Purl and Seam

Fabric : Fibre : Family

Alfredo Gloves

January 20, 2015

Finally my first finished project of the year. I’ve been holding off sharing these gloves hoping I’d get a chance to photograph them on my lovely hand model…but time has been against us, so flat photos it is.

alfredo_gloves

It seems my love affair with colour work knitting continues.

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The pattern, Alfredo Gloves by Suzanne Stellard, free on Ravelry, is lovely for newbies to colour work…just two colours and a very simple pattern repeat that I found easy to remember…and I have a brain like a sieve!

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These were so simple, in fact, that I ended up knitting them with one strand of colour in each hand for the first time.  I was thrilled to not only be able to practice knitting Fair Isle, but to also have the chance to build a new skill.  Result!

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The yarn was gifted to my by my friend Himmelbjerget, and has sat in my stash for far too long.  But you know I’ve been obsessed with clearing stash over the last year and I’m much happier that I finally knitted this and have mitts rather than just very pretty yarn.

The yarn is Eskimimi Twingles in the Flutter colour-way, but sadly all links to it seem to be broken so I’m not sure if she’s still making it.  Which would be a shame, because it’s a delight to knit and the colours are just slightly variegated and wonderfully saturated.

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That said…these will knit up nicely in any number of pretty 4ply yarns, so what are you waiting for? 😉

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7

January 14, 2015

Oh my darling girl…how did you get to be 7 so very quickly?

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It seems but a blink of an eye that you were that tiny wee person who first came home to us nearly six years ago.

Day 1

Since that first day we met you, you’ve held our hearts.  We’ve watched you grow from a shy and quiet little tot into the confident, outgoing and exuberant girl you are today.

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Now, I’ll be honest, there are days when I truly believe that you completely overdo the “confident and exuberant” thing with it slipping into “bolshy and obnoxious”, but never be fooled, little one, I wouldn’t have you any other way.

I love your strong sense of self.  Your joie de vivre. The fact that everyone who meets you loves you.  Your kindness to others is humbling and your sense of justice ferocious.  I pity the fool who gets on the wrong side of your right hook…your daddy taught you well!

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So, happy birthday angel girl…keep it up.  Keep fighting for what you believe in. Keep loving with every ounce of your being.  Keep dancing like no-ones watching (although learning to sing in tune would be marvellous).  But most of all keep being you.  You are amazing and we love you to the moon and stars and back, with jelly tots and lemon icing.

Oh, but one last thing….no…you can’t marry Harry Styles! 😉

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Note….it was Button’s birthday on Monday, but I’ve been a wee bit too overwhelmed about her growing up too fast to write before now.  Believe what they tell you…time goes by in a flash.

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Cafe au Lait mitts in Yarn Stories Merino

January 11, 2015

The first make of the new year and it’s not even one of mine!

Cafe au lait

These exquisite mitts were knitted by my friend Liz in the new merino DK from Yarn Stories.

yarn stories cobalt

I’ve seen this yarn popping up all over the web recently, and with good reason.  Liz was kindly gifted a ball of this newly launched yarn at Yarndale last year and, I don’t mind admitting, I wouldn’t be as altruistic as her.  These mitts are gifts.  I’d be keeping them if they were mine!

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The cafe au lait pattern (free on Ravelry) is just lovely, and, I’m assured, fun to knit too. But the yarn is the making of these mitts.  It’s soft and springy and gives fabulous stitch definition, as you can see.

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The colour is an intense, saturated cobalt.  Like a kingfisher’s wing.  Simply beautiful.

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I’m sorely tempted to add this yarn to my knitting list for the year.  In this colour, although there are plenty of other stunning colours to choose from.  The French Navy and Fuschia would also work well with my wardrobe, for sure.

yarn stories french navy
yarn stories fuchsia

Hmmm…I’d best crack on with the stuff on the needles!

Just to be clear, I’ve received no incentive to write this review.  Yarn Stories wouldn’t know me if I was stood in the centre of their office.  And Liz didn’t even bribe me with her world famous shortbread.  I’m just besotted by these mitts and thought you’d like them too.

