Make a cushion from two napkins

Warning! If you object to seeing the cushion pad through the gaps between the ribbons, this pattern is not for you!
Take a couple of green* linen** napkins. (Note: ironing the napkins would make for a better photo, but the creases drop out with use.)
Sew together, right sides facing, around three sides. Stuff in cushion pad. Sew on three pairs of red* ribbon lengths along the open side. Tie each pair into a double knot to close cushion.

*colour choices are, of course, up to you
** fabric choices are also, of course, up to you

Five-minute fashion DIY: turn a scarf into a snood

Snoods are having a stint in the fashion spotlight; they’re e-v-e-r-y-w-h-e-r-e. And with good reason. They’re very cosy, they can double up as headgear (just pull a loop of the snood up over the back of your head), and versatile: wear one in a long loop like a giant necklace, or twist round and round your neck for maximum heat retention. And once your snood is on, it stays put, no constantly flipping the ends back over your shoulder. And you can join in with this trend in five minutes flat.

How to turn a scarf into a snood
All you need is an old scarf, hand-knitted, machine-knitted, crocheted or fabric. To transform your scarf into a snood, all you need to do is to join the ends together to form a loop. If your scarf is knitted or crocheted, you’ll ned some yarn in the same colour (or contrasting colour if you prefer). Remove any tassels or fringing first. With a large-eyed needle, stitch the two ends of the scarf together.
If you don’t have an old scarf you want to use, knit your own super-simple snood: cast on enough stitches for your desired scarf width. Knit until scarf is long enough. Knit entirely in garter stitch, or try knitting and purling alternative rows, for stocking stitch. You can also try ‘knit one, purl one’ for a ribbed effect, or ‘knit two, purl two’ for a more defined rib. Stitch the ends together with the same yarn to form a loop.

Did you know? The word ‘snood’ used to refer to a type of hairnet, worn on the back of the head to hold the hair.

This blog first appeared on Allaboutyou.com, where I used to work. It was a great website, with lots of top-quality craft content, managed by me. Unfortunately, it was closed in January 2015.

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Colourful contrast; colourful language

I've tried cross-stitch about twice in the past, not too impressively. So this time, I decided to use more strands of the thread. As my design was words, I googled 'cross stitch pattern generator' - there are loads of results. You type in the text you want, choose your font, print and stitch!
I did a little of mine on the train home, getting some curious glances. One woman definitely thinking, 'no, she's not actually sewing the word "fuck", is she?' To which I would say: in the case of clothes moths, the destructive little monsters, it's entirely appropriate!
I love the contrast between the old-fashioned charm of a homemade lavender bag, decorated with 'colourful' language.
The fabric bag is made from offcuts of a skirt I made in the summer. The lavender is from our allotment, augmented with a couple of pieces of cotton wool dripped with lavender oil. I made this one for a friend's birthday, and another has asked for one too. And my other half fancies one for his half of the wardrobe. Lots more cross-stitch on the commute then...

Bye bye Bernina...

Today was a sad day: I said goodbye to the sewing machine I've had for over half my life. It was a Bernina model from the 50s or 60s, which I inherited when I moved into the flat of some friends. Back then I had been traumatised about using a sewing machine by our domestic science teacher, who regularly made pupils cry. Whatever day of the week we had needlework, I had a migraine that evening!

My then boyfriend, luckily, hadn't been similarly traumatised, knew how to use a machine, and taught me. And until I got my lovely new machine, as a Christmas present from my current partner, everything I've ever sewn was made on my old Bernina. It was quite limited; despite knobs to the contrary, it could only sew forwards in a straight line. It weighed a ton too. But how many things do you own for half your life?

There I was, embroidering in the V&A...

At the weekend I went to the Power of Making exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum. You've got plenty of time to see it: it finishes on January 2 2012.
Guest curator Daniel Charny defines the urge to make things like this: "For many people, making is critical for survival. For others, it is a chosen vocation: a way of thinking, inventing and innovating. And for some it is simply a delight to be able to shape a material and say ‘I made that’. The power of making is that it fulfils each of these human needs and desires."
The last one does it for me: the simple act of creating something that didn't exist before.

Exhibits include a gorilla hand-twisted from wire coat-hangers, a crocheted bear (life size) and a ceramic eye patch - lots of fascinating things to gaze upon...

Ele Carpenter was hosting an Embroidered Digital Commons workshop. She's two-thirds of the way through this project - a year to go! The project's aim is to 'stitch a concise lexicon of/for the digital commons. The term being embroidered, in short phrases, at the V&A was 'vector'. As Ele explains: "The term 'Vector' seems appropriate for an exhibition where the vectors of objects and ideas connect and touch, porting through different sites and zones."
I took over a hoop with the last phrase of the paragraph, which had been written on the fabric by a young boy earlier. He'd only managed to stitch the first two words, so I finished it off for him. Quite a surreal experience, feeling like a museum exhibit myself, as visitors paused to watch us at work. It was a bit of a rush job towards the end...

Nice Iceland

One of the (many, many) wonderful things about Iceland is the attitude to traditional crafts like knitting (ordinary people going about their ordinary everyday business wearing the traditional Icelandic jumper, or lopapeysa), and sewing: check this pic of a woman embroidering on the 5,000-kronur note

I also saw a couple of examples of yarn art in Reykjavik (and if anyone speaks Icelandic or knows what they mean, I'd be grateful for a translation/explanation)



If you fancy knitting your own lopapeysa, you can find free patterns at the Nordic Store. And if you're off to Iceland, one of the best places to buy one is the Handknitting Association of Iceland, with a shop in the street Skólavörðustígur in Reykjavik ("scowl-a-fore-thust-ee-goor"). There are lots of other funky shops selling handmade stuff on this street, and in Laugavegur round the corner

Baking and taking cake

On Friday I'm finally making it to an outdoor film screening. As well as an unfeasibly large pile of warm clothes, I'm baking and taking a blackberry crumble cake to enjoy with my oldest friend and her daughters. Like many of my baking sessions, this will involve going a bit freestyle. Although I haven't been making cakes for very long, I'm confident enough in my cooking to alter recipes to suit me.
The recipe I used is based on one from Hedgewizard's diary blog. I think I've made it before with apples as described, but now it's customised. Now I just have to avoid eating it before Friday...