Tuesday
Dec112012
Make This:Make This - Paper Stars - Part 2
Add some more paper stars to the party - this part includes patterns for stars with 6, 7, and 8 points!
Monday
Dec102012
Make This - Paper Stars - Part 1
Stars are a great decoration for so many holidays and events - birthdays, New Year's Eve, school dances, the 4th of July, prom, Christmas, star parties, etc. These are made to be as large as I could fit on a standard sheet of printer paper - they're between 8 and 12 inches across when they're finished. They're light weight and can be made in any color palette for your occasion. Hang them from the ceiling or use them as center pieces. I chopped up my scrap paper to make matching confetti.
Wednesday
Dec052012
Technique - Curved Whole Stitch Lace
Once you've worked out how to make the Whole Stitch/Torchon Ground (in this previous project), you can work it on a different grid to make this s-curving lace. It's still the exact same stitch, but the finished project looks very different.
Tuesday
Dec042012
Technique - Whole Stitch Ground / Torchon Ground
A "ground" in bobbin lace is just a way of filling space with a mesh or net. There are a lot of different grounds, but the whole stitch/torchon is a very common one. It can either be used as a filler between other design elements or as a lace by itself (as I'm showing it here.) This ground makes use of only one stitch and is a great place to start with learning to make lace. It works quickly (once you get the hang of it) and holds it's shape well. This how-to shows it worked as a 1 inch wide strip, but you can work it as wide and long as you want to, making huge sheets of lace if that's your thing.
Monday
Dec032012
Basics of Bobbin Lace
Bobbin lace can be incredibly beautiful, but it's equally intimidating. Tiny threads, specialized materials and patterns that just look like grids and dots are fairly unwelcoming, and clear documentation can be hard to find.
Bobbin lace is basically an elaborate braid and/or weaving pattern worked around carefully placed pins to form holes. If you've managed to learn how to knit, crochet, knot friendship bracelets or do any sort of seed bead work you'll definitely be able to make bobbin lace.
Tuesday
Nov202012
Technique - Bobbin Lace Whole Stitch
The "whole stitch" is one of the basic stitches in bobbin lace making. Knowing this one stitch is enough to make some very pretty lace.
Tuesday
Nov132012
Make This - Paper-Mache Bowls
These delicate little paper dishes are the perfect thing to collect up little bits of jewelry on the top of a dresser. They look much more fragile than they are and are a great snowy afternoon project (you probably already have everything you need at home!)
