Tag Archives: hogwarts

Free Pattern Friday – House Unity

In honor of twenty years of Harry Potter and my ongoing love of all things Harry, I’m celebrating with Harry Potter-inspired fandom patterns through July!

All of my (always free!) Harry Potter patterns in one place.

Back in April, I was tagged on my personal Facebook to share 7 quilt photos for 7 days by my friend Shelley. I don’t usually participate in chain-letter type projects, but I couldn’t resist this one!

This is one of the projects I shared. It’s not something I’ve talked about much, and it gives me warm fuzzies to get to do so now. 🙂

Made in 2007, this is far from the best quilt photo I’ve ever taken. I call this little guy House Unity.

What’s important is not the quilt itself, but who I made it for.

At the time that I created this little quilted banner, I was a moderator and contributor at The Leaky Cauldron, under the awesome crafty leadership of Josée Leblanc. She organized a gift-giving effort between we crafty types as a thank you to the one and only J.K. Rowling.

Not only did Jo receive our gifts, but she sent us each personal thank you notes. According to her letter to me back in 2008, this wee piece of my art would go on to hang on her office wall. In case you’re curious, the letter is framed and hangs in my living room. It’s one of my prized fandom possessions!

I’m asked fairly regularly if I ever wonder if Jo Rowling is aware of my work and the answer is that I know that she was, at least for a moment.

Until now, I’ve never shared a pattern to make this mini quilt/banner. It’s been ten years, and well, I feel like it’s time.

I don’t have the original measurements from when I created this project, and I tweaked the colors a bit so your banner will be a tiny bit different from the one I made for Jo all those years ago.

As you might expect, this mini quilt/banner uses Crest patterns designed by yours truly. You can find links to those, as well as everything else you need to know to make your own House Unity banner, in the pattern document.

House Unity Finishes 15″ x 25″.

Save/Print from Google Drive

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Coming in September!

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Happening Now on Fandom in Stitches!

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31 Days of Halloween – Tri-Wizard Tee Costume

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Crack open the WAY BACK MACHINE for today’s 31 Days of Halloween!

Today we have a fast, easy costuming option for the Harry Potter fans out there.

Originally created in 2006 for a Craftster Swap, I’m breaking this tutorial out today for anyone that might not have a costume in mind, or, like me, might need something a wee bit cooler to wear come Halloween!

The best part about this project is that you can sew it by hand if you don’t have a machine or use a serger to finish it even faster!

You’ll need:

1 red t-shirt
1 black t-shirt in the same size and style as the red t-shirt
Rotary cutter, 24″ rotary ruler & cutting mat
OR a straight edge, pencil and sharp scissors
Seam ripper
Pins
Sewing machine, serger or needle and thread
Freezer Paper, cut into 2 8 ½” x 11” sheets (print Hogwarts Crest Stencil & Potter/Star Stencil on these sheets)
fabric paint in red, green, blue, yellow, white and gold
foam paintbrushes

Instructions

Find the center of each shirt by folding in half towards the front and matching the sleeves.
Mark the top and the bottom with a pin.
If using a rotary cutter, this is your cutting line.
If using a straight edge, draw a pencil line from top to bottom.
Cut as straight as possible.

Sleeve Reconstruction

Select the red shirt right (right side when the shirt is worn) and black shirt left and carefully remove the sleeves from each side of the shirt using a seam ripper. Be very careful to not stretch the fabric.

t-shirt left right sleeves2

Swap the sleeves so that red sleeve is with black shirt piece and the black sleeve is with red.
Turn the shirt half you are working on inside out and place the sleeve, right side out inside the
sleeve hole (right sides will be together), matching the top and bottom creases. Pin the sleeve in place, being careful not to stretch the fabric.
Using a serger or a stretch stitch on your sewing machine, stitch in a 1/4″ to 1/2″ seam all the way around.
If stitching by hand, take small stitches.
Repeat for second sleeve.

