How to fit in more crafting time

I'm always on the hunt for more ideas for how to fit more crafting in. In my head I have hundreds (and hundreds) of ideas of things I want to make and sadly only a small-ish amount of time. I'm sometimes asked how I make as much stuff as I do so I thought today I would share some ways that I get more crafting in.  Some are super obvious but others maybe not so much....

1. Do multiple crafts. Now this is stating the obvious but some crafts like sewing clothes require you to have kit. They aren't portable and therefore you are restricted as to where and when you can do them. Handwork such as knitting, embroidery or handquilting are more portable; anywhere at any time crafts. Hoorah! Which leads me to my next point.

2. Craft anywhere. And I mean anywhere. Don't worry about feeling a little bit silly knitting on a train or at a school assembly. Tell that feeling to take a hike. The amount of hours in the week where you are beholden to sit and listen or wait for things add up very quickly to something fabulous in terms of productivity. 

3. The kid bonus. For those with small people - you will know there are many parts of parenting that are excruciatingly boring (said with love!) Use those times for good. For example, did you know that a 2yo is fully capable of holding their own book and turning the page! I can't tell you how happy I was when I figured this out! Hours of book reading can now be crafting time. Watching babies in the bath, going to the park, waiting at school pickup or dropoff can now be vastly improved with some productive handwork.

4. The downtime bonus. For those without kids - suggestion 3 still applies but alter the cirumstances.  Waiting for takeaway, public transport, any car ride.....always have something to do in your bag.

The Immie Tee. Knitted by me with some modifications. Best knitted with a single glass of wine and an open fire. More info about this one on Ravelry - my user name is Flickafish - or on our facebook page.

5. Have multiple projects on the go. Exclusivity is only for those with too much time on their hands. And if you are reading this little monolgue I am guessing that isn't you? Some knitting projects are not suitable for doing with distractions (kids?) around. Simple stocking stitch or garter stitch are perfect for those times. Save the more complicated work for when you have a glass of wine, a open fire and a podcast.

6.  Learn to knit with your eyes closed. This is essential and possible for all knitters. This means you can read a book, or watch tv, or be a car passenger on a winding road, or play a board game and still be knitting. I would go so far as to say it is an essential life skill. And it is not as hard as you think. Start by knitting a single stitch with your eyes shut. Feel the yarn. Then try it again. Before you know it....

7. Carve a space out to leave your kit out. I know this is tricky for many people but I have stuff lying all around the house. Get a bit bored of doing the washing? Knit a row. I do the same with the sewing machine. One seam at a time. I just try to always have something sitting out ready to go so if I do get a sec I just do a tiny bit. Two minutes here and two there.

8. Keep a stash. It doesn't have to be huge but it does need to have two things; 1. the basics and 2. some materials that inspire you. Basics are different for everyone but here is an example - I have about three big reels of cotton in each of these colours on hand at all times; dirty blue, grey, off-white, red and navy. These colours work for 90% of what i make.  I rarely match my cotton exactly because that would involve a trip to the shop which would slow me down. Secondly keeping materials on hand that inspire you is critical to avoiding the "what do i make now" time-wasting headspace. There should be a few things in the cupboard that sing out to you each time you wander past.

Do you have any others? I'd love to hear them... 

Felicia x

Teacher Feature - Georgie Hallam

If you are Australian knitter on Ravelry you are sure to know of Georgie! Her Milo pattern (which she is teaching in the Intro to Seamless class) is an iconic pattern that has over 6000 gorgeous versions on Ravelry. It's iconic for a reason - a sweet and simple vest that is super fast to knit up and is keeping little bodies warm around the world. At the farmers market in Castlemaine a few weeks ago I saw two versions of Milo before I had even ordered my coffee. 

As well as writing gorgeous patterns, Georgie is also incredibly helpful and participates regularly in the forums answering people's knitting questions, and taking feedback. I recently made one of her latest pattern's Granny's Favourite  (I love it so much I included a picture of it below!) and it is one of my all time favourite things I have ever ever made. The pattern is traditional and sweet but beautifully finished with gorgeous detail. What I really love about how Georgie writes patterns is that she is really thinking about how people read them. She tries to make patterns that give people plenty of information as well as opportunities to extend their knowledge.  

