One last day of crafting.

Only one thing to show today so far.  My youngest DD will be a clown this year at AAA and we have been planning her costume for some time now.  Shortly after school started, the teacher asked each student about what their plans were for their costume. DD said she wanted to be a button clown.  The teacher then told her about a style of dress in the UK where the clothing is covered in buttons.  I thought she meant something during the victorian period but after researching we found this.

These people are members of the Pearlies and the women are queens and the men are kings.  You can read about the Pearlies on Wikipedia.  The group has quite the history.

Back to the clown costume...  We could not use a Pearly type costume for clowns as they are not colorful enough!  The AAA clowns are known for bright shiny colors with black and white accents.  But in an homage to the Pearlies, I made a headband for DD today.

I used  wool blend felt (2" x 9") and sewed 35 white buttons onto it.  Then I used a blanket stitch to attach the back to one side.  Before sewing the other side together, I inserted a narrow black elastic headband.  When DD tried it on, the ends seemed to be too wide as they stopped well above her ears.  I had her remove it and I found that I could taper the ends by folding them over each other towards the middle.

Next time, I would cut the tapers into the felt and use the blanket stitch so as not to have the extra fabric on the ends.  But this way does still work!



You can get a glimpse of my photography setup in this photo! 

And this one is a bit blurry but it does show how well it spans the head.

Rule #6

When photographing your craft, finished or not, light matters!  Check out my headband post below and just see the differences in the colors and vibrancy of the ribbon!

And another project designed and created tonight!

The same DD has been asking for ribbons for headbands lately.  I knew I had a stash of beautiful ribbons that I found in Nashville a couple of years ago.  (Textile Fabrics is fabulous for trims!!!)  Then I saw a tutorial a day or so ago on making ribbons into headbands.  The tutorial I saw did not do it quite this way but it was very similar.  I also didn't pay attention to the part that said to keep your width  to two inches or less.  Oooops!

This ribbon is 2.5 inches wide (maybe a little less) but the colors are so vibrant!  When DD saw this, it became the headband.  So we chose a wool blend felt and lined the ribbon with that as the back of the ribbon was lots of threads from the weaving of the design.  Is there a term for that type of ribbon?

I should also note that I am an impatient crafter and took photos before I actually finished the ends and trimmed the threads.  What can I say?  I couldn't wait to share it!

DD complained about modeling for me saying that her hair wasn't right but she is beautiful still.  The light in the hallway where we took the photos does not do justice to the colors though.  That's why I showed the detail photos first!

So thankful for a long weekend! Crafting!!!

Since school started there has not been much time to make new things.  But finally, the long weekend has arrived and I made something tonight!

This is a zippered pouch for my oldest DD.  I fell in love with this fabric but found that I didn't purchase enough to be able to match the design exactly on the front and back.  Another crafting lesson!

The inside may be my favorite part this time.  DD is a classical singer and we loved this fabric when we spotted it at Hancock Fabrics.

It has script names of most of the famous classical composers.  I added two strips on one side to make credit card sized pockets for her too.

I think she loves it as much as I loved making it!