Category Archives: Hand Crafts

Chained Compass Motif with variations

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Chained Compass Motif

9″, 12″ and three color variations of Chained Compass

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Printable Pattern

After stumbling across a cool chain technique in Donna Kooler’s Encyclopedia of Crochet, I knew I had to work it into a motif…somehow!  This was my second try at a design using the chains and I love all three variations.  I’m thinking a black and white and red afghan would be stunning.

Chained Compass Motif
9″ one color variation

You need:

  • worsted weight yarn
  • H hook (or size needed to obtain gauge)

Notes:
gauge – round 1 = 2″ square
Ch 3 = beg dc throughout
Keep ch 12 loops on the front as you work. These will stay loose until round 9.

Chained Compass Motif
12″ one color variation

ch 5, join with a sl st to form ring

Round 1: ch3, 3 dc, (ch2, 4 dc) three times, ch 2, join to top of ch 3 with a sl st

Round 2: ch 1, sc in same st, sc in next st, ch 12, sc in next 2 st, [(sc, ch 2, sc in corner), sc in next 2 st, ch 12, sc in next 2 st] 3 times, sc, ch2, sc in corner. Join to first sc with sl st.

Round 3: ch 3, dc in each sc across, [(2 dc, ch 2, 2 dc in corner), dc in each sc across] around, join with a sl st at the top of beg dc. (40 dc and 4 ch 2 sps)

Round 4: ch 1, sc in same st, sc in next st, ch 12, sc in next 5 st, [(sc, ch 2, sc in corner), sc in next 5 st, ch 12, sc in next 5 st] 3 times, sc, ch2, sc in corner, sc in remaining st, Join to first sc with sl st.

Round 5: Rep Round 3 (64 dc and 4 ch 2 sps)

Round 6: ch 1, sc in same st, sc in next st, ch 12, sc in next 8 st, [(sc, ch 2, sc in corner), sc in next 8 st, ch 12, sc in next 8 st] 3 times, sc, ch2, sc in corner, sc in corner, sc in remaining st, . Join to first sc with sl st.

Round 7: Rep Round 3 (88 dc and 4 ch 2 sps)

Round 8: ch 3, dc in each st, (2dc, ch 2, 2 dc in corners) around. (104 dc and 4 ch 2 sps)

You will have three loops on each side of the block. Join sections of loops by pulling the middle loop through the first loop, then the top loop through the middle loop.

Chained Compass Motif
first loop through the middle loop

Chained Compass Motif
middle loop through the top loop

Round 9: ch 1, sc in same st and in next st, sl st in ch 12 loop, sc in next 13 st to corner [(sc, ch 2, sc in corner), sc in next 13 st, sl st in ch 12 loop, sc in next 13 st to corner] three times. sc in remaining sts, join with sl st in first sc.

For 9″ block, finish off here.

Continue for 12″ block:

Chained Compass Motif
12″ one color variation

Round 10: ch 1, sc in same st and each st across, skipping sl st on previous round (sc, ch 2, sc in corners) around

Round 11 & 12, ch 1, hdc in same st and each st across, (hdc, ch 1, hdc in corners) around

Round 13: ch 1, sc in same st and each st across (sc, ch 2, sc in corners) around

Finish Off.

Chained Compass Motif
three color variation (which I’m secretly calling Bella’s Compass because I ❤ Twilight!)

For three color variation:
Color 1 – odd number rows to row 7, row 8, 9 & 13
Color 2 – even number rows to row 6
Color 3 – rows 10-12

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stencils & stamps: Saving My Shirts

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I’m not exactly clumsy, but I am a really busy girl with a tendency to not be careful.

Messy, clumsy, stuff on my shirt…call it what you will!

My favorite shirts all seem to have taken the same abuse.  A paint stain, a bleach spot or an unfortunate tear.  The number of shirts in my closet that weren’t being worn because of one of the above was getting completely out of control.

