Knickers again!

Leave a Reply

With two weeks to go, Kerala Crafts have just £455 to go, to reach their target of £1,200, to purchase an industrial sewing machine for one of their projects in Southern India – a small co-operative of women, who sew clothes to sell locally, and also create Fair Trade knickers that are sold in the UK, with all profits going back to India, helping to fund various community projects.

That’s just £32.50 a day that Kerala Crafts need now, to reach their target…. but if they don’t get to 100%, then they get absolutely nothing 🙁

So, lets see if we can raise enough money to get these ladies the sewing machine that will enable them to meet the demand for these Fair Trade pants, which in turn will bring more funding to community projects as well!

Even a donation of £1 helps, and if you can’t afford that, or don’t want to, then a mention on your blog, or a post on twitter will help!

Kerala Crafts

Leave a Reply

Knickers to charity …. well kind of 😛

A small charity called Kerala Crafts works with a small co-operative of women in Southern India – one of their projects is selling the co-operative’s fair trade knickers in the UK. These pants have proved so popular, that the charity is now trying to fundraise to purchase an industrial sewing machine so the co-operative can keep up with the demand!

Can we help them raise the remaining 74% of their target in 27 days?

Wedding Knits

Leave a Reply

I’ve finally finished the knitting project for a friend’s wedding….

Wedding Mice

….meet the Wedding Mice! The bride and groom have chosen a green colour-scheme for their wedding, so I thought I’d crochet a green granny square bag for the mice to sit in.

And of course then there’s the mice themselves:

Bride-1

Bride Mouse is roughly modelled on the bride-to-be, although I did change the hair colour to something that worked better in wool!

Her bouquet of flowers was an interesting challenge to sew together – I will admit I managed to break my sewing needle on that one. However, I’m really pleased with how the mouse came out in the end 😀

Her traditional style white wedding dress allows her to show off her bouquet of flowers, and once I finally figured out how to create her hair, the green hairband sets it off perfectly.

 

 

Groom-1

The Groom Mouse’s colour scheme is hopefully accurate to what my friend will be wearing on his wedding day – I’m sure I confused him by my questions for what colours everyone would be wearing!

He has a grey suit (the jacket was a “make it up as you go” attempt, as I don’t have a specific pattern for that), black shoes, a crisp white shirt, and of course a nice green tie.

No hair for this mouse (thankfully), but a slightly lopsided pair of ears.

 

So there you have it, the bride and groom, and they should arrive fashionably early for the wedding…. about two months early! But then it’s better to be early with a wedding gift, rather than rushing at the last minute.

Bride-and-Groom

 

 

 

Patterns used:
May Day Mice by Alan Dart
Granny Square Bag by Wool Warehouse

Messenger bag success

Leave a Reply

I found some fantastic material in the sale at just a pound for a metre, and was wondering what I could use it for. Browsing through the Crazy Little Projects site, I came across Amber’s Messenger Bag tutorial, and decided that would be the perfect use of my bargain material. Of course then I had to find something suitable for the lining as well – cue more shopping!

Messenger Bag

I spent most of the day tackling the cutting & sewing, and considering this is my second ever bag I’ve sewn, it came out looking quite nifty 😀 The orange material I used for the lining is slightly furry to the touch, so it makes the underside of the strap feel slightly padded (as I didn’t use any interfacing or wadding on that at all).

I added a pocket to the inside as well, and although some of the stitching isn’t anywhere near perfect, who would know, to look at it? 🙂

 

messenger-bag-2-site messenger-bag-3-site

 

Sweet Dreams

Leave a Reply

I’ve wanted to try machine sewing something for a while, and when I saw that this month’s Sew Crazy Challenge was “Big Dreams” themed, I was inspired to make a teddy bear & a bag – after all, if you wanted a great night’s sleep, what’s better than a cuddly bear & a bag to hold your favourite book?

I had some funky material from The Makery that was sitting around looking for inspiration for a while now, so decided to take the plunge and try making a bag out of that, and some starry fabric for the lining and handles. I followed the excellent tutorial from Diary of a Quilter and actually, I’m quite pleased with how this came out 😀

bag-and-bear

Some of the stitches on the bag aren’t perfect by any means, and I know my straight lines need practise to get them parallel to the edges, but I’m determined to not be such a perfectionist with things, so it’s definitely good enough for me 😀

And the best thing? I only used half a fat quarter for the outside, and only slightly more for the lining, so I have enough left over to make a second one!

