Hello, kids.

I recently took a leap into the world of making wool dreads, though I have been producing synthetic hairfalls for over a year now. I think they came out well, don't you?!

This is my friend Molly. She modeled my dreads for me at a performance of her rock n' roll bellydance troupe, Different Drummer (http://www.margaretsworld.com/dd).







I made these dreads using this easy felting tutorial: http://www.angelfire.com/freak2/rovingtutorial/
And I dip-dyed them with help from Kool-Aid and Knitty.com: http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEfall02/FEATdyedwool.html

I love the way wool dreads feel. They are light, bouncy, have a lot of movement, but are easy to wear even if you have shorter hair. I felted roughly 12 ounces of nice, soft wool roving that I got at the local yarn store, dyed the dreads following Knitty's instructions, and attached them by folding them over a piece of thin black elastic and affixing them with matching colored rubber bands. The dreads are super easy to wear: one just makes buns on top of one's head, ties the falls around the buns, knots a few dreads from each bunch together for height and coverage, and then covers one's real hair with scarves or fake flowers or goggles. I find that wool dreads offer a lot more coverage than synth ones without all of the weight. <3

I was sick and tired of "nice" needlepoint and decided to turn what I learned from Girl Scouts into an easy yet adorable project.



Aha! Very nice! Very versatile! Very useful for all those dropped straightpins that always find their way deep into my carpet.



And for those angsty, gloomy days when the machine won't sew straight.



One for the computer nerd.



And a coin purse, fully lined and with a zipper, done in nearly the same fashion.

I found this is a lovely project that only takes a short amount of time, cheap materials, and a scrap of fun fabric for the rear of the cushion. It's a nice gift for those in your life who sew or appreciate stichery, and a good way to practice your French knots.

Thank you. 

What do you do when a phantom chinchilla eats the lining of your favorite vintage dream coat?

You patch it up, sillies.

For my patch, I used two different kinds of fabric. The stripey cloth is a cheap cotton that came from Wal-Mart and the black is a heavier canvas-like material. I recommend a heavy, tough fabric for bleach art as it likes to run on thinner cloth.

Go purchase some Soft-Scrub. That's correct: I said potty cleaner, kids. It's like bleach, but thicker, and the stuff works magic on fabric. Make sure you get the kind that actually contains bleach! No lemon scent! It does not work.

Put some of the Soft-Scrub into a bottle with a tiny, precise point. If you're poor, try an old hair color bottle or a cleaned out puffy paint tube. Use the bleach to write or draw on the thick fabric, and make certain that your letters aren't too close together as sometimes the bleach will bleed a bit.

Put your patch on a paper plate or newspaper and let the bleach dry until it crusts over and cracks. Leaving it overnight is a good move. Then, brush off and wash the patch, and ta da! Instant punk rock.

I then stitched my "libby" patch to some pretty stripey cloth, and sewed it over the chinchilla hole in my coat. All fixed! Thank god.