Crochet flowers

It's so much fun making flowers, I've been having a ball! And I think it's definitely the best way to use up your little scraps of yarn. I've been working my way through a book I have called 200 Crochet Flowers, Embellishments & Trims, making whatever takes my fancy, and thoroughly enjoying myself!



I borrowed Mini Motif crochet pattern from my friend Yumiko and it has some neat flowers to try out too - but in small!
 

Hazel had a quick look through it yesterday and instantly fell in love with the little icecreams and shoes, as well as the colourful flowers (monochrome is so not an 8 year old girl!).



There are quite a few motifs done in fluffy yarn which isn't really to my taste so much but if you google ISBN978-4-02-190416-5 there are quite a few photos of other pages in the book. Sorry mine aren't that great, but hopefully they'll give an idea of what's in the book. The designs are all charted so there's no issues with it being in Japanese.

The Little Tree

My next Christmas project is going to be crocheting a couple of little trees to go with Sarah's very cute book The Little Tree. I love that you can get the pattern to recreate Little Tree and bring the story to life in a way. I'm going to do two for my niece and nephew and they can share the book. I'm not so naive as to think they'd share a tree :)



You can buy the book and see some more images at Sarah's Felt store.

I need to find a good brown for the trunk still, which means another trip out to Spotlight - when I popped in last week they were reorganising and it was so radically different that it felt a bit surreal and I couldn't quite focus on what I was meant to be doing and came away with a totally wrong brown! Sad when a craft store revamp sends you into a tizz.

Modern Patchwork

I was (and am!) a huge fan of Elizabeth Hartman's book 'The Practical Guide to Patchwork' so I was really excited when she put out a new one called 'Modern Patchwork'.

However, the few advance glimpses of it didn't really get me as excited as I felt I should be, and I was a bit disappointed. However, I should have known that in any book review, the reviewer concentrates on the quilts they personally like, because there are only so many images you can show in a blog post! I got a digital review copy from C&T Publishing and yes there are quilts in it that I love, and no I'm not disappointed anymore - so let me show you the ones that really get me excited and tell you my plans for one of the patterns! And yes of course there are quilts in it I don't care for, but as the owner of far too many a few quilt books, I figure that if you love about half the quilts in a book then it's a good buy and I'm over the magic 50% with this book.

One of the things I loved about Elizabeth's first book was how she showed alternate ideas for the quilts and she's done the same thing here, which I'm really happy about! Although I'm getting better at looking past fabrics I don't care for to the block beneath, I still find it helpful when someone does it for me. This one is Glam Garlands, though I have to say that for some reason it looks more like trees in a forest to me! In this case however, I do like the yellows and greys a lot.

These little houses in Neighbourhood are cute, you could have a lot of fun with the fabric in the windows.

I also love this big geometric diamond quilt called Fire Drill, it's not so precise that it becomes what I dread in patchwork - too precise and geometric (take that hexagons!). Plus if you stare at it long enough it makes you go cross-eyed.

Two of the quilts I especially like feature curves. For some reason I'm paranoid about sewing curves, despite the fact I happily sew them when I'm making clothing! Irrational much? Anyways, these quilts are cunning because they're applique and for some reason that seems easier!

The one I've got plans for is this one, Zylophone

The Monday night quilt group has been talking about doing a bee and I think I'm going to see if this one would work - and do it with my stash of vintage sheets. I've never been especially keen on bees because while I've seen some really great quilts done that way I've also seen some less than inspiring ones! But I think we've got such a great group that I'm happy to give it a go now. I'm not entirely sure how this would break down so that a group could do it, and we're only 8 or 9 people, but I only want a Queen size so I'd probably get at least half of it done for me? I need to sit down with the specs and really think it out - plus figure out how much it'll cost to get the sashing etc. Quilts are so spendy, even if you have half the fabric already and I'm too much of a control freak to not supply the background and most, if not all, the fabrics!

My Learn to Sew Book

When I was 5, my grandmother sent me the My Learn to Sew Book* all the way from New Zealand for Christmas. It was great. I can't remember how many things (if any) I made but I know I read and re-read it until it was practically falling apart (probably setting a pattern for me and craft books that has lasted until this day).

It remains the standard to which I hold all other craft books - and why not, it has an impressive array of actually quite cool projects (for a 70s craft book):

The end papers

Pipe cleaner dolls and funky furniture. Work it pipe cleaner dolls, work it!

