Crochet - Mastering the Basics

Hello Ladies and Gents and how are you on this grey March day? I'm shocked that four weeks have passed since my last bloggie so I'll update you with my crochet news.

All through February I have been practicing how to hold the yarn and do the basic stitches. This may seem like a long time just to master the basics, but now I've ventured onto granny squares I feel it was time well spent.

Having a glimpse back at previous blog (First Crochet Blog) I think I got a bit cocky at my skills. I did learn how to chain, but achieving the right tension to chain consistently was slightly more challenging. So a top tip I will give to you all is to take time as a beginner to practice holding the yarn and needle - this is crucial as this determines the tension in the stitch itself. I tried different methods - some with greater or lesser success. At one point the yarn was so wrapped around my fingers it looked like I had a henna tattoo :). There are many great You Tube clips showing you differing techniques... I found this link particularly helpful 'How to Hold Yarn for Beginners' and I do a mixture of the first one and the final one - I wrap the yarn around my pinkie and then around my fore finger - this works well for me but everyone is different.

Another top tip is where to hang/ position your yarn. I tried it on the sofa, bed and floor (I promise I'm talking about crochet here!) and for me, sat on the sofa with the ball of yarn on the floor worked best. This is a great You Tube clip for other ideas: 'Crochet Body Positions, Holding Yarn and Chaining'

The best way to test how you hold your yarn and hook and where to place your yarn is to practice chaining. As I said above by simply chaining you will see if the chains are a consistent tension and if not, you can simply pull the yarn and start again! After successfully chaining, I moved how to single crochet and double crochet however I found this quite difficult when not following a pattern so I moved onto making granny squares! 

I'm so pleased I went back to basics before moving on. I feel by reading and watching tutorials it has helped me understand that tension of the yarn is important and will help with my future projects. Next time, I'll tell you about granny squares.

Top Tips:

• Equipment: Yarn and hook
• Take time as a beginner to practice holding the yarn and needle
• Where to hang/ position your yarn - have a go with different styles - you'll notice the different :)

Useful websites:

• Make Do Menders - http://makedomenders.co.uk/how-to/how-to-hold-crochet-yarn/
• The Crochet Crowd - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HczpDBtZjBY
• Crochet Guru - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQAD3gzQGyM

Happy Crocheting xx

As if learning to sew wasn't taxing enough... now crochet too!!

Hello Ladies and Gents,

As if learning to sew wasn't taxing enough, I decided I wanted to teach myself

'Roseanne'

crochet as well. I know I should concentrate on one before moving onto another, but after watching 'Roseanne' (with the lovely Dan Goodman) I just could not stop thinking about the afghan blanket (and Dan Goodman) that was hanging on the back of the sofa in the living room. With this idea fresh in my mind I purchased a fabulous pattern I could follow... but then thought 'I can't even crochet, let alone make a blanket'. 

Crochet Equipment

With my reigns now back on, I trawled the internet on how to get started in crochet. I found lots of good websites and tutorials on You Tube, but it was the lovely people of twitter who came to my aid on the tools I should use to get started. I was advised to buy a size 4 hook and 4-ply yarn. Armed with the basic knowledge of what I would need, I bought a Clover size 4 hook and some 4 ply acrylic yarn. Top Tip: I bought my first bits from eBay and it cost me less than £8 - a cheap lay out cost to test drive the new hobby in my opinion.

The hook and yarn arrived and following the tutorial on You Tube I wanted to follow (link below) I set out learning a few basic steps. The hardest bit was actually holding the yarn and making sure the tension was right. This did not come naturally, but after persevering I had learned how to do chaining. A chain in the crochet world is a when you have a slip knot already on the crochet hook and pull the yarn through to make a chain. After doing this for a good half an hour, I moved onto what is known as 'fourth from the hook' in patterns or 'double crochet'. This I found challenging, so will stop here as I need to go and practice the double crochet as apparently it is the most used stitch in crochet!

Happy Crocheting x

P.S. I need to make a storage case for crochet kit so will be doing a blog on that soon :)

Top Tips:

• I bought my first bits from eBay and it cost me less than £8 - a cheap lay out cost to test drive the new hobby.

Useful Website:

• Goodknitkisses. Beginner How to Crochet - Lesson 1. 
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXmRm1ryXUQ
• Crochet Hooks You 
• http://www.crochethooksyou.com/
• I Knit
• http://www.iknit.org.uk/

Quilting... the Rockabilly Stitch Way

Hello Ladies and Gents,

Well I thought I would update you on one of my stitching projects as it has been a while. A little while a go I shared with you I was starting a stitching project for a good friend and now it is successfully completed! For my birthday my good friend and sewing advisor bought me a sewing book called 'Cute and Easy Quilting and Stitching: 35 step-by-step projects for you and your home' by Charlotte Liddle. I browsed through the pages and found the perfect gift to make for my friend - a baby quilt. After reading the pattern I knew I could make it - especially as it seemed quite simple and you can customise it as much or as little as you want - perfect for me!

