Recycled Honeycomb Tissue Paper Pouf

You know how when you go shopping and you buy something, the store packs your new goodies in a bag with tissue paper to make it look extra nice?  But then you get home and you probably throw out the bag and the tissue paper and just keep the stuff you bought.  Such a waste, right?  Well, not anymore!!  Take your used tissue wrappings from your fancy purchases and transform them into snazzy decor, a honeycomb tissue paper pouf!!

I made this little pouf all with tissue paper I already had from various purchases that I kept for some unknown reason.  I didn't have to buy one thing for this project which is awesome, you probably have all of these items in your home as well if you are a bit crafty.  And now for a tutorial!

You will need: Assorted tissue paper, some sheets of card stock or thin cardboard (a cereal box will do), a compass or large circle template, scissors, a fresh glue stick, a needle, and some thread.

I had a rad toile de jouy tissue paper that I don't even know where I got along with some neon salmon geometric paper and some cream/mint printed tissue paper.  Once you gathered your tissue paper draw a circle on your card stock the size you want your pouf to be.  It's easier to start with a mid size circle (you can try a giant or tiny one once you're familiar with the basics).  I made mine about 5 1/2".  Cut the circle out and then cut it in half.  

Cut out rectangles of your tissue paper a little bigger than the size of your half circle.  Using an olfa blade, square ruler, and cutting board is the easy way to go.  The more uniform your cut pieces the better.

For my pouf I used 45 pieces.  You can use more or less depending on how dense you want your pouf to be.  Below are the 3 piles of cut tissue paper.

Now stack the pile however you want the pieces to go in your pouf.  I did 5 of each pattern and rotated them until I had 45 in the stack.  Feel free to experiment with this!  It makes such different kind of poufs depending on how you pile the sheets.

Now that your stack is ready to go take a scrap piece of paper and trace your half circle onto it.  Draw vertical lines across the half circle that are equal lengths apart.  These are the lines where you will alternate glue.  The more lines you draw the smaller your honeycomb shapes will be and the less you draw the bigger they'll be.  I drew 5 lines which I think is a good number for 4-6" poufs.  Draw different colored shapes on alternating lines to make the process more clear.

Place your first square of tissue paper right over your drawn half circle so that it is centered.  Draw marks on the corners by the tissue so you know where to keep it placed.

With your first piece of tissue placed, use a glue stick and connect only the blue triangle lines, making 3 vertical stripes of glue across the tissue paper.  Place your second piece of tissue paper on top of the first piece and smooth down.  On the top of this piece you will only glue where the red circle lines are.  When you place the third piece you will glue along the blue triangle lines again and repeat this, alternating lines until you used all of your tissue pieces.  Make sure the tissue stays within the marked corners you drew.  It will take a little while.

Make sure to pay LOTS of attention to the alternating glue lines.  If you skip a set your pouf will be totally messed up!! (how lame)  All that work for nothing, so do your best to keep track.

When you're all done use your half circle template to cut your glued stack into a half circle, making sure to center it in the middle of your stack.  Glue one card stock half circle to each side of your glued tissue stack.

Using a doubled thread sew through one corner of your half circle stack and back through the opposite corner.  Knot the thread but leave at least 1.5" from where you sewed through since you will need the slack to fully open the pouf.  Leave the thread long after the knot if you want to hang it up.

Now the fun part: OPEN YOUR POUF!!!  Be gentle and pull it open slowly.  How does it look?  You can glue the card stock pieces together to keep it open forever or just use circles of tape, sticky side out to keep it open temporarily and close it later for storage.

Enjoy!!

Thank You Sewnvelopes

Holiday thank you time!  Did you not get what you wanted for the holidays?  Well it doesn't matter, either way you should say thank you!  I whipped up some fancy 'sewnvelopes' to hold an awesome thank you card that Axel illustrated.  The front of the sewnvelope has a vinyl pocket to stick the card into for easy viewing (shown 3 pictures down).  The back side pictured directly below I made with a little snap pocket to put a little monetary surprise/Christmas bonus for my building's door-people.  They were super easy to make, wanna learn how?

