Source: (consider it)
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Thread: Crafty Stuff
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Roseofsharon
Shipmate
# 9657
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Posted
I came looking for the crafting thread, but it's disappeared.
I wanted to look up a certain discussion that I remember taking place some time ago. So as I can't find it, here is the question for up-to-date opinions:
What sewing machine would you recommend for fairly basic dressmaking? I have a trusty, ancient Jones which does not like sewing modern stretchy fabrics. I also have a stash of such fabrics, bought ten or fifteen years ago, in the hopes of making myself some clothes, before I decided the struggle wasn't worth it.
I recently de-cluttered what used to be my sewing room and was horrified by the quantity of fabric stuffed in drawers cupboards and boxes. I've disposed of loads - stuff I've no recollection of buying, dress lengths of Crimplene that I must have had hidden away since the early eighties in colours I haven't worn for thirty years.
But there is lots of fabric that's not quite so dated and that I still like. I don't want to throw/give it away, so I really need to get myself a machine that can cope with it and start sewing again.
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Posts: 3060 | From: Sussex By The Sea | Registered: Jun 2005
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Firenze
Ordinary decent pagan
# 619
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Posted
Are you in the UK? If so, John Lewis do a range of very reasonably priced sewing machines. In pretty colours.
But this is not based on any experience - just on JL being generally reliable for appliances.
My current (and I expect last) machine is a high-end Bernina. I feel I've done my time on cheap machines and I Deserve It.
Posts: 17302 | From: Edinburgh | Registered: Jun 2001
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cattyish
Wuss in Boots
# 7829
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Posted
My friend was given one of the mini sewing machines but it was tricky to use. We did a couple of jerry-rigged repairs on it but it still skipped a lot of stitches.
I have a John Lewis sewing machine which my mother in law bought me for Christmas [tangent] the first year she ever bought my sister in law and I different things. S-I-L got pretty jewellery [/tangent]. I've used it for all sorts of things for years and it's been good at everything but the most hefty leather for which I still use an ancient bomb-proof Singer. It has a straight stretch stitch which is good for stretch fabrics, but I sometimes just use a zigzag stitch or a double needle. Actually, have you tried using a zig-zag foot on your existing machine? Or would it accommodate a double needle?
And have you got the Sewing Machine Attachment Handbook?
Cattyish, currently unable to access my craft room until the skirting boards go back on. Baking it is then. [ 26. September 2014, 14:25: Message edited by: cattyish ]
-------------------- ...to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived, this is to have succeeded. Ralph Waldo Emerson
Posts: 1794 | From: Scotland | Registered: Jul 2004
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Ferijen
Shipmate
# 4719
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Posted
Based on a recommendation from a shippie, I used this company a few years ago. I ordered one for around £150 (it was labelled as an own brand, but was a Frister + Rossman) and it has served me well, although I'm not a heavy user so not a real tester.
Just went through the shipmate's PM when she gave me the details, and she also mentioned that they were very good on the phone at giving advice and recommendations...
Posts: 3259 | From: UK | Registered: Jul 2003
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Brenda Clough
Shipmate
# 18061
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Posted
I'm in the US, and I bought a Bernina. A pity, but Singer sewing machines are now junk. I needed a work horse that could do simple sewing in quantity. (I make the occasional costume, and also sew fleece blankets for my church to give to missions overseas.)
-------------------- Science fiction and fantasy writer with a Patreon page
Posts: 6378 | From: Washington DC | Registered: Mar 2014
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marzipan
Shipmate
# 9442
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Posted
quote: Originally posted by Brenda Clough: A pity, but Singer sewing machines are now junk.
This makes me sad. i have my granny's Singer (circa late 1930's) and it's still going strong - though it doesn't do zigzags. I have made a couple of little quilts on it though as well as some cotton clothes (non stretchy fabric!)