So, time for some quick and dirty fixes…and to haul out the fabric paint!

Shirt fix #1 – stenciling stars

supplies:

  • sad damaged tee
  • freezer paper
  • marker or pen for drawing
  • Exact-o Knife
  • fabric paint
  • sponge brush
  • cardboard or t-shirt form



My poor Dumbledore’s Army shirt, with a bleach stain right on the tummy. What to do, what to do? I thank my sister for the idea for this fix: stencil some stars on!



Freehand stars on freezer paper, then cut out with the Exact-O Knife – instant stencil!




Iron the stencil on and insert a pieced of cardboard or shirt form inside the tee. Procure some paint and a sponge brush for instant repairs.




Sponge that paint on!




Peel off the stencil after a few minutes and….




Instant shirt fix!






My Evile Crafts tee, made by superfriend Kadi, had a big ole blotch of bleach, too, so it also received the star treatment, along with a little glitter spray paint.

Shirt fix #2 – stamp it!

This second shirt fix was inspired by Stampin’ On Stained Jeans.  Same problem:  A favorite tee gets hit by something that leaves a mark, bleach, paint, or something else that’s super-duper permanent.

You need:

  • oopsie tee
  • fabric paint
  • stamp(s) large enough to cover the spot(s)
  • foam brush
  • cardboard or t-shirt insert



Use the sponge brush to add paint to the stamp.  Don’t dip the stamp in the paint or you’ll end up with a blob of paint on the fabric.



Stamp on the spot that needs to be covered.  It looked awkward to me like that, so I just kept stamping until I felt like I had enough!



Another shirt, back in rotation!

Shirt Fix #3 = mask it!

This fix was a bit more complicated.  I had a cute girly shirt that got caught on something (no idea what) and I ended up with a hole right in the tummy.  After trying to stitch it and not liking the artificial belly button I received for my efforts, I decided to repair it with an iron on.  Great idea, until I realized I went from artificial belly button to giant round dot on my tummy.

For this fix you’ll need:

  • damaged tee (this works for spots, too!)
  • masking tape
  • cardboard or t-shirt form
  • fabric paint
  • foam brush or roller



Giant dot, as illlustrated by my left hand.



Mask out a large triangle with the apex at the top, with the damaged part of the shirt on the inside.  Make sure your cardboard or t-shirt form is inside the shirt.  Fill in the space with fabric paint.

Hint:  If you’re working on a stretchy fabric, iron freezer paper on the inside of the shirt for stability while painting.



Fill in the entire space.  Allow to dry a few minutes and the remove the tape.



And another dead shirt returns to ciruculation!  Pretty cool, too, if I do say so myself.




Allow all your awesomely repaired tees to dry per manufacturer’s instructions and then add them right back in to your wardrobe!

More t-shirty goodness:

If you make a Sew Awesome Craft or any pattern, craft or recipe from sewhooked,  I’d love to see a photo.  Email me or add it to the sewhooked flickr group.

Way Back Craft: The Fat Lady Mural

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The Fat Lady

If you follow me here on sewhooked, then you’ve already heard all about my daughter’s Harry Potter bedroom.  It was  a big project with lots of little projects (and some huge ones!) mixed together.

On Friday, I posted about my son’s bedroom door, which is now graced by the TARDIS.  What I didn’t say is that it was The Fat Lady that started it all.  It was the idea of paining her that led to the idea for the HP room, and eventually, the TARDIS.

When you’re a kid (or a young-at-heart) adult, and you’re dearest desire is to go to Hogwarts and live in Gryffindor Tower, who should greet you as you clamber into your living space each day?  The Fat Lady, of course!

When designing the HP room for my daughter almost 6 1/2 years ago now, the very top of our list said “Fat Lady.”

The photos of the door do not do the mural justice.  She comes out looking much flatter and two dimensional than she does in real life.  Part of that is the awkward angle the door sits to our hallway, making it impossible to take a photo straight on.  I hope you get the idea anyway.  Just trust me when I say, she’s a beauty face to face!

