The Pretty Penny

A Little Peep

wanted to give you all a little peep at these nifty pins that I've been putting together lately.  I have tons in the works so make sure that you keep a look out for more. 
I've been thinking about these tough economic times that we're in (I know, enough with the tough economic times, but still...) and I've been wondering what role "nonessential" items like jewelry will play.

Like many, I haven't been able to update my wardrobe much this season and am just a tiny bit weary of all my old tired clothes.  I think these cute pins are a great way to make yourself feel just a little bit better about that still good but maybe not exciting blazer or T-Shirt.  I've been constructing them in ways that allow me to price them a little lower than some of my other items (between eight and twenty five dollars!)  I'm making the subject matter whimsical and fun birds, cameo silhouettes, foxes, etc, because I figure who couldn't use a little fun?
So keep checking back to my site, I'll be updating almost every day with new designs.

Not Showing My Underwear (yet)

Inspired by Amy Karol and Angry Chicken, I made a trip to the fabric store in hopes of getting some stretch lace to make myself a set of cute underwear.  Since I was going to take out my sewing machine anyway, I reasoned, I might as well get some fabric and FOE (also inspired by Angry Chicken) to make my sweet daughter a new dress. 

Well, I bought the wrong kind of lace.  Twice.  So the underwear still needs to get made.  I think in the future, I’ll order it online to avoid the confusion of trying to make decisions with a five year old talking nonstop in one ear.

I did make my sweetie this cute dress though.  She picked out this dotty fabric, which looks soo cute.  I didn’t use a pattern, I just used some other dresses that fit her well as a guide and made my own pattern for a simple raglan sleeve peasant dress.  The fold over elastic makes this so easy because there is minimal hemming involved and no pulling elastic through casing (which I absolutely hate) 

The FOE is a little tricky to get the hang of, but once you do, it’s very to use.  As a matter of fact, I think I’ll make another dress for her really soon.

Once I get the underwear sewed (I’m not giving up), I’ll share it with you.  Also I have a crocheted plastic shopping bag that I keep thinking is almost done that I can’t wait to post instructions for.

Happy Monday.

Love

Kelly

Cute Tassel Necklace Tutorial

When I first started my Etsy store, I was all about crochet jewelry.  Lately I’ve moved on, grown and changed but there are small examples of my passion for decorative crochet in my current pieces. 

Here’s a simple little DIY crochet necklace project as a gift from me to you. 

You will need a little twist of pearl cotton embroidery thread, glass beads, and a size F crochet hook.  Silk beading thread looks very nice too if you want a more sophisticated look, cotton has more of a summer of love feel to it.

 

 

When you crochet with beads, you need to string the beads onto the thread first, I never count or do any figuring before hand, I just put all the beads I have onto the string.   You never have to use them all and it’s so much more convenient than trying to figure out how to get them on after you start crocheting.  If you like using a pattern of some sort this is the time to think of it.  I think it look nicer, however, to just design a limited pallat of colors for your beads and let the gods of chaos and randmomness deside for you.

Now just crochet a simple chain.  The best way to incorporate the beads is to slide one onto the back of your hook each time you yarn over.

When your chain is as long as you want it, I wanted to be able to loop mine lariat style in the front, pull your thread through securely.

Now make a little tassel by wrapping your thread around a rectangle of cardboard lots of times, slide it off, and tie your loop onto the ends of your crochet chain, incorporate your ends into the threads of your soon to be tassel.  Wrap some thread around your loop in the place you’d like the “neck” of the tassel to be and incorporate the ends into the rest of your tassel again.  Now trim the bottom to look nice and tidy.  Loop your cool necklace around your cool neck and enjoy.

Aw Shucks…

 

How sweet!  My pink velveteen collage brooch was selected for the Loveliest Ladies items poll on the Storque.  There are so many really great items listed, you really should check it out.  And if you are so inclined, please vote for my humble little brooch. 

Crochet a Simple and Cool Flower Brooch

I know that I’m a little biased, but I think that everyone out there should consider making brooches part of their fashion repertoire.   They are such a great (and inexpensive) way to update your wardrobe and can make even the plainest outfits look like something special.

