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Make Colorful DIY Easter Egg Planter

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Spring is here and Easter is on it’s way…. I am joining the fun of dyeing some colorful Easter Eggs this year. Making them into Easter Egg Planters that’s full of green wheat grasses.

The Easter Egg Planters are easy to make and the wheat grasses only need 5-7 days to grow from seeds to their full height. When the wheat grasses turn old and yellow, simply trim them off near to the soil and let them re-grow again. You can even harvest the green wheat grass and mix it in you fresh fruits with blender or fruits juicer.

I love to place these little Easter Egg Planters by the windowsill that helps enlighten up my dull and boring windows. So colorful to make my day happy to wake up with. However, daily care needed by watering (only wetting the soil) them 2-3 times a day and a windowsill with about 4-5 hours of soft sunlight. Not only the colorful egg shells and green wheat grasses brighten up my day, if I am lucky enough, there are some beautiful dew drops build-up at the tips of the wheat grasses in the morning. If you have read my previous post, I even took some Shamrock Bokeh Lights photography from the reflections of the dew drops too.

I made these Easter Egg Planters before my Hong Kong Disneyland trip and time flies, today is my last night here in this havenly place that I would want to stay longer. I bet when I am back home, the wheat grasses could have grown into another round of new shoots, thanks to my hubby who stays at home after work taking care of my son and these few little cuties.

Till then, please get the details on the second page. More Easter Crafts in videos when I am back home.

{Get full details on next page.}

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Amigurumi: Bunny Pencil Holder

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My first back to school craft for this year – Bunny Pencil Holders. They can be done by using some stash yarns and the free crochet pattern below.

This amigurumi bunny pencil holder is not quite an usual “amigurumi” that we stuffed with poly-fill. I crochet a cover following the shape’s of the vitagen bottle, then decorated it into a bunny. It is an amigurumi craft because of the tight stitches and its toy-look, but not quite an amigurumi because it is not stuffed Therefore, I called it “non-stuff” amigurumi, agree?

I started making amigurumi since I know how to crochet, some 30 years ago during my childhood years. I wasn’t even told the crochet I did has a name “amigurumi” which was meant for crochet stuffing toys. With the affluence of Japanese craft, the first non-stuff amigurumi I made was using this empty vitagen bottle. I remember I also made a bunny out of that, similar to this bunny but of course not so welly done. Too bad I didn’t keep that precious first amigurumi piece to show you.  Well, it is not a nice good looking one to show off, but it was my first piece which deserved a place in my craft museum. What do you think a 10 year-old school kid can produce on her very first crochet toy?

I hope you like this bunny pencil holder. It doesn’t need to be for putting pencil, it can be used as a utensil holder for toddler’s utensil, or as a vase for flowers, or just anything you can think of.

Difficulty Level: Amigurumi Beginner

Materials & Tools:
1. Empty Vitagen bottle
2. Yarn stashes of pink & white colors (medium worsted weight), red & blue (light weight baby yarn)
3. 3mm, 1.5mm crochet hook
4. 5mm wiggly eyes
5. Tapestry needle
6. Stitch marker
7. Strong multipurpose adhesive
8. Scissors
9. Beads and string for the necklace.

Note: I am not sure if you can get Vitagen worldwidely but it is popular in SE Asia. Find alternative if possible. Another brand you can look out for is Yakult but different country will have different bottle shape.

Dimension:
Empty Vitagen bottle: 2″ base, 3 1/2″ tall. The neck begins at 1 1/2″ from base.
Finished size: approx. 2 1/4″ wide (exclude bunny tail), 6″ tall (include ears)

Abbreviations:
st = stitch
ch = chain
sl st = slip stitch
sc = single crochet
sc2tog = single crochet 2 together (decrease) [suggest to use invisible decrease]
mm = move marker
fo = fasten off
[ ] = the number indicated in the bracket is the total sts in the round

