Freebies & Patterns

10 December, 2016

Holiday Ornament Tutorial: Frosty Polar Bears

beckarahn2016-12-09T23:05:51-06:00Freebies & Patterns, Tutorials|Comments Off on Holiday Ornament Tutorial: Frosty Polar Bears

Materials

6 x 6 inches of white felt
6 x 6 inches pale blue, grey or green felt
white embroidery thread, white sewing thread
an assortment of white, clear, silver and pale blue sequins, any shape or size
white, clear or silver seed beads
narrow ribbon, about 6 inches long

Tools

Small sharp scissors
Beading needle
Embroidery sewing needle

A note about the sequins I used: I found snowflake shaped sequins in the scrapbooking section at the craft store and I think they were really perfect on this snow bear. You can also find squares, stars and other shapes.

Instructions

1. Right-click or option-click the bear pattern below and save it to your computer. Then print it out. Using the pattern, cut out one bear from white felt.

2. Thread your beading needle with a piece of regular sewing thread. Tie a knot in the end. Poke the needle through from back to front, where you would like one sequin to be.

3. Thread a sequin, then a seed bead on to the needle. Stitch back through the hole in the sequin, back through the fabric and pull the thread snug. The bead will hold the sequin in place. Cover the bear shape with as many or as few sequins as you like.

4. Continue to stitch the rest of the sequins in the same way. Be careful not to pull the thread too tight between stitches making the felt pucker. When you have finished adding sequins, tie off your thread on the back and trim the ends. You can add just a few or cover the bear with sparkles. That’s up to you.

5. Place your be-spangled bear on the colored felt. Thread a needle with embroidery thread and tie a knot in the end. Poke the needle from front to back just inside the edge of the bear. Pull the thread until it stops at the knot.

6. Blanket stitch around the edge of your bear. As you get to the top of the bear’s back, fold the ribbon in half, place the cut ends of the ribbon between the layers of felt and stitch them into the blanket stitch as well.

7. Trim the extra colored felt about 1/8 inch bigger than the bear, leaving an outline of the colored felt. Be careful not to trim the ribbon.

8 December, 2016

Holiday Ornaments: Deer in the Headlights Tutorial

beckarahn2016-12-08T12:35:43-06:00Freebies & Patterns, Tutorials|Comments Off on Holiday Ornaments: Deer in the Headlights Tutorial

I made these little deer ornaments originally as gifts for my co-workers one year. A friend took one look at the goggle-eyed deer and said “That’s what deer in the headlights look like.” The name stuck.

Materials

felt, 4×5 inch piece in any color
embroidery thread and sewing thread, any color
scrap of fabric about 4 by 5 inches
fusible paper-backed webbing (like Heat N Bond Lite or Wonder Under)
8 mm sequins, white or another pastel color
a few dark colored seed beads

Tools

pencil
beading needle or small sewing needle
iron & ironing board
small sharp scissors like Fiskars microtip

Instructions

1. Right-click or option-click on the deer pattern piece to save the pattern piece below to your computer. Then print it out. Trace the deer pattern on to the paper backed fusible webbing. Following the instructions on the packaging, iron it to fuse it on to the back of your scrap fabric.

2. Cut out your deer.

3. Peel off the paper backing from the felt deer and place the deer, glue side down, on to a piece of felt. Iron to fuse it in place. Note: If you are using acrylic felt rather than wool felt, please test a scrap first to make sure it doesn’t melt when you iron it.

4. Cut out around your deer again, leaving about 1/8 inch border of felt all the way around.

5. To make the eyes, thread your beading needle with a piece of regular sewing thread. Tie a knot in the other end. Poke the needle through from back of the deer to front, where you would like one eye to be. Pull until it stops at the knot.

6. Thread a sequin and then a seed bead on to the needle. Poke the needle then back through the hole in the sequin, and back through the fabric. Pull the thread snug. The bead will hold the sequin in place. Repeat for the other eye. Tie off your thread on the back and trim the ends.

7. With a 6 inch piece of embroidery thread, stitch through the felt between the antlers and make a loop to hang your deer. Tie the ends together.

