 12″ strips and two 1 1/2″ by 14″ strips. Prep each strip in the same manner as the pocket edging. Edge the sides with the two 14″ strips. Sew on the top and bottom edging with the 12″ strips, leaving a 1/2″ of overhang on each end. Tuck in this overhang before your final top stitch to create smooth corners.

Using the manufacturer’s directions, attach the eyelets to the top edges of the organizer.

Hang the organizer on the wall by looping the eyelets onto nails or screws. Try lacing the eyelets with ribbons before hanging for a bit extra pretty, if desired. Fill pockets with goodies.

About the author: Hi there, I’m Lucy from Yellow Moon Kids Crafts. As the summer holidays draw to an end, your kids (like mine) might be suffering from the unfortunate combination of getting bored of their time off but also starting to dread the return to school. Here are a few crafty ideas to help out, keeping them entertained for the last few days of the holiday and hopefully getting them a bit more excited about returning to school!

Pencil cases are one of the most important components of a well-stocked school satchel. Here are a few ideas:
- denim is a great material for pencil cases, it’s durable and is a classic symbol of ‘cool’,
- think about cutting up a few of those clothes that were grown out of over the holidays and making a patchwork pencil case,
- a pencil case with a photograph! Check out these step by step instructions.

Labelling stuff is one of the great joys of going back to school! Ahem. Despite the bore, labelling all your children’s back-to-school kit is a worthwhile endeavour. Instead of buying expensive labels or a machine to do all the work, just get hold of some masking tape, stickers and fibre tip pens and get going!

Hair bands: Depending on the school your daughter attends (sorry lads, this one’s not for you!) she might be allowed to wear something more exciting than a plain old hair band in her hair. Why not let her have a dig through your bag of scrap materials and then help her make a few of these much more exciting DIY hairbands.

[pencil case image from two pink possums hairbands image from hipgirlie]

Socks from the Toe Up: Essential Techniques and Patterns from Wendy Knits by Wendy D. Johnson. Potter Craft; 1 edition (April 14, 2009).

Reviewed by: Dace lives in Tasmania, Australia, and loves to knit and sew for her grandchildren and many grand nieces and nephews.

A book for sock knitting enthusiasts.

This beautifully photographed and illustrated sock-knitting book by Wendy D Johnson caught my eye. I am a fairly experienced knitter of uncomplicated sweaters and jackets and baby wear but have not tried socks before, so was interested to see if this book would be a suitable guide for a sock starter.

My husband had been given 2 lovely pairs of hand knit socks as gifts but found he could not wear them as the ribbing was too tight around his fairly solid calves – so I got to keep both pairs, so I was especially interested to see if Toe Up socks would fit the bill and
not constrict the circulation.

My first impression in flicking through the book was of beautiful models sitting and standing in beautiful socks made of gorgeous yarns and it made me jealous of a life style where there are no chores! Are all hand knit socks designed to be worn for sitting around in or sleeping?

On closer examination I discovered a very good illustrated section on techniques perfectly suitable for beginners as well as experienced sock knitters who may not have tried the Toe Up technique before. Most socks had a smooth sole without a pattern, which was very welcome, as they would suit those of us with very sensitive feet. The Diamond Gansey style and all the vanilla styles could be worn with shoes or boots with reasonable comfort, however the Tribolite made me wince at the thought of wearing them inside a shoe. Casting off in loose ribbing and larger needles is much less likely to produce a tourniquet effect so this is a great style from that point of view.

The book would make a beautiful gift for a sock knitter with some experience, though it would be a lot easier to use if it were ring bound and sit flat while I was trying to test the pattern and had my hands full.

Reviewed by: Kate is a busy mother of four and has far too many craft projects on the go at any one time. These could include, but are not limited to, crochet, sewing, dyeing, paper making, spinning, felting and bookbinding. Kate has challenges in the areas of finishing things, saying no and craft supplies storage. She makes baby slings in her free time – find them here.

