Excuse me but...did you make your jumper?

So I have an amusing story to tell and I suspect that the only ones who may also find this amusing is my fellow sewists and knitters!

Today at lunch, I was sitting with my friend Sirisha (who is also very crafty, and is responsible for many of the wonderful crocheted gifts I have shown you, for example this owl, which is actually wonderfully relevent to the story). Anyways, she suddenly said "Kat, Kat, that girl has owls on her jumper!". Now, a few weeks ago I shared with you this jumper that I had spotted on Ravelry and immediately coveted (and had also shown Sirisha)...

So I looked over, and the girl in question was indeed wearing this EXACT jumper! Excitement ensued. After a little debate over whether or not she would think I was a crazy person if approached, I went up to the owl-jumpered girl and asked the fatal question. "Excuse me, I know this is a bit random but...did you make your jumper?!". Luckily we had judged the situation correctly and she did not (as far as I know) take me as a crazy. Turns out her mother had made her the jumper for Christmas. My knitted-garment-that-I-adore-and-want-for-my-own eye was on good form today it seems :) This is the first time that I have identified a homemade garment in this way, and I'm feeling rather pleased with myself!

The jumper, by the way, was even more divine in the flesh (or should that be, in the wool?!). It was green with a white band for the owl pattern, which was a genius idea and one that I may have to borrow. I am so excited to make this jumper now! However, first comes my St James....which is starting to look like a jumper I reckon...

Have you ever recognised a item you have seen on Ravelry or a blog and approached a random person to ask if they made it? I would love to hear your stories (only partly to be reassured that it's not just me!!)

K xx

Sew Grateful Giveaway: The Result!

Big thanks to everyone who entered my giveaway for this gorgeous cotton print!

I have really enjoyed reading all your comments and seeing what you are all grateful for. However there can only be one winner and that is...drumroll please....

...agirlinwinter! She says:

"I'm learning to sew with the ultimate aim of making clothes,

 so I'm really inspired to see what you've made after sewing for

only a year. I'm so grateful for the support of my lovely crafting

friends who've been answering all my annoying questions about sewing!"

Congratulations! I hope that this fabric will be useful to you in your first ventures into dressmaking. There is definitely enough here to make a top, or possibly even a skirt if used wisely. Please drop me an email with your contact details so I can get your prize delivered :)

Thanks should also go to Debi for co-ordinating the Sew Grateful Week, it's been a great opportunity to share appreciation of the fantastic online sewing community, and of course to discover some wonderful new blogs in the process!

K xx

Sew Grateful Week: Top Tutorial Picks

Happy Sunday Everyone!

As Sew Grateful Week draws to an end, I wanted to share with you some of my favourite freely available tutorials which I have used recently. There is a wealth of information available online, and so many bloggers put a great deal of time and effort into photographing and writing easy-to-follow tutorials. I am very grateful for their efforts! Here are three of my favourites:


Clockwise from top left: Felt PomPom from Sew.Craft.Create, Sorbetto Top
from Colette Patterns, and Felt Rose from A Sewing Odyssey

 All three of my picks are really simple and clear tutorials, with fantastic results, I highly recommend you take a look.

Do you have any favourite online tutorials? I would love to hear about your top picks or new discoveries.

Also, don't forget that if you haven't entered my giveaway yet there is still time...you have until midnight tonight :)

K xx

Sewaholic Minoru Muslin

Hello Everyone! Thanks to everyone who has entered my giveaway, I have really enjoyed reading about what you are all grateful for. If you haven't got round to it yet, there is still plenty of time to enter before it closes at midnight on Sunday 12th February. An extra special hello goes to all my new followers, welcome aboard!

So today I can finally share with you my Minoru jacket muslin! I am shamefully behind the sewalong, which is completely my own fault, but I do plan to catch up....eventually!! This post fits in well with the Sew Grateful week, as it encompasses several things that I am grateful for. Firstly, i won this pattern in a giveaway hosted by Vicki over at vickikatemakes. Thanks Vicki :) Secondly, a sewalong is being run by Tasia of Sewaholic patterns, who i have already mentioned is so generous with her time. Thanks Tasia! A third thing I am grateful for is my wonderful boyfriend who is very supportive of my sewing and has become the official KraftyKat photographer...he is (mostly) willing to take pictures of me at random times of day, usually early morning when there is at least a tiny bit of light! He took all the photos below...and yes that is snow you can spy! I made him stand outside in the snow early this morning and photograph me prancing around in what is effectively a slightly pimped-up bedsheet. Bless him :)

So, onto the muslin. As always, this pattern was a dream to sew up. I was pleased at how quickly it came together and started to look like a jacket!! Overall I am really pleased with how it looks....in particular I love the shape, and the fact that the sleeves are the perfect length for me.

