Wednesday April 27, 2011
A recent excursion to a local pioneer village (along with about forty 3rd graders) taught me how much I don't know about keeping house. While the lessons in churning butter and grinding corn might not come in handy this summer, a few of the tasks were real eye openers. Case in point:
Finger knitting.
As an avid crocheter, I have yet to cross hooks with needles. Yet, the finger knitting method was easy to learn, and so useful that I can't believe I wasn't taught to do it as a child (sorry mom). It requires no needles- just a handful of fingers and some yarn. Here are a few ways to wear the stormy gray skinny scarf I finger knitted in about five minutes:
These quick tubes can also be fashioned into belts, wristbands, headbands and purse straps. It took me longer to put together a finger knitting tutorial than it did to make this scarf! It is worth trying at least once, and will become a useful skill to employ for years to come. Have you ever finger knitted?
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Tuesday April 26, 2011
Back in the day (okay, 2 years ago, but that is pretty far back for internet years) my sister was nice enough to model for a sandal beading tutorial. Since then, I've realized that most of my photos from two years ago were, to put it nicely... sub par. As the internet advances, so do the photography skills of thousands of bloggers out there. In the spirit of keeping up (and justifying the expense of the camera I'm still paying off), I've decided to re-do a lot of the photos here on the site.
This is a lot of work, but the good news is that I get to go craft store shopping! revisit a lot of old projects. The beaded flip flop project was one I enjoyed because this is such an easy way to soup-up a pair of really plain flip flops. Behold my dollar store flip flops:
Yep, a total of $1.00. Not a bad design, really. They are clearly cheaply made, but the circles make them a fun pair of beachy flips, not without potential.
Doctoring a pair of sandals takes an ounce of patience. It can be done in about an hour and the tying pattern is easy to get the hang of. This can be done with flip-flops or any pair of sandals that involve strips of plastic or leather thongs. You can even apply the same method to trick out gladiator sandals with an array of beads.
I used glass beads scavenged off of a thrift store lampshade, bringing my total expense to about $2.50 for this project (The lampshade was actually $3.00, but I only used about half the beads on it. That's a lot of beads for $3.00... score!) The glass beads are heavy and fragile, but I think they add more glitter than plastic.
You are left with a pair of sandals that look designer, but cost a smattering of pennies. No making fun of my silly balloon toes!
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Wednesday April 20, 2011
Here on the DIY Fashion site, and at our Facebook page, we talk a lot about delicious handmade goodies from talented crafters. I'm like a kid in a candy shop when it comes to handmade goods. Even if I'm the kid peering into the window laptop monitor wishing I had more allowance. Often, these lamentations are over things outside of the realm of fashion; homemade paper, coasters made from old records, vases covered in mosaic tiles. My house is a veritable treasure trove of handmade decorations, and would lay down a bet that yours isn't much different. I think it is safe to say that the same people who can turn a shower curtain into a chic raincoat also regularly obsess over handmade housewares, gifts and all things crafty that can't be stuck on our bodies and strutted on the street.
We all want to show off the cute table runners and handmade 'thank you' cards we just saw on Etsy, so as to not clutter our DIY Fashion Facebook page, we can now post to the 'Handmade Community' page on Facebook.
At the Handmade Community page, you can post photos of your work to be included in galleries there, with information and a link back to your site. The albums are divided by the type of craft, so it should be easy to find handmade goods to feast your eyes on, as well as sharing your work with others.
Lots of tutorials are posted, too, including seasonal work like making a garden trowel out of PVC pipe and crafting an easy spring apron. Stuff that will make our hands dirty, looks great, and can be photographed and shared again with the community.
If you have an Etsy, Artfire, Zibbet, 10,000 Markets (etc, etc.) site that you would like to promote, you are more than welcome to post your links at the Handmade Community page. We will also be throwing up crafting events and giveaways as they come up, so throw up your local happenings there, too.
Facebook is a great way to share our crafting spirit in real-time. Have a problem with a project? Post a question on the Handmade Community site. Want to show off what's new in your shop? Everyone in the community will see it. From upcycled knit sweaters to painted cabinets, if it is handmade, we want to see it!
Photo: Mel Yates/Getty Images
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Monday April 18, 2011
A cautionary tale: On a visit to London, you park your Time And Relative Dimensions In Space (TARDIS) craft in a junkyard, only to find that the chameleon circuit has gone on the fritz and your spaceship/time machine will forever look like a police box (a 1963 English relic as obsolete as the phone booth). You spend the next few centuries defending it's peculiar exterior and lovable break-downs to annoying ladies who won't stop following you around. Hey, it happened to The Doctor... it could happen to you.
Like The Doctor's affinity for The TARDIS, I am still clinging desperately to my Moto Droid. Even though flashier models are available, my scraped up little friend still retails a sturdy metal shell and gorilla glass exterior. Inside are relics of my experiences; photos, games and everyone I know packed into Facebook. What better way to protect my world than to cram it in a TARDIS?
This case design is cute yet deceptively easy. I have tried to tailor the instructions to fit just about any flat, rectangular smart phone. If you can cut a series of squares and rectangles, then you can make the exterior of the TARDIS. Now, adding the swimming pool, greenhouse and library to the inside... I'm still working out the bugs on that tutorial.
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