How much yarn does crochet use? Single vs. double crochet

May 16, 2017

My previous post, how much yarn do I need? has been so popular that I wanted to expand on it a little bit today by looking at adding another stitch into the mix, the double crochet.

How much yarn do I need crochet

Double Crochet vs. Single Crochet

The measurements above show you how much yarn you’ll use for a single crochet stitch for different thicknesses of yarn.

Did you know that different stitches use different amounts of yarn, too?

For my measurement, I measured single crochet and double crochet, both using a size H (5.0mm) hook, worsted weight yarn and crocheting through both loops.

how much yarn single crochet uses vs. double crochet

How much yarn does a double crochet in bulky yarn use? Or fingering? I’m only one gal! You’ll have to measure that yourself! Here is a tutorial on how to measure how much yarn a stitch takes.

You can use this number to calculate how much yarn your project will use or how many rows you can work on your blanket before you run out of yarn. Cool, right?

Which stitch should I use?

It looks like the double crochet uses more yarn, but keep in mind that it’s also a bigger stitch, too… so one stitch covers more surface area.

Knitting, too?

You can do the same comparison for any two stitches… even comparing a knitted stitch with a crochet one! Check out Not So Granny’s post on Does crochet really use more yarn than knitting?

Enjoy!

Best,
Stacey

Crochet sleepy eyes for your amigurumi!

May 4, 2017

A little while ago, I was invited to crochet-a-long with the facebook group, Learn Amigurumi Crochet with Us! We crocheted Howie the Penguin and had a blast!

Howie the Penguin, FREE crochet pattern & guide to amigurumi

(If you haven’t checked out the free Howie pattern, what are you waiting for?)

Carrie (one of the group leaders) designed sleepy eyes for crocheters who didn’t want to use plastic craft eyes… and she’s sharing her pattern with us!

free sleepy eyes pattern

Aren’t they adorable?!?

Maybe you’d like to add sleepy eyes to your next amigurumi!

Best,
Stacey

Variegated Yarns: swatches in knitting, crocheting and weaving

April 25, 2017

It’s always so mysterious how a pretty little skein will work up, isn’t it? Especially with variegated yarn!

I dyed up a little (well, BIG) skein and made swatches in knitting, crocheting and weaving! And they’re SO different!

Here’s the skein I dyed (if you want to try it, check my tutorial on how to dye yarn with Wilton Icing Dye):

variegated skein dyed with Wilton icing dye

Knitted Swatch

Here’s my knitted swatch!

Variegated yarn in knitting

The factor that’s relevant in how variegated yarn will work up is how long each color repeat is and how much yarn each stitch uses. Although skeins vary, most are about 3-4 feet in circumference, and a variegated yarn will break this length up into a few colors. So, most color repeats are a few to several inches.

Here’s how to calculate how much yarn each stitch uses.

You can see here that each color lasts several stitches before switching to a new color.

Crocheting

Crochet stitches, in general, use more yarn than knitting stitches, so a color repeat will last over a fewer number of stitches.

Here’s my crochet swatch

Crochet swatch with variegated yarn

This swatch is done in single crochet, and most of the colors last for a few stitches before changing (as compared to several with knitting). This results in a ‘splotchier’ looking fabric.

You might be interested in reading about the latest craze of Planned Pooling.

Weaving

Totally different from knitting and crochet, because there isn’t a ‘stitch’, the color repeat goes for as long as it actually goes on the yarn. In most cases, a color lasted for an entire row on my scarf.

Also, weaving uses two directions of yarn, the warp and the weft.This results in a really lovely plaid-like fabric. Here’s my swatch:

weaving swatch with variegated yarn

All together now!

They’re all so different, right?

swatches: weaving crochet knitting

It just goes to show that when you find that dream variegated skein, you still have choices to make! You’ll want to select a project (and craft) that will result in the colors working up the way you want!

Best,
Stacey

How to Applique Eyes – Easy Options

April 24, 2017
applique brown puppy with a spot on one eye - title image for a post explaining several different options for how to applique eyes

Ugh! How on earth do you applique eyes? They’re so small!

The eyes are definitely the trickiest part of any of my applique patterns, but I have several posts that show you easy ways to deal with them!

Applique

I usually applique eyes using solid black fabric. I like the look of it, and (after some practice) I don’t think it’s too tricky to outline those eyes. Plus I use black thread on black fabric so if my line gets wonky, nobody really sees it. 🙂

applique smiling sloth face in peach on a green quilted background

For tips on outlining those small eyes, watch this video.

