Necktie Craft Headbands

here is one side, nice and plain, made from the narrower end of the tie.

Here's the other side, you can see where I tied a knot to go on the side of my head. I simply hand sewed the raw edges together to fit my head, and sewed some snap clips right above where my ears are. This stayed on my head all day long Saturday, on the way home we even rolled the windows down and it held up.

Try these, it's easy, and I hand-sewed these.

Necktie Daisy Tutorial, Geaux Saints, A Hurricane??

Here's a cute craft made from tips of neckties. This could be a lapel pin or a hair accessory.

Isn't it sweet?


This one uses 6 tie tips. The center is a flat button covered in batting, and a piece of black tie scrap gathered over it. Start by gathering up the cut edges of your tie tips, all on the same thread.



When you get to the last one, pull them tight, and stitch the petals together. Sew the covered button to the center, and sew your felt and pin backing or bobby pin to the back.


Cute!

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I made some headbands which I thought were cute. I'll try to come back tomorrow and show them and how they're made.
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I got a chance to go to the thrift store this week. I got some more ties, and this mans suit coat. I was thinking of a tote or maybe checkbook covers or something made from suits and ties.

2 quilted pillow shams, machine quilted, I don't know what brand, but very nice; I'm also thinking tote bags from these,too. And...believe it or not I was looking for a nice silk shirt or something similar to use for lining totes with, and found this "satin" king sized sheet for .99. Perfect! They go with all these tapestry printed table runners I bought at a yard sale to make bags from. I love it when a plan comes together!

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Well, the Saints are really somethin' this year, huh?? 8-0


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What the heck...a hurricane in November. Dammit. I am so NOT in the mood. heh

The stores are busy selling out of water and batteries and gas and any food that might work during those weeks or months of no electricity. I still have some MRE's stored in the laundry room, so we're good as long as the house doesn't blow away. I need to go buy water. Buy water. ha. That sounds so weird. And buy some gas. And maybe a fan.
Crap.
Maybe it won't be so bad.
But..
the last time we had a 100mp hurricane we lost 5 or 6 power poles on our road, snapped off like toothpicks. We were only out of power for a week, but that's a long time if the temperature is around 90 or 100 and the bees and wasps and mosquitos are out.

I'm not sure I want to leave if it's under or at Cat3. It's hard to decide since Katrina. Who wants to come home and find your home damaged not only by a hurricane but by looters?
Crap.

Necktie Rose Tutorial

Let's make a rose pin out of a pretty necktie! I'm not very good at directions, but I tried to take lots of photos!







You'll need:
1-necktie
needle and thread
felt or backing of choice
pin or bobby pin or snap clip
scissors






Cut a length from narrow end, somewhere between 20" to 30" long. Cut off folded tip. Leave about an inch and a half of fabric at the end below the tip, and save for another pin tutorial! (daisy tie tip pin tutorial)
You'll see the manufacturer's basting stitches, find a loose end of it and pull those stitches out. Now remove the lining fabric.






Open up and pin together raw edges.



Fold over the tip by your needle and thread. This will be the center of your rose. I used about a 35" length of thread so I could sew the whole rose pin in one sitting :D Take a few stitches and tack down. Now start making running/gather stitches.



Begin to roll your gathered edge around the fold; take a few stitches as you go. I make the first couple rolls tighter than the last rolls.



Right away you should begin to see a rose shape forming. Way to go!! Now keep up the same steps....running stitch..gather....tack down....all the while, turning your rose around and keeping an eye on the shape coming out. If you don't like the shape, you can tighten or loosen your gathering.



Isn't it coming out so cute?? Gather and stitch til you're almost at the end.



You're almost there!


This is how it looks from the back.


Now fold in the raw edges, and make a running stitch through it.


Tack down the end near the bottom side.




My batteries died...had to stop everything and go buy some. Look at those cute pink batteries! Now back to the rose pin :D Want some leaves? I'm going to make some out of wire edged ribbon. This is 1 1/2 " wide and 3" long. Fold it like the photo.


Take some running stitches across the bottom of the leaf. Gather it up and stitch it to the bottom. Do the same with the other leaf.


