Friday 6 July 2012

Patchwork Pencil Case

I saw this type of patchwork pencil case on A Spoonful of Sugar's blog and in issue 21 of Making Magazine.  They're so pretty and a great way to use up fabric scraps. This is my version.  Isn't the owl fabric cute?  The denim has been recycled from a pair of old jeans.

Patchwork Pencil Case by Berry Bakewell

Sunday 1 July 2012

Crochet Flower Headband


I made this headband for my niece. It was really simple and looked very pretty on. Unfortunately I didn't have a chance to take a picture so you'll just have to take my word for it ;-)

This is my first attempt at writing a pattern/tutorial! I hope it's correct.

Edit: Use whatever yarn/hook combination you like. The pictured headband was made using Rico Creative Cotton Aran and a 5mm hook.

Ch - chain
Dc - double crochet (US single crochet)
Tr - treble crochet (US double crochet)
Htr - half treble crochet (US half double crochet
Dtr - double treble crochet (US treble crochet)
Sl st - slip stitch

The headband is made in rows widthways instead of in a round, so:
1. ch 7, tr into 4th chain from hook, tr in the remaining 3 st.  Turn.
2. *Ch 2. tr in next 4 st.*
3. Repeat from * until the desired length has been achieved. The headband will stretch slightly so make it a good 1 inch / 2.5cm smaller than the head measurement. (For my 3 yr old niece I made 42 rows. Edit: that was actually way too big once it had stretched. 38 rows or so would have been enough. I just made one for myself and did 44 rows. It's quite a snug fit but I've recently discovered that I have a freakishly large head! But that's another story.)
4. Join the two ends: *ch 1, sl st through bottom loop of 1 tr and top loop of adjoining tr*. Repeat * another 4 times. Fasten off.
For a wider or narrower headband increase or decrease the number of foundation chains.

To make the flower:
1. (Leave a long tail and use that to attach the flower to the headband.) Ch 4. Sl st into 1st ch to form a ring.
2. 12 dc into ring. Sl st into 1st dc.
3. Ch 2 (counts as 1 htr). Htr in next st, ch 3, *htr in next 2 st, ch 3* 5 times. Sl st into 2nd ch of ch 2.
4. Ch 1. *Dc, htr, tr, dtr, ch 1, dtr, tr,htr,dc into next ch 3 space* 5 times. Dc, htr, tr, dtr, ch 1, dtr, tr,htr into next ch 3 sp. Sl st into ch 1 to complete round. Fasten off.

If you like, embellish the flower with a pretty button in the centre, or make the flower in a contrasting colour to the headband, or make more than one flower and layer them, offsetting the petals.
Sew the flower to the headband and sew in any loose ends. Et voila!  :-)