3 posts tagged “embroidery”
First of all... the lack of posts around here is illusory; I've been working on filling in the archive with content from my old blog. I also wrote a FAQ, but haven't posted it publicly and wanted to look at it a lot more before I do. (Sometimes my sense of humor doesn't read well on the internet.)
Last night I actually went to the craft store and spent money, which is notable for two reasons. One is that I never have any money. The other is that I don't usually go anywhere alone, particularly since that car accident a few months back, and since nobody ever wants to go to the craft store with me, I haven't set foot in one in a while.
So, this was a trip to Jo-Ann Etc, where they're having a big sale. I went in armed with the usual 50% off coupon from the mailer. Nothing I bought was earth-shattering, but I thought people might like to come along with me for the ride anyway.
I was looking for this fabric, which I saw there a year ago, couldn't afford, and haven't been able to find in a store since. It's by Alexander Henry and it's called Star Sign. It is my number one fabric crush. One day I will get a yard or two of this fabric and make a tote bag or pillow or quilt or something, and then the madness will end. I'm not even into astrology; I just like the style of the illustrations. (I borrowed these photos from Cia's Palette, to avoid direct linking.)
Can you see and feel the cuteness? CAN YOU? At any rate, I struck out again this time. It doesn't seem like they've restocked any "hip" novelty prints (Alexander Henry, Michael Miller, etc) since last year, alas. It's a good thing I picked up "Mini Calaveras," below, at that time, in a pink colorway: I could only afford one yard of fabric, and I was looking for something to line a small purple bag with. "Mini Calaveras" has gold glitter accents just about everywhere that looks yellow in the scan. I didn't pick up the pink and white "Flora de los Muertos" faux-lace pattern, either, and I regret it.
I still haven't lined that bag, primarily because I now want to use the pink "Mini Calaveras" in a much more visible manner. It's so cool that it would be a shame to hide it. I think Alexander Henry is my favorite fabric designer.
But the subject of this post is supposed to be last night's trip, and all I'm saying is that they didn't have any of these fabric designs that I was looking for, so I left the fabric department and headed for patterns. Butterick patterns are on sale for 99 cents, but it happens that all the patterns that interest me right now are by Simplicity. I looked at a few pattern books for a while, then moved on to yarn. Well, I detoured in scrapbooking and beading, but wasn't really into looking at those supplies last night.
I have a serious lack of basic, plain, worsted-weight, solid-color yarn in my stash. There are amigurumi I've wanted to make and/or design, but I haven't been able to do anything about it due to the sheer scarcity of appropriate yarn at my disposal. I wanted to take advantage of the sale to remedy that. Unfortunately, I was completely unable to make up my mind, and running out of time, so I ended up with a skein of ecru Red Heart Soft and another of Mushroom brown Wool-Ease. Not very exciting at all, but appropriate for things like bunnies and deer and Totoros.
Knitting needles and crochet hooks are mostly 40% off, but a few were on clearance. The clearance needles were Jo-Ann's store-brand tubular plastic needles in very large sizes. They normally go for about $7-10, but are currently less than $2. They have #17, 19, and 35 for sure; not sure about 15 and 50. I've needed some #19 needles for a while, to knit a single small project, so I picked some up. I don't know how the quality is, but since I'll only be using them for a few hours, I'm not too concerned.
Sugar & Cream kitchen cotton was on sale for $1.79, so I picked up three balls. I've wanted to make some washcloths for a while, not because I enjoy washcloth knitting (dear god, NO), but because I like the finished product. When I finish these, I probably won't even post them here, because they're really not the sort of knitting you brag about much. My favorite pattern is the plain, diamond-shaped garter stitch one with a square of eyelets around the edge, because the first knitted washcloth I ever had - made by a relative - was in that pattern, and I think it has an elegant simplicity, as utilitarian household items go.
I bought this yarn because I have it in an unbleached shade, but the pattern is so mindless that I can't actually bring myself to use that color... YAWN. I made it in a purple/berry blend a couple of years ago, and that was tolerable because I at least got to see the color blend happening. Solid beige yarn requires something much more difficult, maybe a lace swatch.
Anyway, here are the colors I chose: Swimming Pool, Summer Splash, and Beach Ball Blue. They go together pretty nicely, and they will go with my bathroom gear. Erika at Red Shirt Knitting did some "garterlac" cloths with what looks like the first two.
