Adult Learners

Projects include reusable masks, notebooks, Christmas ornaments, rattles, embroidered paper wall art, a resist painting, pattern squares, bookmarks, ear wraps, a REJOICE bunting, baby hats, baby socks, a gourd birdhouse, a doily, balls, decorative handkerchiefs, pillowcases, a quilt, a Christmas stocking, pajama bottoms, a wreath, a color study, and a pattern study.

How to make a reusable mask:

Start with 100% cotton fabric. I purchased, washed, dried, pressed, and stacked four fat quarters here: blue, white, brown, and white. Wash the fabric in hot water and dry it on high heat to ensure it is clean. If your fabric has a "right" side, ensure that is facing the white backing.

For elastic, I will be using 1/4" braided elastic.

Normally, I use 5/8" fold-over elastic (FOE) as you can see in the photo of the masks I made, above. 

You'll want a white thread on your bobbin if using white mask backing, and a spool of thread the color to match the outside of your mask.

Cut two 7" pieces of elastic for each mask you plan to make.

Make tick marks 6" from two different positions along the top edge of a piece of cardboard and connect those marks. Make tick marks 9" from two different positions along the side edge of the cardboard, a draw a line between those, too. This ensures your corners will be squared. Cut along those two lines to make a 6" x 9" pattern for the average adult. 

Flip your "fabric sandwich" over so that the white fabric is on top. As you lay your pattern on this sandwich, make sure that all the edges of your fabric are outside the perimeter of your cardboard rectangle. Then trace around your pattern with the pencil.

Note: One fat quarter (97 cents in 2022) can make two double-layer masks if you fold it in half before tracing the pattern as described here.

For this tutorial, I am using only the top two layers of the fabric sandwich shown on the left. (I will make the blue mask after the recipient of the brown mask lets me know if any adjustments are needed.)

Start sewing 3/8" from the edge of the middle of the long side. As you approach the first corner, slide a piece of elastic between the two pieces of fabric, being certain to hold the end of the elastic outside the corner as you sew. I like to reinforce the stitches at the corners to be sure the elastic is secure.

To turn the corner, lift up the footer when you get to this spot, and turn your mask with the needle holding your fabric in place.

After sewing all the way around your mask, stop before you get to your starting point. 

This opening is needed for turning your mask right-side out.

Now cut all four corners of your mask as shown in this photo: not too close to your stitches. Trimming here will help the corners lay flat when the mask is turned right-side out.

Flip the mask right-side out and iron it flat, being careful not to melt the elastic with the hot iron.

Make three tucks on each side of the mask and pin them. All folds should go in the same direction. I put my pins far enough from the edges of the fabric that I don't have to remove them as I add the finishing stitches. Be sure to sew the raw edges of the fabric inside the edges of the mask, reinforce the elastic at the corners, and reinforce the opening as you close it with stitches.

*For this tutorial, I used white thread on top so that you can see the stitches. You may want to use thread to match your fabric. 

Trim the ends of the thread, remove the pins, and you're all set! 

Pro tips: 

Brush three coats of gesso on the cover of a notebook. Add cut paper scraps using rubber cement. Have a rubber cement pick-up nearby to clean up any excess rubber cement after it dries. 

Protect the cover with a sheet of clear contact paper. By making two cuts from the bottom corners of the contact paper to the bottom corners of the notebook cover, mitered corners will result when folding the contact paper edges to the underside of the cover. 

Option: add letter stickers of a child's name. 

Thrift shop magazines can be cut, sorted by color, and made into journals for each hue.

Wood burn a design on each wood slice. Paint. Embellish with paint markers and colored pencil. 

Make holes near the top with a hand drill.

Use a wire to add glass and ceramic beads  to these ornaments with their ribbons.

By making a loop at the top of each hanging wire, no ornament hooks will ever be needed. 

Start with a crochet pattern for an egg cozy, pack it with fiberfill stuffing and a rattle insert, and close up the bottom by decreasing each row.

A similar adaptation can be applied to a knitting pattern for a stuffed animal. Ensure buttons and beads are secured exceptionally well.

This composition book was covered using tacky glue to adhere fabric and a coordinating ribbon. On the backside of the front cover, a piece of linen textured cardstock was glued with tacky glue to conceal and secure the edges of the fabric.

A matching pillowcase was made to pair with the journal.

To make an artwork like the snail on the left, glue one or more paper scraps to a sheet of paper and use embroidery to cover the raw edges or to add a setting. This piece incorporates the stem stitch. 

(Variation of the snail artwork, left.)

Added lyrics from Indelible Grace's "O Love That Will Not Let Me Go."

This is called a resist painting. Apply Frisket masking film with a ruling pen onto areas you want to keep white.

Using blue masking film can be easier to see than white when painting onto white paper. Allow the Frisket to dry before adding paint.

Brush  watercolor paint over the Frisket and let dry. Then use your finger to rub the Frisket off the paper.

Remove the Frisket right after the paint dries. 

Otherwise, it may tear paper during removal.

Make pattern squares, arrange them on black paper, and mount the piece to a sheet of railroad board.

Cut shapes from a rectangle and glue paper scraps behind the openings. Write with a white Sakura Gelly Roll pen.

