Posted on January 24, 2019 by admin

Our new workroom is complete :-)

Here is our new workroom!

A lot has gone on in the past year and we decided to relocate from Loughborough town centre to the outskirts. It was for various reasons, parking was one of the issues, and also the area we were in wasn’t quite suitable. We have now created a fabulous workroom which can accommodate our sewing classes and our cosy crochet and knitting evenings.

We did a full refurbishment on the room, having the walls completely re plastered and the ceiling finished off. New electrics were added and better lighting makes the room really bright and visual for all of our lessons. Wooden flooring has also been laid down, this make picking up pins and threads so much easier, no more random pins stuck in the carpet!

We chose harlequin wallpaper for their vibrant butterfly design. the colours in the wallpaper matched our brand and we also wanted to stimulate and provide more colour and make the room more exciting.

Another addition to our room was is our brand new tailors dummy! We are always dressmaking whether it is requests for ballroom dresses, bridesmaid dresses or dressmaking in our sewing classes. Either way this is an invaluable investment and I can’t imagine how we survived without one for so long!

We hope you all enjoy the room, here are some pictures:

As you can see we have already started and had lessons in our new room. People who have attended the lessons have been really positive and we hope to continue teaching and sharing our knowledge of sewing and crochet and of course our main mission of being creative!

If you like what you see and you want to come along to any of our classes then just get in touch, we will be happy to see you.

Thanks,

Amy & Joy

Part 2 Learn To Crochet

Stripy Crochet Summer Bag DMC Natura XL Just Cotton

Learn To Crochet

Our most popular workshop Learn To Crochet is back on the 3rd October.

This is split into 2 lessons to make sure you get the most out of all the basics of learning to crochet.

The workshop comes with a learn to crochet pack, inside the pack is a booklet on all the stitches, a crochet hook and some different yearns to get you going.

Refreshments and cake are also included, so come along and meet some new people, learn to crochet and have a good old chat along the way!

Dates: 3rd October first lesson – 10th October second lesson

To book please go here

Learn To Crochet

Our most popular workshop Learn To Crochet is back on the 3rd October.

This is split into 2 lessons to make sure you get the most out of all the basics of learning to crochet.

The workshop comes with a learn to crochet pack, inside the pack is a booklet on all the stitches, a crochet hook and some different yearns to get you going.

Refreshments and cake are also included, so come along and meet some new people, learn to crochet and have a good old chat along the way!

Dates: 3rd October first lesson – 10th October second lesson

To book please go here

Make a crochet poppy

Make a crochet poppy!

A crochet workshop making a poppy, this is suitable for beginners but they do need basic crochet knowledge of how to make a chain and do a double crochet stitch.

All materials and refreshments are included.

£15 per person

Date: 4th October 2018

Time: 19.00 – 20.30

Location: 260 Forest Road, Loughborough, Leicestershire, LE11 3HX

Posted on July 7, 2015November 9, 2017 by admin — Leave a comment

Creative weekend

What a great weekend we have just had!

A lovely afternoon with Annie and her friends celebrating her 40^th birthday on Saturday, they chose to do creative textiles instead of partying in a club, because they knew that was what she would prefer, so thoughtful of them. They decided to create a wall hanging for Annie’s daughter, each working on a piece which eventually would be sewn together and framed for the bedroom wall.

They worked out a plan and then delved into my boxes of bits to find fabrics to work with, then buttons and ribbons that would brighten it up. Hand sewing, machining and gluing into place all the elements which made up this lovely picture, which when finished they will be very proud of.

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On Sunday we were at Barrow on Soar street market. We have never been there before and it was a last minute decision we were lucky to get a space. We arrived at 8.30am with a car full of stuff, Amy got out to find our space which was perfectly placed in the middle of the market, next to the WI, their cakes looked, and tasted great, what a lunchtime treat! After disgorging everything onto the pavement our friend arrived with his gazebo, we set to and erected it with all the wools, hooks, samples and everything, we were very pleased with the stall it looked great.

The market began at 10am and I was surprised how many people were wandering around looking at the stalls, our guessing game certainly had people wondering at how many metres of DMC’s Natura XL there were in the bag I had crocheted, there were some really wild guesses which caused great hilarity. The winner of the competition was Sharon Lewis! She guess right with 435m!

There was such an amazing amount of interest in learning new skills, crocheting particularly, and the more seasoned knitters rifled through the vintage patterns we bought along, they were very popular.

The weather held up nicely it was warm, even sunny at one point, then as the afternoon wore on the wind got up and nearly blew over the stall opposite us, (we tied ours to some railings!) It was at that point we decided it had been a lovely day, meeting lots of very friendly people, but it was time to pack up and go home.

We will definitely do it again next year, and well done to Ophelia for all her hard work in organising the market, which was a great success.[/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]

Posted on June 23, 2015November 9, 2017 by admin — Leave a comment

Stripy Summer Crochet Bag

We have a new bag on the block!

It’s our Stripy Summer Crochet Bag made with gorgeous, soft DMC Natura XL Just Cotton.

Fancy having a small bag you can throw a couple of items in and pop out to the shops or for a drink? Then this is the bag for you!

It’s easy to make, using a size 7.0mm crochet hook, you should be able to finish the bag in 1 or 2 sittings, depending on your capability and time constraints! You can finish off you bag with any buttons and add some lining on the inside to make it more secure. Natura XL is lovely and soft but because it’s a cotton it also has the durability and makes it perfect to make into bags!

We have a link to buy the wool and pattern here for only £15

When you have finished you bag, share it on our Facebook or Twitter, we love to see you work![/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]

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.

Posted on March 3, 2015November 9, 2017 by admin — Leave a comment

A fun crochet workshop!

We met once again to make myboshi beanie hats in our crochet workshop.

The group was a mixture of beginners and some who have had a go at crochet before.

It’s a pleasure being able to pass on such an enjoyable skill like crochet, and by the end of the workshop, beanie hats had started to take shape!

The main stitch that is used to make a myboshi beanie is the ‘half treble’, so we mainly focused on showing how to do the stitch, as well as the basic chain stitch which you use to start of the boshi.

One of the most important things we show during the crochet workshop is how to change colours of your beanie which is done at the ‘slip stitch’ stage, more information on this can be found on this link. Myboshi has lots of variety of different colours, it’s an important technique to learn how to do as it can be tricky and leave holes in your beanie if not done right.

Once you have mastered the skill of crochet it is possible to make a beanie in an evening or two, as long as you don’t have distractions!

We hope all that came to the workshop enjoyed themselves as much as we did, and do come back to visit us soon!