Engineering and Crochet....

Hi there!

I've finally finished that project for my daughter...and here it is..

When I asked her what type of crochet bag she would like me to make, of ALL.... the bag types, she had to ask for a backpack...(sigh...)
And so began the engineering or construction...of a bagpack from scratch...which involves:

• crochet the bag body, then the top flap, then the handles, then the front pocket, then the side pocket and finally the butterfly....
• sew all the crochet pieces together
• figure out the lining construction process and sew it all together
• hand-sew the lining to the crochet bag (unfortunately can't use machine...)
• not forgetting to put in the drawstring and magnetic closure etc at the appropriate juncture

Here are more pictures of the bagpack:

I put in a base so that it can 'stand' on its own...

the crocheted stretchy side pocket which
can hold a water bottle or a favourite friend...

The interior has a zip pocket, a slot pocket for cellphone and
the board-like base is encased in the same material as the slot pocket.
The drawstring and stopper are in a matching colour.
(oops..the drawstring is obscuring the magnetic closure)

close-up of the front pocket ;
made the base of a contrasting dark colour for stain-resistance

I am pleased with how it's turned out. Probably has taken me 2 weeks of labour spread across 6 months!
Would I attempt this crazy piece of 'engineering' again...? Probably not in a long long while....only for my girl...and she loves it!

Serena

Deck the Halls...

Yes...it's that time of the year again...school's out, familiar tunes in the air AND... sparkly trimmings & ornaments everywhere! So many pretty things, only ONE tree.
What's a girl to do?
Put them on cards of course :)

This 'Merry Christmas' Card was featured in Made With Love's Layout of the Week:  http://www.madewithlove.com.sg/blog/

No cloned packs of 10 for me when it comes to sending love to the special people in my life.
What about you :)?

Sheon

Work in Progress

Hi there,

I've been busy trying to finish up a project for my daughter -- one that was actually started in April! It is probably the most ambitious piece of crochet 'engineering' I've attempted... and one that got interrupted by lots of other stuff..

Now that there's a lull period amidst the hustle and bustle of work .....it's time to finish it up. Shan't tell you exactly what it is yet except that it's a bag-like thing....
but here's a picture with a crochet tip I've gathered from my crochet 'adventures':

I've found that when crocheting a bag in ONE piece, putting a row of slip stitches (on the exterior) between the last row of the base and the first row where the body begins helps to define the base. In the picture, the top section has the slip stitches whereas the bottom section has yet to have the slip stitches.
[Do pardon the 'pink thing' in the foreground...it's a paper clip which I've used as a stitch marker...useful thing I've learnt from Alice aka 'futuregirl'. She also has a great tutorial on a lovely bag : "The Starling Handbag" -- an excellent example of a bag where the base and body are made in ONE piece. Thanks Alice!]

Enjoy!

Serena 

A Tale of Two 'Elasticities'

Hi again!

It's so encouraging to realise that some of you who are reading this might be half-way across the world... :)

On one of my usual forays to Chinatown few weeks ago, I came across a pretty pink elastic that was so soft, yet had just the right stretch without being too tight...(perhaps some of you might be thinking: "Elastic??'...). Yep...elastic...but this is pretty elastic, not boring white and stiff ones that we usually use in our gathered pyjamas pants...

As you can see, even mama kangaroo agrees that the pink one is nicer..

I bought up all the stock that 'aunty' had left in her shop....

Now the first thing that came into my mind when I saw it was: "BABY".

Here's what I used that pretty soft, pink elastic for:

Each band has a length of 14" and stretches to 17". The elastic is double-stitched at the joint. The crocheted flower and beads/button are all sewn to the band and positioned such that there is a flat seam on the side which rests on baby's head.

It's such a pity my princess is too 'overgrown' to model these headbands....can't wait to see them on a cute little princess...

I enjoyed making them so much that I made 6!

An alternative headband would be a completely crocheted one. The ribbed stitching [crochet tip: achieve this by using just the back loops only] give good elasticity to the band without being overly tight -- important for baby! As usual, I like the idea of having options, so these have 'changeable flowers'.

Each band comes with 6 flowers in 2 sizes.

Hope you like them!

Serena

Crochet Cover for Snap Clips

Since my princess was a little girl, I have bought countless snap-clips for her. They are probably the easiest to use on a little girl, especially for one who did not have much hair as a toddler.

As she grew older, she also developed a preference for them as she found them much easier to use than crocodile clips. With the snap-clips, she could pick her own clips and 'dress herself'.

Snap-clips were the first type of hair-clips I attempted to put a 'crochet' spin on. Deciding the embellishments such as flowers, butterflies etc was EASY...but ...making a cover for it....Hmmm

Of course I could have easily glued/sewn to pieces of triangular felt pieces together..but NO...this stubborn crochet-crazy mule decided she should CROCHET a cover for it.

Since much time has been spent figuring out how to make a crochet cover for snap-clips, I thought I would share some general guidelines for making your own.

For the example shown in the photos, I used the DMC cotton embroidery floss (all 6 strands of it) with a 1.25 mm crochet hook. I find that it gives a nice 'thickness' to the cover and love all the colours that DMC have. Crochet thread size 20 is also nice.

Hope you find it useful!

Fabric Stash

Have a small piece (too small to make clothing, etc) of fabric you love?
How about that 'newish' blouse or skirt which you can no longer wear but whose fabric you love?

You can turn these fabric pieces into a flower brooch for jazzing up that plain shirt, cloth tote or even your curtains!

There are many GREAT tutorials/videos out there on how to do this... here's one of my favourites...

It was these flowers that came to mind when I looked at the lovely small pieces of fabric in my stash..and here's the result:

Each flower measures about 8-9 cm across.
The flowers have been given a crocheted center and some even have beaded embellishments. (All of which are sewn on, not GLUED...of which I have a strange adversion to...)
The flower has been secured with a velvet/corduroy backing to which a brooch pin has been sewn on:

Different fabrics give different looks:

striped organza

satin

rich velvet

(not sure what material this is...can anyone help? )

I want 2 colours...

At last Saturday's flea market, I met a little young lady who had a hard time deciding the colour of the large crochet rose hair-tie that mummy had allowed her to buy.

Yesterday, my own princess also had the same 'problem'. She wanted me to make her one but couldn't quite decide on the colour from among my yarn stash.

Then..mummy realised that she could do what princess wanted! Have ONE hair-tie but with interchangeable flowers...thanks to that great invention: VELCRO.

Each rose measures 5.5 cm across and has been crocheted in ONE piece using acrylic yarn.
Velcro pieces have been SEWN on to the band and the roses. So switch them anytime you like!

makes a nice bracelet as well
(for some reason, reminds me of Flamenco)