Needlecrafts (Crochet, knitting, sewing etc.)

[Airling]

So I know Mage crochets, and I know Howl sews cute doggie outfits. Who else here is into good old fashioned needlecrafts?

I can crochet, knit, and sew, but I'm not great at the latter two. Perhaps because I like crochet more and thus put more time into it.

I always carry a bag around with me with my wools, various needles, and a ruler. Whenever I'm waiting around for the girls at school/swimming/etc. I pull out my work. I've gotten some strange looks because it's sadly not a common thing for people my age to be doing.

At almost any point in time I'll be busy with the blanket project. A few women around town knit/crochet 25x25cm blocks which Mom makes into blankets and donates.

My current project is repairing this little pouch.

Repairing isn't really the word, because I'm basically going to have to dispose of all the crocheted raffia parts. I got it from B's late gran not long before she passed away and use it to hold my ID book and shopping bags. The zipper and lining are still okay, so I'm going to crochet a new outside for it. I decided to try something I've never done before and do a scalloped pattern.

 

[Airling]

The moment Mage said "Moogle Hat", I googled it.

Dammit, now I want to make that too!

I finished the purse, and I'm rather pleased with it. I also made each of the girls a headband, and a necklace for my sister-in-law. All were impressed.

 

[Ghost X]

For the record, as I'm left-handed, my parents didn't bother teaching me because they considered it too difficult . I haven't had the interest to learn by my own since. Sewing isn't really a handedness thing, I just never had the interest in that either. I did spend years making a large ball of wool though using a tomboy, aka french knitting style. I suspect there's at least a kilometre of woven wool in that thing... maybe .

 

[Cabaret]

checkout this craft work artist,it's pretty trippy

http://www.knitjapan.co.uk/features/c_zone/horiuchi/work.htm

I'm a very basic & flawed knitter & sewer, so much so I shame to mention it.

 

[Airling]

I have been a busy crafter this last year!

I finished that pouch, and the "insides" that I was trying to preserve have since fallen apart. I will have to replace that too sometime.

Then the news came that my sister-in-law was pregnant. Excite! Crocheting for babies is soooo fun. I couldn't wait to find out if it was a him or a her, so I just made a blanky in colours that mom liked for the baby room.

That took me most of last year.

This year I've joined my sister's Etsy store and mostly busy myself making these babies:

I'm thinking of making brooch and hair-clip variants.

I also tried my hand at yarn dyeing. This is wool shorn off my parent's sheep and hand spun by mum.It turned out pretty fabulous. Not sure what I'm going to turn this batch into yet, but I'm thinking throw pillow covers.

http://thelifestream.net//www.pinterest.com/pin/create/extension/

 

[Flare]

^That blanket is so adorable! <3 I admire people who can do needlecrafts so well. My grandma and aunt are very good at it too, making blankets and whatnot. It's something I haven't had an interest in yet but seems really useful to know.

Also that dyed yarn is beautiful!

 

[Octo]

I can't tell you how impressed I am Airling, my Aunt and my mum both knit and crochet, my cousin does too and she had an Etsy store for a while selling dyed wool and spinned yarns and stuff.

But I can never do it, no matter how many times they show me, I just can't 'get it' I can't keep track of which stitch is which or what step I'm at. I wish I could because I'd love to be able to make stuff like that.

Oh and, one thing my cousin used to do was let me name her dyed wool. So I'm naming that yarn 'Raspberry Ripple in the Space-time Continuum'

 

[Airling]

Thanks gaiz!

Octo, it took me years to really get into it, and I'm still taking it one new stitch at a time. Japanese diagrams are still a mystery to me.

I LOOOVE that name. It's perfect.

 

[Ghost X]

Can this be a general textiles thread? Pretty please?

 

[Octo]

^ I dunno, are you going to mix fabrics? I don't want to have to stone you to death

 

[trash panda]

WOW, Airling! That's pretty amazing! Any chance of you crocheting one of these guys: ?

I can't believe you remembered where you left off for the better part of a year on that blanket. I probably would have forgotten what I was doing after my first bathroom break.

 

[Tennyo]

These are all very lovely, Airling!!! I envy your talent. <3

 

[Airling]

Can this be a general textiles thread? Pretty please?

Well, fabrics are an inseparable part of needlecrafts, so they're right at home here!

WOW, Airling! That's pretty amazing! Any chance of you crocheting one of these guys: ?

I can't believe you remembered where you left off for the better part of a year on that blanket. I probably would have forgotten what I was doing after my first bathroom break.

If a pattern exists for it, I might some day. If not, probably not. I'm terrible at creating patterns.

That's what I loved about that pattern. It was the most basic, centuries old shell stitch, only made with a large hook so it looks all fancy and different.
http://thelifestream.net//www.pinterest.com/pin/create/extension/

 

[lithiumkatana17]

I've shown a few people this in the shoutbox before, but since we have a needlecraft thread now I want to show it off again.

After going to my second convention last year, I started developing a lot of cosplay ideas, mostly for Game of Thrones. The costumes on the show are absolutely beautiful and have an insane amount of detail put into them. After doing a lot of research, I discovered the dragonscale smocking techinque done by embroiderer Michelle Carragher for some of Daenerys's costumes, which give the illusion of dragonscales when ironed flat after being smocked onto the appropriate garment. While I don't want to cosplay as Dany anytime soon, the smocking just looked too badass, and I wanted to give it a go.

Some examples from the show are below the cut.

Spoiler

The sections you see in these pictures I did on a piece of raw silk when I was figuring out possible cosplay fabrics.

Perhaps the hardest part of this embroidery is getting the 1cm grid right on the back of the fabric, and you can see from this picture that I messed up when I tried to do a bigger piece, and tried doing the grid as I went instead of plotting out the whole thing first.

The small portion with the 3 rows was my test patch. Not too shabby for someone who's never done any type of elaborate needlework in their life.

I haven't worked on it in awhile, because of being busy with schoolwork, and now video games again. It definitely fun to do, but if you want to do a big piece, you will need a lot of fabric, because it bunches up pretty fast.

Michelle Carragher has a tutorial for it on her official website, but I had to look up videos on youtube and watch someone do it to figure it out.

Some of my scale look a little off from the way they've bunched up, but they can be fixed to look more uniform with the rest of them. The scales don't have to be exactly the same size; it makes it look more natural to me, but for the perfectionist, making sure your grid is perfectly spaced is key.

 

[Octo]

Oh wow, I really want to try that now. I want a big fuck off cape made of dragon scales!

I mean, buying clothes that fit well is annoying enough, it would be so cool to be able to make your own.

 

[lithiumkatana17]

Oh wow, I really want to try that now. I want a big fuck off cape made of dragon scales!

I mean, buying clothes that fit well is annoying enough, it would be so cool to be able to make your own.

I've heard you can make the scales as big as you want, but it may be harder to keep them... scaly looking.

But it definitely is fun Octo. If you want to see the tutorial videos I watched, just let me know.

 

[Octo]

^Yus please, you might as well poast 'em here fgj

 

[lithiumkatana17]

If anyone is interested, the Hancock Fabrics chain is going out of business and closing all of their stores. If anyone out there needs fabric for their needlecraft projects, go check out their website! http://hancockfabrics.com/

Octo, it's late, but here are the videos I watched to learn how to do the dragonscale smocking.