easy crochet projects

easy square crochet projects

My husband is teaching at a long weekend class, so not much has gotten done or will get done on the crafty front until next week. I’ve picked up two easy crochet UFOs and plan to have them completed by Monday. First one is done!

finished: The wool basket is ready for a lining. I’ve got some dark red canvas that I’m planning to use. It will be a paper napkin basket for our kitchen table (she says as she is currently making cloth napkins for her home ec class).

making progress: I’ve picked up the granny square blanket again. I’ll keep going until I run out of sweater yarn. I think it will make a nice, thick lap blanket. This will probably get the most attention over the weekend.

home ec class: reusable grocery tote

I know today is usually all about my creative space at the moment, but I’m working on the beach blanket and there isn’t much else to show you except a nice pretty fabric pic like this one. Instead, I’m sharing my third home ec project: a reusable grocery tote.

home ec class handmade reusable grocery tote

This project got me thinking about handles. I usually seam up the sides first, fold over and stitch the top hem, then add handles. This project changed the order: top hem, handles, side seams. I can definitely see the wisdom in doing the handles on a flat piece of fabric. It makes a lot of sense. But, I also really like how the top hem hides the side seams when folded over. It’s something to think about. (Yes, I do think about these things.)

home ec class handmade reusable grocery tote

I’m planning to make some heavy duty grocery totes for our weekly shopping because I’d like something with a square bottom. I love this for the Farmers’ Market, though. The fabric is totally appropriate!

stash: I’ve been holding on to this fabric for awhile and I can’t remember where I found it. I was saving it for a farmers’ market tote, so now I can cross that off my to-do list!

home ec class: handmade reusable gift bag

I’m only on my second project and I’m already not following the directions. That didn’t take long! In my defense, it was because I wanted to learn something new.

home ec class handmade fabric drawstring gift pouch

The project calls for a hand-sewn buttonhole, but I already know how to do that. I’m embarrassed to say, however, that I didn’t know how to use the buttonhole setting on my machine. How I managed to tackle zippers, but avoid buttonholes is beyond me. It’s so easy.

home ec class handmade fabric drawstring gift pouch

I also put a few stitches at the back of the casing to keep the ribbon from sliding out. That’s because this will probably go to my daughter for storing her magformers.

stash: Fabric from fat quarter bundle. Matching ribbon from somewhere else completely. They coordinate really well, though!

home ec class: patchwork pin cushion

It may come as a bit of a surprise, but I’ve never taken sewing lessons. Apart from my friend helping me with my first project, I’ve learned from books, the Internet, crafty colleagues and lots of trials and errors. Some of my friends were tweeting about an online Home Ec class they were taking and I was curious, so I followed the link. The class says it’s for beginners, but there are some really cool projects using techniques I’ve been wanting to try.

home ec class patchwork pincushion

I signed up at once and promised myself I’d follow the directions for each project as they are written, because sometimes it’s a little technique for something simple that can totally change how you do things. I started the class a little late because I’ve been waiting for my daughter to go back to school. Now that I have some time to dedicate to my sewing, I’ll be cruising through the projects a little faster.

First on the list was a patchwork cushion. I followed the pattern exactly and have fallen in love with my scrap bin. Seriously, I had no idea how fun making little fabric stripes could be.

home ec class patchwork pincushion

stash: This is a great stash busting project that’s perfect for those little pieces you can’t bear to throw away. Anyone recognize the buttons?

project info: This was a bonus project, and Leigh-Ann has a tutorial posted on her blog. You should go make one, too!

class info: You can preview the class projects here and here.

my creative space

crochet bath mitt

Remember this sweater yarn? I finished my first square. I know this is supposed to be my vacation project, but the pattern is so addicting. Maybe just one more? It’s not like I don’t have plenty of other things on my to-do list. Ha!

pattern info: This is Wagon Wheel #2 from Granny Crochet Favorites. I modified the last round to be hdc instead of dc stitches. The colors in the book are seriously dated, but the patterns are really quite lovely.

my creative space

my creative space

This week in my creative space I’m unraveling a sweater. I wasn’t planning to buy anymore sweaters. I don’t need anymore yarn. But I saw these little sparkles and all I could think of was a patchwork baby blanket.

I love the primary colors. New parents are always swimming in pastels. Bright colors are a nice change, don’t you think? Plus, take another look at those sparkles!

my creative space

I’m planning to crochet solid color squares, so this will be the perfect vacation project. (Yes, I’m planning ahead for vacation projects.) I’ll seam them up when they are all finished. It would be easier to join them as I go, but I need a portable project for the plane, the beach, sitting in traffic, etc.

I’m getting pretty good at this unraveling thing. I hardly had any waste yarn — just a bunch of pesky knots at the end of each color change. And even they didn’t go to waste. My daughter took the pile of ends and put them in a bowl for her stuffed dog. He had ramen yarn noodles for lunch.

Make sure to visit more creative spaces over at Kirsty’s blog.

my farmers’ market tote is featuered in greencraft magazine!