If you want to applique the eyes but you don’t want to do the outline stitching, use Heat & Bond Ultrahold fusible adhesive.

Heat & Bond Ultrahold

The Heat & Bond Ultrahold is too stiff for the main applique, but you’ll never notice the stiffness on such small pieces as the eyes.

Careful! If you choose this option, you need to be sure to dry your quilts on a less hot setting. If your dryer gets as hot as the wool setting on your iron, that’s hot enough to re-melt the adhesive and the eyes could come loose.

Machine Embroidery

I’ve got two different posts showing how you can embroider eye shapes by machine.

applique doll head and shoulders with close-up of her face

This one shows a “cheater” way to do it using a regular sewing machine. It only works for small eyes, like those on the Paper Dolls and Dinosaurs quilt patterns.

close up of blond paper doll applique from waist up

If you want to satin stitch larger eyes and you have an embroidery machine, this post includes a file for embroidery machines to embroider eyes in a wide range of sizes.

Hand Embroidery

Of course, you can also embroider the eyes by hand. If you go with that option I recommend using satin stitch for larger eyes.

partially satin stitched heart showing needle and thread

Here’s a tutorial showing how.

For smaller eyes, I recommend this stitch.

needle and thread embroidering an eye

It gives a nice, rounded oval.

Markers or Paint

You don’t have to sew the eyes at all! You can use fabric markers or fabric paint for them!

detail of dinosaur head with shiny black eye

I tested a bunch of different markers and paints and in this post I shared my favorites.

See? Lots and lots of options for those pesky eyes. 🙂

Here are links to all the posts showing how to applique with fusible adhesive – my favorite method. It’s fast and easy and (with the right materials) it holds up beautifully to rough use and repeated washing.

Here are links to special posts about eyes.

Here are links to some extra fun things you can do with your applique.

Other Applique Methods

Finished with this topic?

Return to the Let’s Make a Quilt main Table of Contents.

Move on to the lessons about outline stitching.

Happy stitching! Or not-stitching – depending on the method you choose. 🙂

Using QAYG with Sashing – video tutorial

April 21, 2017
applique dinosaur quilt with sashing - demonstrating QAYG with sashing

I’ve had SO MANY people ask how they can use QAYG with sashing. So many!

I don’t usually use sashing (or borders) in my quilts – but for this dinosaur quilt I really wanted them to divide the long panorama-style rows of dinosaur landscapes.

Dinosaur Quilt Pattern (napping size) from Shiny Happy World

So it’s the perfect opportunity for a video!

I need to clarify one thing up front. This is NOT the sashing you often see in QAYG quilts. In most QAYG with sashing, that sashing is designed to hide the seams between the blocks, and it’s usually pretty skinny (usually maxing out at about an inch wide).

This is more traditional-style sashing (or borders) that you can make any width you like.

It’s done just like adding sashing to a regular quilt – except that you quilt the fabric to the batting before you cut it in strips and sew it to the blocks.

It really is that simple.

Here’s the video showing how. . .

See how easy that is?

You use the exact same method if you want to add borders to your QAYG quilt.

I promised links to a few more helpful videos and tutorials related to this one, and here they are.

There’s a printable download with fabric requirements, cutting guides, and assembly diagrams for quilts (six different sizes) with sashing and borders here.

General intro to my Quilt As You Go method

You can also get a great overview of my QAYG method in this free video workshop.

How to Add Sashing to a Quilt – this is for any quilt, not just those using QAYG

Quilting from the Center Out to the Edges (used on the large piece of sashing fabric you saw in this video)

Dinosaur quilt pattern

And that awesome dinosaur skeleton fabric I used for the sashing? Sorry. It’s been discontinued now. 🙁 But the good news is that there’s ALWAYS a great selection of dinosaur fabrics in the world. 🙂

Find links to all the posts about pattern size and layouts here.

Quilt Sizes and Supplies Needed

Play with Your Layouts – Multiple Possibilities for One Quilt Pattern

Sashing

How to Make Applique Bust Out of Its Frame

Alternate or Broken Grid layouts (adding half and double blocks)

How to Make an Applique Rag Quilt

How to Make a Polaroid Quilt

How to Make a Wonky Churn Dash Frame for Any Block

Finished with this topic?

Return to the Let’s Make a Quilt main Table of Contents.

Move on to the lessons about choosing your fabric.

Happy quilting!

How to Make Easy Landscape Blocks

April 13, 2017
applique baby triceratops with a volcano in the background

Most of my quilts don’t use landscape blocks.

