Friday, August 29, 2008

What a morning

What a morning and it's only 4 hours old for me. I started cutting up some rags and I thought I would sharpen my scissors, so I used the knife sharpener and went back to cutting, BLUNT! Yes blunt scissors, the knife sharpener had the reverse effect on my scissors. So I hunt around for more scissors and I cannot find a pair that are sharp enough. I look at the time and decide I'll go to K Mart as soon as it opens, I go back to crocheting a bag for a customer order and then I head off at 8.45 am. I get to the shop and they are slow in opening up, so I am now waiting out side the shop waisting time. Going back and forth from kitchen to craft, I can't find the scissors I was hoping to buy. Whilst in the yarn section I spot some lovely soft baby blue yarn on clearance for .99c, so I bought the lot, it's for an up and coming project I have in mind. I also got to buy the 6ft folding table that was on special, I can use it at the market and I need it for xmas too. I get to the boot of my car, open it and it comes slamming down on my shoulder, OUCH!
My morning can only get better now.

New yarn and scissors pictured on my new folding table.

Thursday, August 28, 2008

Rag crochet basket

Remember this colour scheme?
Here it is in action. Ready for some flowered embellishment.
And the flowers attached, this makes for a lovely decorative basket.
I love rag crochet.


My Happy Hippy Crochet Scrap Vest

a crochet vest from scrap yarn
I made this vest from lots of scrap yarn that I had and the trimming is made from a yarn I was given by Stramenda from the crochet lovers group on ravelry.

Firstly I had to come up with some sort of plan to go by, so I drew one up, but I did alter it as I went along and below is the final plan I used for my vest. It is made in one complete piece.
Here you can see how it has come along, I crocheted it so the stripes were vertical. Following this stage, I sewed the front shoulder parts to the back, sewed in all the loose ends and used the same yarn to crochet around the vest for a nice edging.


No body was home to help me take pictures. So here I am modeling my new vest.
And a side view.

The big bold leather buttons really make a statement. They were a part of my dear departed mother in laws button stash, I'm so glad I got to use them, we think they may have been of one of my dear departed father in laws jackets.

Not wanting the front of the vest to sag or gape when buttoned, I actually sewed the front of the vest together, over lapping one side under the other and it fits very well over my head and hangs nicely to my shape.

The moral here is, keep those scraps you have, there is always something to be made from them.

Browsing through the op shops for crochet materials

Feeding my new addiction for rag crochet, I sorted through doona covers sheets and pillow cases to end up with these colour schemes. There has been a noticable price increase through out the op shops, so I have chosen sheets this time to feed my habit.
The colours above can be used in many combinations, it was fun matching them up

These ones are baby cot sheets and baby pillow cases to make for a project I shall reveal later.

I came across this cardigan too. I had to have it even though it was a little large for me.

The find of the day was this little beauty, a spider man bean bag for my spider man crazy grandson.

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

More Rag Crochet

Just a quick post to share my latest rag crochet. I'll more than likely add more as I am already onto another. It's a pretty little crochet rag basket and I actually used a pattern. The pattern is from Annie's Rag -Crochet Baskets.

Monday, August 25, 2008

Yarn Storage

Upon searching for some shelving in my garage, I came across these baskets that I used in the shop I once had, a brilliant thought came to me. Yarn storage! I'll be able to see every ball of yarn that I have and it will be neat, so I went for it.
I thought I already had some sort of organisation going until I applied the basket storage. I am very happy with the out come.
From this.






To this.

Saturday, August 23, 2008

A few tips when crocheting with rags

First of all a caution, crochet with rags can become addictive.
1. My first tip is to wash your materials before you begin.
If they have been sitting way back in the closet for some time, they may have a stale odour to them.
2. Iron your material if needed.
This will make sewing or crochet much easier.
3. If the original stitching is weak, sew over it again.
The stitching will come apart and you will then have to knot it if you are up to the crochet step.
4. The thicker the fabric, the thinner your strips need to be.
The thinner the fabric, the thicker your strips need to be.
5. If you come across a weak joint whilst crocheting, knot it now to make it stronger.
It will come apart eventually.
These rag bags make up quite quickly. I made 2 in a day and also decorated and lined 3, with time to spare.
I have used some of that cheap fluffy yarn in the top of the bag above, for decoration.
The rags used were from a king size sheet I bought at the op shop.


Once again I have used some fluffy yarn at the base of this bag, added some flowers and some pink stitching around the handles. The material is from my daughters doona cover that I mistakenly cut up.


This is made from 2 and a half pillow cases, the contrasting colour is from the half a pillow case. The inside flap from the pillow case was used also, I cut thin strips from it to make bows and sewed little buttons onto the centre of the bows.
The lining material is from either the contrasting colour I used or bits of scrap materials I have bought from the op shop over time.


To read more about my rag bags, go here.

For an easy tutorial on making the bags, go here.

For an easy bag lining tutorial, go here.

Friday, August 22, 2008

My Large Crocheted Rag Bag

I so enjoyed working with the crochet rags, that even before I had finished this project, I was planning my next one.

Here is the finished bag, I wanted a big bag, but it turned out bigger than I expected. I have woven a line of beads directly below the plain pink crochet line. The beads consist of cats eye's, painted glass and a cracked glass heart.



Below is the first doona cover I cut into strips. Tutorial here.



This is the second colour of choice, just as I had cut both ends of the cover off, my daughter came down the stairs and yelled to me that this was her doona cover. Woop's. My reply was that she must also have the pillow cases then.


This is my second colour choice and the last of my old doona covers.


So after I had cut strips from about a third of each of the covers, this is how much I have to work with so far, I had to cut more later.


The bag made up reasonably quick. On the final 2 rows of the bag and around the bag handles, I used a light weight cord, that I single crocheted over, to give the upper part of the bag more strength.



I measured and marked where my handles would be made.


Now it was on to lining the bag. I used laughing purples simple bag lining technique.

I was a little apprehensive about the lining, so I would refer back to laughingpurples blog.

I wanted a divider in my big bag, so guess who I went to for help?
Yes laughingpurple


Now I did this all on my own. A pocket for my hooks.


Making the pocket. I really had to think about what I was doing here, ironing really helps to give you a sewing seam.


So I'm feeling pretty good at this stage, pockets in and hooks fit.


Then I was brought down to earth, I had sewed the pocket upside down and onto the bottom of the lining, so I had to unpick it, ugh.

Now it is the right way up and I decided to face the pocket with the reverse side facing outwards, to keep the over flaps from the folds on the inside of the pocket.



It actually looks great and the liner fits perfect!



This is just to give you an idea of the size of the bag.



And another look inside.


This is what I picked up at the op shop for 50 cents a pair, there are 3 pairs here and they are now cut up and ready to go for my next project. I love crochet rags, it's so much fun.




And just a few hours later and almost finished, the little rag bag.




They seem to be multiplying

Tips for working with rags.