Crochet Pattern:
(from bottom to top)
Bottle [make 1]
Base
PINK medium worsted weight yarn with 3mm hook
R1: ch2, 6sc in 1st chain, mm [6]
R2: 2sc in each st around, mm [12]
R3: *2sc in first st, 1sc in next st, repeat from * around, mm [18]
R4: *2sc in first st, 1sc in next 2 sts, repeat from * around, mm [24]
R5: *2sc in first st, 1sc in next 3 sts, repeat from * around, mm [30]
Body
R6 – R13: sc in each st around, mm [until you reach the bottle's neck]
R14: *sc2tog decrease, 1sc in next 3 sts, repeat from * around, mm [24] {do invisible decrease}
Change to WHITE medium worsted weight yarn
R15: sc in each st around, mm
R16: *2sc in first st, 1sc in next 3 sts, repeat from * around, mm [30]
R17 – R19: sc in each st around, mm
R20: *sc2tog decrease, 1sc in next 8 sts, repeat from * around, mm [27]
R21: *sc2tog decrease, 1sc in next 7 sts, repeat from * around, mm [24]
R22: *sc2tog decrease, 1sc in next 6 sts, repeat from * around, mm [21]
R23: *sc2tog decrease, 1sc in next 5 sts, repeat from * around, mm [18]
fo & hide yarn end.

Ear [make 2]
WHITE medium worsted weight yarn with 3mm hook
R1: ch2, 6sc in 1st chain, mm [6]
R2: *2sc in first st, 1sc in next 2 sts, repeat from * around, mm [8]
R3: *2sc in first st, 1sc in next 3 sts, repeat from * around, mm [10]
R4: *2sc in first st, 1sc in next 4 sts, repeat from * around, mm [12]
R5 – R11: sc in each st around, mm
fo with 4″ – 6″ tail.

Red Flower [make 1 for female bunny]
RED light baby weight yarn with 1.5mm hook
R1 – ch2, 6sc on 2nd st from hook, slst to the first ch to make a ring.
R2 – *slst on next st, ch3, dc, ch3, slst, repeat * 6 times to make 6 petals.
fo with 4″ tail.

Blue Necktie [make 1 for male bunny]
BLUE light baby weight yarn with 1.5mm hook
Row 1: ch2, 1sc on 2nd ch from hook, turn
Row 2: ch1, 3sc on next st, turn.
Row 3: ch1, 1sc on 1st st, 2sc on next st, 1sc on next st, turn.
Row 4 – Row 10: ch1, sc in each st, turn.
ch around the neck, slst to the last row of the necktie.
fo with 6″ tail.
Stitch the necktie to the male bunny body, and make another stitch on the necktie for the knot shape.

Crochet Vitagen Bottle cover

Get ready a clean empty vitagen bottle, medium worsted weight yarns (white & pink), 3mm crochet hook, stitch marker, tapestry needle and scissors.

Crochet a base according to the “base pattern” above. The base should be slightly bigger than the bottom of the vitagen bottle.
Getting the right tension is important in order to follow this pattern. For intermediate amigurumi level, if you can’t get the right tension, you might need to do some modification on the pattern to suit the bottle size.

Work upright with the “body pattern”. By R13, you should reach slightly above the groove line of the bottle.

R14 is the decrease round to make the cover follows the contour of the bottle.

Change yarn to white at the last loop-over of the of R14. Continue to crochet with R15.

Follow patterns from R16 to R23, if the tension is right, you should reach the mouth of the bottle.
Cut and fasten off the yarn, hide yarn end into the body.

Bunny In The Making

Crochet the ears by following the “ear pattern” above.
Make a mini pom pom by following this tutorial.
Spare some pink yarns for facial features.
Get ready a pair of wiggly eyes, multipurpose adhesive, tapestry needle and scissors.

Shape the ear by folding the 2 sides to the center and make a few stitches on 3 rows of the sticthes.

Sew the ears securely to the bunny body.

Sew some wiskers on the cheeks and a nose at the center.

Attach the mini pom pom to the back of the bunny.

Attach the wiggly eyes to the bunny, set it aside to dry.

Crochet a red flower by following the above pattern, sew it to the ear.
Make a beads necklace and put in on.
Alternatively, crochet a blue necktie for the male bunny.

