Warmer weather is coming, and last week I made cutoff shorts from some holey jeans. A couple of springs ago, I made this ball, and I always wanted to try narrowing the panels to make a football shape. So yesterday I gave it a go and it worked! In addition to some regular stuffing, I also used some fabric strips cut from an old tee-shirt to give it some …
Hey Everybody! I’m Joel’s younger sister and I love to tackle big fiber arts projects, but now that I have two kids my time for crafting has diminished quite a bit. My new favorite craft is embroidery because it is quick, versatile and satisfying. I was inspired by photos of your embroidery based on Joel’s drawings and I’ve always loved Joel’s …
I finally tried painting fabric and made some simple little dolls. Last night I laid out a few scraps of muslin and the non-toxic acrylic paints I always use for kids stuff. (See my favorite tools page if you’d like.) I kept the paint pretty watered down so it soaked into the fabric. It was fun experimenting with different designs. At the end, …
My daughter has been doing a little stitching at school, so I asked her if she’d like to do some embroidery at home. (I’ve been meaning to do this with her for months.) She was very excited and wanted to get started right then. For this first project, I told her to stitch wherever she wanted to create an abstract design. I also used felt, …
Our twins love to get up early in the morning and play together while the rest of us are still asleep. But now baby E is wanting to get up early too. So, when I get the chance to nap, I’ve usually ended up with a stuffed animal draped over my eyes to block out the bright light in the room. That inspired me to try making a sleep mask out of some …
I was drawing with some non-toxic fabric pens the other day just for fun. (See my favorite tools, if you want to know what kind of paint pens.) I’m not sure what I’ll do with all the drawings yet, but I made this bird into a little pillow toy. Kind of cute, and very fast and easy to make.
We got to spend all of last week at my mom’s house. Among the exciting fun with grandchildren, I got to spend some time with my mom too. We made this play mat for little E. I was lucky enough to somehow end up with this very cool strip of fabric from London that my mom bought in the late 60′s. It’s a fantastic elephant design by Neil …
Baby E got ahold of my son’s old giraffe toy that I made when the twins were little, and she is having a pretty good time with it. I just used some natural canvas fabric and drew on it with non-toxic fabric pens. It’s held up really well over the last two years. I might have to make another one now, so she can have her own. Nice!
By Wendi Gratz (Giveaway info below to win these bags!) Hello again everyone! Way back in July I posted here about some basic info you need to start embroidering – and I shared some of the details about how I stitched up one of Joel’s Paper City designs. As soon as I saw Joel’s holiday designs on printable gift tags. I knew I wanted …
Our baby girl is starting to play with toys! At almost 5 months old, she’s still having a little difficulty holding on to things, and getting the right parts of certain toys into her mouth. So I decided to make her an easy to hold, sun shaped toy, with lots of rays to suck on. I also added a small circle of velcro in the middle, for extra tactile …
I just finished this embroidered shirt, now that it’s getting to be long-sleeve weather here. The design is actually some flower pots from an old sketch I did for one of these coloring sheets. While I was making it, my son got a piece of paper and said he wanted to draw the design too. His flower pot drawing is at the bottom. Cool!
My son loves stripy pants as much as I like stripy socks. You can see in this old post that he’s been sporting these trousers for almost a year and a half. After finally wearing a hole in them, we tried to talk him into cut-off shorts, but he didn’t like the idea of his favorite pants being cut, so I ended up making a patch. It’s very …
A lot of people ask me what toys and craft projects end up being favorites in our house. One of the hits has been these vintage fabric dolls that I made a year and a half ago. My daughter really latched onto hers, and has slept with it every night since, taking it on vacations and all around town. It’s gone a little limp, but she won’t let …
Here’s an easy little fish toy that I made today for the baby. I used fabric scraps, including part of an old neck tie. So far she likes to watch me wiggle the fish tail in front of her. It’s pretty cute. If you want to try making one, there are photos and directions below. Happy fish making! Instructions: First cut out two pieces of fabric …
By Wendi Gratz Embroidery is a really terrific craft. The tools are inexpensive and readily available, the projects are portable, and you can embroider ANY drawing. Today I want to introduce you to the basic tools, teach you how to transfer an embroidery pattern, and give you specific details on how I stitched up one of Joel’s designs.
The other day, I decided to try making some car seat and stroller toys for our new baby girl to look at. I used high contrast scraps of felt, so they’re soft to touch, and fun for babies eyes to focus on. They were very fast and easy to make, and so far she loves looking at them! Instructions and more photos below if you’d like to try it …
My kids have been practicing throwing and catching a lot lately, but the rubber balls we have are a little difficult for them to catch. So last night when I cleaning out my closet, I found some old jeans, and thought I’d make a ball with some of the fabric. It was really easy to make – very similar to my yo-yo ball from awhile back. This …
Here’s another sock project. I got the idea from the very cool book, Sock and Glove. I love sock projects because there is so little sewing involved, which makes them super fast! This fish took only 10 minutes to make. Also, sock crafts are a great way to repurpose my stripy socks so I don’t have to just throw them away. And if you made …
First off, I’m very excited to to announce that we will be having a new baby girl in six weeks! Our four year old twins have been having a great time helping us get ready. We’ve been wanting to make some baby booties for weeks now, but haven’t gotten around to it. Then today, I thought I’d try just turning my old socks into baby …
We were getting out the Valentine’s Day decorations with the kids yesterday, and my wife was wishing we had a garland. She asked me if I wanted to make one for her present this year. I’ve never made a garland before, but I had to try! It was quite fun to make, although I have no idea if I did it correctly. I cut some hearts out of felt, …