Weekend Knitting: 50 Unique Projects and Ideas by Melanie Falick. STC Craft (October 3, 2003) STC Craft/A Melanie Falick Book (March 1, 2009).

This book has been re released as a softcover, and I am really glad. There are eleventy billion knitting books on the crafting book market at the moment, and not all are created equal. Knitting Weekend has stood the test of time, and is as current and useful as it was when first published in 2003.

The feel of this book is of a nice cosy weekend, at home with family or visiting with friends. Dipping into the pages is like finding a charming little town on an autumn drive, or like discovering a quiet and delicious café, or like wearing comfy handknit slippers on a cold winters day.

There are 50 projects in Knitting Weekend. Some of the highlights for me are curly toed elf slippers for children, a seriously cute hat called the Luggy Beannie, some gorgeously lacy Petticoat Socks, the trio of the Brioche Hat, Neckwarmer and Scarf (which uses Brioche stitch in the round and I can’t wait to give these a go!), a knitted backgammon board and a cute bag to keep it in, and flower shaped washcloths. Lots of the projects are perfect for starting and finishing in a weekend, while many others provide a perfect excuse (if an excuse is ever required) to link together a few perfect weekends of sitting and knitting. And just to help you to achieve the perfect serene weekend with sticks and string in hand, there are recipes for tea, hot chocolate and butter cookies, and some ideas for running the perfect bath to soothe tired knitting muscles.

And if, like me, you can’t sit and knit all day long, but yarny thoughts fill your head between your times with the needles, then Knitting Weekend can provide some more yarny thoughts, with lists of books and films where knitting features. The film list even includes Wallace and Gromit, fantastic!

The knitting patterns are contributed by a Who’s Who of knitting designers, and are accompanied by anecdotes, special notes and schematic diagrams for the garments. It is a shame that there isn’t any help for yarn substitution, but I suppose one can’t have everything.

Normally I am not a fan of knitting books that try to be more than how-tos or pattern books, but Knitting Weekend is a very comfy fit for me.

Reviewed by: Janette has been knitting and crocheting for over 60 years, she also spins and dyes her own wool.

Knitting Socks with Handpainted Yarn by Carol Sulcoski. Interweave Press (January 1, 2009)

I grew up with hand knitted socks and my husband was spoiled by my mother with hand knitted socks. There really is nothing like homemade, hand knitted, (my preference) woollen socks for comfort and warmth. My mother knitted our socks leg down to toe, so it never even occurred to me that there was another way. I have knitted a few socks over over the years, not many I admit, but this book has inspired me to give sock knitting another go.

Another thing I love to do is to play with dyeing yarn and experimenting with colour. So another reason to love this book – is that it delves into different methods that can be used to get different affects with colour.

Between, the different methods of colouring yarn, different stitches, plus the choice of knitting from leg down or toe up, I found that one is never too old to discover and learn something new and challenging about knitting. I am quite looking forward to using this book as soon as I have finished my present project (spinning an alpaca fleece then knitting up a sweater for my husband).

Back to the book – each pattern is well illustrated, instructions clear and a good glossary at the back of the book to demonstrate techniques, such as the Continental Cast on and the Eastern Cast on.

I would recommend this book to both inexperienced and expert knitters, I think they would get a lot of satisfaction out of trying the different patterns and possibly playing with the dying of the yarn.

About the designer: Shira Cooper is an Israeli craftswoman and jewelry designer, but since becoming a mother she mostly sew dolls and other soft objects. Find her online here .

Making a yoyo is such an easy and popular craft, why not make it a bit more rewarding? Let’s make a double layered yoyo!

1 Start by cutting two circles of fabric, about twice the size of the desired yoyo. Two different but complimentary patterns or colors can enhance the effect and I believe cotton is the most suitable fabric for this task. I like to cut the circles with pinking shears for a festive look.

