Treating myself to a craft day

I've got a day off next week, and I'm going to be totally self-indulgent: I'm going to spend the day crocheting, knitting and sewing.
The crochet is a border for my knitted squares blanket. I started this border a few months ago and I reckon I'm halfway there, so I should be able to finish it as it's only about 3cm wide and I'm doing half treble stitch.
The knitting is a simple snood in divine Rowan yarn with a colourway designed by Kaffe Fassett, and it's a Christmas present so it has a built-in deadline!
The sewing is getting on with the two skirts from 'Dressmaking: the complete step-by-step guide'. I've stuck together the printed-out PDFs that make the pattern. Just need to remember to buy a couple of zips this week...

'Free': Koestler Trust exhibition

There's no charge for admission, but the title of the exhibition, 'Free', reflects who has made the pieces of visual art, film and music: prisoners and others in secure settings.
The pieces I saw were stitching- and knitting-based. Left is 'Coat of Flowering Hope', knitted by Li Jua Shao in HM Prison Eastwood Park, Gloucestershire. As the coat, embellished with knitted flowers and petals, is positioned leaning down a toilet bowl, I surmise that the maker's experience of hope may not be entirely positive...
Below is 'Highland Handbag', made by Tao Guest, in HM Prison Foston Hall, Derbyshire.

Curated by YBA Sarah Lucas, the exhibition is in the Royal Festival Hall, and on until November 25.

Next on my to-make list...

From the book Dressmaking: the complete step-by-step guide, by Alison Smith (Dorling Kindersley, £25), I'll be making two skirts from two pieces of fabric I've had for too long. Click here to buy it for £8.99 from the Book People, saving £16.01.
The book has patterns you can scale up on dressmaker's paper, or you can do what I did, and download the patterns from the DK website. Print them out, and stick them together. Cleverly, the pieces are coded so you know what to stick where.
The first pattern, a classic fitted skirt, is for a beautiful silky green sari-style fabric bought from an offcuts bin in Berwick Street.
And the second, a classic A-line skirt, is for a piece of red velvet cut from the bottom of a curtain from Ikea - waste not, want not!
The curtain is made from cotton velvet and intended to be hung at a window, but ours is hanging across the doorway of our open-plan(ish) kitchen and living room. As it's hanging from a lower-level pole, there was a very big hem to be taken up. And a piece of scarlet velvet big enough to make me a skirt simply cannot be wasted...
I'll let you know how I get on!

Our very own stitch and bitch

Exciting! Our local pub has been taken over by a new manager, who was keen to know what events he should run. I suggested a craft club... and this weekend I was in the pub (another one) talking to his girlfriend and another creative friend, and she's keen on the idea and so it's all going ahead this Thursday. She's calling it 'stitch and bitch' although I don't think it's (yet) affiliated to the official Stitch 'n Bitch site, so we're turning up with our knitting and crochet. There will be at least three of us (it's a small village...) . It'll be a great opportunity for me to finish my treble crochet edging for my knitted squares blanket, and to have a little refresher on how exactly the purl stitch goes. I know, it's really easy but I just can't remember.
I did run a craft club at work for a while (about the same size community as the village I live in) but it was very hard to find a time that suited everyone, and despite massive initial interest, people just didn't turn up regularly enough. Hopefully, this one will go better!

How to take in trousers

While it's very satisfying to make something pretty, it's equally so to do something practical.
I've lost quite a bit of weight over the past year (deliberately). One of the disadvantages - OK, probably the only disadvantage - is that some of the clothes you love no longer fit. But it can be quite simple to adjust them. Take trousers; if they have a centre-back seam you can just rework that.
Put your trousers on and pinch in the excess fabric at the centre-back waistband. Pin if you can ( or get someone to help), or just note the difference with your fingers.
Take trousers off and turn inside out. Fold trousers so that centre-back seam is lying flat. Put a pin in to mark the amount the waistband needs to be reduced by, then pin towards the crotch in a line that gradually blends with the original centre-back seam  - see left.
Try your trousers on - carefully! those pins are sharp. If all is well, the waistband will now be a good snug fit and the backside of the trousers will sit smoothly with no obviously excess fabric. If all is not well, remove trousers and adjust line of pins. Try trousers on again. Repeat as necessary.
Tack your pinning line if you want, then machine-sew. I leapt straight to this step without tacking because it's the second time I've done this and I was feeling quite confident.
Cut off excess fabric beyond new seam line. Zigzag-stitch along the cut edge to prevent material fraying. Probably you should zigzag along the edges before sewing the new seam, but this way round worked fine for me.
Put 'new' trousers back on. Enjoy a smug little smile...