I usually zoom right in on the animals’ faces. 🙂

I like to make it look like they’re looking (and smiling) at YOU.

I frame them in the block so they look like little portraits.

Maurice - cat applique pattern from Shiny Happy World

But that wasn’t going to work for the dinosaur quilt pattern. For dinosaurs I really needed to show the whole body.

That works just fine with my usual solid-color blocks as backgrounds.

green spotted applique apatosaurus on a purple quilted background

You could totally make the dinosaur quilt using all solid blocks like this and it would look great!

But as I was drawing them, I kept envisioning my dinosaurs in an actual landscape. I wanted the pterodactyls to be flying in the sky, above dinosaurs stomping across the earth. And I kept envisioning volcanoes and clouds and palmy prehistoric plants – and those needed to be rooted in the ground and stretching up to the sky.

I wanted landscape blocks.

So I did a lot of thinking about how to make these landscape blocks. I wanted a young, jagged, volcanic panorama – and I wanted it to be easy.

Dinosaur Panorama - four applique dinosaurs and one volcano on landscape blocks

I didn’t want all the blocks to be the same, and it seemed kind of silly to provide pages and pages of patterns for what are essentially squares with slashes across them. 🙂

So I came up with an easy method to make these blocks.

  • no measuring
  • no fussy templates
  • an even mix of uphill and downhill blocks
  • an even mix of earth and sky

Here’s how to do it.

See how easy that is?

My fabrics here are very bright and vibrant batiks but you could achieve the same landscape effect with a totally different feel by using a selection of pastel green and blue solids.

purple spotted T-rex on a pastel quilted landscape block background

See? Wouldn’t that make a sweet baby quilt?

You could also use blenders. I especially like to pair the blueberry blenders with the avocado blenders.

Those dinosaur eyes are pretty tiny. Too tiny to applique easily – so when I was designing the dinosaur quilt pattern I tested out a bunch of fabric markers and paints to see which ones worked the best on quilts. You can read about the results – and get my recommendations – here.

Here are links to all the posts about cutting your blocks.

Here are links to all the posts about quilting your blocks.

Finished with this topic?

Return to the Let’s Make a Quilt main Table of Contents.

Move on to the lessons about how to applique.

Happy quilting!

Free Pattern! Big Stitch Felt Coasters

April 11, 2017
Big Stitch Polkadot Coasters - a free pattern from Shiny Happy World

Practice your running stitch with these big stitch felt coasters.

This project is all about those big stitches!

It’s simple, fun and easy.

It’s all hand-sewn – perfect for stitching while you binge-watch your favorite show. 🙂

My friends at Sulky were watching my progress on this big-stitched lap-sized quilt. . .

Quilt-in-progress from Shiny Happy World's Big Stitches and Patchy Patchwork class

(It’s a WIP from my Big Stitches and Patchy Patchwork class.)

They knew I was using Sulky Petites 12 wt. thread for all the big stitch quilting, and they knew this was a BIG project. They asked me if I’d consider designing a smaller project for people who just wanted to give big stitch quilting a try.

Of course I would!

I loooooove stitching in spirals and I had been kicking around the idea of making some round coasters. This is what came out of it!

Materials

Other Tools and Supplies

Step 1

Trace a circle onto the Sulky Soft & Sheer. You can trace a jar lid or a roll of tape – anything coaster-sized.

circle traced on Sulky Soft & Sheer stabilizer

I forgot to measure my circle before I shipped the finished coasters. I think it was about 3 ¼ inches?

Step 2

Roughly cut around the circle, leaving at least ¼ inch of stabilizer all around the circle. Layer with a scrap of fabric, right sides together, and sew directly on the traced line.

making coasters - circle sewn on stabilizer with pink fabric

Sew all the way around the circle.

Step 3

Trim around the edge, leaving a narrow seam allowance.

making coasters - sewn circle, cut out with pinking shears

I like to use pinking shears so I don’t have to trim notches to remove bulk.

Step 4

Pull the layers apart and cut a small slit in the center of the Sulky Soft & Sheer.

turning a circle of pink fabric right side out

Step 5

Turn the dot right side out through the slit.

Circle of fabric turned right side out with stabilizer backing

Smooth the curved edge and press it flat.

finished circle with neatly turned edges

See? A nice, neat circle with perfectly turned edges.

Step 6

Glue the circle to a scrap of felt using fabric glue stick.

Making Felt Coasters - pink fabric circle glued to a square of grey felt.

