arrow sewing cabinets | Mother Crafter

Yo-Yo’s Curtain Tutorial- 30 Days of Creativity, Day 24

June 24, 2011 at 21:53 | Posted in Crafts - DIY, Tutorials | 3 Comments
Tags: 30 days of creativity, arrow sewing cabinets, fabric yo-yo's, yo-yo tutorial, yo-yo's curtain

I made it! I just submitted my entry for the Yahoo for Yo-Yo’s contest! Phew!

I made a curtain for Pali’s (still not set up) nursery out of my scraps pile.

And because I am so happy I submitted it, here is the tutorial!

You will need:

54 fabric circles: 18 circles of 2 1/2 inches diameter, 18 of 3 1/2 inches diameter and 18 of 4 3/4 inches diameter. You can use the same fabric for each set or different fabrics for all (use your scraps!)
Fishing line.
Thread and needles
12 Beads (optional)

The sizes of the circles to make the yo-yo’s are optional too. I did mine out of a candle jar, a mug and a Pyrex bowl. To save time cutting them I folded the fabric in half, and then in half again to cut 4 at the same time.

Make the yo-yo’s: With the wrong side up of the fabric, stitch along the edge of the circumference of the circle (some people made their yo-yo’s with a folded seam, I like the raw edge look so I don’t). The shorter the stitches, the larger the center on your yo-yo, and vice versa for longer stitches. Once you have stitched all around the circle, and with your thread still in the needle, gradually pull until the edges gather at the center, make a knot on the inside of the circle so you can’t see it, center the inner circle and flatten your yo-yo .

Make 54 of them.

To make the curtain: Cut 6 strips of fishing line of your desire length. Mine are approximate 36″ long. With a embroidery needle pass the fishing line through the gathered ends of the inner circle of one small yo-yo, and make a knot. Pass a medium yo-yo and make a knot at about 3 or 4 inches. Do the same with the the larger yo-yo. Repeat until you have 3 sets of increasing yo-yo’s.

If you are using beads, insert one at each end of the line. I used beads for the top and tassels for the bottom.

Repeat with the remaining 5 strips and 45 yo-yo’s. Hang in your favorite space and enjoy!

Do not forget to share your curtain at the Mother Crafter Project Pool Flickr group!

Fabric Yo Yo’s – 30 Days of Creativity, Day 23

June 24, 2011 at 11:33 | Posted in Crafts - DIY | 1 Comment
Tags: 30 days of creativity, arrow sewing cabinets, create stuff, day 23, fabric yo-yo's, flower hairband

Yesterday I had one of those I-know-what-I-can-submit moments for the new Arrow Sewing contest (the same people that hosted the pincushion one). I’ve been thinking since last week what I was going to make and nothing really convinced me. Until yesterday. Of course, the contest ends today at 9 pm. So I started the yo-yo’s last night while watching SYTYCD.

I still need to make a bunch more so hopefully I will finish by 9 pm! Go yo-yo’s, go!

Here is a picture of Paloma wearing the hairband for day 22.

Isn’t she super cute?

Japanese Tree Pincushion Tutorial – 30 Days of Creativity, Day 1

June 1, 2011 at 21:09 | Posted in Crafts - DIY, Tutorials | 9 Comments
Tags: 30 days of creativity, arrow sewing cabinets, free pattern, no tomatoes pincushion contest

Last month, the folks at Arrow Sewing Cabinets hosted the “Not Tomatoes” Pincushion contest, encouraging people to break out of the tomato mold and craft their own fun yet functional pincushion. And I decided to submit an entry.

I always wondered what to do with all the empty thread spools I have laying around, as I like to reuse items as much as I can and not contribute to more landfill. So I started thinking if a pincushion could be one of the creative ways to reuse them. And it was! I created a Japanese Tree Pincushion.

This pincushion acts as a thread spool “cozy”. The trunk of the tree has an empty spool inside that keeps it up and you can put it in the bobbin winder while you sew to have all the pins available at the touch of your fingers!

Although I did not win, it was really fun to make and see all the pincushions people created. You can see the slide show of all the entries here. The winner was Carolina Moore and her cactus pincushion. Congratulations!

As part of my 30 Days of Creativity pledge, Day 1, I am creating a tutorial so you can make one too. You will need:

One piece of fabric, approx 10″ x 9″
One piece of brown felt, 7″ x 10″
Fusible interfacing
An empty thread spool
Fiberfill
Tree Pattern

Download the free tree pattern and cut two treetops out the chosen fabric (mine are fabrics that my friend Aya brought me from Japan, hence the name of the tree) and two trunks out of brown felt. Apply interfacing to the treetop pieces.

Sew the trunk to the treetop with an edge stitch. Repeat with the other pieces. Sew the treetops, right sides together with a 1/2″ seam, leaving the gap of the trunk open. You can see here that I craft when Paloma naps