Star stitch

*Versión en español aquí*

When I got tired of making lovers’ knot, I started working on this other design I found on the Internet. It is called star stitch. At first I tried to make a scarf, but after some lines it looked too compact (or maybe it was my fault, since I usually make tight stitches), so I decided to alternate two lines of star stitch and two of double stitches. This is how it looks:

This scarves look nice if they are not too long; just enough to cover the neck and join the two ends with a simple “brooch”.

Although we’re used to wear long scarves that wrap several times around our necks, this other style looks simple and nice, and feels warm as well

The “brooch” is very easy to make. First we make a circle on chain stitches, and we make several lines of single stitches one over the other, until it takes the shape of a button. Then we make a chain that is long enough to embrace the two ends of the scarf when bent in two parts (the chain). Finally, we sew the two parts together to get the accessory ready to use.

Here we can see the chain that is used to keep the scarf in place

I’ve seen some other new stitches I want to try, so when I learn any of them I’ll post it here to enlarge my pattern collection =). I also want to try new styles on the ends of the scarves…

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Pompoms

*Versión en español aquí*

I learned how to make yarn pompoms when I was a little girl playing a crafts game we had at home. Well, it was my sister’s game so she made almost all the pompoms, but I also learned by looking at her!

First of all, we have to make a cardboard donut the size we want to make the pompom. Then we cut a very long piece of yarn, and start covering the donut with it. We’ll need to be patient here because we have to cover the donut with several layers of yarn, and do it carefully so the yarn doesn’t tangle. When we reach the end of the yarn (or, if it’s too long, when we cannot pass it through the central hole of the donut) we have to cut the yarn following the biggest circle of the donut. The threads won’t fall because they’re still held by the cardboard donut. With a piece of the same yarn we make a tight knot around the threads to keep them together. Finally, we take out the cardboard and “comb” the yarn to make a perfect sphere.

And now, imagination!

Susuwatari, from the film «My neighbor Totoro»

Two brooches as an accessory for a scarf 

Crochet flower brooch

*Versión en español aquí*

This is the third kind of brooches I’ve recently made. This time, I chose crochet and a kind of yarn that has a pattern on brown and white. Making this brooch is this simple:

1) We make 5 chain stitches and we connect the first and the last with a slip stitch to make a circle.

2) We make 10 single stitches around the circle, covering the chain by working through the central hole of the circle.

3) After finishing the previous step, we make 7 chain stitches and connect them to the second single stitch with a slip stitch. We make other 7 chain stitches and connect them leaving a free single stitch. We repeat this to make the five petals.

4) We make a last round of slip stitches on the chain ones to strengthen the petals and make them look nice.

And that’s how we make the flower. I have sewed a little pearl in the center of it to hide the brooch’s base, e pronto! Here we have our little flower:

We can try as many combinations as we can imagine; for example, I made this other design:

Foam rubber brooch

*Versión en español aquí*

We describe here an example of an easy craft you can make with some of those material leftovers that usually end up in a drawer waiting for a new opportunity 😉

In this case we need:
– White (or other color) foam rubber. We can find sheets of different sizes of this material in stationery stores.
– Butterfly stickers, or some other contrasting color foam rubber piece, that we can cut into the desired shape.
– Glitter glue. The final outcome will depend on the surface where we apply it. It’s very important to let it dry for at least 4 or 5 hours.
– Small bells. You can find them in a dollar-store/pound shop. They are really useful for adding a touch of color into different crafts.
– Brooch base.
– Sewing thread, for joining the brooch and the brooch base together.

A good tip when doing this craft is to use the butterfly sticker to hide the joint of the brooch and the base.

The one we show here is just a model, but it also works very well in other colors!

Origami flower brooches

*Versión en español aquí*

Some time ago I wanted to make a small gift for a group of people I was working with. But I wanted it to have a special, personal touch, so I decided to make these origami flower brooches:

They are really eye-catching, but at the same time very easy to make. We need:

– Paper squares of different sizes. For each brooch, we need a square of 9×9 cm. (3.54 x 3.54 inches), another of 6×6 cm (2.36 x 2.36 inches), and a third one of 4×4 cm (1.57 x 1.57 inches). It’s better not to use thick paper, especially for the little parts.
– Glass beads for the central part.
– Needle and thread.
– Brooch bases, that you can find in every notions store/haberdashery.
– Glue may not be essential but it will help to get a better result 🙂
– Some soft varnish; again, it’s not essential but it makes the result look better.

Firstly, we have to fold each piece of paper so as to make an origami flower, following the steps as shown in the image below. That way we will get three flowers of three different sizes, and of three different colors if we choose the adequate papers.

When we have the three flowers, we put all together by sewing them with the needle, starting in the back of the biggest one and adding the other two on the same thread. To make the centre of the brooch look nicer, we can add a glass bead to the thread before sewing the three flowers on the other way back. To join the flowers in a better way, we can add a drop of glue between each pair of flowers before knotting the thread at the back of the brooch. We can sew the group of flowers to the brooch base with the same thread, also adding a bit of glue to secure the joint.
Once the glue has completely dried, we can apply the varnish to the flowers. That will make the brooch more resistant, and it will also look brighter. The easiest option is to use a spray varnish for paper, since it reaches all the small holes and corners of the origami.

These brooches I made were not too big, so they are quite easy to combine to get a touch of color in our outfit. As they are so easy to make, you can have several in different colors and use them with different clothes; I’m sure more than one person will ask you about them!