http://froggyfibers.blogspot.com

You really wouldn’t think that starting something as simple as a Chia plant would be difficult. They go something like this:
Soak the pot for an hour.
Soak the seeds for an hour.
Apply seeds to pot.
Put bag over pot for 3-4 days so the seeds start sprouting.
Take bag off and place in sunny warm spot.
Keep pot watered and turn as necessary.
If you do it right, you don’t get this!

Opps! Did I forget to water her?

You think this would be simple but its not. I won’t bore you with the details but this is our second attempt. I say we… but after the first attempt my son lost his interest. This was all me trying to make it work.
Seriously, growing a plant should be like the easiest crafty thing you can start with. You follow directions, put in some work and you watch your work grow into a plant/vegetable/fruit. You feel proud. Tell you what…. this my friends, is not easy!

Kathy Cano-Murillo (aka Crafty Chica) narrowly avoids an iron-on crafting disaster.

Leslie at Fluff & Nonsense is off the fail hook with her hat

Sweet Things makes mud balls

Vively Online sews leggings

Family Education makes a “magic snowflake”

It’s a shrug crocheted in somewhat loose, what I thought would be fashionable, slip stitches. The 3/4-sleeves end with a connoisseur’s blend of uncommon stitches–a swingy ruffled angora fantasy. In my mind.

The big reason for the fail is that I used a large crochet hook to make stretchy slip stitches in novelty chenille yarn. I can’t think of a bigger invitation for chenille yarn to “worm“. Even before the worming began, the stitches stretched unevenly, also thanks to the texture of the yarn. It was especially noticeable on the shoulders (ugh!). To top it off, the angora look turned into a ratty look.

After wearing once or twice, it looked as if an animal had chewed on it 20 years ago.

This CraftFail blog inspired me to try every which way to make lemonade with this lemon. I tried blocking it, adding black velvet ribbon accents (see photo at right), even going so far as to consider: might this shrug be turned into capri pants? Yikes! nooo!

I go into a little more detail in this blog entry.

Resin pendant fail by WendyKay

I really enjoyed this entry at Make+Meaning called “The Wisdom of Mistakes.”

Is the ceramic glaze that bubbles in the kiln and ‘spoils’ the pot really a disaster? Or can you repeat and refine the process until you no longer have ‘a mistake’ but a unique signature style? What sort of surface are you left with if you sand back the bubbled glaze? Or if you crack the bubbles lightly with a hammer, add another layer of glaze and refire? Can you think of ten different things to try with your ‘ruined’ pot?

Can you think of ten different things to do with your fails?

(HM from DSC)

(channeling some 1985 David Lee Roth – does it soften the post, or make it worse?)

When my doll-making started to slow down and I thought of incorporating dolls into jewelry making, I had a few “interesting” creations.

I don’t think I need to say anymore.  You all know the name of this website.

I keep this one hanging on this door to my computer armoire as a reminder  – not to try this one again.

-Tamdoll

A relatively recent invention, the yo-yo maker, had me thinking one of those famous last phrases among CraftFailers the world around: “I can make that!” We often say that to ourselves without first stopping to ask ourselves “but WHY would I make that?” Not only had I never tried making a yo-yo the old fashioned way, but I had no immediate need for a yo-yo. But I did have two old plastic lids that were just begging to be reused instead of thrown away or sent to a recycling facility. In case you’re wondering, the lower lid belonged to a hummus container in its pre-fail life.

What does a yo-yo maker do? It helps you sew a piece of fabric into a cute little fabric yo-yo by helping you line up stitches and making it easier to turn the hem under. I used a marker to mark the holes and a hole punch to punch them out of the plastic lids. It wasn’t that hard, as processes go, but the resulting yo-yos were far from attractive. I can’t say that my homemade yo-yo maker made the process simpler or better. I’d wager to say it made the process harder and more annoying. Making it seemed like such a brilliant idea at the outset, but after I made it, I kinda thought, “hmmm, why did I bother?”

My recommendation is that if you can’t live without a yo-yo maker (although people have been doing it for a century or more), you pony up the less-than eight bucks needed to pick one up from Amazon or your local quilt shop.

