Bella Dia

You say shrunk, I say felted

Look at all these beautiful sweaters I got thrifting the other day! They are all wool and cashmere or blends of the two. Most of them have already been "felted" by accident which kind of brought a smile to my face knowing how many people this has happened to. The first time I ever "felted" a sweater was when I was in high school. I had one of my boyfriend's sweaters, a beautiful oatmeal colored v-neck cashmere that I just loved and I oh so ignorantly decided to run it through the wash. When I pulled it out of the dryer I'm sure my eyes were bugged out like a cartoon character - I truly couldn't believe what I saw! An infant sized version of that beautiful sweater that was mine but one hour ago. Even then I thought, well, maybe I can stretch it back out; uh, right, I couldn't even get my arm through the sleeve much less give it a good tug. Now I see all these beauties as victims of a fortuitous accident and dream of the crafty goodness that they will become.

No Knot, No Tail

No Knots!

I have a few pet peeves about sewing but my biggest one is tying knots. I have that little bitty sense of dread everytime I have to do it - partly because I can't see up close as well as I used to and partly that I like to make several knots and I hate the angst I have over trying to match them up so they're on top of each other. Anyway, here's a nice little technique for handsewing to do away with knots :)

#1 double your length of thread/floss and thread the *tails* through the eye of the needle; this leaves a loop at the other end of your thread

#2 starting from the back of your fabric, bring the needle up through the fabric to the front side but do not pull all the way through - leave the loop of your thread on the backside

#3 push the needle through to the backside, leaving a small space between your original stitch and this new one

#4 *this is a picture of the backside* after pulling the thread through from the front put your needle through the loop on the back

#5 *this is a picture of the backside* now pull your thread firmly and you are ready to begin stitching!

No Tails!

One of my other pet peeves? Little thread tails poking up through your work ;) I use this technique on my softies/stuffies/stuffed toys.

#1 okay, you've finished sewing up your seams and you've created a knot on the outside of your work

#2 with the tail still attached, reinsert your needle as close as possible to your last stitch and then bring your needle up as far as possible from that stitch (basically the length of the needle but you can scrunch your fabric up on the needle so it will go further)

#3 it should look something like this

#4 now pulling the thread taut, scrunch the fabric up against your last stitch, then snip the thread close to the fabric and let go

#5 voila! no peek-a-boo tails!

I hope this helps some of you and my directions are clear enough. I'll permalink it in a side column for future reference.

Japanese Craft Books #31,#32, #33 and #34

Okay, here's the rest of the Japanese craft books. I purchased all of these through Amazon Japan. Use the ISBN's to search for the books - the interface is the same as Amazon USA. You can also use a translator like Altavista's Babelfish to help during your searches and a currency convertor like this one to figure out the prices. For lots more help and information about Japanese craft books check out Crafting Japanese. Enjoy!

Book #31 ISBN 4-579-11062-5

Book #31 excerpt

Book #32 ISBN 4-277-41330-7

Book #32 excerpt

Book #33 ISBN 4-529-04125-5

Book #33 excerpt

Book #34 ISBN 4-05-604179-2

Book #34 excerpt

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Japanese Craft Books #28,#29 and #30

I'm finally putting up pictures of my most recent purchase of Japanese craft books. I have 3 or 4 more that I'll post in the next couple of days and then they will all be added to my Japanese Craft Book library at Flickr.

#28 isbn 4-529-04180-8

#28 excerpt
I've already shared some images from this book here. I love the embroidery in this picture; this book is one of my favorites, lots of good stuff.

#29 isbn 4-277-49040-9

#29 excerpt
This is a small book with pictures and instructions for simple quilted accessories.

#30

#30 excerpt

It looks like the linen fabric in this picture is stamped with a tree stamp which was really exciting to think about. I was able to find an ink pad by VersaCraft (which used to be known as Fabrico) that can be used on fabric and then heat set. I've only been able to find the black ink and used it to make a few labels but more experimenting is in the future. Do a search for VersaCraft ink pads and you'll find lots of online resources.

It's already Monday?

Just a quick post, it's late and I've been gone most of the weekend with my kids and their snowboarding. Aaack, I hate feeling stressed at the *end* of the weekend - I never got a chance to get caught up on housework and sewing so I'm already starting the week from behind.

If you love tea like I do you might be interested in the Teastick from Gamila. I've been wanting to try more looseleaf teas so when I saw the teastick I thought "that's for me"! I also want to start making my tea in a teapot - why? so I can make a cute teapot cozy of course!

**edited to add that I bought my teastick online from Izadra

Hoo Hoo Hooray!

I am now the proud new owner of these two lovely prints from Jackie at Littlest Flower! I am completely smitten by her work - I've even purchased her third print, Freedom. (Check out her shop at Etsy) I can't wait to get them framed and hanging near my work area; they make me happy just looking at them:)

The owl print reminds me of the book Owl Babies by Martin Waddell and illustrated by Patrick Benson. If you're an owl lover, as I know many of you are, be sure to check this book out - the illustrations are precious and the story, charming!

Owl Stuffies

I made these before Christmas and then
they got pushed aside for holiday preparations. I've tweeked around with the lighting and color to counteract the lack of natural light and I'm still not very happy with the picture; let me just say, they are much cuter in person. Their bottoms are weighted with beans so they stand up fine on their own.

My inspiration was this little wooden owl that I borrowed from my nephew.