Love At First Stitch...

Work-wise, one of the most delicious projects that occupied my time over the winter was editing the delightful Tilly's first book, Love At First Stitch.

Available from all good bookshops...

Tilly was a real pleasure to work with; professional, hard-working, passionate and creative – what more can an editor ask for in an author? Nothing, I tell you; nothing.

We had the fabulously talented Arielle Gamble as the book designer – and she and Tilly did all the step photos between them – and the result is a book that's as hugely good-looking as it is splendidly practical; always a winning combination.

There was a launch party at Drink Shop Do in London and I whizzed along to join in the congratulations to Tilly on her book. I had a fan-moment meeting Karen of Did You Make That (definitely need to go the The-Man–Outside–Sainsbury's soonest: have you SEEN the sequinned fabric Karen bought there?) and drank some deeeelicious gin and elderflower cocktails. Sadly, I had to scoot before the speeches, but I'm reliably informed that Tilly said nice things about me: thank you Tilly!

And in the post to day was this from Tilly:

The most creative Thank You I've ever had...

It's a box of marshmallows printed with images from the book: how extraordinary is that? I'm not sure that I can bring myself to eat them, they look so lovely.

Thank you, again, Tilly!

Me and More...

In my catching up on the things I've been doing, I have one thing that I'm not as late with as I might be; though to be truthful, that's because it was delayed from last November to this February. So I'm only two-months-ish late rather than six-months-ish late... Shameful: particularly as it's something I'm happy about...

 

The UK cover model with the fabulous smile is the lovely Molly Small...

Me and More Sewing is the follow-up to a book I did in 2010: Me and My Sewing Machine. That first book was a beginner's guide to sewing by machine, and this one is full of next steps, including some hand-sewing techniques, and couture techniques that I've found useful rather than just complicated.

These days, horsehair braid is made from nylon...

Horsehair braid makes a fabulous, stiff, full hem, perfect for circle skirts, though I like it in A-line skirts as well as I love a voluminous look.

Not just for vintage makes...

 This is a retro technique, but it's perfect if you're putting a zip into a fine fabric, such as thin silk – which can be a challenge with a sewing machine. Doing it by hand can be just as quick as by machine, and a lot less nerve-wracking.

One of my great loves...

Piping isn't just for cushions: it looks fantastic on clothes, too. Piped side-seams on a wool skirt; a slash of accent colour between cuff and sleeve; a detail across the back yoke of a coat... And getting piping to sit neatly and smoothly around curves and corners is easy: it really is.

These are called Suffolk puffs in the UK (and in the UK edition of this book: these pages have the US text)...

I am a huge fan of these simple-to-make embellishments, and have added them to all sorts of things, from bags to cushions to skirts. The version with a contrast centre literally makes my mouth water: it looks just like a delicious little cake or sweetie.

I'm an atheist, but something is in the detail...

It's not always the details that matter, but when they are as lovely as this, why would you skip them? This is an easy-to-add touch that'll show in glimpses, and you'll know it's there, which is what matters most.

My favourite form of patchwork...

There are half-a-dozen things to make, ideas to get you started using some of the new skills you've mastered.

Just delicious...

 Including a project using my beloved puffs. And I revel in the contrast between the textures of the stiff silk and soft velvet used here.

The US cover...

C&T are publishing this book in the US (they published the first one, too), but it has a different title and a different cover: I don't have an answer as to why...

This little piggy...

...was made for the lovely Fleur.

She found the china pig and asked me to turn him into a pincushion. We traded: pincushion pig for some of Fleur's lovely buttons. The barter economy is a marvellous thing.

Knitting and Stitching Show ticket offer

Spring K&S is on at Olympia from 13–16 March: I'm teaching a couple of classes there and the organisers have come up with a ticket offer that we tutors can extend to anyone interested in coming along – you don't have to take a class!

You need to book a ticket online at www.theknittingandstitchingshow.com/spring before midday 12th March, quoting discount code TEA14, and you can get a ticket for £11 (the normal on-line price is £12.50 or it's £15 on the door).

Well, that was embarrassing...

So, way back when (October 17 last year, if we're going to be precise), I said:


...this WILL be the winter in which I make more clothes. I'm going to aim for one garment a month. Surely that's possible...


And that was the last I said on the matter. Actually, that was the last I said on this blog...

And I didn't make any clothes...

I did do a lot of other things, although almost all of them work-orientated. However, I'm not going to let my total failure to achieve almost my only non-work goal set me back any further than it already has. I'm going to wedge the most interesting bits of the last four months into a few posts and then, onwards and upwards...

