TJ Crochets

Started out crocheting, now I sew, embroider, draw, make stamps...if it's a craft I want to make it. I also create and share free sewing and crochet patterns. The ufo music box pattern is not mine, but the pattern and a kit are both available for sale on Lalylala's Etsy! If you appreciate my crafting and the free patterns I post, you can support me at ko-fi.com/tjcrochets

[tj-crochets]

Hi! I’m TJ, and I make plushies. I started out crocheting, learned knitting, and now I mostly sew. I’m always taking suggestions for plushies to make, but there’s no guarantee I’ll make the plushie you suggest. I also quilt a lot, do some embroidery, and dabble in pretty much whatever other art or craft I can get supplies for (pretty much if it’s possible to make a rainbow with it, I want to try it lol)  I’m putting the rest of my FAQ below the read more

If you want to commission me, please message me! My simpler plushies are usually in the in $15-$30 range, but they vary in complexity all the way up to my custom DND character plushies that are $100+ price range but include clothes and other character details. I do not charge more for custom plushies than I do for already completed ones, and I do not require partial payment up front on pride plushies or most smaller plushies (because they are easy to sell) but do require partial upfront payment on DND plushies. I accept payments through paypal or ko-fi Commissions are on hold for a while, sorry! If you want to commission me to make a crochet UFO, I’m sorry but that’s one commission I don’t do. The pattern is not mine but is available for sale here or as a kit here if you want to make your own. The lemon armadillo pattern is not mine either, but it’s available for free here If there’s ever a specific plushie you’d like the pattern link to (besides those two) please let me know! I sometimes forget to add a link, and for the patterns I write the requests help me know which one I should work on making shareable next.  I also sometimes talk about my non-plushie job (#tj talks about work), cooking I’m doing (#tj cooks, though I haven’t gotten all my cooking posts tagged with that yet), and the occasional other non-plushie thing (#tj draws, #tj sings). I try to use tags formatted like that for all my non-plushie posts so they are easy to blacklist. I post about the kidlet I used to babysit before the pandemic (#adventures in babysitting) but now that I only see him on facetime and am not volunteering with toddlers I have less adorable little kid stories to share. Pictures people send me of plushies I’ve made in their new homes are tagged #my stuffed animals out in the world without me having their own adventures, and personal posts are tagged #the person behind the yarn. Okay, I think that’s all my commonly used non-plushie tags if you want to blacklist any of them. Enjoy!

[tj-crochets]

Turns out UFOs aren’t as hard to sew as I thought they’d be lol

I will be adding a bunch more details to this, but it’s already a waaaaay faster project than I thought it’d be

[tj-crochets]

Adding a space print lining! I’ve also added some structural support inside the edges with some giant zip ties

[tj-crochets]

Adding a little more structure before I start on decorations

[tj-crochets]

Turns out UFOs aren’t as hard to sew as I thought they’d be lol

I will be adding a bunch more details to this, but it’s already a waaaaay faster project than I thought it’d be

[tj-crochets]

Adding a space print lining! I’ve also added some structural support inside the edges with some giant zip ties

[tj-crochets]

Turns out UFOs aren’t as hard to sew as I thought they’d be lol

I will be adding a bunch more details to this, but it’s already a waaaaay faster project than I thought it’d be

[tj-crochets]

for your pride quilt, what are the measurement units? inches? cm? 10 inches for a piece seems pretty large.

Hey! Sorry, I think that might be an american-ism that I didn't realize was an american-ism. 10" does mean ten inches That quilt pattern finishes at ~54 inches by ~81 inches (it's a slightly narrow twin quilt or a kinda long throw quilt size, not a flag sized quilt pattern). You probably could size it down and use cm if you want to, you'd just need to adjust the seam allowance

[tj-crochets]

The progress pride quilt top is done!!!

[tj-crochets]

Here's a cutting list for this quilt! I've never shared a quilting pattern that's this detailed before, so please let me know what I can expand on to make the pattern clearer I mean, it's just the cutting list, but it's pretty simple to see the pattern looking at the quilt? I can add a diagram of the pattern, though, if that would help?

