It's a Super Bracelet! A Super Duper Bracelet No, It's a Superduo!

I have discovered Super Duo beads....They are a unique oval shape with two holes. They are quite small. They've been around for a bit, but after seeing a gorgeous bracelet using Super Duos on Beadshop.com, called the Seashore-Kelp bracelet, I had to make one just like it. But instead of a five wrap, I made a double wrap so the cost would be less expensive. If you bought all your supplies from Beadshop.com for this bracelet, it would cost about 27.00. Granted, for all those supplies, you might have enough for a second bracelet, if you cut down the number of wraps like I did. For a double wrap, I used way less super duos, which are 2.25 for a very small tube per color. I figured my costs for a double wrap were about 14.00 for the double wrap bracelet for the leather and the beads. The button was 6.50 just for one! I think this button could be found on Etsy or the internet more cheaply, but I didn't take the time to look. I will say the pattern was quite easy to follow and easy to make, if you have done laddering before.

The only problem I had was with the long lengths of Tuff cord, they sometimes would get tangled around themselves, and I had a dickens of a time straightening them out! At once point, the beading needles they suggest you use, looked like they shredded one of the thread strands passing the needles in and out of the beads. You have to be careful that the needle does not catch the first strand of thread on your second pass through the beads as you ladder them on the leather. I had to add thread WAY before I needed to because of that. Luckily, beadshop.com offers a really nice tutorial worksheet on how to add thread to laddering projects and I was able to continue with very little problem once I added more thread. If you look at the photo closely, you can see where I added the thread. They have some new tips out for laddering, so I am going to go take a look at them. I've got another bracelet I'm going to make with metallic pearl leather, and shades of blue superduos. I'll post it when I'm done.

I'm working on making lots of different things for a fall craft show, as Etsy seems to be hard to get views and sell on, or else I am not hitting the right things to market. SOMETHING is not quite right there after a nice little flurry of activity at Christmas! But, I LOVE making things, so I will just keep going with whatever strikes my fancy! My girls will have lots of things to give as gifts when I'm gone, that's for sure!

I've been making facecloths---LOTS of them! I'm coupling them with little handmade bars of soap from the Green Daffodil Company on Etsy and putting them in my shop. This pattern is from Simply Notable, a blog on the internet. The yarn I used is Peaches and Creme, Sugar and Creme, and Crafter's Secret Cotton from Hobby Lobby (not pictured). These are made with a size 7 needle, and measure about 9" across.

They look so cheery! You can use them as dishcloths if you'd rather. Simply Notable also has little mini makeup remover cloths, a smaller version of the facecloth petal cloth. They look like this--

photo courtesy of Simply Notable

Aren't they cute?  Simply Notable blog also has cute little heart shaped make up cloths knitted from 100% cotton, called Tawashis. Check them out! All these cloths are made from dishcloth yarn....Peaches and Creme, Sugar and Creme...etc.

Photo courtesy of Simply Notable

Now, I am making little bags from Atkinson Designs "Stowaways" pattern. The first one I made turned out great!

The second one I made was a disaster and I don't know why. Well, I think I may have an answer....I tried making a smaller bag using the same pattern. The bags are quite thick with the "In Control" body liner by the time you pinch in the corners and make the little boxy wedges on them and sew through about six thicknesses of fabric, lining, and body stabilizer. Somehow, my corners didn't line up properly, and not until I was completely done with binding the inside seams and it got time to turn the little pouch inside out, did I find out everything was off, a bit wonky as they say....Couldn't salvage any of it. I was so disgusted with myself after all that work and hand sewing the binding on the inside, I thought well, maybe I will offer it for 1.00 at the craft sale as a "second", or donate it to Goodwill. It's still usable, it just looks off kilter. It's an embarrassing end result for me, (I'm such a perfectionist!) so I think I'll just rethink what I'm going to do with it. A LOT of work went into this little bag....Sigh.....

When a mistake like that happens, I try very hard to say, "Oh, well, you haven't screwed up a project in a very long time, so move on, Jeannie! Come back to the pattern another day and try again with a different fabric and a little more care and see if you can get it right next time." What bothers me the most is, you can't buy this fabric locally from a fabric store, at least not where I am. It's a special fat quarter bundle, and I already screwed up another two fat quarters when I cut THEM the wrong way when I first started the pattern! But I really love these little bags, so I AM going to try another one. The pattern has several different sizes, but they are all small, making for some detailed work and bulky layers. 

One cute trick I learned from the pattern is for a zipper pull for these bags. Take a piece of old nylon zipper that complements your zipper or fabric and cut off the sides right up next to the coil. Cut a piece of coil about 7". Thread that skinny little piece of coil through the zipper tab hole, tie an overhand knot in  it, and you have a custom nylon little zipper pull!

Until next time......