The store was about to close, so I only had time to pop into the embroidery department to pick up a pattern I've wanted for a while: Clover's "Animals." Clover's patterns are made for their punch embroidery tool, but they're just heat-transfers like any other embroidery patterns, so you don't necessarily have to use them with the tool. I like Sublime Stitching's patterns as much as the rest of the kids do, but these Clover patterns are also very appealing, have a different, quirky line-drawing style, and are maybe not as hipster-trendy. They're identifiably craft products from Japan, with the cute style that implies, but you can probably actually buy them at your local store! (Or you can, indeed, buy them at SuperBuzzy.) This pattern retails for $3, so I used my 50% off coupon on it and got it for $1.50. Almost everything else was on sale!
No time, alas, to look at buttons and patches.
Total spent? About $15 for 5 balls of utilitarian yarn, a set of #19 needles, and an adorable embroidery pattern. This satisfied my desire to add a few little new things into the mix, without completely breaking the bank.
Here are the other embroidery patterns that I know of in Clover's line: Kitchen, Garden, and Flower. (All the Clover embroidery pattern pics are lifted from the Hancock Fabrics site.)
Have you gotten any craft bargains lately?
Because it's almost Talk Like A Pirate Day (19 September), here are some pirate-themed craft links for you.
Hello Yarn might be your one-stop Jolly Roger-themed free pattern shop. There are some great patterns here, with Norwegian-style pirate mittens and cap taking the cake, but don't miss the squirrel mittens, the many other skull chart items, the anime character bonnet, the great sweaters, or anything else.
Moth Heaven provides this pattern (PDF) for an "arrrgyle" sock enhanced with a skull-and-crossbones motif. (via BoingBoing.) She also has a pattern for a felted pirate hat for kids. (How much more awesome could this lady be?)
In the Arrrgyle pattern, she references this excellent pattern from Katydid Knits: Jack Sparrow's Favorite Socks, which references and sends us back to...
the We Call Them Pirates hat at Hello Yarn.
(the reinterpretation of the chart at Katydid Knits suggests that the same chart might be useful for the cuff of an otherwise plain mitten, or for a wrist-warmer. Also, the Jack Sparrow's Favorite Socks pattern looks like an excellent first project for someone wanting to do stranded knitting. Katydid Knits mentions that this pattern is now linked from Knitting Pattern Central, which is where I found Hello Yarn to begin with. It's getting to be the time of year when a girl wants some wrist warmers....)
You can try knitting this great Skull and Crossbones Lace, which could have many applications. A scarf or shawl? Edging for linens? It's up to you! Be as creative as you want to. In colors other than white, it would be perfect for some Mexicana-style crafting for Day of the Dead.
Maybe you would prefer to crochet a little skull motif?
How about a pretty little pirate dress for your Blythe or Pullip doll, courtesy of MagKnits?
This post was initially titled "Knit Like A Pirate." As it turns out, the official site for Talk Like A Pirate Day actually has a Knit Like A Pirate page, with a free downloadable pattern for a cool bag, "The Pirate Queen's Booty Bag." They link to a page by like-minded folk, KnitLikeAPirate.com. Not much there yet, but so far it looks like they're planning to put up several hat patterns and a pattern for a "yarn galleon"!
Here are a few skull charts for general purposes: basic shaded skull chart from Flickr user "notanartist", skull and crossbones chart in two sizes from supermitten.com, another skull and crossbones chart from BrainyLady, and a skull chart for many uses from domiKNITrix.
Glampyre Stefanie uses her own skull and crossbones chart in a felted fair isle bag.
Street Legal Designs offers a most excellent item for your trusty first mate: a Skull and Bones Dog Sweatshirt. There's even a glow-in-the-dark yarn for the skull motif! Removes all traces of scurvy from your dog.
Here's Rhonda K. White's skull and crossbones washcloth or dishcloth. The simple knit-and-purl pattern could be adapted to other projects. It's subtle, and you can't be too careful on the high seas.
Strange But Trewe has a Lacy Skull Shrug, and promises a pattern in the future. (The question is: is bubblegum pink a properly piratical colour?)
AndSheKnitsToo offers a fabulous skull scarf, featuring both jolly roger motifs AND black and white stripes. Possibly the most buccaneer-friendly scarf on all the internets.
Ysolda has a skull and crossbones illusion scarf. Confound your friends, perplex your enemies, and pass safely under the eye of the Royal Navy!