Shirt Body Reconstruction

t-shirt 2

Place one shirt half inside the other, right sides together so that the wrong sides of the seam lines will be on the outside. You will have two seams, a front seam and a back seam.
Carefully pin every few inches starting at the t-shirt ribbing and work your way down, trying not to stretch the fabric.
If the bottoms hems do not meet, pin the bottom edges together and ease along the middle of the shirt (t-shirts can be really wonky, but you can make it work!).
Carefully stitch along this line as for the sleeves.
Snip the corners of the inside seams on the diagonal.
Turn the shirt right side out.

Stenciling the front (Hogwarts Crest)

Cut out the four sections of the Hogwarts Crest stencil.
Place cardboard or newspaper inside the t-shirt to protect from bleed through.
Using a warm iron, carefully place the stencil on the upper left side of the shirt (the black
side).
Stencil the upper left section red, the upper right section green, the lower left section yellow and the lower right section blue*.
Gently peel stencil away and allow to dry.
Optional: Paint a cursive “H” over the four sections in gold paint.

Stenciling the back (Potter & Star)

Cut out the Potter and Star stencil.
Optional: Create a stencil with your own name using a Sans Serif font OR use purchased iron on letters.
Place cardboard or newspaper inside the t-shirt to protect from bleed through.
Using a warm iron, carefully place the stencil in the middle of the back of the shirt, matching center lines.
Stencil the name and star with red paint.
Gently peel away and allow to dry.

*I recommend testing your paint on dark fabric before you start. Some paints will need multiple layers. If the paint doesn’t cover, you can start with a white base coat.

Need more information on stenciling? Check out my post from last week!

LAST DAY: As a special bonus for my readers, get 50% off Machine Quilting: Free Motion & More until October 15, 12015! Original price is $39.99, get it now for $19.99! Offer good until 10/15/15 @11:59pm MT.

Are you making projects from 31 Days of Halloween? Share your photos with my flickr group! There will be a fun surprise after Halloween for one lucky winner!

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Harry Potter Party, Revisit Part 1 – Invitations and Decorations

Way Back Craft: Gryffindor “Canopy”

Faux “Knit” Crochet Hogwarts Scarf

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add to your ravelry queue

Printable Pattern

In July of 2006, I enjoyed one of the best trips of my life to Las Vegas, Nevada. My friend Hope and I went to Lumos, the first Harry Potter conference I attended.

I was still fairly new to the online Harry Potter fandom, though I’d been part of the HP world since 1999. I was a new moderator for Harry Potter Crafts (2006-2008) and was not yet working for The Leaky Cauldron as a Crafty Witch (2006-2007).

Lumos changed everything. Suddenly, the names of people I knew online had faces, and voices and hugs!

Prior to the conference, I went into a crafting frenzy. I’m a Ravenclaw, and of course needed a house scarf! I wanted to my scarf to look knit…but I’m not a knitter. It’s my daughter’s craft, and I have left it alone because it makes her happy to be able to do a craft that mom doesn’t!

Anyhow, I wanted a knit-look scarf and had played with Tunisian crochet before. After working out the width of the bars, I went to work. This is the result. It’s a narrow scarf because I wore it in Las Vegas…in July. Can you say HOT?

Faux “Knit” Crochet Hogwarts Scarf

Scarf as modeled in 2006 by my dearly departed Prissy

Uses the Tunisian “knit” stitch: Tutorial on Stitch Diva and on Crochet Cabana (there are lots more, use the one that works for you)
Example made in Red Heart worsted weight – Soft Navy & Carrot (for Ravenclaw)
“I” afghan or other long crochet hook (gauge varies by size – work with what you like best)

narrow scarf =ch 15, “movie” size=ch 42

Row 1: ch 15 for a narrow scarf, or 42 for wider “movie” size. Insert the hook into the 2nd ch from hook, yo, and pull loop through the chain stitch (2 loops on hook). *Insert hook into next chain, yo, and pull loop through ch*, rep *to* to end of row, leaving all loops on the hook. The number of loops on the the hook should be the same as the beginning foundation chain. Do not turn.

Row 2: Working from left to right, yo and pull through first loop on hook, *yo, and pull through next 2 loops*, rep *to* to end of row (1 loop left on hook).

Row 3: *Insert hook between the 2 double vertical strands of each loop (from front to back), below the chain formed by row 2, yo and pull through a loop (loosely)*, rep *to* across row.

