Category: Craft

Recycled cotton plant holder

On By CarynIn Craft

I found a source of recycled cotton macrame cord from RockMountainCo, based out of Colorado, and some recycled glass beads from our local vintage store, The Haps. The combination of recycled/upcycled materials seemed very appropriate to make macrame hanging plant holders requested by my sister.

Photo description: close-up of the macrame in progress, adding a bead to the center two strands of a half knot twist

I found that my bag twining loom works well to hold macrame in progress, and to display the finished piece.

Photo description: hanging macrame pot holder made from red recycled cotton cord and recycled glass beads hanging from a bag twining loom
Photo description: leather tags marked with my signature and “recycled cotton”, one sewn into a circle on the macrame hanging

Technical details: I cut 8 lengths of 4mm cord 99 inches long, folded them in half through a welded metal ring, lashed the strands together with 30 inches of cord, made four half-knot twisted sections with 15 knots on either side of the bead, then three sets of offset square knots to make the body of the holder, finishing with another 30 inches of cord to lash the strands together at the bottom.

In macrame, when making a half-square knot twist, the two center cords function as a core, and don’t get knotted, so the outer knotted cords get short and the middle don’t. To balance this and make the most of the cordage, I used a bead to interrupt the pattern and switch the outer and inner cords. By making the same number of knots above and below the bead, the cords end up the same length. A little macrame trick for those that read this far.

Iris leaf trivet

On By CarynIn Craft

I recently found a tutorial from Sally Pointer on looping around a core and really wanted to try it. I look some dried and rehydrated iris leaves from my garden, twined them, then started looping. I didn’t have enough material for a basket, but the thick twine did make a nice trivet.

Photo description: trivet made of twined iris leaves with simple looping over a core construction

I did overestimate the amount of core, but rather than cut it off, I switched to just looping with the tail and was able to add some width to the trivet. I then sewed a leather label in a circle to an outer loop.

I like this method of construction. The core gives a way to tighten the stitches and fill in the density of the looping. It can also be done as the twine is created and without tools, which makes it a great skill when I am waiting and don’t have a project with me.

Iris leaf basket

On By CarynIn Craft

I made a small basket entirely from dried iris leaves. The spokes are large iris leaves, and I twined multiple smaller leaves together around the spokes.

Photo description: starting the twining with dried then rewetted iris leaves
Photo description: finished basket made from iris leaves gathered from my yard

The leaves were soaked more than was ideal for weaving, so to dry it I put it in the oven on low and weighed the basket every twenty minutes until the weight was constant, indicating all the water was gone. Air drying a basket that wet would have given too much time for mold to set in.

I found some iris printed fabric and lined the basket. It took me two tries to sew a liner that fit the shape of the basket, and I ended up with a single layer that wrapped over the top lip of the basket.

Photo description: iris printed fabric liner on the iris leaf basket

To finish off the basket, I added one of my new leather tags to the edge of the liner.

Photo description: laser engraved leather sewn-on tag that says “iris leaves”

I like twining, so plan on harvesting more iris leaves in the spring, drying, and practicing on more twined baskets.

Photo description: basket in use holding sewing tools

Final deviation

On By CarynIn Craft

I’ve finished my Bucilla felt wreath kit with a final deviation from instructions. I was supposed to cut out a donut shape of cardboard to go between layers of quilting batting. Instead, I bought a wire wreath support. The cardboard would have worked fine, but the wire makes me feel better. The wreath is 16” in diameter, but a 14” wire support fit better.

Photo description: wreath parts laid out before sewing: green felt back, quilt batting, wire wreath support, quilt batting, decorated felt wreath top
Photo description: my signature mark and the year stitched in yellow embroidery thread on the back of the wreath prior to sewing all the layers together
Photo description: finished Bucilla felt House Cat Wreath with deviations hanging on an interior door

I also used a bit of wire attached to the wire frame through the felt for the hanger.

I have done a felt kit now, I don’t think I will do another. I did get lots of interesting ideas while completing the project, though.

Of the bells, bells, bells

On By CarynIn Cats, Craft

The last ornamentations for the Bucilla felt wreath kit are many tiny embroidered and sequined AND stuffed felt bells.

Photo description: Nine yellow felt bells with only the embroidery done, sitting on a calico cat

The pattern only has seven decorated sides, with the back sides unadorned yellow felt, but it bothered me that in the picture for the pattern one of the bells on a string was turned backwards, showing the plain side. So for those two bells, I decorated the back as well, increasing the tiny sewing required.

Photo description: felt bells stuffing, assisted by a bamboo stick

I found that using a bamboo stick to place the stuffing in the tiny elements of the felt wreath really helped.

Photo description: finished felt bells attached to the wreath in the indicated positions, dilute calico investigating the felt on the floor

Honestly, if I had had tiny metal bells in my stash, I would have put those on instead of spending all that time embroidering and adding sequins. I definitely had Edgar Allan Poe’s poem going through my head the whole time.