Results tagged “Holiday decorating” from Fabric.com Blog

It's time to get started on your Halloween projects! I imagined nothing would be scarier or more fun than a Halloween wreath until I thought that a monster peeping out of the wreath would be even better! Depending on your eye design you could make your monster super scary or super fun. I opted for fun because my kids are youngsters and scare easily. If yours are older than scary is the way to go. Get them in on the fun too by having them help with the design and fabric choice. You will need about a ½ yd of Halloween fabric or a Halloween color, some monster fur or skin, some felt pieces in Halloween or monster colors and a foam wreath form. You want to stick with cotton for the wreath so you can tear the fabric into strips to get the frayed, monster look. Cut notches into your selvedges every 1'' and then pull and tear the strips to the end. If you don't want your knots to show then you can sew your ends RS together, otherwise just tie the ends together as you wrap your strips around your wreath form. As your ends meet up at the back, knot them together but leave enough to create a hanging loop for your door.

For the eye background you will need a ¼ yd piece of canvas or faux fur or felt in a monsterish color. Since this wreath will be a peep hole for the monster the background will represent the fur or skin of your monster. I went with an abominable monster look since it is still very hot here and I want to channel some cooler weather (it's not working by the way). You can experiment with different kinds of fabric to get the monster look you want, try minky for a super soft monster or metallic knits for a space age monster. On the WS of your background fabric trace the inside of your wreath and then add 2-3'' and cut. You can glue or hand stitch this onto the back of your wreath with the RS facing out the center of the wreath.

To make your eye like mine you will need 2 colors of felt (White, black and green). Cut one circle 3 1/2'' from the green, one 3'' from the white and one 1 1/4'' from the black. Stack the white on top of the green and the black on top of the white. You can either glue or machine stitch your eye together. Draw a sinister but bold eye brow or if you don't draw find a clip art picture of a great thick monster eyebrow and print it to use as a pattern. Make sure your eyebrow conveys the correct message. If it is straight, your monster is not aggressive and unintersted in "human goings-on". If your eyebrow is slanted down towards the nose of the monster than your monster is mean. Make sure the brow you choose has just the right amount of meanness. I went with wary and grouchy! You can glue your eyebrow in place or hand stitch it to your background. Make sure if you glue to apply pressure until your glue is set.

Now is the time to add embellishments as you like. You can add a message to hang on your wreath: "Beware" or "Monster Residence". You can drape spider webs around your wreath or add some plastic spiders using your glue gun. My favorite is to hang old bones from your wreath like your monster just ate and threw them out the door. Add your favorite Halloween tidbits and your trick or treaters will either giggle in delight or run away scared, leaving all their candy behind!

I just moved to the eastside of Atlanta and am in desperate need of decorating, most importantly curtains, shades and window treatments. We live in a traditional style neighborhood which includes houses with zero property lines. This means that a few of our windows look out onto our neighbors' backyard and vice versa. While on the whole we love the house, we have decided that good curtains make better neighbors. So I am on a curtain making frenzy with the first up being café curtains in our mudroom/blog.fabric.com central (you can see where I think my thoughts concerning blog fodder).  I wanted to let the light in but not feel so creepy when I accidentally looked out my windows into my neighbors' yard (which is really nice so I will miss it a bit). The walls are yellow so I wanted to tone down the traditional style some and bring in a more modern print. I paired some Waverly Sun n Shade fabric with some medium weight muslin to break up the busy print and (if I am going to be honest) stretch my fabric. To make this style of café curtain I needed at least 1 ½ times the width of the window which came out to be 5 yds. I had 2 yds of the Waverly and I REALLY wanted to use this print but didn't want to wait for more to arrive. The muslin perfectly matched the accent color in the print, so I felt I could pull it off. I used gorgeous French Seams (look for a post on French Seams early Nov.) to join the 3 panels because I didn't want to line the curtains- which would reduce the light- and I didn't want the neighbors whispering about my seam skills behind my back.   I added a 3 in. hem on the bottom, because I really love the look of deep hems on curtains and a 1 in. rod pocket at the top. A quick tip on using Outdoor Fabric, keep the temp down on your iron because the treatment used to keep the fabric moisture resistant can become distorted at higher temperatures. To measure and make your own café curtains, measure the window(s) exactly how you want the curtains to hang (inside the trim, outside, etc). Multiple the width by 1 ½ times if you want some gathers and body, 2 times if you can lots of gathering and body. Add your rod pocket size plus a ½ in. for a double fold hem (ex: 1 in. rod pocket plus 1/2 in. = 2 ½ in.)  Then add your bottom hem plus another ½ in. for double fold hem (ex: 3 in. hem plus ½ in. = 3 ½ in.  to the length of your window (café curtains typically hang from the middle of the window but ¾ length also looks amazing). You can also hang your curtains with clips, ties or rings.