Today I crocheted this cute and colorful little flower brooch in about thirty minutes with some scraps of bamboo yarn.  Thirty minutes and maybe a dollar or two’s worth of yarn and now I can add color and sass to any outfit.  You will also need a little circle of felt (wool felt is best), a safety pin or pin back, a single bead and a head pin.

This yarn is a worsted weight and I believe that it’s a bamboo/wool blend.  I highly recommend using a bright colorful yarn for this project.   My crochet hook is size I but please use any size that gives you good results.

Here are the instructions written in plain English for this very simple crochet flower.

Make a slip knot and chain one.

Single crochet six stitches into the first chain loop to make a nice round.  Join with a slipstitch.

Chain two

Make a petal in your first SC as follows: begin as if you were going to do a double crochet stitch but complete only until you have two loops on your hook.  Repeat this step twice, now you will have three loops on your hook.  Yarn over and pull through all three loops on your hook.  Break off your yarn and pull it through the final loop.

Repeat this on each of the six single crochet stitches in your first round.

Yea!  Now you have six petals.  You can weave in all those loose ends at this point.

I finished the flower by doing a row of single crochet around the center of the flower to give it a raised look but it is completely up to you whether you want to do this.

Next, I put my pearly bead on a headpin and poked it through the center of my flower.  I bent the pin into a sort of spiral shape to keep the bead put and give the flower a little structure.

Now cut two little slits in your little circle of felt, open your pin and thread it through the felt as in the photo below.

 

Glue your felt and safety pin to the back of the flower, covering the spiral shaped pin, with really good glue such as E6000

Enjoy your very cool brooch.

Possess the Change

I’m still so choked up and excited that Obama actually managed to win.  The inauguration has got me all in a tizzy, especially just coming from DC where all anyone can talk about is the Obama girls starting school and what people will be wearing to the inaugural balls.  I had to tear myself away from the Obama inaugural mug in the airport gift store.  It says a little something about me that I want to express my love through possessing things.

Well anyway there are a few great things out there that would be wonderful to possess, much better than a mug.

This pin designed by Shepard Fairey is wonderful and only ten dollars. 

If you wanted to be a little more spendy, I think that this burnout T-shirt by Zac Posen is very cool.

Speaking of change, I love these fashion on the street slide shows by Bill Cunningham.   This one has some lovely pictures of ladies much classier than me in some beautiful clothes.  Mr Cunningham is waxing poetic about the inevitable change in fashion that is coming due to the current economic climate.  Please check it out.

 

Beautiful Wool Slipper Tutorial

My daughter and I have both been recovering from a really nasty cold the last few days.  Too tired to go out, too cranky to stay home.  Just wandering around the house feeling annoyed. 

To give us both a little diversion, I decided to try out this felted slipper project that’s been floating around in my head for a while now.  The fun thing about this one is that it’s truly something that you can do together.  The fact is that you won’t have a choice as the slippers are felted right on your sweetie’s feet.

You will need

• one pair of feet
• a lot of wool roving, maybe half a pound
• the feet from an old pair of stockings or tights
• dish soap and a bowl of soapy water
• some extra yarn for embellishment

The first thing that I did is to wrap my little girl’s feet in the roving.  The most important thing to remember here is to spread the wool so that it’s very thin and wrap with many layers until the whole foot is covered with about half an inch of wool.  If you want to make ballet type slippers, wrap up to the ankle.  If you would like more of a bootie shape, wrap a few inches higher than the ankle.

When you’ve got the foot all covered, carefully pull the foot part of your old pair of tights over the wool. 

Now comes the fun part.  Dip both feet into the warm soapy water.  My little girl loved this as it felt so squishy and soapy and warm.  Now drizzle more dish soap over the wool and stocking covered feet and you and your kiddo can give those feet a good massage.  Briskly rub all over making the whole thing as sudsy as possible.  This is drippy and messy but soo fun.

The more soap you use and the more you rub, the more quickly the slippers will felt.  If you have an old washboard or a bath liner with bumps, have your kiddo rub their feet over that for a while.

When the wool feels firmer and not so squishy, peel back the stocking to see how felted the wool looks.  If it holds together on it’s own, take the stocking off and do a little final felting until it looks and feels the way that you want it too.