Step 7

Using running stitch and a single strand of Sulky Petites 12 wt. Thread, sew the circle to the felt all the way around the edge.

Making Polkadot Felt Coasters - sewing a pink circle of fabric to grey felt using a running stitch and matching thread.

There’s a video here showing how to embroider running stitch.

Step 8

Once you get all the way around the outside edge, start spiraling in to the center of the circle.

Making Polkadot Felt Coasters - stitching a pink circle down to grey felt using running stitch

Step 9

Using a glue stick, glue a second layer of felt to the back of the first.

Making polkadot felt coasters - almost finished.

Step 10

Cut out the final coaster circle through both layers of felt at the same time for a perfectly even edge.

making polkadot felt coasters - almost finished

Cut just a little bit beyond the edge of the fabric dot so that you can see the felt color around the edge.

Step 11

Using running stitch and a single strand of Sulky Petites 12 wt. Thread to match the felt, sew the felt edges together.

close up image of Big Stitch Felt Coasters, showing the detail of the stitching

Finished! Now make more in every color of the rainbow.

Felt polkadot coaters made with big stitch quilting

Pretty, pretty big stitch felt coasters!

Happy stitching!

Using Fabric Markers and Paints for Small Eyes

April 5, 2017
detail of applique dinosaur face with shiny black eye

For years I’ve been recommending fabric markers and paints as an option for people who don’t want to applique small eyes, but I’ve never recommended a particular brand.

Until now.

On a recent trip to Joann’s I grabbed one of every black fabric marker and paint they carried. Then I brought them home and tested them out on some dinosaur quilt blocks.

First, let’s talk about the markers. That’s definitely the easiest option for eyes.

Dinosaur eye made with a Tulip fabric marker - recommended by Shiny Happy World

Of all the brands I tested, I liked this Tulip fine-tip marker the best.

Tulip fabric marker - recommended by Shiny Happy World

It has a bullet tip, which is nice. I used the fine tip to outline the eye, and then filled in the center using the broader side of the tip. It took two coats (I let it dry between coats) to get the really opaque coverage I wanted – but that wasn’t a problem. Here’s a close-up of the finished eye.

Dinosaur eye made with a Tulip fabric marker - recommended by Shiny Happy World

Nice tip. No bleeding. Good coverage.

Now – what if you want to get a little fancy with a 3D eye?

Applique Dinosaur eye made with Scribbles fabric paint - recommended by Shiny Happy World

About a year ago I got an email from a customer telling me she had done her eyes using fabric paint, and I’ve been wanting to test that out ever since. I think she had used a puff paint, but I wanted to try the shiny finish, thinking that would add a nice spark of life to the eyes.

I tested out several brands and this one from Scribbles was my favorite.

Scribbles fabric paint - recommended by Shiny Happy World

The black was truly black, not just dark grey. It had a nice shine on it after it dried, and the bottle has a VERY fine tip which made it easier to control. It does take a little skill to use these squeeze bottles – I recommend practicing on some paper before you try it on your almost-finished blocks.

Here’s a close-up of a finished eye.

Dinosaur eye made with Scribbles fabric paint - recommended by Shiny Happy World

A couple of things to note. . .

This finishes to a nice smooth dome – but be aware that the dome is a lot taller when the paint is wet. It will compact down as it dries.

I tried – and was unable – to pick off the eye after it was dry. Just a little testing for kids who like to pick at textures like this. 🙂

You won’t be able to iron over the applique after you apply the paint – your iron will melt it. So you need to fuse down all the applique pieces, then outline stitch, then paint the eyes. You could possibly paint the eyes before outlining, but some of the edges of the dinosaur heads are pretty close to the eyes and I was afraid the rubbery eyes would grab at my presser foot and keep things from flowing smoothly.

Yes – it’s more than a little nerve-wracking to add paint to an otherwise finished block. I wasn’t joking about practicing on paper first. It took me a few eyes to get a feel for how it squeezes out of the bottle.

So there you go – my favorite fabric markers and paints perfect for small eyes if you don’t want to do tiny applique. 🙂

There’s a round-up of all my different ways to do the eyes here.

And you can find that dinosaur quilt pattern here. 🙂

Here are links to all the posts showing how to applique with fusible adhesive – my favorite method. It’s fast and easy and (with the right materials) it holds up beautifully to rough use and repeated washing.

Here are links to special posts about eyes.

Here are links to some extra fun things you can do with your applique.

Other Applique Methods

Finished with this topic?

Return to the Let’s Make a Quilt main Table of Contents.

Move on to the lessons about outline stitching.