Yorick, a felted, skull-ended scarf by Kate Kuckro, made its debut last fall in Knitty. The suggested white yarn not only felts properly, but is also snuggly soft.
Getting away from the skull motif, there are these cute striped and ruffled armwarmers designed by Vickie Howell. I suppose if you wanted, you could intarsia-in a skull pattern, too. =/
If you don't knit or crochet, perhaps you'd like to sew yourself up an eyepatch?
Hobbyists can tackle this plastic "Jolly Roger" ship model, one of several pirate ship models that are widely available (see also Captain Kidd).
A search on "beads", "pirate", or "skull" at Century Novelty will turn up lots of crafting possibilities. Especially of the bead variety. Old Fashion Halloween sells a skull pan in both cake and cupcake sizes.
Looking for something for kids? How about a pirate ship or Spanish galleon made from a milk carton? Or a "pirate playdate" inspiration site, complete with craft ideas and fun recipes? (I stole one of their cute pics for this post!)
And all pirates should beware of the giant squid! Squid-shaped phone case by Winged Kamui, squid hat (PDF) by Strange But Trewe. Perhaps these squids are haunted by skeletal fish... they don't look upset, though, do they? However, this squiddy is, supposedly, naughty.
Edited to add:
Skully Purse and iPod/Cellphone Cozy for machine knitters.
Kpixie (formerly KnitPixie) also designed a skull chart. Nicely detailed, with cartoonishly uneven teeth. Love it!
(Stripey!) Skinny Skully Scarf from one of my Craftgrrl crewmates on Livejournal.
How could a pirate function with no place to keep their booty?
Pieced Paper Treasure Chest pattern for papercrafters.
Treasure Chest Pattern for woodworkers. This one looks more complicated than it is. (Mirror site of sorts.)
Another Treasure Chest Pattern for woodworkers. This one is more difficult than the previous one.
For kids, a Pirate Treasure Chest to make from a tissue box. Also, a pirate themed Enchanted Learning page with crafts like a treasure box and a little boat. At HearthSong, you can buy this treasure box kit for older kids who are just learning woodworking.
Kids of all ages can enjoy this Treasure Chest Cake... complete with edible booty! Here's another Treasure Chest Cake, filled with M&Ms and other candies.
Here's some booty that almost anyone can make. It's a series of jewelry photos from magazines like W, glued to cardboard, cut out carefully, and joined into a necklace with wire rings. A kid could easily do this with paper clips, cereal boxes, and a couple of magazines.
Beyond that, you might be interested to see this pirate-themed embroidered diorama.
Or you might like to sew this handsome young cartoony skull bag.
And don't forget that Sublime Stitching has a pirate-themed set of embroidery transfer patterns, for the low price of US$3. (I don't know about you, but I've paid more for a cup of coffee.)
Don't like crafts? Do like puzzles? Check out The Treasure Hunt at The Problem Site.
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I don't think I linked the following above, but it's possible it might be a double link: Zombies Need Not Apply, a skull fair-isle wristwarmer pattern from MagKnits.
Check out Spirals Free Patterns for several cool things, including a diagonally-striped scarf (photo 1, photo 2) and lace-up skull armwarmers (chart, photo 1, photo 2).
Published since Talk Like A Pirate Day:
I may come back in the next few weeks and tidy this post up by category: skulls, sea creatures, treasure, etc. I will also be adding a parrot pattern or two, though they are thin on the ground. (As parrots often are.)
Also, thanks to Talk Like A Pirate (yes, the official site of the day!) for the link!
4 October - Edited to add some parrots! For knitters, a Painted Parrot Cloth. For beaders, a chart for a colorful parrot (along rainbow macaw lines), and another for a cockatiel amulet bag. Several free parrot designs are featured on the bird page at Dawn's Cross Stitch. Not free, but very dramatic, is this 3D Parrot necklace or kit for beaders.
And Vickie Howell's book New Knits on the Block, which features fun and funky patterns to make for kids, has a whole pirate set in it, which includes a knitted parrot. (I think. Also, a mermaid costume for little girls.)
This book caught my eye at the library, and I thought it might be a good choice to kick off the new direction of this blog. I am not a cross-stitcher now, but I went through a phase as a teenager. As the years have gone by, I found that, first of all, I don't much care for the pixilated-grid look of cross stitch (needlepoint and petit-point designs are usually much more subtle). Secondly, I don't care for the look of Aida cloth (something that can be corrected by using linen).
