GC Reader Submission! Dr Who Pixel Art Magnets!

See my post on Arcade Artist's retro pixel art Dr Who magnets over at www.geekcrafts.com.

GC: Tutorial Tuesday - Reverse Stencilled Tote Bag!

Crossposted at Geekcrafts.com

Here's a neat idea! lets think 'outside the stencil'.

That's exactly what jennieingram did when she had to quickly step into the Dr Who Swap on Craftster. Round 5 of the Dr Who swap that is... these swaps are hugely popular, they're going to go on forever! Round 6 is crafting away as I type!

Jennie has shared a tutorial on how to achieve this effective technique on her blog, and also on Craftster.

But wait, there's more! Turns out Jennie is quite an avid Geek-Crafter and tutorial writer. Check out her Doctor's Companion Charm Bracelet and her tutorial on how to make Laminated Paper Bookmarks including a sonic screwdriver and a golden snitch.

• Jennie's reverse stencilling tutorial
• Jennie's Blog
• Jennie's Etsy
• Dr Who on Geekcrafts
• TARDIS on Geekcrafts
• Tutorials on Geekcrafts

Embroidered Card Tutorial

So... yesterday I posted about my Husbot's valentines card. I created this by embroidering card... because I've forgotten how to use pens:

 This technique can be used to much better effect than displayed above :-) be imaginative, sew bits of paper together, indulge in a bit of paper applique, combine paper and fabric... but whatever you do the general technique is going to be the same:

What you can see in the above picture is my pattern (to the right) and my card (to the left) The trick with card embroidery is that you need to make the holes first.

1. Place your pattern on top of the card you're using and place the whole thing on top of a pricking mat (some people may have a pricking mat... I suggest using corrugated cardboard for a low-cost disposable alternative).

• I used my ironing board which I don't suggest, because it can be hard work if you're hitting against metal mesh all the time. the idea is that you should be able to put a pin through your pattern and card (in other words - make holes) and have something behind it so you don't damage your dining table :-)

2.  Continue to prick (make holes in) your card, using your pattern as a guide. These holes will replace the holes you would make when embroidering normally, so you need to make a hole wherever your thread will change direction.  

• Be Careful. You can buy 'pricking tools'... I didn't... I used a pin, which I pushed in with my fingers, which was a bad idea. I figured out later that it would be easier if I used a thimble, but my thimble doesn't fit. and that is the start of the series of unfortunate events that led to me bleeding on my card later on... bleeding on card is not good... there's not a lot you can do to fix it...

3. Once you've pricked all your holes, remove the pattern and embroider as normal!

• Obviously you can't use an embroidery hoop with this thing so just be careful about how much you're bending/tugging on the card
• Keep your pattern for reference, it's quite possible you'll forget where you're supposed to be stitching to as you've essentially got a massive, un-numbered dot-to-dot.
• Use good embroidery thread! I used 2 strands of DMC. If you use cheap rubbish it WILL snap and it WILL get fluffy, card is more scratchy than fabric.

HAVE FUN!!

Dalek Valentines Card [also: the viral nature of craft and a cautionary tale]

oh yea, I haven't posted this here yet!

Ignore that red smudge next to the balloon... let it be a testament to my stance against airbrushing!! (feminism hell yea!)

This is the Husbot's valentines day card for this year, and apart from the red smudge I'm really pleased with how it turned out! it was really easy (but time consuming... will post a brief how-to later)

The image is not mine (but the colouring was my 'flourish' - I *HEART* red daleks) and that's where our story begins.The original concept was posted by KrazyKitty on the Craftster papercrafts board at the beginning of February.

note to crafters - this is why a good thumbnail image is REALLY important for your work - I don't go on the papercrafts beard because I don't DO papercrafts. I only picked up on this image because I'm logged into Craftster all the time and I saw it pop up on the front page in the 'newest projects' box.

But this is what blows my mind right - I don't know where KrazyKitty lives... I'm presuming somewhere in north America... here I am in the UK, and not only can I view her work SECONDS after it's been created, I can ask for her permission to use it, add my own twist to it and put it right back out there! There are ideas travelling across the world faster than the speed of light! It's AMAZING!! (ok I sound like a crazy hippy right now I know... )

Oh yea... the red smudge... make sure if you do embroidery on card you use the proper equipment! a good thimble that FITS and a pricking mat of some description (some old corrugated cardboard would work too... ) but anyhow I'll get into that later... for now look at my card!

