pom pom head band - a proper tutorial!

Everyone wants pom poms sprouting from their head now so I whipped up a stretchy pom pom headband for the kids and thought I'd redeem my laziness and do a tutorial - all proper like with words and pictures and numbers and everything! So here it is.

an UN-TUTORIAL for pom pom head piece

Do you like my pom pom head piece? Or do I just look like my woolly brain is exploding from my head (yes I feel like my brain IS made of fluffy pom poms sometimes..)

Here's how I made it  - although it's so basic I'm not sure I should even be giving instructions. It's an untutorial!

 

You will need:

 scraps of wool

a trusty pom pom maker

 and a hair comb.

 

1. make pom poms I made two different sizes and I also made a heap of them so I can do different colour combinations.

 

2. Use the wool around the centre of the pom pom to tie to the thick end part of a hair comb.

 

3. Stick it in your hair

 

It makes a good change from flowers...and it's woolly and warm for winter.

Ministry of Tarnation and Titbits: Office of t-shirt transformation

More craft archiving from the school environment stall adventures in recycling.
Today's department is all about T-SHIRTS!

Cotton, stretchy, colourful t-shirts.

Rules and regulations:
1. You can cut a t-shirt into yarn or "TARN" because it doesn't fray but rather stretches into a lovely curled tubular yarn. And then well, you have yarn and can do all the usual amazing things with yarn!

2. Ribbed necks make excellent bag handles.

3. hems are little casings waiting to be transformed into many things. Don't throw out the scraps!

First off. Making continuous tarn-yarn from a t-shirt is a great trick. Here are some how to links:from Instructables and Mollie Makes

Once you have the yarn-tarn-tarn-yarn then you're off and running!
You can crochet bowls....

or bags......

or make pom poms....

or vague useless tassels that just hang around.....

As for the leftovers:

Short yarn can be looped over a chain to create a tassel necklace

leftover bits of hems and necks can be made into little flowers for hair ties and clips....

And I very much enjoyed sewing little rectangles of hems together, in contrasting colours fringing them and using the existent casing for necklace making.

But wait! There are scraps! Sew little scrappy bits along a thread with a needle.

Use a wooden bead at each end to hold into place and left over tarn for the necklace and voila. I think I used every last skerrick!

And for the best and easiest no-sew-no-fuss bag check out this tutorial

These sell like hotcakes at the fete!

Here is a linky dink for more jewellery ideas here

What in Tarnation?

What in tarnation? No I haven't turned into Sylvester Cat nor Bugs Bunny. But I do feel like I'm in a tarnation of a mess. Up to my ears in tarn*

It's all steam ahead for the school fete environment stall and right now I'm making anything and everything from donated old t-shirts.
To start with - tarn pom-pom necklaces. A little bit nautical........

 

..............but nice!

 

 

*tarn is yarn made from t-shirts.



tiddely pom pom poncho

 A snuggly poncho from a recycled jumper/sweater.

You will need: 

1 large jumper/sweater

coloured wool

sewing machine

fork

scissors

Here is the jumper I started with. First up I cut off the sleeves - they became matching leg warmers. Next I cut the neck because my little girls didn't like the rolled neck ( I did!). I zig-zagged the edge, folded it, pressed it, pinned it and sewed it on the sewing machine with a straight stitch.

Measure the jumper on the person you are making the poncho for. Let it fall and drape how you want it to sit. Mark where the elbows are with a pin. Mark the length you want in the centre of the jumper.

Now lay the jumper flat and carefully cut from the just outside the neck in a straight line to the elbow mark.

REMEMBER TO PRESS WITH AN IRON before you cut or sew it! 

Make a curved (or straight for a triangle poncho!) line to the centre measurement and cut. Repeat on the other side - fold in half to match.

With right sides together, straight stitch the side seam to the elbow mark. 

Finish seams with a zig-zag stitch. DO THE STRAIGHT STITCH FIRST TO KEEP IT FROM GOING WIGGLY!

Press the curved hem with a steam setting on the iron. Pin the hem. 

Sew with a straight stitch then a flat zig-zag to prevent it un-ravelling.

Now the fun part! Raising the cute factor to the power of POM POMS! These little pom poms are made with a fork. That's right. A fork. Yeah! It's revolutionary! We've all done that, right? Just in case, here is a link.

Place the pom poms where you want them and hand stitch them in place using a wool needle. 

Now rug your little one up all snug!

Christmas crazy - keeping it eco

Have you been feeling it? The itch in your hip pocket? A longing to delve in and be part of the tinsel-shimmering-bling-blinding buying? I know I have.

We're bombarded with ideas and images of the perfect Christmas - from endless catalogues, blogs and magazines - and there is no doubt it leads to the same end;consumerism. Suddenly we desire a new colour scheme of ornaments, a new wreath - and then there is the wrapping embellishments, cards, tags etc - it's endless!!!
 
I'm trying to come up with low cost and low carbon footprint ideas for Christmas fun. And while I acknowledge I have the benefit of a large supply of craft staples and tools, I still think it's possible to keep it eco.

For that winter wonderland magic turn your freezer bags into snowball pom poms.
Roll 2 plastic bags up from bottom to top and cut into strips about 1 cm wide. I then used a 5.5cm pom pom maker to make these very fluffy snowy pom poms. 

These would look great on a tree or as a garland or even a wreath...."let it snow, let it snow, let it snow"....is it too early for Christmas Carols? Yeah...it is. I know.