Recycled Archives - Page 18 of 38 - Ashley Hackshaw / Lil Blue Boo

Upcycled Knit Pom Pom Hair Accessories (A Tutorial)

December 17, 2010 by Ashley Hackshaw

I’ve had requests for this tutorial for a while and I finally just made myself finish it this week! Everyone loves these hair accessories and it is a great way to use up those extra knit scraps!

This is a photo from last spring with Li’l Miss Elle wearing a pom in her hair….I can’t believe how young she and Boo look!

Materials needed:
Knit scraps
3 ” or 4″ needle
Nylon thread
Pliers
Glue gun
An alligator clip, head band or pony tail holder
Optional: velvet ribbon for lining clip

Step 1: Cut out strips of knit yardage or t-shirt scraps measuring about 5″ x 3/4″ and thread your needle:

Step 2: Take your first strip and insert the needle about 1/8″ from the middle edge….you will stick the needle back through at another 1/8″ and continue……

…..until you’ve created an accordion-type fold onto the needle:

Step 3: Repeat the last step for your next strip of knit…..

…but twist it around once it is on the needle so that it lays across the other piece like a cross:

Step 4: Continue to add your other strips of knit in the same manner and twist them once they are threaded into a star shape as shown and flatten them all down together to the bottom of the needle:

Step 5: Once you have added enough strips so that the pom is the fullness that you prefer run your needle back through to secure all the strips.

Stitch back and forth through all the layers one or two more times to secure them well….you may need a pair of pliers for this step to help pull the needle through!

Step 6: Tie a knot to secure your pom…..

….and turn the pom over to the other side and tie the top layer in to a little knot as shown:

Step 7: Trim your layers to the length you prefer and making the top poms just a tad shorter than the ones below:

A finished pom!

Use a glue gun to attached an alligator clip to the bottom. You can glue a small velvet strip to the inside of the clip to make it “non-slip.”

I love using silk screen scraps….

….and upcycled knit:

You can add a pom to a headband…..

…..and even sew one to a pony tail holder!

So many varieties!

Lil Blue Boo Adelaide Pattern in Sew Hip!

November 5, 2010 by Ashley Hackshaw

Sew Hip is my favorite sewing magazine. I mean….I LOVE LOVE it. I have almost every issue and I read them cover to cover…..over and over again. My Adelaide Beret pattern is featured in their December 2010 issue (Issue 23)! I’m so excited but at the same time I feel faint, a little nauseous and giddy all at once…I just keep looking at it wondering if it is really true! That’s a hat I made on the model in the lower right hand corner….on the cover!

It isn’t available quite yet in the U.S. so Laura, who is also featured in the magazine, sent me a few photos! So sweet of her to take the time to do that so I could see the layout! Thank you Laura! She has the most amazing site called Bugs and Fishes by Lupin….make sure to visit and read about her feature in Sew Hip as well!

The Adelaide Beret pattern is included as a pullout template in the magazine and there are a few pages of instructions, diagrams and photos. I don’t think that was an actual quote of mine below….but who cares haha! The hat pictured was silk screened with a Chinese symbol for “Luck”….and of course the inks were from Dharma Trading.

The whole pattern started with a hat I made for Boo for a collaboration with artist Stephanie Corfee. I silk screened Stephanie’s “When I Grow Up” print for a small limited edition for my shop a few months back:

Boo’s hat has led to many, many more hats. Some are upcycled and recycled from t-shirts:

By the way….these photo collages are super easy to make in Photobucket if you haven’t tried them yet 🙂

Some are dyed and silk screened:

One of my favorite upcycled hats photographed by Monika McSweeney on her daughter Grace:

I hope the magazine gets to the U.S. soon! It is carried at Joann’s and large bookstores such as Borders and Barnes & Noble…..or you can always buy it straight from Sew Hip! There is much more in the issue by some amazing artists!

Painting on Fabric (A Tutorial)

November 2, 2010 by Ashley Hackshaw

Boo and I did some fabric painting this weekend! She made a cute rainbow applique top and I transformed a stained t-shirt into a bright, fun top!

We started with this Setacolor transparent fabric paint starter kit:

Other materials we used:
Freezer Paper
Light colored knit or woven fabric (or an old t-shirt)
Disappearing ink pen

First, I cut out freezer paper and ironed it to the back of my white knit to stabilize it for Boo to paint on (waxy side to wrong side of fabric).

I used a disappearing ink pen to sketch out a rainbow shape for a guide:

I mixed each paint color with a bit of water and spritzed the fabric a little to dampen it so the color would flow onto the fabric easier:

The artist at work:

After the entire rainbow was painted…..

…..we sprinkled it with a little table salt and spritzed it with a light mist of water again to get a “crystal” look….

…..and then laid it in the sun to dry (with a guard dog):

The artist added some light blue paint to some more fabric for clouds:

Once the fabric was dry I removed the freezer paper from the back and ironed both sides of the fabric for 2-3 minutes to set the paint:

To make the rainbow applique I ironed paper-backed fusible adhesive to the back of the painted fabric and then sketched out the rainbow and clouds on the paper: