Posted on May 8, 2015November 9, 2017 by admin — Leave a comment

Creative Textiles Workshop

I love fabric, its tactile, versatile, you can do almost anything with it, shape it, mould it, sew it, whatever. I am so very fortunate to have a fantastic array of different fabrics, different weights, different colours, from fabulous silks to gorgeous upholstery fabrics , braids, ribbons, buttons, cottons. With these our creative textiles workshop is unique.

What can you do with ‘creative textiles’ I am often asked this, well pictures, wall hangings, cushions, bedspreads whatever you like really.

The workshop we did recently was interesting in that one lady said she had the sewing skills but lacked creativity. Up until that point I would probably have ‘themed’ the workshop but I decided that to get creative you needed to be stimulated and therefore a blank canvas was the starting point, and lots of pictures, magazines, cards with different themes on them, and a wall hanging which was done earlier created by 15 people who had never done anything like this before, each tackled their ‘square’ in a different way and all very colourful, lively and effective. One little square with birds on it, started the theme off for our lady and was developed from there.

Another saw an impressionist painting of boats, this sparked her imagination. They delved into the boxes of fabric to find scraps to develop their themes with, each had a piece of beige cotton/linen (curtain weight) to develop their pictures. Hand sewing with silks, cottons and wool, and machining with different stitches with a little help and nurturing, the creations were developed.

The final results were great, one was made into a wall hanging and put on the bathroom wall, the other was to be stretched onto canvas to create a picture.

Creative Textiles workshop sailing boats

Why not come and join us for a workshop and unlock your creative side, its great fun 🙂

Posted on May 8, 2015 by admin — Leave a comment

Learn to crochet workshop

Another lovely crochet workshop filled with lots of tea, giggles and learning the art of crochet!

If you missed out on the workshop here’s a few pictures of the evening where we learnt all the basics of holding the wool and hook, making a chain stitch, double crochet stitch, and half treble stitch, not to mention starting a round! All in the space of two hours!

I hope the ladies who came enjoyed the evening, and took home their knowledge so they can start creating!

Posted on May 6, 2015November 9, 2017 by admin — Leave a comment

Easy Peasy Crochet Teapot Stand and Coasters

I crocheted this teapot stand and 8 coasters in less than an hour.

Materials

1 ball Hoooked Zpagetti and a 10mm hook.

Teapot Stand

R1 C4 then slip stitch into the first loop to form a ring.

R2 C2, then 10HT into the ring, SS into the second chain to form ring

R3 C2, *1HT into next stitch, C1. Repeat from * to end then SS into 2^nd

chain to form ring.

R4 C2, *1HT into next stitch, C1. Repeat from * in all stitches to end then

SS into 2^nd chain to form ring and finish off.

Coasters (make 8)

R1 C4 then slip stitch into the first loop to form a ring.

R2 C2, then 10HT into the ring, SS into the second chain to form ring

R3 C2, *1HT into next stitch, C1. Repeat from * to end then SS into 2^nd

chain to form ring. Finish off.

Abbreviations

C = Chain

HT = Half Treble – loop yarn around hook, insert into stitch, pull a loop through (3 loops on hook), then pull another loop through all three

SS = Slip stitch

To download the full pattern click here Easy Peasy Crochet Teapot Stand with pic

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Posted on May 5, 2015November 9, 2017 by admin — Leave a comment

Beautiful crochet tote bag

crochet bag pouff stitch natura xl just cotton

Oooh I loved the pattern as soon as I saw it, gorgeous burnt orange a real zinga for the summer…. And different too.

It’s a crocheted tote bag, I used Natura XL the colour was perfect, and the weight of the cotton just right for the bag. Using a 5mm hook I started at the top of the bag creating a simple ribbed look with double crochet into the back of each stitch. The main body of the bag was all done in a ‘bobble’ stitch, which I adapted slightly from the pattern as I felt it was too bulky and would make the bag too heavy.

The bobble stitch was fairly easy to do, with the yarn over the hook first and inserting the hook, yarn over again and pulling the loop through about 2.5mm (1”) repeating that so that you have 7 loops on the hook before pulling a final yarn over through all of them to tighten the bobble at the top. That is repeated along the row and when you get to the end you find you have twice as many stitches so you have to turn and do a double crochet into every other stitch to get back to the right amount.

Its very effective and finished the body of the bag really stylishly. The base of the bag was made quite sturdy by crocheting into the stitch below each time. The whole process apart from the base was repeated for the other side of the bag. I then used a crochet slip stitch to attach the pieces together.

To line the bag I used a blue cotton fabric, did a French seam to join it and I bound the bottom section so that no frayed edges would be seen then slip stitched it into place inside the body of the bag. For the long handles I used a pretty woven ribbon which I sewed back to back and then attached to the inside of the bag where the main body joined the rim.

All in all I am very pleased with the final result and will enjoy using it in all summer long. I used about 6 balls to make this fabulous bag.

We have some great colours of Natura XL in stock, and apart from bags which it is great for you can make cushions, mats, tops in fact all sorts of things.