I'll hand over to Georgie now so we can hear a little bit about her history and process. Enjoy!! 

1. What brought you to craft or make?

I honestly can remember a time when I didn't craft or make. I think I am really a product of my mother, who is one of the most talented crafters I know. She's sewn, knit, crocheted, quilted, made porcelain dolls and teddy bears, made lampshades and goodness knows what else. We were brought up in a household where that was normal, her crafting material was always in sight. I guess it just sort of seeps into your consciousness, and it seems more or less odd to not make. 

I've knit ever since I was really young. Knitting was my mum's time out at the end of the day, so I'm not sure that she ever really taught me or I taught myself from watching her. I suspect it was a bit of both! I used to have a little notebook with these patterns that I'd written for barbie doll clothes, and I'd knit them up for our barbies. I so wish I still had that notebook.

I continued to knit as I got older, I don't think there was really ever a time when I didn't knit. I also dabbled in cross stitch and embroidery and spent a lot of time sewing. 

2. What do you love about your chosen craft?

I love its portability. I can take my knitting anywhere and steal a few rows anywhere I am. I take my knitting everywhere either in my bag or bicycle basket, to swimming, to school pickup, to theatre lessons, in the car, to the park and the beach. I steal a few rows when I'm knitting dinner. 

I also love the flexibility and forgiving nature of knitting. No mistake or error is unfixable or can completely ruin your project. You just frog and redo. 

I used to sew a lot when the kids, particularly Lily, was really young. For a while I ran my own business which specialised in organic denim pants designed to fit over cloth nappies. Now, I barely get time to sew. The knitting is partly to blame, but I'm often just not at home.... and my machine won't fit in my bicycle basket unfortunately!

3. When/how do you make time for craft in your life - do you have a process?

Anyone who knows me well will know that process and routine aren't words you'd use to describe me. I steal time for craft whenever I can! I have a rule that I don't do housework (apart from the dinner duties) after midday, which supposedly means I have the afternoon to work amongst the kinder and school pickups and after school activities.

Generally, I have a couple of hours in the afternoon three days a week where I do the business side of my craft; emails, pms, pattern writing. Each night after the little ones are in bed, I will usually knit. My youngest, Toby is a bit of a bedtime truant, so my window of opportunity there can vary greatly. 

My kids also love love love to craft. They are very imaginative and messy crafters so often when they get stuck into something they don't need any guidance, they like to follow their own ideas and don't want any outside help; and that gives me the chance to do my own thing. 

My version of Georgie's lovely pattern Granny's Favourite.

4. Where do you find inspiration?

I think it's pretty much the old stereotyped answer, everywhere!

It might be stitch pattern books, vintage magazines, a garment, be it sewn or knit that I see on someone somewhere in public. It might even be a colour that sets of an idea or even the need for something purely on a functional basis. I like to challenge the conventions of structure, so often it might be me looking at the shaping of a jumper and thinking how could I do that differently, how could I challenge the way that's come about. Or maybe even just, how can I play around with idea to create something new and different.

5. Who are your top 3 crafting heroes and why?

I don't think you could be a knitter and not mention Elizabeth Zimmermann. She really is responsible for bringing seamless knitting out of the dark. I love her relaxed approach to knitting and her willingness to challenge such long standing traditional conventions. Her Baby Surprise Jacket is pure genius! I learnt so much about design and construction initially from reading her books. 

My mum. Not only is she all-round talented crafter but she intuitively brought me up to believe that hand-made is special. I loved it when she knit jumpers for us as kids, I actually still have a couple of my favourites.  She also made our deb dresses, which were all absolutely amazing. I remember even as a teenager, thinking how special those hand-made items were.  I hope to teach my kids the same thing, I think it's really sad when crafters view their handiwork as inferior to bought mass-produced items; when they'll sew their child a dress but say it's just for around the house, it's not to be worn in public.

