Nifty Things I'm Never Going to Make [Pt 6]

Never say never, but probably not...

I'm back with another installment of nifty things I'm never going to make, this time going with a theme of fruits, flowers and trees.

All of the projects come from a YouTube channel called Retales de Mil Colores, what I'm told by Google means "scraps of a thousand colours" in English.

A crafter named Almudena launched this channel only last year. I've said many times that "same old, same old" comes to mind more often than not these days when I go scouting for sewing inspiration. When I happened upon one of her videos, I was immediately impressed by the creativity of her work.

Let's just say that it was far from "same old, same old". To be honest, I am quite tempted to make at least one of these, but without her magnificent scraps of a thousand colours, I would never get the same results.

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My mother loves hydrangeas. She manages to over-winter a couple of them (she just keeps them in the garage) with some success, but every spring when they show up at local stores, she buys a new one to enjoy the immediacy of the large blooms. The colour of this one is exactly what she would pick.

image courtesy of Retales de Mil Colores via YouTube...

This fabric hydrangea (video uploaded March 8, 2021) is impressive to say the least. The making of it, however, would take a severe amount of patience... that I probably don't have. (See those individual flowers? They are small cinched circles formed on a large circular piece of fabric, each with a center bead accent. Think of how many there are on each cluster!)

But it sure is lovely. And it sure is different.

This next one is a fabric aloe vera plant (this video was my introduction to the channel). It's an easier project than the hydrangea, although there are still forty-two (!) leaves to make.

image courtesy of Retales de Mil Colores via YouTube...

This video was uploaded on Sep 9, 2022 and can be searched for using its title of "aloe vera cactus".

I should mention at this point that all of Almudena's videos are supported by closed captioning in English, and — where required — free templates that she distributes from a separate website. Navigating that site, on the other hand, is a royal pain in the butt. I understand why; it's the desire to make advertising revenue. But that means the site is absolutely littered with ads that have huge "download" buttons that you'll invariably click by accident.

Look for this button to download the pattern templates...

To be safe, take your time to scroll down and then look for the pink button above. I'd almost suggest you ignore the language selection and keep the Spanish because you'll likely just end up clicking something you don't want as the screen flashes options at you. (In any case, the templates are just that: templates, i.e., drawings; I don't see why they'd be needed in any particular language.)

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Next up is a tutorial on how to make an awesome collection of fabric fruit.

image courtesy of Retales de Mil Colores via YouTube...

Uploaded on April 5, 2022, this one is called "fabric fruit basket" and includes bananas, apples, pears and a meticulously created bunch of grapes. Again, the bigger fruits may be more up my alley to make, but the grapes? Not so much.

Back to flowers, this one is probably my favourite: an absolutely convincing African violet plant. Uploaded May 21, 2021, it can be found by searching for "bouquet of African violets".

image courtesy of Retales de Mil Colores via YouTube...

The flowers here are made out of yo-yos, so this one is arguably more doable for those of us who don't have the patience to make the hydrangea.

Once again, however, you can clearly see that having the right fabrics is almost a requirement to create a stunning replica of an African violet. I mean, one could go ahead and make this in colours that are not realistic, but then I wonder if the end result would have the same impact.

I love this next bouquet of tulips. This video was uploaded April 16, 2021 and can be found by searching for "DIY 3 types of Easy Fabric Tulips".

image courtesy of Retales de Mil Colores via YouTube...

That's right, she shows you how to make three different kinds of tulips.

I love my fabric flowers and they are still displayed near where I write these blog posts, but I would also love to update my collection with these. Or, my Voilà Vase is filled with regular artificial flowers right now; it would be great to put some handmade tulips in there instead.

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Last but not least is an easy project for those of you looking to do something different for Christmas. I have previously featured two Christmas tree projects here (one a wall hanging and one a collapsible table top version) so I don't need to make another.

image courtesy of Retales de Mil Colores via YouTube...

Uploaded November 5, 2021, you can search for this one with "Little Christmas tree with fabric and buttons". It's made out of a series of stacked yo-yos of decreasing size, which are then embellished with whatever. I can see this being a great project to make with the kiddies over the holidays.

One more reminder: if you enjoy a YouTube channel, run the videos at least once uninterrupted to allow the ads to complete. It's your way of paying the YouTuber without actually paying.

Who doesn't love a sale?

I don't normally participate in many sales over at Makerist, but the one around Black Friday is fairly popular, so I figured I'd join in on the festivities.

They call it Colorful Week (get it?) and it runs from November 21st to 28th. It's a three part promotion. In the first part, my shop will be among the ones offering at least 20% off on all patterns from November 21st to 24th.

Following up, other shops will have their patterns on for $2 and $3 each for the remainder of the time up to and including Cyber Monday. Whether you buy from me or not, it may be worth checking out.

'Til next...