Thursday, February 22, 2024

Making Transparent Background of Crochet Doily in Photoshop

I've been working on making graphics for junk journaling. I like to take photos of crochet doilies and lace I see at antique stores and thought I'd try making transparent pngs of them to use as clip art for backgrounds and such. I could also print them as is with a white background.


So here is the image I'm going to start with:

I'd normally use the Quick Selection Tool to remove objects from backgrounds but there would be too much to fix here with all the holes.


Instead, I'll be making the selection via Color Range. Go to Select > Color Range and use the dropper to select the color of the doily (or of the background color but it wasn't as effective for me in this photo) in the Selection box.

I kept clicking on the doily until it got as dark as possible in the Selection box and then adjusted the Fuzziness so it'd increase the range of colors selected. Then I checked Invert so it would select the background instead of the doily. Click OK.

As you can see, the selection is not perfect. It still has bits of the background but that can be easily removed. But first!! Make sure the layer is not locked and then use the delete/backspace key to remove the selected background. I made a new layer below it and filled it with a dark color so I could see everything easier.

Then use the Eraser Tool with a small brush size with 100% hardness to remove the leftovers. 
I also removed the tag but not the string that was tied onto the crochet since it blends in anyway.

And here is the transparent image!~



I like to keep the image at a large size since it's easier to size down for projects rather than have Photoshop try to resample everything. 

Wednesday, February 14, 2024

Gingermelon Li'l Luvs Unicorn Doll

 

I've wanted to make Gingermelon's patterns for so many years and decided to start with the Li'l Luvs Unicorn pattern.


I had some leftover purple unicorn fabric by Timeless Treasures that I got from fabric.com (before it moved to Amazon?!) years ago and thought it'd be funny to make a dress with it for a unicorn.


I also had various laces from Laces on TaoBao (that I mostly bought for sweet lolita sewing) and scrap yarns (handspun or from Michaels).


Instead of embroidering the eyes, I wanted to try lashes. I stitched on some 18mm mink lashes that I cut in half. I would've tried gluing but I didn't have any around but I think stitching it into place may be more secure.


I didn't plan out the colors for the mane. I just knew I wanted to use the pink/orangey handspun yarn for some texture and then I just grabbed random worsted weight yarns I had around.

I really like this pattern as it's not too simple. It has more pattern pieces than a basic flat pattern but it's not complicated. There are only a few darts to sew and most of the pieces are sewn with the right sides out using blanket stitch.

I'm already starting another with purple felt!