Beaded Button Brooches

We did the first part of a two-part beaded button brooch workshop at my EGA chapter Saturday. I think it went pretty well. If anyone has any questions or anything, please e-mail or call me.

Here is a brooch I made out of a keyhole I found at a flea market in France three years ago. I made the pin in the same way I make the beaded button brooches. I miniaturized a photo of Lulu taken at Elizabeth Park Rose Garden in Hartford, about 90+ years ago. When my sister and I went to France last year, Lulu went with us in the form of a pin!

Here are a couple diagrams for some of the beaded edgings I have used on my beaded button brooches. There are many more diagrams on my Flickr photostream. Students can click on the picture of the beaded cat button (on the right) to go to the Flickr photostream.  When you get there, click on the set "Beaded Button Instructions."  Here you will find a 3-page handout of directions, plus diagrams for all the beaded edgings I have created. You can download the instructions, diagrams and pictures and then print them.

The button below was the second one I made after learning the technique from a Bead & Button article. (My technique is pretty different, and all the edgings I use were created by me.) The small buttons are called "calicos" and were made in the mid-19th century. There is a nice article about them in Bead & Button magazine online.

Here is a beautiful reproduction Czech glass button:

Library Craft Circle - Pin Weaving Workshop

Pin weaving is a simple way of creating a small woven piece without the use of a loom. It is weft faced weaving, that is, the warp thread will not show on the finished design. A design is created on graph paper and taped to a piece of foam core board. Pins are placed at the top and bottom of the design. A strong warp thread (waxed linen) is wrapped taughtly around each pin in a continuous motion. Weaving of the weft thread is done with a tapestry needle. Weft threads can be nearly any fiber, but for small pieces embroidery floss and pearl cotton work very well.

Here are a few websites to see examples of pin weaving for inspiration. Needleweaver.com has many examples of needle woven necklaces! Click on each artist to see more photos of their work. Most of these designs are more elaborate than a beginner would start with, but there are lots of ideas if you wish to continue with pin weaving. There are also lessons on this site; I did not follow these directions so they differ from mine.  Note: above link no longer works, but I found LOTS of inspiration boards on Pinterest by searching "needle weaving" and "pin weaving."

An earlier article in Threads Magazine featured needle woven fabric inserted onto purse fronts. Very lovely, they are woven with heavier threads.

SIMPLE (and fun!) HOMEWORK BEFORE WORKSHOP: To start your design, you will need graph paper, 5 squares per inch. You can find graph paper on-line through Needlepointers.com.

This needlepoint website has a page listing places on the internet where you can find free graph paper. I used the second link listed and was directed to a site that lets you create all kinds of graph paper. There is a form on which you specify the number of squares per inch, it should be 5 squares per inch, or less.

When you have printed your graph paper, decide how large or small you would like your woven piece to be. On your graph paper draw borders around an even number of squares to accommodate your design. Do this several times on the page. Ten or 12 squares is a good size to start with. For my finished piece, above, I blocked off 10 squares. Here are my sketches (you should be able to enlarge the sketch by clicking on it):

You will be placing pins at the top and bottom of your design. At the top of each sketch, I like to number and make dots where the pins will be inserted later. If there are ten boxes, there will be 11 pins. So I number the dots like so:

5 - 4 - 3 - 2 - 1 - 0 - 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5

Repeat at the bottom of the box. However, the pins at the bottom will be inserted between the vertical lines of the graph paper, therefore, only 10 pins will be used. I also number these dots, omitting the zero.

In the boxes you have drawn, make several sketches. You are not confined to the box shape; as you can see on my sketches -- and ones on the Needleweavers.com site listed above -- I sometimes went outside the border. It is simply easier, for a first project, not to go too wild.

Color in the sketches you like, and add beads to the sketch. Helen Banes, in her book “Beads & Threads,” says that beads are a focal point for the design, that is something to keep in mind when placing the beads.

The “don’t do like I did” section! On my first piece I changed colors at the top and bottom edges:

Not a good idea. When the piece comes off the board the sections will not stay together (just at these top and bottom edges). I realized this would happen before I removed the pins. It was easy to fix, though, so that could be an option if you really want color changes at the top and bottom. Here is how I fixed it. With the finished piece still attached to the board, I removed the first pin on the top right and wove a new length of weft thread through each of the warp loops at the top, removing each pin as I came to it, and adding a bead between each loop. This held the top edge together and also added a decorative row of beads. Repeat at the bottom.
Supplies for class which I will provide
(kit cost approx. $5):
Foam core board, 1/2 inch thick
Tapestry needles, small to large
Pins
Waxed linen for warp

Supplies students should bring to class:

Graph paper (please see website above to print your own graph paper) PLUS bring your finished sketches
Embroidery floss or pearl cotton
Beads (with large holes preferred)

Things you will need to finish your project, probably after class:

Beacon Fabric-Tac
Ultrasuede for backing
Pinback (to make a brooch), or beads & beading thread (to make a necklace)

All the supplies students are to bring to class are available in Oxford. Wal-Mart has a good selection of beads, including ones with large holes (please look at the hole size before you buy), and other jewelry making supplies. The Fabric Center has a good selection of embroidery floss and also Beacon Fabric-Tac.

Here are some glass beads I picked up at Wal-Mart which have holes large enough to pull 2 warp threads through:

Please bring your finished sketches, beads and embroidery floss to the workshop on March 28, at 6:00. If you have any questions, please call me (number in phone book).

