Tiny blooms

Hi everyone!

Today I want to share with you a little pattern. It’s a very easy, fast (less than 5 minutes) to stitch crocheted flower I created while a was trying to find a tiny decoration to add to some of my pieces.

As you probably already know, my crochet skills are quite limited. I can only make very simple designs, provided I also have the help of excellent tutorials. You can therefore imagine how basic a pattern I created myself can be, so keep your expectations low.

Well, now, if you didn’t stop reading the post yet, I infer you are very motivated, so let’s go straight to the step by step instructions*:

1. Make a magic circle (wait, what? Seriously? Was this supposed to be an easy pattern? I can’t do this!  - This was my reaction when I first encountered this enchanted crochet creature, so, if you are a beginner like me,  you will find the super-easy video I used to learn how to make it right below the instructions)
2. Chain 3
3. Make 1 double crochet in the loop
4. Chain 3
5. Attach to the loop with a slip stitch
6. Repeat from step 2 (4 or 5 times depending on the number of petals you want. In the first picture below, you can see flowers made with 5 petals, while the ones in the second have 6)
7. Weave the leftover thread through the stitches or use it to attach the flower as decoration

* Since the design is truly trivial, probably many other people have already made it in the past, so please, if you know of some pattern/tutorial already published, leave them in the comments, and I will quote them (I really do not want to steal anybody’s work!)

For any further doubts about stitches, you can read my post on how to start crochet here (and, if you have more doubts, please leave a comment and I will do my best to help you ;-) ).

As for every crocheted creation, you can change size and texture by using different yarns (you can read this post to find out more on the topic). In the first picture below, for instance, the brown bloom was made with a thick cotton yarn and 3mm hook, for the purple one I used a thinner yarn and 2.5mm hook, while for the blue one I worked with a thin mercerized cotton thread and 2mm hook.

But now that you finished your tiny beauty, what can you do with it? I love to embellish my flowers by sewing a 4mm bead in the center and then attach them to any creation I can think of. In the last picture, for example,  I glued them to some Easter eggs decorations I crafted last spring (you can find out more about them reading the full  post here), but they can also be attached to Christmas decorations, gloves, wreaths, or anything you can think of, just let your imagination fly…

…and have a creative day!

P.s. If you don’t want to miss any crafty project, remember to follow the blog by clicking on the “join this site” button in the right column ;-)

Bead embroidery (part 2)

Hi everyone!
 

After some information about the teaching materials I used to get started on bead embroidery (which you can find here), I want to share with you my first experiments.

The first piece I wanted to make was a native-inspired pendant, starting from a carnelian cabochon. I glued it to the Lacy’s Stiff Stuff and started my adventure. 

Many beads later, I was at the third round when, suddenly, I heard something falling on the floor…it was the cabochon!…yes, I screamed: the glue didn’t hold up and now I could not glue it anymore, because the first round was framing it too tightly…I screamed again…then I remembered what I should do:

• Breathe
• Keep calm
• Start over from a new piece of Lacy’s Stiff Stuff
• Don’t throw the old piece away!

So, that’s what I did. I started and finished my piece adding all the necessary fringes and embellishments and then I went back to the broken one. 

I started thinking, and thinking…I was almost losing my hope, when I suddenly had an idea: I filled the center with seed beads and small lucite flowers, added a border…and, voilà…I had a new pendant! Now I have two pieces and I created something I would have never made if it wasn’t for my mistake! :-) 

Here are both my  creations…enjoy!

P.s. If you don’t want to miss any crafty project, remember to follow the blog by clicking on the “join this site” button in the right column ;-)

Bead embroidery (part 1)

Hi everyone!

Today I want to share with you my experience with bead embroidery. I am quite new to this technique: I only made two pendants up to now and, I have to confess, I was quite intimidated by it when looking at pieces from other artists. A few good readings and videos later, however, everything looked quite clear…and after a couple of inevitable but very educational mistakes (wow…I sound so calm about them now!), I was ready to turn my first design into an actual creation…so, let’s start! 

