Tutorial Archives - Grid and Bloom

Posted on June 19, 2016 by Karen Stewart

How to Fix a Floral Wreath Form

There days when I wonder why I do certain things. This week was one of them. I bought a lovely styrofoam wreath form at the store this week. It was in one piece and not broken. I made a point of not buying a wreathÂ that was broken. I wanted a nice whole wreath without having to worry about glue and putting it back together. Well, things happened and this was the result.

There are affiliate links included in this post and I will receive a small percentage of any sale.

It broke in almost four equal pieces! I did what I was NOT going to do which is show you how to glue this wreath form back together.

Â supplies

Bamboo Skewers
tacky glue
wreath form
Some form of non-stick surface (I used my cutting mat but I have to say it isn’t a non-stick surface and I had to peel the glue off of it when I was finished.)

Lay the wreath out and figure out which parts go together. Be gentle and don’t grind the edges together.

Break the bamboo skewers in half and use just the pointy end.Â Slather tacky glue on one edge of the wreath form. Take a bamboo skewer and push it into the wreath form at an angle on the outside so that it pins the two edges together. Break the bamboo skewer off right at the surface of the wreath.Â Then do the same to the other half of the wreath. You will leave these skewer bits in the wreath.

Walk away and do not try to glue the other half of the wreath together until the next day. The glue needs to dry and it does take almost 24 hours. Glue the two halves together and you are set. I am not sure how it would stand up to floral arranging but it worked perfectly for my needs. Which I will be sharing with you tomorrow!

The week has been busy with one child at camp and the weather has been hot and humid here. We have had several weather advisory days about the heat. I am glad that the weekend is here and we are celebrating Father’s Day this week. The summer is speeding by and I am not sure that I getting everything finished that I want finished. How are things at your house? Are you busy, on vacation Â or having fun. I have been trying to change some eating habits and I keep finding myself out of sorts at dinner time. It is difficult figuring out what to cook and feed everyone. The heat is also tending to keep me out of the kitchen.

Talk to you later,

Karen

Posted on February 23, 2015 by Karen Stewart

Repair a tear in Skinny jeans

My daughter has these jeans that she loves. Our loving dogs jumped up on thisÂ brand new pair and put a lovely three corner tear in the leg. The jeans are so skinny that I couldn’t get to them to repair them. I know that holey jeans are the thing, but she doesn’t like holey jeans. So, I had two options: throw them out, or find a way to repair them. I decided toÂ repair them. Here is the process I used to fix her jeans. It is one I learned a long time ago when the boys were littleÂ and used to put the knees out on jeans.

Supplies:

a free arm sewing machine,

thread to match or contrast as you choose

pins

scrap piece of denim

scissors

seam ripper

Here is the tear on the outside of her jeans.

There are a bunch of extra threads and I didn’t wash the jeans before repairing. I would if I were patching the whole knee as I did when the boys were small. This tear is little and she has just put them on so they are relatively clean.

Step 1. Turn the jeans inside out. See how skinny these are.

2. Cut the serging on the edges of one side of the jeans. This is the opposite side of the decorative top stitching. You do not want to take out the topstitching. It is a hassle to replace and matching the thread and stitch size can be a real issue.

Here I am sliding the point of these scissors up under the edge of the serger stitching.

3. Cut the straight stitching and take it out as well.

A seam ripper will help you with this.

4. Cut a patch out of a similar weight fabric. It helps that the fabric has been washed and dryed about the same amount as the jeans you are patching. In this case I cut a Â square bit about two inches bigger than the tear.

5.Pin the patch in place. Checking on the inside that the patch is smoothly pinned and not wrinkled or wadded.

6. My sewing machine is a free arm machine. Which makes it easier to put the opened up jean leg under the pressure foot. You need to make sure that the patch is smooth under the jean leg.

Using a thread that matches the denim as close as you can get, straight stitch all around the Â tear as close as you can get to the actual tear. Use a small stitch length so that it really holds the patch fabric down.

You could use a contrasting thread color if you want to add it as a decorative element.

7. Then using a zig zag stitch. go over the edge of the tear. I chose to use navy thread.Â

Yes, you can see the stitching. but the hole is repaired and I think with boots no one will noticed the repair.

Here is the inside showing the patch and the stitching.

(Yes, my bobbin threads are purple.)Trim your threads on the inside and outside of your jeans. Then trim the patch down.

Sew up the leg with the straight stitch in the same place that the other stitching was. You want to back stitch at the start and end and be sure to stitch over the original stitching a bit at the start and at the end so that these stitches are well anchored. You don’t want your jean seams to open up while you are wearing them!

I also added a zig zag stitch on the edge of the jeans to keep them from unravelling.

This is the stitch I used.

Here is the finished product!

Yay, her jeans are repaired and now she has a pair for yard work, without the gaping hole that they would have in short order.

