Erica and her sewing club make windsocks.

Along with presenting my pretty bohemian windsock tutorial, this is also an excuse to show off my crocheted dress.

It's been so long since I posted anything (although I have been sewing and crocheting like crazy... just not any DIY'ing or crafting) that I don't really remember how to. Let's see... write some boring backstory, write an instructional tutorial, add some pictures. Ok, here goes - 

I am a proud and happy member of American Sewing Guild. I have been for the past three years. It's a great group. Everyone is super friendly, knowledgeable and generous. Earlier this year, our sewing club chapter president, Kim, told us that if we wanted to present/lead a DIY class for one of our meetings, we would receive $10 in "ASG Bucks". These can be used toward our annual retreat (ok, cool 😀), ASG merchandise (nah 😒) and to buy stuff at our fabric swap/garage sales (YEEESSSSS!!! 😍😃😁). We all know how much I love buying fabric and sewing notions... I NEEDED those ASG Bucks. LOL Anyway, the only rules were that the project had to be relatively simple, can be completed in under an hour and fairly cheap (since the sewing club provides all the supplies needed). One of my favorite things is finding and doing fun & easy craft projects. I knew I had to sign up to lead a meeting even though I have never taught anything in my entire life and I have zero patience for humans. The meeting was last week and it went surprisingly well (beginner's luck, maybe). We made windsocks using embroidery hoops, fabric strips and ribbon. Everyone finished their project and had a lovely time. Here are the instructions.

DIY Windsock:

Kim bought the embroidery hoops and fabric with our ASG dues but all the ribbon came from the garage sale!! All.of.it. Now you see how amazing our garage sales are and why I need those ASG Bucks. LOL

Supplies needed: embroidery hoop (any size will do), 3 pieces of equal length string, 2-inch wide fabric strips (the length can be cut to your preference), scissors (Kim suggested using scrapbooking scissors or pinking shears to cut designs into the fabric strips), ribbon, lace, other decorative material, glue (optional)

1. Open the embroidery hoop and set the outside piece (the piece with the screw and fastener) aside. 

2. Tie the three pieces of string to the inside of the embroidery hoop to form a triangle. Gather the pieces of string together and tie them into a knotted loop at the top. This will be for hanging up the finished windsock.

3. Drape the fabric strips around the inside of the embroidery hoop. This is easier to do if the hoop is hanging from somthing (or a friend is holding it for you). If you're worried about the fabric strips moving out of place, put a dab of glue on it to stick it to the embroidery hoop.

4. Add ribbon, lace or any other decorative material over the fabric strips. Go crazy with color, patterns and texture! Kim suggest stringing beads or bells to the end of the pieces.

5. Once everything is draped in place, put the outside of the embroidery hoop back on (again, easier to do if you have a friend holding it for you). This will hold all of the fabric strips, ribbon, lace, etc. in place. Fastener it on tightly.

And we're done!! Hang it outside (or inside) and enjoy!! So pretty, right? 

 

Last year for Halloween...Erica was a cupcake!!

Its that time again... costume parties a plenty. What are YOU going to be for Halloween? Last year, I was a cupcake and Wes was a baker.

 

Yup, we were adorable. We made it to two Halloween parties and I got to strut my cupcake-ness all night long. Once again, this tutorial would have been awesome if I took step-by-step pictures but I didn't know at the time that I'd need the aforementioned pictures. So, here's the best I could do. (Just a tad bit of advice...this project should be done over multiple hours with breaks or days in between and its best of have an assistant, boyfriend or craft night buddy to help because there's lots of "hey, can you hold one thing out of the way while I hot glue something else" involved.) 

 

Cupcake costume tutorial -

Materials needed: laundry basket, poster board (2 pieces or more...depending on how big your basket is), shoe laces (I used two sets), tulle (the mesh fabric, I bought a yard), cotton stuffing (one bag should do), embellishments, hot glue (A LOT of hot glue... so much so you'll develop a love hate relationship with it in the end), scissors, duct tape, a small bag (I used one of those little bags that you get when you buy jewelry from a craft fair or boutique)  

 

1. Purchase a laundry basket you can fit in. Cut the bottom out of the basket and tie the shoe laces on as if they were suspenders.

2. Cut your poster board into a few pieces and fold each piece accordion style. Since the basket is round, you can't use one piece all the way around. I cut a piece that folded into about 2 - 3 accordion folds and hot glued it on.  One piece at a time until the basket resembles the cup part of the cupcake.

3. If your poster board is not evenly shaped in the end, go around with scissors and trim the top and bottom. I found this easier than measuring each piece to make sure they were the same size.

4. Hot glue is amazing but it doesn't hold everything. Duct tape the poster board to the inside of your laundry basket to make sure none falls off. This would be another good time to have a buddy help you hold everything in place while you go around with duct tape... not necessary but it does make it easier.

 

After steps 1-4, you should look like half of a cupcake. This would be a good time to take a break and find your assistant. You'll need him or her for the next few steps.

 

5. Cut the tulle into 4 - 6 pieces. Glue the edge of each piece onto the top of the laundry basket.
6. Open the bag of cotton stuffing and tear apart the stuffing and fluff it up so its not one large bundle.  This is where it becomes a two person job...
7. Hold some cotton stuffing on the edge of your laundry basket, fold the tulle over and hot glue.  Do this all around your laundry basket. I used soooo much hot glue and burned every single one of my poor little fingers but was successful in the end.  Don't despair!!
8. After hot gluing all the cotton stuffing into the tulle and onto the laundry basket, I went around a second time and glued all the loose pieces to each other or onto the laundry basket. This would be another good time to have a buddy help you hold everything in place while you go around with extra glue.

After steps 5-8, I became a cupcake!!

 

 9. Lastly, is the fun stuff. Embellish that cupcake!  Give yourself some sprinkles, some jazz and pizazz. LOL I used stick-on gems on the accordion folds of my poster board and little cupcake and baked good stickers all over the tulle. I wanted to add glitter as sprinkles but figured that would be way too messy. 

10.  Tie your little jewelry bag inside your laundry basket. Then you can be a partying cupcake without a purse or clutch and still have your lip stick, keys, etc.

 

 

Here is the finished project.  I went to one of my good friend's epic Halloween party and took third in the costume party. Here's me graciously accepting my ribbon.  Another costume to come next week. See you guys then : )