Anna

October 20, 2012

Tutorial – Giant Pop-tart

I made this giant felt Pop-tart the other night. Can you guess what it’s for? Hint: Halloween is coming up, and I have a gray cat…

EDIT: Nyan Cat costume tutorial here.

I didn’t take many pictures as I made it, but maybe I can explain and make this a bit of a tutorial (if for any reason you would want to make a large fabric pop-tart in the future!).

Giant Felt Pop-tart

Supplies:

2 pieces pastry/peach-colored felt (11.5″ x 8.5″)
1 piece light pink felt
darker pink/fuchsia acrylic or fabric paint
10.5″ x 7.5″ piece of cardboard (I cut mine from a box.)
matching thread
fiber-fill or batting
white acrylic or fabric paint (optional)
white sparkles/glue with sparkles (optional)

1. Cut the light pink felt piece down about a three-fourths of an inch all the way around UNEVENLY. You want it to be slightly scalloped to give it more of an icing-on-pastry look. It will be about 10″ x 7″.

2. Cut around a pastry-colored piece of felt slightly, just to make the edges uneven like the pink piece.

3. Spread out some fiber-fill or cut down a piece of batting to slightly smaller than the pink felt piece. Place the batting/fiber-fill on the cut pastry piece and place the pink icing piece on top. Pin in place.

Anna

September 14, 2012

Flashback Friday – Marine Blankets

When my first little brother to join the US Marines left for bootcamp, I wanted to make him a surprise gift for when he returned. A sort of thank-you-for-being awesome, you-survived-the-torture sort of gift. He didn’t have a comforter for his bed, so I decided to make him a quilt. To celebrate his awesomeness, I made an iron-on of the Eagle, Globe, and Anchor for the middle of the quilt. And, of course, I had to make a matching pillowcase. I was, and still am, not a quilter, but I think it turned out pretty good.

So when another one of my little brothers also joined the Marines, I of course had to make a blanket for him, too. But instead of a quilt, I chose to crochet it. I believe I actually thought it would be easier! =0P

I decided to use the tapestry crochet technique, so I had to first make a chart. I wanted to make it of the Eagle, Globe, and Anchor again, so there was a lot of detail to work out in Photoshop. Once I got that worked out, I started to crochet. And boy, did I crochet! That afghan may have been my most time-consuming to date. Trying to keep the sides even was really difficult, and nearly drove me mad! Needless to say, the poor guy didn’t get his blanket right after bootcamp, but I did get it done eventually. And it was SO worth it! Though I have been avoiding large projects in tapestry crochet with more than two colors ever since.

If you are interested in crocheting an afghan for a Marine in your life here is my pattern (chart only) as a pdf: Marine Afghan Pattern by the Sweet Seamstress. It is in tapestry crochet, which involves carrying the other colors of yarn inside single crochet stitches.

The top reads “Don’t Mess…” and the bottom says “…With the Best.” Quite applicable for more than one reason.

If you are/were in the US military, Thank You for Your Service!