My third one would have to be the previous owner of WOOLganics, Mel, as well as the new owner, Susannah. WOOLganics is an amazing yarn. It has everything I want in a yarn; organic, ever so soft, beautiful stitch definition, great colour range and it is a delight to work with. When people describe yarn as being like butter through your fingers, that's WOOLganics. It is an AMAZING effort that both these ladies have gone to to get such a company off the ground in Australia. We might be renowned for our fine merino but so much of it is shipped offshore for scouring and processing. I love the dedication of WOOLganics to produce such a sustainable product that is true to its origins. It's so important to work with good quality products, the best you can afford; whether it be needles, fabric or yarn. 

Check out Georgie's website here http://www.tikkiknits.com. 

Two new classes!

We announced two more classes last week via our newsletter but we wanted to do a quick recap for those o you who aren't on the mailing list. They are Anatomy of a Quilt and Beyond Beginner Knitting. I chatted a little about the knitting class in a blog post last week so I won't go on about that but I thought I would do a little introduction to the quilting class. 

Anatomy of a Quilt is a class that delves into the putting-together part of making a quilt. Y'know that stage - the one that many of us avoid. Many of us have put together a gorgeous quilt top that we love the look of and it just sits there and sits there.  

Handquilting on a whole cloth quilt

The aim of this class is to take away your fear (some might also call it procrastination?? or is that just me...) and give you techniques that make it really simple to throw that thing together. As we won't have time to put together a pieced quilt top we will be working on a whole cloth cot quilt. (Whole cloth quilting is actually my favourite type of quilting - just wait till you see the class sample! So pretty. There are a few sneak peaks on our instagram account.) We will learn two methods for basting the quilt (or making the quilt sandwich), methods for doing the quilting including tying, machine quilting and hand quilting, and finally we will look at two methods for binding the quilt.

We should state that this is not a traditional quilting class that will teach you the right way to quilt. It is one that looks at different techniques and gives you the freedom to choose the methodology most suitable to your project and ideas.

Linen cot quilt with appliqué.

Most of the photos in this post are of a linen cot quilt I made many years ago for baby Pema. And while the colours I chose now don't work for me quite as well as they did (eeekkk!), I really love the outcome. That said, I did many things that would shock (an easily shockable!) traditional quilter. Things that go against the "rules". There is flannelette on the back to make it cosy. I did a one inch binding that included some contrasting scraps. I used linen that means it will always look rumpled AND I hardly quilted it which makes it slightly doona like. I just put ties in every 6 inches or so. Not exactly old school quilt making. 

And that is what this class will give you. The ability to choose your methodology (which may be traditional quilting...) and the confidence to try it! 

Felicia x

 

Linen cot quilt with a flannelette back.

Teacher Feature - Sophie Parslow

Sophie writes a great blog called Cirque du Bebe. I first came across Sophie many years ago when she did a tutorial for Elsie Marley's Kids Clothes Week for this super cute tshirt with a detachable phone on the front. And she had me. Go have a look at it here. How cute is that!!

(As an aside - while we are talking about the lovely Elsie Marley - check out her latest version of the Banyan Tee which Sophie will be teaching in her Sewing with Knits class) 

I LOVE Sophie's use of colour, of recycled materials and the way she puts stuff together. Most of the pictures from this post are of a sundress she made as part of Project Sewn - an international sewing competition she just won! I'm gonna sound repetitive but I LOVE this dress. If you feel like a good dose of sewing inspiration have a look through her archives. She just dives in and gets to it with enthusiasm and joy. Welted pockets, blazers, swimsuits, piping.....stuff that scares the bejesus out of me. You name it and she can do it. And always with such style. So impressive.

Sophie is teaching two classes at The Craft Sessions; Sewing with Knits and the Wiksten Tank. So without further ado I hand you over to Sophie to tell us a little more about her craft.

Sophie is wearing one of her Wiksten Tanks which she is teaching at The Craft Sessions

What brought you to craft or make? 

I have been crafting and making since forever-ever. I've always had to have a creative outlet and it used to look like drawing, painting, collaging, collecting magazine clippings, keeping sketchbooks etc etc. On the side I have always been interested in fashion and design. So I suppose it was only when I discovered sewing approx four years ago that everything merged into one supercraft! I had just had my first little boy, was looking for a new creative outlet, since there had been a few years prior where not much crafting had been taking place. I discovered Etsy, sewing blogs and the online craft scene and a whole new world opened up! My first project was some overalls for my now 5 year old. I remember getting fed-up with them half way through and passed them off to my mum who ended up sewing the buttons on. They definitely look very 'first sewing attempt' but I like to keep them as a reminder of where I've come from.

