Recycled Archives - Page 26 of 38 - Ashley Hackshaw / Lil Blue Boo

The World Traveler: Vintage Travel Patches (Tutorial)

February 19, 2010 by Ashley Hackshaw

I’ve was blessed as a young girl to be able to travel with my family, though I always felt like we could have been in a National Lampoon movie with all our adventures. Most of our trips revolved around golf courses with my dad and sister’s golf. One of my most vivid memories growing up is my brother saying “what a tourist trap” about every place we went. We all loved the “tourist traps” though and I would collect little things from each place for my art journals. My one regret: the Loch Ness Monster Visitor Center in Scotland. Picture this: my sad, longing face pressed against the car window as my dad sped straight through the town of Loch Ness because he and my sister were late for a tee time (I was 20 years old).

Anyways, in the spirit of the world traveler, I made patches to resemble those vintage luggage stickers that covered suitcases long ago……

…..and covered this little “Tourist Trap” dress in them. My favorite part of the dress is the “touristy” knit print for the skirt…..Clark Griswold would be proud!

I can’t get enough of these clipart book/CD sets. The one I used for this project is “Old-Time Label Art” and it is full of vintage travel labels, crate labels, etc…..all high resolution and royalty-free:

First, I printed out the images on transfer paper. (I’ve said it before, but I am now officially hooked on Dharma Trading’s Super Soft Transfer Paper.) Just make sure to print your images in reverse! Note: the fine lines you see in the bottom images are from my dying ink-jet printer….RIP printer.

Then I ironed the images onto a plain white knit. Note: The secret to the transfer process is ironing on a hard surface….using all of your body weight (i.e. don’t use an ironing board!)

I cut out each image and used fusible web to create an “iron-on” patch (you can actually IRON on top of this brand of transfer paper!).

I stitched around each patch to secure to the dress.

Before sewing the dress together I washed all the pieces again to lightly fray the edges of the patches to give them more of a vintage feel.

The main part of the dress was a travel shirt that read “Havana Cuba.”

Patches from all over the world!

Even one that reads “See America First”……which we plan to do as a family this summer in the west!

Animal Sock "Pom-Poms": A Tutorial

February 15, 2010 by Ashley Hackshaw

I love these little socks that I pick up at our local street fair in Palm Desert. They are from Japan and I adore the Japanese writing on them! They come with ducks, pandas, pigs, rabbits and other animals and each one is just adorable.

Boo loves to mix and match the animals:

You can easily make a similar simplified version using some felt and thread. I started with these simple shapes for a pig:

First I stitched the light pink pig head to the dark pink background (will become the pig’s body):

Then I stitched the light colored snout piece into place with contrasting thread for the nostrils:

I used the same thread to add some contrast to the ears:

I added eyes using black thread:

Then I trimmed the large dark pink felt piece down into a smaller oval shape for the body……

………and cut an identical piece for the back:

I place the two oval pieces right sides together and began stitching them together at the outside. As I stitched towards the bottom I placed a small dark pink ovals halfway in to make a foot:

I stitched a few times around the foot to secure it in place:

Continuing to stitch along the bottom….until it was time to insert the other foot:

I stitched all the way around to the other side of the pig, leaving an opening at the top. I turned the pig right side out and inserted a small amount of stuffing:

Pinching the opening shut….here is what my little pig looked like at this point:

I carefully folded the front top edge over the back edge and stitched it shut:

I used some light pink DMC thread to add a little tail at the top:

Finally I stitched the pig to the back of a sock:

A finished animal “pom-pom” for your sock!

These would be great a great way to re-purpose your mismatching socks!

Roll Up Your Sleeves

February 12, 2010 by Ashley Hackshaw

Ever save something for years and years never having an idea for them and then it just hits you one day? For me it was these name patches I picked up at a flea market in 1996 (so I’ve been holding on to them for 14 years!!!). My college roommate Seema and I loved looking for eclectic finds and these were a great one. Seema put one on her jacket she wore all the time….I’ll have to ask her what the name was.

If there are any traits I hope my daughter takes from myself and her father they are: self sufficiency and determination. Is there any greater feeling than being able to fix something yourself? Don’t get me wrong, I like to outsource things to the experts too….but I also like being self sufficient and I know I can do almost anything with just a little research and determination. I’m not afraid to roll my sleeves up and figure out a plumbing problem or a appliance issue. This morning I was just staring at these and thought what a great homage they would be to the self sufficient hard worker!

I made this “roll up your sleeves” dress….for the little girl who isn’t afraid to get her hands dirty!

These patches still had some iron-on adhesive left on them, but I added some additional fusible adhesive and stitched around the edges.

Thanks to “Lonnie”, wherever you are, for passing the torch…or wrench.