My back is a little better but I am not sewing much these days. I have been crocheting quite a bit and I will show you a few of my new projects in the days to come.

talk to you later,

Karen

Posted on July 8, 2014 by admin

Tutorial: Crocheting edging to a Polo shirt

I had some polo shirts that I loved wearing. Polo shirts are knit shirts like a tennis or golf shirt with vents on the side seams and a knit collar. Almost as comfortable as t-shirts they are a summer wardrobe staple for me. Â I wore them every week but then they shrank in the length. They became uncomfortably short. They were too short to tuck in and too short to wear outside my jeans. While I was out on a date with hubs last night, I had a brilliant idea. What about adding crochet edgingÂ to the the bottom of the shirts. If it is crocheted in place and not sewn on then it would look as though it was always there. The shirts were headed to Goodwill since they were too short, what would it cost me to try?

Instructions:

So I whipped out my ruler and made 1/4 inch dots with a pencil along the hem on the wrong side of the shirt.

I then tried several different methods of putting a blanket stitch along the bottom of the shirt.

1st row

The preferred method (for me) was to use the smallest double pointed steel knitting needle to poke a hole from the wrong side to the right side. You could also use a dull needle point needle. Then I crocheted along the bottom edge of the shirt. I ended up only chaining twice between each stitch because three chains made it scalloped, like this.

2ndÂ row

When I reached the end of the shirt at the side seam. I chained twice and turned. This row was simply two single crochets in each blanket stitch.

3rdÂ Row

The third row was double crochet in the top of each single crochet. Chain four and turn.

In the photo above you can see the starting row of blanket stitch, the row of single crochet and then the third row of double crochet.

4th row

Double crochet in the third double crochet from the edge. (You are skipping one double crochet across). Then chain 1, double crochet in the second double crochet across. It creates a grid across the bottom of the shirt. You will repeat this row 2 more times. On the last row chain four and turn.

So you will have three rows of the grid and then the edging. I really didn’t want a frilly edging so I opted for a light scalloped picot border.

The fifth row sets the foundation for the scallops and picots.

5th row

skip one double crochet and single crochet to the next double all the way across.

6thÂ row

6th row single crochet 2 times into the first scallop foundation. Singel crochet again and chain three, single crochet to the same place and then sc 1 more time. There should be sixÂ single crochets. The two stitches in the middle will have the picot added to the top. It should look like this.

Weave in all of your ends and you should have successfully added about two inches to the bottom of your polo top. Then repeat this to the front hem of your shirt. Wash the whole thing and hang it to dry. You can shape the crochet lace while it dries and it should reduce ironing. I wouldn’t put it in the dryer as the lace might shrink. Here is mine drying. It will still need a light ironing.

Yay, I am so Â happy. I can’t wait to wear it. I have two more polo shirts toÂ fix.I’m off to watch some more netflix and off to fix my knit shirts.

talk to you later,

Karen

Posted on December 13, 2013 by admin

Owl Applique

I have been working on owls lately and decided to make an applique for free download. Â This tutorial is photo rich as I feel that one picture is worth more than one thousand of my words and probably much clearer as well. This owl is simplified and Â super easy for beginner applique seamstresses. You can use this as a patch on a blanket, pillow, pants, where ever you decide to use it.

I put my owl on a cross body bag for my daughter. It is a perfect size for her phone, glasses, a pen and anything else she wants to carry. It has a zipper on the top and a strap that can be used several different ways. I used up-cycled denim, fabric scraps and Â some jelly roll strips and a remnant for the lining. There will be a tutorial for the bag later.

Cut out your pattern pieces. Pin them to the fabric of your choice and then cut them out.

You can use a fusible web tape Â behind each piece to keep it aligned. I didn’t do this as I used pins and it isn’t rocket science. Â The background is a 4 Â x 6 piece of recycled denim.

Center your body onto the background fabric. Pin it to keep it straight.

Here are the wings, and eye patch cut out.

You will need to adjust the settings on your sewing machine. Mine has a button to keep the needle down when the machine stops stitching. You will want to do this either manually or simply push the button.

Change your stitch to the blanket stitch. You also need to change the stitch width. I put my stitch width to about a 2.5 or 3. Â

Position your needle at the edge of the body shape so that the straight stitch will be on the denim or background fabric. The blanket part of the stitch will be into the body of the owl.

See that little bit where my attention wandered. Â Thankfully it fits under a wing and I don’t feel any compulsion to rip it out and start over.

Ahh, this is the right way to sew it.

One wing placed, pinned and sewn… and now to the other.

Pin all your pattern pieces together so you don’t lose any.

Place the beak and pin it like so. Sew down one side and then move the pin to the last edge you will sew. I simply leave the needle down and lift the pressure foot and rotate the Â whole thing until it lines up where I need to sew. Then put the pressure foot back down.

