written by marieann

I got the idea to make this neck warmer from a girl in my crochet group. I was excited to try it out because it’s just like a scarf only smaller (so it takes much less time!), and you don’t have to worry about wrapping it. I also love the cute little curl like a turtleneck. I was worried that it would be too warm to wear before I finished it, but this baby barely took any time at all. So when it snowed yesterday, I was prepared!

This is a very easy project and strongly suggested for a beginner because it is much quicker to do than a scarf or a long-time crocheter could finish in just a few hours.

Supplies
Yarn, one small skein

Tools
Scissors
Medium-sized crochet needle
Large eyed sewing needle

Instructions
1. Chain until you’re chain, lightly stretched, is about 12-14 inches long. This will be the width of your collar.
2. Double crotchet, in the font loop of the entire chain. Chain one, turn.
3. Double crochet, in the back loop of the entire chain. Chain one, turn.
4. In this way alternate the front or back loop until you’re piece is big enough to go around your head. This alternation makes a nice pattern with the yarn.

(It doesn’t show up that well in the photo, but I think you can see there is some variation).

5. When you finish, knot the yarn, and cut the end.
6. Use the sewing needle and some yarn to stitch the ends of the collar together to make a complete circle.
7. Be ready to be cute and warm!

written by threadslinger

When I first became a vegetarian I naturally just replaced meat in my diet with pasta and since I’m italian, pasta was always a staple in my life that grew when I no longer had chicken. However, I was quickly realizing that eating a lot of pasta is not good for staying fit so I have been investing in different kinds of veggie dishes that can still fill you up. I found this cassarole which is awesome tasting, super easy and very healthy.

Ingedients:

1 Cup long grain rice
2 Cups water
2 T vegetable oil
1 1/2 pounds zucchini cubed (i used 3 medium sized zucchs)
1 Cup sliced green onions
1 clove garlic, minced
1 1/4 t garlic salt
1/2 t basil
1/2 t paprika
1/2 t dried oregano
1 1/2 C seeded, chopped tomatoes
2 Cups shredded cheddar cheese

Directions:

1. Combine rice and water in a saucepan (or rice cooker if you have one)and bring to a boil. Reduce to low heat and simmer 20 min.
2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and lightly grease a shallow casserole dish.
3. Heat the oil in a skillet over medium heat and cook zucchini, green onions and garlic for 5 min or until tender. Season with salt, basil, paprika, and oregno.

4. Mix in cooked rice, tomatoes and 1 cup cheese. Continue to cook and stir until heated through. Transfer to the prepared casserole dish. Top with remaining cheese.

5. Bake uncovered for 20 min or unitl cheese is melted and bubbly. Enjoy

written by marieann

I made this stencil from a photograph of one of my favorite spots in Honolulu. This hula girl was on the construction signs across from my work and I loved seeing her every day. See my previous posts, here, for general stenciling tips and here for bridge building instructions. She’s got a very detailed skirt but she’s really an easier stencil than most because she’s just one solid cutout.

Click on the pattern to view/print the full size stencil:

written by threadslinger

I have been wanting a pair of skinny jeans, but I had a hard time finding a pair that were the right legth for me. This is a constant problem for women my size (5′2) but is made worse by skinny jeans because you have the weird bunching at the bottom of the leg if they are too long. So, I decided to make my own. There are quite a few tutorials out there so I read them and then created my own.

Before:

After:

Materials
Jeans (ones that fit you well)
sewing machine (with a jean needle)
pins
marker

1. Put your jeans on inside out and draw a faint line starting at your knee. Then take off the jeans and pin down that line. This should make a straight leg. Do not cut anything yet.

2. Sew along that line of pins. Then try on jeans to see if it is the right fit, ie not too tight or too loose. Repeat until you get it just right.

3. At the knee there will be some fabric bunching. The solution I came up with is to try on the jeans, draw the line from your thigh and sew the line again. This part was kind of frusterating and took a lot of me trying on the jeans to make sure that they fit just right and that there wasn’t a huge bunch on the side.

