Tumbln' with Kiki magazine

Kiki magazine is an independent, ad-free magazine for girls who love life, appreciate creativity, and recognize good ideas. A Kiki reader is a girl with style and substance! Subscribe today at www.kikimag.com

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In the April/May 2015 issue of Kiki, we show you how to make a runway-inspired flower skirt using flowers made from polyester fabric. Follow the directions below to learn how to make flowers from felt instead using two different techniques.

 What You Need:

Felt

Scissors

Needle and thread or hot glue

Beads or buttons

Technique #1

Step 1

Cut circles from felt and then cut 4 even slits from the circle. Round out the edges as shown. 

Note: You could cut and layer any flower shape you like, not just the circle with slits cut in it.

 Step 2

Layer the petal shapes on top of each other until your desired flower shape is achieved and then glue or sew them together.  

 Step 3

Attach a bead, button or circle of felt in the center with thread or glue.  

  Technique #2

 Step 1

Cut oval shapes from one or more colors of felt.

 Step 2

Pinch at one end and glue the pinched fabric in place with hot glue to create a 3D petal shape.

 Step 3

Glue the pinch parts of the petals together to create flowers.

The easiest way to make a flower skirt is to purchase the exclusive Flower Skirt Kit from Kiki! It comes with everything you need to make this fashion-forward runway flower skirt.

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Kiki, I want to go into costume design for musicals and plays but I'm not sure how to get started. I knew that you have lots of ideas so I was wondering if you had any for the designs for musicals or plays. Has anyone ever made something like a costume that they could give me advice?

Your timing is impeccable! We recently wrote a featured article in our Oct/Nov 2014 issue about Costume Design V. Fashion Design. You can purchase the back issue on our website shop. Costume design is all about the person, while fashion design is all about the clothing. Focus on the character in the musical or play, find out what he or she resembles, how he or she is portrayed, and work on designing the costume to enhance that character's personality and contributes to the production without being the main focal point. Just remember to work hard and have fun! 

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hi I'm 11 and I need help with stuff on puberty

Growing up can be difficult, especially when you are moving from one stage of life to another (or school, or group of friends… you get the idea). No matter what stage you’re entering, it’s always important to bring great character qualities with you to make it easier! Kiki works with a fabulous life coach named Angie Brown who writes a series of articles called “Coach’s Corner." Coach Angie helps you work through challenges in life by helping you practice how to be confident, present, generous, kind, flexible, thankful, enthusiastic, and forgiving. These qualities will help you make friends, love yourself, and grow up into a young woman with style AND substance!

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Make a T-shirt Scarf!

Click here to download PDF instructions for this project!

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What you need:

Earring hooks (You can use clip-on earrings too!)

Tie

Scissors

Hand sewing needle and thread

Fray check

Click through for step-by-step instructions!

Step 1

Cut the tie into two pieces about 2-3 inches long.  Add Fray Check to the cut edges if you do not like the look of loose threads.

  Step 2

Thread your needle and knot one end of the thread.  Push the needle up through the fabric and back down through it a few times creating a stitch down the length of the fabric.

  Step 3

Pull the thread tight to gather the fabric.  Then push the thread through the hole at the bottom of the earring hook and tie a few knots to secure it in place. For extra pizzazz, you can sew on or glue beads, buttons, or gemstones.

  Clip-on earing alternative:  Instead of tying the thread you sewed to the earring hook, tie it in a knot on the tie piece to secure the bunching in place and glue the bunched piece to the clip on with E6000 glue in a ventilated area.  Make sure to let it set and dry for enough time. 

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Make these fun hair clips from green felt to make shamrocks or from red felt to make Valentine hearts!

What you need:

2 craft sheets of felt (two different shades of green is best)

Hot glue gun

Hot glue

Blank hair clips

Scissors

Optional: Pen and paper

Step 1

Cut out five large green hearts and five smaller green hearts from a lighter green color. 

You may want to make a paper pattern for each heart size to make sure the hearts look the same, or make each one unique!

  Step 2

Lightly hot glue all the small hearts to the large ones, lining up the points of both hearts.

  Step 3

Put a dot of hot glue on the end near the point of the doubled heart and CAREFULLY pinch it together to hold it in place while the glue dries.  It is smart to wear safety gloves for this step. Repeat this for all five hearts.

  Step 4

Line up all the pinched hearts in a circle so that the points are touching and put a blob of hot glue in the middle to hold them together.  Then glue a small heart-shaped piece of felt, bead, or button on top of the blob to hide it.

  Step 5

Pinch open the hair clip, hot glue a large heart to the bottom inside part of the clip and then hot glue the heart to the back of your glued group of hearts.  Wear and enjoy!

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Do you have any cool recourses for cool school supplies?

Cool school supplies are necessary when it comes to creative thinking! One great resource to look at is called Girl of All Work. This company sells office accessories that include stylish sticky notes, embellished journals, and super fun notepads! Look out for Girl of All Work, featured in the February/March 2015 issue of Kiki, which hits newsstands on January 20th. Retail stores, like Target, also sell some pretty neat and stylish school supplies.

If you’re interested in putting your own DIY spin on things, check out our Tumblr tutorial on how to make your own hand-bound journal. You can use a variety of paper to create your own unique look and create one for each school subject to keep them organized. Get creative and have fun!

