handmaking with kids & a giveaway: with karen meyers

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yippee!
it's handmade earth week here @ the rikrak studio: 7 days of celebrating eco-friendly handmade, and meeting some of the amazing artists behind future-friendly, sustainable indie businesses that you & i love! AND today is Earth Day! woohooo!

today's our 7th & final giveaway: a gorgeous recycled wool organza rose handle purse by karen meyers!

so enter to WIN all of the fabulous earth week giveaways here on the blog:

1. a recycled rag rug by *five forty*, here. (ends april 22!)
2. a necklace by the *broken plate*, here. (ends april 23!)
3. a seatbelt mini-tote purse by *alamodestuff*, here.
4. a moo moo dress by *jules mae clothing*, here.
5. a tapestry necklace by *vadjutka*, here.
6. a pair of wall pockets by *greencouchdesign*, here.

each giveaway will be up for 8 days. hope you've been loving them, nicies! and so great to meet some of the fabulous folks behind the green handmade movement!

happy earthday, superstars!

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happy earth day, lovelies!
i know we all know everyday is a great day to celebrate the earth, but i'm thrilled with the enthusiasm i see in the kids all around us: excited by earth day; so creative in their ideas on how we can ALL create change for the better; inspired and full of hope and possibilities and great learnings that we can all take away into our everyday lives!

yay kids!

so what better way to celebrate earth day then a fun & adorable recycled fashion project to make with kids! today we have a special treat: a beautiful, pictoral, step-by-step eco-saavy tutorial on how to make a really great spring & summer hat by the brilliant karen meyers!

i'm delighted to have the lovely karen guest teaching on the blog today! she's a master sewer & eco-forward maker! (and it's not only earth day ... it's her BIRTH day! happy birthday karen!) .... i know you'll just adore her gorgeous shop, filled with upcycled vintage & recycled woolen accessories! check out her fun & inspiring blog. fan her on facebook. and head to karenmyers.net for all things karen! and be sure to read on to see how you can WIN WIN WIN one of her gorgeous handmade, recycled purses! woohoo!

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so onto the tutorial...
maybe this weekend you can have a craft bee with your own kiddies, invite over a neice or nephew, or volunteer to lead a demo with some local kids' groups on how they can make their own recycled hats!

and little rikrak had a great suggestion when he saw the end result: perhaps the style is a little more suited to girls? why not encourage the boys to make one a bit larger for their moms for mothers day? lovely idea!

CLICK TO ENLARGE ANY PHOTO GROUP!
Recycled Denim Hat Tutorial
by Karen Meyers

You will need:

About 12 inches (1/3 yard) of medium weight fabric such as denim, canvas, chintz or corduroy. You can choose from your fabric stash or recycle some fabric from old jeans, shorts or curtains, like I did for this denim hat.

If you are using denim, make sure you have a denim needle for your sewing machine; this will make the job much easier.

1. Take the pattern that you have printed out (the pattern needs to measure from the top of the point to the bottom of the bell shape 9 inches, and across the bottom from point to point 8 1/2 inches. enlarge as neeeded.) and cut it out along the outside line. Place and pin your pattern on your fabric and take special care to lay the grain line arrow on the vertical grain of the fabric. If you are using fabric yardage, the grain line is parallel to the selvedge edge (the long edge of the fabric that doesn’t ravel) but if you are using a recycled garment it may be a bit harder to determine. On the jeans I used for my project, I placed the grain line arrow parallel to the side seams of the jeans, and this worked great. This step is important, and insures that you are cutting your hat quadrants on the bias and will give your hat a little bit of stretch and make it comfortable and fit most sizes.

2. Cut 4 hat quadrants. If using yardage, you can fold your fabric in half and cut 2 at a time and if you are using recycled jeans just lay your pattern on one leg and cut 2, then un - pin your pattern and lay it on the other leg and cut 2 again.

3. Take 2 quadrants and pin them together, right sides of the fabric together along one long edge. Repeat with the other 2 quadrants.

4. Stitch together 2 quadrants at a time, using a ¼ inch seam allowance. The easiest way to achieve this is to line the edge of the presser foot up with the edge of the fabric as you sew.

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5. Press the seams open. Use the “nose” of your iron to help you open up the seams as you press. It gets a little tricky at the top of the hat where it curves, but use the edge of the ironing board to help you (as in the picture) or a dressmakers ham if you have one.

6. Pin the 2 halves together, matching the top where the 2 seams meet.

7. Stitch the 2 halves together again using a ¼ inch seam allowance. (Remember to line the edge of your presser foot up with the edge of the fabric.)

8. Admire your hat that is taking shape!

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9. One of the advantages of cutting your hat on the bias is that the edges won’t fray, so if you are in a hurry or you like the look of an unfinished edge, you can skip this step. Otherwise, finish the edge of the hat by using a zig zag stitch. Put your machine of the widest zig zag it has and sew, allowing the needle to just fall off the edge of the fabric every time it comes down on the right side of the zig zag stitch. This encloses the edge.

10. This is what your edge will look like. If you have a serger you can serge this edge, or even get ambitious and enclose the edge using bias tape. It kind of just depends on the skills of your girls and the time you have for the project.