4. After you are satisfied with the leg cut off the access jeans. Repeat these steps on the other leg and bam! you’ve got your self some skinny jeans.

This is a joint tutorial! Here’s my (Marie Ann) version of the same instructions. I didn’t have any jeans I was willing to part with so I used this real military pants that were too manly anyway.

Before:

 After: (there isn’t actually a buble on the left leg, that’s just how it was sitting when I shot the photo)

 I have one tip to add.  I suggest fully completing one leg first.  Then fold that leg over (very very carefully) and trace that to the other side.  This gets you closer to the completely size much quicker than the pin / try out method that you have to use for the first leg.

written by marieann

I was tired of my belts falling on the floor. I had them drapped over a hanger but they got all tangled and lost. So with some fabric remnants and only a little bit of sewing, I made this! It’s very circus-like and bright.

Supplies
Sturdy plastic hanger
Fabric remnants (my fabric had a bit of stretch which I think was helpful but probably not mandatory)
Needle and thread

Tools
Sewing machine
Scissors
Rotary cuter/ruler optional (but strongly suggested)
Fabric chalk

Instructions
1. Fold your fabric in half (wrong sides together), pin the layers together, and trace around the edge of the hanger. Draw a SECOND line approximately 1/4 an inch away from this (making the fabric bigger than the hanger), but it doesn’t have to be perfect. Cut these two layers out along your second larger line.
2. Cut four strips of fabric 2 inches wide, grain-wise. (I say four strips based on 45 inch wide fabric cut with my rotary cutter. You need approximately 120 inches of length total.
3. Sew the two hanger pieces together along ONLY the corner curves, that is, where the straight bottom curves to edges. Sew directly on the first line you marked tracing the hanger. Leave turned wrong-side out.
4. Now you’re going to make the strips. This is just a simple way to make your own bias tape (but not on the bias because it doesn’t matter for these small pieces not sewn on the curve). Fold your two inch strips in half and press. Then unfold and fold each edge toward the center and meet at the fold. Fold in half again (along your pressed line) and press. Do this with all the strips. Then zigzag along the open end. I am sure there are prettier ways to do this but this is how I did it and it still looks nice.
5. Cut these strips nine inches long. If you have a lot of narrow belts you could make them shorter but if you have any fat belts you’ll need them to be this length. Pin them to your main hanger piece. Pin thru ONE layer of the fabric, with about one inch of the loop hanging above your stitch line. At this point, you want your loops to be pointed down (away from the hanging curve at the top). If you have a lot of belts I think you could overlap these loops. That is, instead of cutting 13 loops like I did, you could cut 20+ and overlap them some so that you will have a front and back row of belts. I chose to just put two belts on some loops but I think this would work too.
6. Baste these loops to the fabric. This is the tricky part. Fold the loops under even with the bottom edge of the fabric so that they are now hidden between the two layers and pointed up (toward the loop. Pin them curved around so that you catch the layer on the front and back. So when you pin these you should have an inch showing on the wrong side and the rest of the loop on the other side pointed up. Once you’ve pinned all the loops in place, pin the front hanger piece to the back hanger piece. * The reason for doing it this way is to reinforce the straps. This adds to the strength by sewing thru the layers multiple times. You could do it an easier way but I am afraid that the weight of the belts would pull out the loops.
7. Sew the bottom closed. You will be sewing thru FOUR layers (that is, the front of the main piece, the loop doubled over (but each loop is multiple layers too so it’s more like six layers) and then the back layer.
8. Turn the piece right side out and remove the pins. Press the edges so that your edges are totally crisp.
9. Put the hanger into the cover. Turn under the edges 1/4 an inch and blind stitch the top edge closed.
10. Hang lots of belts on it and jump around with pride.

written by threadslinger

I really wanted to make something thoughtful for my boss and her new baby. After scouring the blogs for good baby patterns and found this booty pattern from Hello My Name is Heather (an awesome blog from this woman who has the most amazing studio ever, seriously it made Marie and I cry it was so beautiful.)