 

The bear was also my first machine sewn plushie – I need to practise the joints a bit more, but it looks like a bear, and that’s the main thing. I used the Pip Pattern for him (but made it larger than the hand-sewn version), although I did knit the nose, as I fail at trying to sew them!

 

Sewing!!

Leave a Reply

I’d had the idea to sew a plushie for a while now, and seeing as this month’s Sew Crazy Challenge is for children, I thought I’d give it a go!

I found the pattern for Pip the Bear which seemed pretty easy, although I didn’t do any of the joints, I just stitched mine straight to the other pieces. He’s made out of cotton, rather than furry fabric, and is all hand sewn (incredibly fiddly in places!), but for a first attempt at a sewn bear, I think Pip came out really well 😀

Pip the Bear sewn2

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I’ve got a plan in mind now, to make a larger version that I can try to sew on the machine, to make the seams a lot harder wearing than my hand sewing can ever turn out to be. I’ve got some really funky orange material with mice over it, which should look fantastic, so wish me luck!

It’s been a while

Leave a Reply

It’s definitely been a while since I added any posts here, but that doesn’t mean I haven’t been busy with knitting & crochet!

Meet “Rose the Duck” knitted for a friend’s young child. I added the little rose under the wing, just for a unique look 🙂

dfd-duck

Using Alan Dart’s Nursery Rhyme Mice pattern for the basic mouse body, I decided I wanted to try making a Gandalf Mouse…. so, meet MouseDalf!

dfd-mousedalf

I have also knitted Bilbo, but I don’t have a photo of him yet 😉

And just in time for the third series of Sherlock to begin, meet Sherlock Mouse (ok, I know he is still missing his deerstalker hat, but he can still try and solve crimes)

dfd-sherlock

Currently I’m working on a gift for a friend’s wedding, and a couple of birthday presents – I’ll post pictures once the birthdays & wedding have passed, so I don’t spoil their surprises!

 

These mice are fan art, and I am not making any profit from these.
The character of Sherlock was created originally by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Bilbo Baggins & Gandalf are from the Hobbit & Lord of the Rings books, by J. R. R. Tolkien.

A little update

Leave a Reply

I still need to get the photos sorted, but I’ve just finished working on a pattern for  Neopets.com Faerie – it came out surprisingly well all considering it was the first time I’d tried making anything that kind of shape before!

My Crochet & Knitting resolutions for the New Year are to finish off some of the projects I have stashed away…. and then I don’t have to keep the wool stashed “just in case” 😀 …. so far I’ve started (and finished) something, but I still haven’t picked a half-finished item to work on. I might just have to reach into the bag with my eyes closed and work on whatever thing I pick out!

Simply Crochet – first edition cover

Leave a Reply

You know that magazine I mentioned a few days ago? Well, Simply Crochet have been utterly awesome, and sent me a picture of the front cover to share with everyone, so we can see what kind of goodies the very first edition will have!

 

simply-crochet1

 

Simply Crochet is a new magazine, from the makers of Simply Knitting and Mollie Makes, and looking at that front cover, it looks like it’ll be packed with patterns  and ideas 😀

Certainly for me, the dragon amuigurumi pattern, and the new ways with Granny squares will be “must reads”…. and maybe the 3 designs for blankets will help me to actually get my Refuge blanket completed! 🙂

If you’re a bit uncertain if you want to try the magazine or not, they do have a fantastic lauch offer:

So, that should help anyone who’s a little undecided still – be prepared to get “hooked” though *laughs*

 

And if you just can’t wait for that first issue to be released in the shops, you can always chat away to Simply Crochet on the web, and share your excitement of the new magazine:

Blog: www.simplycrochetmag.co.uk
Twitter: @SimplyCrochet_
Facebook: /simplycrochetmag
Pinterest: /simpcrochetmag
Ravelry: /groups/simply-crochet

Boots finished :D

Leave a Reply

And I’ve just finished crocheting the other boot for that plushie – it’s not an *exact* match of the other one, but I think I tidied up the pattern a little, so this one is actually a much better shape.

I added a couple of buttons that were free with a previous edition of Simply Knitting, and they look perfect! 😀

 

….just waiting now for the first ever edition of Simply Crochet to be released, so I can pick a new project to work on *laughs*