Cut out your piece of felt and cut 2 slits into it and slide the pin backing or bobby pin into it and stitch down.


Finished...beautiful! Now make some more for your sisters, aunts, cousins, kids and grandkids teachers, sell some, make money to buy more stuff :D

Next time....another necktie flower pin tutorial!

Using Old Neckties-Pretty!

I finally got started on my granddaughters necktie skirt. I've got about 8 hand sewn together, but still need to work a lot on it. But I'm only using about half a tie, so I used the leftovers for several ideas.



The skirt in progess. I'll need to measure her before I get too much further!




Try this with the tips of the neckties. Gather up the cut edges slightly and then sew together in the center. I used an old fabric covered button and recovered right over it with batting and some tie fabric and sewed it to the back of the button, then sewed it to the center of the flower. Use a pin backing or a bobby pin on the back.



This one is made with one length of tie fabric folded in half. I gathered up every couple inches, and tacked it down, until I had 6 petals. It's then sewn together with 3 petals on top, and 3 on the bottom, with another fabric covered button.


Use a length of tie fabric, this one is narrow, and gather up an inch or two, then tack, until you get to the end. Sew it into a circle and add a fabric covered button.


I still have other ideas to try out, like a headband, and a belt, and a purse. Too many things going at once and I need to finish some, lol!

But these are quick, maybe half an hour to one hour, and there you have a nice gift for someone special of any age!

I forgot to add the photo of the red rose pin last night!!

Vintage Hankie Crafts

I recently won the giveback giveaway at Elaine's Love2junk, and there were some really nice handkerchiefs in there, so I decided to look up some crafts to make with them! The cutest thing was the tradition of making a bonnet from a handkerchief to give a new baby. There's only a few stitches in it in order to make it easy turn it back into a handkerchief, so anyone can make this for a wedding or christening or baby shower gift, and there's a few really sweet poems you can print out to give with it. This site has several....
Here are two bonnets I made.


All you need to do is gather up the back edge in a simple running stitch. I used quilting thread, you can use white embroidery floss,too. Fold the front edge over and tack a length of ribbon on each side with a few stitches. That's it!



This one is made the same way.




Here are some sachets to put in your closet or drawers. I used my favorite perfume sprayed between two pieces of batting. You can use lavender or potpourri.



You'll fold your handkerchief like an envelope, like this. Hand sew the two seams on the pocket of the envelope part, and slip your prepared batting and scent inside. Hand sew the top flap down and embellish with ribbons, buttons, what ever you like.


This one I added a small piece of lace to the edge.


This one I made with ribbon and buttons.



Here's a cute idea. This hankie has some very pretty pansy embroidery around the edges. I starched it, and folded it in a square, and tucked it into this small vase.

I found this interesting; these are called Sunday Dolls or Church Dolls. I never had one myself, but I remember women having coins wrapped up in handkerchiefs when I was small, simply as a way of keeping a certain amount of change handy. The story behind this one is, that they were made for children to keep their change for the collection plate. They could play with it during service and it wouldn't make noise if dropped on the floor. I made this one with two quarters folded into a corner and tied with a ribbon. Then the corner was pulled back over the "head" made of the quarters as a bonnet and each side under the head was pushed up and tied with the same ribbon. These would be wings or hands. I saw some for sale at different places that come with a poem. They could be given to a bride on her wedding day.


You may be able to tell how I made it from this photo. Take the corner behind her head and bring it on top of her head, like a bonnet. Twist each side a little, like shown on the left, and push it to the dolls head. Use the same ribbon, tie it around to the back, then to the front again, and into a bow.

kudzu

Aged Paper And Potion Labels For Halloween

Paper that I dipped in coffee and sprinkled with tea leaves. You can download it if you like. And the labels I made up for the potions in my last post. You can download these, too! Or copy the words I used. It's Blackadder font in dark red, brown looks good,too!
kudzu

sorry it looks so...messed up.

Halloween Decorations-Shopping At The Dollar Store

I'm still not finished, there's no lights. There HAS to be lights! Maybe tomorrow I can get that done. Let's see what I've gotten done.....



A couple bats caged up. This bird cage stand and cage thing-y are always on the porch. I added a couple bats-$1 each.