And now, without further ado, The Fat Lady, originally posted on my very first crafts website, Jen’s Crochet & Craf.

What You’ll Need:

  • Level
  • Straight edge (yardstick or similar)
  • Fine sandpaper
  • Soft cloth
  • Primer (if needed)
  • Masking tape
  • Overhead projector (optional)
  • Reference image (on transparency film if using projector) from a coloring book, online image, etc.
  • Chalk or pencil
  • Acrylic craft paints
  • Paper cups or empty egg carton (for paint)
  • Artist paint brushes (multiple sizes)
  • Drop cloth or newspaper

Instructions

  1. Prepare the work area by protecting with a drop cloth or newspapers.
  2. Make sure the surface you will be painting on is lightly sanded and free of dust by wiping with a soft cloth. If the surface is unpainted, paint a base coat of primer.
  3. Using the level and straight edge, measure and mark where your painting will be. When this is done, use masking tape to outline the INSIDE of the frame. You will be painting inside of this.
  4. Sketch The Fat Lady with a pencil or chalk either freehand or using an overhead projector. If neither of these options is available to you, enlarge your reference image on a copy machine to the appropriate size. Liberally rub chalk over the back of the paper. Tape the paper in the appropriate location. Being careful not to touch the image too much, outline the entire image with a pencil. The chalk will be transferred to the working surface.
  5. Once the surface has been prepared, begin painting using the reference image as a guide. Use whatever size paint brushes feel best in your hand. If you’ve never painted before, just take it slow. Start with the background and work your way in. Don’t worry about details, just get the basic shape to start with.
  6. When you’re happy with the basic shape of The Fat Lady, use slightly darker colors to go back and add details to hair, eyes, shadows, etc. Use the reference image to see where shadows and details need to be.
  7. Gently remove the masking tape. Let the painting dry overnight.
  8. Using chalk or a pencil, draw a frame around the painting. If you are not comfortable with freehand, you can also masking tape. Overlap the background of the painting. For an extra flourish, add a half circle to the top of the frame, which will become a lion’s head.
  9. Using gold craft paint, fill in the frame you’ve just drawn. Add shadows and details

This tutorial is also available on The Leaky Cauldron’s Harry Potter Crafts

MORE HP Decor:

If you make a Sew Awesome Craft or any pattern, craft or recipe from sewhooked, I’d love to see a photo. Email me or add it to the sewhooked flickr group.

DIY: TARDIS

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TARDIS Newsroom – Pick of the Blogs
July 25, 2009

Is there anything more iconic to a Doctor Who fan than The TARDIS?

Oh, maybe. There are striped scarves and Daleks and, of course, Sonic Screwdrivers. But I think the TARDIS is pretty darn cool.

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It just so happens that my 11 year old son does, too.

We’re big on painting, decorating and embellishing in our house. My daughter has The Fat Lady on her bedroom door, and has had for years now. My son has been waiting for just the right inspiration to decide what he’d like on his door.

This summer, it came to him. The Doctor’s TARDIS.

This was not a hard project, but it was time consuming between steps. Here’s how we did it!

Project Supplies:

  • A large, flat surface, primed and painted some variety of light blue
  • Measurements of the door
  • graph paper
  • pencil
  • ruler
  • yard stick
  • calculator (for those like me that don’t do math in their heads)
  • painter’s tape
  • navy blue acrylic paint
  • white acrylic paint
  • 1″ and 2″ white vinyl letters (available at craft stores, mine are from Hobby Lobby)
  • off-white paper, printed with the notice (clickable version below)
  • Modge Podge or other decoupage sealer



The first step is probably the trickiest. After measuring the door, I taped two pieced of graph paper together and then made a scale replica of the door. Using a photo of the TARDIS, I drew up what was as close as I could come to a scale replica, being the door is tall and narrow.