-------------------- formerly cheesymarzipan. Now containing 50% less cheese
Posts: 917 | From: nowhere in particular | Registered: May 2005
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Roseofsharon
Shipmate
# 9657
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Posted
My Jones does zigzag, and takes a double needle. It also has a selection of about four different stitches, including one for elastic - but whenever I try to sew any kind of stretchy fabric, such as T-shirting, or single jersey it sews about three stitches and can then skip thirtyish. Very frustrating. The other thing I'd like to do is free-hand machine embroidery, but it's not possible to drop the feed-dog on this machine.
I don't particularly want one with bells & whistles that just does embroidery on its own - I have plenty of computerised gadgets that I only use for one thing because I can't suss out how to get them to do all the other things they are reputed to be for.
-------------------- Talk about books -any books- on our rejuvenatedforum http://www.bookgrouponline.com/index.php?
Posts: 3060 | From: Sussex By The Sea | Registered: Jun 2005
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Roseofsharon
Shipmate
# 9657
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Posted
quote: Originally posted by Ferijen: Based on a recommendation from a shippie, I used this company a few years ago.
I remember that company being recommended - I'll take a look there when I've figured out what I want.
-------------------- Talk about books -any books- on our rejuvenatedforum http://www.bookgrouponline.com/index.php?
Posts: 3060 | From: Sussex By The Sea | Registered: Jun 2005
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Pomona
Shipmate
# 17175
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Posted
A recommendation for craft lovers in the South of England - the National Needlework Archives, which is based in what was the Americans' chapel at Greenham Common air base, near Aldermaston.
-------------------- Consider the work of God: Who is able to straighten what he has bent? [Ecclesiastes 7:13]
Posts: 5319 | From: UK | Registered: Jun 2012
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cattyish
Wuss in Boots
# 7829
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Posted
Rose of Sharon, you don't need to drop the feed dogs if you put on a fed dog cover plate. Can you order one of those from the interweb? Also, does your machine happily sew other types of fabric? It sounds odd that it skips so much on stretch. Are you using a ballpoint needle for stretch fabrics? That might help.
Cattyish, not an expert but learning.
-------------------- ...to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived, this is to have succeeded. Ralph Waldo Emerson
Posts: 1794 | From: Scotland | Registered: Jul 2004
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cattyish
Wuss in Boots
# 7829
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Posted
Darning plates on ebay.
-------------------- ...to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived, this is to have succeeded. Ralph Waldo Emerson
Posts: 1794 | From: Scotland | Registered: Jul 2004
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Roseofsharon
Shipmate
# 9657
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Posted
Cattyish, thanks for those suggestions.
I do use ballpoint needles, and I expect I tried them with the stretchy stuff, but don't recall any significant improvement.
It's a good many years since I used my machine for anything but the odd bit of mending, so I probably need to spend a little time getting to know it again.
In what I hope are the final stages of decluttering the "sewing room" I have unearthed a box of slightly rusty bits belonging to the machine - I will be very embarrassed if I find that I have a darning plate in there.
-------------------- Talk about books -any books- on our rejuvenatedforum http://www.bookgrouponline.com/index.php?
Posts: 3060 | From: Sussex By The Sea | Registered: Jun 2005
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Sioni Sais
Shipmate
# 5713
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Posted
I asked Mrs Sioni for recommendations and her first question was "Is she using new needles?"
I suggested that anyone on the Ship would be smart enough but she insists I mention it; after all, she does sell the stuff in addition to quilting, embroidery, alterations, repairs and bag making at home.
-------------------- "He isn't Doctor Who, he's The Doctor"
(Paul Sinha, BBC)
Posts: 24276 | From: Newport, Wales | Registered: Apr 2004
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Roseofsharon
Shipmate
# 9657
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Posted
quote: Originally posted by Sioni Sais: I asked Mrs Sioni for recommendations and her first question was "Is she using new needles?"
