Because I always keep my iPhone in the pocket of my jeans, the purple hamster I stitched on my iPhone case last summer was looking more grayish than purple. Inspired by designs seen online, I bought some cheap embroidery floss in bright colors, and stitched away to make my phone bright and colorful again. I think I succeeded, check the case as it is now (actually, the colors are much brighter than this, but the lighting was bad):
I’ll admit it, I am addicted to Pinterest. For those who don’t know this site, it is a virtual pinboard where you can pin pictures of stuff that interests you. I find the coolest craft stuff and the best interiors on there.
This weekend I made this ribbon zipper purse from a 50 cm/20 inch zipper and two ribbons. Most of it was hand-stitched because of the bends and angles, so it took me a while to finish it, and it isn’t as neat as I want it to be. I followed this pin to this tutorial, which was pretty clear.
After the success of the first box bag, I couldn’t wait to make another one, to hold another knitting project. I found this fabric as a kitchen towel at our local grocery store. I bought some zippers and used the same lining as for the previous bag, and voila, bag #2.
This is the first project I have ever sewed all by myself, and on my own brand new sewing machine too. The pattern is from Drago[knit]fly, which was nicely illustrated with lots of pictures and tips. I used a fat quarter I got at the quilting shop, and a canvas like interior. I tried iron-on interfacing, but while it did give some stiffness to the bag, it didn’t seem to stick to the outer fabric. Maybe the interfacing was too old, my mom gave it to me from her stash.
I did have some trouble with sewing around the zipper (I used a regular foot on my sewing machine, because the tutorial did too, maybe next time I’ll try the zipper foot). The handle isn’t in as straight as it could be, the seams could be neater, but all in all I am really proud of what I made. I made it as a knitting project bag, and a pair of socks, balls and needles fit in really nice. Yay me!
After much searching online I found the perfect pattern for my iPhone case. I chose to stitch Hammy the hamster by Grace Kim (andwabisabi on Etsy), which fit perfectly. I used two threads of Vicky Clayton’s Sue-Purple-Ous for the body, the pink thread that came with the case for the nose, DMC 310 for the eyes, DMC 4015 for the belly and DMC 818 for the hands and ears. I am still thinking about if I want to add a background of grass, flowers and air, but I’ll try this first to see how it holds up.
After seeing many posts about this case online (1, 2, 3, 4, 5), and seeing as it combines my love for my iPhone and cross stitching, I just had to get it. After a little over a week I received the case today, for a little over € 16,00. The case is made of rubber, quite stiff, fits great, and comes with three colors of thread, a needle and some patterns. Now, what to stitch….
I finally found some new headphones to replace the standard iPhone ones that don’t fit me. And that gave me the perfect opportunity to try out the pattern/tutorial by Bonnie Pruitt for some boogie earbuds. It is an i-cord knitted around the headphone cable. I used a 2.5 size circular needle, Regia Monaco Color 01837 and knitted a three stitch i-cord. I should probably have done 4 stitches to make the ladder less pronounced, but ‘wiggling’ the stitches helps. There are some loops, because the threads were twisting a lot. I figured these won’t last forever, so I get a chance to do it better next time.
I’ve been collecting Trollbeads for a little over a year now, and have collected more beads than can fit on one bracelet. So, it was time for a special jewelry box that can keep my beads neatly, and some other stuff when I am not wearing it. At the wonderful German store Manufactum I found a Sajou box with a cross stitch kit to stitch a special top for the lid of the box.
It took me about three days to stitch, and then a week to get up the courage to iron the fabric, and use glue to stick it to the cardboard insert and then to the lid. But it is holding up nicely. The letters used are those of my boyfriends and my first names.
For the inside we used thick felt for the bottom, we used bamboo satay skewers to keep the beads on, and some left over DIY material as holders for the sticks on the side. This box should hold my collection for a little while, until I grow out of it again. For now I am very happy with it.
Last winter H.’s grandmother gave me her old (from the nineteen-sixties?) sewing machine, a Vendomatic. It took me a long while to get up the courage to try my hand at sewing, but after trying it for a bit under my mom’s supervision using her machine, I decided I could do it. H. needed a new pillow case, and because his pillow is not a standard Western European size, the only way to get one is to make it ourselves. After struggling forever with thread tension, cheap threads and a sewing machine that acts on its own, I finally sort of made it. I am not 100% happy with it, I could have done a better job with the seam, with the corners and with the measuring. But I am learning, and at least H. has a new pillow case.
After an incredibly long time I made another amigurumi, this time one for H. who has been asking for one for years. We recently got a hamster, and now that H. is away a lot, I made our hamster as an ami using this pattern. It’s not quite an exact likeness, but good enough to be fun. I used a 3.0 hook, and Schachenmayr nomotta Catania yarn in the colors off-white (0105), light pink (0158) and light brown (0179). I used small safety eyes and stitched on her little nose. I changed the colors from the pattern to match our Sambal better (for example, no pink ears and more white). You can see the Ravelry project page here.