If you’re feeling really detail oriented, flickr user Star_Cross has blueprints of the real deal.



Our door was already painted light blue, so we moved on to measuring. If your door is not blue, remove the doorknob, prime, paint and let dry overnight before moving on.

Next, we used the yard stick and started measuring. We started by finding the center of the door and working our way out, comparing constantly to our graph paper design (which you can see on the right of the photo).

Once the pencil lines were on, we started taping. I’ll show how we did it and add how I wish we’d done it…



We taped outside the windows and inside the door panels (we should have taped inside ALL the rectangles and painted the whole thing navy blue and then gone back and taped off the windows…it would have been easier!).

Then we painted the inside of the window panels white.



We peeled off the tape around the windows and then started painting the rest of the door navy blue.


Once that was good and dry, we peeled off all the tape. You can see the blue from the original door make nice highlights for the panels.



Next, we penciled in lines for adding the vinyl letters. Even though I’d measured carefully on the graph paper, they’re not quite even. My kid is happy, so I left them!



Next, we used the blue paint pen (we tried a Sharpie maker, believe me, it did NOT work) to draw on the window panes and to add mitered corners around the light blue borders.

TARDIS notice

The notice was made in Photoshop by taking a TARDIS pic and then enlarging the notice. I then typed over the words, adjusting fonts and sizes until it was right for the size we needed. The is the scale version.

The notice was attached with glue and then smoothed completely down. I used Modge Podge to cover it, being very careful not to smear the ink.



Once the notice was dry, we added the doorknob back and we were done! I do have silver handles to add to make it even more TARDIS-like, but they aren’t pictured.

Sorry about the awkward photo.  The door is at a 45 degree angle to the hallway, which makes it very tricky to photograph!

More awesome TARDIS crafts:


TARDIS Phone Case by myimaginaryboyfriend


TARDIS Birthday Cake by abbietabbie


and my personal favorite, a squashy, plush TARDIS made by young crafter, Miss K

More Doctor Who crafts from sewhooked:

Share your Doctor Who crafts on the Doctor Who Crafts flickr group or on the Livejournal Group CraftyTardis

If you make a Sew Awesome Craft or any pattern, craft or recipe from sewhooked, I’d love to see a photo. Email me or add it to the sewhooked flickr group.

also posted on craftster and cut out + keep

vlog: TTMT – Crochet Soiree!

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…in which I apparently have done nothing but crochet for a week and you can tell I don’t feel well even though I was trying to fake it.  Ah well!

Remember, if you post a TTMT video, you need to link it by clicking “Post A Video Response” right under the right hand side of the video on YouTube.  You can respond directly to the video or connect an already-published video.  Doing that allows both me and others to see your response!

Video Links

HBP Release...just after the movieMyself (Dead Since DH Tonks) with my kids (Luna Lovegood and Terry Boot),
and my best friend, Jewells (Dr. Granger) with her daughter (Hermione)

If you make a Sew Awesome Craft or anypattern, craft or recipe from sewhooked, I’d love to see a photo. Email me or add it to the sewhooked flickr group.

vlog: TTMT – Doctor, Doctor, Melt With Me!

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Links from the video:

If you make a Sew Awesome Craft or any pattern, craft or recipe from sewhooked, I’d love to see a photo. Email me or add it to the sewhooked flickr group.

Veritable V-Stitch 12″ Block

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Veritable V-Stitch, finished pattern, swap block #6

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Printable Pattern

We’ve been undergoing a test of mettle in our household the last few days.  Our a/c unit has stopped functioning…and it’s been hovering around 105F, making it approximately 90F in parts of our house.

We’ve been seeking shelter of cooler places, which has, for the most part not included anywhere near a computer or sewing machine.  While we wait for Sears to come perform the warrantied services they’ve promised, I’ve been working on small things to try and stay cool and keep my mind off of bigger stresses.

