Tuesday, April 6, 2010

Tutorial Tuesday - Wandering Lydia's carnations



I just featured Wandering Lydia's great shop on Friday, and now she is generously sharing her sweater ribbing carnation tutorial with us!

Here it is, straight from her blog :

"Sweater Rib Carnation Instructions

Happy St. Patrick's Day!
You know me, gotta use every scrap! Here is an easy way to use the waist ribbing from a felted sweater to make a pretty carnation. This works best with a typical K2, P2 ribbing. Carefully cut the ribbing from the sweater and cut apart the halves. Trim the ends along the edge of a raised rib. Fold and pin the strip in half lengthwise matching the ribs. Thread a large needle with strong thread. Give it plenty of length because you'll use be using it to baste and sew the flower. I use the old fashioned way of measuring a yard. I make sure the threaded needle is long enough to reach from my nose to the end of my outstretched hand. Baste the strip without shifting or puckering the ribs.


Now cut between each raised rib to just under the line of stitches.



Gather the cut strip to compress the petals and tie a knot but don't cut the thread. Start rolling and sewing the petals into a flower. Once you get past the first bit you don't need to sew all the way through, just into the previous row.


It will naturally want to get a bit domed as you go and this is fine. This will give the blossom depth. Tie off the end securely and you're done."


Wandering Lydia even used one of her carnations as hair for one of her dolls. Isn't that clever?


I tried her tutorial and they were so fun to make! This is a great project for those who have no sewing machines, or like to have a project to take with you on the go or in front of the tv. Here are mine:

I used scraps of ribbing, but if I would have used pieces with more length they probably would have looked better... fuller, but I still think they turned out great!


Thank you for the great tutorial, Wandering Lydia!!!

7 comments:

Tina said...

Just made a few of these after using the sleeves of a felted sweater to make some coasters. Feels good to not waste anything!

Resweater said...

I use every bit of the sweaters, and you're right... it does feel good! :)

Tina said...

Made a bunch more today, and I love them. My camera is charging, but I plan to add pictures tomorrow to the FB fan page.

Did you decide what to do with Buddy?

Resweater said...

I'm going to have a giveaway with Buddy, as soon as I have a little time. I have 12 projects going on at once right now, but will start that shortly!

Lora said...

I've done something like this for monster hair, but the tutorial will help me make even better monster hair with ribbing!!!

Dusty said...

Thanks for showing Laina and I how to make these..this will be a great project for us next week :) I will send you the pics!

Connie said...

Wonderful little tutorial. Thanks so much for sharing! Just discovered your blog and LOVE it!!!!