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After:

I also made the curtain rod. I was concerned about the lack of selection for basic curtain rods out there and the fancier rods that fit my style were pricey. To solve my problem, I ran to my local hardware store, purchased some ½ in. metal conduit and some conduit mounting brackets. You can trim the conduit with a hack saw or the hardware store can cut it for you (I opted for the husband cutting method and discovered that 10 ft of metal conduit JUST fits in a Scion Xb). You can also add some drawer pulls as finials using this tutorial. 

When a new holiday rolls around I don't really get in the mood until I have decorated my house. While I do love to decorate my home, making the decorations is even more fun. This year I decided my Funkins just were not FUN enough so I spiced them up a bit with Glitter after I saw this idea on Martha Stewart's Craft site.

While I love Martha's glitter color choice in the video, I felt it was too tonal for me so I spiced it up a bit with green, red and orange (yes, despite what I just said about tonal, but it is a bright orange). And I set to work. I had a blast, a glitter obsessed, pumpkin decorating, Halloween loving, blast. All you need to make your own are a few pumpkins, real or fake, some white glue, glitter in several colors (Martha makes the best- really branches out of the primary colors), a medium sized art brush (doesn't need to be fancy), some newspaper/craft paper, a cookie sheet and a place to work. You want to lay out the newspaper/ craft paper on the cookie sheet. This will be your main work area to catch all the extra glitter. Paint your pumpkin's skin with the glue and then cover it in glitter. You can do it a number of ways, roll it in the glitter, sprinkle it with glitter, brush it on, etc. Whichever works best for you. Once covered, set your Glitter Pumpkin aside to dry and get to work on the next with another color. This project is good for kids over the age of 6 because of potential for huge messes.

Since they were big pumpkins, it did take a while to get each covered but because I went with the fake pumpkins, I can use them each year. I am also branching out into other glitter covered objects for Christmas (apples), Chanukah (also apples but in blue or silver), Thanksgiving (Gourds), New Years (Pomegranate), or Easter (Eggs). I already have many of these items laying around just looking for a second life. My only real decision and purchase is lovely glitter. I think I need a stash of glitter as well as yarn and fabric!

On the heels of my Kimono Dress from Monday, I wanted to follow up on bias tape. It reminds me of the purple car phenomenon: you never notice how many purples cars there are until someone points it out and then you see them everywhere. The same can be said of bias tape. You never notice how useful it is until you start using it, making it or finding a new way to use it. Bias tape has so many applications that a blog posting was definitely in order. Not only can it be used for the standard of finishing off seams such as necklines and sleeves but also as ties, straps, belts, and cording. Bias tape is an excellent way to use up and store your fabric scraps. As well as a great way to add a bit of color or contrast to a project. Bias tape is forgiving given its stretchy nature so you can use it on parts of clothing where you might lack confidence in the recommend technique, such as 1/8 in. double turn on the neckline. Bias tape can be purchased readymade but with several different sizes of bias tape makers, the options are endless and perfectly coordinated to your needs. I have surfed blog land and some of my favorite sites to come up with some great tips and tutorials for bias tape creations.

One of our favorite pattern companies (especially close to Shannon's heart), Colette Patterns shows us how to make a continuous bias tape. This cuts down on the amount of sewing to join your bias tape together. I particularly love it because I never know how exactly to line up my bias tape to make it match up. This tute eliminates that and all my bias tape strips are perfect every time. Thank you!

