Making A Wreath- Part 1

My Mum loves a wreath for the front door and she has this one, I made for her up, hanging during the Summer months.

She loves Hallowe'en so I thought I would make her an autumnal wreath which can also double up for Hallowe'en with a couple of easy to add/remove additions.

I used the same technique on both for the basic wreath.
For this you will need:
Thick florist wire (I used approx 50cm/20'')
Felt of various colours- I used shrunken jumpers for both
Scissors
Wire cutters (not in the photograph)

Cut out a large number of circles of about 6cm diameter from each colour felt, you'll need quite a lot- I used about 200 circles of quite thick felt. They really don't need to be perfect and a little irregularity actually adds to the appeal.
WARNING- cutting out thick felt can be difficult and a strain for your hand, I know this from experience and a week later my right thumb is still experiencing a tingling, numb sensation. I know it's really tempting to get it all done but please don't risk injury, take regular breaks if necessary.

Now shape a loop at one end of the wire, florist wire is quite malleable so is easy to shape, it also doesn't need to be super neat as it won't be seen.

Next thread the felt circles randomly onto the wire by poking the wire through the centre- you may have to cut a little nick in the felt if it's too thick to slide on.

Pack them all tightly, pushing them down as you go. Once all the circles have been thread on, wrap the straight end of the wire around the looped end and cut off the excess.

This provides a nice sturdy wreath to embellish....

There you have it, a basic wreath!

You can add all sorts of embellishments to suit you taste and the season. 

For the Summer one, I made a couple of crochet daisies with needle felted centres and felt leaves. I hung a mini birdhouse in the centre with a bee charm attached with glue (after removing the loop for hanging it).

As this is for the Autumn, I decided to go traditional and will give details together with the pictures of it all finished in the next post.

Hopefully my Mum will be as pleased with this one as she was with the Summer one?

Until next time, craft in earnest! Craftin' Ernest x

Needle Felt Doll Part 2

I haven't progressed very far with my doll as I went off gallivanting for a long weekend with my hubby for his birthday. We went to the beautiful county of Warwickshire and amongst other things visited Warwick Castle. Well worth the visit if you get the opportunity! The birds of prey displays are worth the entrance fee alone. Then with Easter, there was egg decorating to do and new Spring lambs to visit.

I did decide on her hair colour though and she's now a redhead! I had originally intended to sew the hair on but decided it was best to needle felt it also. As I used a 100% wool DK which is quite fuzzy it attached really well. I started at the sides and worked a little at a time each side to make it even.
This also made it possible for her to have her hair down.

After a cut to even it all up, the next question was fringe or no fringe? I went with a fringe.

I then plaited it into the two French braids I had originally intended and I'm really happy with the outcome. I just used some pink thread to secure the bottom of the plaits.

Her face, however, took a couple of attempts! She now has blue eyes and a plummy pink lips, also done with the felting needle.

The first attempt was a little on the scary side to say the least. I wanted her to have eyelashes, this along with all black eyes gave her quite a sinister look- not what I was going for so they were hastily removed.

The next most important item was underwear!
She now sports of pair of rather colourful, paisley knickers. This is where I have to confess, I'm a do-it-by-eye-kinda-gal. Fingers are just as good a tool as a ruler for measuring, right? ;-)
Knickers are also great as they are very forgiving in terms of hiding non-precision measuring. I roughly drew a "pattern" on some white fabric. Unlike normal knickers (i.e. for real people) hers need to be larger at the front rather than back as she has a flat bottom but a rather pot belly. Once I was sure they would slip on, I used the white fabric to cut the same out of the paisley fabric and added the elastic at the top and each leg hole. Overall I'm happy that they're a nice fit.

Hopefully she'll have an outfit by next time, until then craft in earnest, Craftin' Ernest x

Needle Felted Doll Part 1

As much as I enjoy a bit of "wet" felting I definitely prefer needle felting. I think it's a very satisfying craft and love seeing the item slowly transform from raw roving into the desired shape. It really is like sculpting with wool and the repeated stabbing action is very therapeutic! It's not so much fun when you jab the needle in your finger though (I may have done so once or twice in the past). I'm always impressed by how, with some patience and a firm hand, the piece starts to shrink and compact into a defined shape.

I've tried using a handle which holds a number of needles but don't find it as easy to work with as the single needle.

I mostly use the technique to make small accessories such as flowers and leaves. The first thing I ever made was this little tortoise.

I decided I wanted to make a doll as I want to make mini outfits. I thought needle felting would make an interesting base for the doll. I used about 45g of roving in total and made the head, followed by the body and then each limb before felting them together.

This is the result...

I still have some refining to do and to go over with a finer needle or two.
I now have to decide on her hair. I'm going to use wool to give her a couple of French plaits but I can't choose between making her a brunette (slightly bias as it's my hair colour and everyone knows brunettes have the most fun?) or a lovely redhead?

I'll let you know which I decide, and by then she will have a face too, in a future post.
Keep crafting in earnest, Craftin' Ernest xx

Wrist Warmers

Well, it's turned rather chilly now and hats, scarves, gloves with lots of layers are a must! I have inherited some driving gloves, which I have really taken to, but they stop right at the edge of the hand. A nice pair of wrist warmers are just the thing to stop the chill getting in when I'm out of the car.

I've been making these for a few years now and they make great presents as you can really vary them up and personalise them.
For this tutorial I have used the sleeves of a "fulled" jumper by shrinking it using the hottest wash on the washing machine. Alternatively you could knit/crochet the base and felt it or you could use felt material and sew the base by sewing a tube leaving a space for your thumbs.
In my opinion buttons for decoration are a must though.

