Category: Recycling

Chainstitch Card

unikatissima Chainstitch Card

Links of entry

I just wanted to show once more how beautiful embroidery on paper and cardboard can be ;-)

Here I cut a beautiful blue patterned square from a magazine and glued on white cardboard.
Then I drew very faint curved lines with a pencil, pricked holes along the lines and stitched them with a chain stitch.
Looks fine, doesn’t it?

I find though that the chain stitch looks much better on straight lines or wide curves than on sharp turns (it ‘inclines’ somewhat), that’s something one could pay attention to when drawing the lines.


Links:
Instruction for chain stitch

Here at unikatissima: Embroidered Matisse Cushion

Knitted/Crocheted Bangles

unikatissima Knitted Bangle
Recently I wanted to make some knitted napkin rings as a gift and looked for a way to 1. keep their shape and 2. make them washable.
And I really found a solution which is also great for making bangles ;-)): use a core of recycled plastic bottle and a knitted or crocheted all over cover.

 

That’s what you do:
unikatissima Knitted Bangle Cut rings in the desired width from a plastic bottle.
I cut here two rings because the circumference of the bottle was too small for a bangle for me.

 

unikatissima Knitted Bangle Where the rings are to be joined you need an overlap of about 2 cm.
I pricked 3 holes with a pointy needle and threaded the yarn I used later for knitting through them to fix both sides. The big advantage is that you don’t see anything of this later.

 

unikatissima Knitted Bangle Then knit the ‘cover’. I worked with quite thick acrylic yarn and began with a stocking stitch part for the inside whereas outside I used a moss stitch pattern.
Depending on the used yarn the inside diameter can get a good deal narrower, in this case make the plastic rings a little bit larger.
When the cover is finished sew the sides together.

 

unikatissima Knitted Bangle That’s how the finished bangle looks.
Originally I wanted to have the seam at the inside of the bangle but I ‘produced’ always a thick bulged seam. Therefore I knitted the ‘folding line’ between both patterns with purls and sew at the rim (which is much easier, too ;-)).
The bulged seam looks similar to the purled row and now I like it.

 

unikatissima Knitted Bangle The plastic ring core has more advantages (besides the fact that it is cost-saving): the bangle keeps its shape but is flexible so that it doesn’t interfere with writing (usually I don’t wear bangles for just this reason).

 

unikatissima Knitted Bangle What is more I can wash it: That’s how my bangle looks after I machine-washed it at 30°C together with dark(!) cloths.
No problem there ;-)
But this depends strongly from the used yarn.

 

I used thick acrylic yarn here and find that it looks like a winter bangle, but it can surely be crocheted as well with fine cotton thread or knitted in stocking stitch with variegated sock yarns or simply be wrapped with fun yarns, possibly even be wrapped with a sewn fabric cover…
If you try something like this I would appreciate if you’d link it in the comments!
Have much fun.
plastic bottle bracelet

Needle Felting Your Knit

unikatissima Needle Felting Your Knit

Links of entry

I presented before some tutorials and inspirations on the subject of ‘felting’, but it were mostly instructions on how to produce something from felt.
The tutorial on how to felt on self-knitted items is a little different: we take a sweater or bag or the like that we have knitted (ok, bought works also ;-)) and applique a felt decoration.
I surely will give it a try once!


Links:
Decorate Your Knitting with Needle Felting

Here at unikatissima: entries with the tag ‘felting’

Plastic Bottle Beads


unikatissima Plastic Bottle Beads

Links of entry

There remained some leftovers from our cut plastic bottle, from which we already made a knitting loom and a plastic box and we can use them to make some beads.
In the instruction on how to make plastic bottle beads they roll up the plastic strip and melt it together with a heat gun.
I don’t have no heat gun and I’m a little afraid of possibly developing fumes, therefore I did it in a different way:

 

unikatissima Plastic Bottle Beads Material I brought water to the boil in my craft pan (which I don’t use for food preparation anymore!).
Then I cut a stripe from the plastic bottle and rolled tightly using some tweezers.
Look out, it always try to uncoil!

 

unikatissima Plastic Bottle Beads I hold the rolled ‘bead’ with my craft wooden pliers (also not used for food preparation anymore) into the simmering water and in seconds the bead was finished.
I don’t know if I could have coloured the bead with permanent markers, I’ve forgotten to test this.
Besides the end doesn’t fuse with the bead, but it doesn’t open neither.

 

unikatissima Plastic Bottle Beads Because it always wanted to uncoil I hold it quite firm with my wooden pliers and the bead became a little flat.
Pressing it in the other direction and dipping into the simmering water again didn’t make the bead round.
But 1. I like the shape and 2. I think it’s only a matter of practice.


Links:
Plastic Bottle Beads

Plastic Bottle Box

greenupgrader Soda Bottle Coin Purse

Links of entry

Yesterday we cut a plastic bottle to make a knitting loom, today we can make a box from the cut off bottom of the bottle.
It’s not a real instruction, but when you look closely at the photos you can see that the plastic bottoms are perforated at the edge and that a zipper is sewn into the holes.
Fantastic!

Addendum: There are instructions now, you can find the English ones here (thanks, Nina).


Links:
Plastic Bottle Box (recycled box/Recycling Box)
English instructions
German instructions

I’ve seen the photo and found it time-consuming to find the source:
I found the link to the plastic bottle box:
via Need More Fiber,
via Dollar Store Crafts (they have more great ideas!),
via greenUPGRADER,
via Superuse.org
I thought that I’d never reach an end ;-))

By the way I suggest to take a look a the flickr group TRASHION NATION, they also have great ideas!

Knitting Loom from Plastic Bottle

knitchat Plastic Bottle Knitting Looms

Links of entry

I always wanted to play around with a knitting loom, but I won’t buy such an item!
Therefore I was delighted when finding the instruction on how to make a knitting loom from a plastic bottle.
For a begin she even added a tutorial for a much easier knitting loom from a toilet paper roll and some popsicle sticks (that’s no April Fool’s joke ;-))!

I will try the loom from the bottle in any case :)


Links:
Knitting Loom from Plastic Bottle (How To’s Day: Bored? Nothing to do, Make a knitting loom with stuff in your house!)

Basic Loom and Board Instructions
There are two PDF files: Knitting Board Basics (ca 790 KB) and Loom Knitting Basics (ca 3300 KB)

She even added a tutorial on how to make mitered squares with a knitting loom (see also here at unikatissima the Patchwork knitting and the Module Sock)

Here at unikatissima:
Patchwork knitting
Module Sock