It's a plan: you've got to start with a plan.

Before Christmas, Liberty ordered some more pincushions. Some of those that made the trip to the West End were...

The lovely Julie caught this rabbit for me to turn into a pincushion...

Sarah B, china-hunting supremo, found me a whole collection of shoes and boots...

Conjoined swans...

A present from Margate...

Hey, little donkey...

I have no idea what purpose this china basket originally served...

Overlocker, schmoverlocker...

I've never been attracted by the idea of an overlocker/serger.

Partly because I've never wanted the clothes I make to look as though I bought them in a shop: I want them to look hand-made. Hopefully, they look beautifully hand-made, but certainly I don't want them to look factory-made.

Partly because I think that the seam finish an overlocker produces isn't attractive. Functional and efficient, yes, but not good-looking in the way a French seam or bound hem is.

Partly because I wriggle uncomfortably at a quick 'n' easy mentality that I have (unfairly, I admit, seeing as how they aren't sentient...) assigned to overlockers: as I've ranted before, what's wrong with making a bit of an effort? And why the hurry? Being a bit slow can be good.

Anyway, after being told by Tilly in no uncertain terms, but with great charm, that overlockers are excellently useful bits of kit, I booked on to a one-day 'how to use an overlocker' course at Morley College. And there I learned what most of you already know: that overlockers are indeed excellently useful bits of kit, and they are not as difficult to thread as I imagined.

Then I went to the Knitting and Stitching Show at Alexandra Palace (as a punter rather than an exhibitor: I'm taking a year off), and Janome had a show offer on overlockers, and so...

...this arrived this morning.

In it was this.

So I am getting my patterns out, reviewing my stash, and this WILL be the winter in which I make more clothes. I'm going to aim for one garment a month. Surely that's possible...

New book sneak peek + giveaway

Contrary to what you might think if you read this blog, I have spent a good deal of this year making things.

So how come I've shown so few photos of 'things'?

Because they have mainly been made for books, and the publishers – not unreasonably – prefer one not to wave the makes about on the web before they've been in the book.

But there comes a time when publication is due and one is off the hook, and that's now for The Knitted Alphabet.

I've done this book with knit guru and generally wonderful woman, Sarah Hazell (who needs to get a move on putting her website together so I can link to it...), and it really does do what it says on the tin: 250ish pages of charted letters and numbers in 26 different styles, plus punctuation and dingbats for emoticons, plus knitted samples, plus projects, plus techniques.

Everything you need to say it with knitting...

Self-striping yarn makes for excellent knitterish spray paint...

We had help knitting the samples (about 300 of them...), and the projects, from some wonderfully talented peeps: thank you Fiona, Jools, Luise, Sophia and Amanda. Without you we would still be knitting now...

Some of the alphabets have uppercase and lowercase letters. These impeccable samples were knitted by the lovely Luise.

There are ten knitted swatches with every alphabet – made using a variety of techniques including beading and embroidery as well as colour knitting – with (hopefully) helpful captions giving you ideas and tips on how you might work the letters for your own projects.
 

Fiona's staggeringly perfect knitting, plus captions telling you how the samples were made.

There's lots of variety of letter styles: retro, classic, modern, quirky, handwritten, typewritten... in different scales and, because Sarah and I are knitters, the charts are done on rectangular knitter's grid – not squares – so you can see what they will really look like when knitted up.

The charts are done on knitter's grid, not unrepresentative square grid...

Samples use different techniques and yarn combinations for lots of knitting choice...

Some of the alphabets have matching numerals...

And there are ten projects, each with notes on how you can adapt them to feature your own letter choices (so you don't have to be called Lucas, Ingrid, Max, Elvis... to knit one of them).

Bribed with Marmite, Vincent agreed to model with this scarf, even if it did have someone else's name on it... And isn't my new bedroom floor lovely?

I know that I would say this, wouldn't I, but I honestly think that The Knitted Alphabet is a really useful knitting resource: you can add a letter, a name, a motto, something obnoxious... to any project with enough stitches in it (the smallest letters are 11 stitches tall, the largest 57 stitches).

However, I have to confess that at the moment the book isn't available in the UK... There's a US edition (published by Barron's) and an Australian edition (published by Sally Milner), so I'm chuffed to have a copy to give away to a UK knitter. Follow me (via the little photos on the right – I like those – or Bloglovin) and leave me a comment on this post, and I'll pick a name out of something hattish and send a book to you on 21 October.