Moving… Come See Me!

     This has been a real adventure here at Fabric Follies.  Never in my 50+ years did I ever dream that a little fun on a daily basis would bring over 1000 hits a day and some lovely email friends!  This year began early on with surgery and later on with placement of a heart stint, so a heartfelt “Thanks!”  goes out to all my online friends who have made the year so enjoyable in spite of it all. 

I have a new site up called Fabric Follies Two…     Fabric Follies will remain up since I use the links to find projects to plan and to do, and I’m sure others use them too.  Come on over and say hello.  Know that you are always welcome!

Crafty Diversions.. Homemade Yarn Swift (free tutorial)

If a person is inclined toward making lovely skeins with their homespun, this is the way to go… I personally have used a niddy noddy for the short length of time that I have been spinning, but have seen so many others using the yarn swifts that I have thought I might like to use one.  No more with the exercising of the right arm..lol

Crafty Diversions.. a lovely site btw… has an online tutorial for making your own yarn swift for about $17.00 as compared to around $75.00 if purchased.

Have a look….

Long Blogging Pause…. Stick Weaving and Spinning

My long blogging pause is over and I am so tickled about that…  So… what’s been going on?

Back during the last of June,  I had DH help a bit and made a spindle… from a dowel and a toy car wheel purchased at Hobby Lobby.  The purple blend of yarn is the part of the first batch I hand spun… using terrible needle felting wool from Hobby Lobby.  But it was good enough for me to learn the basics and practice.  Then with the help of DH again, I made the weaving sticks.  String is attached through the hole on the end of each stick and I use a button to weight it… then the sticks are held in the hand side by side and the weft yarn is wound back and forth around each stick… producing the red glitzy fabric…

If you don’t have the tools or would prefer to order them, weaving sticks can be purchased from Fenniwig Studios  online. 

Making Your Own “Duct Tape Double”

I have yet to find anyone I would trust enough to wrap me up completely in duct tape!  grin  But I will keep looking and at some point will have my own double that I can fit my patterns to without the pin pricks of trying to fit it on myself. 

Crazy Chole Black of Slightly Obsessed  has posted the most wonderful tutorial showing photos of her mother actually wrapping her in duct tape.. then how to add the shoulders to your double using a wooden clothes hanger and shoulder pads.  I found this wonderfully informative and one of the most complete online studies in making your own sewing double.  Have a look….

Toe Up Crocheted Socks

  This is my first try at crocheting socks… Wow!  I wish I had tried this many years ago.  They are not only quick and easy, they are so much fun to do!  I studied several free patterns online and after a while realized that it was soooo simple… just crochet in rounds to the size of your feet!  The pattern for Toe Up Socks is the one that I finally chose to work with.  Try it… you’ll like it!   

My Little Bird

   In my wandering through the world of crafts yesterday morning, I came across this cute little bird on Cameoroze.com with a link leading back to a German site that showed the instructions for making it.  Well… before breakfast I had cut a bit of felt and was handsewing in front of my pc… DH was just shaking his head..grin  Even with handsewing, it only took about 20 minutes to put this little cutie together. 

I knew I had seen this tiny bird done up in crazy quilting…so when I did a search this morning I found it here  (click on the arrow to the right at the top of the page… the birds will come up) in CQ Magazine Online’s Reader’s Showcase Volume 3 Issue 4.  These were done by Jan Ede and I fell in love with them the first time I saw them.  Just goes to show that with crafting, all things can be done just as fancy as a person wants… Have a look…

Blackwork Embroidery

As I have wandered through the pages showing all the ancient needlework and crafting, blackwork embroidery is almost always present in one place or another.  Elizabethan Blackwork has wonderful (and I do mean wonderful) patterns on several pages of her site.  Here is another site with many fill in patterns for sleeves, collars, scarves…whatever you would like to use them for…  Do have a look….

More Painted Eggs Posted in the Painted Eggs Sub Pages

  This is a blue rose fading around the egg until it is almost white.  It is one of my favorites.  I have posted several of the eggs I have been doing lately, but still have many more that will be posted later.  These are such fun to do … Have a look…

My First Naalbinding Hat

   I continue to be fascinated with this centuries old and almost forgotten technique.   I have learned today that this stitch is called the Korgen stitch.  It is one of my favorites.  The mitten I made turned out really bad..grin  So … no pics!  But I will try again since I think I have figured out what caused the mess.  I can only hope that other people will cultivate an interest in this almost lost art of naalbinding…

Wrap Your Gifts in Fabric…Forget Paper!

  What a wonderful idea! I was surfing through my early morning blogs and found a post re: Vox on Sharon B’s blog… had to go look… began to surf to see if there were many fabric sites… found this!  It seems the Japanese government is encouraging it’s population to use fabric as gift wrap instead of throw away paper.  I can see this as doubly wonderful… for the person receiving the gift it would be a second gift if they sew or work with fabric at all… for the person giving the gift (if the recipient does not sew or need the fabric), just keep all that wonderful fabric instead of picking the paper wrapping up off the floor and throwing it in the dumpster…

Now… how could I do this without it costing a fortune?  First, it wouldn’t have to new fabric.  That shirt I have hanging in my closet (unmoved for perhaps the last 2 years except to make room) has a pretty design, but it too small.  For smaller gifts, how about an antique hankie found at the local charity thrift shop.  Does anyone have any other ideas?  I would love to hear them!