Start with a knitting pattern for an ear wrap (http://tmatthewsfineart.blogspot.com/2011/11/free-knitting-pattern-headband-ear.html). Add a layered flower and matching button. 

To make an indoor or outdoor REJOICE bunting, cut 7 triangles from a sheet of firm stabilizer, such as Pellon.  Cut 14 triangles from fabric which are about 1/2" larger than the stabilizer triangles on every side. Sew the right sides of each triangle pair together, leaving the base of each triangle open. Turn the triangles right-side out and iron them. Insert the firm stabilizer into each triangle. Iron a piece of quilt binding from which you plan to hang your triangles.

Following the instructions on a sheet of fusible web, iron it onto a piece of light fabric. Do not remove the backing yet.  Using Microsoft Word, make and print letter outlines that will fit inside your triangles. This may require some trial and error with the font size.  Cut out the paper letters, and put them upside-down onto the side of the fabric where the fusible web is bonded. Trace around your paper letters. Cut them out.  Remove the backing and iron the letters onto your triangles.

Insert the bases of your triangles into the fold of your quilt binding. Sew along the bottom edge of the quilt binding to secure the triangles in place. Optional: hang bells from the apex of each triangle.

Here's a pattern: http://www.paper-and-glue.com/2016/01/fat-quarter-fabric-bunting.html.

On YouTube, LionBrandYarn has playlists called "Knitting for Beginners" and "Crochet for Beginners."  On the Lion Brand and Ravelry websites are many patterns, for everything from baby hats and socks to doilies (right).

Painted gourd birdhouse using acrylic paint.

Another practical item to make with knitting or crochet is a ball (https://kundhi.com/blog/2010/10/11/tiny-crochet-ball-pattern/) for all ages to play with indoors. These are great to make if you have less than one skein of yarn left after making another project.

Progress photo, quilt.

When finishing a quilt, you can embroider a Bible verse right into the paper and then pull the paper out of the stitches.

Kitchen scrubbers and dishcloths are simple projects to make with yarn. Homemade washcloths can be paired with baby bath or soap as a gift.

Mittens are easier to make than socks. Baby bonnets can be make with ribbons (https://www.prettyprudent.com/diy-crochet-bonnet-2/).

Baby bonnet with button.

Decorative edges can be crocheted on pillowcases or handkerchiefs.

Bookmark variations.

Simplicity Pattern 5271 has easy instructions for pajama bottoms in sizes for an entire family. You might want to sew a felt rectangle inside the waistband for a tag.

To make a personalized Christmas stocking, start with a pattern such as the one I used (below), and add a name using the technique described above for the quilt.

http://blog.fabricworm.com/2010/12/christmas-stocking-tutorial.html

To make this wreath,  purchase an 18" wreath frame made of 13 gauge wire. Use pinking shears to cut strips of fabric as wide and as long as you like. Tie the fabric strips to the frame until it looks as full as you want it to be.

This Christmas ornament was for a friend who had recently opened a coffee shop called "Jumpin' Java." It incoporates the back stitch, French knots, and the blanket stitch. The "steam" pipe cleaner serves as the ornament hook.

This Christmas card was for a family who had recently adopted twins, one of whom enjoyed trains.

This was for a friend who grew up at the Bolshoi School in Russia.

This color study can teach you a great many things. 

Interactions: The squares in the white rectangle are like Josef Albers's studies about colors reacting differently to the colors around them. The small (inner) squares are all the same color but offer different interpretations when paired with their outer borders.

The strips of yellow, pink, and blue are monochromatic (one color) value scale studies of tints (additions of white), incrementally in steps. (This photograph captures the yellow steps less discernably.) The strip of green is a value scale of both tints and shades (adding black).

The tetrahedron,  icosahedron, and dodecahedron are planar studies involving the application of tints.

The top surface of the circle is a clear, rotating overlay connected by a brad. It's labeled with tints, tones (white and gray added to colors), shades, and hues (pure colors). 

The circle underneath is divided into 48 sections. This is great practice for mixing paint. 

The colors are arranged like a traditional color wheel, with the primaries (colors that aren't made by mixing any other colors) red, yellow, and blue equidistant from one another. You can see the primary colors in a labeled rectangle at about the 2:00 position from the outer ring of the circle. 

A secondary colors sample (each made by mixing two primaries) is at the 9:00 position. 

Three pairs of complimentary colors (across from one another on the color wheel) span the lower perimeter of the circle: blue and orange, red and green, and yellow and violet.

One example of analogous colors (three colors next to each other on the color wheel–usually containing a primary color) is seen in the green rectangle at the 4:00 position.

Intermediate colors, made by mixing a primary with a secondary, are represented in the rectangle nearest the top of the circle.

That leaves split complementary colors, located at 11:00. The example given starts with red-violet. From there, your eye would travel across the color wheel to red-violet's complement,  yellow-green. The two colors adjacent to yellow-green are red-violet's split complements; namely, yellow and green.

For this study, cut Bristol board into squares. How many patterns can you make? Rearrange the squares on white Bristol board until you find your favorite composition before gluing them down, and mount the piece on black railroad board.