Fringe Necklace Tutorial

As you've probably noticed, we are in a phase recently where we love all things FRINGE!  Today Tiffany Vela has a new fringe tutorial to share with us, and what I especially love about this project is that we can add fringe to an outfit without having to actually make an all new outfit! (Not that I mind sewing new outfits... but these are super quick!).  I love the detail Tiffany puts into her creations and I'm excited to share this one with you. How gorgeous is this: 

Amazing right?!  Her fringe necklace totally completes the outfit. You don't need any special supplies to make one -- just some strips of knit fabric. What a great scrapbuster!  You can even use part of the tutorial to make a braided headband like she's wearing in the photo. 

Tiffany also used the same technique to make a lace fringe necklace. The steps are the same; you simply use lace fabric instead of the knit fabric:

Nirvana's Knee Pads

If you have an active girl in need of knee pads (dance, volleyball, etc.) and boring ones won't do, you're going to LOVE today's free upcycle pattern!  It comes to us from Tosha, our fabulous dance wear pattern designer, so you know it's going to be fantastic! Introducing... Nirvana's Knee Pads!

Aren't they cute? You can customize them to any style you want, using a pair of old (or new) knee pads and some leftover dance wear fabric. My daughter will absolutely flip when she sees these!  

 Nirvana's will give you a fabulous fit and just as much function as boring regular, knee pads. All you're really changing on them is the cuteness factor! 

How to Clean Your Iron

One of my most used and under-appreciated sewing tools is my iron. I use it pretty much every day on my projects (not necessarily my own clothes, ha.), and having a great iron makes all the difference! The more steam the better, in my opinion.  My husband spoiled me with a Rowenta Steamforce for Christmas one year and it is a dream to work with. So much steam!  I have noticed, however, that when I'm not taking good care of it (aka when I accidentally iron the wrong side of interfacing and then don't bother to clean it or empty it), my iron can get a little grungy.  Not only that, but the holes occasionally leave spots on the projects I'm ironing. Not good.  So I decided it was time for a little iron housekeeping and today I'm going to teach you some great techniques for cleaning your iron, both inside and out! 

First, I want to say that you might have seen a variety of "cheats" out there for easier ways to clean your iron.  We have put several of them to the test and quite honestly, they weren't easier and they didn't even work. #majorfail  If you want to see some of those non-working-cheater-methods in action, you can check out our tested-and-failed video on YouTube. It's kind of funny. But don't get distracted by that quite yet. First I'm going to teach you the techniques that DO work!  And they're not difficult at all, so I'm not sure why people are trying to make a cheater method. That's discussion for another day -- let's get started cleaning that iron! 

How to Ice Dye Fabric

Hey everyone! Have you ever wanted to learn how to ice dye? If you just said no, then why not? Ice dying is amazing and fun and we have a free tutorial for you so you can learn how! Seriously, you can turn a fabric you love that is mostly white into something even more fantastic! And we all know how white attracts stains so maybe you can even salvage your favorite white clothing items.

 Hopefully this intrigues you and you have to try it because it is so fun and easy and addicting! You can even use the same color combinations and the fabric will turn out different every time. You can also change the amount of dye that you use to make it less or more colorful.

Today we're going to teach you the steps for ice dying, share a fun time lapse video we made, and then we even have a giveaway for you! Does it get any better than that?  First, the tutorial: 

Adding Bodice Trim and Bow to Della's Drop Waist Dress

Did you see Della's Dropwaist Dress that released today?  It's adorable!  It includes a lot of sweet features that are fabulous on their own. Sometimes it's fun to play around with added embellishments too, and one of our testers came up with a fun addition to Della's! 

 Isn't that cute?! Megan Wachowski agreed to teach us her techniques here, for adding a bodice trim and bow to Della's dress.  Here she is!

Hundred Acre Wood

Today we have a SUPER fun photo shoot to share with you, and I'm sure this one needs no introduction. The theme here is pretty obvious, no?  

It's the cutest little Hundred Acre Wood I've ever seen!  These outfits were put together by our fabulous Stephanie Baker, and photography credit goes to Lucky One Photography.  And of course the adorable little outfits were all made using CKC patterns.  I will tell you which styles in a minute, but first you can simply sit back and enjoy the cuteness:

Varsity Letter for a Letterman Jacket

Did you see our new pattern for Brock's Letterman Jacket? It's one of my favorite patterns ever!  It could be that I come from a big sports family, but I just can't get over this cuteness. 

Amazing right?!  The J is for "Josh" and his favorite color is blue. He could not be any more proud of this thing!  

Your little one is going to love having their own letterman jacket too, whether you design it after a favorite sports team, a school, or even just his/her favorite color. You can't go wrong! And don't forget about the most important part -- the varsity letter.  Today I'm going to teach you how to make the varsity letter to put on Brock's. It's super easy!