Mels Brushes

Beginners Crochet – A complete video guide

Posted by Mel on January 18, 2010  |  No Comments

I’ve been learning to crochet this weekend – inspired by friends, and also by looking at all the amazing craft blogs online. If you fancy giving it a go, you may want to check out these great beginners tutorials. I found these very clear and helpful videos by a lady called Beth, whose crochet website you can find here. It’s really worth following the videos carefully, step by step and in order – and if Beth tells you to practise 7 rows then do it!

The first video covers how to hold the hook, how to hold the yarn to get the right tension and how to make a slip knot. At first I found holding the yarn the trickiest bit – it just goes all baggy and slips off. Hmmm, well I need to practise..

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The second video explains how to make the chain stitch – the foundation of crochet.

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Next, in two parts, is how to make the single crochet stitch, and begin a scarf sampler to practice on.

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The second part of how to do the single crochet stitch is here

Keep reading the rest here…

Shabby Flower Stamps

Posted by Mel on January 18, 2010  |  No Comments

A pretty set of 9 shabby flower stamps, available from my shop for £3.00

WHAT FILE FORMATS DO I GET?
Vector EPS 8 – fully editable in any vector software
PNGs at 300dpi (they print out at 2 – 3 inches)
High quality JPEGS

LICENSE INFO – TERMS OF USE
Use these designs for non-profit or commercial use with no extra credit required. A standard commercial license is included

Free – Print your own festive flags

Posted by Mel on December 11, 2009  |  No Comments

Here’s a quick and easy way to create your own christmas bunting.

You will need

A printer
Scissors
Ribbon or string
Stapler

Print out the sheet included in the download. You can either use plain white printer paper, or coloured paper if you have it. One sheet will make a length about 1.5 metres long.
Cut out the triangles, then fold over the top of each one – about 1cm. You may wish to trim off the points which overhang.
Now slide each folded triangle over a piece of ribbon, and staple in place. They look good spaced about 10cm apart. Make sure you leave enough ribbon at each end to hang them up.

More making + Merry Christmas to you all

Posted by Mel on December 24, 2008  |  No Comments

Taking a gamble that the people who are getting these for Christmas don’t read this blog (hello loz, Pam, Vicky, Coryn if you do – you’ll just have to wait til tomorrow and I hope you like them..) to show you what I’ve been up to today.

Felt brooches and wallhangings – if anyone would like one or would like to know how to make them just ask! Its a terrible photo – the daylight has left us at 4:15pm today and my camera flash is rubbish. Some have worked better than others – my favourites are the little lacey brooches. They look good on knitted berets and bags.

Have a great Christmas to those who celebrate it. I’ll be having a turkey lunch with some good friends, followed by indecent amounts of alcohol, cake, cheese and chat.

xxx

Sock Monsters

Posted by Mel on November 30, 2008  |  1 Comment

I’m venturing into the realm of crafts here – it’s been too long since I used the messy workspace side of my studio. My son and i have been trying out a few projects in this book I bought recently – Stray Sock sewing by Dan Ta.

The book’s very good – lots of inspiring pictures of Dans creations, plus simple steps to make your own – suitable even for kids.

We went out yesterday and bought a few packs of colourful socks to experiment with – having already sacrificed a few of the ones we wear. The ones in the photo below are old socks though. Kids socks seem to work best – not too much stuffing needed. A tip on the stuffing – I bought a cheap pillow and cut it open, its works out much cheaper than buying Kapok. Here’s what we’ve been making – have to say I am very pleased with them.. The two on the left my 9 year old made, the other two are mine.

And here’s some I made with some new sock. They came out a bit better..

Xmas socks anyone?