Artful Thursday - Creative Detour

Didn’t get to finish the cards I was planning last Thursday since I was reminded of this project.  I got this adorable kit back in the beginning of August as a birthday present, last blogged about it in the summer and never completed it.  Until now.   All it needed was some assembly – just what I had time for today.

The original pattern is called the Sushi Wallet – and you can get a hint of it in the zipper pull.  I replaced the sushi motif pattern with crochet flowers and I’m pretty pleased with the results.  I think I used a pattern for the outer petals – but for the inner parts of the flowers, I just free-formed loops and rings – knowing that felting would hide any mistakes.  A few embroidery stitches in the centers and around the petals hold everything together.

How often do you fiddle with patterns?  As I’ve become a more confident crafter over the years, I’ve definitely done this more and more – I figure, if the worst that can happen is that I have to do it over – what have I got to lose?

Here are some ways to modify a given idea (fabric, yarn, beaded or paper projects- these would work for most anything) to make it more unique and one-of-a-kind:

Make your own Detour:

• Change the colors (a pastel design made in primary colors goes from pretty and cute to bold and statement making – how about black & white?)
• Switch out materials (cottons to velvets; fine yarn to chunky, sparkling to organic, hard to soft) – iron-on fusible web or layer fabrics to add stability.
• Alter motifs (sushi to flowers;  owls to butterflies; frogs to turtles, etc.)
• Hand-embroidery to Free-motion stitching (country turns modern - see my tote bag)
• Embroidering?  Instead try: paint, stencils, colored pencils or even computer generated iron-ons.
• Embellish – buttons, beads, charms, sequins, ribbon, paint, found objects, clay, fibers, words, paper, and so on…

What else can you think of?

Be sure to check out the other participants in Artful Thursdays – the blog posts have been filled with all sorts of great inspiration.

5 comments Artful Thursday, bags, challenge, creativity, crochet