Probably, but it's been while so I can't be sure. I'll certainly use new ballpoints when I can find a clear space to put the machine. This decluttering is taking far longer than I expected - there's a ton of sewing & knitting stuff, but also several tons of accumulated junk that's been shoved in there for lack of any space elsewhere.
I must take a look in All Saints, I'm sure I've seen a de-cluttering thread in there in the past
-------------------- Talk about books -any books- on our rejuvenatedforum http://www.bookgrouponline.com/index.php?
Posts: 3060 | From: Sussex By The Sea | Registered: Jun 2005
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Doublethink.
Ship's Foolwise Unperson
# 1984
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Posted
I don't sew, at all, but I did watch the great british sewing bee. They did an episode on stretchy fabrics, IRRC, they all used overlockers to do the seams. You can probably find it on youtube - might be worth looking at what machines they were using generally.
-------------------- All political thinking for years past has been vitiated in the same way. People can foresee the future only when it coincides with their own wishes, and the most grossly obvious facts can be ignored when they are unwelcome. George Orwell
Posts: 19219 | From: Erehwon | Registered: Aug 2005
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Firenze
Ordinary decent pagan
# 619
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Posted
If you are going to do serious amounts of sewing, over lockers are the way to go. But it is Another Machine.
I find a combination of tacking beforehand, zigzag stitching and twiddling the tension copes with most stretch fabrics (except velvet: velvet's a beast).
But then I am the world's leading exponent of the pin and zap school of dressmaking.
Posts: 17302 | From: Edinburgh | Registered: Jun 2001
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Roseofsharon
Shipmate
# 9657
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Posted
quote: Originally posted by Firenze: If you are going to do serious amounts of sewing, over lockers are the way to go. But it is Another Machine.
I'm not going to be doing enough serious dressmaking to justify buying an overlocker, but I would like to use up some of my almighty stash and make some clothes that don't have big gaps in the seams. quote: I am the world's leading exponent of the pin and zap school of dressmaking.
That was the method I've always used - which is probably why I've never seriously put my mind to sorting out my problem with stretch/knit fabrics. I'm beginning to think that it's not a new machine I need, but a new attitude.
-------------------- Talk about books -any books- on our rejuvenatedforum http://www.bookgrouponline.com/index.php?
Posts: 3060 | From: Sussex By The Sea | Registered: Jun 2005
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Doublethink.
Ship's Foolwise Unperson
# 1984
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Posted
But if you were going to buy another machine anyway - you could buy the overlocker, keep your current machine and thereby have two for the price of one as it were. Also, then you will definitely get to use all your stretchness, rather than planning to and getting put off by the effortfulness and ending up still having the piles of material two years hence (possibly taking up more space than the second machine.)
-------------------- All political thinking for years past has been vitiated in the same way. People can foresee the future only when it coincides with their own wishes, and the most grossly obvious facts can be ignored when they are unwelcome. George Orwell
Posts: 19219 | From: Erehwon | Registered: Aug 2005
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Heavenly Anarchist
Shipmate
# 13313
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Posted
I love my Singer overlocker, I've had it about 10 years and use it for everything, I just use my ordinary machine for finishing.
-------------------- 'I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by.' Douglas Adams Dog Activity Monitor My shop
Posts: 2831 | From: Trumpington | Registered: Jan 2008
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Doublethink.
Ship's Foolwise Unperson
# 1984
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Posted
This one ?
-------------------- All political thinking for years past has been vitiated in the same way. People can foresee the future only when it coincides with their own wishes, and the most grossly obvious facts can be ignored when they are unwelcome. George Orwell
Posts: 19219 | From: Erehwon | Registered: Aug 2005
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Doublethink.
Ship's Foolwise Unperson
# 1984
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Posted
I have no idea if this is surprising, or something any experienced needlesmith would know.
