More Back to school/college projects to make

Here are some more projects to make for back to school/college.  I say college now since our youngest is in his 2^nd year of college.

The next two projects you can give to the teacher. The last one project involves crocheting.

Leather Laptop Case

Materials:  Four 8" x 10" sheets of felt, 1/2 yd. Leather (which I'm assuming is faux), Button, 2 + Embroidery floss, Embroidery Needle, and Spray Adhesive (Not pictured above)

Directions:

Cut a piece of leather large enough to accommodate your laptop.

Along the long side, cut so that there is about a 1" overhang of material on each side.  Use the extra material for the strap.  Strap is about 19" x 1/4".

Use spray adhesive to adhere the felt to the backside of the leather.

Blanket stitch the edges (what will be the long side of the sleeve).

Sew down one side of the sleeve (short side) with wrong sides together.

Insert your laptop into the partially constructed sleeve and determine where your next stitch should be.

Use scotch tape to help with this step. Masking tape would really have been better though.

Stitch down the predetermined line. Insert laptop to be sure it's a snug fit and cut off the extra material.

Sew on your button.

Cut a small triangle (base is about 1.5") from your extra leather material.

Cut off the extra strap material hanging from the bottom.

Bloom Pencil Bouquet

Materials:  container, floral foam, paper, pencils, flower punches and thumb tacks.

Directions:

Punch your flower shapes out of various pattern and colors of paper.  I used three different flower shapes, but you can do what you like. :)

Put the floral foam in the bottom of the container.

Layer the flowers in a pleasing layout and poke a thumbtack through the center.

Push the thumb tack through the eraser of one pencil.

Repeat with the remaining flowers/ pencils.

Push the pencils into the floral foam to create your arrangement.  Next make a tag using my word processor.  The font is stinkerella/stinkzilla from www.kevinandamanda.com.  Use a plastic template. Use small flower punch outs for the 'o's in bloom.

Beaded Crochet Apple Motif

Materials:

•        Red and Pink Bead Mix: I used a mix of beads that vary slightly in size. There are approximately 10 beads per inch when they are strung. On average, they measure 2.5 – 3.0 mm each, but some are larger and some are smaller.

•        Pale Green Bicone Beads: These measure about 5.5 – 6.0 mm each.

•        Embroidery Floss: One skein each in the following colors:

o        Red

o        Hot Pink

o        Green

•        Silver colored craft wire

•        Crochet Hooks: Size D / 3-3.25 mm and 6 / 1.80mm steel hook

•        Tapestry needle

•        Scissors

String 100 red and pink beads onto the spool of wire. Next, string 10 green beads onto the wire. (View B.)

Devise a way to keep the beads from falling off the wire. To accomplish this, you can attach a temporary stopper such as a paper clip, or make a loose loop in the wire as shown in views B and C.

Creating the Leaf:

Make a slip knot out of green embroidery floss, leaving a long tail of at least 6 inches. Position the slip knot so that you will crochet overtop of the wire when you form your first stitch. (See view E in the beadwork tutorial.)

Ch 2, using the first ch to attach the floss to the wire. Work 2 sc. (Slide a green bead right up next to the sc st. Ch 1 overtop of the bead, sc over wire.) Repeat sequence in parentheses 4 more times.

Crocheting the Tip of the Leaf:

Sc over wire, ch 3, sl st in 3rd ch from hook to form a picot. Sc.

Working the Rest of the Leaf:

(Position the next bead, ch 1 overtop of bead, sc.) Repeat sequence in parentheses 4 more times. Work 2 more sc. Ch 1, and then flip the project over so that the top becomes the bottom and the bottom becomes the top.

Ch 1, 2 sc, (ch 1 overtop of bead, sc.) Repeat sequence in parentheses 5 more times, skip sc sts and picot. (Ch 1 overtop of next bead, sc.) Repeat sequence in parentheses 5 more times. Work 2 sc, sl st to join at beginning of project. End off, but leave a long tail of floss.

View D shows how it looks at this point.

Shape the leaf, using the picot in the center as the tip. Twist the wire together at the base of the leaf. (View E.)

Cut the excess wire, and use the floss from the two tails to camouflage the twisted wire. (View F.) You can twist the floss overtop, and tie once to secure. If you prefer, you could work a couple more stitches using a steel crochet hook overtop of the twisted wire.

When you’ve hidden the wire, you can weave the ends into the back of the leaf. (View G.)

Using the size 6 / 1.80 mm steel crochet hook and the red thread or embroidery floss, make a slip knot. Secure the thread to the wire with a chain stitch. Work 1 more ch st overtop of the first bead, and work a sc st on the other side of the bead. (Slide the next bead close to the stitch. Ch 1 overtop of the bead, sc .)

Take a look at the photos labeled H and I to see how the beadwork will look while it is in progress.

Repeat the steps above until all the red and pink beads have been worked. End with a sc stitch; before completing last step of the last sc, attach the hot pink thread. Ch 1 to turn.

Flip the work over so that the top becomes the bottom and the bottom becomes the top. Ch 1, anchoring the floss to the wire. (Work 1 ch overtop of the next bead, sc on the other side of the bead.) Repeat all the way across until all beads have been worked. End with a sc after the last bead.

View J shows how the beadwork will look when both sides have been worked.

Shape the Apple

Bend the beaded piece into an abstract apple shape as shown in view K.

After you’ve created the rough shape of the apple, cut the wire off the spool and twist the two ends together. Camouflage the ends of wire using the red and pink tails of embroidery floss. You can work a few more stitches overtop of them if desired, or you can simply twist the thread over the ends of the wire to hide them.

When you are satisfied that the wire is sufficiently hidden, weave the ends of the thread into the back of the apple.

Ideas for Using the Apple:

View L shows the beaded apple appliqued onto a Tunisian crochet background. First, the apple was stitched to the piece of Tunisian crochet. Then, using red embroidery floss, You can cross-stitched the area inside the beaded apple. This is a great way to embellish a purse or tote bag.

Share your ideas on this or anything here on the blog either here or e-mail me at stipple@verizon.net.  I look forward to hearing from you!