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Sewing for kids…Japanese pattern books reviewed

December 5, 2014

I’d like to lay money on the fact that you’re far more organised than I am as we look down the barrel of Christmas.  Chez Stitches there is hardly a gift purchased, nor the handmade ones even started. Today the house lies under a layer of dust as the walls are chased out to fit the new patio door.  The decorator is coming on Sunday to finish the last room.

And, although I’m not a gambling woman, I’m sure its safe to say that you’ve already written to Santa, explaining that it really wasn’t your fault and that you should actually be safely ensconced on the “nice” list!

So, whilst sewing is likely the last thing on your mind at the moment, don’t forget that this will all be over in a couple of weeks and normal service will be resumed.  And with that in mind, if you’ve got small peeps in the household, drop everything, fire up the laptop, and send Santa photographic evidence of your innocence and ask, nay beg, him to pop a copy of any, or, indeed, all, of the following books into your Christmas stocking.  Because once the glitter dust of Christmas has settled, you’re going to want to make the wee ones All. Of. The. Things!

First up…Sew Chic Kids by Ruriko Yamada:

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Such cute, easy to sew casual clothes for boys and girls aged 2 to 8, with full sized pattern sheets in the back of the book.

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Clear diagrams walk you through the construction, with top tips to help you get a great result.

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Basically all the beautiful design and inspiration that we’ve come to expect from Japanese sewing books, but in English!  Soooooo cool!

Sew Sweet HandMade Clothes for Girls by Yuri Araki is chock full of adorable outfits for your favourite girl aged 1 – 8.

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SSHCG

This time the instructions have written sewing steps as well as detailed diagrams.

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There’s even a couple of photographic sewing lessons that walk you through the construction of a little sleeveless dress, but which also shows you techniques that are used in other garments in the book.  Genius!

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And last, but not least, is Girls Style book by Yoshiko Tsukiori and H.H.

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Aimed at little girls aged 4 – 10 the styling is a little more grown up but still very age appropriate.  And again there are written sewing steps to make the whole process even simpler.

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When Tuttle approached me to review Sew Sweet, I was really pleased to do so as I’d been contemplating purchasing my own copy of this having seen the beautiful clothes Sanae stitches for her daughter.  To receive all three books was an unexpected and delightful bonus.

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The patterns are all classic styles that can be sewn over and over again for your littlies without their wardrobes becoming tired or dull.  They have clean lines that showcase gorgeous fabrics, and simple closures to make them quick and easy to sew and for small folk to put on and off.

For me this is the hallmark of a great sewing book. Inspirational styling with practical wearability, clear instructions to help you get a beautiful result, and a range of sizes that ensures you’ll get great value for money (I checked the price of these on Amazon UK today and they’ll set you back about £12.  Less than the price of most indy sewing patterns and working out to as little as 50p per pattern dependent on the book!)

So…tell Santa to sort it!  Or treat yourself so that you’ve got something to look forward to in the grey and dismal days of January.  Either way…you’ll be glad you did!

Thanks to Tuttle Publishing for providing me with these books for review. (Guys…I’ve lost your emails in the transfer of laptops…apologies!)  And to Sewing Princess for pointing them in my direction.  As always all opinions are my own, but I can sleep easy knowing that if you’ve got small folk you’ll love these patterns.  And expect to see my little Miss and Mr popping up in makes from them next year

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Sweet dreams

December 3, 2014

Whilst The Husband is working away in London he phones every morning before heading off to work, and every evening before they go to bed, to speak with the munchkins.

Yesterday he was asking Button if she’d had a good night’s sleep.

Button:  Yeah….(yawn)

Daddy:  Did you have any nice dreams?

Button:  I had a lovely dream, Daddy?

Daddy:  Oh, what did you dream about that was so lovely?

Button:  I dreamt my brother left home….

She loves him really, the wee beastie!

 

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The socks of love

November 26, 2014

If anything in this world proves that I love my hubby (other than his dream Sunday dinner of roast chicken followed by sticky toffee pudding) it is these socks.

argyle socks

Seriously!  Argyle socks.

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Knitted flat and seamed.

argyle socks

Learning to mattress stitch…still a way to go!

With the single stitch diamonds added in after in duplicate stitch (Swiss darning).

Just a smidge too big for me...sigh!

Just a smidge too big for me…sigh!

What kind of crazy is that, if not crazy in love?  I do love you, baby!

FYI…the pattern is taken from Country Weekend Socks and the yarn is Drops Fabel.

