Belle Monde Made

The Rangeley Shawl by Zamiguz

Day & Night Owls by Tiny Curl

(Pictured; Artisan Miguel Andrango, weaving an absolutely beautiful textile on a backstrap loom)

(A much narrower edging piece of textile woven on the same sort of loom)

They’re still widely used in parts of South America.

You apply tension with a strap that fits around your hips and you sit back into, and can vary the tension at will by leaning forward and back. You tie the other end to a handy tree or doorknob.

 You can make a backstrap loom out of, literally, like five sticks and some yarn and some sturdy cording or rope. Like go outside, find some straight sticks, find a strap of something to use for the hip band, and you’re in business, baby!

Cost, IF you go to a store and buy some dowels instead of like, just finding some straight sticks; like $5. Cost if you go outside and find some sticks; just the yarn and rope.

They can be neatly rolled up to transport, and store easily away.

How to make and use one;

http://www.weavezine.com/content/backstrap-basics.html

This stunning bead crochet chevron bracelet pattern is sure to turn heads! You can crochet any length bracelet you’d like using this pattern! 

Elf Hat by Lovable Loops

People often look at the tags on my handmade goods and declare that my prices are outrageous. I did the math and THIS is what that handmade beanie you want for $10 ACTUALLY cost to make.

So if you see that $30 on the label, be courteous. Know that I am paying myself far, far less than minimum wage in labor ($2.22 per hour, to be exact) to even come to such a supposedly ghastly price. I can't take that $10 for a hat because no one can live on $0.37 an hour, much less sustain a business.

The Kraken Shawl by Two Hearts Crochet

Free crochet vest pattern! 😍🎉✌

DIY Natural Fabric Dyes Chart and How To Dye Fabric

Updated 2019

The yellow powder is turmeric and the bottom purple leaves are lavender. These are the results that she got using 100% natural fabric liked undyed silk. For a how-to on dyeing natural fabrics go to the link (and also read the comments). 

Step-by-Step How to Dye Fabric. Blog no longer exists except on the WayBack Machine:

Pre-wash and pre-soak your fabric.  It is best to use 100% natural fabrics that are undyed.  I have recently fallen in love with China silk habotai because it’s elegant and billowy without the price pitfall of crepe de chine.

Chop up your food source into little tiny bits (but not so tiny that they can’t be strained out).  For onions and plums, use only the skins

Prepare the water base in a large pot: add the water in a 2:1 ratio of water to food source (so if you have 2 cups of chopped bits, add 4 cups of water)

Boil the mixture for approximately an hour

Strain out food source and return liquid dye to pot

Add salt or vinegar, depending on the food source, to the water and mix.  For fruits and vegetables, add ½ cup of salt to every 8 cups of water.  For plant material, add 1 part vinegar to 4 parts water).  Salt and vinegar act as fixatives for the dye.

Add your pre-soaked fabric to the dye, stirring thoroughly, and bring up to a boil

Depending on how dark you would like the dyed fabric to be, boil your fabric in the dye for any length of time up to about an hour and a half.  At that point, your dye is probably exhausted.

Hand wash your fabric in cold water and organic detergent at least twice to ensure that all of the dye and fixative are out of the fabric, rinse, and hang dry or lay flat.

Voila!  You now have gorgeous, naturally dyed fabric to sew into sensational garments.

DIY New Circle Skirt App from By Hand London here 

Updated 2019 

What I really like about this app is after you plug all your data in the app tells you the fabric length required.

Or whether you’d be better off using a 60″ / 150cm width fabric…

Or perhaps a suggestion of making a shorter skirt length.

There is also this excellent Circle Skirt Calculator from Mood Fabrics

Modern Plaid Throw by Pippin Poppycock