2. Lay your circles one on top of the other, wrong sides together (yes, I’m sure).

3. Now sew just as you would sew a regular yoyo, no shortage of yoyo tutorials on the web. I don’t use any plastic or cardboard tools, I’m pretty sure you can use these tools with the upgraded yoyo as well. (yoyo tutorial here)

4. Take three things into account:
- The amount of fabric left at the edge will affect the look of the yoyo. You will need to make one yoyo and see what results from different width edges.
- The side you choose sew on now will determine the patterns/colors of the outside and inside. This will also get easy to determine with time.
- Two layers of fabric are more difficult to gather at the final step, use a needle with double thread, tying both threads onto a single thread.

5. When the circle is sewn all around, pull the thread on both sides, gathering the fabric and then tie the thread.

6. Your yoyo is now essentially done. As it is, this yoyo is more decorative than simple yoyos, but you can add more to it. Sew or glue a button onto the yoyo. When I glue a button onto a yoyo I use my hot glue gun but first I have to use the thread that remained right after tying the knot. Instead of cutting the thread, I sew through the back of the yoyo (both layers) and bring the needle back up again. I do so several times around the opening. This will prevent the pull of the button on the yoyo and give it a better look. Now glue on the button. You might like to glue on a magnet on the back side. This method of yoyo making can also be used with only one layer of fabric:

Now you can go yoyo crazy!

Well winter is just around the corner and I have a mountain of crafty projects I want to do and some that are already on the go.

CRAFT ACTION:
Firstly I am going to make a pair of knickers from gemma’s pattern
Speaking of making underwear, Amy Karol makes the most rockin‘ under garments and I just purchased her latest mailorder and will endeavour to do issue 9’s mailout and also issue 10 which is all about paper cutting. Issue 9 of mixtapezine features the colourful Tina Tarnoff who is a paper cut artist amongst other things.
I got my latest copy of the sweetest little zine called Crafty Leftovers - it is one very, very special zine.

Blog of the week : Myrtle & Eunice

COMMUNITY:
I am off to RRR on Monday morning to talk to the grapevine chicks about mixtape. In our first ever issue Kylie wrote an article on the community cup. The community cup is a footy match between broadcasters and musicians, and has become an iconic Melbourne event and a celebration of the city’s vibrant musical and community broadcasting cultures. And it’s all for a good cause!!

I run a fortnightly stitching night at my local fabric store and Nichola has just started a monthly Burda get together at the new Tessuti store that has opened here in Flinders Lane. We all know how popular Brown Owls are and I’d like to know about your sewing group. I am getting some things together for an article for mixtape.
Please email me and tell me about your art/craft/stitching /knitting group:
submissions.mixtapezineATgmailDOTcom

Issue 9 has a couple of articles about community spirit – craftivism and Handmade Help. I’ve just watched collectors and they had a segment about peeps that are collecting tea cups to deliver to fire victims, I love that.

MUSIC/SCREEN:
We bought a digital set top box a few weeks ago and man am I loving ABC2. Spectacle, Elvis Costello with … is on as I am writing this, GOOD STUFF!!

The little lady and I went and saw Yo Gabba Gabba today here in Melbourne at the Palais Theatre. It was all I hoped it would be except for the fact that I was hoping the guest muso was going to be Chris Cheney and instead we got Robert Mills…

Have a great weekend! and don’t forget that Issue 9 is now available for sale.
Also the winner of our very first weekly giveaway will be announced here on the mixtape blog tomorrow morning and the next giveaway will start from Monday June 1.

About the designer: Kelly is a jacquard textile designer in North Carolina. She designs fabric for the Contract and Hospitality Markets by day and sew quilts and bags by night. She hopes to build enough inventory to sell her quilts and bags and is developing patterns for the same as well. Find her online here

I have developed this method for designing and printing my own, laundry-safe labels for quilts and handbags. Since these are laundry-safe, the labels could be used for apparel as well.

You will need:
Computer with software to lay out the type you want and a printer
Freezer paper or full-page sticker paper
Iron
Prepared For Dying fabric (PFD) this is ESSENTIAL!

