Let it Snow...flake pattern release

It's snowing ... yippee!

I'd like to report a fresh fall of snow just in time for Christmas decorating! 

My "Let it Snow...flake" is now released! Hooray!

Here in Australia, this is the closest we will get to a snowfall at Christmas. 😃
There are so many reasons why I love Christmas. I adore the decorations, the glitter, the scents of Christmas. I appreciate that people invest time and money in making outdoor Christmas light displays for kids and not so young kids to "oooh" over.
Every Christmas I make something new to decorate our home and this year I decided to publish the pattern for it as well.

My "Let it Snow...flake" pattern is a written pattern, written in both UK/ Australian terms and US terms. I wanted a big-is-beautiful snowflake for my dining table so I made up the pattern in the very chunky Hoooked ribbon XL yarn and a 12 mm hook.
But as all good hookers know, any yarn can be used, just change your hook to suit the yarn. 

The chunky white snowflake measures a voluptuous 72 cm/ 28¼". 

Three strands of DK yarn held together and a 6.5 mm hook make a 51 cm/ 20" snowflake,

while DK yarn and a 4 mm hook make a 30 cm /12" snowflake. 

Designing my own snowflake came about because I couldn't find a pattern which was quite right. It had to look pretty without me fussing over it, blocking it, steaming it, or being too precious with it. There is way too much happening at Christmas time to add unnecessary laundry tasks.
Blue Christmas anyone?

No pattern makes it into production without a lot of testing, rewriting and supportive sustenance. I  would not have any hair left without the patience of my Instagram friends Celine , Debby and Mandy . Thank you very, very much ladies.

So now that you've heard all about it, where can you find the pattern for the snowflake?

it's available here on Craftsy and here on Ravelry.

Thank you for reading along with me today, I hope you've found something to inspire you, 

best wishes,

Kellie

xo

let it snow...flake

pattern busyness for Christmas

Things are getting rather Christmas-ey around here ... including a new crochet pattern which is almost ready to launch!

crochet-along blanket sewing and organising

square #10 and putting them all together

I bet you've been thinking the same ... where has the time gone? It doesn't seem that long ago that I was crocheting up square number 1 in the casual granny crochet-along.

Granny squares 7, 8 and 9

Casual Granny Crochet-Along WIP

I've got three different, beautiful squares to show you in my blog post today. It's all about squares 7, 8 and 9 for the blanket I'm making in REDAGAPE's Casual Granny Crochet-Along.

square 6 Casual granny CAL & "12 months of crochet with redagape"

Daisy granny square & "12 months of crochet with RedAgape"

Square number 6 is called the "Daisy Granny square". Isn't it pretty!

This lovely new square positively flew off my hook.

It's hard to believe we are now in the second half of the granny square crochet along. Are you keeping up with your squares? I'm doing 10 of each square and will soon have a total of 60 squares.

You can find the pattern for the Daisy granny square here on Mandy's blog, as well as the patterns for the first five granny squares. If you're on social media, don't forget to tag your granny square photos #casualgrannycal .

Some very happy mail arrived during the week as well. The beautiful hardcover version of  Mandy's new book "12 months of Crochet by redagape arrived. I love it as much as I thought I would!

Available from the book depository (have you shopped there before? Their customer service is beyond wonderful), "12 months of crochet with Redagape" is overflowing with Mandy's signature, stylish photos. 

There are lots of different types of projects to choose from, from coasters, to cushions to rugs. I jumped straight in making the coaster, a quick project I could squeeze in among my works-in-progress. 

As with the granny square patterns in the casual granny cal, Mandy's patterns in the book are clear to read and easy to follow. As well as the patterns, there are lots of how-to photos if you're unsure of how to do any particular stitch. And if you're interested in learning about colour, there is a section explaining basic colour theory.

Turns out I'm a "Complementary, Related and Neutral" kind of girl!
Thank you for reading along with my yarn filled chat today, I hope you're getting the chance to squeeze some crafting in today as well,
Kellie
xo

Squares 4 and 5 Casual Granny CAL 2018

Square #4 and square #5

Did anyone see where May went? It passed by before I could write a blog post to welcome square #4 to my Casual Granny Crochet-A-Long rug. So today's post is a joint greeting to square #4 the Compass square and square #5 the Aztec square. Hello squares!

Favourite wrap-around skirt

Reversible wrap-around skirt

I pushed aside my crafty makes last week to make myself a couple of items of casual clothing that would be nice for wearing out to town, coffee dates or posing at the Tropic of Capricorn. 

Wrap-around skirt love! Flexible fitting clothes are my top choice at the moment, but I'm not talking tents. Not having to commit to button or snap positions is also ideal. For the record, I used to love fitted clothes, but as I've matured, fitted clothing is no longer returning that love.
The Japanese quilting cottons I used in this skirt are both quite light weight, which makes them ideal for being used together in reversible clothing. Reversible clothes are sooo handy on a trip away too. The white buttons on red fabric is designed by Suzuko Koseki and was purchased from Miss Matatabi . I wish had another mile of this fabric!
The plain version of this skirt takes approximately 2.5 m of fabric.

The fabric with the temari balls on the black background, is also Japanese, but was purchased from Etsy store Fabric Supply. It is one of my very favourite places to shop for Japanese fabrics.

I've traced around the bottom edges of the skirt pattern to draft a facing which is cut at 7.5 cm wide. On the reversible skirt, the facing is visible of the black side as a decorative trim. The same facing pattern has been used on my brown Echino cotton/linen skirt to finish the raw edges. Topstitching holds the facing in place.

My favourite wrap-around skirt pattern is one I traced from an existing skirt found at a local op shop.

  All the raw edges of this original skirt have been finished with twill tape folded over. The ties are the same tape.

 There are no darts or seams other than the back seam. This made it very easy to trace around the skirt to make my own pattern for a wrap-around skirt.

I found this commercial pattern which is quite similar if you're interested in making your own wrap-around skirt.

The reversible skirt doesn't have a waistband or binding. I've just sewed the red and black fabrics together. To give the top of the skirt some stability and strength though, I included a 10 cm wide piece of sew-in medium weight interfacing. The top of this interfacing is cut to the same shape as the fabric pieces.
Instead of a waistband on the brown Echino skirt, I finished it with folded over grosgrain ribbon.

Not being a fan of ties for securing wrap skirts, I used two large press snaps on the Echino skirt and two *ahem* safety pins on the Japanese skirt for easy adjustment. We won't tell the sewing police about that one.

The pink top is my first attempt at the "Joni" pattern found in Tilly Walnes ' new book "Stretch".

There is now a dress length version of the same pattern sitting next to my overlocker! The hints and tips given in the book are really helpful, even though I've been sewing knits for a long time. The success I've had with this first pattern is inspiring me to get cracking on another pattern from the book. 😊

It's been lovely getting to share some of my favourite sewing tweaks today. There are so many great ways we can personalise our home made wardrobe. 

Thank you for reading along,

Kellie

xo