First of all, I think videos are the best way to understand and learn in a very intuitive way…and if they are free it’s even better!...so here you can find a series of instructional videos from Beadaholique completely devoted to bead embroidery, giving amazing step by step instructions and advice. Now, if you feel totally confident, you can already start making your own creations! 

I however believe a couple of additional references can be extremely useful to get more insights and confidence. The first of them is a book: Beading with Cabochons by Jamie Cloud Eakin. Besides presenting some amazing (and incredibly inspiring) pictures of completed pieces, it also features six chapters which are dense of useful information on tools, materials, edges, attachment methods, bezel stitches and how to create original designs. Instructions are clear, complete and easy to understand. 

Since I believe in always hearing at least two points of view (besides loving craft books), I also purchased The Art of Bead Embroidery by Heidi Kummli and Sherry Serafini. This is also a nice reference, but I find it a bit more confusing for the beginner, as the choices of the two authors are reported separately and, while pictures are still beautiful and inspiring, instructions are a bit less complete. I would still advice to buy both books, but if I had to pick only one, my choice would be the first. 

I also recently purchased one more book: Dimensional Bead Embroidery by Jamie Cloud Eakins. I am not sure I really needed it, but after reading her Beading with Cabochons, I just couldn’t stop my hand from clicking on “buy” when the new one was released! While I didn’t have much time to go through it, I can say that chapters are laid out quite similarly to her first book and pictures are still amazing. I will hopefully soon be able to read it and write a more complete review. 

I would also like to point out that many other books on the topic are available, and they might be as valid as the ones I talked about in this post. What I am saying is just that, for a beginner, the ones I mentioned are of great help and a source of inspiration which will allow you to confidently move your first steps in the fantastic world of bead embroidery!

Here you can see my first completed creation and here you can find out more about my first practical experiments with this technique. Now, I would love to hear about yours too: which books do you think are the most inspiring? Do you have any favorite material/stitch/fringe technique? Share them in the comments! 

…and have a beautiful day full of creativity!

P.s. If you don’t want to miss any crafty project, remember to follow the blog by clicking on the “join this site” button in the right column ;-)

Crochet yarn

Hi everyone!

I know I promised a post on flowers…and this doesn’t look like it…sorry! Before getting to the fun things, I just want to point out some little issues, mainly concerning thread. Ok, this is getting boring, I know…but I will try to keep it short. Maybe you can just skip the post, but personally, I found that figuring out these things really helped me a lot.

First of all, I had an issue with the way I was holding the thread: after crocheting for a while, my left hand was a bit sore (ok, I’ll admit, I basically couldn’t open it). It might be because my hands are tiny, but keeping the right tension of the yarn was incredibly difficult. I found out that there are at least a dozen different ways and videos on how to hold the thread and to improve tension (so maybe it wasn’t just me!!). The following one shows the way that works for me (but you can just look for “crochet holding yarn” on youtube and find the best for you!)

Ok, now that holding yearn is easier (or at least, I hope it is), let’s talk about the yarn itself: you can find it in any color, material, thickness…there are so many possibilities, that it gets very difficult to choose (yes, I would buy all of them too, but no, you have to choose!). 

I tried different types, and here I will tell you about my experiences. On the right, you can see the different threads I used and…I am sure you are wondering what a bobby pin is doing there…don’t worry, I’m not totally blind or crazy, I didn’t mistake it for yarn!...I just thought it would be useful to understand the thickness of the different types…sooo...let’s start!

1- Acrylic yarn: (peach color, the first one from the left). Even though most videos for beginners would advise to use this, I wasn’t extremely happy of its performance. It is a 3-ply (meaning it is made of 3 threads twisted together) quite thin yarn (to crochet with a 2 or 3mm hook). It is a bit hairy and fluffy, almost like wool, so once you make a stitch, it is very, very difficult to go back in it (for instance in order to slip stitch in the previous row) because you do not clearly see where the center is. Also, I was not very pleased with the final result: flowers are hairy and not very soft…I would really not advise to use this type of yarn.

2- Thick cotton: (brown). It is very easy to work with. It is a 4-ply cotton yarn. I used a 4mm crochet hook. The down side is that, being so thick, you cannot really make tiny flowers, but in order to start, it is a great choice.

