Craft Gossip

Independent craft blog since 2007

Tutorial: Turn Glass Beads into Cabochons with Glass Fusing

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finished1I was looking for some interesting tutorials to share with you guys. Especially something that blends two glass crafts. So here’s a tutorial on how to take your glass beads and fuse them into cabochons. It’s on GwacieBeads.com. Too cool. I’ve got plenty of beads that look good on one side but…the other side has an oops on it. Can’t sell that guy. Can’t even stick it in a piece of jewelry for the family. What to do? Fuse it into a cab that can be set in silver or metal clay or even wire wrapped. Or how about made into a magnet or something?

I’ve got some fusing to do for a macramé curtain I’m making and fortunately I’ll be using 104 glass so I’m going to give this a try later with some of my oops beads. Perhaps there sill be pictures tomorrow. I might even fuse a cupcake bead to see what happens. It’s always good to experiment to see what happens. You may end up with something totally cool…and if not you can always turn it into frit, but that’s another tutorial.finished2

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Stitch Your Favorite Fruit on a Sweater

The other day I saw a post from Pinterest about trends for summer and it said one of them was “cultivating whimsy.” 

Well, I don’t know where Pinterest has been all this time, but we’ve been cultivating whimsy here at Craft Gossip for a long time. I love sharing projects that are a little different, things that make you smile when you see them, and will make you smile when you knit them and wear them or use them. 

Such it is with the Tutti Frutti tee knitting pattern from Bea Creative Knits. 

This cute little baby tee is worked top down in the round with contiguous shoulder construction to shape the sleeve caps. There are short rows for the neckline and folded hems with picot edging at the hemline, neckline and edges of the sleeves. 

All of this would be great on its own, but then there’s the addition of a super cute fruit icon, which is added with duplicate stitch. There are a lot of options, including strawberry, banana, orange, cherries, watermelon, lemon, blueberries, kiwi, peach, dragon fruit, apple and pear, so it’s likely you can add on your favorite fruit. 

It is offered in eight sizes, to fit a bust measurement ranging from 28-30 inches (71-76 cm) to 56-58 inches (142-147 cm). The design is meant to be worn with around 6.3 inches/16 cm of negative ease, but you can choose the fit you prefer. There’s also optional bust and waist shaping included in the pattern if you want to make it even curvier.

This is considered an advanced beginner or intermediate project because of all the skills involved, but it’s sure to be a lot of fun even if some of these techniques are new to you.

Grab a copy of the pattern for yourself form Bea Creative Knits on Etsy. 

[Photo: Bea Creative Knits]