10 Things to Do With Old Sweaters
Posted by craft on
August 21, 2010
You likely have some sweaters thrown in the back of your closet, damaged with a stain, moth hole or two. Instead of tossing old and unused sweaters, turn them into something new and completely lovable. You can also look for inexpensive sweaters at the thrift store. Crafting with old sweaters saves money on craft materials and helps to reduce your household waste.
Yarn – If you knit, crochet or even weave, salvage the yarn from an old sweater to use in a new project. Find a seam in the sweater and carefully snip one of the seam stitches with a pair of very sharp scissors. Use a blunt needle to lift out the seam stitches, snipping the seam yarn for each. For a knit sweater, you want to unravel the yarn from the cast off edge, generally at the top of the sweater since sweaters are made from the bottom up. Start ripping from the last cast off stitch and carefully wind the yarn into a ball as you go. You should end up with four or more balls of yarn from the different sweater pieces.
Felt – Sweaters that are at least 20% wool can be felted in your washing machine. 100% wool sweaters will give a sturdier felt for different crafts. Make sure the sweater has not been treated to make it washable, such as “superwash, ” as these will not felt. Throw the sweater into a zippered delicates bag and wash on high heat. Dry on high heat, cleaning the lint trap frequently. Some sweaters require more than one wash and dry to fully felt. The sweater will eventually shrink dramatically and will be ready to cut apart!
Pillows – Use a pillow form to help you measure and mark the size for your throw pillow on the old sweater. You need a sewing machine for this project or a bit of patience with hand sewing.
Plastic Bag Holder – Have a dog you need to clean up after on walks? Use the sleeve of an older sweater to create a handy plastic bag holder to hang from a door. The stretchy wrist end is perfect for the bottom and you don’t even need to stitch it closed. Just cut the shoulder seam and sew a neater edge. You can add embellishments such as ric – rac at the edges or cut out “Dog Walk” in fabric letters and appliqu? to the sweater sleeve. Loop a piece of elastic and sew to the top to hang from a door.
Brooches – A brooch adds instant style to any jacket, sweater or bag. Either felt the sweater first to prevent unraveling or double – stitch a flower shape with your sewing machine. Use a fabric pencil to mark a simple floral design and double stitch over this design. Cut out the shape at least 1 cm away from the stitch line. Stitch and cut out another floral shape slightly smaller than the first. Layer the two flowers and sew together with an interesting button.
Coffee Cup Sleeves or Water Bottle Cozies – Cut a band in your old sweater sleeve to make a coffee cup sleeve, or use a larger piece of the sleeve for a water bottle cozy. You can felt the sweater first to make a more solid material fit for embroidery and other embellishing.
Paper Craft – Cut out small pieces of wool for embellishing scrapbook pages or handmade cards. Cut out letters or even tiny sweater or scarf shapes for autumn. Make a wonderfully textured tree with an old fuzzy angora sweater.
Blanket or Quilt – If you have several old sweaters, turn them into lovely blanket or quilt. You can cut the sweaters into blocks or varying shapes, and even use the ribbing for the edges of the blanket. Some sweaters may be too thick for the sewing machine, so you will have to pin and hand – sew pieces together with right sides facing and ? inch seam allowance. If seams do not lay flat after steam – ironing, hand – stitch seams to back of the blanket. Thinner sweaters can be sewn with the sewing machine and can be given a fabric backing.
Toys – Whether felted or not, old sweaters are a great material for making toys or stuffed animals. Create a puppet with the sleeve of a sweater. Hem the cut edge to prevent fraying. To make the head of the puppet, you can simply sew the cuff together straight across or trim a curved line and sew. For a puppet with hair, gather a few inches of the cuff and weave the thread back and forth. Pull tight and secure the thread. Cut off some of the gathered cuff to leave fuzzy hair.
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Learn Crochet Basic C
Posted by craft on
July 13, 2008
How to crochet a single line:
Beneath your crown loops insert your hook at the second chain away from your hook and begin Yarn over Yo crocheting. You should continue to stitch between create the two loops. Continue the yarn over process and pull your yarn through the chain to it meets two loops on your hook. Continue the Yo process again and pull the yarn through the other two loops.
Once you complete your hook, work, slipknots, chain stitch, single line, etc, you will need to learn how to double crochet, half-double, triple; slip stitch, back loop, popcorn stitch, etc. Behind the steps is the process of working back loops, chain space, stitches between, and about the post.
Learn Crochet Basic B
Posted by craft on
July 13, 2008
How to chain stitch:
On your hook position a slipknot and use your hands, i.e. center left finger and the thumb to hold the yarn in place. Wrap your yarn first up and then over your hook starting at the back and moving to the front. You will need to familiarize your self with this procedure, since it is a basic crocheting technique known as “Yarn over Yo.â€
Now pull the yearn using your hook bringing it through the lp (loop). When you yarn over Yo and combine it with lp, it forms a ch. (Chain)
Continue until you have the acceptable chain and continue motion on even strokes and until the stitches that form a chain and each stitch (st(s) are even. Near your work area, hold your chain and continue twisting whilst avoiding counting the loops on your hook.
Let’s go to the next step
tags: chain_stitch, slipknot, stitches
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Learn Crochet Basic A
Posted by craft on
July 12, 2008
In order to understanding the crochet basics, as the first we can started with crochet abbreviations to help you easy relate to the process. Those who crochet must learn how to handle the hook, work jointly, chain stitch, slip knot, and crochet a single row.
How to hook:
To hold your hook you would start with a pencil. The hook may have a resting finger, which you can locate your thumbs to gain control.
How to work in union:
Once you have a hold on your hook, weave the thread/yarn so that your, left fingers have control, and can be used to apply pressure. Once you begin your project (Work), you want to use your thumb and the center left finger to press the stitches. Read the rest of this entry »
tags: chain_stitch, stitches, thread_yarn
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Perfect Way Choose Batting Quilt Fibers for Craft
Posted by craft on
June 15, 2008
How to choose The Right batting fibers
Batting fiber is good handicraft material. what you need was just choose which the right batting quilt fibers for your handicraft projects. In this article I was give you some ideas. To choose your materials you must consider batting quilt fibers. Once you choose your batting make sure that, you unfold the cotton material and let it set a couple of days before you start crafting. The batting will relax and inflate. You want to space your batting closely to avoid bunching also when crafting your quilt.
Quilts include the crib sizes, twin, and full, double fit, queen, and king. The standard crib fit is around 45-inches time’s 60. Twin fits are 72 x 90, full and the double are 81 x 96, queen fits are 90 x 108, and the king fits are around 120 x 120. Some materials require pre-washes before you can use the fabric. Read your labels.
You have options in battings, including the traditional, which is often made of cotton and the polyesters. The blends of polyester and cotton will shrink sometimes. To stitch the cotton you will need to create intervals of larger stitches, yet if you combine polyester with your cotton, you can minimize the stitches. Read the rest of this entry »
