plastic

in accessories,Jewelry,Nuts About Needlepoint

needlepoint pendants from plastic canvas from Crafty Pod

Make a quick gift with these pendants, designed by Crafty Pod

Are you looking for something fashionable, in any colors you like, and made of needlepoint as a gift or for something for yourself? How about these charming little geometric pendants?

You use scraps of embroidery floss and 10 mesh plastic canvas. The shape can be rectangular, square, or diamond-shaped. The pattern can be any geometric you like.

Once complete embellish it with buttons or other items, add a jump ring and string it onto a necklace. And your done!

Sister Diane of CraftyPod developed this design and shares it with us in this tutorial, including detailed finishing instructions

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Fast, FAST Needlepoint – Plastic Canvas Pendants

Texas Needlepointer Profiled

needlepoint nativity stitched by Diane Bosworth

Diane Bosworth, author of Beards I have Known, was recently profiled in the Cleborne, Texas Times-Review.

Diane is a well-known stitcher, teacher and former needlepoint shop owner. She has stitched over 150 Petei Santas, which served as her inspiration for her book. The book looks at different ways to stitch beards.

The short article gives the reader a delightful feel for Diane, her life, and the joy she takes in stitching. As a bonus there are pictures of some of her work, including the lovely nativity pictured here.

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Texas Needlepointer Profiled

Plastic Canvas Baby Blocks – Free Pattern

Stitched Canvas Infant Blocks 2_thumb[1]

Plastic Canvas Blocks from Roots & Wings Co.

One of the best things about needlepoint os that you can customize your stitching to suit your tastes or the tastes of the recipient. Take this free pattern for plastic canvas blocks from Roots & Wings Co. for example. You could stitch a set to match a nursery’s decor, or one using the mom’s favorite color.

There are suggestions for several options for the blocks, as well as pictures of others. You could make a color block (with each side a different color), dice blocks, a shape block (with each side a different shape), patterns, or even the traditional letters.

The blocks use standard plastic canvas squares from the craft store.

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Plastic Canvas Baby Blocks – Free Pattern

Thrifty Stitcher – Free Plastic Canvas Pattern

in accessories,Nuts About Needlepoint

Plastic canvas washing up kit from Craft Leftovers

With more and more of us brown bagging it to work and many of us going for reusable containers, we face an unpleasant choice. We can bring our dirty dishes home and wash them there, or we can wash them at work. I don’t know about you, but I have never worked at a place that had really great facilities for washing up.

My friend Kristen at Craft Leftovers has come up with this great plastic canvas washing up kit that solves this problem beautifully and economically. Tucked inside the 3-D plastic canvas box, you’ll find a hand-knitted dishcloth and a bottle of dishwashing liquid.

It’s automatically color-coordinated because you use the same yarn to knit the dishcloth and make the box. Knitting dishcloths is an easy project, one well within the skills of even a beginning knitter. They could also be crocheted or you could even buy one.

The open mesh provides drainage automatically and, if needed, you could even hand-wash the box. The directions to make it are clear and you could even adapt them to make other boxes, maybe as containers for your kid’s lunches.

I love this fast & thrifty idea!

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Thrifty Stitcher – Free Plastic Canvas Pattern

Great Plastic Canvas Storage Box

plastic canvas storage box from Crafty Pod

My friend Diane over at Crafty Pod has a love for plastic canvas. She’s made many remarkable projects from it, buys vintage and Japanese books on it looking for ideas, and generally lifts this material from the realm of church-bazaar crafts to something fun, bright, and hip.

There are two tremendous virtues to plastic canvas that are showcased well in Diane’s pieces. First, since it’s rigid, you can use it to make useful things, like this box, and finish them yourself. Second, because the mesh size is large, plastic canvas projects are quick to stitch.

Because there are so many wonderful knitting yarns out there, your project can be made in bright colors and the natural fibers we’re used to as needlepointers.

Diane’s box tutorial over at CRAFT magazine is simply marvelous. She begins by explaining how to measure items and size your box. Then she goes on to talk about yarns and different materials for stitching. She also covers how to find different stitches and shows you how she stitched the box. The tutorial really shines at showing you how to construct the box, with close-up photos of each step.

But my absolute favorite thing in the project is the way she incorporated fabric panels on the sides of the box. This is so inspired and such fun. It’s also a great way to come up with a color scheme, by matching your threads colors to the fabric.

This is a project that has everything: it reflects your style, uses your stash, can be finished yourself and, best of all, makes you more organized. Great stuff, Diane!

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Great Plastic Canvas Storage Box

Gold Leafing on Canvas – Try a New Technique

Thanks to ANG and Judy Souliotis for providing an article from the archives of their magazine. The article goes through how to do gold leafing on needlepoint canvas.

I’ve used metallic markers and stencils to color canvas in the past, and there are plenty of metallic paints out there in all kinds of colors. But nothing can match the richness and real metal look of gold leaf.

The major obstacle Judy encountered was finding an adhesive that would work, but that wouldn’t discolor the canvas.

You can read the details of what she did in the article. I can’t wait to try it.

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Gold Leafing on Canvas – Try a New Technique

Two Great Plastic Canvas Patterns

plastic canvas diagonal mosaic tissue box cover

Free Patterns.com is a great resource for project ideas, especially for plastic canvas designs. Thanks to Denise, the Needlework Editor at CraftGossip for ferreting out these and tons of other great stuff.

You may think of plastic canvas as something icky done by your grandmother, but it can be so much more than that. My friend, Diane from CraftyPod, is another huge PC fan and her stuff is not boring or old-fashioned at all.

PC projects such as this Diagonal Mosaic tissue box cover are only as boring as you make them. Make it from acrylic knitting yarns and it’s dull. Make the same box using leftover knitting wool (maybe a self-striping one) or Persian Wool from your stash and it becomes something special.

It’s charted for 7 count canvas, which means thick, thick thread. But double the count for each piece (or use the measurements) and use 14 mesh PC. Then you can use most threads you would use on 18 mesh mono canvas and will have a piece of great delicacy and grace.

Because this pattern uses one stitch. that’s simple to do. Start the initial row in one corner and alternate the colors.

plastic canvas patchwork quilt block jar covers

Or what about making these delightful quilt jar covers to turn a jar of homemade jam into an even more special gift.

Patchwork designs are perfect for using your scraps and with my ebook, you can find even more. I’m thinking of making some of these for gifts.

One last thought, just because a technique is out of fashion or you see it in icky colors doesn’t mean that it isn’t worth doing. By ignoring the garish 70’s colors, I figured out how to do needlepoint damask. Anne Orr’s dull 30’s color reflect the smaller selection of threads available then, but the designs are great. Part of the beauty of needlepoint is making it into something that reflects you.