-------------------- All political thinking for years past has been vitiated in the same way. People can foresee the future only when it coincides with their own wishes, and the most grossly obvious facts can be ignored when they are unwelcome. George Orwell
Posts: 19219 | From: Erehwon | Registered: Aug 2005
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Roseofsharon
Shipmate
# 9657
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Posted
I've never used an overlocker, they look a bit complicated. The blog link is interesting, but I don't recognise the foot. I might be in that box of machine bits I've yet to examine, but I'm pretty sure there's no mention of that sort of stitch in the manual. I bought my machine in 1970, so may not qualify for inclusion in her "most" sewing machines. Then again, my machine may yet surprise me.
I will be going to the Knitting & Stitching Show in a fortnight, so will have a look at what machines are on show there.
-------------------- Talk about books -any books- on our rejuvenatedforum http://www.bookgrouponline.com/index.php?
Posts: 3060 | From: Sussex By The Sea | Registered: Jun 2005
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Doublethink.
Ship's Foolwise Unperson
# 1984
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Posted
What model is it ?
-------------------- All political thinking for years past has been vitiated in the same way. People can foresee the future only when it coincides with their own wishes, and the most grossly obvious facts can be ignored when they are unwelcome. George Orwell
Posts: 19219 | From: Erehwon | Registered: Aug 2005
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Heavenly Anarchist
Shipmate
# 13313
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Posted
quote: Originally posted by Doublethink: This one ?
An older model but similar the 14U234. I actually bought it from eBay for £25 hardly used. It looked immaculate. I was nervous of mine at first, what with the blade and having 4 threads, but I now love the blade and it is easier to sew with it in place than pushed out of the way. I seldom have to rethread my 2 overlocking threads (they go underneath), I just tie new threads on to the old thread at the top. The other 2 threads just thread through needles as normal. I bought it to make the cloth nappies I used to sell so it can handle several layers of fabric and it was great for upcycling knits to make dresses. You could always visit a local department store or sewing shop for a demo.
-------------------- 'I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by.' Douglas Adams Dog Activity Monitor My shop
Posts: 2831 | From: Trumpington | Registered: Jan 2008
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Firenze
Ordinary decent pagan
# 619
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Posted
quote: Originally posted by Doublethink: I have no idea if this is surprising, or something any experienced needlesmith would know.
Interesting. That foot did not come with my Bernina as standard, but I daresay it could be got. The thing is supposed to have a vocabulary of 80 or so stitches, so the overlock one should be in there somewhere.
Posts: 17302 | From: Edinburgh | Registered: Jun 2001
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Roseofsharon
Shipmate
# 9657
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Posted
The de-cluttering of my "sewing room" completed, I finally sat down with my machine and the instruction manual. Now I'm sure I played with every foot,stitch type etc when I first bought it (46 years ago), but I've managed not to notice that little white button right at the front from then onward. Yes, the one that lowers the feed! I managed, with some force, to press it down, then had a bit of a panic when it wouldn't come back up - but got it working eventually.
I also tried out the "elastic stitch" on two types of stretchy fabric - with good results (I'd probably been using the wrong needle, or the wrong stitch length, zig-zag setting, tension or a combination of one or all of them previously. One af Mr RoS's favourite sayings is "If all else fails, read the manual"
I'm off to the Knitting & Stitching Show at Ally Pally at the end of the week - so glad I don't need to look at new sewing machines, or overlockers
-------------------- Talk about books -any books- on our rejuvenatedforum http://www.bookgrouponline.com/index.php?
Posts: 3060 | From: Sussex By The Sea | Registered: Jun 2005
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St. Gwladys
Shipmate
# 14504
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Posted
Has anyone made prayer shawls? I'm being leaned on to start a craft group in my church, and I'm thinking that this would be a good project - also blankets/hats etc for prem babies - I know that there are cahrities who accept such things. I am likely to have a group of varying skills so need easy patterns.
