Since I've been lurking here for quite some time, I figured it was time to jump in and post something for the good of humankind. Or crafterkind, anyway. And who among us hasn't been somewhere totally boring with nothing to do? If you find yourself stuck at a family gathering with nothing to do, and you search your purse and find needles and embroidery thread (come on, admit it - you carry this stuff in your purse, too) but no embroidery hoop, what do you do? Do you venture to embroider little skulls on Grandma's good tea towels without a stabilizer like a hoop? Or can you improvise and come up with something useful just by maiming a few common items in Grandma's kitchen?
Why, you do the DIY thing, of course. You come up with something usefeul. By maiming.
Here's what you need:
-A Cool Whip tub (or other similar flimsy plastic tub with a suitable sized lid)
-A kitchen knife (don't hurt yourself here)
-A pair of scissors (but not Grandma's good fabric scissors - spare her some grief)
-A few large clothespins
Start by assembling your materials. I used a 12 oz. Cool Whip tub (EXTRA creamy, of course). Make sure the lid you have is the correct lid for that bowl. If it doesn't fit firmly, this whole scheme won't work.
Carefully cut out the inside of the lid with the knife, so that all you're left with is the rim. Cut just inside the lip.
Then (again,
carefully) cut just below the lip of the tub part, so that again what you're left with is just a ring of plastic. Refer to the picture for the correct placement of the cut.
Then - ta-da! - you have two rings that look like this. Now would be a good time to trim them with the scissors a little to get rid of all of those jagged edges so they don't poke ya in the fingers. I only bug you about safety because I care.
Now, fit your piece of fabric between the two rings and push them together. They should fit together firmly like they did before you sliced them up. You'll have to fiddle with the fabric to get it taut, but don't get lazy. If it's not taut, it'll be much harder to work with. Come on, we're almost done!
Now get those ginormous clothes pins that all grandmas seem to have for some reason, and attach them at intervals all around the hoop. Since the Cool Whip tub wasn't made to be an embroidery hoop, it will have a tendency to seperate if you don't lay down the law and make it stay together.
Et voila! You have your very own plastic embroidery hoop! It's not a permanent solution, but it'll get you through those long, boring family visits. Have fun!
