How to make yarn dread falls.

So you want to make dread falls out of yarn. Well, you could sit and braid for hours on end just to get chunky braids, or you could go with the less heavy version of mine. ^-^ Not saying either ones right or better, just saying mine weigh a bit less........

So here we go. ^-^

Step one:-----
Cut out yarn! Grab a skien you like or two, or three (how ever many really) of colors you want. I've used two, but many more are easy to add.

You pick your yarn length out yourself. I've got with a strand thats just over a yard long because I want long falls. You have to remember when deciding what length to cut out that you are folding this piece in half. So if it seems uber long and you just want chest length falls, then go with my measurement, if you want shorter, go with less! (Oh and to get those layered looks, go with a bunch of different lengths.)


Now you've got most of a skien or how ever much you feel like using. (I only used a bit of the black skien I picked up which is your basic skien you see at Wallyworld or most craft stores. The green was a smaller skien and I've used most of it. )

Step Two:-----
Cut out holder. I've used ribbon *black* for this set of falls because I wanted to just tie them in and bobby pin for hold. You can use stretchy lace ribbon, elastics (though the falls will have to be really scrunched for most pony tail holders) or basic sewing elastic (like for clothes)

I've used a fairly long piece as I'm loading it with yarn and want to have a good amount left to tie with security.

Step Three:---------
Fold a few strands of your cut yarn in half and lay under your holder.

Then fold the loop the folded yarn has made over the holder.

Lastly pull the ends of your yarn through the loop and tighten.

It should kind of look like a mans tie at the top. ^-^

Step Four:--------
Fill that puppy up! Squish the yarn loops together and put as many on their as you'd like, leaving a tail on both ends thats long enough to tie. (If you used a pony tail holder, just fill it to the brim!)


Step five:------

Pull your hair up in buns and secure with bobby pins. Of course if your just making a single fall, by all means, make one bun on the back of your head. ^-^

I like mine higher than I did for these photos, I was just popping them in to show off. ^-~



I recommend these bobby pins if your doing yours like mine. they help support the weight of the fall and are large enough to go over the yarn and holder. I got mine at the local beauty supply store and I love them. (Also means I only have to use two pins for a bun in my hair, they hold like a dream!)



Now really, that wasn't too hard was it?! ^-^ I love these and can't wait to wear them out. I'll be making some other ones soon though, I've got roving to try and I want to add some foam to some. When I figure those all out I'll post tutes!

Resizing your photographs for etsy- a small tutorial

There was a question posed in the forums today about how to get the right size photo to upload for etsy. Basically from a larger image.

So I thought I'd share my reply since I know that when I got my new camera I encountered this problem. (That thing takes some HUGE pictures) It's made editing a bit faster since I don't even have to go through the process of cropping anymore.

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What I've done is to take and make a 1000x1000 pixel document in photoshop. Then when I take photos of items I just add a layer on top of that square and size it down.

Um, let me try to explain that better.

1000x1000 pxl document in photoshop, just a blank canvas.
*open picture to adjust*
Ctrl-A- to select the whole picture I'm trying to adjust to size.
Ctrl-C- to copy the image
*back to the blank canvas*
Ctrl-V- to paste the image to the blank canvas. (will create a new layer on its own unless your starting from the background or base layer. I tend to make a new layer when I first open the blank canvas square)
Move tool- to slide the picture around a little bit
Click twice while moving or go to an edged to scale down and it will change the tool to free transform

Then just scale to the right size for the square. Sometimes I crop the image by not using all of the picture and just scaling it to where I want, and sometimes I have to make the picture smaller than the square to do a rectangle. But overall it just scales your image. That way if you have one that can't be cropped because the item is all the way out to the sides, you don't have to.

Plus it means that all my thumbnails are square. (unless its one of the rectangle smaller ones of course, but even then you still see the whole picture in the square thumbnail alotment)


Hope that made sense. It's worked out easy for me. Of course I'm also using a camera that takes extra large photos, so it may depend on your actual picture size.

Best thing I can say is just to play with it!