Craftea - Vintage Valentine Making

A couple years ago I had my little Craftea group of friends over for an afternoon of Valentine making.

I spread out all my supplies -- doilies, stickers, photocopies of old trading and postcards, stick-on alphabets, tissue paper, sequins, buttons, poems, glue sticks, cardstock, etc. After showing the group a Valentine I had previously made, they went to town creating their own 'vintage' Valentines.

In the next post is a description of the process of making a reproduction of an old, pop-up Valentine.

Jan with her card:

Elaine's colorful card:

Helene is pleased with her creation:

Wendy sent her Valentine to her mother, who loved it and said it reminded her of making Valentines as a child with her grandmother.

Vintage Valentine Crafts

Here is my handmade reproduction pop-up Valentine on the little shelf, and underneath is a cool picture frame I found at a large craft store chain. It holds six 4x6" photos and works well for changing out my collection of old postcards and trading cards with the seasons. The cards just slip right in and out.


Instructions for making a repro vintage Valentine. Take an 8 1/2 x 11" piece of scrap paper and fold in half down the middle (top to bottom) and once again along the lower third of the paper. Draw a swirly line on the right, from top to bottom. Cut out through both thicknesses and the left and right sides will match. This is your template.

Crush two pieces of decorative tissue paper (larger than your template) in a ball, then flatten them out again. Do this twice. With a glue stick, adhere the tissue to a piece of cardstock on both the front and the back. Let dry.

Trace around your template onto the tissue-covered card stock and cut out. Using a bone folder press along the line where the vertical and horizontal parts of your card will meet, about 1/3 from the bottom edge. Fold along the pressed line.

If you wish, attach a paper doily frame to the back of the card. I cut a hole from the center of the doily so the pretty tissue paper on the back side would be visible.

To attach the central photo, old postcard or trading card (photocopied, of course), you need to make a support for it. To do this, take a narrow strip of card stock and score along four lines, depending on how tall and how deep you want your support to be. This one, below, is about 4" tall by 1/2" deep (and 1" wide). Therefore, the original piece of cardstock was approx. 1"x 9".

Basically, you are making a box that does not have sides. The back of the box is glued to the vertical part of the card, and the bottom of the box is gluled to the horizontal part of the card. This enables the card to be folded flat, but the artwork will be raised off the card when the card is opened. A little hard to explain, but I hope the photo helps.

Belore I attached the trading card to the support I glued vintage lace around the four edges of the card.


Banners can be made in all shapes and sizes in Microsoft Word:


Glittered sticky letters are applied to the banner. I used a pin to apply them:
>

A second banner, with more sticky letters applied, and photocopied Victorian scrap for the card:

The finished card, with various elements glued to the central pop-up support and elsewhere on the card. I used littly foam sticky dots to give the additional elements dimension.

The underside of the bottom flap contains a poem and more Victorian scrap.

My heart to you is given:

Oh, do give yours to me;
We'll lock them up together,
And throw away the key!
Frederick Saunders)

You can find lots of funny, tender and sweet poems on the internet. Copy and paste them into a Word document in a pretty font. Then tear them and attach to your card.

Come live in my heart and pay no rent. (Samuel Lover)

The back of the card features another poem.


Happy Valentine's Day!

Valentines Are Everywhere!

Many years ago I made Valentines from two small red heart doilies. Using embroidery floss I sewed them together with a chain stitch all the way around, but leaving the top open. I sent these to several friends and put tiny things inside like stickers, notes, poems, tissue paper snowflakes, even beads and other tiny objects captured inside small paper hearts.


Here is one of the 'snowflakes' with heart cut-outs.

An old candy box I found in an antique mall for $1 !

A heart shaped sewing kit:

Oxford Fiber Arts Festival

The First Annual Oxford Fiber Arts Festival was so successful I only had time to take 3 photos! I was at the make & take table most of Saturday. Here is a photo of Audrey with her granddaughter after they finished making a long felted bead. There was a lot of stuff for kids at the festival, which contributed to our success -- make & take, yarn 'bombing', alpacas and angora rabbits.

I took a hand painting sock yarn class on Sunday with Penny of Sky Loom Weavers (one of our vendors who came all the way from Texas). One of my skeins came out pretty good, the one at the bottom of the warping board, which I made with dyes in colors of rust, daffodil, brick red, and magenta, something like that. Not sure about the second skein, on the left in the photograph. I just kind of picked favorite colors and splattered them all over the skein. It will be fun knitting something with both skeins.

Vintage Knitting and Crochet

The First Annual Oxford Fiber Arts Festival was successful beyond our wildest hopes! Carolyn's opening talk on Friday evening was attended by about 40 - 50 people. At least one person came from as far as Memphis to attend and brought a 1970's crocheted vest to show after the talk, which still fits her very well!

I was so busy all weekend I only took three photos! This one of the table of vintage knitted and crocheted items Carolyn and I set up as a display. Most of the items are from Carolyn's collection, very few from mine.



Many people came up after the talk to tell Carolyn how much they loved it. A few people brought vintage items to share with the audience, including Mary Lou who brought this amazing shadow box of a pair of knit socks which her great, great, great, great grandmother made in the first half of the 18th century. Mary Lou said that her ancestor sheared, carded, spun and knit the socks to enter in a fair, and she knew exactly how many stitches were in the socks! Her photograph is also in the shadow box, and some of the extra yarn.