Option 1 - Template

So the first thing I did was raid the fabric stash that has been growing over recent months. I looked through what I had and decided that I had enough fabric to follow the pattern so I went for it. My fabric was all ready washed so the next thing I did was iron everything...this ensures the fabric is smooth and easy to manage. I then had to make 30 squares of 4"x4" in order to make the quilt element. Now to do this I started off by cutting out square templates out of paper (option 1), pinning them to the fabric and cutting around them. After a few attempts of this I was concerned the squares would not be even so I thought of another way (option 2) - to use a

Option 2 

metal ruler, a rotary cutter and the markings on my cutting board. This method made the squares more even, less fiddly and a lot quicker to do. I cut out 7 plain fabric, 5 spotty fabric and 18 flowery fabric (4 different flowery patterns). With the squares I went on to design the lay out the quilt. Once I was happy with it, I then started sewing with my faithful singer machine (not hand sewing I hear some of you cry!). One day I will hand sew a quilt but this pattern can be done either way but I really wanted to use my

Quilt Pattern

machine as I hadn't used it since I cleaned it and put a new needle in. On using the machine I couldn't believe what a difference it made, so top tip, do maintain your machine and change the needle frequently! My machine has only had light use but even I, a beginner, could tell the difference.

This is where I became lazy and in hindsight I should have done this a bit differently. Instead of pinning a row of squares together, I just took two squares and sewed them using the pressure foot as the guide. I did this for each square and ended up with five rows of six. A thing I'm not lazy about (which I'm sure my husbandy will disagree on) is ironing the fabric as you go. Once I had five rows of six squares I ironed the

The lazy way...

seam to make it lie flat and keep the material in shape. When joining the rows together I did pin the edges and again followed the pressure foot as the guide. With all rows now joined it was starting to look more like a quilt! Again don't forget to iron the seams open. The next trick was to cut out the boarders....

Pinning the boarders

Now this is when I had to use maths to solve my problem. The two shorter pieces were the same width as the length of the quilted pieces (5x4"=20). I cut out two pieces of 20"x2" in the plain fabric. I then cut the long side pieces which had to be the same length as the quilt, plus the boarder - the total measurement being 28".  I cut out two pieces of 28"x2" in flowery fabric. I pinned the shorter boarder to the quilt and sewed with the sewing machine. I then pinned the long boarder and again sewed this on.... I was very pleased with myself at this stage and was having loads of fun doing it! 

My quilt was almost complete and all I had to do was attach the backing piece. For this you use one piece of material in what ever design you like. Again, I used a floral design and cut the fabric 24"x28". I pinned the fabric (right sides facing) and stitched around the edge leaving a four inch gap at one end so the wadding can be inserted. Once stitched I turned the quilt inside out and ta dah... I was finished! And I truly was finished as there has been a change of plan since its original use. Once completed I wanted to show off my work so I put it over a little table we have. My husbandy saw it and loved it so much we now use it as a table cloth! So I best get cutting more squares and making another one for my friend as the baby is due very soon! It just shows how versatile this simple pattern is. Without the wadding it is not a table cloth and with the wadding it could be used as a quilt. Sewing is a great way to express yourself... take a pattern and put your own stamp on it... and you'll have loads of fun doing it!

Top tips:

• Equipment: Fabric (30 x 4" squares, 2 x 20"x2", 2 x 28" x 2" and 1 x 28" x 24"), Cutting Mat, Rotary Cutters, Fabric Scissors, Pins, Iron, Ruler and Sewing Machine.
• Use what ever fabric you like - it's your quilt!
• Do pin the squares together...it may seem tedious but you'll have a much neater outcome - trust me :)
• Do maintain your machine and change the needle frequently! My machine has only had light use but even I, a beginner, could tell the difference.

Happy Quilting x

The Sewing Machine

Hi Ladies and Gentlemen…

To date I have bought my essential bits for my sewing tool kit and now my attention turns to the main item – the sewing machine. Sewing machines were first patented in the 1790s and Mr Singer commercialised the sewing machine in the 1850s giving everyone the opportunity to sew and stitch at home and now there are many different brands covering a wide range of functions and prices. This was my first hurdle as I did not appreciate there was such a variety - all targeted at different skill level and functionality – I thought it was one size fits all. In some ways I was pleased so I did not have to get an all singing all dancing machine that would leave me in a mess and not continue 

with my goal.

A good friend of mine, who is a stitching wizz, said as long as it has 10 or so stitches and can do some button holes it will be a good beginning machine. With this sound advice (and advice from my sewing book and the Thrifty Stitcher website) I looked extensively over the World Wide Web at Singer, Berina, Brother, Janome and other brands. I started to get overwhelmed at the possibility and found a few I thought would fit the stitch. But then I thought - how large are they and what do they actually feel like? So with list in hand I went to John Lewis on Oxford Street. Here they offer a great range of sewing machines (including their own brand) and I was able to touch and caress the machines there. I like square machines over rounded (this principle also applies to cars – especially old Fords – but I digress) and I liked the fact that the ones I viewed were not that heavy and also not too expensive. With this in mind I was a bit blinkered to the task at hand and not focusing on the functionality. Then the sewing machine which I had researched was there and in my grasp and it was the……

Singer 2250

It was like love at first glance – I knew this would suit my capabilities to the ground (which are basic in sewing), matched my price tag (always a good thing to keep the husbandy happy), did not weigh a tonne (so I did not incur an injury getting it home), small enough to fit in the space allocated at home (although now I have made my favourite shoes homeless).

When I got the Singer 2250 home I took it out of the box and made sure all the items were there (which they were plus an extra bobbin) and read the manual…. I wanted to thread it and get cracking but it was getting late, I had no scrap material to test on and other general life things needed to be done – boo.

So now I am all set to go… sewing tool box and sewing machine. I just need to cut up on old bed sheet and start practicing…. Oh I can’t wait!!