Ombre bunting flags

I haven't been here for a while, which doesn't mean I haven't been busy. Quite the contrary, actually.
I'm working on what I believe will be a very cool, fully leather bag. Venturing hand sewing leather, using sharp and scary needles... Yikes! But if everything continues to go as planned, it will be a nice bag. One to be proud of. And I hope to be able to show you the result soon...



In the meantime: a fun, fast, cheap and easy craft - just the way we like it.
I had some fluorescent paint left from my previous project and decided to dilute it to see if it would work to get the lately much wanted ombre effect.





I ripped a band of flimsy cotton, folded it accordion-wise and hung it in a jar which I filled with about an inch of the water-paint mixture. I let it sit for a while (I actually enjoyed watching the fabric soaking up the paint), next hung it to dry. Once dry, I cut it in small rectangular pieces (at the folds), sewed a tunnel with fluorescent thread and threaded the rectangles onto some cotton rope.
I didn't bother to cut of loose ends as I like a slightly ragged look.
And that's it!

And now, back to work!

Wishing you a great rest of the week and a happy Thanksgiving for those of you celebrating!

Cheers,

P.

Fluo linen bag DIY

Looking for a simple but rewarding project or a DIY gift idea?
Then keep on reading as I may have something for you!

On my last trip to the craft store I finally found the fluorescent orange fabric paint I had been looking for! I desperately needed some after seeing some really nice printed home textiles in a boutique here in Paris.



With a simple pencil eraser I printed a random pattern of dots on some almost sheer natural cotton muslin. It took me about half an hour to finish the job. Once dry, and ironed to set the dye, I took the piece of fabric to my sewing machine and made a simple drawstring bag. From beginning to end, another 15 minutes, I guess. The result is a cute linen bag, or anything bag if you like.
Make them smaller and you have the cutest gift bags. The same printing technique would work well to decorate pillow cases, kitchen towels, napkins. Anything really. If you're running out of time you can have your kids do the printing part. Or, why not, the entire project!




What you'll need:

- a piece of fabric, pre-washed
- fabric paint, like Pébéo Setacolor, transparent fluorescent orange, #32
- pencil with eraser at the top
- plastic sheeting to protect your working surface
- painters tape to tape fabric to plastic
- rope for drawstring
- optional: fluorescent sewing thread
- sewing machine



Instructions:

1. Tape your fabric to the plastic sheet protecting your working surface, to prevent the fabric from shifting around creating unwanted smudges.
2. Dip eraser in paint, next onto fabric (do a few test prints on a piece of scrap) and do so in a random pattern.
3. Let dry. After, iron to set the paint (or follow your paint's instructions).
4. Make a drawstring bag as explained here. I used some contrasting fluorescent thread for sewing the drawstring tunnel. And that's all there is to it!


The things you can do with a simple pencil eraser... Have fun!

A Sunday afternoon in Fall

We're on Fall break right now.
The weather's not really with us this time: rain, wind, cold, more rain.
Enough reasons to stay inside and make a craft or two, or to read a good book maybe.

Any good book recommendations?

Denim snack bag :: a recycling project

I'm maybe not very original with this project. You can find tutorials for this kind of (snack) bags everywhere on the net. Derived from the paper brown bag, they're very simple to make. When using old pants, however, they're even simpler to make, is what I thought.

I used an old pair of jeans, which were ripped at the knees, and let's face it, which also got a little too tight around the waist... For the strap, I used a thin, orange leather, partly torn belt (the top and bottom layers got separated beyond repair this time).

The project is kind of straightforward and summarized in the pictures below. I probably won't use my bag as a snack bag but rather as a make-up bag. The second leg will be transformed in a similar way, and will hold our adapters, cell phone loaders etc. when traveling.

Just one remark before you get started: the size of the bag obviously is determined by the width of the pants' legs. Hence, I do not recommend using slim pants. Straight leg pants and boot cuts, however, are just perfect for the job!


You will need: an old pair of pants, an old belt, needle and thread, and a sewing machine (although you could do this project entirely by hand).



Instructions:

1. Cut off one leg, just below knee, with adult size pants, about 40cm.

2. Prepare your belt by cutting the following:

- one strap of about 10 cm, buckle included and still attached

- another strap of about 40 cm, starting to measure from the other extremity of the belt (so this part has the holes)

- two strips of about 3cm, each.

3.  Turn the leg inside out. Since the bottom seam will become the top of the bag, we will close the other end. Insert the belt part with buckle, at that end, making sure it's positioned right in the middle. Close the seam, and run a zigzag stitch to prevent fraying.