Feast your eyes on the simplified individuals of myself, Axel, and of course Teeny cat.  I'm not sure what's in those boxes but it doesn't look like anything I got for the holidays... oh well.  It didn't snow either, just saying. 

Moving right along, the size of the sewnvelope you make will depend on the size of the card you have/made.  The card Axel made was 3.5" x 5" so if you want to make a bigger one, add accordingly.

I made four so I thought it would be fun to make them all in different colors but feel free to make them whatever colors you like, even mix and match!  I used coated nylon but just a 100% woven cotton would work too, even leather would be cool if you're comfortable sewing it.  So let's get started, you will need four pieces to make the whole thing: 

Front top:  7" x 5 3/4"

Front bottom:  4 1/2" x 5 3/4"

Back:  11" x 5 3/4"

Clear vinyl:  4" x 5 3/4"

Take the vinyl and two shorter pieces and line them up like so:

Sew the two closest sides in the image, right sides together 1/4" (All seam allowances in this project will be 1/4").  

Top stitch the seam you just sewn with the vinyl not folding back on itself to reduce bulkiness.

It should now look like this!!  Next cut the top into an envelope shape.  I eyeballed about 2 1/4" from the top as where to make the angle.  Mark this spot on both sides, mark the top middle and cut!  You should have this:

Do the same thing to the long piece you have left and sew the two pieces right sides together leaving the bottom open but sew the corners like the picture below, making it easier to turn and press the corners.

Once it's sewn, turn it right side out.  Fold the bottom open edge so it lays flat and press it with an iron on a very low setting if you're using nylon.  If you're using cotton, a high setting is fine.

Top stitch your folded and pressed edge around the corners like so:

Oh getting so close!!  Fold the fabric in half with the vinyl facing the outside so it looks like an envelope.  Fold it over so that about 1/8" of the vinyl is showing on the bottom and the flap almost meets the envelope corners.  You don't want it to go on or over the corners because the pointed flap won't fold as nicely.  Sew around the outside starting at the folded edge up to the top point of the envelope but don't sew on the folded part.

Time for snaps!  I used white snap fasteners.  They come in a pack with a bunch of them but make sure you get the plier tool to put them on or you will be hammering for days, and annoying your neighbors.

Mark a spot in the top middle of the sewnvelope point, cut a hole and attach the snap and socket.  Fold it over to see where it hits to make the second hole and apply the stud and snap.  Now you're finished!!!  Admire your work and then go make another!!!

As a bonus check out the repeating pattern (from a previous post) that I made into wrapping paper.  I also drew a super neat holiday party bear tag that really just brought the present all together.  Not sure how I'm going to step it up for next year, I better get to work!

Repeating Pattern Sans Computer Tutorial

For the past 3 months, artist Mike Perry hosted an open event exhibition in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn called Wondering Around Wandering where Mike and invited guests had an art gallery and conducted workshops, screenings, gatherings, and more!  All of the events were open to the public and were free to RSVP.

I made it to a few of the workshops including a Saturday morning sketchbook workshop where we learned to throw our drawing apprehensions out of the window!  The most recent workshop I went to was a creating repeating patterns event with Dan Funderburgh.  Now, I've made many a repeating pattern in my day but usually with the aid of the computer.  I wanted to share a method of making a legit repeating pattern like they did in the old days sans computorial assistance.

Take a piece of paper any size, an 8.5" x 11" sheet is a good place to start since it's easy to photocopy but by all means if you want to go bigger or smaller, make it happen!  To ensure that it is perfect, you can use this image I made and then print it out!  It helps if you use a single color marker that has a good thickness to it.  Start to drawn in the middle of the page and continue outward.  The most important part in this first step it to make sure your drawing extends to the top, bottom, and side edges as mine does (above), but do not exceed the cross marks to ensure your pattern will properly repeat.

