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Spider Web Beanie Crocheted Hat

September 15, 2014 By: Deena Pricecomment

My little guy who is 2 1/2 is obsessed with Spiderman! He loves Spiderman so much that there are days he wants to be called Spiderman! So when I found a pattern for a crocheted Spider Web hat, I had to make it for him!

I found the pattern and idea here. She found the idea here. This originally was made as a Halloween spiderweb hat. This is such an easy pattern that I may make some Halloween hats as well!

I made mine just like on My Hobby is Crochet website. I followed her directions for the cuff. Like her, I opted for a ribbed cuff. I added 3 rows of front post and back post double crochets.

I love how this hat turned out and my little guy loves it so much he wears it more than anything else I have made him!

How Do You Get Those Holes in the Blankets to Crochet Into???

September 6, 2014 By: Deena Price1 Comment

Well…that is the question I get asked most often.

So what are those holes and how do they get there and why are they so important? To be able to crochet nicely around a flannel blanket it is very important to have evenly spaced holes that stay open. There are a few different ways to do this. Some people use an awl to punch their own holes. I have not tried this method because I don’t believe I would get the evenness that I want and there is no stitch keeping the holes open. I have also seen products that are supposed to help you line up the holes so that you can punch them evenly. If you do a web search you will find lots of ideas on how to make the holes, but for me they all had one problem – due to the nature of flannel fabric, the holes do not easily stay open. I found instructions online for using a wing needle in your sewing machine to make the holes. This solved the problem of evenly spaced holes but because our sewing machines only have one needle, it does not stitch the hole open.

While I was looking online for a solution to my problem, I was fortunate to run across the website – www.heirloomhemstitching.com. It was the solution I had been looking for! Julie has a hemstitching machine that makes the holes that I needed to have a nicely completed project! So for about 6 years now, I have been buying my fabric and sending it to Arizona! I do not receive any compensation for promoting Julie’s site but I have always been happy with the work that she has done and the speed that she can do it in!

If you look around on Julie’s site, she tells all about the hemstitching machine and how it works. She also has her pricing list posted.

So here’s how it works for me…I buy flannel when it is on sale and I mail it to Julie. I buy 2 pieces of coordinating fabric that measure 1 yard each for each blanket and burp cloth set. Out of that fabric, I get one small baby blanket and 2 burp cloths. If you don’t want the burp cloths you can opt for 1 larger blanket.

She uses her magic (and her hemstitching machine) to turn my fabric into crochet-able blankets and burp cloths! I receive them back like the picture below. you can see that there is a salvage edge around the burp cloth. The close up picture below shows how her machine works to both punch the holes and sew them open at the same time!

After I receive my fabric, I trip the salvage edge off. I only leave about 1/4 of an inch of fabric. Trim slowly and carefully. If you cut into the hemstitching you can ruin your blanket.

All that is left to do now is to pick a crochet thread, pick a pattern and get to work! For this project I picked a variegated yellow crochet thread. It is the Omega brand 100% nylon thread. I chose to use the Basic Shell Crochet Edge Pattern that you can find on my site! Good luck and happy stitching.

Rag Quilt With Minky Fabric Tutorial

September 4, 2014 By: Deena Price2 Comments

I have always loved the look of Rag Quilts! My mom is a quilter. I am not nearly as talented as her, but I do love to make baby quilts! My husband and I have been doing foster care for 4 years. We started taking infants 2 1/2 years ago and so I decided I needed some baby blankets, not just my crocheted baby afghans. So I bought some neutral fabric that I loved and got to work!

The traditional rag quilt is made with flannel fabric for both the front and back of the quilt with batting in the center but I wanted something different. I found my inspiration here! So I used Calico fabric for the front, flannel fabric instead of batting and Minky fabric for the back.

Materials:

Approximately 2 yards of fabric – I used Calico prints from Joann’s Fabric store
1 yard of batting or 1 yard of flannel – I used brown flannel
1 yard of backing material – I used Minky fabric
Cutting mat and rotary cutter
Coordinating thread
Sharp scissors – I love my Tim Holtz Scissors – Tim Holtz Kushgrip – Micro Serrated Snips

Directions:

Cut all your fabric for the front of your baby quilt into squares. You can do any size square. In this quilt, I used 4×4 inch squares.

You will also need to cut all the fabric for the back of your quilt. You will also make these squares the same size as the pieces you cut for the front of your quilt. I use a cutting mat, rotary cutter and ruler to make this process quick and easy! The handle that you see on my ruler is actually a suction handle for a shower or bath. Using it makes picking your ruler up without moving your material so much easier. You can purchase them on Amazon – here: Mommy’s Helper Safer Grip 11.5″

The last step for cutting your material is your filler or center piece. On a traditional rag quilt, you would use a thin batting and cut it 1″ smaller than your material. So if my material was cut into 4″ squares then my batting would be cut into 3″ squares. But because I am not using flannel for my top or bottom pieces, I need flannel for my center pieces so that it will “shred” and look like a rag quilt. If you use flannel for your filler, then you cut it the same size as your other fabric pieces.

It is hard to see on the next picture, but you then layer your fabric with the flannel sandwiched in the middle. The right side of your fabric needs to face out for both your top and bottom layers.

To save time you can use an assembly line process to sew your blocks together. You sew two diagonal lines on each block to form an X. Sew all of your blocks before moving on to the next step.

Once you have all of your X’s sewn on your blocks, lay them out and decide how you want your quilt to look. You can use as little as 2 different types of fabric. I used 7 in my quilt because I wanted more of a scrappy look to my blanket.

Once you have your pattern laid out, sew your pieces together in order to make rows. I used a 1/2″ seem in my quilt. You can use as little as 1/2″ seem up to a 1″ seem. The larger your seem is, the more “raggy” your quilt will look. Once your rows are complete, start sewing them together to complete your quilt top. After you have completed sewing all your rows together you need to sew all the way around the outside of the quilt. Use the same seem allowance.

Here are pictures of the back and front of my completed quilt…only one more step to go – get your scissors out and start snipping!

This part of the quilt will go much faster if you have a nice sharp set of scissors. I really like using my Tim Holtz scissors for this. They are mildly serrated, so they cut great! Make sure NOT to cut too deep on your fabric. you don’t want to cut any of your seems you just sewed. The last step is to wash and dry your new baby blanket. When you wash it, the flannel part of the fabric will start to fray and give you the “rag” look!

Here is my completed baby quilt – I LOVE how it turned out! Please feel free to email me with any questions – Happy Quilting!