4. Make boxed corners as shown.

5. Attach the other strap, nicely centered in the back. To make the sewing easier, prepare the leather by making holes using an awl. Next, add the short strips with a couple of stitches. If you're smart, unlike me, you attach the strap and strips before sewing the bottom seam...

And that's it! Hope you like it...

Cheers,

P.

PS: If you made something using a tutorial found on this blog or if you got inspired by something you found here, make sure to post your pictures here.

Folded leather basket :: a minimalistic DIY

I love minimalism, as I truly believe less is more.
I have always loved geometry.
I love figuring out how things are built.

Lately I have been drawn into building shapes, going from something flat to something three dimensional and functional with the least steps involved. The teddy bear key chain is one example.

So, when I came across this fabulous basket and DIY on Pinterest, I couldn't get to my craft's table fast enough. In no time, I made a bunch of leather mini baskets based on the same principle, but instead of using a hexagon I made use of squares. And leather - what else!?



This is an easy and fast craft, which requires minimal supplies:
a (small) piece of leather, a hole punch, rivets and rivet setter, a cutting tool, and a ruler and pencil.

Now if you don't have access to leather, try using heavy weight felt as in the original tutorial, or use foam sheets. Or with the holidays just ahead of us why not try making some baskets out of nice and heavy card stock, replacing the rivets with eyelets or brads. These baskets would make perfect packaging for those homemade cookies.

Before you get started and especially when using precious materials like leather, I recommend making a paper version first, just to make sure you got the dimensions right.

I made two sizes of baskets:
- a 15 cm square results in a 7 x 7 x 4 cm basket
- a 10 cm  square results in a 5 x 5 x 2,5 cm basket

To give you a rough idea: one of the larger baskets is holding (part of my) washi tape collection and the other one a bunch of large paper clips. The small one holds quite an amount of small paperclips. 



Instructions:

1. Make a paper template or download the template here.
2. Cut the leather and make the diagonal incisions as shown (for a 15 cm square, cut 6cm diagonals; for a 10cm square this would be 4cm diagonals)
3. Punch 4 holes as shown in the picture and template.
4. Set rivets (I found the table corner to be very useful for this, but make sure to protect your table appropriately). Shape your basket by inserting the two remaining flaps.

Animal Key Chain :: DIY

Last week, while I was working on the leather key holder, I had an aha-moment. On top of one of H's birthday presents, last summer, sat a cute 3D card stock bear head/tag. Because I thought it was so cute I rescued the little bear from the recycling bin and it'd been sitting on my desk ever since. Until last week, that is.



All of a sudden, I new what I wanted to do with it - make a replica in leather and use it to hang on a key chain. And that's exactly what I did. I tweaked the design here and there and even came up with a little fellow critter. So easy to make and according to my girls very cute (do I need to tell the little critters have been claimed already ?).



Use sturdy leather for this project (I used low grade but rather stiff leather for mine). Besides leather, you will also need a (leather) needle and thread, an eyelet and eyelet setter, and a key ring. Skip the sewing and have your little ones decorate their bear or dog head with markers, if you like. Punch a couple of holes for the eyes. To keep everything together and give the head its 3D shape, slam an eyelet through the top as shown in the template, attach a king ring and you're done.

 

Wouldn't these make cute party favors? Or how about making a whole bunch of them to decorate your Christmas tree. And if you're good at drawing (which I'm not), try making different animal heads. If you do so, feel free to post them in my Flickr group - I'd love to see which animals you come up with!

Note: if you can't find leather, try using other materials like vinyl, or foam sheets, heavy weight felt, ... as long the material used has a certain stiffness this should work!

Leather key chain holder :: a tutorial

 

Quite some time ago, I got M. a cute leather key chain. The design was very simple. What made it special was the combination of materials: leather and rubber, and the color: tomato red. I immediately regretted I only bought one and of course when I went back they were all gone. A good reason to try to make something similar myself. It took me a while before I found the time, but this week I finally got to it. I made several in different colors and color combinations. Since they're really easy to make, I decided to share this project with a short how-totutorial. It's a perfect beginner's project for sewing leather on the machine.

