Embroidery Hoop Clock

I love making things that are practical, things I will definitely use. And I love clocks, both for their aesthetic and practical offerings. I especially love making clocks because it's as easy at slapping a movement and some hands on anything you can sandwich in between them.

Your clock face must be:

Flat enough for the hands to move freely, 360 degrees.
Thin enough to receive the shaft of your movement (which come in a variety of lengths).
Penetrable enough for you to make a hole through.

Movements and hands can be purchased online or at your local clock shop. Now start sandwiching your way to a home full of beautiful and intriguing clocks!

My most recent clock creation, and my favorite to date I made on a embroidery hoop.

What You'll Need

Embroidery hoop

Fabric

Fusible interfacing

Embroidery floss

Sewing needle

Graph paper

Pencil

Ruler

Batting

Clock movement & hands

1. Begin by fusing your interfacing to the back of your fabric with a hot iron. Place your interfaced fabric in the embroidery hoop and fasten until taught.

2. For cross-stitched numbers on a fabric that isn't clearly gridded, you can use graph paper to block out your numbers.

• Pin these blocked out numbers to the appropriate place on your clock face (take note of the grain of the fabric and align the numbers with it). 
• Embroider through the paper.
• Tear away the paper from finished numbers.
• Tighten up any stitches that were loosened by tugging at them from the underside.

I wouldn't recommend this method for any design denser than mine, as it may be difficult to remove all the paper. For more intricate designs, it's best to use cross-stitch fabric.

3. Measure out and embroider the ticks between the cardinal numbers.

4. To finish the back, trim the edges of your fabric to be a circle big enough to enclose the back without overlapping at the center (which would create too much bulk and prevent your clock from hanging straight on the wall). Add the batting. Make a long running stitch around the outer edge of the fabric.

5. Pull your thread tight so that the fabric gathers up towards the middle of the back. Wait to tie this thread off until your movement is in place.

6. To make the hole in the center, be very careful not to make too big a hole. I started my hole with a awl, pushing the fibers apart, instead of cutting them. I then eased the shaft up through the hole, making four tiny snips around the edges so that I could get it all the way through.

7. Finesse the movement, batting, and backing until everything sits nicely. Add hands and you're finished!

With love,

Melody

DIY Gift Guide

For those of you looking for holiday gift inspiration, I thought I'd post a collection of my past DIYs that could make great gifts for your loved ones.

For the beauty in your life.

For the snuggle bunny in your life.

For the writer and doodler in your life.

For the elegant woman in your life.

For the stylishly farsighted in your life.

For the one who deserves pampering in your life.

For the stylishly funky in your life.

For the snow bunny in your life.

For the cook in your life.

For the technophile in your life.

For the gardener in your life.

For the animal lover in your life.

For the coffee or tea lover in your life.

Go forth and good luck!

Guest Post at Blume and Grow: Paper Garland

Guess what? I just wrote my very first guest post! Carrie from Blume and Grow offered me the opportunity to play with the beautiful transparencies from her shop, and I made this really fun paper garland! 

Use it to trim a tree, wrap a gift, or deck a hall!

 Find the full tutorial here:

Blume and Grow is a lovely blog: crafts, photography, scrapbooking, food, life. Here are some of my favorite posts: {diy} card using fall photos, {how to} stamping | printing on vellum, {wedding} poster art, and {diy} sharpie mugs. 

You can find Carrie's guest post for From Scratch, a scrapbooking DIY for beautiful handmade page protectors here:

Enjoy!

Dream Tote!

I have a lot of stuff. Too much stuff. Especially in my closet. A year or so I had a revelation concerning all this stuff. A lot of it I rarely wear or use, but when I try to get rid of these things I can't. Why? Because they still serve a purpose or fill a hole. You need to fill that hole with one beautiful, well-made item so that you can get rid of a host of sub-par items that have been serving that purpose together.

For example, my tote bag situation. Sometimes you need a tote bag. For me, most often it's the days I don't work from home. In addition to the small items I usually stuff in a little handbag, I usually want to bring a lunch, a bottle of water, perhaps my knitting or reading, perhaps supplies for a class I'm teaching. So for this I have been relying on 3 dirty, ugly, ancient, a-little-too-small tote bags. None good enough to stand on its own.

So I made myself a damn beautiful tote bag. With all the bells and whistles.

You may recognize the fabric from last weeks apron DIY...

I just like it so much! And there's still plenty left. Who knows what else I'll use it for!?

A note about the Cut List: If your self fabric is directional, like mine, you'll want to cut two 16" x 19" pieces instead of one 16" x 38".

Left: Lining with Pocket; Right: Self with Pocket and Strap

The first step is to assemble all the bells and whistles. Sew on all your pockets and straps before we complicate things by sewing them together and making them not flat anymore.

You may also note that I matched my fabric for that front pocket. Because I love that kind of stuff. It's all in the details, my friends!

1. This is where you should be: front and back assembled with straps and pocket.
2. Topstitch bottom reinforcement pieces to the precise center of the body, and the bottom of the side pieces. The easiest way to do this is to press your raw edges in before sewing.
3. Sew your sides in. Be careful around those tricky corners! Repeat this step with your lining, but leaving a hole somewhere to flip your bag right-side-out through.
4. To attach lining: Place your right-side-out, fully assembled bag inside your inside-out lining and sew the top edges together.
5. Pull your bag through the hole you left in the lining and close up the hole with a topstitch. Push your lining its proper place inside your bag. Press and topstitch the top edge of your bag.