Once your drawing hits the top and bottom edges, use a straight edge and a cutting device (something that will cut in a straight line) to cut your drawing into 4 squares using the cross marks as a guide.  Use the diagram above to know what arrangement to place your cut squares in and tape it together on the back lining up the edges as close to perfect as you can.

If you did it correctly, all of the blank area that was on the edge before is now in the middle.  Fill up this blank area in the same style you did in the first step to make it look like a cohesive drawing.  No need to worry about lining anything up in this step because if you did everything correctly when you cut and taped it together, your pattern is guaranteed to repeat!

Once you're finished, make a few photocopies of your square (ok, so you have to use modern technology a little bit).  Cut out each of the photocopied squares on the exact edge of the drawing and tape them together.

You should now have a real life tangible repeating pattern!!  You can make it as big as you want and use it as wrapping paper or hang it on the wall as a poster.  The possibilities are endless!!

You can also scan your finished square to repeat it on the computer or to change the colors.  Now, make another!!

Sewn Concentric Circle Tutorial

As you probably saw in my last post I made a bunch of super neat quilted flags.  Some of said flags were made with sewn concentric circles.  Sewing perfect circles can be tricky especially is you have no idea where to start.  Look no further for I am going to give you a tutorial for making these layered sewn circles!

The best part about making these circles is that you can layer up as many as you want with whatever fabric you want making them easily customizable!

Start with your base fabric which will be the outermost circle.  You can use an already finished garment to repurpose or a new piece of fabric, the possibilities are endless!!

Cut a smaller piece of fabric in the same color big enough to fit whatever size circle you want to make with about an inch and a half on the edges.  Fold the fabric in half side to side (press the folded center with your finger & unfold) and then top to bottom (repeat) This will give you the exact center of your cut piece.

Draw a circle using a compass for that perfect circle (you have the center so you know exactly where to place your compass point).  Remember: the closest to perfect you draw the circle will make it that much easier to achieve a finished perfect circle.  I like to serge along the edge of the circle to make sure it won't fray during construction or in the future.

Place the cut and serged circle on top of your original fabric.  You can do the fold trick on the original fabric to make sure you place it exactly in the center.  Head over to your sewing machine and sew right along the circle line all the way around.

When you're done cut out the middle of the circle 1/4" from the sewn edge using a rotary blade or a scissors.

Using a sharp pair of scissors (all of your scissors should be sharp you crafty sewer!) cut slits all the way around the 1/4" edge to minimize pulling when you rotate the circle (you'll see).  The closer to the seam the better, but make sure not to cut your perfectly sewn seam!

Now the fun part! Turn the sewn circle underneath the original fabric to create that finished circle seam.  Try to get it as close to the sewn edge as possible and press.

Look at you sewing awesome circles!  That wasn't so bad was it?

If you're doing more than one circle, repeat the process you just did in another color (I did yellow).  Set aside your first sewn circle and cut out the same 2 pieces again.  Make sure your new original piece (yellow) is big enough with extra room to sit underneath your first circle (red).

Draw your circle on your smaller cut piece (yellow) any diameter smaller than the circle you drew on the first circle (red) and serge the edge.

Place the circle in the center of the larger piece and sew around the circle edge.  Cut the inside of the circle out and snip the seam allowance and then turn and press the circle.  (I know you didn't have to read the directions again because you just did this!)

Now you have your big circle and your little circle!  Cut a smaller piece of fabric to fit inside your smaller circle, don't forget to leave extra room!

Place the fabric piece inside the small circle and top stitch on the edge all the way around.

Then place your larger circle on top of your finished smaller circle and top stitch again.  Make sure it's exactly in the center or the circles will look wonky.

You're done!! Finish the edges of the sewn piece however you like and stand back to marvel at your hard work completed!  Now... make another!!

Did I miss something?  Ask your question in the comments below!  Thanks!