 Doesn't really look like anything yet ... this is where I wasn't sure it was going to work :-)

My lovely (hand carved - hell yea) Tardis stamp I received form Opaka in Dr Who Swap round 4.... I don't have an ink pad so I had to use my purple highlighter... it worked *phew*

x G

Dr Who Knitting Needle Roll (Dr Who Swap Round 4)

this is the Dr Who knitting needle holder I made for the Craftster Dr Who Swap (round 4) here's the other side:

all wrapped up:

and a close up of the embroidery detail on the hoop:

It was really simple, I kinda looked at this tutorial by lupinbunny, decided I wanted to use some tardis coloured binding strip instead of hemming everything and  I just sort of filled in the gaps.

Have some in-progress shots:

 

these are my materials, I ended up having to use 2 skeins of embroidery floss because it was such a big design (if I recall correctly I used 3 strands) - and that's HOMEMADE binding strip :-) hell yea!

The measurements here are 18" wide for everything, all those numbers are the height's in inches, the last 4 inch one is what I used for the little pouch in the first picture.

This is the pieces put together, as you can see I intended to use the 4" tall length as a final pocket but I decided it was redundant partway through the project.

 This is me transferring the embroidery design onto the black fabric using white carbon paper

 and there's the transferred design, ready for stitching! I did the whole thing in backstitch, using a 12" embroidery hoop mounted on the embroidery stand I was so lucky to find in the charity shop.

This is where I did a lot of the work :-)

I also sent my lovely partner this very tiny embroidery hoop:

(I just noticed the big 'ole CHINA mark on the bottom of the hoop... hmmm... should have put that to the back... *rollseyes* )

Anyhow, hopefully you've managed to follow what I did there... hope you like it!

x G

Dalek loves toaster

I whipped this up this afternoon for a secret Santa for the Sci-fi meetup group I go to (don't judge me for going to a meetup group!) it was partly inspired by this pattern I'd seen on Mr X stitch's blog recently lookee here:

only cross stitch is rubbish, and I think Daleks would like toasters better.

x G

K9/TARDIS reversible bag!!

oh companions!!


here are very purple person's pattern and tutorial
Here's my tardis/k9 templates, and my pocket pattern

I'm such a geek!

so... all warmed up for the Dr Who Swap on craftster :)

ALL the fabric used here is actually upcycled, the white floral stuff was a duvet cover I got for free from a carboot sale and the funky 70's brown stuff also came from a carboot sale, and it's a curtain :-) I'm MAD paying £1 for a single curtain but I loved the pattern... I thought I might make a skirt out of it but there wasn't really enough....

Anyhow the video explains everything I did differently to Very Purple Person ...please let me know if you use my applique templates, I'd love to see what you make!!

x G

Dr Who Pattern Book (AKA why it's good that Alex is a hoarder)

So one thing you probably don't know is that Alex (the boy) is a huge hoarder, he comes from a long line of hoarders and to be honest, he is taking ownership of his affliction and taking steps to curb his hoarding tendancies.

One fruit of his hoarding nature is this little gem:

Published in 1984, as you can see this was probably bought from a charity shop for 95p, which makes it double awesome as to buy today on amazon it would set you back about £25!!

For any international visitors Dr Who is a massive Sci-fi series from the BBC. 'Who' has been going just about as long as TV in the UK, it's so influential that when I was studying Media, Culture, and Society as part of my degree, Dr Who was often mentioned in lectures (groovy!)

And what did kid want to sew in 1984? ... well.. Dr Who costumes for their action men apparently...

And what did their Smexy dads look like?
the book actually includes the sewing pattern for this and a child's jumper... as well as a section called 'how to knit' for the absolute beginner... I shan't be knitting the Boy one of these....

But I may be making the boy one of these:
I think this is pretty cool, I also think it would go very well in the Boy's Star Wars room (don't ask... ) and he'd be able to use it to store paints, brushes, droid parts etc... I bought some fabric that's the right color, but it's polycotton and it's too flimsy. Although obviously I'd all the 'police call box bit at the top, its a bit dumb that Ms Gammon chose to omit this very important detail!

Cybermats are cute!
well... they are now.. I never thought of them as cute before this moment.
and d'you know what else is cute?
a knitted K-9! oh wow.. . I can imagine you've got to be quite skilled in the knitting stakes to get reasonable 'angles' on this... otherwise it'd just look quite unconvincing.

And if you don't knit, dont fear! You can sew K9 too!
I'm going to do this for a friend (and one for myself) but I'm going to mix the pattern in this book with the plushie pattern from crafty tardis (ohmyword craftytardis is awesome, I must add my creations there too...)

The book also includes the sewing pattern for that sailor top (apparently Romana's) ... what do you reckon the odd are of that little girl being beaten up by some angry chavs affronted by her mums hand made togs?

I like this shot - it's like the whole troupe saying goodbye at the end of the book.. very BBC

This book is awesome, you should keep tuned for various creations inspired by the patterns here.

Truely Geeky :-)
x G