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Design and Sew Your Own Leggings

Design and Sew Your Own Leggings
Cal Patch is a renaissance crafter, with know-how spanning the fields of crochet, pattern-making, sewing, embroidery, dyeing, printing, spinning, and beyond. She is the author of Design-It-Yourself Clothing, writes a blog, and can can be found teaching classes around New York state (and beyond). For this week’s How-Tuesday, Cal will teach us how to make a custom pair of leggings. I adore leggings. You’ll need to measure yourself, draft a pattern, get some stretchy knit fabric, and stitch it up. Materials You’ll Need: For the pattern: Paper to make the pattern. For the leggings: About 1 ½ yards of nice stretchy knit fabric, like cotton/Lycra jersey.About 1 ½ yards of cheaper stretchy knit fabric, like cotton/Lycra jersey (for the muslin).All-purpose thread to match.PinsScissors (for fabric)Sewing machine You’ll need the following measurements: Okay, now let me explain how to go about measuring each one, as I’ve no doubt you might have a question or two! So we’re ready to draft our pattern! Related:  Block drafting

Leena's.com: PatternMaker Tutorial Web Site The following measurements are needed for PatternMaker women's macros. Use these instructions also when drafting patterns according to the instructions on the pattern drafting pages. If you need ladies' standard measurements you can get them by clicking here . Important! Important! To view the larger pictures and to print them click on the picture in question. BE ESPECIALLY CAREFUL WHEN TAKING THE MEASUREMENTS PRINTED IN RED . Important! YOU CAN USE CENTIMETERS OR INCHES.

the RPF Hand-Painted Tights Pack up the summer clothes: autumn is here at last! Ward off chilly weather with a pair of hand-painted evil eye tights. If evil eyes aren’t your thing, feel free to use this technique with your own design. I free-handed my pattern, but you can also trace your design to scale on a piece of paper and slip it under the tights as a guide. Let’s begin! You will need: Tights (any color) Light opaque fabric paint Dark opaque 3D fabric paint Paint brushes Blow dryer (optional) Step 1: Put the tights on. To make the evil eye pattern, paint as many ellipses onto the front of your tights as you’d like with a light shade of paint. Step 3: Once all of the ellipses are dry, paint dots in the center using 3D fabric paint. Care: Hand-wash your tights in cold water with mild detergent. All photographs by Romain Laurent. Clare McGibbon is a Brooklyn-based designer and maker.

Grosgrain: Free Pattern Drafting Calculator for Your Measurements....and my commentary on drafting patterns for dummies;-) I will admit, when I first saw the calculator (ie Excel document) it looked as confusing as a building schematic. But here are a couple things that might help put it in more "layman's terms". First download the file here at Mediafire. See the tabs at the bottom? Now, see that on FBodice 1 AND every other page there is a top and a bottom table? First off in column B type in your own personal measurements. Now, you can start! Look at the measurements under the column "Lines". First off, line A. Now, look at the number in the "Lines" column next to "B". Measure down your vertical line using that measurement and make a mark. Now, look at the number under P1 in row A (P1 stands for "point 1", each horizontal line that you just drew ie, A, B, C, D....has one or more points on it). Using that number under P1 measure from where your axis points meet out to the right along your A line. Now, look at the number under P1 in row B. For Line E you must make several points. Now comes the fun part! Side

Color, Color, Color! - Alternative ways to color resin... I've seen some conflicting information on what you can and cannot use to color resin. Now, as far as I know you can use practically anything sort of dry pigment - such as (my favorite) Pearl Ex powders, tempura powder, pastels, micro glitter...you get the idea... Now for liquids, I've read some sources that say you can ONLY use dyes and pigments specially formulated to work with resin. But I've also run across some other sources that say you can also use oil paints. If you can indeed use other types of pigments it would open the realm of color possibilities, so I decided to do some experimenting. Here's what I tried: Blick Studios brand Cobalt Blue Oil Color - (oil paint in a tube)Dye-na-flow by Jacquard in Teal - (fabric dye most often used for resists on silk, etc.)Vitrail in Lemon yellow - (glass paint used to imitate stained glass)Transparent Glass Paint in Purple - (another type of glass paint)Acylic paint in Orange - (the cheap-o kind you can get in a 24-pack in any craft store)

Make a Magical Kaleidoscope Remember looking through a kaleidoscope as a kid? It was like being a pirate on a treasure hunt, but instead of discovering unexplored land we were glancing into a world of brilliant beauty. Most of the supplies needed for this great project can be found in your home — some of them are even recycled. If you don’t have a stash of gems on hand, you can find a great selection of jeweled beads right here on Etsy. By the end of this tutorial, you and your inner explorer will be dazzled by the endless and unique patterns created by your handmade kaleidoscope. You will need:Metal ruler Thin acrylic mirror (I used a magnetic locker mirror) Box cutter Masking tape Cardboard paper towel roll tube* Empty plastic vegetable or fruit container Fine permanent marker Paper Transparent colorful beads or “gems” Faux wood pattern contact paper Glitter (optional) Glue (optional) Mark the width of the mirror on both sides at 1 ½ inches, 3 inches and 4 ½ inches. Slide your triangular prism inside your tube.

