Felt Craft Brooch Kits for Hawthorn Handmade

Some nice freelance news - I've designed some more felt brooch kits for Hawthorn Handmade! 

I've been working with Hawthorn Handmade for a while, creating lots of fun DIY sewing kits with different themes: flowers, wildlife, dogs, and insects. 

Last month they launched two new themes, which I'm excited to be able to show you guys!

First up: a trio of crafting-themed brooches.

There's a sewing machine brooch...

 ... an embroidery brooch...

 

... and a knitting brooch, with a lovely basket of yarn!

 

Which one's your favourite?

Click here to shop the whole range of felt craft kits.

Tutorial: Use Leftover Yarn Ends to Make Colourful Stripey Cards!

If you knit or crochet, you probably end up with lots of scrappy bits of yarn left over at the end of each project. It feels kind of wrong just throwing them away (especially if they're lovely colours)... but what do you do with them?

Today I'm sharing one idea for using them up: making stripey notecards!

 

These cards are easy to make and I think they look rather fabulous. The yarn stripes are simple but textured, and you could have lots of fun choosing colour combinations for each card.

You will need:

- Blank card (I chose black, but any colour will do), cut and folded to the size you want (I made an A6 size card, folded from a piece of A5 card)
- Yarn, in assorted colours
- A ruler
- A pencil
- Sewing scissors
- A large, sharp sewing needle
- Optional: a pencil eraser

To make each card:

1. Select some yarn in a colour palette you like. Each piece should be at least 20cm long.

2. Open up your blank card, and use a ruler and pencil to draw two horizontal lines on the inside of what will become the front of your card. One line an inch (2.5cm) from the top of the card, and the second an inch (2.5cm) from the bottom.

3. Use the ruler to measure the central point of each line, marking it with a small pencil dash. Then mark seven dashes either side of these central points, each 5mm apart. You should now have 15 points marked along each line.

4. Use a large, sharp needle to poke a hole through the card at each one of the points you've marked. Place the card on a pile of scrap paper to protect your workspace as you poke the needle through!

If you want, you can now erase the pencil lines. 

5. Choose your first piece of yarn, and thread the large needle with it. Pass the yarn up through one of the holes at the bottom of the card and then down through the corresponding hole at the top of the card. Leave the yarn ends dangling (they should stay in place due to the small size of the holes), then repeat this step to add all the yarn stripes.

6. Knot the yarn ends together to secure the stripes, and carefully trim any excess yarn. You could add a piece of tape to cover the ends but I quite like how mine look!

And that's it! Your card should now look something like this:

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Gift Wrapping with Yarn & Embroidery Thread

Today's gift wrapping ideas are all about yarn and colourful threads.

Yarn.  

This is a really fun way to use up leftover yarn from your knitting and crochet projects! It works best for small parcels (so you can use up shorter scraps) but if you've got whole balls of yarn left over you can wrap larger gifts this way as well.

For this project I selected some colours from my stash that went together (fresh blues and greens, and bright pinks and purples), then tied lots of yarn pieces of around a couple of small parcels to form bands of colour.

 

Use one length of yarn to test out how long a piece you need to reach around the parcel and tie the yarn securely, then use this bit of yarn as a size guide when cutting the other pieces. Add the yarn pieces gradually, mixing the colours to create a pattern or a nice blend of shades.

Position the yarn so it's all in a neat block in the centre of the package then trim any excess yarn so the underneath of the parcel is nice and neat. You may also want to add a bit of sticky tape to the bottom of the parcel to hold the strands in place if you'll be transporting the parcel.

Woven Threads.

This idea is a lot more subtle than some of my gift wrapping suggestions, but I kinda love it anyway.

For this look, you'll need some embroidery thread (or yarn or narrow ribbons). I used two colours but you could use all one colour or combine lots of different shades (e.g. if you're using bits of yarn or thread left over from other projects).

Cut a length of thread and tie it horizontally across the parcel, with the knot hidden underneath. Trim any excess thread and secure the knot in place with a piece of sticky tape. Repeat to create several horizontal lines across the parcel. If you're using ribbon, secure each end of the ribbon with sticky tape instead of knotting it so the ribbon lies totally flat against the parcel.

Then repeat this process with the second colour, creating vertical lines. This time, weave the thread between the horizontal threads (over, under, over, under, and so on) before securing it. Ta-da! One woven parcel.

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A Year of Wreaths: September Embroidered Oak Leaves Wreath

UPDATE: my September wreath tutorial is now available as a printable PDF pattern on my Patreon. 

Subscribe to get instant access to a growing library of PDF embroidery patterns and craft tutorials, and updates when I add something new!

 
Click here to see all 12 seasonal wreaths in this series!

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Nine months into our Year of Wreaths, it's time to celebrate autumn! 

September's wreath tutorial features berry-red yarn, felt oak leaves, sparkly thread, and an embroidered line of poetry: the opening line of John Keats famous ode to Autumn, Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness...

I am a teeny bit obsessed with this metallic thread! 

It's seriously shiny and really easy to stitch with - something that will come as a surprise if you've ever tried to embroider anything with metallic embroidery thread (so many knots! and so much stress! ugh!). This stuff is fab, I love it and kind of want to use it for everything.

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100 Gift Wrapping Ideas, Part One: From Pompoms to Hydrangeas to Old Photo Negatives!

I recently set myself a challenge, to share 100 crafty gift wrapping ideas over the coming weeks and months. And... I've just completed the first 10 ideas! Hurrah!