Block draughts under the door: make a draught excluder

'Draught excluder' always sounds to me like some hi-tech cutting-edge device, rather than a fabric sausage.
I've been meaning to make one for ages and now it's getting chilly and those draughts around the windows and door are getting more noticeable.

How to make a draught excluder
Measure the width of the doorway and cut a piece of fabric this wide plus a length to give you enough girth in your sausage. A small side plate is about the right size, so measure its circumference (right around the edge) and there you go. Then draw around the side plate on to the fabric twice, for your two end pieces. Sew one end piece onto the fabric length, and up the side seam. Stuff the draught excluder with a fairly heavyweight stuffing. (I used bits ripped out of an old pillow but it's too light to stay in place at the bottom of the door so will have to be replaced. Learn by my mistakes!). Sew the other circular end piece onto the sausage. You'll probably have to finish the sewing by hand as it's too hard to manoeuvre a stuffed sausage around under your needle plate. Position the excluder at the base of the door and enjoy enhanced cosiness.

More home makes...
More on sewing...

Make a rough-and-ready autumn leaf wreath

This is simply some twigs with reddish leaves, picked up while out foraging for wood for the stove.

How to make a leaf wreath
Start with a long twig, bend into a rough circle, then weave in another twig. Try to get the leaves appearing evenly around the ring. Tie twigs together as necessary. Hang on door.
As you can see, mine is very rough-and-ready indeed.
In the past, I've made autumn wreaths with different foliage types but I think the single-species version looks good, too.

Martha Stewart on QVC!

Let's get one thing straight: I don't watch shopping channels, but I saw the name and thought: 'is she actually on it?' And she actually is: demonstrating her fancy hole punches accompanied by her glamorous (male) assistant. For all I know, she's on QVC all the time - but blimey, that's pushing the product a bit hard, isn't it?
I think Martha (or her team) has some good craft ideas (see Martha's craft channel here), but her approach is a little all-encompassing. I get the feeling she can't have a wee in the night without crocheting up a toilet roll cosy and stencilling the cistern en passant.
In 1995 I made my first trip to New York and I saw a book in Barnes & Noble spoofing Martha Stewart called something like Tarmac Your Own Drive with Martha Stewart. I've just done a quick search and I can't find it. However, I did find Martha Stuart's Better than you at Entertaining, with a walking-on-water Martha lookylikey on the cover, which I may be adding to my Christmas list...

Stylish sewing box: too much to ask?

I desperately want a new sewing box. Where I currently keep my thread, needles, pins, tape measure and scissors (plus a small slate cat called Gwynedd - no I don't know what she's doing in there either) is a black and pink spotted cardboard box. And it just doesn't work. The unspooling threads are tied together in a multicoloured spaghetti knot, the needles keep escaping from their case to stab my exploring fingers, and the mass somehow expands every time I take the lid off.
Most of the sewing boxes I've seen are, frankly, naff in the extreme. I don't want a padded design that looks like a commode, patterned with Scotty dogs, shaped like a cupcake, emblazoned with 'make do and mend' or faux-vintage floral prints. Anyone have any suggestions?

I wish I was on the Arctic tern's migratory route...

..no, I haven't diversified into a wildlife blog. The Arctic terns above are on show at The Lighthouse in Glasgow from Oct 5-28. Apart from looking cute, they were knitted to reflect on the plight of the migratory birds affected by our environmental meddlings and climate change.
The exhibition is part of Luminate Scotland, which is Scotland's creative ageing festival, celebrating creativity as we age. And let's face it, we're all ageing - wish this was a nationwide initiative.