pattern drafting You need 1 18″ reversible nylon closed zipper2.5 yds. of shell fabric, 60″ wide1.5 yds. of liner fabric, 60″ wideCoordinating thread1 roll of kraft paper or pattern-making papper1 tracing wheel On a sheet of kraft paper, draw a straight line about 2″ from the edge along the length. In the middle of this line, mark point 1. 2 from 1 = 29″ 3 from 1 = 29″ 4 from 1 = 29″ Connect points 2, 3, 4 with an arc radiating from 1 as shown. 5 from 1 = 1 ½” 6 from 1 = 3 ½” 7 from 1 = 4 “ Connect points 5 and 7 with a shallow curve. Join points 6 and 7 with a deep curve as shown. 8 is located midway between point 6 and 3. Square down from 7 and across from 8 to locate point 9. 10 from 5 = 1 ½” 11 from 7 = 1 ½” Connect 10 to 11 with a curved line parallel to line 5-7. Draw a tangent line from 11 passing through point 9 and continue to locate 12 at the intersection. With a tracing wheel, trace out onto a new sheet of paper the following from this draft: For the shell: trace points 6-7-5-2-4-12-3-8-6.

Craft Foam Armor Tutorial I was searching for a cheap, light, but nice-looking material to make armor out of, and I discovered one - craft foam! This tutorial is designed to show what you can create using only materials that are widely available at general craft stores, with no need for specialty shops or internet orders. I specifically used it for Helm's Deep elf armor, but it could be used for almost any armor that you can break down into fairly flat pieces. Advantages: Light weight Inexpensive materials Widely available materials Easy to make Safe to wear in crowds Most steps are safe for kids to do Flexible - won't break or crack Great 'beginner' armor Disadvantages: Finish will wrinkle/craze if flexed too far May be dented by sharp objects Not suitable for high-stress use Overall, this armor holds up quite well even when worn all day at a convention, and it's also a lot more comfortable to wear than other stiffer, more restrictive armor types. The tools you will need are: The materials you will need are:

Make a Personalized Inkodye Pouch Jessica Jones is a graphic designer in Chicago, Illinois. Jessica also writes How About Orange, a craft and design blog. Check it out to find DIY tutorials, free printables, fonts and wallpapers, quizzes, decorating ideas, and more. I love the idea of screen-printing my own textiles and t-shirts, but I’m not excited about buying special equipment. Splattering my tiny kitchen with ink while cleaning up screens doesn’t sound ideal, either. So I became curious about Inkodye, a product that creates permanent designs on natural materials like cotton, wool, raw leather, and unfinished wood. Inkodye is permanent, water-based, and activated by the sun. You will need:Inkodye Cotton fabric Digital photo (bold, high-contrast images work best) Printable inkjet transparency film Inkjet printer Foam brush (any brush or roller will work) Small cup Portable waterproof work surface (cardboard wrapped with a plastic trash bag works well) Tape Paper towel Water Fabric detergent Sunlight

constructing the basic sloper pattern If you want to get into pattern drafting, having your own sloper of pattern block is a must have. Instead of calculating all of your measurements over and over again, do it once thoroughly and adjust that pattern to every shape you can imagine. It's really not that difficult. When I started out making patterns I came across lots of wonderful tutorials on how to construct your own basic patterns, none of them were completely to my liking however. Technique Materials ruler, L square, French curve, calculator, pattern paper, set of body measurments Make It Handmade: Perfecting Serger/Overlocker Tension We are ready for week 2 in our Relationship Rescue: You and Your Serger Series. Now that we have our machines all threaded, we get to do some actual serging today! Why is tension adjustment important? A balanced stitch doesn't just look better, but it actually makes for a stronger seam. So grab a scrap of mid-weight fabric (like quilting cotton), click the link below and I'll meet you by your machine! This tutorial covers tension adjustments for the 3 or 4 thread overlock stitch. I've threaded the machine with 4 different colors of thread: Left Needle: Green Right Needle: Red Upper Looper: Black Lower Looper: Sky Blue Just like with our sewing machines, it's best to adjust tension using a similar weight fabric to our project fabric. If you are starting from scratch, start by setting all the tension dials at 4. Balanced Stitch First, lets look at what we want. If the needle tension is too tight, the fabric will start to pucker and ripple. Loose Needle Tension: Loopers Tricks and Tips:

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