Craftzine features a great tute for hemming jeans with denim bias tape. This is a great finish for too long jeans or a great way to add your favorite color to your favorite jeans. A pal found that by adding some dino fabric to her son's jeans that he broke off the habit of wearing the same camo pants every day.

One of our featured blogs of the month- Adventures in Dressmaking- has another great tute for changing a boring sweater in to a vintage-inspired letter sweater using bias tape. It is super cute and can be changed into a Laverne and Shirley style monogram sweater without too much thought. 

Prudent Baby offers a free pattern for a bias tape bag that is uber cool and reversible. By adjusting the scale of the pattern, this bag can be modified to be large enough for a diaper bag, knitting bag or smaller for an evening out/date purse. Very versatile.

My own Mom (who taught me to sew) made a delightful flannel kimono-seen above-, from Amy Butler's Little Stitches for Little Ones, for my baby complete with flannel bias tape edging. It is so soft and cozy that often there is a battle to remove it in the morning and get into play clothes. More kimonos made from quilting cotton, linen and sleeveless are planned to ease the morning transition.

Tea is the new coffee, at least according to my Christmas presents and most of my neighbors. Everyone is getting into tea. My mom has a drawer with practically every flavor made. When my neighbor comes over for "Mornings with our Machines" (AKA sewing time) she brings tea. It seems to me that if Tea is going to insist on being so popular, I will do my best to make sure it looks as good as it tastes. Everyone knows about the tea cozy and it is very effective, super cute and perhaps one day I will create a knitting pattern for one. There are tons of fun sewing patterns out for Tea Cozies as well. But it occurred to me that what was really needed to decorate your tea table were Tea Time Napkins. These specially sized napkins are just right for dabbing at the corners of your mouth and prettying up your cup and saucer. Embroidered with jazzy tea cups and edged with velvet ric rac, these napkins are gorgeous enough to adorn a tea table whether it is just a quiet cup for yourself or a get together with a close friend.

Here's what you need:

1 yd of quilting cotton (makes 6 Tea Time Napkins)

6.5 yds of velvet ric rac

Sublime Stitching (great tea and cake embroidery patterns)

Cut Twelve 10 in. by 10 in. squares. Embroider 6 of the squares (these will be the fronts of your napkins) with your favorite Sublime Stitches Tea patterns. I love the tea cups (obviously), cake and pie but you can get crazy with some Mexican dancing girls or some sweet birds. Once the fronts have been embroidered, apply the ric rac to the backs of the napkins (the blank squares) with the velvet facing up. Line up the ric rac with the edges of the fabric and stitch down the middle to secure in place (this should be a ¼ to 3/8 in. seam. With right sides facing pin the fronts to the back napkins and stitch around the edges, going over the ric rac seams to prevent them from showing and leaving a 2-3 in. turning gap. Clip your corners and turn your napkins right sides out and press. Top stitch around the edges to close the gap and finish the napkins. Press again and set your tea table. Make a set for your favorite Tea Time partner to prevent jealousy and so you can enjoy these delicious napkins where ever you drop in for a 'cuppa'. Pinkies Out!

Knitted ornaments are huge this year and why not. They are so classic, vintage-y and can be customized to compliment your tree or coordinated in groups for a great knitted tree. Knitted cupcakes are a great addition to your holiday decorations because they are yummy, are a total icon for holiday baking and are soft to the touch for a baby/toddler friendly bottom of the tree (like at yours-truly's house). Of course, you know I love them because they are fast. These cupcake ornaments can last the whole year through as cute decorations on a cake plate, in a play kitchen or lining the shelf in a kid's room. I knit a whole plate for my mom to display on her dining room table year round.