Sorry about missing Thrifty Thursday yesterday. I was planning to take photos and write my post in the evening, and right before dinner I found a copy of GreenCraft in my mailbox. I knew something was up because I don’t subscribe to the magazine, but I did submit one of my patterns and a sample to the publication many months ago. I was so excited, I completely forgot about my thrifty pictures and post until after dark. Whoops!

green craft magazine farmers market tote

I am so thrilled to see my Farmers’ Market tote in GreenCraft magazine! I designed this bag using men’s dress shirts and a terry cloth towel for interfacing. It’s reversible because our Farmers’ Market runs from May to October: one side has Spring colors and the other has Fall colors. If you get a chance, check out the design and instructions in the Autumn 2010 issue!

my creative space

blue chromium star blanket

I delivered the Chromium Star baby blanket tonight. I am in love and it was hard parting with it. The pic is before I put it in the wash. It looks even more beautiful once blocked. Would it be weird to make one for myself? I think just a little bit.

I think I can officially say that crochet is faster than knit for me. I finished this in 10 days without really trying too hard. I’m getting ready to start another little blanket, also from a sweater. I’ll have some before pics soon!

recycled: This blanket used to be a sweater. I happened to know the knitter, so I can tell you that the yarn is Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece. It washes (gentle cycle in cold) and dries (on low) beautifully.

Don’t forget to visit Kirsty’s blog to see what all the crafty peeps have going on in their spaces.

thrifty thursday

thrifty thursday

I skipped the Thursday garage sales today because I’m planning on checking out Goodwill’s 99 cent day tomorrow. There’s nothing like some good 99 cent retail therapy and I haven’t been to the sale in a few months.

Since I didn’t have anything thrifty to report today, I took a look around my creative space, which is filled with thrifty goodness, and noticed a theme. Some may say that Nebraska has infected my taste in colors or I could be subconsciously planning for the holidays. I think maybe I spend too much time looking at cabbage roses and vintage French linen.

There’s a story behind the fabric. When one of my readers realized that we both live in Lincoln, she emailed me about a big box and big bag of fabric that she no longer wanted. Was there anything I could do with it? I picked it up that evening (small world: she practically lives in my neighborhood!) and started spreading the word.

First I met two friends for coffee and they left with almost half of it! Then I took what was left to knitting group to give to my friend who helps out with Sewing for Babies. I kind of feel sorry for those babies, because the knitters went to town on what was left. However, I’m happy that we kept a lot of fabric out of the landfill and bypassed the thrift store grab bags.* Everyone left with something they really wanted and the rest is going to a good cause.

Of course I picked out a few little pieces for myself. Right now I’m spending more time with yarn, so I can’t overdo it on my stash.

thrifting: The buttons and ribbon are thrifted from all over the place: Goodwill, church sales and garage sales.

* Don’t you hate it when you find one or two things you love at the thrift store and they’re packaged in a “grab bag” with a bunch of things you don’t want? Have you ever just bought the bag, taken out what you want and then immediately donated back the rest? Me, too.

how to: messenger bag refashion

messenger bag refashion

It’s taken me awhile to write about this project because it’s not just a set of simple instructions. It’s more of a guide to what is possible. Before you rip one seam or sew one stitch, I recommend you sit down in a quiet place with pen and paper to plan. I know this is hard for some — it’s hard for me! I don’t even really like following patterns. When you are working with an existing bag, once you cut you can’t go back. You can’t buy more fabric and start over.

So that’s how I started this project — with paper and pen. Below are before and after pics with my thoughts and ideas. I hope you give this a try. There are so many “almost perfect” bags out there. Visit your local thrift store or garage sale and give them an “absolutely perfect” life outside of the landfill.

Materials
seam ripper
good scissors
heavy duty needle
matching thread

messenger bag refashion

Here is the original bag. Carrie didn’t want the fold over flap. She asked me to replace it with a zipper.

messenger bag refashion

Because she didn’t want the flap, she didn’t need the big plastic clips either. I carefully removed them with a seam ripper. The ones on the flap were easy.

messenger bag refashion

The ones on the bottom were sewn into the seams of the bag so I had to carefully pick them out and resew the bottom seam.

messenger bag refashion

She was happy with the pockets on the outside, but she wanted more pockets on the inside. Most important was having a big pocket to keep her knitting projects safe.

messenger bag refashion

When I opened up the seam to take out the flap I got a nice surprise: another pocket! The only issue was the unfinished edges. I decided I could cover them with the trim from the flap.

messenger bag refashion

Here is the new pocket finished with the trim from the flap. It was too difficult to sew this with a straight stitch and get it even, so I zig zagged it instead. I added velcro and voilà: an easy access pocket for knitting projects!

messenger bag refashion

I decided to use the gray fabric from the messenger flap for the inside pockets. There wasn’t a lining in this bag, so I couldn’t sew the pockets directly to the fabric — the outside pockets were in the way. I decided to make the pockets independent of the bag and then just anchor them at different places where the stitches wouldn’t show on the outside.

messenger bag refashion

I saved the zipper for last. I just followed the stitch line on the existing trim when I sewed it in. Instead of anchoring the zipper end to the inside, I finished it off with a fabric tag. It felt a little more sporty that way and was also easier on my sewing machine!

messenger bag refashion

If you’ve been reading my blog for awhile, you know I hate to let anything go to waste. It took a little bit folding and unfolding, but I figured out to make a zipper pouch out of the remaining piece of the flap. Cool!

messenger bag refashion

Here’s the after picture again. I hope this “how to guide” is helpful. If you have any questions, let me know. Carrie loves her bag, by the way. Yay!