Built from the septagon mat, but I decided to make this a separate post. I was so tickled with how the septagon design looked that I wanted to make some more using flower colors. Good luck joining seven sided motifs, so it had to turn into eight. But a square is simpler! While messing around…
I wanted, not a dishcloth, but a cotton round to lie on the kitchen counter for cushion under pans and things. I wanted it openwork for more ventilation. 1) Dig through the internet for two hours 2) There’s nothing like that 3) Invent something. Not that I really cared until I started, but there aren’t…
Could it be this easy? Just add a knob to the hand wheel? I didn’t know, but the motor doesn’t work any more, so there was nothing to lose by trying. I drilled a hole in the hand wheel and attached a bit of dowel with a screw. Voila, a modern zigzag hand crank sewing…
I see a real need for this. It’s a simple, quick dress to fit any Barbie shape. We have a pile of naked Barbies. They need clothes quick, and they should be able to share. Let’s go. Here’s a simple shift dress that pulls on, with a tie in the back. The other, a basic…
I’ve had some kind of block lately and have to force myself to write. This is an exercise. The website name was also an exercise in self-acceptance many years ago. I grew up disliking my name, but in retrospect that may have been because people only called me by it when they were angry. I…
But can it make Spirographs? Yes, it can! Only basic ones, not fancy designs like Illustrator, but they’re pretty and they’re easy and fun. They scratch my Spirograph itch. Here’s a basic oval that was Selection – Duplicated, then the copies rotated. It really only takes moments once you’re used to how Ivy Draw operates….
If you need to transfer sewing patterns or other patterns from pdf document to paper without a printer, here’s one method using Ivy Draw. Craft magazines used to come with miniature patterns on a grid to be enlarged onto graph paper. Nowadays it’s rare because of printers. But sometimes you don’t have a printer. Ivy…
Loving this app! Absolute genius and SO affordable. It fills in the gap when I need to get something done and I’m not near Illustrator. I couldn’t find much in the way of a manual or tutorials, so here I’m compiling my own guide page as I figure things out. Have patience with a work…
It’s about as simple, basic and easy as a sewing pattern can get. Free pdf to print at home. Free pinafore dress pattern with modest neckline and long armholes. Adult woman/misses size. This is a multi-size pattern I made up several years ago. Nowadays I think I made the sizing more generous than it needs…
I was having a granny square thing for a while and churned out a bunch of scrapghans. But what about a granny crochet diamond? I can’t remember what got me on the idea of a diamond shape, which is sad, because usually the long-winded story of the whole course of the inspiration and development is…
Amazing! From my imagination to a motiv that was exactly what I had in mind, on the first try. That’s not usually how it goes. I’ll have a try at writing the pattern. If you see any errors let me know. With center color, ch4, join with sl st In the ring, ch3, sc, (ch1,…
Here’s the latest tidying of my website! I wanted it to be completely on WordPress since I’m about to move off grid and need to be able to make all my changes online. Wait, does that sound backwards? I’m going where there’s no power, so I won’t be able to run Dreamweaver on my desktop…
I love Miss Blue’s beautiful space princess hair. Of course my first dress for her had to be a princess seams sundress. Princess seams are not a very easy design to create. I set out to do a strapless at first, but it didn’t happen and this did. Might be because I can identify with…
The goal was to make a square chart for cross-stitch or needlepoint by tracing a background image onto a grid. I found various methods to make the chart, but nothing about how to color it other than resorting to something like bitmap painting with the fill tool. There are plenty of ways to automatically digitize…
Here’s another dress pattern to make your own outfits for Best Fashion Friend Barbie. NOTE this is NOT the regular height Barbie, this is the big 28 inch super sized one! But not 36 inch My Size Barbie either. I don’t have clothes for the 36″ one. For the regular size 11.5 inch tall Barbie…
I realize this is Thanksgiving week and there are a lot of grandmas out there who need some 28″ Barbie clothing in a hurry, so I’m sharing this pattern for you, in its unfinished state. I’m planning to do more work on it later. Here is a dress I made from this draft back in…
Here’s a great project from a reader named Susan. She wanted to sew a sushi pillow as a gift for her grandson, and happened across my spirals page while looking for ideas. I had no idea “sushi pillow” was a thing, but when I googled for it, it looks like many people have made one….
Dramatic black, white and red music-themed fabric chosen by a musician. I only have a couple photos while it was in progress. Hopefully one day I’ll have a photo of it being worn! This was made from the patterns on the spirals page.
Here’s a full length spiral dress for a grown-up! …with wolves on it. When I was a teenager, I found a spiral dress at a second hand shop. It was too small for me, but I was so fascinated with those seams going round and round that I bought it anyway. Eventually I decided it…
To my delight, I was gifted a Paradise Kids 18″ doll that needed some clothing. I got right to work making her something. Here we are with a basic peasant dress, but this is only the beginning. I have something else in mind, something VERY cool, you’ll see! It might be ten years from now…