Ooh, I'm inspired

Embroidery is in fashion - it's official. As if we needed telling ;-)
But Inge Jacobsen's work makes the point in a different way. She has stitched through the glossy covers of fashion magazines including Vogue.
She describes this as 'intervening', saying: 'My practice is about intervening into found images through embroidery, cutting, and collaging. The images I use are mostly from women’s fashion magazines, pornographic images, and newspapers.
'My main concern as an artist is how one responds to the mass of imagery in the world. I am particularly interested in exploring the different contexts in which photography can be used. I like to stray from the conventional perceptions of what photography can and can’t be.
'With the over saturation of images, my practice seeks to intervene in this overwhelming consumption from the mass produced and alter it to create something unique.'
I absolutely adore this idea of taking something 'out there' and mass-produced and altering it, or upcycling it, to make something new and individual.

See Inge Jacobsen's website here

Allez les bleus!

Olympic fever has hit the MI! household: tonight we're off to see the women's basketball semi-final at the North Greenwich Arena. We're not massive basketball fans; in fact, neither of us has seen a game live before. But these are the only tickets we could get via the slightly-less-than-impressive Olympics tickets website.
As it's France v USA, we're obviously supporting our near neighbours. I don't have a French flag to hand so I've created a little tricouleur necklace.
Take one torque neck ring, cut lengths of blue, white and red ribbon. Fold over torque and stitch in place. I think it looks so good I may be doing it again with different colours...

Made for me...

There's a little flare of happiness that comes from seeing items that you use every day being handmade. And here are two that were handmade for me by friends. Here's my crocheted iPhone cover, made for me by Janey, who knits and crochets (and clog-dances) like a goddess.

And down below is my Kindle cover, made for me by Kirsten, who's a mistress of precision and dispenser of sound advice. I turned it inside out - but the stitching is so neat you'd hardly notice...

Turn a tin can into a tealight lantern

Save a can from the recycling bin! Making a tealight lantern is so easy. (And as you can see, getting it to look good in a night-time photo is not.)

How to make an upcycled tin-can lantern
Peel the label off the can, give it a good rinse (unless the aroma of barbecued tomatoes is your idea of al fresco ambience).
Fill the can with water and stand upright in the freezer until the water is frozen.
Take a bradawl (classic approach; I used a big screw) and, with a hammer, bang a pattern of holes through the side of the tin. The ice is there to absorb the impact so that the can doesn't squash when you try to knock a hole in it. Top tip if you use a big screw: wear gloves or wrap the non-pointy end in a cloth because it gets quite sore on the fingers.
Add two holes opposite each other near the top so that you can thread through a length of wire to hang the lantern. Drop in the tealight and light it.
Job done. Light up the night.

I learnt to crochet!

Well, perhaps that's exaggerating a little... I went on a one-day course at wonderful West Dean college in Sussex. Our tutor, Lucinda Guy, is the author of the book I used when I last tried to learn: Kids Learn to Crochet - yes, it's good to know your level!
She went from the basics: tying a slipknot to cast on, all the way through to double treble.
Strangely, I had most difficulty with the simpler things: like the slipknot - I hadn't realised I was using a granny knot, which doesn't work as well. But by the time we started with the trebles it clicked.
As I drove home I was itching to get started: so I did. With Lucinda's takeaway instructions I struck while the hook was hot and started crocheting a double treble border for the knitted squares blanket I made some time ago.
My goal is to get on to granny squares by the end of the year...

