Textiles > the Craftorialist

l’uccello: vintage haberdashery and fancy goods

25th January, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Buttons

I thought I'd show you my dear friend Kim's shop, l'uccello. She sells vintage haberdashery and fancy goods from the second floor of the Nicholas Building, in Melbourne. Check our that super wide ribbon! It's intended for making espadrilles (which I love to wear). Words cannot describe how stunning it is in there. It's almost too much beauty all at once. It even smells divine. She's a major stockist for French crochet designer, Sophie Digard, whose necklaces these are. (I'd include a link to her website, but weirdly, I couldn't find one.) Vintage threads, buttons, ribbons are mixed in with new things; they're all so well chosen and displayed. Kim has an extraordinarily good eye for colour and design, like nobody I've ever met. Everything is inspiring. Including these vintage stamens and other bits for making flowers. (She's a big hit with all the … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Accessories, Crochet, Inspirations, Sewing, Textiles Tagged With: , , , ,

Big Day in Bendigo: Australian Sheep & Wool Show

21st July, 2012 by 6 Comments
wpid-IMAG0294-1.jpg

Now that I'm living in central Victoria, Bendigo is just down the road. The Australian Sheep & Wool Show is on this weekend, so today we made a day of it. Here's my haul: We wandered through the woolcraft halls admiring some incredibly fine handiwork and extraordinary techniques. Predictably, there was a full range of styles and objects, some hideous and some just stunning. After watching the sheep dog trials for a bit (amazing what those dogs can do), we found ourselves in a wood turning display. Not sure why that's in with everything else, but I bought this beautiful little bowl, just because. Later, this made more sense: it's a nosterpinne. You use it to wind yarn into neat, centre-pull balls. Since I often need to do that on the fly, I reckon it was worth the $18 I paid. We ran into an old school friend at the fashion parade; his two gorgeous little girls were in it … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Crochet, Inspirations, Textiles Tagged With: , , , ,

Another baby blanket

21st November, 2011 by 3 Comments
Blanket block view 1

People will keep having babies! Not that I mind; it's given me an excuse to crochet something nice in this super soft 4 ply cotton. It's in lovely soft colours, too. I spent ages working out how I wanted the block to look, but here's the final version, pressed flat. Getting the stitches to line up, instead of being slightly offset, is rather more time-consuming than ideal, but necessary if you want the the holes to emerge in a straight line, forming a kind of star. You have to insert the crochet hook right in the centre of the stitch, rather than in the gap between stitches, which would be so much easier. So I'm thinking this will take a lot longer to complete than originally planned. I've made five; only an estimated 30 or so to go! Joined together, they'll form a blanket to wrap my brand new baby cousin in. Do you know, I don't think I've made crochet squares since I … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Crochet, Textiles Tagged With: , , , ,

Cosy winter coat

10th November, 2011 by Leave a Comment
Winter coat: front

It's been a rather long blogging hiatus. My mother, who has multiple myeloma, has been undergoing chemo and a stem cell transplant, and caring for her has been one of the things taking up my time (somewhat) and energy (a lot). The cancer won't be cured, but she's on the mend from the chemo now and looking at several more years of health, thanks to some cutting edge treatment. Amazing stuff. So: as I've not stopped making things, I'd better catch you up. I was travelling to and from Melbourne in the last days of winter. I was determined not to be cold; I had a week or so before I left: a new coat was in order. The thing about Melbourne cold is its relentlessness and its piercing wind—a 'skinny' wind, my cousin used to call it—one that's skinny enough to get through the thickest knits. I decided pure wool and a quilted lining were called for. Of course, since unusual is the … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Fashion design, Inspirations, Pattern making, Sewing, Textiles Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Super fine

13th May, 2011 by Leave a Comment
Lace sleeve

I seem to be developing a disturbing preference for working with extremely fine yarns. Disturbing, because these projects can take an awfully long time to finish. So many more stitches. But working with very fine (lace-weight) yarn feels great, and the results can be so divine. … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Inspirations, Knitting, Textiles Tagged With: , , ,

Crochet baby blanket (another FREE pattern!)