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Ready to start mowing lawns or launch your own babysitting business? Use these three business card templates to leave a lasting impression on your clients! Be sure to check out page 20 in the February/March 2015 issue of Kiki to learn how to customize your cards using rubber bands, chopsticks, and ink!

Template #1: Doodle

Template #2: Umbrella

Template #3: Paint Splatter

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Where do you get your fabric and how do you measure you guys.😃

We find our fabric in all kinds of places! Usually we go to local craft stores like Hancock Fabrics and Jo-Ann Fabrics, but we also use fabric that we’ve repurposed from clothing we find at thrift stores and even worn out clothing from our own closets!

In order to find or purchase the right amount of fabric for the garment you are planning to create, you need to know the measurements of the body that will be wearing it first. Then you can decide how much fabric you will need. Most store-bought patterns will indicate the amount of fabric that is needed to create the garment according to your body measurements. 

Check out this video we made which tells you exactly how to take body measurements in order to plan your fashion design.

Also, be sure to look out for an article about how and where fashion designers get their fabrics in the April/May 2015 issue.

Happy sewing!

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2014 Kiki Fashion Design Contest

Go behind the scenes with the Kiki team! The 2014 Kiki Fashion Design Contest was an international competition inviting Kiki readers to design their own fashionable outfits. Then, Kiki Master Crafter Lindsey brought the four winning designs to life! In this video, you'll meet the winning designers, learn about the fashion design process, and watch the actual outfits being made!

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What You Need:

Clear plastic vinyl (could be a table cloth)

Spray fabric adhesive ex Elmer's extra strong spray adhesive

Iron

Wax paper

Optional:

Brushes

Liqutex acrylic inks

 Read on for step-by-step instructions!

Step 1:

Cut a section of the clear plastic vinyl – any shape you like and use the spray glue to glue it to the inside of a section of the cardigan (section of your choice)

Step 2

Use iron to press both sides of glued area to secure the glued piece in place.  You will have to place wax paper over the vinyl area before ironing.

Step 3

Then bunch up the glued area in interesting ways.  Place wax paper over the vinyl and iron the scrunched vinyl on the hottest setting of the iron, try using steam also.  Keep doing this (carefully) until the vinyl has melted together in interesting ways. 

When the area has cooled flip the area around to see the cool sculptural effect on your caridan!  You can repeat this process as many times as you like. 

Note! For more embellishing, try painting the sculptural area of your cardigan with liquidex acrylic inks and let them dry.  Set them in place with the iron.  This process can be done before or after the first process.

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Did you love the fashion spread that was garments designed by readers like you?  This project is the envelope clutch designed for the violin dress in the Dec/Jan 2015 fashion spread!  You can make your own by following the directions below!

What You Need:

Envelope template, or a small envelope

Scissors or jewelry hole punch

Pen

Screw-on button stud

1 yard or leather, felt, or any other non-fray thick fabric

Leather cement or Aleene’s Fabric Fusion Glue

Ready to go? Read on!

Step 1

Print and cut our envelope template or if you have a small envelope, carefully open it and use it as your pattern. Trace the pattern onto the fabric with a marker or pen.

Step 2

Cut out the shape from the fabric and punch or cut holes where they are indicated on the pattern.

Step 3

Push the screw end of the screw stud through the hole on the left flap of the clutch then fold the right and bottom flaps down in that order and secure the screw top.  If you want, you can use a line of glue between the side panels and bottom panel on both sides to secure the panels in place.

  Note! If you want to customize this project, try using paint, glue and/or hand sewing beads and charms to embellish your clutch!

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Testing, 1, 2, 3!

In order to get great results for the sun-dye and rust paint cardigans in our Dec/Jan 2015 issue, we made lots of tests to get to our final product. Here are some of the results from our tests!

Rust Paint Tests

Sun-dye Tests

Can you guess what objects we placed on the fabric to get these cool designs?

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Ballet Beauties

Jossette, the Junior Designer featured in the Dec/Jan 2015 issue of Kiki, illustrated a whole collection of ballet costumes for the 2014 Kiki fashion design contest. We featured the rainbow ribbon dress in the Dec/Jan 2015 fashion spread, but you can see the rest of the designs in her collection right here!

Fire Bird

Don Quixote

Giselle

Swan Lake

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I moved, so I got an online subscription for Kiki. But the newest issue on the Magster app is April May? Do you know how I can fix that? Also, I love your magazine so MUCH!

Thank you for bringing this to our attention! We have updated the Magzter issue to include the current October/November 2014 issue. We hope you enjoy your new home and continue to love the magazine as much as we do!

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In the October/November 2014 issue of Kiki, there is a guide to create a circle skirt in six easy steps! Once you’ve created your skirt, add an iconic poodle embellishment by following the directions below.

Click here to download the poodle shape template!

Print and cut the template out. Pin the poodle shape to your chosen fabric and cut it out. Use fabric markers to add detail to the poodle. Use fabric glue to secure the poodle to the skirt wherever you like. You can also glue on a strand of sequins to make a leash for the poodle. Wear and enjoy!

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I love love LOVE the dress on the Jun/Jul 2014 issue where is it from?

We found the cover dress from the Jun/Jul issue at Modcloth.com. The dress is called "As Days Go Binary" dress. It looks like it's still available on the site.

Enjoy!