Pride Quilt:

This quilt is based on 9" finished blocks in a 9x6 arrangement, so approximately 54" by 81"

There are four different sizes of fabric you'll need to cut out: 5" squares, 6" squares (to cut into HSTS for making 5" blocks), 9.5" squares, and 10" squares (to cut into HSTS for making 9.5" blocks)

For each stripe of the rainbow, you'll need three different fabrics, but a FQ of each will be enough

For the triangle section, you'll need two of each color (less than a FQ each)

Red 1 and 2: 2x9.5" squares, 4x5" squares Red 3: 8x5" squares, 1x10" HST

Orange 1 and 2: 2x9.5" squares, 3x5" squares Orange 3: 6x5" squares, 1x 10" HST

Yellow 1: 2x9.5" squares, 3x5" squares Yellow 2: 1x9.5" square, 3x5" squares Yellow 3: 6x5" squares, 1x10" HST

Green 1: 1x9.5" square, 3x5" squares, 1x10" HST Green 2: 2x9.5" squares, 3x5" squares Green 3: 6x5" squares

Blue 1: 2x9.5" squares, 4x5" squares Blue 2: 1x9.5" square, 1x10" HST, 4x5" squares Blue 3: 8x5" squares

Purple 1 and 2: 2x9.5" squares, 4x5" squares Purple 3: 8x5" squares

You will also need a 10" HST; ideally, to keep the pattern, it would be from fabric 1, but that would require more than a FQ. Alternatively, you can use fabric 3, but you will need a fourth color of purple for at least one (ideally 4) 5" squares to prevent having two identical fabrics next to each other. In my quilt, that fourth fabric is the space print fabric

Black: you'll need 22 HSTs to make 5" blocks, but you'll need 11 of each fabric, so cut 6x6" squares of each of your black fabrics to cut in half to make HSTs, and you'll have two left over

Brown: you'll need 18 HSTs to make 5" blocks, but you'll need 9 of each fabric, so cut 5x6" squares of each of your brown fabrics to cut in half to make HSTs, and you'll have two left over Blue: you'll need 14 HSTs to make 5" blocks, but you'll need 7 of each fabric, so cut 4x6" squares of each of your blue fabrics to cut in half to make HSTs, and you'll have two left over Pink: you'll need 10 HSTs to make 5" blocks, but you'll need 5 of each fabric, so cut 3x6" squares of each of your pink fabrics to cut in half to make HSTs, and you'll have two left over White: you'll need four HSTs to make 5" blocks with, so cut 1x6" square of each white fabric for HSTs, and 1x5" square of each fabric

[tj-crochets]

Evening reblog of the pattern, such as it is. Please let me know if there's anything I can clarify

[tj-crochets]

It’s pride month so it’s time to share this quilt pattern again! At some point I’ve really gotta quilt this thing

[tj-crochets]

Pride quilt pattern! I still have not quilted this, but maybe this year I will

[tj-crochets]

I got sidetracked again because there’s a ufo-themed craft fair thing coming up in the near-ish future near-ish to me and I cannot resist a theme so I’m giving myself two days to make a bunch of little aliens

[tj-crochets]

Two of them! The second one has a much more triangular head? Not entirely sure how I managed that lol

[tj-crochets]

I got sidetracked again because there’s a ufo-themed craft fair thing coming up in the near-ish future near-ish to me and I cannot resist a theme so I’m giving myself two days to make a bunch of little aliens

[tj-crochets]

Do y’all want this pattern? It’s super easy to sew, took me 36 minutes from start to finish and honestly probably would’ve been less than a half hour if I used safety eyes instead of these eyes

[tj-crochets]

I got sidetracked again because there’s a ufo-themed craft fair thing coming up in the near-ish future near-ish to me and I cannot resist a theme so I’m giving myself two days to make a bunch of little aliens

[tj-crochets]

So, in what my family calls a "if you give a mouse a cookie moment", sorting out my scrap fabric strips by color means I don't want to put them all back in the box they were stored in all together, I want to store them separately, but I don't have enough little boxes Not having enough little boxes means I'm going to sew some little boxes/trays to store fabric strips by color in. Does anyone have any patterns or like names for what these things are called so I can search for patterns? I'll probably end up writing my own pattern to fit canvas fabric scraps I have, but I'm curious what methods other people use for the corners