6th May, 2011 by 6 Comments
Crochet baby blanket

I've been making something for a friend's imminent baby. Soft, thick and colourful. It's a cotton-viscose, crocheted baby blanket in a rather lovely decorative stitch I'd been wanting to try out. It's called 'shell and cluster'. Which lends itself rather nicely to a contrast stripe: It was reasonably simple to make, so I thought I'd share the pattern. As before, you have the choice of UK/Australian or US crochet terminology. Click on the one you prefer. Marlon baby blanket-UK Marlon baby blanket-US A quick update: I delivered the blanket to the baby-mama just in time; she went into labour while I was there! (Must have liked the blanket so much she wanted to start using it straight away.) A beautiful boy arrived at 1.45 am that night. Congratulations to Misty and Mike. … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Accessories, Crochet, Free patterns, Textiles Tagged With: , , ,

Silk swatches scarf

13th February, 2011 by 2 Comments
Silk swatches

Having realised just before Christmas that the crochet spiral scarf I was making would not be ready in time for the family Kris Kringle, I needed to make something to replace it. I have a sizable collection of silk swatches and remnants, so I looked through those to see what would look good together. Some shot wine silk chiffon overlaying a pale pink silk satin from a friend's wedding dress, some striped swatches, remnants from a previous designer client and a previous project of my own ... It all added up to a rather luscious silk scarf that more perfectly suited the recipient than the original idea would have, I think. Especially since that turned out like this: Rather more over the top than I had originally imagined. Almost '70s funk, really. Don't get me wrong, though; I like '70s funk. I'm busy writing up the pattern now, for a future posting, so stay … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Crochet, Inspirations, Sewing, Textiles Tagged With: , , ,

French seaming and sleeves

18th December, 2010 by 4 Comments
Striped cotton lawn

I've been making a new tunic top, using a gorgeous fine cotton lawn I've had sitting in my stash for a few years. When you're sewing something in several colours, it can be hard to decide what colour thread to choose. I ended up going with one that doesn't actually match any of the colours, but somehow seems to sit unobtrusively with all of them. I decided to French seam everything; it's a much nicer finish than overlocking (serging). With such a fine, stable fabric, that's very easy. On each seam, you start by putting the wrong sides together, as opposed to the right sides, and stitch very close to the edge. I keep the edge of the fabric lined up with the middle of the side of the foot. You do have to be careful that you are catching both sides, so make sure they're lined up exactly. If the edge is a bit frayed, trim the stray threads away, or they'll end up … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Fashion design, Inspirations, Sewing, Textiles Tagged With: , , ,

Mystery item – 1 ball project

26th November, 2010 by 3 Comments
Valleys

I can't really talk about what this is yet ... Because it's a present. But it's the beginning of something bigger. A series of stash buster items that only take one ball to make. I've got a list of things to try that's getting longer all the time, but if you can think of any 1 ball project you'd especially like to see, in knitting or crochet, let me know in the comments. … [Read more...]

Filed Under: 1 Ball Projects, Crochet, Knitting, Textiles Tagged With: , , ,

Linen: sowing to sewing

15th November, 2010 by Leave a Comment

Here's a stunning video on linen and its uses, following production from growing flax right through to contemporary design uses. Thanks to Kathleen Fasanella's marvellous technical blog, Fashion Incubator, for putting me on to this. BE LINEN MOVIE from Benoit MILLOT on Vimeo. I have a great fondness for linen as a material, in all its many forms. Co-incidentally, my namesake, the linnet, gets its name from feeding on flax seeds. … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Inspirations, Sewing, Textiles Tagged With: , ,

Videos, Slideshows and Podcasts by Cincopa Wordpress Plugin