Crocheted Paillette Necklace

Who doesn't love sequins? They're colorful and sparkly--and a little magical. I used blue paillettes--which are really just big, flat sequins--and blue embroidery floss to make this pretty necklace. It's shimmery and frothy, and I think it looks like something that could have watched up on an enchanted beach.

This necklace is one of my "use what you have" projects. The paillettes are from leftover scraps of trim. I had skeins of old embroidery floss in different shades of blue, so I just wound them all together to make a ball of crochet thread. The only skills you need for this project are chain stitch and a bit of patience. I used a tiny No. 10 steel crochet hook, which fit through the holes on the paillettes, and just stitched until I ran out of paillettes and floss. Instead of counting stitches, which would have driven me crazy, I used measurements when I made the necklace. 

To begin, I made a short length of chain stitch and added my first paillette. (Don't be intimidated; you just push through hook through the hole in the paillette, pull the thread through hole, and then continue chain stitching.) I then continued crocheting and placed paillettes randomly, but fairly evenly spaced, as I worked.

When the chain was about 28 inches long, I fastened it to the starting stitch with slip stitch. I made two more slip stitches and went back to chain stitch. To give the necklace a layered look, I varied the lengths of the strands from about 28 inches to 32 inches. I also made several strands without paillettes. Each time I reached the starting point, I slip-stitched in the three existing slip stitches and returned to chain stitch. When I got to the end of my ball of floss, I finished with three slip stitches, cut the floss, and wove the end into the chain stitches.

I love this project because it's so simple and adaptable. If you're not an embroidery floss hoarder like me, you can use crochet thread or pearl cotton. And if you don't have leftover paillette trim on hand, you can find bags of flat sequins in all sizes and colors and crafts stores and fabric shops.

Felt Watermelon Basket

I love eating watermelon--the juicier and messier, the better. But I also love the look of watermelons. They're so fresh, bright, and summery. I think this felt watermelon basket looks as cheery as the real thing. You can use your basket to hold the felt watermelon coasters shown in the photo (I featured them last July on my blog; click here for the link). Or you can fill your basket with cocktail napkins, wrapped candies, or other summer party necessities.

For each watermelon basket you'll need: 1 sheet each of red and green felt, scraps of green rickrack, black seed beads, and green, red, white, and black embroidery floss. (I like to use a double strand of floss instead of sewing thread because it has a nice sheen.)

To make the outside of the basket, cut a 4 1/2" circle from red felt, a 6" circle from green felt, and an 8 1/2" by 1 1/2" strip from green felt. Cut the red and green circles in half. Use black embroidery floss to sew large black seed beads randomly on the red half-circles. Pin a red half-circle to each green half-circle, aligning the straight edges. Use white embroidery floss to whipstitch the red pieces to the green pieces. Stitch only along the curved edges of the red half-circles.

Cut eight 1 1/2" pieces of green rickrack and pin them--horizontally and evenly spaced--to the green felt strip. Use green embroidery floss to sew the rickrack in place. Now pin the felt strip to one of the finished watermelon pieces along the curved edge with wrong sides facing. Sew the pieces together 1/4" from the edge with green floss. Attach the other watermelon piece to the strip in the same way. That's it! Just turn the basket right side out.

For the basket lining, cut a 6" circle from red felt and an 8 1/2" by 1 1/4" strip from green felt. Pin the felt strip to the curved edge of one red half-circle and sew the pieces together 1/4" from the edge. Attach the other half circle to the strip the same way. When you're finished, don't turn the lining right side out.

To assemble your watermelon, slip the lining inside the outer basket. (If you left the lining wrong side out, the seams shouldn't be showing.) Pin the basket and the lining together along the top edges, and then sew them together with matching embroidery floss. I used whipstitch, but you can also use blanket stitch or running stitch.

If you want to make a large basket--maybe one that can hold paper plates--just adjust the size of the patterns. Happy Summer!

Star-Spangled Garland

Looking for a last-minute decoration for your Fourth of July party? This star-spangled garland is super simple, and it can be made with supplies you probably already have. I used light blue paper instead of navy to give the garland a brighter look, but you can use any shades of red, white, and blue you like.

I love making things by hand, but I'm not opposed to taking shortcuts and saving some time when I can. So instead of tracing and cutting out all the paper stars I needed for this project, I cheated and used my computer. I just used the "draw shapes" tool in my word-processing program and created pages of stars in an assortment of sizes. (My stars are 6½", 5½", 4½", 3½", 2½", and 1½".) I just printed them onto sheets of card stock and cut them out with sharp scissors.

The next step was assembling the stars. I used a craft knife to make a slit in the center of a 1½" and 2½" star and then fastened them together with a silver star-shaped paper brad. If you don't have star brads, you can use heart or circle brads instead. I then used glue stick to fasten the small stars to a larger star, and repeated the process until I had a large star made up of layers small stars in alternating colors.

Now it's time to prepare the stars for hanging. I added a silver paper eyelet to two arms of each star, and then threaded a long piece of narrow red rickrack through the holes. If you don't have rickrack, you can use ribbon or twine.

That's it! Your star-spangled garland is ready to hang on your deck, by the pool, or wherever you're gathering to celebrate the Fourth. 

Red and Blue Op-Art Pin

The Fourth of July is on its way, so it's time to show your red, white, and blue. For this op-art cross-stitch pin I used turquoise and dark rose embroidery floss (DMC #597 and #326) instead of the traditional dark red and blue. I think it looks patriotic and summery.

Click here to download and print the Red and Blue Op-Art Cross-Stitch Chart. As always, I used a pin setting from the Etsy shop Kailea. If you stitch the design on 18-count Aida, your finished embroidery will fit perfectly in a 1 1/2-inch square setting.

Visit my blog next week for more red, white, and blue craftiness!