by Felicities Crafts, 10:38:00 AM

Ort Catchers and Needle Minders 

What else don't I know about?


The other day, my cousin sent me a photo of  a cute triangular box type item made of fabric and asked if I'd made them before.  She said it was an ort catcher.

"Orts need catching?"  How unruly are they?

An "ort" - I found out - is those little snippets of thread and fabric trimmings that I usually let just land on me and the floor.   An ort catcher is a cute little "garbage can" for your sewing table or wherever you might need one.  They even fold flat so  you can take it with you in your project bag.

I now have three, and I need all of them - possibly a fourth as well.


They are really cute - easy to make and are very useful!!  In my sewing room, I have one on on my cutting table, sewing machine table and ironing board.   The fourth would be for hand sewing while I'm watching tv.

While I was researching all the ort things, I stumbled upon needle minders.  The possibilities are endless!  A needle minder is a cute, magnetic place to stick your needles onto while your hand sewing - like on an embroidery hoop or frame.  It sticks right to it and is so convenient!  


I immediately ordered magnets, E6000 glue, and the buttons you cover with fabric.   I ended up making two sided needle minders  - one side larger than the other for different sized available sewing area spaces.

Apparently, these items are not a mystery to everyone as they started selling nearly immediately after placing a few in Etsy shop!  

I know there is an endless amount of tutorials on how to make these items if you do a search, but I may write one up anyway.  I did go through a bunch of trials till I ended up with a style I like and hopefully make it so you can avoid the errors I came across and save you some time!


Meryl


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Mason Jar Pincushion Tutorial - New!

in , , , , , , , by Felicities Crafts, 3:41:00 PM

After much time away,  I've renewed my dedication to posting  helpful (hopefully) information here for other's who find enjoyment in sewing.

To start things off, I've added a new tutorial for my version of the Mason Jar Pincushion.  Here's the link:  Mason Jar Pincushion.

I've made and sold many of these in my etsy shop.  Not only are they super useful to anyone who sews, but they make great gifts as well!

While any mason jar would work, I find the wide mouth versions to be easy to reach into - and I like the shorter/flatter version (8oz wide mouth Ball Mason Jar).

As for glue, I use Gutermann Creativ Textile Glue.  I find this one to be the best for adhering glue to metal.  I use this glue on my kiss lock coin purses as well.  It's super strong and doesn't take forever to set.

Well, hopefully you find the tutorial helpful to you!  It's been a while since I put one together - let me know what you think!


Meryl

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So if you are thinking of starting an Etsy shop……

by Felicities Crafts, 11:22:00 AM
A good couple years ago now, I started an Etsy shop.   I was very hesitant to say the least.  I had no idea how to do any of it and all of it seemed to stress me out.  How to do shipping, where to get shipping supplies from, where to get sewing supplies from, was my stuff even good enough?  What if I did all that work and no one purchased anything? 

I was hoping after all the set up was done, and I had a handful of things to list in the shop, that I would get a few sales.   I still remember my first sale – it was really kind of exciting.  I sold a blue ID pouch to a woman in Virginia.  I was thrilled!

This was it!  My first sale.


And that is all I ever expected really – to make some sales and to feel good about making things and having people like them.

What I didn’t expect was the community.  I can’t even tell you (even though I am writing this and trying to do just that), how happy it has made me to interact with other sellers and customers.  My conversations with customers are often very uplifting.  Whenever I get a sale, I always contact the customer and let them know I’ve seen that they have purchased something and let them know when it will be out in the mail to them.  Often I don’t get a response to these messages. But there are many times I do.  Sometimes it’s just a quick “thank you”, but other times, customers tell me a bit about why they liked what they ordered, or who it is for, etc.  So for a brief moment, I am allowed to be part of an event in someone’s life.  It sounds like I’m reaching there but I’m really not. 

A man recently forgot to get a birthday gift for someone, and he wanted to order something but was worried about the time it would take to reach him if he did.  I happened to be online when that message came through and I assured him if he ordered it, I would stop what I was doing and package it up immediately.  So from the time he messaged me, to the time it went out in the mail to him was maybe a total of 10 minutes.  So, for a short time, that man and I were a team aiming to get a birthday gift to someone. Where else but Etsy can something like that happen? 