I did my own take on the booties and since my boss prefers more simple things I didn’t get to go as crazy decorating them as some of the other people that have made them did but I picked this really soft fleece and even stitched little W’s on the sides (the new baby’s last name).

But, I did create the pattern for the hat on my own. Here are the instructions for how to do it.

Materials needed

Fleece (2 colors)
sewing machine
thread

1. Fold fleece fabric in half and measure across 10 inches. Cut out a half circle.
2. Stitch along edges of circle allowing a 1 inch seam allowance around the outside.
3. Cut out a rectangle of the other fabric approx 20 inches. Stitch to the bottom of the hat while it inside out. Then flip hat out and stitch together bottom rectangle piece at the end to finish it off.

written by admin

There is a fantastically fun party going on. Bloggers are coming out of the zeros and ones to meet each other. Mingle, share your ideas and of course, make new friends! If you haven’t joined the party yet, do so here. The party is complete with favors.

If you’re here for the party, welcome to diynamite! We’re a couple of New Yorker girls. We share with you tutorials for a wide range of creative projects — from clothing recon, to stencils, to crochet, and cooking. We would love for you to make our stuff and share you results. Or feel free to share links to your own creative blogs!

And of course, paaarty!

“It is better to create than to be learned, creating is the true essence of life.” Barthold Georg Niebuh

written by marieann

I followed this tut to make yoga pants from an oversized t-shirt. Apparently I have some wide hips because even this jumbo t-shirt wasn’t large enough so I went with the stripes down the side. I also had a pretty hard time making the waistband look clean. It definitely doesn’t look nice enough to wear as dressy pants but they are perfect for wearing around the house. Tshirt material feels so soft on your legs. Yay for this pattern.

written by marieann

It is shockingly easy to make a circle skirt. It’s so cute and full. I am thinking about making a black petticoat (out of this lacey fabric I have) to wear underneath this adorable polka dot skirt. This was going to be the infinity dress but honestly I didn’t like that dress fit on me. So I took off the straps and converted it into this extremely versatile skirt.

Materials
Approximately a yard of preferably 60inch wide stretchy (knit is perfect) fabric

Tools
Sewing machine
Iron
Scissors

Instructions
1. Fold your fabric in half length-wise, then in half width-wise.
2. Measure around your waist or hips (wherever you want the skirt to sit).
2. Draw the following pattern onto your skirt using the following method (click on the image to view the full size; I am sorry it’s kind of hard to see, but for some reason paint did a weird conversion).

Take your waist/hip measurement and do the following formula (ewe math!). R = waist measurement / (6.28)
Mark “R” inches on the edge of each fold (like the picture shows in bold marked radius.) Mark that same R distance from the corner into the skirt. Connect those dots with a circle shape to make the top circle. Then measure away from that circle down the number of inches long you want your skirt to be. Do this in lots of places so you have lots of dots to connect.

3. Cut out a waist band the length of your waist and however wideyou’d like it. Mine is a narrow band 4″ wide but you can make more of a yolk here if you’d like.

4. Sew the ends of the waist band together to make a circle. Try this on to be sure you can pull it up and then it fits.

5. Turn under the upper edge of the waist band a 1/2 an inch and sew along the edge to make a clean one.

6. Pin the waist band to the inner circle and sew together.

7. You’re done! If you don’t like the bottom edge being raw, then turn the under edge over 1/2 and sew around. If you use knit, it should not unravel so it’s fine.

ALTERNATIVE WAY

If your fabric isn’t wideenough to make a skirt of the desired length by folding it twice, only fold the fabric in half once. You’ll be drawing half the skirt instead of a quarter of the skirt.

Add 1/2 an inch to your waist measurement before calculating your R with the same formula as above.

Find the center of your folded edge and mark a dot here. This is the center of your circle. Draw another dot R inches away from your center point. Draw another dot R inches the opposite direction. Then draw lots more R inches from the center along the inside of the skirt. Connect those dots to make your half circle. Follow the directions the same way from above to make the bottom arc of the circle.

When you cut out the two pieces, sew them together at the sides with a 1/4 seam. Everything else is the same.