Sewing a simple skirt

This pattern is described as the simplest-ever skirt, in the book it appears in: Sewing Made Simple by Tessa Evelegh.
I wouldn't quite go that far; I've sewn some skirts that were simpler: one front piece, one back piece, sew the seams, hem in a piece of elastic at the top... However, it does look far more complicated than it is. It's a bias-cut drawstring-waist skirt. I love the waistband, which is a wide ribbon threaded through with narrower ribbon. In sewing this, I had a little mishap. I pinned the double layer of ribbon around the waist of the skirt, then I machined it... and found that it wasn't quite long enough, although it had been when pinned on. So my 'learning from experience' tip for this pattern is not to cut the end of the ribbon until you've sewn it on. Once you pull the ribbon drawstring though, the gap is closed between the two ends of the waistband piece of ribbon, so my error is not noticeable.

Cute as a button

Having seen how to make a button bracelet, I couldn't resist. I did rummage around in my sewing box to see if I could assemble a beautifully varied, similarly sized collection of buttons, but I couldn't. So I went and bought some: a mix of polka dot and gingham, in red and black. I think it's spot on (sorry).

Loving the lopapeysa

Modelling a classic Icelandic jumper, or lopapeysa, is Mr Made it! Just the thing for cruising the chilly Norwegian fjords... That curved yoke design is one of the traditional touches.

Knitted extinct species spotted

I wish I could knit better. Cos if I could I'd love to knit this dinosaur I spotted at the Rowan Yarns HQ in Holmfirth, Yorkshire. I can't find a pattern for it, or I'd give you the link. But isn't it gorgeous?

Wonderful ways with weeds

Now the clocks have gone forward we have an hour more light, and what better way to spend it than weeding? (Yeah, right!)

Ripping the weeds out now while they're young and tender means they're less likely to take over, robbing your poor plants of nutrients. So what better method of destruction than using the weed to feed yourself or your plants?

The two I put to good use at the weekend were nettles and comfrey. When they're young and tender, nettles make a lovely soup. Pick the smaller top leaves (you'll need to wear gloves; the little ones can be vicious too). Avoid ones that are likely to have been watered by dogs, and check for greenfly; they're not easy to wash or pick off.

And for the soup: gently fry a chopped onion in oil or butter, add a couple of small diced potatoes, a couple of handfuls of nettle leaves (discard stalks, which can be tough), and some stock. Bring to the boil, then simmer until potato is soft - by which time the nettles will have lost their sting. Blend until smooth, then serve, for a deliciously fresh-tasting soup.

Comfrey makes a great liquid feed for your plants. Pick the bigger leaves lower down on the plant, put into a container with a lid, weighted down by bricks or plant pots. As they decompose, the leaves produce a seriously stinky liquid (you'll be glad it's under a lid) which makes a great plant feed, as it's rich in nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium plus other trace minerals. Dilute it 1:15 and water your plants with it.

Make a felt anemone brooch

Anemones are one of my favourite flowers and, after staring at the couple that have come up in the garden, I was inspired to make this.

How to make a felt flower brooch
Cut petal shapes from red, pink, blue, white or purple felt. Stitch together in the middle, roughly, as your stitches will be covered by the button.
Sew some long white stitches from the centre outwards on each petal to represent the flower's white markings.
I had some fuzzy black trim, which I decided to use for the black anthers in the middle, but you could leave this out, or substitute black felt. If you're using it, sew it on.
Sew on a black or dark brown button.
Cut some crinkly-edged leaf shapes from green felt, and stitch to back of flower. Sew on a brooch pin.
Wear!

Things I'd like to make...

This, of course, is a potentially endless list, but at the very front of my mind are the curled paper (or is that quilled paper?) rings that Kirstie Allsopp made on Kirstie's Handmade Britain (with original inspiration and practical help from Phiona Richards at Rare Notions. Haven't quite got round to it yet but I have bought the ring blanks (and couldn't resist making a big cocktail ring with a big glued-on silvery glass bead - the work of minutes, literally).
Here's how to make the paper rose ring above

Shown up by the snow

I take no credit for this, obviously: the overnight snowfall has done the work, acting as a beautifully neutral background for showing up the colours in my stained-glass panel (bought for me as a present by Mr Made it!)

Snow time!

A snow cat, made from natural materials (snow, torn leaf for the nose, bits of beech nut husk for the eyelashes). Cute or what?