My first ever bars of soap

Hello again my fellow crafters! Recently I say a heap of videos on YouTube on how to make soap. I assumed for these videos that you could use ordinary shop bought bars of soap as many of the didn't explain that you required special craft soap, know as melt an pour. So silly me went and put a shop bought bar of soap in the microwave, BIG mistake. Anyway 1 melted measuring jug and two bars of soap later, I finally made my first ever bar of soap. Yay!

 The method that I used is called the cold process, although it takes a lot longer than the melt and pour method I think it is a much safer. It also makes 1 bar of soap into many more bars (I got 4 homemade bars out of 1 shop bought bar). I followed the YouTube video bellow. be warned this process takes 4 weeks to be ready.

Using this process you can also up-cycle some of your old bars of soap and if you package them up nicely you could also give them as gifts. What can say "I really thought about this gift" than something homemade? If you want ideas on how to package your soap to make it look more professional then I suggest using the method shown bellow as that is what I did for one of my bars of soap (although I did that stage after I had taken the photo) after I had raped it in Clingfilm and then raped it in tissue paper. I found that that method of rapping soap turned out the best.  

 

I hope this has inspired you!

Mans shirt to cute skirt

FREE PATTERN
There will always be room in fashion for cute skirts and what's better than having the satisfaction of saying you made one yourself. Well here's a quick (30 minutes) skirt that you can make from an old mans shirt. I made my skirt out of an old stripy shirt of my Dads.

You will need:

• An old, mans, shirt (the larger the shirt the more volume there will be in your skirt)
• a sewing machine (although this can be done by hand if you are ok with sewing with jersey)
• plain black, or any colour that matches that of your shirt, jersey.
• thread that matches your skirts base colour.

Instructions:

1. First cut the shirt to just bellow the arms
2. Then sew down the button fastenings so that the skirt won't be able to be opened by the buttons.
3. Next measure your hips (or waist depending on where you want the skirt to sit) and cut out a length of jersey material that is your hip measurement in width and is about 11cm (4 inches) in height.
4. Finally attach your strip of jersey to your skirt/ cut up shirt. This yoga styled waist band is better explained in my active skirt pattern.

I hope this has inspired you!

Simple Crochet hook holder

Some of you may know that recently I've been getting into crocheting (since my mum taught me back in November). And once I got some more hooks I realised that I needed some where to hold them so I made a hook holder from left over denim, which I have from making these.

So here's how I made it:

You will need:

• 2 larger rectangles
• 1 smaller rectangle
• some left over wool
• matching thread
• sewing machine

Instructions

• First sew the 2 larger rectangles together, right sides facing. Leave a gap to turn them inside out.
• Next turn them inside out.
• Now get your smaller rectangle, turn over all the raw edges and sew down three of the four edges. The edge that you have not sewn down is the top of your holder.
• Now sew (leaving a space large enough to fit your crochet hooks) from the top of your smaller rectangle to the bottom. Sew four lines from top to bottom that are evenly spaced out along your smaller rectangle, to create the individual holders as shown bellow.

• Now roll up your holder and sew on the button equal to where your gap is.
• Then get your wool and chain as many as you need to reach your button.
• Finally fold your chain in half and place the beginning an end parts of your chain inside the gap, you used to turn the rectangles inside out, and sew it down.
• Now you should have you hook holder.

you could jazz it up with cross stitch designs, applique or a crocheted border.

Quick ribbon headband

 You know those days when you really want to sew something but just don't have the time or patience to make something a little more complicated? Well for me today was one of those days. I had some cheap ribbon strips (which where only 17p) and some left over elastic from my high-low skirt. This was my solution a bow headband.

To start with I folded over the first strap of ribbon meaning that I had two layers and attached them to a small length of elastic, as shown bellow.

To finish I simply tied a bow and sewed it in place on the head band. Quick and simple!

I hope this has inspired you!

summer bunting

Every summer party, whether a gathering or a barbeque, is made complete with some funky, bright bunting, well it is in my mind. :) So I thought I'd share with you my summer party decorations.

I made this cute pink bunting last year in spring from 2 similar materials (although you could use more). I know the triangular shaped bunting is a lot more iconic but I find semi- circle bunting a lot more unique and in many ways a lot easier to make.

To make this I sewed two semi-circles, which were 28cm (11") in diameter, together. I made quite a few of them and then attached them onto the pink and white ribbon. Simple and quick.

This bunting is brilliant for summer party decorations, as I said before, but also for bedroom decorations and as a small gift (I gave one like this to a my old English teacher as a "thank you for teaching me" present).

I hope this has inspired you!