Here's what you need:

- small pieces of leather (or faux leather or any other material which doesn't fray)
- (leather) shoe lace, ribbon, ...
- key ring
- 2 metal eyelets + setting tool
- hole punch
- adhesive hemming tape or vliesofix
- rotary cutter, scissors, cutting mat
- sewing machine, equipped with a special leather sewing needle
- iron



Instructions:

1. Print and cut out the template, which you can download here.
Note: the precise dimensions are given on the template. Make sure the scale of the print-out corresponds to the measurements given, before cutting leather.
2. Trace template on the back of the leather and cut (x2).
3. Punch holes in each piece according to template.
4. Set eyelets.
5. Cut small strips of hemming tape and iron onto one of the two cut pieces. The hemming tape will keep the pieces into place while sewing. Remove paper strips. Position the second piece on top of the first one - make sure to align precisely and iron into place. Next stitch the two layers together, about 0.5cm from the edge. Trim edges if necessary.
Note: (i) if you work with leather pieces of different thickness, iron the tape onto the thickest quality.
 (ii) ironing leather: test on a piece of scrap first or use a cloth to protect leather from the heat of the iron.
6. Thread shoelace through the eyelets while slipping on ring. Attach keys and done!

Optional: you can add a closure at the bottom, if you like (snap closure, button, ...).

Note: From the comments and messages I received, I realize I should have explained how to use this key holder. The design is such that you can wear it around the neck - the keys don't show as the leather pouch covers them. To get to the keys, just slip the leather cover up while still wearing or take off and give the holder a shake so the keys come down... I hope this helps!

As with all of my tutorials, please note, this tutorial is intended for personal use only. Thanks for understanding! 

If you made something using a tutorial found on this blog or if you got inspired by something you found here, make sure to post your pictures here.

Leather and other thoughts

People who have been following // Between the lines // over the years, know I like to work with leather and have integrated it into many of my crafts. It started with small pieces of leather found here and there but over time, as I gained confidence (or so I thought), I also started buying bigger pieces, and by bigger I mean real stretches of cow hides and pig skins and whatever animal skins.
This has resulted in a stash that gets more and more difficult to store or to 'hide' (oh, this is so lame!).
Once in awhile, I'll take out my stash just to look at it and feel it, smell it, but also to think about all the wonderful things I could make from it. And there's the problem. The possibilities are endless and so is my inspiration (have you seen my pin board on Pinterest, yet?), but once a specific project has been decided upon and started, there's no way back. Once you start cutting, you literally cut off the other options.  I don't like the idea of wasting my precious stash, however. That explains why I have leather but no finished projects. I just can't make up my mind. I'm stuck.

A lot of things in life are like that. No doubt there are more important decisions than which bag to make.
Choosing means giving up alternatives or other options, but also moving ahead, getting rid of what weighs you down.
Choosing somehow sets free.

Let's try to remember that...

Work in progress :: seed stitch cowl

I started knitting on a seed stitch cowl during our camping trip (which was absolutely great, by the way).
It's the simplest knitting project thinkable.
Purl, knit, purl.
A no-brainer.

Note to one self :: apple cinnamon cake

Made this cake yesterday. I used our basic cake recipe, cinnamon sugar and two crumpled and sad looking apples and threw things together in a mixing bowl. Everyone loved it. So, I had to write down the recipe... For next time when we end up with crumpled apples.  


Cinnamon Apple mixture  

1/4 cup of white sugar 
2 tsp cinnamon 

2 apples, peeled and cored and cut into small cubes


1. Combine sugar and cinnamon in a bowl.
2. In a bowl, add 2 tsp of the cinnamon sugar mix to the apple cubes. Mix with a spoon to make sure all apples are coated.
3. Reserve the rest of the cinnamon sugar for later.  


Cake recipe:  

125 g butter, room temperature 
150g sugar 
2 eggs, room temperature 

250g flour, combined with 2 tsp baking powder (i.e. 1 sachet de levure chimique, when you're in France) 
and a pinch of salt 

2 tbsp of yoghurt

1. In a mixing bowl, mix butter and sugar until white and fluffy.
2. Add eggs to mixture and mix until well combined.
3. Next, mix in flour and mix until well combined.
4. Mix in yoghurt.
5. Stir in apple cinnamon mixture.
 6. Pour cake mixture in a round cake mold, coated with butter and flour. You could also use a round piece of parchment paper on the bottom.
7. Generously sprinkle cinnamon sugar over batter before inserting in the oven.
8. Bake for 30-40 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean in a 180°C oven.
9. Let cool on a rack.

Whatever's left of the cinnamon sugar mix, I keep in a little jar with lid. The girls love this on their toast in the mornings (not sure if the dentist would approve, though...).

Enjoy!

A long relaxing summer

 
Necklace: leather cord with resin beads, finished with two sliding knots - all supplies from De Banier.