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Cardigan

November 5, 2014

We’re back from our Autumn half term holiday in Wales and much the better for it. It’s been 4 years nearly since our last holiday so it was well overdue.  After a delayed start for a day whilst we confirmed that the 100.4 temperature that Button was running wasn’t, in fact, scarlet fever (phew!) the week ran smoothly and we had a relaxed but still very lovely time doing pretty much nothing except walking, eating and watching movies.

Oh, I love these guys

Oh, I love these guys

Of course there was the minor incidents of small folk rampaging out of earshot and the neighbouring holiday makers knocking on our door at 6.30am begging for relief.

And The Incident of the (toy) Dragon in the Nighttime, which included a beanie baby dragon, a table lamp, and a pesky small boy, that could have ended up very badly had Button not realised that the Rubicon had been crossed and come to wake me.

That said, here are a few pics that aptly capture the real essence of our break and the beauty of the Welsh coast and countryside around Cardigan bay.  They are phone photos because very early on I decided that I wanted to actually be in this holiday rather than spending time observing it from behind the lens.  I highly recommend this strategy…making memories is more fun than simply capturing the images.

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Cardigan

Cardigan

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Cardigan

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Searching for shells for Grandad. A very serious endeavour!

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Llanerchaeron

Llanerchaeron

Llanerchaeron woodland walk

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Tempus fugit

October 20, 2014

Balmy golden autumnal days have given way to chill and rain here in Northland. Yet still I’m sewing the last dress of summer.

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So many unfinished things at the moment.  It feels like time is simultaneously held in abeyance and winging it’s way south for the winter.

Obviously at this time of year it becomes all about the knitting and life Chez Stitches is no exception.

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These are a work of love and I’m hoping to have them finished by the weekend, when we head off on our holidays.

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The decorator has arrived and the first coat of paint to seal the plaster was applied at the weekend.  I really need to get my act together as I’ve got to choose and purchase coloured paint before Saturday.

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And whilst I’m at it, I’d better get the flooring, as my builder (who, serendipitously, is also my cousin) is finally free to lay the floors, build a dog den under the stairs and fit the new fireplace.

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The ground floor will look like home by Christmas.  The socks will be done.  The dress will be hemmed.  And I’ll do my best to get my last fabric sale post up this week.

Progress!

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May Martin’s Sewing Bible – Review

October 3, 2014

Recently I have requested from the library a number of knitting reference books and over the next few weeks I hope to share my reviews of them with you. However, whilst in the library this week I noticed May Martin’s new book on the shelf and, obviously, swept it up in anticipation of an evening of delight spent increasing my sewing knowledge.

May Martin's Sewing Bible

I think my enthusiasm may have been premature.

Calling your book a “Sewing Bible” does somewhat set the expectations of the reader that this is going to be a reference tool of some depth and breadth.  Sadly this book falls short. It runs to 320 pages, yet only 100 of them are allocated to sewing techniques and information.  This results in each topic only being covered in summary fashion.

An example of this would be the section on “altering a pattern” which is covered in less than 1 page.  The same amount of space is given to discussing tailor’s dummies.

May Martin's Sewing Bible

Hardly “Sewing Bible” status.

The illustrations are also disappointing.  The book has many artful photographs sprinkled about the place, but illustrations are sparser and, I found, not always accurate.  Surely when stay-stitching a neckline you sew from the shoulder to the centre of the neckline on each side?

Not according to May.

May Martin's Sewing Bible

As for the “vintage” snippets of “sewing wisdom”…I’m frankly perplexed as to their function!

May Martin's Sewing Bible

So far, so not so good.

Surely the projects section, which is divided up into several topical sub-sections, and which occupies the bulk of the book, would be more inspiring?

First up…Crafts.  Table runner.  Napkins. Bunting. Christmas stocking.  Hasn’t every beginner’s sewing book for the last 5 years included a version of these.  It’s so unoriginal.  Even the slightly more imaginative projects such as the puppet theatre have been done many times before…as any 5 minute search on Pinterest will show you.

May Martin's Sewing Bible

The home furnishings section is so dull it should be prescribed as a solution for insomnia. Cushion covers, a roman blind, bag lined curtains.  Zzzzzzzzzzzzzz

And don’t get me started about the pleating on that curtain.  It’s just awful…not enough fabric has been used so the curtain is lacking in fullness.