Happy quilting!

How to crochet the 2nd round in amigurumi

March 31, 2017

Today, I’m going to talk about how to crochet the second round of your amigurumi!

You see, I spend a lot of time talking about how to start off with the first round. Whether it’s using the magic ring method or the sloppy slip knot… the first round gets all the attention!

And then, Jen told me she was having trouble on the second round. Of course! We never talk about the second round, even though it’s just as tricky! So, here we go!

(Want to see a video version of this tutorial? You’ll find it here.)

For today’s tip, I’m using the pattern shown here, but almost all amigurumi patterns are the same! It starts with 6 stitches for the first round. So, let’s say we’ve completed our first 6 stitches:

how to crochet the 2nd round in amigurumiDon’t turn your work! You’re going to crochet the second round going around just the way you’ve been going. The hardest part about crocheting the second round is finding the next stitch you should use. I’ve highlighted the next stitch in red:

how to crochet the 2nd round in amigurumi

How did I know it was the next stitch? It has to be! I want to have 6 stitches in my first round, so I count my 6 stitches (backwards, starting from the hook):

how to count your stitches in crochetSo, now I know what my next stitch is! What is that little weird extra bit that might trick you into being a stitch? The arrow is pointing to that weird piece in this picture:

ignoring a turning chain in crochet
That’s just a confusing chain left over from the original chain 2. Don’t crochet into it… skip over it and pretend it isn’t there!

Now you know which are your 6 stitches, crochet twice in each one. Now you’ve finished your second round! The rest will be a piece of cake!

crocheting amigurumi

You might also want to read my post on using stitch markers… it’ll help you keep track of your stitches!

Best,
Stacey

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Free Embroidery Files for Machine Stitched Eyes

March 29, 2017
Free Embroidery Files for Machine-Stitched Eyes - from Shiny Happy World

I know the eyes are the trickiest part of my applique patterns.

I’ve got a video here showing some tips for outlining them, and I have a tutorial here showing a cheater-pants way to stitch the very small Paper Doll quilt eyes on many regular sewing machines.

But I’ve heard from several of you who have embroidery machines and want embroidery files to satin stitch those eyes – including the larger ones.

That would be awesome! But I don’t have an embroidery machine and I have no idea how their files work. 🙁

We were chatting about this in one of the video Q&A sessions, and Ceil followed up after the session by putting me in touch with Titania Creations – someone who specializes in designing patterns for embroidery machines.

Thanks Ceil!

Titania Creations created a set of files for oval eyes that I’m giving away for free here.

Yep – free!

The eyes are all ovals in various sizes – from 1/8″ tall (great for the Paper Dolls quilt pattern) up to 1 1/4″ tall (great for the Silly Sloths quilt pattern).

You can find all the files here.

Here are the details. . .

Sizes

  • 01 = 1/8 inch tall
  • 02 = 1⁄4 inch tall
  • 03 = 1⁄2 inch tall
  • 04 = 3⁄4 inch tall
  • 05 = 1 inch tall
  • 06 = 1 1⁄4 inch tall

Machine Formats

  • PES – Brother / Babylock
  • XXX – Singer
  • JEF – Janome
  • VIP / VP3 – Pfaff / Husqvarna
  • HUS – Husqvarna
  • EXP – Melco / Bernina (Bernina also uses .ART but this is not available commercially)
  • DST – Tajima / Industrial machines. Any machine can use DST format but most home embroiderers don’t like to use it because it does not retain any colors.

So if you need a 1/2″ tall eye and you have a Janome embroidery machine. . .

  1. Go to this link.
  2. Double click on folder 03 for the half-inch eyes.
  3. Download the file ending in JEF.
  4. Wave a magic wand to get that file onto your embroidery machine.
  5. Stitch your eyes.

You can see that my knowledge of this process breaks down at Step #4. 🙂

I’m hoping that if anyone has a question they can ask it in the Shiny Happy People group and someone who actually HAS an embroidery machine will be able to help. 🙂

Oh! And these files can also be used to machine-embroider eyes on softies, for those of you making them for kids too young for the safety eyes. Hooray!

Here are links to all the posts showing how to applique with fusible adhesive – my favorite method. It’s fast and easy and (with the right materials) it holds up beautifully to rough use and repeated washing.

Here are links to special posts about eyes.

Here are links to some extra fun things you can do with your applique.

Other Applique Methods

Finished with this topic?

Return to the Let’s Make a Quilt main Table of Contents.

Move on to the lessons about outline stitching.

Happy stitching!