Like so!

See the beak is finished and now we add the eye patch.

See how the pin is in the fabric. I will be able to sew two directions Â and leave that pin in for most of it. Treat the eye patch like a box shape when you are sewing and it will be easier. There is a bunch of sew,stop, leave the needle down, lift the pressure foot, and turn to this part.

Now your Owl is finished except for his eyes. I sewed the eyes on at the very end of making the purse/bag.

Isn’t he cute. I know that the sewing purists in you would say. Where is the interfacing and the stabilizer? My thought is: Â I made this for a teenager. In two months or less she will probably not be using it as she will want something else. Â I can always make her another. If I wait until I have all of the things needed to sew, I would never sew. This isn’t rocket science or even an entry to the fair. It is a bag for my girl. i learn something every time I sew and I am getting better at it everyday.

talk to you later,

P.S. She loves it!

Karen

Posted on December 6, 2013 by admin

Tutorial: Scalloped Edging

I use this scalloped edging all the time on different crochet projects. It adds a nice finished edging. It also works well with Granny Squares as I think it is a variation. You will need a granny square stitch project either a granny stripe Â or granny square blanket.

Supplies

yarn
granny square
hook to match yarn

The Sides

I am starting with 1 granny square. It has five holes on each side counting the corner holes.

Join your yarn to a corner.

*Crochet a double crochet from the joining stitch to the open space between the groups of Â Â Â double crochet.

Crochet 5 or 6 double crochet into the space. Here I crocheted five because the yellow yarn is worsted weight and the square is a dk weight yarn.

With the last double crochet stretch it over to the next space and join with a chain.

Repeat from * across your square or squares until you reach the corner.

There are two corner options.

Corner Option #1

Join just as you have and then turn the square.

Do the next set of five (or six) double crochet just as you have. The corner will look like this.

and this when you finish two sides.

Corner Option #2

join just as you would and then double crochet into the corner space and chain two.

Do another double crochet followed by a chain.

It will look like this when you round the corner and finish another side.

This adds a nice finish to the edging. It will look great on a blanket or scarf.

The trick to this edging is that you need an odd number of spaces to finish evenly.

Have fun with this edging and share some photos with me on my facebook page of your projects with the pretty scalloped edging.

https://www.facebook.com/Chocolatedogstudio

It is a snow day here and I have a ton of things to get finished. This tutorial was one of them.

See you later,

Karen

Posted on August 9, 2013 by admin

Tutorial: Carrying Colors in Granny Squares

My first Tip and Trick that I want to share with you is how to carry your yarn up a row when you crochet Granny Square blankets.Â I have been working on this granny square blanket this week. I love crocheting Granny Square blankets, I love all the colors, the patterns, using up bits of yarn. The thing I hate about Granny Squares isÂ Â weaving the ends in after it is crocheted.

It has grown from an idea to almost 5 ft square. Â It is a simple color change pattern of two rows of a variegated yarn and one row of the cream color. I have used American crochet terminology in this brief tutorial.Â I decided to carry the yarn on up through the crocheting to the next row. It works like this.

Here is my finished row of beige yarn. I am getting ready to join the end of the row to the beginning.

I use the purple yarn to join because the next row is going to be the purple.

I have started the chain three for the first post in the double crochet group.

I then make each chain around the beige yarn so that it is inside the purple chain three.

Then you simply hold the beige yarn out of the way and start your regular double crochets around the granny square. Here is the back view of the granny square with the beige yarn at the beginning of the double crochet group.

You can see the yarn a little from the back but it is much easier that tying off, weaving in ends and then sewing them down so they don’t pop out.

That is a very close up image and it is hard to see where the yarns were carried up.I apologize for the photos, I am still in a cast healing up from surgery. It is difficult to get into proper daylight with everything I need for the tutorial as I am still keeping my foot up and on crutches. This also explains how quickly this granny blanket has come together. I do not have as many pulls on my time.

Talk to you later,

Karen

PS. Please let me know if you have any questions or don’t understand what I did. It seems pretty self explanatory from the photos.

Posted on July 3, 2013 by admin

Tutorial: How to make a rectangular Granny Square blanket.

I have had people asking how to make a rectangular Granny Square blanket.Â

You can see in the photo above that the extra rows were added in blue. Â I crocheted my Granny square as a square for 15 rows. I then crocheted back and forth on one end and added three more rows. I continued on around the square to the opposite end and crocheted 5 extra rows. It is important to add odd rows so that you are ending on the opposite side that you started the short rows.

Keep your crocheting continuing in the same direction that you started.Â Re

I hope that you aren’t thoroughly confused, if you are please leave a comment and I will see if I can write up a pattern instead of just showing you all of the photos.

Thanks,

Karen