Cute little mouse - have a vague feeling I might have made this one

What a self-satisfied looking cat!

These hints are so very true and I love the illustrations

Hazel found the book when we were back at my parents place last Christmas, so it returned to New Zealand 35+ years later, and yesterday she asked if we could make something.

Not the clothing though, she said that it was too "old-fashioned", and I was forced to admit that the market for very short dirndle skirts and head scarves is a bit limited these days.

She wanted to make Baby Billy

And so we did! Except he's now a she and called Baby Rose

Oddly enough, for all the modern aesthetic we applied, mostly courtesy of the Wee Wonderfuls Book, Baby Rose looks startlingly like another product of the 70s, a Muppet! Specifically this one:



*My Learn To Sew Book by Janet Barber. Illustrated by Belinda Lyon. Hamlyn 1972. ISBN 0 600 35910 7

The great Scandinavian craft book smack-down

Well ok no, there will be no fighting, no nastiness, just some nice pictures of pretty things and everyone is friends and there are fluffy bunnies and icecreams with cherries on top. Really.

Seriously though, I have a couple of the more popular Scandinavian craft books at the moment, and since I'm always unsure with books like this which one might appeal to me the most I thought I'd do a quick side-by-side comparison in case anyone else out there is wondering too!

I bought Scandinavian Needlecraft by Clare Youngs for myself for Christmas and love it. It's focused on felt, either commercially produced or felted old sweaters etc. (technically I suppose that would be felted and fulled respectively) and lots of simple hand embroidery. The sections are Bags, Gifts and Decorations (Xmas stuff mostly), Kitchen, Clothes and Accessories and Soft Furnishings.

Scandinavian Stitches by Kajsa Wikman is out from the library and while it's really very nice it's not quite exactly where I'm at at the moment. Having said that I found plenty of projects to show you and I'm quite sure I'll return to it at some point! The projects focus more on fabrics, stuffed items and free-motion stitching done on the machine. That might be part of my reluctance with this book, my machine doesn't do it well and I don't trust that I'd do a good job as some of it requires precision work.  The book sections are done by season Winter, Spring, Summer, Autumn and Yule. One thing I will definitely be doing are these little Tomte stuffies

So there you go, both great books with a wide range of projects and pretty much no overlap at all if you're thinking about getting both!

Library books galore

I'm still a bit sore after the operation so no sewing for me for awhile unfortunately! But I can look at books instead. Auckland has recently become what it (rather pompously) likes to call a "super-city" by amalgamating all the different councils into one. I won't go into all the politics of it (which are more than a little appalling) or how much it'll cost (WAY more than they promised natch) or whether it'll be successful or not (no idea, suspect not) but the one thing I've been gleefully taking advantage of is the new library system. Previously, Waitakere Library was incredibly deficient in the craft book line. I think they had a couple Amy Butler books and that was about it. But now, oh now there are LOTS of books and I'm requesting them by the handful.

These are the ones I've got at the moment:

The Perfect Fit: The Classic Guide to Altering Patterns This is the one that Google Books has a portion of online and it's a useful book.

I also bought Fit For Real People and it's marvellous - the two books compliment each other really well, explaining techniques slightly differently and more clearly in some cases. Fit for real people is slightly more comprehensive and it explains the reasoning behind a lot of the alterations well, including what order to do them in. I can't wait to get stuck into doing some on my patterns. After reading through both of them it's no wonder I've never been hugely happy with my results in making clothes for myself and find it much easier to make kids' clothes!

Hazel got a lovely American Girl doll for her birthday this year from my brother in NY, and she really needs some more clothes for her. American Doll don't make it very easy to buy internationally and Hazel is determined to get the charms that come with the real deal (hello fabulous marketing!) so I wanted to make some clothes to stand in for awhile.  I like this book All Dolled Up, even though I still rebel internally at the idea of girls and dolls dressed alike. Hazel thinks its a fabulous idea though!  The patterns are easy and done in fabrics more to my taste would actually be pretty nice - both for girls and dolls!

I picked up Sew Scandinavian this morning and all I can say is Huge. Disappointment.  Perhaps I have a very limited view of what the term "Scandinavian" implies style-wise, but is it naf frilly pink stuff? Ruffles? Twee dolls and teddies?  Seriously, stay away from this one. It's going back to the library tomorrow.