After you're happy that the jumper has shrunk the desired amount and you've left it to dry completely, cut the ends of the sleeves off to the length you want. I like them to go from half way up my little finger to around 8 cm beyond my wrist or more. If the end of the sleeve has a ribbed cuff you may like this as a feature and leave it, alternative you may prefer to cut it off or if the end has shrunk a lot you might have to cut it off to fit your hand in!

Once you're happy with the length you need to cut a hole for your thumb in each. I find using a small, sharp scissors makes it easier, once I've done the first I use that as a guide for the second.

The easiest way to finish the edges is to sew around them, using embroidery floss for example. Simple whip stitch looks very effective as does good, old blanket stitch.
And as mentioned a few buttons finishes them off nicely!There you have it, lovely and toasty wrists to wear with or without gloves.

For a more fancy edge I like a bit of crochet. Using a fine hook, 1 mm usually works well (and the sharper the better), I attach the chosen wool/yarn by slip stitching all the way around, poking the sharp hook into the edge and pulling the yarn though. I space it by eye but you can use your little finger as a guide to help or if you like things very precise you could use a tape measure. It's good to keep things nice and loose at this stage. Once I have worked all the way around I slip stitch into the first stitch once reached. After this I switch to a larger hook perhaps a 3.5 mm to a 5mm depending on the yarn and then crochet a frill. For example, chaining three and dc into every other stitch or sc, dc, sc into every other stitch. Experimenting is always good!

Until next time stay cosy and craft in earnest, Craftin' Ernest x

Flower Brooch Tutorial

Yay, the Sun is finally shining! Spring is here and when the daffodils are at their best the car-boot sales start- wonderful places to pick up some buttony bargains. It can be difficult getting up early on a Sunday morning but with the sunlight bursting through the curtains we decided to go to our first this year. It was not a disappointment. The hubby spotted a Quality Street tin, often a great sign, and sure enough it contained buttons. I love taking them home and sorting through them, it's not quite the same when they're already sorted. There was a card labelled with "Fashionable Buttons, Made in England" with 3 yellow buttons still attached priced at 6p. The best before date on the tin is Oct 1988 and it was still Mackintosh Quality Street back then.

My favourites were two sets of green buttons, similar but different so I can't decide which I like better.

I also bought some knitting and crochet bits and bobs, I'll feature them in a future post. Fingers crossed for more car-boot sale finds this year! Now on to the tutorial.

Flower Brooch Tutorial 

This brooch can be made using any a variety of fabric providing it has a bit of stiffness. Felt is a good choice, shop bought or from a wooly jumper shrunk in the wash. A previous post, "Keep Your Cutoffs", features a brooch made in the same way using left over bonded fabric. The finished example using the measurements below creates quite a large flower, approx. 10cm X 10cm. Obviously if you want a smaller one just decrease all the measurements as required. All the measurements are approximate as they don't need to be spot on, after all flowers aren't geometrically precise so the brooch needn't be either ;-)

You will need- felt for the flower in colour of your choice- roughly 20cm x 20cm, green felt for the leaves- 6cm x 5cm , brooch finding, needle and matching thread

Instructions continue after the break. . . . .

Brooch Making Frenzy

Unfortunately, we didn't have any takers for the giveaway so I am going to extend it, surely someone has something to say about buttons, for example how wonderful they are? ;-) It's difficult not to get tempted by the fabric bundle myself, they're crying out to used, some patchwork hearts or mini bunting perhaps?
All you have to do is leave a button related comment OR email craftinernest[at]gmail[dot]com mentioning buttons OR tweet @CraftInErnest, you guessed it, about buttons!

This week I have mainly been making brooches, here's a few I've made using various materials and techniques-

The weekend post will include a tutorial to make a felt rose brooch!
Also I did some button-related crafting (I think you're starting to realise how much I love buttons),

And these extremely simple button earrings. Just a case of using a strong glue (e.g. epoxy resin or E6000) to attach earring posts to a pair of buttons. I particularly like these vintage, metal buttons

I also had a great day on Saturday with my Dad out our second "Time to Knot" macrame meeting at Craft in the Bay. We arrived a few hours late as my Dad had to get a quick (not at all) round of golf in, but we still had a lot of fun. I knocked up a rather simple bracelet but haven't attached a clasp yet.

Thanks for reading! Remember to Craft in Earnest x Craftin' Ernest 

Owl Doorstops

I've got a thing about owls, which is great as at the moment they're everywhere. I have a Greek uncle who gave me lots of books about Greek mythology when I was young and my favourite goddess was Athena who's symbol was an owl- ever since I've loved them.
A couple of years ago, one afternoon my sister and I were in my kitchen which looks out the front onto the street whilst my husband was upstairs. Out of nowhere a huge owl flew down and landed on the pavement at the top of our drive. Without missing a beat my husband, who had seen it too, came running downstairs shouting our Hogwart's letter had arrived :-) It turns out a man who lives behind the houses opposite us keeps owls and it was the owl's first flight and he flew further than the man had expected. It was a young eagle owl we were told and was called Norman. It was pretty incredible even if you weren't keen on them.
I've made all sorts of things with owls on over the years but I think owl doorstops are my favourite as they're quick and easy. Although I've made quite a few, I make them up as I  go, they've all been different. Most often I tend to crochet them but sometimes I knit or sew them.
Here are a few examples of crocheted ones:

Carry on reading to learn how to make one of these cuties.