-------------------- "I say - are you a matelot?" "Careful what you say sir, we're on board ship here" From "New York Girls", Steeleye Span, Commoners Crown (Voiced by Peter Sellers)
Posts: 3333 | From: Rhymney Valley, South Wales | Registered: Jan 2009
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Heavenly Anarchist
Shipmate
# 13313
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Posted
quote: Originally posted by St. Gwladys: Has anyone made prayer shawls? I'm being leaned on to start a craft group in my church, and I'm thinking that this would be a good project - also blankets/hats etc for prem babies - I know that there are cahrities who accept such things. I am likely to have a group of varying skills so need easy patterns.
Quilted prayer shawls on my list of things to do and I've been thinking about making a bundle and then approaching church for ideas on setting up a group. My local maternity unit has a collection of quilts for prem babies, another on my list
-------------------- 'I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by.' Douglas Adams Dog Activity Monitor My shop
Posts: 2831 | From: Trumpington | Registered: Jan 2008
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Kitten
Shipmate
# 1179
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Posted
If you are looking for a charity to support with tiny baby garments then Little Things is always happy to accept, they provide clothes for premature stillborn babies and work with several hospitals. I am currently knitting them some tiny cardigans using patterns designed for a 10" doll
-------------------- Maius intra qua extra
Never accept a ride from a stranger, unless they are in a big blue box
Posts: 2330 | From: Carmarthenshire | Registered: Aug 2001
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Jengie jon
Semper Reformanda
# 273
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Posted
There is also Project Linus which makes quilts for sick children.
Jengie
-------------------- "To violate a persons ability to distinguish fact from fantasy is the epistemological equivalent of rape." Noretta Koertge
Back to my blog
Posts: 20894 | From: city of steel, butterflies and rainbows | Registered: May 2001
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Brenda Clough
Shipmate
# 18061
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Posted
For many years our church had a Threads ministry. We would sew fleece blankets, and knit baby sweaters and blankets and so on, to send to an AIDS hospice in Uganda. Unfortunately the shipping of containers to Uganda has become problematic, and now I am the last survivor of the ministry. I sew a batch of blankets whenever a mission group heads out Africa and throw in some baby blankets.
-------------------- Science fiction and fantasy writer with a Patreon page
Posts: 6378 | From: Washington DC | Registered: Mar 2014
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Celtic Knotweed
Shipmate
# 13008
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Posted
Probably the best place on the Ship to ask this...
I've said I'll knit a snood for approx 19-month-old niece for Christmas. Any idea where I can find a pattern to look at? I really just need to see how one might go together, for some reason once I've seen a simple pattern I can usually modify sizes. It's going to need to be done in non-wool yarn due to allergies, so that's either bamboo or one of the artificials I'd guess.
-------------------- My little sister is riding 100k round London at night to raise money for cancer research donations here if you feel so inclined.
Posts: 664 | From: between keyboard and chair | Registered: Sep 2007
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Brenda Clough
Shipmate
# 18061
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Posted
Ravelry.com. You have to register, but it's free. You can find a pattern for anything there, and you can sort it by various criteria (knit vs. crochet, free versus pay for the pattern, etc.) Be sure and look at the pictures. The word 'snood' used to mean 'hair net', like Victorian ladies used to wear. Now it sometimes means 'cowl', as in those long circular scarves which you can wear around your neck and hitch up over your head.
-------------------- Science fiction and fantasy writer with a Patreon page
Posts: 6378 | From: Washington DC | Registered: Mar 2014
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ElaineC
Shipmate
# 12244
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Posted
This site has lots of patterns and they are all free to download.
-------------------- Music is the only language in which you cannot say a mean or sarcastic thing. John Erskine
Posts: 464 | From: Orpington, Kent, UK | Registered: Jan 2007
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Celtic Knotweed
Shipmate
# 13008
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Posted
Thanks . Much pattern browsing will be done when I have spare seconds at the weekend.
quote: Originally posted by Brenda Clough: The word 'snood' used to mean 'hair net', like Victorian ladies used to wear. Now it sometimes means 'cowl', as in those long circular scarves which you can wear around your neck and hitch up over your head.
