Over the last couple of weeks I’ve discovered three new web pages to inspire and encourage, you know the sort that you suddenly realise you’ve been browsing for an hour…well I thought others may be interested too!
The first one is a Pinterest page, I have to admit I’ve never seriously got into Pinterest, I’ve used it as a mood board when I’ve been working on specific projects, but I don’t tend to browse on it…then I discovered Pincushions, Needle Cases, Sewing Accessories, it’s a fascinating mix of antique sewing accessories with handmade pincushions and needlecases of every description, some of them are stunning, it made me want to start collecting!
The second page is on facebook, so apologies to anyone who doesn’t ‘do’ facebook! It’s the Embroiderers Association of Canada, every day they post a photo of a piece of embroidery, quilting, handmade clothing etc. Just have a browse through their photos, the work pictured is stunning. Every photo has a link back to the original web-page, so if you want to know more you can. The photos are of work from all over the world, not just Canada, I found a photo of an applique by Janet Browne who lives just up the road here in Yorkshire. I went to a workshop with WI that she ran and stitched ‘My Garden in Stitches’. Everyday they post a new photo, yesterdays was a beautiful corset, hand made and embroidered in the 1880’s.
I discovered the third page through Laurie’s’ Sew Exhausted blog. Laurie has a Pinterest page of free sewing patterns of all types, clothes, accessories, children’s clothes, all sorts! It’s a treasure trove of free patterns as many are on sites which would otherwise be difficult to track down…and there’s some gorgeous patterns. Every month on her blog, Laurie makes one of the free patterns up, this month it was a great glasses case made from Batman fabric. I found a pattern for a beautiful dress on a website called Your Style Rocks, which doesn’t seem to have been updated for a few years, but still has free patterns on. It’s called Eva’s dress, isn’t it elegant!
So if you have a few minutes or so to browse on your computer, do have a look, just don’t blame me if the next hour disappears!
This afternoon I’ve been putting together my Periwinkle Box. I completed all the cross-stitch last weekend, all that was left to do was the actual construction of the box.
The Periwinkle Box is a kit from The Nutmeg Company which is based here in Yorkshire, they specialise in 3D cross-stitch designs, I’ve made one of their cottages before but at the Harrogate Knitting and Stitching show last October it was the boxes that caught my eye.
Ali calls hers the Octopus scarf as it has many legs! I’ve called mine a Dodepus scarf as it has twelve legs! The ‘legs’ are basically a long chain with one row of double crochet, I did have to concentrate a lot not to do treble crochet instead, which is what my ripple blanket is being stitched in! The legs are all joined together at each end. Ali did mention to concentrate on not twisting the chain before reattaching, clearly I didn’t concentrate enough as my first chain twisted, in my defense I was doing it during my break on a night shift! I did wonder if the way I was reattaching them was where they twisted as I learnt to double-check as I got to the end of the double crochet row so I could do a quick fiddle if needed! So I’ve just got one twisted, luckily it’s not noticeable, I’m not sure if my dodepus has been dancing too enthusiastically or needs the bathroom 🙂
The wool is from Fletchers stall on Leeds market, it’s gorgeous, the photo above is pretty close to the actual colour, all plummy purples and slate grey. It’s called Colour rich Chunky by Hayfield, I love it. As it’s chunky wool so I used a 6mm crochet hook, which also gave me chance to use a lovely wooden hook I bought years ago, just because I thought it was beautiful!
Last night over on Sugar Lane Quilts it was time for the monthly 
After having to abandon my last make (A shirt that just never went well from the start!) I really needed to sew something I would be happy with. I decided on a Fumeterre skirt.
When I was sorting out my stash last week I found a 4m length of teal fabric, it’s gorgeous but I have absolutely no idea what kind of fabric it is! It’s woven like a quilting cotton, but it clearly has a little spandex in it as it has more of a bias stretch than I would expect. It also drapes beautifully, it feels heavy for the weight of the fabric if you get my drift. It’s the sort of fabric that will fall off your sewing table or ironing board given half a chance! It irons easily but it doesn’t hold a sharp crease on seams and hems. It sews beautifully, it doesn’t move or stretch whilst sewing, it frays slightly…I just don’t know what it is, any suggestions welcome! I’ve no idea where I bought it, though I suspect it was either the Shuttle in Shipley or the Fent Shop in Skipton, it’s got occasional faults clearly marked with yellow tape, so I clearly got it cheap!
The colour of the fabric proved to be one of those where nothing matches, there was nothing even near with buttons, then I spotted these on Leeds market, they’re like a pewter coloured plastic, even better they were only 12 pence each (especially as I needed quite a few!) They had them in three sizes so I decided to get a slightly bigger one for the waistband and then smaller for the skirt front. I’m really pleased with them.
The hem of the skirt is sewn using a facing which does give a lovely neat finish with curved hems. The pattern instructions say to finish upper edge, I decided to use bias binding again as it does give a nice flat finish. I couldn’t find any bias that even remotely matched, so I decided to go for a contrast…when I was in Guthrie & Ghani they had some really pretty patterned bias, I bought a length of floral tape, I think it co-ordinates quite nicely and as I had just enough with 3″ to spare, I decided it was meant to be. It won’t be visible on the whole, but when it is, it looks pretty!
thecraftycreek 