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Recycle Denim Sleeve & It's Hem Into Rosette

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Materials:
1. Hem (Double roll type) from denim clothing.
2. Strong thread (closest color to the denim)
3. Strong needle for hand sewing
4. Brooch pin

Tools:
1. Scissors
2. Pliers (optional)
3. Leather scrap (optional but helpful)

This is the sleeve I salvaged from my daughter’s outgrown denim dress.
The leather scrap and pliers are optional but they are handy when hand sewing thick pile of fabric.

Cut the seam of the sleeve. We don’t need that thick seam, you can throw away or keep it for other purpose.

Cut along the hem line of the sleeve. Retain the sleeve, don’t throw.

Roll 2 rounds on the hem to make the center of the rosette.

Make a few stitches at the bottom to secure it. Use leather scrap and pliers if you find it is difficult to push and pull the needle through.

To make the “petals” of the rosette, simply pull the “fold” edge of the hem down to the bottom by making a stitch on it.

Look at the arrow (not my ugly fingers, please!), that is the stitch which form petals of the rosette.

Keep pulling and stitching to create more petals as you roll the hem.
Make sure you also make some stitches to the inner round of the rosette to secure all the rollings.
Loosen the gripping tension of the hem a little as the rosette gets bigger so that the petals at the outer layer look bigger too.
Continue rolling and stitching until you reach about 1″ from the end.

Bend the hem end away from the rosette and under it, sew at the bottom.

The bottom of the rosette.

The top of the denim rosette. You can use it as it is, or continue the tutorial to make it into a brooch with leafs.

To make the rosette into a brooch, you need 2 denim leafs and a brooch pin.

Draw and cut 2 leafs from the balance denim fabric of the sleeve.

Overlap the leafs and sew the brooch pin on them.

Place the leafs+pin combo on the back of the rosette, stitch them to the rosette. Only sew on the circumference of the leaf.
You can glue it on too but I like to sew which make it more securely fasten. I don’t have to worry to throw it into the washing machine for cleaning up when it get soiled.

The back of the denim rosette brooch.

Pin it on any where you like.

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Recycle Denim Hem Into Belt

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So, you have seen the vest and the skirt refashioned from an outgrown denim dress in my recent 2 tutorials. Today, the third tutorial in the series is about sewing a reversible double-ring belt. The denim material of this belt was originally the bottom hem salvaged from the dress.

Not only skirt, you can get pants’ hems to make this reversible belt too. Just join both hems to make them into 1 long strip and continue the rest of the sewing according to this tutorial.

Check out the tutorial on how to recycle a skirt’s / dress’s hem to a reversible belt after this jump:

Materials:
1. Denim / jeans dress, or any denim skirt, need only the bottom hem
2. Seam ripper
3. Strong thread for denim sewing, find the closest thread color
4. 2″ x 36″ (approx.) the length depends on how wide your hem is.
5. 1″ belt ring, 2 pcs., can be rectangle-ring or D-ring.

Tools:
1. Sewing machine
2. Denim sewing needle #16 or #18
3. Matching color threads
4. Sewing kits and pins
5. Scissors
6. Rotary cutter, quilter’s ruler & rubber mat (optional)

Cut the hem above the sewing line. If it is a double fold hem, avoid cutting the fold.
Cut the hem’s seam at the back portion of the skirt so that the hem can be opened into a strip. You might not need the whole length of the hem, if needed, cut to your preferred measurement.
Unpick all the stitches and press hem open flat.

Cut 2″ wide of new fabric strip with the same length of the hem.
Since the ring is 1″ wide, the belt is going to be 1″ wide too. Adjust the measurement to suit your belt ring if you want to make a wider belt.
Fold and press one of the long edges 1/2″ on the new fabric and hem. If you hem was a double folded, you can use the original fold of the denim hem.
Sew the short edge with 1/2″ seam allowance.
Sew along the long edge with 1/2″ seam allowance too.
Follow by another short seam on the side.
Clip the corners.