Round here it almost always takes the second of those meanings. I must have been into my late 20s before I discovered the 'hair net' meaning. For keeping an under-two warm in the winter, I'm going with the tube that can be used as a scarf and a bonnet.
-------------------- My little sister is riding 100k round London at night to raise money for cancer research donations here if you feel so inclined.
Posts: 664 | From: between keyboard and chair | Registered: Sep 2007
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Brenda Clough
Shipmate
# 18061
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Posted
Then these are extraordinarily easy to make. You could just knit a wide scarf until it is long enough, and sew the ends together. The only thing I would consider (and I would discuss this with the parent) is whether a tube-shaped garment is safe around the neck of a child of that age. The danger for tots is that a piece of garment gets tangled up in a slide or swing or other playground equipment, injuring the wearer. There have been sad cases here in the US of a child getting hung by her mitten strings; the trend now is to attach mittens by buttons to the cuffs.
-------------------- Science fiction and fantasy writer with a Patreon page
Posts: 6378 | From: Washington DC | Registered: Mar 2014
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Celtic Knotweed
Shipmate
# 13008
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Posted
Thanks for pattern site hints. I've picked out one of the patterns from the DROPS site after some consultation with Mum (since she looks after the wee lass a couple of days a week). Now I just need to get an answer from sis-in-law about colours!
ElaineC - many thanks for the link to that site. I may well be back there later in the winter if/when I want a new project.
-------------------- My little sister is riding 100k round London at night to raise money for cancer research donations here if you feel so inclined.
Posts: 664 | From: between keyboard and chair | Registered: Sep 2007
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Brenda Clough
Shipmate
# 18061
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Posted
I bought a ball of scrumptious leaf-green sock yarn in the vendors' hall at the World Science Fiction Convention in London this summer, and am now slowly knitting it up into a pair of socks with a twist-cable leaf design.
-------------------- Science fiction and fantasy writer with a Patreon page
Posts: 6378 | From: Washington DC | Registered: Mar 2014
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Firenze
Ordinary decent pagan
# 619
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Posted
I've slowed a bit on the current project, but must pick it up again. The yarn is a sale lot in a rather meh range of browns. To break the monotony I started introducing intarsia animal and plant motifs in ends of charcoal, rust and light yellow that I had knocking around. The sleeves will have birds, the fronts hares and grapes, while the almost completed back has maple leaves and a large bear.
Posts: 17302 | From: Edinburgh | Registered: Jun 2001
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Brenda Clough
Shipmate
# 18061
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Posted
OMG, that sounds spectacular. Are you just winging it, or did you chart the designs in advance?
-------------------- Science fiction and fantasy writer with a Patreon page
Posts: 6378 | From: Washington DC | Registered: Mar 2014
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Firenze
Ordinary decent pagan
# 619
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Posted
I stole 'em off Ravelry. Some were originally for cross stitch. Then I edited together ones that seemed to go.
Posts: 17302 | From: Edinburgh | Registered: Jun 2001
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Heavenly Anarchist
Shipmate
# 13313
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Posted
Today I made a 1950s style dress from a re-released vintage pattern, in a Sanderson fabric in a very dark green, teal and black. It was a pain to sew, gores and darts etc, but seems to have turned out well.
-------------------- 'I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by.' Douglas Adams Dog Activity Monitor My shop
Posts: 2831 | From: Trumpington | Registered: Jan 2008
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Brenda Clough
Shipmate
# 18061
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Posted
I hope you will describe it in more detail. A full skirt, I hope, well below the knee. Darts and gores seem to indicate a fitted bodice. Sweetheart neckline? Vee back?