I suspect that this particular book will be of value to two groups of people. The first is, of course, cross-stitchers. More specialized are historical recreationists. As it happens, I have long been interested in the history of fashion, and I have also been researching the "Jacobethan" period for a few years (a few decades either side of the year 1600). That will be the basis for most of my comments.
From the back cover of the book:
Enter a world of elaborate trelliswork, coiling stems, and sumptuous fruits and florals. Be inspired by the Elizabethan era through the eyes of talented cross-stitch designer Barbara Hammet.
I think the key word here is "inspired." While many of these designs are attractive, none would pass as a recreation of a historical piece. To her credit, Hammet (who previously did a similar book with Celtic motifs) doesn't make any pretense of historical accuracy. She uses the introduction to explain a little about the period, and it seems like she knows what she's talking about. She discusses her inspiration in detail, but not so much that it's not suitable for laymen, or would be uninteresting to them.
The reason that most of these designs would not pass muster for historical recreationists has much to do with the format of the book itself. Cross-stitch was not the embroidery style of choice c.1550-1600; Hammet herself mentions that many of the originals she studied are done in tent stitch. The dominant embroidery styles of the period are blackwork (black thread on white), crewelwork (freeform embroidery done with a particular type of yarn), and the raised stitching now called stumpwork which reached the height of its popularity in the mid-17th century. Additionally, Aida cloth is not a period fabric. Some of the projects in here will certainly be appropriate for use as, say, accessories worn or used at the Renaissance faire, but probably not for strict reenactors. For comparison, here is a design for a piece that would be closer to accuracy for the same period. Hammet's work here is best described as attractive modern cross-stitch design with the flavor of the English Renaissance.
I think that some of these designs are more successful than others, regardless of how good their historical basis is. To begin with, anything on a light background tends to look skimpy when compared to its neighbors on dark or colorful backgrounds. (This isn't a matter of historical accuracy so much as personal taste.) The most simplistic and geometric of the designs do not, in my opinion, work as well as the more ornate and sophisticated pieces, nor do they have as much of a sense of place, a period flavor. Among these designs are the Heartsease Collection, Renaissance Table Linen, the Carnation Bag, elements of the Knot Garden Collection (pretty, but really more suitable to maps of the grounds than to a pillow or box), the Gillyflower Bag, and some of the Motifs. On the other hand, the Sheldon Tapestry Inspiration set (particularly the cushion), the Four Season Florals cushions, the Coiling Stem Pictures, the Bountiful Tree Firescreen, and the Swete Bagges all have sophisticated designs with a lot of possibilities. A few of these designs feature darling animal motifs, particularly the firescreen.
I would, personally, consider trying some of these designs on fabric colors other than white: the Four Seasons cushions, which are gorgeous, and the Coiling Stem Pictures, which are simple and elegant. They look incomplete on white, as if they would be happier as needlepoint projects with full backgrounds.
The front cover of the book advertises "25 projects," but the back cover says "95 designs." The discrepancy is caused by the Motif Library, a plethora of small charted designs that can be used singly or in combination, in colors that are "just suggestions." It seems like Hammet found these figures (a mermaid, a lion, a unicorn, a huntsman with hounds, and many other animals, insects, fruits, and flowers), and, unable to work them into the book's main projects, didn't want to keep them to herself or let them go to waste. Most are charming and definitely add to the value of the book.
In technical terms, how is the book? Well, like any worth its salt, it includes an appendix of technical information, including the stitches you would need to use to do any of the projects, and instructions for how to make up the embroidered cloths into usable items once you've finished working them. The book favors the UK, but all of the items are available in the US, or easily substituted. The most complicated designs require around 20 colors; several require only two or three. Optional bead embellishments are available for several of the projects. The charts use symbols so that similar colors can be easily distinguished from each other, and are generally quite legible, though some might still need a magnifier. All projects are clearly and attractively photographed.
The verdict? Well, if you're a cross-stitcher, and you're interested in the era, this book has a lot to like, and is probably worth its $25 cover price. I don't think you'll become a convert as a result of seeing it, though, despite the fact that it's easily ten times more attractive than just about any kit you'll see on craft store shelves.
Up next: Knitted Toys by Fiona McTague and iPod & iTunes Hacks by Hadley Stern. (Yes, the latter is a craft book, and you'll believe it by the end of the review.)
