Crazy Daisy Jeans

Funk up a dull drab pair of jeans with a little bit of flower power. Great for kids jeans or hippie ladies jeans or a project for a teenager, you’re bound to be a trend-setter in funky daisy jeans. Quick and easy to do and not a great deal of artistic flare is needed.

To make daisy jeans you will need…
A pair of jeans (cheap jeans are ideal), thick bleach, artists paintbrushes, thick card, scraps of bright fabric (look in the patchwork box in your local haberdashery) and a needle and thread.

Lay the jeans out flat on a table. Move anything from the area that would be spoilt should it come into contact with the bleach.

Push some thick card up the inside of the right leg of the jeans. This creates a firm base and prevents bleach from seeping through to the fabric below.

Along the bottom hem and up the side seem of the leg to the knee draw 4 to 8 daisies with a biro. The flowers can be assorted sizes. Start off with an “O” shape at the centre and draw six petals or so coming off from the daisy middle. Just draw the flower heads – no stalks or leaves.

Once you are happy with the design go over the daisies with bleach. Pour some bleach onto a plate (thick bleach is best) and using a paint brush, brush the bleach over the biro lines.

You need to work quickly because not only will some brush bristles melt, but the bleach will also be bleaching and attacking the fabric of the jeans. Really you want all the daisies bleached to a similar colour.

Reapply bleach to areas you feel needs it.

When all the daisies have turned white, immerse the jeans into a bowl of water and rinse three or four times to get all of the bleach out. Do not put them into the washing machine because the bleach will perish the rubber seal of the washing machine. Leave the jeans to dry.

You can leave the jeans like this, or you can give each daisy a coloured centre.

Here’s how to colour centres…
Draw around a mug or something onto the back of some brightly coloured fabric. Cut out and with a needle and threads sew a row of running stitches around the outside of the fabric circle. Draw the running stitches up so that the raw edges are drawn in. Flatten the circle out, this is your daisy centre. Adjust the tightness of the “Drawing up” to make the centre bigger or smaller to fit each particular daisy. Sew or Wonderwed the daisy centre into place on the jeans. Use invisible stitching, hemming stitch would be good.

Feeling adventurous?

Try covering the jeans in daisies, the front and back. Or just across the seat of the jeans. The funky design possibilities are endless.

More of S. Roberts craft ideas can be found at http://busy-crafting.blogspot.com/. For Christmas crafts visit http://www.santaspostbag.co.uk/ where you can also send a free letter to your child from Santa Claus. For Jewellery crafting, visit http://www.artclaysupplies.co.uk/ for beautiful home-made jewellery making projects.

Indulge Your Inner Hippie and Learn to Tie Dye

by Chris Robertson

Even if you're not a child of the 60s, you've probably had the pleasure of owning and wearing tie dye clothing. If you've ever been to an event with a craft fair, chances are that you've noticed those eye-catching booths full of colorful tie-dye clothing and home decor. You may even have marveled at how they manage to incorporate those intricate, vibrant designs onto a plain cotton T-shirt.

While intricate tie dying is truly an art, you and your family can have loads of fun at home making your own tie dye (or tye dye) creations. Hands down, the best way to learn how to tie-dye is through instructions demonstrated on a video or DVD. Seeing how it's done, as opposed to reading about it, makes all the difference in the world. Still, tie dye is a process of trial and error, so why not give it a whirl (or a swirl)?

It's All About the Fabric

When it comes to tie dye, the right fabric is critical. Natural fibers - like cotton or linen, pick up the dye well. If you stick with 100 percent cotton, you can't go wrong. To start with, why not pick up some inexpensive T-shirts at your local mass merchandiser? Get one for each family member, and make it a party! Remember, though, that you need to wash and dry the new garments before you start your tie dying party. Unwashed new fabric won't pick up the dye very well.

The Secret of Dyes

Actually, the dyes you use to tie-dye aren't a big secret. For cotton, you need to use a dye that will react well to the fabric, namely Procion MX, dissolved in a urea solution. You can make virtually every color imaginable with just three colors: yellow, turquoise, and fuchsia. But, before you start dying, you need to soak your fabric in soda ash. Tie dye artisans use a few other chemicals as well, which you can learn about on an instructional DVD or video.

The Fun Part: Patterns

Tie-dye is all about colors and patterns. Learning how to make swirls, crinkles, stripes, wavy lines, hearts, clovers, and - yes - even peace signs is a great way to engage the creativity of everyone in the family. You can learn to tye knots; twist fabric into pancake shapes secured by rubber bands; roll a shirts to form tubes, which you then tie; and pleat the fabric to make symmetrical patterns.

Applying the Dye

There are at least six different techniques you can use to apply the dye to your fabric, from dipping and soaking to using squeeze bottles and spray bottles. Again, someone with years of experience can best teach you how to apply dyes to get the results you want.

Making it Stick

After tie dying your shirts or decor, it's important to follow the steps necessary to make sure the dye reacts with the fiber. Then you need to repeatedly wash the fabric in a special solution so that the dyes don't inadvertently mix and so the garments remain colorfast.

Ultimately, though, tie dye is all about having fun. It can be a family adventure, a fun way to spend a weekend afternoon with friends, or a way to indulge the creative hippie within you. A great instructional DVD or video will help you learn to tie dye, and send you well on your way to creating gorgeous, vibrant designs.

Chris Robertson is an author of Majon International, one of the worlds MOST popular internet marketing companies.
For tips/information, click here: Tie Dye
Visit Majon's Crafts and Hobbies directory.