I know I'm only a little way through this challenge, but I'm really enjoying it so far and I hope you guys are too.

I've started with a plain, brown paper parcel each time. I love the simplicity of brown paper (it's a great blank canvas!) but you could use any plain gift wrap you fancy.

1. Pompoms.

2. Beads.

3. Lavender & Washi Tape.

4. Buttons.

5. Hydrangeas.

6. Painted Leaves.

7. Feathers. 

8. Woven Threads. 

9. Yarn. 

10. Photo Negatives. 

And now... my challenge continues! You can follow along on my Instagram, Twitter and Facebook. I'm sharing the gift wrapping ideas under the hashtag #100giftwrappingideas as I slowly work my way up to 100.

You'll also find lots of creative gift wrapping ideas in my archive of free crafty tutorials (scroll down to the bottom of the page, you'll find card and gift wrap ideas below the Christmas tutorials).

P.S. Subscribe to my newsletter for a monthly free pattern and visit my crafty tutorial archive for lots more free projects.

Visit my shop to buy my printable PDF sewing patterns:

Knitting, Travelling, Photographing, Mending and Spring Cleaning!

Yesterday I went to my local knitting shop (hurrah for local knitting shops) and bought the final ball of yarn for my happy rainbow blanket.

It's "grass green", one of the new colours Stylecraft introduced last year. I'd been looking everywhere for a nice bright, zingy green to add to my rainbow of colours so I was thrilled when Stylecraft added this to their range. Doesn't it look great with the other bright colours?

Things have been a little quiet here on the crafty front as I've been taking lots of trips and spending my evenings before planning lots of sightseeing and after putting my feet up and editing lots of photos.

I've got lots of photos to share from my trips to Leeds and York - and I'll blog about them sometime soon, I promise! I've also visited Bath (beautiful as always) and the seaside town of Weston-super-Mare (breezy!).

Our sweet kitty has been furious with me for being away so often, but he seems to have forgiven me now and is back to sleeping on my bed at night and getting into my business whenever possible.

Here's a snap of him from a few weeks back when he was "helping" me take some photos:

He also kindly kept me company on the sofa while I did some mending this weekend (he snoozed at one end of the sofa while I sat and stitched at the other: excellent teamwork!).

I've been meaning to mend this duvet cover for sooooo long, it's great to have the task finally ticked off my To Do list. I can't remember ever having sewn a patch on something before, and the hole I was mending was actually several small holes and one large tear... so I'd convinced myself that this was going to be a v tricky task and thus had been putting it off.

It turns out it wasn't actually tricky at all, hurrah, and I'm delighted with the finished result. I used scraps of my favourite Liberty print for the patches because why not have pretty patches, right?

Also on my To Do list at the moment: lots of spring cleaning! I'm doing lots of actual physical cleaning and tidying, but also sorting things like my digital files and my Etsy shop. 

To help me spring clean my shop, I've reduced the price of some listings that are due to expire in the next few days. All these pieces are now just £1 each (plus postage). Quick, go grab a bargain and treat yourself or a friend to a felt-y something...

Unravel Festival of Knitting 2016

Last Friday, after a walk around the centre of Farnham (exploring the town's history and architecture), I headed to Farnham Maltings to visit Unravel: an annual "festival of knitting" which also celebrates crochet and other fiber arts.

As any regular reader of my blog could tell you, I am not the world's best knitter (or crocheter). I've made a couple of big projects like my Sky Blanket and my Granny Square Blanket but I mostly stick to very small, simple things like basic scarves and plain squares for patchwork blankets.

But I'd been to the textile-themed Thread festival at the Maltings a couple of years ago and really enjoyed it, so when an old friend said she was visiting Unravel and did I fancy coming along? Well, a day of nattering and tea and cake and lots and lots of yarn seemed like a pretty good plan to me.

There was a lot of beautiful yarn for sale, plus books and patterns and kits and knitting/crochet accessories and loads more crafty goodness. The whole building was jam-packed with stalls, but here are just a few that caught my eye.

The Little Grey Sheep had such a fabulous selection of colours! Passion for their product was something that radiated from every seller at the festival, and this family farm was no exception. They have a flock of sheep which they shear themselves, the fibre is washed and spun within the UK and then returned to the farm where it's hand-dyed in all those lovely colours.

Charming kits and patterns for your dog, from Redhound for Dogs. You'd be knitting the coats for the dog, of course, as I'm not sure even the most talented of pups could master knitting. 

(Do excuse these slightly blurry photos, my camera was struggling a little with the lighting!)

Fabulous pompom yarn (handmade in Chile) from Añañuca. How much fun would this be to knit with?? 

Needle felted awesomeness by Jenny Barnett. I love that little sign: You CAN make these.

 

Spin City had roving and other spinning supplies in some magical colours! And sparkles, too! Even the product names are magical: Mermaid's Hair, Cinderella's Slippers, Nebula.

Cute and quirky faux taxidermy and other knitted animal fun from Sincerely Louise. I especially love the triceratops and the little mole door stop.

More beautiful yarn in delicious colours, this time from John Arbon Textiles.

 

 

Finally, beautiful patterns and kits by Jane Crowfoot.

The flower blanket on the top right is called Frida's Flowers, and has been designed for a "crochet along" with yarn company Stylecraft. Kits to make the blanket will be available from March, and the free patterns will be published in instalments over 4 months, starting from early April.

I really don't need to start another project (especially one as big as a blanket) but I have to admit to being very tempted by this one!