1. Design your label, include any info you wish – you can do this in a text based program such as Word or an image based program such as photoshop. Set this info up as a “text box”.
2. Copy and paste as desired on your 8.5″ x 11″ page layout. Don’t forget to give yourself room to cut apart and to add seam allowance to attach to your item to cloth.
3. Cut a piece of the PFD fabric to 8.5″ x 11″. Attach to either the full-page sticker, or a 8.5″ x 11″ piece of Freezer Paper. I used the sticker paper for this.
4. Print this page (I have a Lexmark P4350 ink jet printer). I use the regular ink that I have in the printer.
5.Allow to dry completely.
6. After completely dry, remove sticker paper (or freezer paper) backing.
7. Heat set ink with a hot (cotton setting) iron.
8. Cut and attach to your item! I apply double-sided fusible to the back, folding over edge to catch with the fusible. Then remove backing paper and fuse to the item, I then whip-stitch for a nice, smooth edge – or you could machine stitch around it too if you like.
9. This creates a label that is wash-proof. This photo shows my label on a quilt after laundering.
Any comments or questions are welcome.

Oh my! a bit of craft action has happened here at mixtape headquarters:

Inspired by Nicoles post and my mate Fi’s pattern. I finally sat down last night and started my first foray into this calming craft action! It has been nice to start with these tiny ones.

Vickie Howell’s Crafty Corps
…The primary goal of both the blog and the book is to nurture our wonderful community by telling your stories and elevating the perception of the value of craft, all crafts, amongst society. Being creative, as a hobby or professionally, is a gift and deserves to be celebrated…

Handmade Nation
When is this out on DVD?? Everybody should see this doco, everybody!

Emerging Writers Festival
mixtape has a stall in the atrium at FED SQUARE on Sunday May 31st from 12-5pm. You will able to buy the current issue.

VINCE
Meaghan is the CUTEST thing ever and her letterpress cards are to die for.

Can’t wait to purchase Gracia’s latest zine
Aunty Cookies latest craft scmaft is totally killing me! I will need the WHOLE alphabet.
Susy Pow has an online zine shop which you can check out here

Listening:
Justin Townes Earl – Midnight at the Movies
Watching:
Revolutionary Road
Reading:
Business as Un-usual, thanks for the recommendation Kelley

Got something you’d like to suggest I write about in this weekly update? email me!!

Justine

About the authors: Ramona and Samantha are cousins with a passion for art and the environment. Many of the projects we create come from everyday objects found around the house. Growing up with mothers that did arts and crafts it was natural for us to continue in their footsteps. We love to share and swap ideas and we encourage everyone to experiment and step outside their comfort zone. Life is said to be a journey, we both live by that motto. Website link

Bottle cap art has been around for many years, here is our take for those small objects. New and used bottle caps can be transformed into miniature refrigerator magnet art. Many restaurants and bars will give you their used bottle caps for free; all you have to do is ask.

The first thing you have to do is remove the rubber lining.
Place all the caps in a small saucepan and bring to a boil. The heat helps loosen the rubber ring. It will take some effort to pull the plastic rings out, we use needle noise pliers. Keep in mind some rings may not come out even after some effort.

Note: Dry the caps – don’t leave them in the water or even wet as they will start to rust.

Creating your design:
Photos of family, friends and ephemera can be cut to fit inside the bottle cap. Once you decide which photos and objects to use you can start gluing them into the bottle caps. We use a paper glue.

Note: A 1″ hole punch makes this project easier to create the small circles of art you will insert into the bottle caps. If you don’t have a 1″ hole punch you can use a quarter to draw around. Each are the perfect fit for the inside of the bottle caps.

Embellish the bottle cap as you desire. On the ones pictured we have glued beads to the outside rim and some fake diamonds on the inside rim. Tap a hole in the bottom and insert a jump ring for beads to dangle.

Cover the entire inside with a glaze or dimensional adhesive, removing all excess glaze. Let this dry overnight. Finally use a strong glue like E6000 to glue a magnet to the back, let dry overnight.