May Martin's Sewing Bible

And if that didn’t work, you could always use the accessories section.

May Martin's Sewing Bible

But wait, what’s this?  Adult and children’s fashion sections!  Surely they will save the day?

Oh look…a cute shift dress. (I’m ignoring the drag lines at this point…!)

May Martin's Sewing Bible

Where’s the pattern pages?  What size does it go up to?

What?

May Martin's Sewing Bible

McCalls M6355!

You mean I have to go out and BUY THE PATTERN?

On top of the cost of the book?

And don’t sewing patterns ALREADY HAVE AN INSTRUCTION SHEET??

As Button is wont to say….What. The. What?

May Martin's Sewing Bible

I’m sorry…I just don’t think that’s good enough.

I know this post isn’t the usual upbeat review that I like to post, but this book clearly sets its stall out to be a “Sewing Bible” yet it’s very obviously a long way away from being such a thing.

May Martin's Sewing Bible

If you were a beginner sewist looking for a good sewing book to set you off on your newly discovered hobby, the title and the back cover, where May’s, not unimpressive, credentials are clearly set out, would probably be enough to persuade you to purchase this book. You’d not, of course, have enough experience to see the not inconsiderable gaps in the content. And, all mocking aside, this is my biggest gripe with this book and one which actually makes me quite cross.

At RRP £25.00 this isn’t a cheap buy. I personally think that even the Amazon discounted price of £12.50 is a bit much for a book which is, in my opinion, not much more than a triumph of style and marketing over substance. It feels very much like it’s been pulled together to take full advantage of the current upsurge in people learning to sew, and to ride on the coattails of the Sewing Bee. I’d have no qualms about this if I thought the content was fresh and inspiring and actually added something to the subject.   But I don’t feel that it does.  Add in the presumptuous title of “Sewing Bible” (there’s the sarcastic inverted commas again), and I find the whole project to be more than a little disingenuous.  Which is a real shame.

Needless to say this is one tome that won’t be making it’s way into my sewing library. Neither would I recommend it.  It’s not a patch on the good old Reader’s Digest sewing book that many of us learned to sew with, nor Tasia’s Sewtionary which has been much feted in the blogosphere over recent weeks, with very good reason.

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Save your pennies, dear reader, by not buying this book.  I’d suggest that there are better ways to spend them.

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Simplicity 1606 – review

September 13, 2014

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It’s scandalous that it’s about a year since I received this pattern.  This review is well overdue!

I’ve spoken about the alterations that I made to the pattern, and can only reiterate that I really, really like this design and would definitely recommend it and suspect I’ll be making this one again! I can’t comment about the instructions, because I didn’t follow them.

I know…that’s no help to anyone!

The fabric, whilst lovely to look at, was a pig to sew.  Shifty, stretchy, just generally a nuisance and a right royal PITA.  It’s also pilling a little after just a couple of wears. Which is a pain and makes me glad this is a dress that I’m not planning to wear every day.

Even so…and taking into account the creasiness of this because it’s linen…I think this dress is definitely worth the hassle.

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Although I’ve gained a significant amount of weight this year* this dress reminds me of the me that wore the Giverny dress.  That, my friends is a very good thing indeed.

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We had such a laugh taking these photos. The Husband and I were on our way to our favourite local Italian bistro for a romantic dinner a deux, and stopped en route at this picturesque archway, which is, in fact the entrance to a not particularly picturesque nursing home.

It is, however, on the main road through the village and caused much amusement and amazement on the part of passing motorists, as I posed by the wall and The Husband stood in the middle of the road, snapping shots like a veritable David Bailey.

I didn’t care…I was in the company of my gorgeous hubby, in a pretty frock, en route for a glass of wine and a bowl of lobster ravioli.

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That’s enough to make any girl smile!

*thank you very much, medication. I’m glad to see the back of you now.  And hopefully my toes in the not too distant future!

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Welcome

Image of a woman in her fifties taken from the shoulders up. She has grey shoulder length hair, brown eyes and a soft smile.

Hi there,
I'm Evie and I knit, stitch, spin and sew.
With varying degrees of success!
But always with my family around me in our little town in the North of England.
Grab a brew and stay a while.

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