7 December, 2016

Holiday Ornaments: Becky’s Birdies Tutorial

beckarahn2016-12-07T14:15:17-06:00Freebies & Patterns, Tutorials|1 Comment

I decided to give you all a gift this year. For many years I sold patterns for all kinds of things in my Etsy shop, including a bunch of simple holiday ornaments. But I have really changed the focus of my shop and what I am doing and I phased out those patterns a while ago. But I still have them and they are really cute and they shouldn’t just sit here on my computer with no one using them. So I decided that I would post them here for free as my gift to you.

The first one is a variation on an ornament I made with my mom when I was about 2 years old. She says I “helped”. I have the original on my Christmas tree and used it as the inspiration for this pattern.

Materials

two pieces of felt, 4 x 6 inches each in 2 coordinating colors
6 inch piece of narrow ribbon
embroidery thread in a coordinating color

Tools

scissors
sewing needle
pins

Instructions

1. Pin the pattern pieces to the felt and cut two birds and two wings.

2. Place the bird pieces so that they are facing opposite directions. Lay one wing on each of the bird pieces. Adjust and pin in place.

3. Using embroidery thread that matches the wing color, stitch each wing to the body piece.

4. Cut a 6 inch piece of ribbon and fold in half. Put the two bird body pieces together, wing sides out, sandwiching the ends of the ribbon in between. Pin to hold the ribbon in place.

5. Stitch around the outside edge of the bird, through both layers of felt. Fold the wings back out of the way as you stitch.

You can use a running stitch, a whip stitch, or a blanket stitch, depending on what look you like. Be sure to catch the ribbon in your stitches to hold it in place. When you have stitched all the way around, tie a knot and you are finished.

Here are the pattern pieces. Just option-click or right-click the image to save it to your computer and you can print it out.

19 September, 2012

Petite Purls Issue 13

beckarahn2012-09-19T09:19:25-05:00Freebies & Patterns, Sewing & Design, Tutorials|5 Comments

The new issue of Petite Purls e-zine is out and I am a contributor. Petite Purls is a knitting magazine that focuses on projects for kids. This summer they decided to do a mash-up issue that combines sewing and knitting patterns (sometimes even in the same project). They asked me if I would like to contribute something and I immediately thought of this Treasure Dog project. My friend Rae also has her instructions for some cute kids pants, there’s a sweet little apron pattern and a baby sweater with a pocket on the front, which just makes me giggle.

I have been dying to share this tutorial, because I LOVE this project. I originally came up with the idea because we had some leftover pre-quilted cotton at a summer camp and I wanted to use it up on zipper bags, which the kids love to make. Plain black was pretty boring and so by adding a little felt and some ribbon, I created this sweet black lab with floppy ears. We also made dog bone shaped keychains in the same class. The whole tutorial and patterns are here so you can make your own. You can use any kind of fabric you want to, so don’t worry if you don’t have any quilted cotton hanging around. Just sandwich a piece of felt or batting in between two other fabrics, quilt it a bit with some lines or swirls and then you are ready to go.

27 May, 2012

Congratulations to the Winners

beckarahn2012-05-27T10:24:46-05:00Freebies & Patterns|4 Comments

Congratulations to the Winners of my Blog Giveaway Day prizes! I chose prize winners a bunch of different ways, so you had lots of opportunities to win.

For the looms, the random number generator chose:

Susan – Who said “Those looms are fabulous! I’d have to say my favorite fiber is merino wool. I absolutely love knitting with it. “

and I chose:

Jamie – Who said “Favorite fiber! My CVM ewe Cameo has the best fiber in the world! I love to spin it and it felts like a dream. Love your loom, what a clever idea!”

Because who can resist a girl who raises her own favorite fiber. I have friends who would be green with envy of Jamie.

For the “High in Fiber” bandanas, the random number generator chose:

Breanna – Who said “my favorite fibers are merino and BFL. I started spinning with merino but recently have really enjoyed BFL.”

Julianna – Who said “Hi! What a great giveaway I love wool. My fave breeds are merino, polwarth and BFL. I am also on a wool/silk spinning kick. A delicious combination!”

