Everybody loves Macrame bracelets. aka the Josephine knot tutorial at last!

Macrame bracelets. They've been 'having their moment' for a while now, haven't they? I love them too. There's just something about them that's so effortlessly...charming... You can wear them so many ways; they look great on their own, stacked or worn with metal jewellery, watches, etc. Since this post is clearly my most popular one, i've decided to make a tutorial for it. perhaps redundant...since there are tutorials everywhere, but i hope this helps someone somewhere (let me know!)

We will be using 2 different coloured cords here for the tutorial's sake. Plus it looks cool. I picked lavender and coral (yep, used the same ones in the original post too).

 So now you should have 4 strands of cord to work with, 2 of each colour. Of course, a pair will be treated as a single cord and i shall name them left cord and right cord!

Once you do a couple of them, it's easy-peasy!

 By the way that part makes me think of this:

image courtesy of

Oops,got a little distracted! No, let's try again...

See, you've completed 1) and 2) taking the right cord under the left cord tail. From there, you are basically going to again 3) go over the top bit of the left cord
4) under the loop
5) over the right cord (over itself)
6) under the loop again.

Your right cord should travelling in a downward diagnol direction sort-of?? And you're weaving it in a sequence:
1)over
2)under
3)over
4)under
5)over
6)under

Did you get it?? This isn't easy to explain in words, so you might have to try a few times!

But honestly, it makes me think of this! yum!

pretzelllllls

 Distracted again!

Anyway, if you've got this sort of interchange-pretzel-heart-shape-thing going, then we're good! Slowly tighten the knot by pulling on the tail ends.
Note: Things will get fiddly.

May I proudly present, the Josephine knot! Woohoo!

Moving on, We will go through the whole thing again, but mirrored for the right cord.

The interchange-pretzel-heart-shape-thing stage

Fiddle me this, fiddle me that...

Repeat until desired length. I stopped at 5" since I'm going to finish it with a sliding knot. Trim away the excess (which if long enough can be used for the sliding knot!)

Sliding knot time

One thing i found out the hard way (with the original bracelets) was that the knots would frequently tighten themselves, so although it's painstaking to do, I would recommend dotting the knots here and there with the teeniest bit of glue.

And there you have it!!

Now go make yourselves some! And share your thoughts and pics with me! I wonder why I'm feeling hungry??
:D

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From Blah to Bippity Boppity Boo

I have this basic business card case that obviously does what it's supposed to do. However the heat of summer has been getting to me and therefore it became subject to one of my mini-experiments in re-covering....

BEFORE!

AFTER!!!!

Tada! Oh the wonders of cute fabric!! More happy than ever to use this thing now! 

DIY Satin Top

Although I aspire to be well-dressed most of the time, I don't quite reach that mark as often as I'd like. It's usually because a) things get messy and b) I get messy. While I  can't really say I have a 'style', I can say I'm getting pickier about the clothes I wear. Was it just me or did anyone else notice that the winter sales have more summery sleeveless clothes instead of winter wear? Maybe I'm just getting (c)old and cranky.
Anyway, my point is that sometimes, a girl just wants to look classy. But sometimes, desired classy clothes are kinda pricey. So why not risk a little bit of cash and time and make something nice to wear?

I started with a t-shirt with a simple design, since I decided to use satin (barely needs ironing, woohoo!!!). Folding the t-shirt in half, I laid it on paper to trace out the pattern. 

Please do not use your lens cap as a weight next time!

While tracing, I deviated slightly from the waist hem, since it's a just wee bit  *ahem* snug around me belly....

In retrospect, I should have gone out a bit more...

The pattern traced out:

Substitute lens cap with glow-in-the-dark fake pebbles...far cooler!

 Since the back and front of the top are similar, I made a copy of this pattern and slightly lowered the neckline...

dangerously low! not!

Yay! Pattern done! Now it's cutting time!

Love this colour palette :)

about an inch seam allowance....

get momentarily distracted mesmerized by cuff in the same colour scheme....coooool!

So once you've cut the front and back pieces, it's time to sew them together. I went with a french seam because i thought it'd be easier and neater...sort of...So place your 2 pieces right sides together and sew with an 1/8" seam.

go slow!

 Start with the 2 shoulder seams and then the 2 side seams...
 

Follow the (imaginary) yellow lines...

 

 After trimming the seam, turn the top wrong side out and sew a 1/4" seam along the same places 

a little wonky, but that's normal (for me)

After this, turn in the sleeve edges to a length you like and hem. Do the same with the waist hem and you're done! 

Anyone seen my champagne glass?

Now flaunt that top! Strike a pose! Bask in classy-ness (?) to heart's delight!

Cheerio!

Cellphone case

I'm someone who really prefers having her hands free.  But I'm also someone who (ideally) needs to be prepared for anything and therefore have everything-on-hand. Somehow at the same time the fashion industry thinks that women have a complete dislike for USEFUL pockets. Thus, one requires a bag of some sort to carry stuff that maybe doesn't really need to be carried around anyway. But sometimes, I'm just hanging out at the bakery outside my house and I feel quite foolish to carry a bag to a place that's 5 steps away from my house. Modern girl troubles, right???

So, this week I decided to make a phone case for myself. If you're wondering why I can't just keep my phone in my pockets, I actually can, but it's really uncomfortable, ok?? Once, I left it in my back pocket, forgot about it, and went for a ride on my bike....Really lucky that it didn't fall out!
Initially, I thought I would find a pattern online, but with me being me, I decided to wing it. It didn't go too badly, fortunately, but I think I'm gonna call this one Prototype A. 

It simply has a pocket which holds the phone, and a little tab which I can hook to my belt loop (though now I have to go find one of those cool mini carabiner thingees. How awesome are those?!) I never stitch neatly but this time made an effort to stitch straight along the edge (looks like I need more practice), plus I will probably use a heavier interfacing next time. I also landed up making the case a bit too snug, but at least I'm sure that my phone will not fall out!

The most frustrating thing now is that I still have to keep it in my pocket till I get the carabiner thingee. An almost futile project!

Till my next idea!

Let's get reacquainted, shall we?

Hello hello hello!

I'd kept away from the blog for a long while due to personal reasons. Now, however, i feel i am ready to get back into crafting and blogging too. For a start I'm writing down what I would like to do this year.

1. Sell some of the stuff i make. For now, it's more likely going to be jewellery due to time and space constraints. I'll probably start with selling online and get to craft fairs much later on. I really have no clue about numbers; how many do i make, etc...so it's something that I will figure out along the way.

2. Sketch more (almost daily?) and try out art journalling. I really admire those who do it, and always makes me wish I could create something that beautiful too.

In terms of personal projects, I would really like to do 1 a week, but I know this isn't always possible because work sometimes eats up a lot of my time. Plus I also like to space out every now and then... :) Anyway, I will probably fare better if I write down my ideas. You know how sometimes when you  have a free time slot come up suddenly, you're either completely  blank or completely overwhelmed about what to do with it? At the very least, a written list will help me when I think that I can't think of anything.

Right, so hopefully I'll be back soon... Have a great year and experiment with crafts or for that matter, anything you like as much as you can!