We're back from a long relaxing summer. It wasn't a very crafty one but a fun one for sure.
Two more days to get back in school modus.
Waking up early will be toughest part we now know already...
Hope you had a nice summer too!

Cheers,


xo, P.

No-sew appliqué 101

Little H needed a hat for her summer camp party. We found this blue velvet cow-boy hat she really liked. Only problem: it had a not so interesting patch glued to it. Can't we replace it?
Uh?! Sure!  With a home-made, totally improvised, appliqué star patch fixed in no time with stuff we just had lying around. A nice alternative to a store bought appliqué patch, if you ask me.




Want to give this a try too?

Here's how:

All you need is a piece of paper,  a printer, a (textile) marker, a small piece of fabric, glue, sparkles and scissors.



1. print a star shape or any other shape, adjust size by reducing or increasing print size
2. cut out shape
3. trace shape on a piece of fabric
4. flip over fabric and apply modge-podge or any other craft glue - yes, on the wrong size of the fabric - and such that the area covered is larger than the actual shape.
5. generously sprinkle sparkles over glue - flip over to see if the entire shape area is covered
6. let dry
7. turn over and cut out on the lines traced in step 3 - you now have obtained an appliqué patch
8. apply glue to the back of the patch and stick to the hat! Done!

Cheers!

P.

Curls for Summer...

It's just a fact of life, I guess. People with straight hair wanting curls at some point in their lives or the other way around.
I remember myself with poodle hair, back in the early eighties. Totally ridiculous - my brother still makes fun of it whenever he gets a chance. And at the end of the eighties or was it the early nineties, I did it again and tried a wavy hairstyle. That wasn't a big success either - the curls lasted exactly one day and after that my hair looked totally miserable. A short hairstyle (which I kept for years because I liked it) was the only solution. Lesson learned, however, no perms nor curls for me anymore - thank you very much!

Luckily, my girls are perfectly happy with their hair (for now).
Which doesn't mean they don't like to play around with wigs and curlers once in a while...
M. needed some dress-up stuff for summer camp and a wig it is! As to little H.: as soon as she realized it would take for ever for the curls to set and saw the other kids playing outside, she asked me to take the curlers out... So, no 'after' pictures for this one!

How about you? Any bad hairstyles you regret or have particularly fond memories of?

I know...

... which bag I'll be taking to the market tomorrow...

bag here
flowers here

Denim Flowers :: a DIY

 

It's been a while again since my last post, but I'm still here. As a matter of fact we just got back this morning from a short break at the seaside. Summer vacation started exactly two weeks ago and we've been extremely busy.   I even missed my beach bag tutorial going live on Design*Sponge! Yes, you read that correctly - Design*Sponge! It surely made my day! And if you're still planning on making one too, make sure to check out the article as there are more step-by-step pictures on D*S than in the original post.



And here's yet another tutorial - after more than two weeks spent without having touched any fabric, needle and thread, or doing anything creative, I could no longer resist! Inspiration, was the lovely leather flower brooch I got myself during the sales here in Paris.  It got me thinking and I came up with a denim flower, made from old jeans (which had been cut to pieces anyway for other projects).
 

 It's a very simple but rewarding craft. A kid could do it -  it could make a nice craft for a rainy afternoon, actually. Find the step-by-step instructions in the photo-collage below. Sew a pin at the back and use the flowers to spruce up a plain shirt or jacket. Or how about making a bunch and sewing them on a tote or pillow. The possibilities are endless and really, all it takes is 15 minutes. 


To have slight color variances between petal layers, I used pieces of fabric from two different pair of jeans. The flower petals are cut  'free-style' which adds to the charm of the flower. For an even more frayed look, I suggest to throw the finished flower in the washing machine and dryer. Give it a try, you can't go wrong on this one! Have fun!!

Mesh Beach Bag Tutorial!!

Only three more school days before Summer vacation begins here! And no, I'm not ready yet! The past couple of weeks have been extremely busy - I thought with the kids growing up things would get easier but it's quite the contrary, bringing them from one place to the other, from one activity, party, event to the next has been challenging.

More than once during those past few weeks, I've been wanting to escape to our little place near the beach. Not because the weather has been that great (which it hasn't) but just because of the peace the sea, the sand, the wind, the air seem to bring along.
I love all of it... except maybe for the sand everyone brings into the house, including me.

But now I've got the solution for a sand-free home. As off now we'll be using this special beach bag made out of... window screen material! Yes, you saw that right! The exact same kind of screen used to keep away mosquitoes and other annoying bugs! You can buy it by the yard/meter at any hardware store.