Beautiful, isn't it?

Handmade Page Protector from Carrie Elias

I am so very excited to introduce From Scratch's very first guest poster! She has a wonderful scrapbooking DIY to share with you today. Show her some love and visit Carrie at her blog, Blume and Grow! You can purchase her printable transparencies like the one in this DIY at her shop.

Hi!  I'm Carrie Elias from Blume and Grow.  A big thanks to Melody for having me :D

Using this tutorial you will have step by step instructions on creating a custom handmade page protector.

Notes:  If you decide to round the corners of this project, do so before adding the clear index tab.  Also, don't forget your hole punch so you can add it to your album.

Supplies:

*Sewing Machine

*Thread

*12x12 Page Protector

*2 Inch Clean Index Tab

*Scissors

*Paper Cutter

*Ruler

Step 1:

Trim the 12x12 page protector to the measurements shown above.  We will be using the 4 1/2" piece for this project.  Next, trim the top flap of the open edge of the 4 1/2" piece 1/8 of an inch.  This will make a shorter top flap than the bottom and create the pockets once all edges are sewn together.

Step 2:

Trim the 8x8" transparency to the measurements shown above.  We will be using the 1" and 2 3/4" pieces for this project.

Step 3:

Line up the 2 3/4" transparency and the 4 1/2 x 8" trimmed page protector pieces.  Make sure the front side of the transparency is facing up next to the closed edge of the page protector piece.  Use the zigzag stitch to sew together, back stitching at the beginning and end.

Step 4:

Line up the 1" transparency and the open edge of the 4 1/2 x 8" trimmed page protector pieces.  Make sure the shorter slap of the page protector piece is facing up.  Use the zigzag stitch to sew the page protector and transpanency together, back stitching at the beginning and end.

Step 5:

You project will now look like this : )

Step 6:

Using the straight stitch, sew along the top and bottom edges of your clean page protector.  I left an 1/8 inch seam at each edge.  Next, measure where you would like the actual pocket sizes to be and sew accordingly in the middle of your clean page protector.  Try too sew straight.

Step 7:

Your project will now look similar to this.

Step 8:

Last, if you like, add your clear index tab with the front of your project facing up.  The pockets will be accessable from this side.  To finish, add a zigzag stitch to the attached edge of the index tab.  All done!

Here's a look at one of my custom page protectors in an 8x8 inch minibook.  You can see the whole minibook HERE and HERE.


Thanks for reading!  Have fun with this new DIY <3

Turn a Mason Jar into a Travel Mug: Knit it a Cozy!

As they say, necessity is the mother of invention. A few weeks ago I was rushing off to work at some ungodly hour of the morning, made myself some coffee, but WHERE IN GOD'S NAME IS MY TRAVEL MUG??? So I dumped it into a mason jar and played hot potato all the way to work. And I thought, "Gee. This would actually make a pretty decent travel mug if I just knit it a little sweater..."

I am, of course, not the first one to think of this. I went home and pulled up dozens of them in a Google search, even specially designed lids for the express purpose of turning mason jars into travel mugs (from Cuppow, a company birthed for this product alone).

You can also turn a mason jar into a travel cup for cold drinks, but creating a hole in the lid for a straw. Here are three slightly different, but equally wonderful ways of doing it:

with a metal washer, from Fine and Feathered

with a rubber grommet (spill-proof!), from The Chick n Coop

with a plastic yogurt lid, from Crunchy Can Feel Good

For the love of mason jars! This is a great little knitting project for your scrap yarn; I finished mine in under 3 hours!

Gauge: 15 sts = 4 inches

On size 8 double pointed needles, CO 14 sts on each of your 3 needles (42 sts).

Join your first round and knit in a 1 x 1 rib for 5 more rounds.

Switch to size 9 double pointed needles.

Make 1 st at the beginning of your sixth round. (As you continue with the k1, p1 pattern, this extra stitch will transform your 1 x 1 rib into a seed stitch.)

Continue in seed st until piece measures 5 1/2" from CO.

Flat Jar Bottom: 

Knit 1 round in stockinette stitch.

*K1, k2tog, rep to end of round.

K 1 round
*K2tog, rep to end of round
K 1 round

Cut your yarn, leaving a tail of at least 6". Using a tapestry needle, thread this tail through your remaining stitches and remove the needles. Pull the yarn towards the inside of the cozy until the hole closes. Weave in the remaining tail of yarn and snip off the excess. Weave in the tail from cast on edge, and you're finished!

A note about knitting on double pointed needles:

A lot of people are afraid of double pointed needles. If this is you, trust me! They aren't nearly as scary as people make them out to be. The most difficult part is keeping your stitches tight between needles. So just pull tight between needles and everything will be okay. Be adventurous! Give it a try! However, if you don't want to, this same pattern could be knit on straight needles, then sewn up the side. Leave a longer tail at the end, and after you close up your last stitches, use this tail to sew the sides together. Piece of cake!

With love,