These cupcakes are easy and fun to make. I based mine on the Floofy Cupcake pattern for free on Ravelry. I used a great bright Peaches n Crème cotton yarn in Peacock (Fabric.com has 5 pages of colors!) for the 'wrapper' of the cupcake. Then I changed to merino wool in a light brown color (Gedifa Extra Soft Merino in Nugat). I choose wool to give it a softer cake-like look. I wanted the light brown because I was jonesing for some caramel cake. Then after 3 rows, on the 4^th row I started to strand some White Gedifa Merino to imitate white icing dripping down.   Since the pattern is divisible by 6, I knit 4 sts in brown, then 2 sts in white for round 4. The next row, I varied it up a bit by knitting 3 sts in brown then 3 sts in white, then 4 sts in white, then 3 sts in brown, etc. I didn't follow that exactly since icing doesn't always drip the same. I did not add a ribbon hanger because when I pinned it on I thought it was too distracting. A ribbon was pretty but when I just used a wire ornament hanger and hung it in the tree, the hanger disappeared and the cupcake really stood out on the tree.

My cupcake ornament really adds something special to my Christmas tree. It softens the hard plastic, metal, glass and porcelain ornaments. The sheen of the merino catches the light and glistens just like moist cake and royal icing. The bright colors of the cotton mean you can make cupcakes in all colors and flavors (the merino comes in many colors as well) you can decorate your cupcakes with French knot or beads for Jimmies, or buttons make yummy embellishments too. 

I-cord is one of the most versatile of knitting stitches; even non-knitters can make i-cord. It makes great straps, handles and edges but knitted in long lengths, i-cord can be used for awesome textural embroidery. Since i-cord takes no time to knit in length and little concentration, you can easily knit enough for this project or a similar while watching your favorite shows, a movie or even at a kids holiday play. I decided on a pillow cover so I could just remove it and tuck it away each year. I can reuse the pillow with another cover and not worry about storing pillows. To recreate my Holly Pillow Cover you will need

1 skein of Acrylic Yarn

1 spool of thread to match the yarn

1 yd of Velvet

1 pillow to recover

Scrape of coordinating fabric (big enough for a 4 in. diameter circle)

The pillow I chose to recover was 20 in. square so I cut one 21 in. square for the front and one 8 by 21 in. piece and one 17 by 21 in. piece to make the back envelope. I laid my front piece right side up and with chalk; I wrote "Holly" rubbing it out till it looked right. Next, I cast on 3 sts and knit roughly 24 in. of i-cord in a green acrylic yarn (you might remember me starting this back in November). I dry fit it to the pillow to make sure it was long enough before I bound off and wove in the ends.

Using the chalk lines and pinning as you go, secure the i-cord onto the pillow front. Starting from the back of the pillow piece, use a running stitch to secure the i-cord in place. Finally, I used a glass to trace a 4 in. circle on a spare piece of red Sateen and made a yo-yo to highlight the 'O' in Holly, and adding some more holiday color. I used a running stitch around the edges to secure the yo-yo.

Next, with right sides facing pin the front pillow piece to the back pieces, overlapping the back pieces to form an envelope and using a 1/2 in. seam, stitched all the way around the pillow case. Carefully clip the corners and turn right side out. Slip your pillow inside and admire your work.

This project is fun and easy way to add Christmas cheer to your home. You can change up the words, of course, for any holiday but I like to stray from the traditional slightly with words like "Holly, Stockings, Eggnog, or Caroling" These words are obvious enough that determining the holiday message will be easy but a little bit different. 

I have been a long time fan of Heather Bailey's pear pincushion (who hasn't) and the rest of the fresh picked gang but this is my first time trying my hand at her pattern. I wanted to make myself some more pincushions (like shoes, a girl can never have enough) but everyone has made the pincushions; I wanted to change it up a bit. The resulting deliciously oversized apple pillow (11 in. high, 11 in. wide) is soft in all the right places and surprisingly perfect for knitting. I prop my arm on it when my shoulder starts to get fatigued and it is just the right height. To make your own is just as simple as creating the bitty version in Heather's pattern.