I came up with this idea after seeing a lady at the Friday morning market with the most interesting mesh bag. As a matter of fact, the bag was so interesting I started talking to her. It was over 15 years old and still in perfect shape and no, they weren't for sale anymore. But it got me thinking...



So here you got it, with a tutorial and everything. The original idea was much simpler than what I eventually came up with.  As I went, I added an oilcloth zippered pouch to safely put away those keys and some loose change for an ice cream. I also covered all seams with fabric bias tape and gave the bag an oilcloth bottom for sturdiness, which is attached to the bag at one side only. That way, you can lift it and all sand can be shaken out. Sure enough, sand will come in, but eventually, it also will come out with this type of mesh bag. Wet towels can air and everything put in the bag is within reach and visible.

So here's a new tutorial - it's been a while - I hope you'll like this bag as much as I do. And as it turns out, this is a project you could easily make re-purposing stuff you may have lying around: and old mesh window screen, an old oil cloth table cloth, an unused belt for the handles, ...


This is what you'll need:

- window screen material (moustiquaire in French - muggengaas in Dutch), new or used, 66 x100 cm
- a piece of plastic for the bottom - the Clover ones work fine, but any other piece of plastic/wood/ board would work evenly well.  13 x 51 cm (it can be cut to size)
- a piece of oilcloth, new or used, enough to cover the board and to make a zippered pouch (optional)
- bias tape, enough to cover side and bottom seams, and the zippered pouch side seams
- 15 cm zipper for the zippered pouch (optional)
- leather strip for handles (note: if you can't find any leather, you can use oilcloth or a piece of fabric to make your own handles)
- rivets to attach handles
- hole punch
- scissors, thread
- sewing machine




Instructions


Zippered pouch (optional): (pictures 2 and 3)

1. Cut the following out of oil cloth:

- 1 rectangle, sized 17 x 6 cm

- 1 rectangle, sized 17 x 28 cm 

2. With the zipper facing the right side of the smallest piece of oilcloth, attach one side of the zipper. Fold over and top stitch. Repeat for the other zipper half and the largest rectangle. Top stitch.

3. Fold in half to form pocket and close side seams on the right side, about 0.5 cm from edge. Finish seam with bias tape (if you're a confident sewer you can do this in one go). Repeat for the other side seam: close on right side and cover with bias tape. No need to sew the top of the pocket closed as this part will be incorporated in the top hem of the bag.





Bag Assembly 

1. Top hems (pic. 4-5): 

At the short end of the window screen material, fold in 3 cm and fold over again (pic. 4). Use a bone folder to make the crease, if necessary. Secure with paperclips. Top stitch into place. Repeat at the other short end, but now making sure to incorporate the zippered pouch, nicely centered. Secure with paperclips. Top stitch into place (pic. 5).

2. Side seams (pic. 6): 

Fold the screen material in half, with the right sides facing. Close the side seams, 0.5cm from the edge. Next, bind side seams with fabric bias tape (pic. 6)

3. Boxed corners (pic. 7-8): 

Sew boxed corners.

Note: to avoid having to sew through too many layers you can pre-cut the boxed corners. If you prefer to play it safely, you can cut away the excess material after sewing the boxed corners.

If you wish to cut before sewing the boxed corners cut away a square with sides equal to the width of the panel divided by two, however don't forget to take into account seem allowance! (so if panel is 6cm wide, take off a square with sides equal to 5cm)

4. Bag bottom stabilizer (pic. 9): 

Make an oil cloth cover for the plastic bag bottom stabilizer, by sewing two pieces of oil cloth together, the size of the board + 1cm of seam allowance on all sides, leaving one of the short ends open. Turn over, insert the board.

5. Attaching bag bottom stabilizer to bag (pic.10):

Align the open end with one of the boxed corners as shown in pic. 10. Sew together. Bind seams with fabric bias tape. Bind the other boxed corner.
Note: the plastic board is attached to bag on one side only!

6. Attaching handles (pic.  11):

Determine where the handles need to come. Punch holes correspondingly, in both the bag and the handles. Attach with rivets.
Note: As the size of the rivets never will perfectly match the thickness of the materials used, compensate the difference by using a small piece of leather or other material in the back. This will also add extra strength to the materials used.

And that's it!!

I'm wishing you a happy Summer...

Please note, this tutorial is intended for personal use only. Therefore, do not reproduce, sell or commercialize in any form. Thanks for understanding!

If you made something using a tutorial found on this blog or if you got inspired by something you found here, make sure to post your pictures here.