One of my ventures a while back was learning to sew bow-ties.  I put a lot of effort into it!  Designing it, getting the right texture and feel, learning how to size them, and then how to package them. I made about eight of them and all eight sat in the shop for months.  They did nothing.  If an item could do less than nothing, that's what my bow-ties did. That was kind of bit discouraging. I had so much faith in them! Then, just recently, one sold.  When I saw the sale I was completely happy.  One of my “Put too much effort into it” bow-ties had sold.  When I messaged the customer and let them know it would be out in the next day’s mail, she responded and let me know it was for a special person who she hoped would end up being more than a friend.  I loved that this person was willing to share that with me.  I was elated that someone purchased a bow-tie, and the person who bought it was hoping for a boyfriend.   For some reason I really like that.

Bowties - They are cool, and hopefully inspire love!

The people I’ve met through etsy have been amazing.  Other sellers, like Danette Bartelmay of Front Porch Knits, have been such of source of inspiration and encouragement.  I see what they can accomplish, how much they put into their shops and how much they enjoy what they do, and it inspires me to keep going. It makes me want to do more and do better. 


So, if you are reading this, and you are thinking of starting up an Etsy shop, and it seems overwhelming or you are on the fence about whether or not it would be worth it, I would say it most definitely is.  I’ve gotten so much more than just sales.  I’m part of an encouraging and inspiring community that I plan to part of for a very long time.
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Top Ten Wearable Art!

by Felicities Crafts, 10:59:00 AM
When I started my shop, I was always looking for ways to make something different.  When I decided to start painting cosmetic bags and lavender sachets, I hoped that other people would find them interesting.  I love painting flowers and birds, but I wasn't sure that it would "go over" well.

Recently, I was included in a Top Ten Wearable Art list.  I can't even tell you how happy I was to be included in that list!  The lovely and talented Hannah Williams from Hannah Mae Illustration was kind enough to include this item in her list:

It was such an honor to be included among so many talented people!  

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It's been awhile...

by Felicities Crafts, 11:22:00 AM
...but I've been busy!  I love to explore new things and I got on a bow tie kick. I did a ton of research on how to make them:  what material to use and what kind of interlining to give them a good full look without being too thick and cumbersome around the neck.  Finding the hooks/closures for them took a bit of time and coming up with a good, flexible design that could accommodate multiple neck sizes also took a little doing, but I finally came up with a good do-able design.





Then, I decided to add a matching pocket square.  Again, it took me a little time to get the corners completely square, but eventually that worked out too:



All in all, I'm happy with the look, and now I'm on the hunt for good bowtie fabric wherever I go.  I've found some and added a few sets to the shop.



My next tutorial will be for those pocket squares - there is an easy way to get those corners andnice tightly matched up.



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in , , , , by Felicities Crafts, 1:35:00 PM
I added a new tutorial today - this one is on how to make personalized labels.

When I first started my shop, I had a hard time with labels.  I tried a ton of different methods, and finally stumbled upon this technique. After a quite a few disasters and a lot of fine tuning , I am able to print out labels now rather easily.

I've made these into my shop labels, but also personalized them for weddings (I made a couple sets of bridesmaids bags and had labels with the bride and groom's names and wedding date on them), a set of tea wallets for sisters with a saying on them, and for items in collaboration with a photographer.

This technique can be used to personalize lots of things, or just add sayings or quotes to something (like a tea mat!)

I hope this tutorial is helpful!  Personalized Label Tutorial

Owl Tea Wallet - Label says "Owl be thinking of you while I sip my tea"



CD holder
Photo CD holder 

tea mat
Personalized Tea Mats: "God grant me the serenity...."





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Fabric Painting Tips and Working out the Kinks!

in , , , , , , by Felicities Crafts, 3:23:00 PM


I finally got around to adding a tutorial on fabric painting!

Once I got the idea to paint on fabric and turn these mini-paintings into accessories I just had to figure out how to do it.  I tried a bunch of different things. I mostly had trouble with getting the paint and brush to move easily across the fabric.  Once that got worked out, I was able to get much better results.



If you are looking for some tips on how to paint on fabric, I hope the demonstration I posted under "Tutorials" helps!

And as far as the "kinks" go.....I've been getting told that people are having trouble joining this website using the "Join this site" button.  I haven't been able yet to figure out what is wrong with that gadget yet - but I 've found - and have been told - that you can follow me by clicking on the little purple squares next to the "join this site" button.  You are then asked to log in to your google account, and then you are prompted to "follow" me.  That seems to be working for now anyway!

Well, back to sewing. I have some cat fabric that is just purr-fect for cosmetic bags!
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