Row 4: Repeat row 2

Repeat row 3 & 4 for pattern. When changing color, attach at end of even row at “1 loop left” so that the remaining loop is the new color. You can easily count the rows you’ve made by the ridges on the back of your work – each ridge equals 2 rows.

*1- 28 in MC 29 (14 ridges)

32 in CC (2 ridges)

33 – 38 in MC (3 ridges)

39-42 in CC (2 ridges)

43- 66 in MC (14 ridges)

Repeat 13 times. You should have 14 sets of “captured” bars and each end should be 28 rows long. Fold the entire scarf in half and whip stitch. The seam can be in the back or on a side – your choice. Whip stitch the ends closed and add short fringe all the way across.

*some resources describe Tunisian crochet with each ridge, or every two rows as one row. If you want to count like that, then think 1-14, 15-16, etc. when counting.

Add your Sewhooked-related photos to my flickr group and you might be featured in a future post!

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This is part of my “Way Back Craft” series; patterns, crafts, tutorials and general crafty memories before the days of this craft blog.

This pattern is also available on The Leaky Cauldron.

And Now For Something Completely Different: Crocheting Along

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Sometimes, when the paper pieced designs aren’t coming easily, or my mind is filled with stress or other things that occupy my time, I find succumbing to another designer’s pattern a lovely way to unwind and unravel the tangled strands of my brain.

Lion Brand has been hosting a Crochet Along for a lovely Sampler Afghan. It grabbed my attention at once as being a project that would be fun and portable, which is how I usually like my crochet! Using their pattern, I created my own sampler, with Harry Potter-inspired colors! The actual idea I had was to make an afghan that resembled the four House scarves. The project, from beginning to end, took about two weeks. For lots more awesome variations, check out the Crochet Along Flickr Group. There’s a black, gray and white version by chooosy40 that I really like.

Hogwarts Scarf-ghan

Another great project that I just finished last night was for my dear hubby, who is currently running Call of Cthulhu with his gaming group. Inspired by his eagerness for props, what better than Cthulhu himself? Wee, evil Cthulhu made from this pattern. He’s my first animiguri and while it was a little hard on my hands, I’m quite please with the way he turned out.

Tiny Cthulhu

I regulary quilt and crochet for a local blanket making charity, The Linus Connection, but I’m always on the lookout for other ways that I contribute with my crafts. Coats & Clark’s Special Olympics Scarf Project caught my eye and I just had to make a scarf! Knitters and crocheters can use any pattern they choose, but I opted for their recommended pattern, which is the same as their Wizard Scarf pattern. I’ve made quite a few of those for my family and fellow Harry Potter lovers, so I knew the pattern was a fast and easy one. It worked up really quickly and I made sure to tie one of my “handmade by” labels to it with a note for good luck at the Games to whoever receives it!

Special Olympics Scarf

One of my Livejournal friends, caitirin, has turned me on to an excellent new yarn source! Angelicrafts Discount Yarn offers a variety of brands of yarn at discount prices. Just to give them a try, I ordered the Red Heart Mill Ends “Odds and Ends” box. The price of the UPS shipping was totally paid for by the sheer amount of yarn packed into the box. It’s all store-quality, without the sleeve and came with a personal note from the owner, which I thought was a very nice touch. I will definitely be ordering from them again, once I deplete my now ample supply of yarn!

Yarn from angelicrafts

Another fantastic Livejournal friend of mine, the multi-talented crochet goddess, hp5freak, shared a pattern recently for a Tiny Witches Hat . It’s an adaptation of another pattern that was written so that the hat was made in two parts. Her is easy-peasy and is made all in one piece. I had a brilliant time making this. It whips up in no time and is just the right size to put on a tiny pumkin. This pattern also introduced me to the Magic Adjustable Ring (also called Magic Loop), which I had never tried before but know I will now have a million and one uses for!

Wee Witch Hat

I’m currently hooking another Lion Brand Sampler Afghan, this one a smaller version and in baby colors for The Linus Connection. I’ll be keeping track of my progress on Ravelry. 🙂

Happy crafting!