Joel Dewberry's Sewn Spaces, on the other hand, is nice so the trip to the library wasn't entirely wasted. There are a few of projects I really like and I'll be tracing out patterns and copying instructions for sure. It's nothing out of the ordinary (another pair of bog-standard pyjama pants or an apron for goodness' sake? Booooring! I was surprised there weren't any matryoshka dolls in there as well) but the fabrics are lovely and there's some nice basic patterns and ideas. I doubt I'll be upholstering any chairs on the strength of three pages of text though! Though if they wanted to give me the finished chair I wouldn't mind (the one on the cover there).

The Sew Tina! book - Part the Second

[The Sew Tina book tour giveaway is the next post down]

I thought I'd devote this post to talking about the three projects I've done from the book, and have a little giveaway as well. I think I'll have to do yet another post on the projects I'd particularly like to do next!

The first thing I made was the Zigzag dress. It only has 6 pieces - two bodice pieces, two skirt and two neck bindings and as you might expect it was super easy to put together. I love the kimono-style neckline and the whole aesthetic of it.  Not to mention the gorgeous Nani Iro fabric I used. Hazel on the other hand...well it's just so different than what she's used to I think it will take a bit of getting used to. But look what I managed today!

Very exciting - and after the photo shoot she actually left it on for most of the day, only insisting that she needed to change right before we left to go to an ex-pat Canadian Thanksgiving dinner. Darn! But small victories, small victories.  The picture above is very sweet and pensive, but really 90% of that set looked more like these (which actually give a better idea of what the top looks like on)

One of Hazel's friend's mum says that Hazel looks like butter wouldn't melt in her mouth, but I tend to think of her more in this kind of light :) "Please" I say, "Please just stand there and smile nicely? No, not like that, put your hands down, stop jumping, what are you pretending to be? Oh, a puppy? Well puppy could you put your tongue back in for a moment? Puppy!" Who'd work with children I ask you?

The only problem I had with it was judging the distance to set the neck edges apart on the bodice. The instructions said no more than 8" which I tried for, but it was hugely too wide and I had to pick it all apart and bring it in. Markings on the pattern to suggest the overlap would have been really useful.

The next item was the Reversible Skirt.



I asked Hazel to pick the fabric and then tried to work with that. Using this kind of bright fabric and putting other prints with it really takes me out of my comfort zone big time. I feel totally lost trying to judge whether the prints go well with each other, whether I'm over-doing it, or under-doing it, ack!  It's a very simple pattern though, just two tubes of fabric sewn together at the top with a channel for the elastic, and binding at the the bottom.

(sigh)

When I'd finished with it last night I was slightly appalled with what I'd wrought, but Hazel leapt upon it this morning with cries of delight and put it on immediately. When I saw her in it outside it actually looked much better than I'd imagined it would, somehow it blended in with the rest of the clothes or something. Well as much as it could anyways...

Personally I prefer the reverse side :)  Hazel says it's the "autumn side" and the other is the "spring side"

Lastly we have the Bouncy Beret

Hazel picked out the outer fabric and I selected the lining and binding. I really enjoyed making this hat, it has a cunning way of using up the inner circles from cutting out the bottom edges - they form the embellishment!

It's being modelled by a teddy because although the pattern says it fits up to age 7 or so, Hazel has been blessed with so many brains that she has a simply enormous head (just like me actually, bane of my hat-wearing life!) and it's too small :(  It fits ok around her head circumference but isn't deep enough top-to-bottom.  I'll make her a larger one by scaling up the pattern a bit, although looking at the photos in the book they seem to have more depth to them and I'm now wondering if I stuffed up the pattern somehow...maybe when I printed it from the pdf it scaled it down a bit or something?

Anyways! Her loss is your gain - I'm going to give away the beret so that some other little girl can look extra pretty walking down the street.  In case you're wondering if it will fit your little muffin, the unstretched circumference of the band is 55.5cm/22" and I can easily make that a bit smaller for you before sending it off if you needed.

I'm limiting this giveaway to NZ and Australian residents only, my apologies to non-ANZAC readers.  To go in to the draw simply leave a comment telling me about the best hat you ever wore (or the worst!) and make sure I have a way to contact you. I will use a random number generator to choose the winner on the afternoon of Friday 15th NZ time.  Good luck!