-------------------- Science fiction and fantasy writer with a Patreon page
Posts: 6378 | From: Washington DC | Registered: Mar 2014
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Heavenly Anarchist
Shipmate
# 13313
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Posted
Sleeveless, with a v back and front, though I may trim these with some dyed dark green pleated cheesecloth ribbon around the neckline. Fitted waist and very full skirt. I'm going to make a matching dark green petticoat. The pattern is Butterick B5603, I've made dress B but without the bows on the shoulders.
-------------------- 'I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by.' Douglas Adams Dog Activity Monitor My shop
Posts: 2831 | From: Trumpington | Registered: Jan 2008
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To The Pain
Shipmate
# 12235
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Posted
I've started to think about Christmas crafting a little later than usual this year, mainly because I'm not planning on doing as much. I've ordered fleece to make blankets for my foster-siblings (which I'll really only be edging) and made my prototype pyrographic decorations so I'll squeeze in a production line of those sometime soon. Perhaps Sunday evening once our weekend visitor heads home. I also want to make the fosters individual christmas stockings from the coffee sacks I have lying around, but need to check whether Mum's sorted them out with something.
I do intend to put tiles on the house roofs with one of the pyrography iron stamps, but didn't have time to let it cool down enough to change the tip.
-------------------- Now occasionally blogging. Hire Bell Tents and camping equipment in Scotland
Posts: 1183 | From: The Granite City | Registered: Jan 2007
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Brenda Clough
Shipmate
# 18061
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Posted
The Muse is powerful within me this year, and so I have let nearly all crafty stuff slide. I have a number of UFOs (UnFinished Objects) which I must and shall get to. This includes: an elaborate Nordic fair isle sweater, needing only to be steeked and seamed, and the neck band knitted. (Surely to Heaven I can finish it in time to wear it this winter?) A cotton pullover, cabled and embroidered except I have to embroider. A life sized knitted squid. It is to be six feet long in the body, with six more feet of eight tentacles each and then two feeder palps ten feet long. Alas, I did the fun part, the body and the great googling green eyes (two iridescent plastic balls from the toy store!) but then fell off the sled on the long slog of tentacle.
-------------------- Science fiction and fantasy writer with a Patreon page
Posts: 6378 | From: Washington DC | Registered: Mar 2014
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Heavenly Anarchist
Shipmate
# 13313
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Posted
The squid sounds fabulous! Today I am making aprons to go with prairie dresses (Thursday and Friday's work) and bonnets (made those on Monday). A friend referred someone via facebook who wanted two full set of little house on the prairie outfits for her daughters - bonnets, dresses, aprons, nightgowns and mop caps. I've been making prairie bonnets for years but the prairie dresses are a new thing for me. I feel quite cheery about making them. Presumably it is distracting me from the huge batch of marking which will shortly be heading my way.
-------------------- 'I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by.' Douglas Adams Dog Activity Monitor My shop
Posts: 2831 | From: Trumpington | Registered: Jan 2008
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Brenda Clough
Shipmate
# 18061
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Posted
I could imagine this as a lucrative sideline, making Little House garb.
-------------------- Science fiction and fantasy writer with a Patreon page
Posts: 6378 | From: Washington DC | Registered: Mar 2014
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St. Gwladys
Shipmate
# 14504
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Posted
I'm become a bit stuck in a rut - making embroidered crosses on plastic canvas - I've made about 40 to raise money for a local youth project - I make one, someone else fancies it, and asks me to make some for them! -and "gypsy scarves" - crotchet neckerchiefs. I've also been crocheting prayer shawls - I've made one triangular one, using very lightweight yarn, and a rectangular one, which seemed to take forever. Both recipients were delighted though. We've started a craft group in our church - two hours a week unashamed craft time. So far, we have 5 regulars *including one retired man who does calligraphy) and one or two occasionals.
-------------------- "I say - are you a matelot?" "Careful what you say sir, we're on board ship here" From "New York Girls", Steeleye Span, Commoners Crown (Voiced by Peter Sellers)
Posts: 3333 | From: Rhymney Valley, South Wales | Registered: Jan 2009
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