Fold the corners in and turn the belt right side out for both corners.
Adjust the corners so they are at a nice right-angle.
[Tips: use a knitting needle or something pointy but blunt to push the corner from the inside.]
Pin the un-sewn long edges together and top stitch near the edge. Put a little attention when sewing it, since the hem is a little curvy due to the A-line skirt construction, you might have to stretch the new fabric a little so that it follows the curve and matches the length of the hem.
Top stitch around the edges and finish off with a center line.

Insert the belt ends into the rings, fold 1″ and sew 2 lines across to hold the rings in place.
If you find sewing this thick pile of fabric is difficult, try the following method that I have mentioned in the skirt tutorial. There is a photo to show how to do it too.
“When you are about to sew a thick pile of fabric, with needle down and presser foot up, insert the cardboard behind the needle. Drop the foot and continue sewing. Sewing from thick to thin layer fabric has lesser problem, if needed, just place the cardboard to the front part of the presser foot to level it and sew slowly until the needle is about to reach the cardboard. Adjust the cardboard to the front and repeat again if needed.”

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Recycle An Outgrown Denim Dress Into 4-Piece Outfit

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Denim Vest With Ruffled Edge
At first, the unbutton top is still kinda tight for her to get her upper arm move freely especially when she needs to lean forward to get something in front. I decided to take out the sleeves and make the top to a vest, this will free her upper arm movement from being restricted by the tight sleeves. The collar is another problem, so I took that off as well.
Click here for the tutorial.

Denim Skirt With Ruffled Hem
The skirt is big enough for my daughter to wear since it was from a drop waist construction. The drop-waist line now becomes her waist line.
Click here for the tutorial.

Reversible Denim Belt
I then salvaged the hem of the skirt and make it into a reversible belt.
Click here for the tutorial.

Denim Hem Rosette
By using one of the sleeves, I made a rosette brooch.
Click here for the tutorial.

Below is an old photo when she was just 4 year-old and wearing the denim drop waist dress I love so much. The dress looked just nice on her during that time, but this didn’t hold long until she hit the rapid growing stage, booommm… she outgrown it a few months later. She complained that after wearing the dress she is “breathless” and her shoulder + upper arms were like paralyzed due to the restriction of the upper portion of the dress. Since then she refused to wear it. I love seeing her wearing it and reluctant to give it away which I usually do for her outgrown clothing, so, I let the dress sit in her wardrobe until recently….

When I inspect the dress closely, I found that I can split it to 2 parts and make it to a top plus a skirt instead. I took up the courage of believing myself that I can do a good job on it…. grabbed my seam ripper and ripped all the stitches along the waist line and turn it to the following clothing and accessories few days later. I am very happy with the result and so does my daughter

Here she is, 8, wearing her modified 4 years old clothing. Amazing?
Stay tuned for the rest of the tutorials

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Recycle your old bed sheet into a lovely woven rag rug.

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Thank you for all the great feedback for liking my Braided Rag Rug. I understand that not everyone has a sewing machine or/and able to sew, so I created this no-sew version for the non-sewer who like to recycle their bed sheets or de-stash their fabrics to make this feet cozy Woven Rag Rug. This tutorial doesn’t require any loom for weaving; just use a sturdy corrugated carton box from your recycle pile.

I hope everyone can do their part on greening the Earth again and reduce the rubbish that loaded the landfill. By the way, I gave the braided rag rug to my mum and she loves it so much, she is going to dig more old bed sheets out from her storage, which means I will have another bunch of supply to recycle. I need to scratch my head for more stuff to make from them.

{Get full details on next page.}

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Recycle Braided Rag Rug

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The first idea that came across my mind was rag rug, yes, with all this rotten bed sheets I can make lots of rag rugs. I stumbled upon some rag rug tutorials before, and this one really caught my attention, Moda Bake Shop’s braided rag rug. I like their idea to braid the fabric strips and sew it into a rag rug. Since I did it a little different from them, here is my version, a versatile and strong rag rug that can be used for many years, just like my granny’s rag rug.