Combine the above with a 12″ knit/crochet block swap that I’m participating in, and the Veritable V-Stitch 12″ Block was born.  It’s easy to work up and was made (intentionally!) in icy colors to remind me of cooler days.

You’ll need:

  • Worsted Weight Yarn in colors A (main), B (accent) & C (coordinating)
  • H/I hook to obtain gauge (1.5″ across first round)

Special Stitches:

  • v-stitch = dc, ch 1, dc
  • beg v-stitch = ch 4, dc
  • v-st corner = v-stitch, ch 2, v-stitch

With color A, ch 4, sl st in beg ch to form ring

Round 1:  ch 3, 2 dc, (ch 2, 3 dc) three times, ch 2, join with sl st to top of ch 3.  Check gauge.

Round 2: sl st to center dc, beg v-stitch in center dc, v-st corner, (sk 1 dc, v-stitch, v-st corner) three times, join with sl st at third ch in beg v-stitch.

Rounds 3&4: sl st to first ch sp, beg v-stitch, (v-stitch in ch sp of each v-stitch, v-st corner) repeat ( )around.  Join with sl st at third ch in beg v-stitch.  At the end of round 4, join color B at the sl st.

Round 5: ch 1, sc in same st, ch 1, sk ch sp, sc in next 2 dc [(ch 1, sk ch sp, sc in next dc) to corner (sc, ch 2, sc) in corner] repeat [ ] around.  Join with a sl st at beg sc.  Finish off.

Round 6: join color A in any ch 1 sp.  Ch 5, sk next 2 sc, [(dc in ch sp, ch 2, sk next 2 sc) to corner (2 dc, ch 2, 2 dc) in corner], repeat [ ] around.  Join with sl st in third ch in beg ch 5, finish off.

Round 7: join color B in any ch sp.  Ch 1, sc in same st, ch 2, sc in ch sp [(2 sc, ch 2, 2 sc) in corner (sc in ch sp, ch 2, sc in ch sp)] around.  Join with a sl st to first sc.  Finish off.

Round 8: join color C in any ch sp.  Beg v-stitch, (v-stitch in each ch sp, corner v-stitch in corners), rep ( ) around, finish off.

Round 9: join color A, rep row 8.

Round 10: join color B in any ch 1 sp.  Ch 5, [(dc in next ch sp, ch 2, dc in next ch sp) (1 dc, ch 2, 1 dc) in corners], rep [ ]  around, join with sl st to third ch of beg ch 5.

Round 11: sl st to ch sp, (ch 1, 3 sc in each ch sp) around.  Join with sl st to first sc.  Finish off.

Veritable V-Stitch, version one, swap block #5
Version 1 of Veritable V-stitch had slightly different corners

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Crochet: Motif Blocking Template

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blocking Supernova

I’m a bit surprised at myself for not sharing this before!

When I’m working on  a crochet project that requires blocking, which, let’s face it, if I’m working on it, it’s most likely a blanket of some sort or another, I like to keep a size template handy to check my motif by.  I discovered that using foam core for my template also gives me a super easy way to block my motifs so they come out perfectly!

I’m currently working on some 12″ blocks for a swap I’m participating in.  I’m using the pattern Supernova by Chris Simon in my example.

You’ll need:

  • piece of foam core board larger than your motif
  • ruler (quilting rulers work great!)
  • cutting surface
  • box cutter or Exacto

Measure the size you need on the foam core board (12″ board shown).  If you have a quilter’s square ruler, now is  a great time to break it out.  If not, just measure carefully, being sure to mark the measurement you need several times to get the right size.

Use the box cutter to cut the foam core board to the right size.

That’s it! Now you have the perfect size template that you can both check your size against and block the motif (shown above) if needed!

blocking board

Supernova 12"Supernova, pattern by Chris Simon

If you make a Sew Awesome Craft or any pattern, craft or recipe from sewhooked, I’d love to see a photo. Email me or add it to the sewhooked flickr group.