I found a small branch laying on the ground for this one. I used some fake birds I had from some birds nests I bought on clearance for another pro ect. I hot glued them on and spray painted the whole thing black. Black spray paint-$1.


Here are some potions I made with old bottles. I typed up some fake labels with a cool font and printed them out on aged looking paper. Then I burnt the edges and glued them down. Easy and fun :D


This is all of them finished.


Here are three examples....the one on the left-the gross looking pink one-is one my grandson made. Leftover bow tie pasta in water with a couple drops of red paint. He named this one,too...Dinosaur Brains!!! ewww!!! the one in the middle is made with a few mini skeletons and some gift basket filler in water with green food coloring. I bought a string of six mini skeletons for $2. It's named Fairy Skeletons. The last one is liquid fabric softener with red paint. Too bad I didn't have white corn syrup.......ah,well.....use what you have! Oh, and it's named Vampire Blood!

These are cool.....I made the one in the middle with cheap fake plastic leaves, leftover from some fall flowers for the wreath. I named it Wolfs Bane. Now, my granddaughter made the one on the left with some cut up pieces of disposable diapers( I use them when I pot up plants to hold moisture) She added some red glitter and green food coloring, and named it Swamp Goblin Snot. Isn't that awesome? And she made the one on the right with dried kidney beans that she added water to. We put the lid on so they'd swell up and get really packed in there. She named this one Troll Livers.

I made these. The one on the left is sand, but I called it Graveyard Dirt. The middle one is yellow bath salts, and it's named Moon Dust...only the label was too big, so I didn't even use it! The one on the right looked much better last week. It's mini marshmallows packed in water with blue food coloring. We named it Blue Mushrooms.



This is what they all sit on out on the coffee table on the front porch. I spray painted a silver plated tray with black paint, then cut down a window cling- $1- to fit the tray.




And here it is tonight, out on the porch. The candles I made last week from something I saw on Martha Stewart called bleeding candles. It's white tapers with red candle wax dripped down the sides. I bought the candles at a yard sale for .05 each, and had the red one already. I set them in metal candlesticks from another yard sale, spray painted black. I also added a couple sprigs of fake flowers I spray painted black.


This is how I covered the lids. I used brown Kraft paper-like a paper bag- and cut squares that I ran under the faucet til slightly wet, to make it easier to use. Spread a little school glue on the lid and lay the damp paper on it. Tie it with raffia.


A package of eight skull bags-$1-filled with newspaper and hung over the steps. I actually want to rehang these from some fake barbed wire from my Halloween stash. I think they'd look cool like that! The skull faces are on each side; I bet they'd look good cut out-that'd make 16 faces- and put on a window.....hmmmmm.
There's more.....but the photos aren't coming out, and I'll try tomorrow....but I bought rotted fake drapes-$1 each and I bought two- and a couple lifesized plastic rats-$1 each-I have two large rubber spiders from previous Halloweens on the tray with potions. I have two trays, the other is a silver plated round tray also spray painted black.

And an old chandelier my sister gave me, I spray painted black and used fake spider webs on-$1-and sat votive candles in the arms..I bought the candles at a yard sale, a whole unopened box for .50, vanilla scented.


My youngest grandson and I went for a walk in the back yard. I took pictures while he picked flowers for his Mom. Before he'd pick them, he'd ask me " did you get a picture of THIS one yet???".......lol He insisted he needed something for a vase, and I had some empty cans saved. This collard greens can looks perfect!






and last but certainly NOT least.....lol.....my three grandchildren made Q-tip skeletons......YAY!!!...this was fun! Use white cotton swabs and black construction paper. Follow the pictures to count how many whole ones you'll need-15-and how many to cut shorter-11 for the fingers and neck- and 2 a teensy bit longer for feet. You can make toes if you want! We used white felt for the skulls, and sequins for eyes . The kids noticed heart shaped sequins so I gave them each one for a nose-glued upside down- and they wanted their "dead dudes" to have a larger one for their heart! I cut a sequin in half for the mouth, and a black marker for "zipper scars". Try this with your kids....fun fun fun!

til next time,
kudzu