Tag: No pattern

Nutty Bag

A while ago, when we were still allowed to be in places with lots of people, I went to a giant flea market with friends. Sadly, spoils were little. I only came home with a tropical bird onesie. However, I did spot something that I thought was awesome. A little bag made out of a coconut. Clearly I needed one for myself. However, the one at the market had some holes in, and I didn’t want to pay the price they asked.

(Evil crooked coconut)

Last Sunday, I got my butt in gear and started on my Coconutty bag. I bought a coconut from the supermarket that already had a groove such that it should split nicely. The first one, however, did not split completely down its seam. This bothered me enough that I bought another coconut to try again. That second time, I didn’t take any chances and just sawed the coconut in half. Then I drilled holes along the side to attach a zipper. I sort of prick-stitched the 40-cm zipper in place. The ‘drinking’ hole for the coconut was already punched, so I made a second hole on the opposite side for a strap. Lastly, I made a fabric tube of about 22×40 cm with a zip along the short side. That was to be the lining. The lining was attached to the stitches along the inside of the coconut. And Hey Presto, a bag was born.

Now, it won’t be useful in the slightest, since my phone doesn’t even fit. But the idea of the bag had merit and I wanted to try out my DIY skills with the drill again. For now, I love the contrast of the blue with the coconut and find it awesome that I had some cord in the exact same colour. Hopefully, I’ll be able to test it out soon!

Bottle Cover

A weekend at a larp and a new bottle require a new bottle cover. The new bottle was a lot larger than previous bottles and would not work for it’s intended purpose. I did base the design in part on my previous version Invisible Plastic.

After the hat I still had some more of the wool left over and figured it would work as a more or less waterproof cover. I cut out a circle, added some sides and a hanging loop. I needed to attach to pieces together to form a large enough rectangle for the sides. Then I needed to figure out how to close the thing. I the end, I opened up the front a little and keep the flaps to close over each other. Then I added another button to the front and a semi-decorative closure in a vague leaf shape.

I made it somewhat too big by accident and decided to sew an additional seam at the front to make sure it was not too loose. This also allowed me to open up part of the piecing on the front and create a miniature pocket. For proof I added a brownie spoon, it will probably hold a pencil while in action. (note from after the event, yep, it did)

Woolly Necklace

No, not a woolly jumper yet, although I’m getting there. I am slowly finishing up a green sweater with a side front closure and weird collar. However, in the mean time, I made a few necklaces. I have a colleague who owns a necklace made of a lot of rolled fabric strips in coordinating colours, all in hues of blue. I really liked that idea and when I found some interesting yarn on sale, I figured I’d try to recreate that necklace. This was the yarn and the first part of the necklace.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

I wanted to figure out a way to make the necklace without using any knots in the yarn. So I looked through my stash of jewellery equipment and found some bits that have a hole in the top and fold over to grip whatever you put in. I had about 20 of them. I made the first necklace, the red one and didn’t have enough bits to make another one. So I looked through all the shops I could think of to find bits to make more necklaces. Couldn’t find any, and I didn’t know what those things were called, so ordering them was difficult at first. Using some interesting methods I eventually found out that I was looking for “Fold Over Cord Crimp Beads”, and I got 3 packets of 150 bits in 3 colours.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

To make the necklaces, I put the yarn in the bits, fold over the sides and cut of the yarn that comes out the top. I do this for 8 or so strands and then I string them on a jump ring. Another jump ring is added and the other ends are strung on another jump ring, then the second jump ring with closure are added. This produced, in my opinion, a nice finish. You can also first braid part of the strings or add a metal chain or two. I personally really like the mixed media approach.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

I have made three so far. Of which I only took pictures of two. I sent the third one to a friend, I hope she likes it.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

This one has 5 red stands, one black and a doubled chain, the bits are silver coloured. This one was the first attempt and I really like it. The second one, below, used all the colours, two strands of each, one chain and old copper bits. I twisted this one a bit before I put it on. Which is an alternative method of wearing it.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

So this was my new project. I like it and I have still quite a lot of the yarn left over. This means that I can experiment and make all kinds of things, using this approach. Maybe even add large beads or knot, braid or twist strands. The options are endless!