I love the touch of this braided rag rug….. it is rough!!! My mum loves to rub her feet against floor mat, so this should fits her right. I will send this back to my mum, she is going to love it!!!! I will make one for myself, I need one to comfort my feet too…. I inherited this habit from her…

Let’s go and see how I make this 22″ x  16″ oval shape braided rag rug

{Get full details on next page.}

I am so glad that my blog’s migration is finally over, phew!!! After numerous sleepless nights fighting against broken links, fine tune the layout (still doing though), adding plugins, widgets, blah blah blah…. I am back to posting again, YAY!!!

As promised, here is my first free pattern for the drawstring bag made from T-shirt yarn, yup, another recycle project for the environment. You can click the image below to get the free pattern link in acrobat .pdf  format.

Before you jump into the free pattern, below are some of the tips on how to get it done.

Switching Yarn Color

The beauty of T-shirt yarn is that you can make a nice adhere joint for color switching. Simple, just glue the 2 ends with fabric glue. I used Clover fabric bond since it is proven to be long-lasting.

Cut the 2 ends in slanting shape.

Apply glue at a length of 1.5 inch. Join them up as shown.

Wrap the outer yarn onto the inner and make it into tubular form as always. Wait for a few minutes for it to dry and you can continue to crochet.

Eyelet installation

We need to have eyelets fit at the hole we made to run a draw-string. Sanwich the eyelet pair onto the hole and make sure that it covers up the hole nicely, not leaving any gaps around.  Hammer the eyelet firmly by using the appropriate tools and fixtures to fit the outer and inner piece of the eyelet to lock into the proper position.

Drawstring

After finish crochet the drawstring, run it through the eyelet holes. Insert a bead at each end and tie a knot to secure the bead in place.

Attach the shoulder straps and it is done!!!! An environmental friendly T-Shirt Yarn Drawstring Bag is born.

Should you have any suggestions on what other things you can made from T-shirt yarn, please share with me, I would be more than happy to try it out!!!

{Get full details on next page.}

I emptied them out on the weekends as there were too many to keep. Looking at them and noticing that some plastic bags are so beautifully designed, it seems like such a wastes, so I made this!!! Fused plastic sheet for various crafts, you can even sew on them. At this point of time the outlook of the plastic sheet doesn’t seems appealing to you but it will be a great art when you put them together with other material. I am going to use them to make a recycled tote bag!!!

Let me bring you to the tutorial on how to make these fused plastic sheets. I will keep the recycled tote bag for another post in few days time, so please come back and check for the updates.

Material

• 2 sheets of blank white paper,
• A pair of scissors,
• a thick towel,
• iron,
• plenty of thin grocery plastic bags, and
• a well ventilated room

Method
Cut the grocery plastic bags into flat rectangle sheet, i.e cut away the handles, the bottom and side seams. Stack 6-8 pieces of equal size together. The most top and bottom plastic sheet must be white and blank.

Sandwich 2 pieces of plain white paper in between the plastic pile. The paper must be bigger than the plastic so you won’t iron and melt your plastic and stick on it.

Set the iron to medium heat and stroke across the plastic pile slowly and evenly.

The heat from the iron will fuse the plastic sheets underneath. Remove the iron and press against the pile with a thick towel to let it cool down slowly. Please don’t touch the surface directly as it is quite hot for your bare hand to handle it. As it cools, the plastic pile will harden and shrink a little, you will hear some creeping sounds. If you skipped this step, your plastic pile will shrink and roll up while it cools, as a result, you won’t get a flat plastic sheet.

Take a closer look of how it looks after the fusing. See, they are bonded together!!!
You need to try out a few times to get the right temperature. The photo shown below was my failed trial. The reason being was that I set my iron temperature too high and the plastics were melted and formed holes. If you find that you plastics are not fusing, that means your iron is not hot enough, increase the temperature or stroke it longer.

If you have any questions, please do leave comments below and I will get back to you as soon as possible.
Good luck.

UPDATE ***
I have used this fused plastic sheet combined with other materials to make a tote bag.