You might have to cut the slippers off your kiddo’s feet if you went pretty high up the ankle.  Just carefully snip down from the top in a place that you’d want a slit. 

As you can see, they look pretty bizarre when they come right off the foot.  You will be able to do a little stretching and shaping now before they dry.

When the slippers are dry, cut them to the shape that you like and embellish with yarn. 

Warm REAL slippers that you’re little kiddle can say,  “I made these!”

Two Great Fashion Projects

When I woke up early this morning, there were two amazing DIY fashion projects waiting for me on my reader.

This is a recycled T-Shirt Tote lined with duck tape (duct tape?)  I just love it.  It’s perfect for bizarre people like me who wish that those recycled jean bags weren’t so durn ugly.  (It’s actually kind of a cool idea… if only it didn’t look like you were carrying someone’s butt around on your shoulder.)

The second is a cool blazer from the boy’s section outfitted with new buttons etc.  I don’t know if it would work for me, you have to be size six or under and I’m size six on a very good day.  Great idea for tiny people though.

An Addition to the Family

I can’t believe I haven’t posted in this long!  I’ve been traveling for about three weeks and am just now getting back to my computer.   I can’t tell you how much I missed my computer, my sketchbook and all of my wonderful jewelry stuff.  It’s so good to be back, perusing and pouring over all of my things.  I tell you, nothing makes me happier than sorting buttons and beads, imagining the possibilities.

Today I am sharing one of my favorite Christmas presents.  This little aviator doll is now friends with Pretty Penny and keeping her company on a shelf in my living room.  She isn’t really vintage, in fact, she is Kit Kittridge’s doll, but I’ve been coveting her for quite some time and every time I look at her she makes me happy.

Pinocchio is a Mc Donald's happy meal toy, I am a little embarrassed to admit that I'm willing to feed my little darling crap in order to get a nifty new doll but it is sadly true.

As I was scooting around the country, visiting people I love, I was busy daydreaming about what kinds of awesome projects and fun things to share, but today this is the best I can do.

Happy New Year

Love

Kelly

How To Make an Afghan In a Weekend (if you don’t have kids)

It’s been chilly here in West Hollywood.  We’ve had to turn on the heater and wear sweaters around the house!  It’s nice to have a little weather before the Holidays, it helps to get you in the mood. 

I’ve noticed, however, that our little apartment is not so cozy.  I don’t like rugs because they make me feel a little claustrophobic and are hard to clean.  Our furniture is all leather and wood because of the cleaning issue.   OK I’m a little neurotic. 

I thought we could use a nice cozy wool throw for our sofa though.  Like many crafty people, I hoard wool sweaters because of their usefulness in felting and craft projects.  So because I’m lazy and because they’re just so pretty, I decided to use a few of those.

For this project you will need about four or five sweaters and some washable wool yarn, about one skeins worth.  I used worsted weight but I think bulky would be nice too. If you like, you can use two colors or more.  This would be a great way to use up a lot of scraps of yarn.

If you don’t have any wool sweaters lying around, make a trip to the thrift store and buy four or five one hundred percent wool sweaters.  Throw them in the washing machine on hot with lots of detergent and then dry them on high.  When you take them out they should be nice and felted.

Cut them into squares about four inches across.  You can make a template out of a cereal box and trace the squares onto your felted sweater with chalk. 

When you have enough squares, my little throw used twenty-four of them, take your washable wool yarn and stitch around them using a blanket stitch.

Next, you are going to crochet your squares together using single crochet.  Line two squares up side by side and crochet through the top of the blanket stitch on both squares.

Use your best judgment here as to how many stitches per inch; as long as neither the squares nor the crochet stitch is buckling you’re fine.  I made six blocks of four squares for this step and then crocheted a border in single crochet around each block.  If you are going to do this, just make sure to crochet four stitches into each corner stitch.  The rest is straight crochet.

Now I stitched the blocks together with a contrasting color of yarn.  You could crochet them if you like but I wanted to play up the contrast of the second color.

When this is done, you can make a border around the outside in single crochet in either a contrasting color of yarn or the same one you’ve been using.  Again, don’t forget to make four stitches in each corner to get you around.

If you like, you can block it to make it lie flat and look professional but I didn’t bother.  I was feeling lazy and…cold.