The one issue I did have was with sizing. I usually cut a 12 in Sewaholic patterns, and generally have to make minimal adjustments. Therefore I was rather surprised to find the muslin quite a bit on the large side, even over a thick jumper. Has anyone else found this with this pattern? In these pictures you may be able to see that I have tried to counter this by pinning back about 1" at the edge of both plankets...I figure this is the easiest place to make the adjustment. I am cautious of over-fitting, especially since the actual jacket will be lined. There is also a lot of excess fabric at the back...however this may be due to the fact that I have not added the elastic correctly due to the lack of lining in the muslin. I think there may be room to modify this in the final garment....any thoughts/advice here? Finally, it is currently unhemmed and I quite like the length of the jacket as it is at the moment, therefore I may add an extra inch or two when cutting out my fashion fabric. Oh and one more thing, i am debating adding pockets...probably in the side seams. I do love a good pocket, I think I would miss them if there were none on this jacket.

I am glad to have finally finished my muslin, and am hoping to be able to squeeze in time to make a good start with the real thing over the weekend. Woop! Has anyone else making the Minoru? How are you getting on? I'm very much looking forward to seeing everyone's finished jackets!

K xx

Sew Grateful Week Giveaway

Hello Everyone! As you may know, today is the start of Sew Grateful Week, which is being hosted by Debi of My Happy Sewing Place. This is a chance for everyone to share their thankfulness for the wonder that is the online sewing community, and everyone else who supports them in their love of sewing.

In the year since I have started sewing and crafting, i have been really blown away by the generosity of the online sewing community. There is so much support available, and everyone is so quick to offer help or advice and to share their own experiences with people that they have never met. Bloggers are also eager to share the joy of sewing through giveaways and swaps. Special mention must go to the lovely Dibs, who so kindly sent me a pair of suede flowers after i admired them on her blog. Thanks Dibs! Because I am rubbish I have yet to do anything with them yet - but I have plans, promise!

Such a huge part of my learning this year has been through tutorials and sewalongs hosted by sewists who so generously offer up their time. For example, Tasia of Sewaholic Patterns provides excellent sewalongs which are so packed full of tips and information. I had no idea of the wealth of information available on sewing blogs, but I am so, so (sew!) grateful for it.

This year, I am keen to give back to the sewing community. So for Sew Grateful Week, I will be hosting my very first giveaway! This gorgeous print is a cotton lawn which was bought with a Pendrell in mind, however at the last minute I changed my mind. I could stash it, but in the interests of stash-busting (another one of my aims for the year!) I am going to pass it on to someone else.

Hopefully you can see the print here. There is 2 metres of this fabric, and it is quite wide - my tape measure says about 55" which sounds like a slightly odd measurement to me but there we go..! It should be more than enough for a top, or maybe even a skirt. To enter this giveaway all you need to do is be a follower of my blog, and leave a comment below saying what you are grateful for by MIDNIGHT (UK time) on SUNDAY 12TH FEBRUARY. I will pick the winner with the help of a random number generator next Monday. Good luck everyone!

K xx

Cheeky Knitting - Leicester Style

In the very early (and extremely chilly) hours of Friday morning, a dedicated bunch of knitters and crocheters were out in force in Leicester City Centre. Their mission? To drop a 'yarn bomb' on the city to celebrate the start of the Leicester Comedy Festival and to bring some smiles and happy cheer to the people of Leicester. I was one of those mad enough to get up at stupid o'clock ...and although rather chilly (-5 apparently) it was a lot of fun! Definitely the weather to be providing cosy knitted covers for the lucky statues and bollards around the city. Here are a selection of pictures of the wonderful yarn work on show!



My contribution



Thomas Cook was one of those who gained some new accessories...as did
many other bollards and bushes





The crocheted cover on the left (apparently his name is Cedric) is
one of my favourites





More bollards and the Leicester Seamstress


The blue and yellow knitting on the signpost in the last picture was made by Marie of A Sewing Odyssey...head over to her blog for more pictures and another write up of the Leicester Yarn Bombing. Also check out the Twitter hashtag #cheekyknitting to read people's reactions. We made it into the local paper too....

You can read the article online here.

I was really pleased to be involved in this, it was a totally fun experience. It was great to see everyone come together for a common purpose to spread some cheer, and the public reaction around the city was overwhelmingly positive. I really felt that it brought a little sense of community to the city - a great start to the comedy festival!

Has your city ever been yarn bombed? I'd love to see and hear about other examples of this around the world!

K xx