[tj-crochets]

I have had another one of those moments and have another question lol

Where is a good place to buy floor cushions? Alternatively, does anyone have any pattern suggestions for floor cushions? I will be using it as, essentially, a booster seat so it will have to fit on my desk chair (my torso is too short for my desk chair so the back support was actively uncomfortable, but when I tried sitting on some cushions it's much much comfier)

[tj-crochets]

So, in what my family calls a "if you give a mouse a cookie moment", sorting out my scrap fabric strips by color means I don't want to put them all back in the box they were stored in all together, I want to store them separately, but I don't have enough little boxes Not having enough little boxes means I'm going to sew some little boxes/trays to store fabric strips by color in. Does anyone have any patterns or like names for what these things are called so I can search for patterns? I'll probably end up writing my own pattern to fit canvas fabric scraps I have, but I'm curious what methods other people use for the corners

[wyrmscraft]

I couldn’t resist starting another Luminous once I saw this line of fabric. It’s called Color Collage by Shelley Davies from Northcott and it’s been in the back of my mind for ages.

I’m using six colours in the piecing, which should make it 92”x109” (unless I mess with the pattern even more and take one of the rows out completely) which will technically be a king size LOL The seventh colour pink is gonna be used on the binding so I get to use alllll the colours we had in stock in the shop 🎉

Someone please stop me, I can’t stop making these fucking things lmao 😭😭😭😂😂😂 I had a plan to do something else but I couldn’t help it!

[wyrmscraft]

Okay, blocks done and middle rows complete!

I did take one row out of the centre so there are only two red centre blocks instead of three. 109” is too big for my queen bed, but I can work with 101” LOL

Technically this will still fit a king at 92”x101”, but I am a blanket hog and that feels like a really skinny king to me.

ALSO??

Because I altered the amount of rows (downsizing) but did not alter the amount of blocks I made, I ended up with just enough left over to make two matching pillow cases! They are even on point like the quilt.

This is gonna look spectacular on a bed.

[wyrmscraft]

It’s so beautiful…. 😭😭😭💖💖💖

And it’s so fucking big LOL

Not as big as the greyscale king for my brother, but still. It feels big.

As you can see a little from the roll on the back of the long arm, I found a fun rainbow universe print to put on it with all the colours on the front.

I’m quilting the pillowcases too, though in a tighter pattern so they can handle more washing.

I can’t wait to put this on a bed.

[wyrmscraft]

I love it so much. My favourite Luminous, I swear.

The pillow cases look so good too. As I mentioned, I quilted them much tighter than the quilt so they can be thrown in the wash a lot more. Same pattern, just smaller design.

It’s so busy, I could stare at it for hours finding things in the prints.

Also? I love the pink binding. I really did want to use every colour, so this was a nice compromise to having to resize everything LOL

The backing is also so busy LOL You can hide a lot of pet fur on both sides of this thing.

The pillowcases turned out great. I used the leftover from the backing to back the pillow cases so that everything matches. And they’re envelope style so the pillows won’t slip out. Hate it when the pillowcase slips off my pillow.

I had to sew three 45” wide strips of fabric together for the backing to fit on the long arm. Since the quilt was only 101” at its widest, I had a whole 30” strip that was usable and perfect for this.

[tj-crochets]

Wait okay new post about this:

Do allergists make you do a skin test before they will see you?

Yes - US

No - US

Yes - not US

No - not US

Voting ended onJun 11

I know these options are limited but I’m US-based and I’m trying to figure out why on earth Tennessee allergists won’t see me without skin tests, which I can’t safely get because my allergies are too severe to go off antihistamines for that long.