(by Heather at Dollar Store Crafts)

We interrupt your regularly unscheduled craftfailing to bring you some breaking news! Anyone out there like to knit or crochet? Anyone out there like Threadless t-shirts? Anyone have a hankerin’ to combine the two and enter a competition?

I (Heather from DSC) was invited to be a judge by the folks at Threadknits, a knitting/crocheting competition sponsored by Threadless.com. I’m so honored and excited to be involved, and I think it would be awesome if a CraftFailer (YOU!) won the contest, so enter! I’m not saying I’ll vote for you just because you’re a CF’er, but it couldn’t hurt! You’re all so creative, I’m sure you will come up with some amazing entries. If the contest isn’t for you, but you know someone who’s a knitter or crocheter, let ‘em know about it. They could win prizes!

About the Contest: Using knitting or crochet, create an original item inspired by a Threadless.com t-shirt. You can make whatever you want (potholders, sweater, stuffed animal, etc.), and you’ll be judged on creativity, execution, and general aesthetic. You have until Monday, March 1, 2010 to enter.

Check the Threadknits site for more info and rules. I hope to see your creations!

And they want their prom dress flower back.

I recently saw this great little tutorial on making ribbon flowers at Make It Do. How beautiful is that?  It is perfect for spring and with all the grey, damp, snowy weather we’ve had in West Virginia, I could use something to brighten my days.

I bought some ribbon. I got out a spool of thread and my sharpest needle. I ruffled one edge of the ribbon, gathered a little bit for the middle of the flower, and started wrapping and sewing.

Ouch.  It wasn’t until after I realized the Fail had occured and took a step back that I realized the ribbon looked like it was ripped from some horrible 1980s prom dress. Look at that mess. It’s a sheeny, silky, peachy mess. I didn’t even try for a better photograph. This CraftFail occured at night and it didn’t need to see the light of day.

Posted by Haley from The Wild Wood Flower

Half of the fail in this tee dress is just my body shape/size…

I’ve been wanting for eons to make this tee dress from this video tutorial at threadbanger. EONS. So I finally did it tonight, after having some unexpected time on my hands due to the snowstorm. Well, it is certainly easy enough to do. Since I’m a plus-sized gal, I went out and bought the biggest shirt I could find (5XL shirt from Forman Mills), knowing I’d need something larger than a plain ol’ XL for the bottom half of my body. Well, a 5XL clearly is still not really large enough for my large hips and belly. This came out SO BADLY. I knew I had to take pictures before I chucked it in the trash. So I took the pictures, and then chucked it. My boyfriend said, “You could donate it to Goodwill or something” and I laughed, because I wouldn’t even dare catch myself wearing this around the house, let alone giving it away and thinking it would look flattering on anybody at all.

It emphasizes ALL THE WRONG AREAS. CHECK OUT THE LARGE MID-SECTION, PEOPLE, WITH THE BULGEY POCKETS. So horrendous.  Maybe it looks better if I strike a fancy pose…?

Oh, the humanity.

Hmmmm, I am beginning to see a pattern with my crafting fails.  Whenever I try to make some sort of flowery doo-dad for an jewelry project, I crash and burn.  Here’s my latest flaming inferno of failure.

I had an urge to go all Martha and make a flower zipper brooch like I have been seeing all over the webs lately.  I searched through the bins of zippers at the local thrift store and found one that was appropriately worn and frayed for that shabby chic look.

Shabby, yes.  Chic, dunno about that.  I got to work on the brooch by chopping off the ends of the zipper and pulling the two halves apart, like so.

Check out my mad photography skillz.  Nothing says “professionally made product” like a photo lit only by the flash of a crappy point and shoot camera.

Anywho, once the zipper was taken apart, I got bizzay making the flower.  I folded and twisted, pinned and sewed, expertly forming the petals like a, um, an expert petal former.

Behold the fruits of my labor!

It’s a moss-covered, three-handled family grendunza!

What’s a moss-covered, three-handled family gredunza, you ask?  I’m not sure, but it’s not a flower.