Crocheted Sea Glass Pendant
I love collecting shells and sea glass on my all-too-rare trips to the beach. This piece of blue-green glass was too pretty to stash in a jar, so I made it into a pendant. I used six strands of coordinating embroidery floss and a small steel crochet hook to create a chain-stitch web to surround the glass. You'll have to adjust your design according to the glass you
use. For best results, use an irregularly shaped piece that has notches that
will hold your crochet chains in place. I joined the chains at the center front and back to hold the sea glass securely. A pair of jump rings and a silver chain transformed it into a one-of-a kind piece of jewelry.
Crocheted Paillette Necklace
This frothy necklace looks intricate, but it's actually a
super-simple crochet project. I came up with the idea as a way to use up
materials I had on hand--blue paillettes (which are really just flat sequins) from leftover scraps of trim, and assorted shades of blue embroidery floss. To
begin, I used a small steel crochet hook to make a short length of chain stitch
and added my first paillette. (It's easy: you just push the hook through the
hole in the paillette, pull the thread through hole, and then continue chain
stitching.) I then continued crocheting and added more paillettes, spacing them
fairly evenly.
When the chain was about 28 inches long, I fastened it to
the starting stitch with slip stitch. I made two more slip stitches and went
back to chain stitch. To give the necklace a layered look, I varied the lengths
of the strands from about 28 inches to 32 inches. I also made several strands
without paillettes. Each time I reached the starting point, I slip-stitched into
the three existing slip stitches and returned to chain stitch. I stopped
crocheting when I ran out of floss and paillettes, but you can make your
necklace as long and layered as you like.
 |
| Daisy ©2018 Kathleen Berlew |
Cross-Stitched Daisy Cap
A little bit of cross-stitching added extra cuteness to a
plain pink cap from the dollar store. I stitched the simple daisy design, with
a little help from waste canvas, onto a piece of pink felt from my stash. (I
pinned the waste canvas to the felt, cross-stitched the design, and then pulled
away the canvas strands when the stitching was complete.) To finish the cap, I cut
the felt into a circle with the daisy centered inside and sewed it the front of
the cap. Follow the chart above, using any floss colors that you like. If you
don't want to make a cap, you can cross-stitch the daisy design on just about
anything!
 |
| Little Lobster ©2018 Kathleen Berlew |
Cross-Stitched Little Lobster
How cute is this little lobster? And it takes just a few
minutes to cross-stitch. I used red, dark red, and black embroidery floss and 14-count Aida to make the design shown. I used scraps of red felt and
gingham ribbon to make my finished stitching into an ornament, but you can
frame your little lobster in a mini frame or use it to decorate a place mat.
Happy August--and happy summer stitching!