If you’re willing please let me know which state you are in that will/won’t let you visit the allergist without a skin test, this confuses me so much my California allergist let me go like a year without ever getting a skin test but I had a referral to the allergist from the ER for anaphylaxis

[tj-crochets]

Hey y'all! Weird question time! How do you deal with new doctors wanting you to go off antihistamines (and asthma meds, this time) for days-to-weeks for testing? Because I am absolutely not going to do that. I know what I'm allergic to, and going off antihistamines is both very physically painful (hello again, worst hives my allergist had ever seen on almost every joint) and potentially very dangerous (hello again, GI issues that land me in the hospital because they play very, very badly with my salt wasting syndrome) even if I successfully avoid my major allergy triggers and avoid anaphylaxis, which is not a guarantee. I keep running into "but we always do skin testing first and you have to be off antihistamines for that" but like A. I know what I'm allergic to B. my allergies are mostly not IgE mediated, and they don't show up on the skin test anyway (thanks MCAS) and C. I will not go off antihistamines voluntarily. I like not being covered in hives and not having a severe migraine and not having anaphylaxis and not wheezing and dislocating my ribs

edit: I finally got the person to accept it but only because I said I'm on long term steroids and she said "oh that will make the skin test results inaccurate" like yeah! obviously! that is part of why I am on them! I am allergic to myself!!! I did ask her earlier in the conversation if I can just not get skin testing but that's apparently not an option so I'll just stay on my antihistamines and get skin testing that both they and I know will not be accurate. Fun.

[tj-crochets]

In an effort to curb the mountain of scrap, I sorted through my fabric strips and organized them by color. I think I’m going to make two things, one rainbow, one trans pride, but should they be baskets or should they be braided rugs?

[tj-crochets]

I’m going with rainbow rug, trans basket and just a three strand braid for the rug (I’ll decide on the basket when I get there lol)

[tj-crochets]

In an effort to curb the mountain of scrap, I sorted through my fabric strips and organized them by color. I think I’m going to make two things, one rainbow, one trans pride, but should they be baskets or should they be braided rugs?

[tj-crochets]

Could you talk a little bit about your sewing machine(s)?

Like, which one(s) you have and if you're happy with them?

I'm about to buy a sewing machine after having taken a 13 year machine sewing break since highschool (I was a very experienced machine sewer in highschool) and it's been so long, I'm not sure what to buy, so I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Absolutely!!! I am not sure how helpful my sewing machine opinions will be, because it turns out I’ve done like 99% of my sewing on a kinda weird machine, but I will happily talk about them

The primary machine! My grandma’s Viking Selectronic 6570. It’s from the late 70s/early 80s, used to do a bunch of fancy stitches, but by the time it got to me it mostly just did the straight stitch but did it incredibly well. It’s an absolute beast of a machine, goes through 14 layers of minky like it’s nothing, and when I had to get it repaired the repair guy did a test swatch on a piece of leather without even having to change out the needle. My 6570, uh, melted a bit in a power surge and is now a bit of a frankenmachine (thank you repair guy!!) but it still does the straight stitch better than any other sewing machine I’ve ever used and I love it. It absolutely spoiled me for sewing anything, especially stretch or slippery fabrics, on any other machine. It can and will happily sew anything.

The secondary machine! I have a singer heavy duty 100% because my grandma’s machine forgot how to do a zig zag stitch a few years back (cam issue) and I use the zig zag stitch for making fleece beanies I donate every winter. It worked reliably for a while, but this year has had some pretty bad thread tension issues I haven’t been entirely able to fix. I’m currently on the fence about keeping it and getting it repaired, or giving it to someone local; it works okay when not being used for like several layers of fleece or minky or canvas but that’s all I use it for and my grandma’s machine now should be able to zig zag again

The third machine! I got a Viking Selectronic 6460 (one model before grandma’s) off facebook marketplace when the first repair guy said my grandma’s machine was unrepairable and tried to upsell me on an expensive machine. I got it in the hopes that it could be used for parts to fix the 6570, but it turns out no, it can’t be. The repair guy really really likes vintage Viking machines and I think he was kinda massively undercharging me on the repair for the 6570 so I got the 6460 fixed up too, and now it’s pretty much the same machine but without the sentimental value (and without some fancier electronic things, but the 6570 doesn’t have them anymore anyway).

Honorable mention to the sewing machine I borrowed while I had no working machines: a Kenmore from the 70s that used to be my aunt’s, is now my mom’s, and is another solid metal very sturdy machine. It works better than the singer heavy duty, but too many layers of fabric and it snaps needles. It also has a tendency to eat the leading edges of fluffy fabric and kinda yank them into the bobbin case area? The Viking Selectronics almost never do that