Materials:

About ½ yd of (quilting cotton + interfacing) or home dec weight fabric

9 x 12 in piece of felt for leaf

9 x 12 in piece of felt for stem

Embroidery floss for whip stitching parts together and decorating the leaf

A piece of wooden dowel, skewer, bodkin or weaver's needle

Once you choose which piece of fruit you want to make big and juicy, enlarge each pattern piece by 300%. Cut out your pattern pieces and follow the original pattern, using ½ in. seam allowance. When sewing the last 2 pieces of the apple together start ½ in. away from the top and leave the same gap at the bottom. This gap will help when you get to the tufting instructions. I used a long piece of embroidery thread and after knotting it, secured it with a stitch or two to the top of the apple where the stem would hide it, then either tape your needle and thread to a skewer or dowel or using your bodkin or weaver's needle run your thread to the bottom of the apple through the center using the gaps we made earlier. Pull the thread tight and secure with another stitch at the bottom. Repeat until your apple looks good to you and secure your thread a final time with a good knot. Continue to follow the pattern directions to finish your fine piece of fruit.

I made one leaf out of felt and using the couching method I learned in Sublime Stitching I added some veins to my leaf with wool yarn. To make my large stem, I rolled an entire sheet of 9 x 12 in craft felt starting with the short end and rolling it up tight. I pinned it together and cut it to the length I liked (about 3 in.) and then whipped stitched it together. I did a running stitch across the top to secure the roll and to make it look more like a fresh picked apple.

The result is a big hit in my family. The baby loves to roll on it, the dogs like to snuggle against it, my husband props his feet on it and I use it for knitting. Deliciously oversized, these fresh picked fruit will make great holiday decorations, gifts and everyday additions to freshen up your house for fall!

It is no secret that Halloween is my favorite holiday. I have always loved planning, designing and creating Halloween throughout the house, whether that be costumes or (my favorite) decorations. Costumes are one day of fun but decorations are a whole month long! It is this time of year that I am especially glad to be crafty. While I love shopping for Halloween goodies, I know my neighbors do too and at all the same places. It is no fun for every house to be the same so making my decorations if doubly fun.  Here are some of my favorite patterns around Ravelry that I am planning on making this year to spook up my house and give that extra ghoulish factor!

Felted Pumpkin: I have made several of these over the years because they are so fun. They are also (say it with me) a quick knit, so when I get in the Halloween spirit I also run to my wool and make another. It is a yearly tradition. You can change the size to be as BIG as you want or as teeny as you want. It is knit in pieces so it is another great project to knit in the car on your way to the Apple Pickin' Jubilee.  You might want to add some opposing increase/decrease to help your stem bendy and not look so excited, as mine does. Yarn Recommended: Berocco Ultra Alpaca light (plently of pumpkin colors to choose from)

Spider- Hey- let it not be said that I do not love our Crochet friends, I am just not a crocheter (YET). I love, love, love this spider. He is creepy and cute at the same time- very difficult to pull off. I suspect he is also quick to whip up and also the legs are flexible so the kids will love playing with him and bending him to their will. Yarn Recommended: Gedifra Angora Merino (this will give a good fuzzy spidery feel)

Scream felt Wreath- I almost died of Halloween excitement when I beheld this wreath. I am already a big proponent of wreaths and wreath-like crafts so this was right up my alley. It screams perfect for Halloween in every way. It is felted so it will last and mistakes are allowed. It is creepy. You can choose your own colors! What fun.  Yarn Recommended: Rowan Cocoon (lots of Halloween colors)

Halloween Softies- Just plain cute and perfect for the kids. They can decorate their room with Halloween goodness that won't leave them with nightmares or wondering if that knitted/crocheted ghost comes alive at night and waits in their closets. They softies will bring some whimsy to those who prefer a cuter Halloween sans gore, demons and blood oozing down walls. Yarn Recommended: Lion Brand Wool Ease

Candy Corn Hat- This is perfect for adults forced lovingly walking their children from house to house All Hallow's Eve. No need to dress up, one hat is your costume. Plus you won't disappoint the kids with the lack of enthusiasm. You can deliver the message of "don't worry; I won't be feeding all the candy to my kids. At least half goes to me". Additionally, should it be cold where you and your family will be haunting the streets, your ears will thank you for your sweet, Halloween Spirit.  Yarn Recommended: Berocco Ultra Alpaca