Paper Piecing in a Flash

Designer Michelle Thompson has come up with another amazing paper piecing pattern for quilters, this one featuring everyone’s favorite speedster, the Flash. You can find the pattern on Fandom in Stitches, along with dozens more superhero and pop culture paper piecing patterns. I think what makes Michelle Thompson’s patterns so striking is her use of decorative stitching to enhance the details (take a look at all the line work–it’s all satin stitching done by machine!). This pattern is definitely not for the faint of heart, so if you’re new to paper piecing, I’d suggest looking for something with fewer pieces to start with. You can find all sorts of ideas and even tutorials on Fandom in Stitches. Go forth and conquer, quilters!

Did you ever read the Bunnicula books?

Just this weekend my younger brother tagged me on FB with an article about the children’s book series Bunnicula, including the news that a new cartoon is coming out. Since the Bunnicula series was one of my favorite books as a kid, I wondered if there were any crafters out there that had shared their love of the vegetable sucking vampire bunny. I found this cute little plushie by username road_baby on Craftgrrl – Where Crafters Unite! Adorable.

There’s no tutorial that goes along with this photo, but on Urban Threads I did find a bunny plushie pattern that could be adapted (or made as is, it’s delightfully cute and evil) to more resemble Bunnicula.

Urban Threads has a cute, free printable plushie pattern for a vampire bunny.

Trekkie Oven Mitt Tutorial

Planning on serving up some stewed gagh or steamed Raktajino? Then you’ll want to have some Star Trek oven mitts on hand. Fortunately, Cheryl at Sew Can Do has put together a tutorial to help you out.

These fully insulated mitts have easy slip-on hand pockets and feature some of the fun Star Trek prints now available, though you could customize with any number of geeky fabrics. Two-1/2 yards of cotton fabric, 1/4 yard Insul-Bright, and 1/4 yard Cotton batting, plus basic sewing tools are all you need to outfit your kitchen in Star Trek/geek style.

How would you deck out your kitchen? Star Trek, or another fandom? Share your fav in the comments below!

Links of Interest:

Star Trek Oven Mitts Tutorial on Sew Can Do
More Star Trek crafts on GeekCrafts
More sewing crafts on GeekCrafts

Category: Craft, Geek, Movies, Sci-Fi, TV | Comments Off

March 14

Make Your Own Harry Potter Kindle Cover

Thanks to the crazy Black Friday sales this past November, I got an uber cheap Kindle Fire for the holidays. So, I’ve been on the hunt for some kind of cover or sleeve to make for my new toy, and I found this great tutorial. It’s a DIY Harry Potter Kindle Covers tutorial by Jess at Practically Functional. The tutorial has lots of great pictures and takes you step-by-step through the entire process of making these cute Kindle Covers. You’ll need to come up with your own pattern pieces, but everything’s made from felt which is a pretty easy medium to work with. Plus, you can size this DIY to fit whatever e-reader (or tablet, or phone, etc . . . ) you want. What’s more, if you’re feeling adventurous, you could adapt the pattern for a character from another House too.

Make an Upcycled Doctor Who Tote Bag

With the holidays over, school’s definitely back in session. Why not dress up your everyday look with a fun DIY Doctor Who Inspired Tote Bag made upcycling clothing? Elizabeth Hudec on DIY Ready has got a tutorial on making this fun bag using a tweed jacket, button down dress shirt, bow tie, and couple of belts (for the straps). And if you were feeling adventurous, you could probably take the leftover sleeve parts and make pockets for the inside! A-llonsy!

X-Files Craft: The Stitch-Along is Out There

Who’s ready for the return of The X-Files? Less than two weeks in the countdown to six-episode series event, coming to FOX on January 24th. But you can break out your needles now and head over to Fandom In Stitches for their I Want To Believe: An X-Files Quilt & Stitch Along.

Jennifer Ofenstein of both sewhooked.com & fandominstitches.com has designed an X-Files quilt, and is releasing the patterns weekly through March via the Stitch Along event, which includes 12 free patterns, bonus patterns, plus quilt layout instructions. Participants are encouraged to use the hashtag #XFILESQuilt, and share photos of their blocks via the Fandom in Stitches flickr group for a chance to win monthly prizes.

Will you be watching the new X-Files mini series? Are you hosting a watch party? What’s your favorite X-Files episode? Post a comment below and let us know!

Links of Interest:

I Want To Believe: An X-Files Quilt & Stitch Along on Fandom in Stitches
More TV crafts on GeekCrafts
More sewing crafts on GeekCrafts

Category: Craft, Geek, Sci-Fi, TV | Comments Off

Geek Crafts

Where geek and crafts collide