11. Yippee! You are done with your hat. It’s time to celebrate and maybe cut and sew another one since this was so easy, fast and fun to make!

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Felted Flower Tutorial
by Karen Meyers

You will need: Ribbing from the bottom of a felted wool sweater
(Search your closet for an old sweater that (oops!) doesn’t fit anymore or there are many vendors on Etsy selling wool scraps, just search unders supplies for felted wool scraps.)

A felted wool ball or button for the center of the flower

Matching thread and glue

12. Cut the ribbing off the bottom of a sweater that you have felted, it should be at least 10 inches long.

13. Cut along each indent in the ribbing to within ½ inch of the top edge.

14. Continue cutting along the entire piece of ribbing

15. Run a bead of glue (Elmers works fine or any other fabric glue you have lying around) along the uncut part of the ribbing.

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16. Begin rolling up your flower.

17. Keep rolling it up, pressing it together so the glue saturates the wool.

18. This is what the underside of the flower should look like.

19. Put a nice dollop of glue in the center of the flower and press in your felt ball (or button) for the center.

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20. It looks great! Take a little break and give the glue a chance to dry and set nicely.

21. Now we are going to secure it a bit extra and sew it to the hat. Thread your needle and pull down both ends of the thread to meet so that you are working with a double strand of thread. I teach my girls to never tie knots, especially when working with wool since eventually they will always work themselves free and come undone. Instead, do 3 small stitches (1/8 inch long) in the same place, one of top of each other, and pull tight. This is much stronger and more secure that a knot. So, start with 3 tiny stitches and secure the end of the rolled up flower together.

22. Position the flower in the center of a quadrant and just start whip stitching the flower in place. The stitches don’t have to be too neat since the petals will cover them up.

23. Keep going, whip stitching your flower in place all around until you end up where you started.

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24. This is what your stitches will look like underneath. When you finish, again, don’t tie a knot but secure with 3 little stitches one of top of the other.

25. Cut some leaves from felted wool or fabric scraps.

26. Add a bead of glue to the back. And glue to the hat. You can also sew on the leaves if you like.

27. You are done! Now it’s time to model!

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My cute niece did the honors for me for this tutorial. But check out the pics from our summer camp we did last year. ( I’m not sure if the girls enjoying making or modeling their hats more!)

If you don’t want to make the flower you can embellish your hat with some free hand stitching (like Allie did in her polka dot hat) or add some appliqués. Kristal has some great ones, like these: http://www.etsy.com/listing/43536763/ironon-funvintage-or-not-butterflies-to right in her Etsy shop! (editor's note: aw thanks, karen! :)

The main thing is to have fun with the kids and share their pride when they make something wonderful with their own hands and creative minds!

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indeed!
brilliant work, karen!
can't wait to try it out with kiddies!


and in honour of earth day! (woooohooo!) ... not only has karen shared her fabulous tutorial, but she's also offering ONE LUCKY rikrak reader this gorgeous Pink Organza Rose Handled Purse, made of reclaimed wool! perfect for spring! for Mother's Day! for the beautiful beautiful sunny days ahead!

1. go visit the wonderful karen meyers shop!
... take a look around ... come back here and leave a comment in this post about your favourite goodie from her shop & why you love it!= 1 entry

2. leave us a comment about what you're doing to C E L E B R A T E! EARTH DAY.
... = 1 entry

3. follow karen on facebook
then come back here and tell us!
... = 1 entry.

4. visit karen's lovely blog and become a follower of it
then come back here and tell us!
... 1 entry

5. leave a comment over in this etsy thread here sharing an eco tip.
come back here and tell us about it. = 1 possible entry

6. tweet on twitter
about this giveaway and come back here and tell us! please be sure to include @therikrakshop so i can find you! :) = 1 more possible entry.

7. follow or subscribe to the rikrak studio blog (that's my blog!)
and leave me a comment here telling us that you do! = 1 more possible entry.

8. share a link to a great project you've HANDmade with kids! a picture or a tutorial!
= 1 more possible entry


9. :: PLEASE NOTE:
each entry must be it's own comment.
thanks! ::

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:: RULES ::
a) it is possible to have a maximum of 8 entries total per person.
b) please make sure to leave each entry as it's own comment. thanks!
c) using random.org, 1 winner of the karen myers giveaway will be chosen on friday april 30th @ 5pm EST.
d) open to contestants worldwide.
e) please be sure to leave me an email where i can reach you if your account doesn't link to one. thanks.

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and don't forget to enter to WIN the other fab eco week
giveaways here!
1. a recycled rag rug by *five forty*, here. (ends tomorrow!)
2. a necklace by the *broken plate*, here.
3. a seatbelt mini-tote purse by *alamodestuff*, here.
4. a moo moo dress by *jules mae clothing*, here.
5. a tapestry necklace by *vadjutka*, here.
6. a pair of wall pockets by *greencouchdesign*, here.

and let's all get out there and celebrate our lovely earth!
happy earth day, nicies!
what a great eco week it's been!
thanks so much!

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