Sharmie – Who said “my favourite fiber is wool… as a knitter i appreciate its magical abilities a LOT! thanks for sharing this great giveaway. i would SO love to make woven coasters as presents.”

and I chose these two because of their unusual favorite fiber choices:

Kirsty – Who said “When I awoke this morning it was -1 degree Celsius, with Winter well and truly on its way, so I’d have to say my favourite fibre right now is a possum/merino mix. I have gloves and a scarf in this and they are so deliciously toasty warm as well as being super soft. Possums are pests here in NZ, and we have about 40 million sheep as well, so I like the idea of being able to make something wonderful out of such an abundant resource.”

Dina – My favourite fibre is yarn made from sugar cane. It has a lovely sheen, is cool to the touch,cool to wear and looks great.

I actually have a skein of merino/possum which I thought was the strangest thing in the world and Kirsty has given me a new appreciation for it. I am totally looking for a skein of sugar cane yarn when I am next at my favorite LYS (they are having a big sale this weekend).

Emails have all gone out to these ladies and a huge THANK YOU to everyone who visited and commented.

21 May, 2012

It is time once again for GIVEAWAY DAY!

beckarahn2012-05-26T08:15:51-05:00Everything Else, Freebies & Patterns, Weaving, Felting & FIbers|166 Comments

That’s right, it is Blog Giveaway Day once again. This is a bi-annual event, co-ordinated by the hard-working team at SewMamaSew. Bloggers participate by offering a giveaway on their blog and then linking up to the SewMamaSew site so that everyone shows up together as a big giveaway party. So be sure to jump over there and browse the other giveaways too!

THE BIG PRIZES

These were a big hit last year, so I am giving away two again this year: Little Loom Kits. Have you ever wanted to learn how to weave? I designed these looms and have them lasercut from bright colored acrylic plastic. They are a simple frame style loom, just right for making coasters and little squares of woven fabric. Knitters – you can use up all of your scrap yarn! The “kit” comes with the complete instructions, the loom, three needle-style shuttles and a “beater” comb for packing the rows together. They are fun and easy to learn.

RUNNERS UP

And because I know it is just really fun to win something, I am going to make a few more people happy and draw some random names to receive a “High in Fiber” bandana. These are hand-dyed and silkscreened from my sheepy illustration, 100% cotton, machine washable. I use these bandanas for everything – as a tea towel, to wrap up my scissors before I throw them in my knitting bag, as a picnic plate/napkin, keep one in the car for spills, as a handkerchief, and my husband wears one under his bike helmet to keep the sweat out of his eyes. Darn useful.

HOW TO ENTER

To enter you must comment on this post. (Comments are moderated. Don’t worry if yours doesn’t show up right away. I will approve them as I get the chance.)
In your comment, you must answer this question: What is your favorite fiber and why? (aka silk, cotton, linen, bamboo, corriedale, BFL? The list goes on and on! It could be in any form: yarn, fabric, roving etc.)
Enter your email address in the “Mail (will not be published)” section of the comment box, so I can contact you when you win. (Please do not include it in the text of your comment; that just invites spambots.) Your email address will only be visible to me and I will not collect it, share it or use it to send you spam.

THE SMALL PRINT

Winners will be drawn at random from eligible comments. (aka my family is not eligible to win, but they always like to play along)

I will ship prizes internationally.

Comments will be open until May 25 at 5 p.m. PST.

Winners will be contacted via email by May 26 and posted here once I have heard back from all of them.

I will ship the items on or about June 1.

(Edited: So sorry, the blog was down for a few hours on Wednesday night! We are back now.)

Holiday Ornament Tutorial: Frosty Polar Bears

Materials

Tools

Instructions

Holiday Ornaments: Deer in the Headlights Tutorial

Materials

Tools

Instructions

Holiday Ornaments: Becky’s Birdies Tutorial

Materials

Tools

Instructions

Petite Purls Issue 13

Congratulations to the Winners

It is time once again for GIVEAWAY DAY!

Join my newsletter list.

Thank you!