Towels: Your local dollar store is a great source for mini towel material. Just go to the baby items section, and see if they have baby wash cloths. I recently found a package of four in various colors for one dollar. They are so soft and fine, and can be used for bath towels, baby rompers, bibs, even bathrobes.

Anita Myers, Arnold, MD

To 'iron' thread or silk ribbon: dampen it slightly, and slide it across a CLEAN light bulb! Works great!

Should the light be on or off...well, ON would be hot, off would be cold! lol Hot irons work better! I'm sure what you must have meant was, should you turn it off first...only if the brightness bothers you, and let me also mention, be careful! You CAN burn your fingers! As to the wattage, I don't think it matters, I've done it on bulbs from 60 to 100 watts.

Alice Zinn- Pt. St. Lucie FL

Ironing with light bulbs: Please be very careful with hot bulbs. When I was a teen (and yes, I can remember back that far) I read in a magazine about making one's bedroom smell good by spraying cologne on a hot light bulb. I tried it--it exploded, and I was standing there barefoot in a suddenly dark room with thousands of glass shards on the floor around me, screaming for my dad.

Judy in northern Michigan

Tip for tension while mini needlework: Thought I would share this tip with this group as well as the mini knitting and crochet group. I didn't have a bubble gum machine bubble so I found an empty pill bottle--put a hole through the lid--put the thread through the hole and put the lid tight on the bottle with the spool of thread inside. This has worked great for putting tension on the thread. I've been working a crochet pattern and have noticed a big difference in the rate of crocheting! Cool. Great tip !

Nursemini

Rug Design: Thought I would add a tip I just learned myself. After all the talk about making French knot rugs I decided to get my needle work stuff out and make one. Very easy to do but where to find iron on designs I like was a problem. So here is what I decided to do. Went to the yardage store and bought fabric pieces with the design already there. All I needed to do is go over the printed picture just like a paint by number set. They came out great. I have made a rooster rug, a bumble bee rug, a two toned heart rug and a lamb rug. These are just the right size for a mini nursery room setting or?

Diane the Alpaca Lady

Patterns for French knot rugs: I find a lot of my patterns in the rubber stamp section of the craft store. I've used them for rugs, footstools and cushions.

Jo-Ann

Finishing French Knot Rugs: I wanted to add that to make the miniature French knot rugs look really nice when you're done all you need is a tiny piece of Wonder Under (found at fabric shops).

Take a matching piece of fabric and put the Wonder Under between the two pieces and iron. Now you have a finished rug without the threads showing under it. :)

Diane

Transfer patterns for rugs: I do a lot of my transfer designs by looking through color books or design books. I find a pattern I like, scale it down on the computer to size then copy it on plain copy paper and go over it with a transfer pencil and iron it on my fabric. It works really well. Also you could find lots of patterns in your clip art program.

LaVon

Tiny prints: little tip-a really good source for tiny print fabrics are the fabrics that they sell with the patterns already printed on it, like for making full scale doll clothes or something. You usually have to buy a yard (or one panels worth) but they have the tiniest prints on them and everything coordinates so you can make an entire matching set from one piece of fabric! I found a good panel at JoAnns and made up a cute little lavender "ribbons and roses" picket fence bed.

Kelly

Copyright: I agree that if someone BUYS a pattern to make something for resale that it is all right. A lot of people do not buy patterns to just make things for themselves. The same holds true for a DIY kit. If you buy a kit, put it together and then resell it as a finished product, that is okay too. I don't think many people would buy a DIY kit or a pattern if they could not resell the product. Look at all of the Simplicity, Vogue, Butterick, etc. patterns of stuffed animals, purses, hats, etc. that people buy patterns for to make items for resale at bazaars, churches, etc. If a person sells a pattern that CANNOT be used for resale then it should state that in bold print somewhere on the front so that a person will not buy it and then later find out that it cannot be used for resale. I know in searching the web, I have seen web sites that say the patterns cannot be used for resale, which is great because it lets the buyer know in advance. What about all the dollhouse kits on sale at auction sites. Buyers buy them, put them together, electrify them and then put them up for resale. I see no difference in doing this than buying a pattern, cutting it out, choosing a type of fabric, making the product and then reselling it. Thanks for listening to my two cents worth.

Marlene, Sacramento, CA