If I missed the info in the archives, I'm sorry, but I did look.

My boyfriend got me a sweet vintage sewing machine out of a dumpster, and I plugged it in, pressed the pedal, played with the knobs, and everything seems in working order. Up until now, I've been using a little pink Barbie sewing machine I got for fifty cents at a thrift store. Shut up, it worked!

Yesterday, I got up at 4am in urgent need to sew something (this often happens when I have insomnia), and since my last project broke the Barbie needle (silly me for thinking that little machine could sew leather for longer than a minute), I decided to fire up the real deal, only to find a bobbin compartment I'd never seen before and had no idea how to thread it up.

Well, I googled Pacesetter, Brother, manual, and various other bits, but it just came up with new models.

What the heck, man? How to I work this thing? I've never NOT been able to fiddle with something until I figured it out before, so I'm calling out for help.

( here's what I have to deal with )

Help! Help!

So I was supposed to be flying to Australia today, but my first flight got canceled, which means I'm stuck at home with a lot of time and very little to do.

Since I don't have my own sewing machine yet, and I can never find a swimsuit top that fits, props go to my mom for making this kick-ass bikini for me (yeah, with no pattern! my mom rocks).

Does anyone know of a tutorial on how to do this?

I want to make a t-shirt out of a deep v-neck American Apparel shirt I have and I'm stuck on how to do the v-neck, etc..


Thanks so much!

Sorry about that guys! Here is a pic of a cute bird I sewed!



Thanks for looking!
~Nessa

Hi!

I've always used an oven to shrink plastic, and it worked perfectly, but I've started to use ink jet plastic and don't really want to be baking toxic inks and stuff in my oven. I have a heat gun but i'm having real problems with getting a smooth surface, the plastic always has little dents, crinkles etc..

I'm sure there's lots of talented people here who are total whizzes with heat guns, so If anyone has any tips I'd much appreciate it!

And just because everyone loves pics, I just finished this dress..



( Couple more pics under the cut.. )
thanks!

hello all,

I've been experimenting with natural dyes again - some of this was so I could use up odds and ends that had been stored in the freezer, some of it was using dyes I'd just made.

( t-shirts and wool under the cut! )

So this weekend's crafting project has of course been a Mother's Day gift. My mother is a huge part of my life, and although we might not always get along, I'm so grateful that I had her as my mother. Can you believe she actually flew all the way from Melbourne, Australia to L.A. just to meet me? A 15 hour flight, an overnight stay in a hotel, then 15 hours back, because she knew how shattered I was to have to leave Brett and come home. Crazy, crazy woman, but I'd be lost without her.

She recently got a new PDA to replace her old electronic diary, and so I made this cover for it.





Polar fleece on the outside with minky fleece on the inside for maximum cushioning and soft cuddly protection. (by the way, how awesome is that minky fleece? It feels so lovely that you can forget it feels like you're rubbing your hand over lots of tiny fabric nipples!)




I was thinking about making some more of these. A lamb for me (I already have the material ready) and a Cthulu for my fiance because he's adorable and loves the squid-faced men.

So I was wondering, craft grrls, do you think this is something that people would be interested in? Mine is going to be for my mobile phone, but I can easily adjust them to fit PDAs or ipods. What do you think? Thanks in advance for any advice!

Watch out, behind this cut is
( like 20 bajillion pictures of GOATS. )

Summer vacations have finally arrived for me, and that means more time to craft!
Here's some jewelry I made during the spring...

( You gotta spend some time--love, you gotta spend some time with me )

A good friend of mine's birthday is coming up next month and I need book ideas! She's moving in with her fiance and she's very domestically minded - somewhat of a domestic goddess - and she'll love to decorate their home with her own touches. I want to get her a book that will inspire her; so far I've thought of Lotta Prints. Can anyone suggest anything else that might be suitable? (She's not a crafter as such, so doesn't knit or sew or anything, so it would have to be something about decorating the home, something nice and unusual hopefully).

Thanks!

I worked on a starghan for a while ....
And I am making an afghan that is just a throw...I am not posting it yet as one I am no where near finished with it.
I also recycled a bag with Duct/Duck tape
Duck Tape makes 20 colors and while I only found about 8 at my local Michaels I really was happy to find it.
I am also posting a big shawl I made for someone

Hi! I'd like to share some of my sewing projects with you guys. :)

( Here, take a look! )


Edit. THANK YOU for your comments. <3

Even though winter is finally over I couldn't help but finishing my last of the winter projects, I'm hoping it will help beat the blues next winter!

I really wanted the Russian Winter hat from SnB nation but I couldn't for the life of me understand the pattern and I didn't want to buy the book, so with the combined power of creativity and open source knitting, I came up with this:

Paton's Allure in Crystal + Knitty's Coif (which was way easier, I'm a novice knitter)...

( THIS )

Is it possible to obtain fake feathers somewhere? I'd love to do some crafts and home decor projects with peacock feathers, because they're so beautiful, but I don't want to use real animal products. It seems like the kind of thing they should make (you know, they have fake fur fabric, fake leather type fabrics, fake flowers, etc; they should be able to make fake feathers too) but I haven't been able to find any.

(I swear, one of these days I'll actually post pictures of some crafts that I've made.)

it's a running joke all the time with my boyfriend and my mom. he laughs because she loves animal print. but it really fits her so well! she's not tacky about it though.. she pretty much uses it for accents and accessories. funny though. anyway, he thought it would be a good idea to paint animal print on a flower pot for her.



( so that's exactly what i did! take a look! )

I've got some extra time on my hands this summer and i was thinking of learning how to decorate cakes, i've seen tons of stuff at craft places and it always looks so pretty. Any suggestions on web sites or books that have good step by step instructions even if its just like the basics. I looked around but i can't find an actual class in my area.

This is a journal page that I started as a demo during a visual journal class I was teaching. I did most of it in class, did a little in the airport while waiting to board, and finished up yesterday.

( Here's one I did yesterday. )