3- Medium cotton: (pink). This cotton is quite strange: it is a 6-ply cotton. I use a 3mm hook to crochet it. Even if, at first sight it might seem easy to work with, it actually is not! The  6 threads are very thin and not twisted together well. What happens is that when you insert the hook into a previous stitch to add a row, the yarn splits, and it is very difficult to pick up all the threads it is made of. I like the effect once the work is finished, mostly for flowers. It is not a shiny cotton, and you cannot clearly see the stitches, so the attention falls more on the overall shape of the flower than on the single loops. Basically, the final effect is good, but working with it is a nightmare.

4- Thin cotton: (cream). This is the perfect cotton! I love, love, love it! It is a 4-ply, soft, nice yarn. I use a size 2.5mm crochet hook with it. And it is so, so nice: it does not split, because the fibers are twisted very well together; it makes nice fluffy flowers, without showing the stitches too much; and it is opaque..the perfect docile little yarn!

5- Very thin cotton: (violet). It is very thin (a 2.5mm hook works perfectly), 4-ply mercerized cotton…mercer…WHAT?...don’t worry this only means that it was treated in order to give it a shiny, pearly look and also make it a bit stronger. It is very comfortable to work with, but I do not like the shiny effect on all the flowers. Being so pearly, stitches show a lot, so I use it for flat flowers (like violets) and I love the effect it gives to coasters and doilies, but for 3-dimensional flowers such as roses or dahlias, I prefer to use a more opaque one.

So, summing up this post (which was supposed to be a short one, I know, I’m terrible!):

• Find the way that works best to hold your thread as you crochet
•  I find cotton to be the best fiber to use in crochet
•  Look if the threads are twisted well together, as twisted threads make it much easier to work on previous rows
• Use pearly-looking (mercerized) cotton for flat flowers and opaque one for 3-dimensional one

…these are, of course, only my opinions, and I remind you, I am only a beginner. So I would love to hear yours: please, comment and let me know what you think, which are your favorite yarns, if you have questions…

Happy crochet!

…to be continued

P.s. If you don’t want to miss any crafty project, remember to follow the blog by clicking on the “join this site” button in the right column ;-)

Start crochet!

Hi everyone!

Today I will talk about crochet! Well, I started crocheting only a few weeks ago, so I am a total beginner, but I really want to tell you about my crochet journey up to now and to keep you updated on my progress, so that if you want to start too, you can have the encouragement that took me years to find!

Yes, years! The only person I ever saw crocheting until some weeks ago was my aunt. She works very, very, very fast: I could see her yarn and hook moving at the speed of sound in a totally mysterious and apparently random way. What was coming out was beautiful, but it looked ridiculously complicated to make!! I asked her to teach me, and I tried, but what came out looked more like yarn with which a cat had been playing for a couple of hours. This was probably also due to the fact that I am left-handed, and she is not, so reflecting every single move was not easy. Well, when that happened I was 15, but that was enough to push me away from crocheting for many years, until….

a couple of weeks ago! I was at the supermarket with one of my friends and she was looking for yarn. I asked her what she needed it for and she said…guess what?...right, crochet!! I was surprised and very curious, so I asked how she learned and she simply answered “youtube”. Seriously? That easy?...ok, That was it! If someone else with no experience could learn, on youtube, I could learn too…so I went to the craft store, bought 2 hooks (different sizes) 2 different types of yarn…then I got home and started!

Yes, I actually started right away!!! It took only half an hour to figure out how to make a basic flower followed by half an hour of bumping my head against the wall (not really…but that gives the idea of how stupid I felt) for not having tried before…that’s how easy it is!

First, you need a couple of good videos teaching the basics. Here are the ones I used (as I said, I am left-handed, but I followed the advice given in the video and tried with my right hand. This makes perfect sense, as all the tutorials showing how to make projects are so much easier to follow if you are working as the person in the video!)

 Then you can start with something easy, like flowers (I love flowers!)

…but wait!!!...I can’t tell you everything today!!

…flowers in the next post!!

Happy crochet!

…to be continued

P.s. If you don’t want to miss any crafty project, remember to follow the blog by clicking on the “join this site” button in the right column ;-)