I don’t really wear much jewelry, but I’ve always wanted to try my hand at whipup’s assignments. And this month the theme is fiber jewelry. The only things other than my wedding ring that I wear are bracelets, so I made myself a bracelet. It is basically just a pleated strip of fabric (there may be a special name for this kind of pleat, I don’t know, but if you do please let me know) with a ribbon as a tie. Infinitely customizable and easy to whip up–it would be quick to make to match an outfit before going out. Not that I ever go out. But you do, so here’s a tutorial.

First measure your wrist, then multiply that by 2.5

Cut a large rectangle of fabric that is 4inches by (wrist measurement x 2.5)

fold it in half the long way (hot dog style), right sides facing, and sew down the long edge leaving the ends open.

Turn the resulting tube right side out, fold it in half so the seam is in the middle and press.

Starting about and inch from the raw edge, make one accordion fold one way and press, then another the other way and press, continuing until you’ve used the entire strip. Don’t worry about making them perfectly even–variation in size makes the bracelet interesting.

Pin the pleats in place and (carefully) try the bracelet on. Snip the ends off if it is too long, fiddle with the pleats if it is too small. When the bracelet is the right length, tuck the ends under and sew the opening shut.

Then tack down all the pleats with a long stitch. Go slowly!

Sew a pretty ribbon on top of the stitching you just did, leaving a couple inches at each end to tie a bow.

Put it on and your ready to go.

You could use a button and elastic loop for a closure, or button and button hole, or snap, or whatever you think would work. Even faster and a little more girly, is a ruffle bracelet. Just a strip of fabric (I used linen and left the edges raw) with a ribbon or some lace down the middle.

so there you go: my first whiplash entry and my first tutorial all rolled in one.

The campaign is in full swing! All of Jack’s friends came out to support him: his beloved pie backed him right away, Hickety Pickety thought him a fine gentlemen, Jack Sprat wouldn’t think of voting for anyone else, and his wife made the lovely signs. So now it’s your turn. Get the word out–Little Jack Horner’s got the prettiest plum pie in the Holiday Smorgasbord! Don’t sit in a corner, go vote!

These guys are bridging the gap between halloween and christmas.  Well, there used to be a gap.  Now there is hardly enough time to take down the halloween decorations before the christmas ones come out.  Thanksgiving’s really getting the shaft these days.  Anyway, these mutant gingerbread men are on their way to becoming ornaments for my sister and her family.  When we were kids, we made gingerbread men every year and there were always a couple with two heads or four legs.  But my oldest sister’s three boys took this to another level–they made half bird/half man gingermutants, men with 20 legs and 7 heads,  men covered in eyeballs, poor sweet gingerbread men with all their parts rearranged, anything their strange, little boy imaginations could think up.  My nephews are not little anymore, but I thought they might like a little reminder of their cookie torturing days.  I have one more to make (an octopus gingerbread lady for my sister) and then I’ll sew them and stuff them and maybe even wrap them suckers.  Maybe this will be the year I get my christmas presents done early!

I made this a few months back for a dear friend with a new baby. The pattern is from Amy Karol’s lovely book, Bend the Rules Sewing. But I made it quite a bit bigger so it could accommodate a couple diapers and a travel pack of wipes. The patchwork stripe continues around the back and the bag is lined with the same ruler print. The rest is linen. It turned out a little classy and I think that’s what you need when most of your day is spit up and mooshed carrots and dirty diapers. I got such wonderful feedback when I put the picture up on flickr, that I thought I’d share it here as well. And it would make a nice (and quick) christmas gift.

I’m trying to post everyday this month (in the spirit of NaBloPoMo) but it’s 9pm on the 4th day and I’m already sweatin’ it, so we’ll see what happens.  Hope everyone had a lovely weekend!

After two days of two children whining non stop, I needed to reward myself with a little project. I started this digger months ago, but it sat in parts without it’s digger since then. So last night I watched some trashy tv (is there anything but?) and stuffed and stitched. I stopped working on it because I wasn’t happy with the design and because I wasn’t sure the digger part would actually come out. But it did. I never want to start working on the hardest part of whatever I’m making, but of course it always ends up being the most satisfying. I made some covered buttons for the button joints (do buttons with shanks even work for button joints?) but I liked the way it looked without them, so they went in the cab. There has been construction in our neighborhood, well, since my daughter was born and she points out all the diggers to me everyday. I thought it would be nice to make a digger for her that was a little on the girlie side. So there you have a slightly tufted, movable, flowery, digger. I’ve got another already cut out, with a slightly different pattern and I thought a patchwork digger would be cool. So more to come, hopefully.I think I’ll enter this into the Holiday Softies Central Awards (right under the wire) because I think it would be a great toy to find under the tree (if you are a 2 year old girl obsessed with diggers, that is).  Here are a bunch of other entries that I think are fantastic. Go look!