What do you love about your chosen craft?

What don't I love about sewing? Sewing is exciting, rewarding, challenging, liberating...the list goes on. Its exciting when you realize that with your own two hands you can make stuff that you actually love, as much or more than something you can buy. You get to choose what goes on your body and it's exciting seeing a piece of clothing materialize from an idea or a sketch. Sewing is rewarding because there is definitely a period of awkward sewing adolescence that I think everyone goes through. And once make it to the other side, and you actually start to love the stuff you're making, the feeling of self-reliance is amazing. Knowing that you are the middle man, and could actually sewing your entire wardrobe if you wanted to is empowering. Sewing teaches you patience, if you let it. I know I started sewing with the attitude of expecting 'misses' as part of the learning process and I think that's given me confidence to keep tackling new challenges. That's the best thing about sewing, anyone can do it!  

When/how do you make time for craft in your life - do you have a process?

I used to try and snatch little moments of sewing time during the day like when my boys were napping but I've since found that it works better for me just to split it into daytime for mummy-ing, night time for sewing, scheming, sketching, catching up on blog reading and trawling Pinterest for inspiration. I am starting to develop a process, which I'm finding is as enjoyable as the actual sewing. I go through several sketch books a year where I play around with swatches, write overwhelming 'to-sew' lists and sketch out the things I'd like to make. Sometimes I make up pretend collections for fun. Right now I'm planning my spring wardrobe and I've got a whole bunch of fabrics in earthy hues that have got me dreaming of woodlands and camping and summer festivals. So I've drawn up a little 'lookbook' of garments that I would like to prance about in the woods in, that will hopefully get made before spring, but probably after summer! Seeing clothes come to life from a bunch of doodles and fabric swatches is unbelievably exciting and very addictive. Oh, and so is fabric shopping.

Where do you find inspiration? 

I am usually inspired first and foremost by fabric, I love prints, geometric designs, unexpected textures and colour. And following that I'm inspired by fashion, not especially in following trends but I draw a lot of inspiration from fashion when I'm creating a hand-made wardrobe. I suppose I have always been interested in fashion and never really grown out of playing dress-ups but it's more how wearing different clothes actually makes you feel that interests me. I get my daily doses of inspiration from Pinterest, from a whole lot of amazing sewing diy blogs that I follow and two of my fav Australian magazine: Frankie and Peppermint.

Who are your top 3 crafting heroes and why? 

My top three crafting heros are some lovely talented ladies whom I've stumbled upon since starting sewing and blogging. Jenny Gordy of Wiksten, Jen Beeman of Grainline and one of my fav bloggers Sallioeh. All three have a very clear and beautiful aesthetic, amazing sense of hand-made style and are weapons with a sewing machine.   

Learning how to knit - tell me your fears!

Today I was going to blog about something completely different. But just after getting my small people to sleep, I had a friend turn up on my doorstep who was desperate to learn how to knit. She is off on holiday tomorrow and wanted to take a project with her. She hasn't knitted in about seven years and wanted a refresher.

Like many people I have met (and taught) she had some deep seated ideas and fears about knitting. The main one being that "knitting is stressful". Very very interesting. Because for me knitting is almost like a form of meditation. Stitch by stitch you create something. It grounds me to wherever I am at the time and helps keep me present. Now I realise I may sound a bit like a crazy person (my apologies!!!) but it is true. There is a real joy to be found in the process of knitting!

I have (re) taught a lot of people to knit over the years and there seems to be some themes. The idea that it is knitting is "difficult" or "stressful", "all that counting", fear of doing something wrong, fear of dropping a stitch or getting a hole. And they also have ideas about why I can knit how I knit. That I must be "talented" or some such thing. 

I realise this is turning into a little rant.....so I'll try to be quick. 

I think they have it ALL wrong. Completely. I think that they just haven't been taught properly. Taught properly and you need never be afraid of dropping a stitch because you would understand the structure of your knitting and be able to easily pick it up. Taught properly and you should never ever have to count stitches as you should be able to read your knitting and see where you are up to.  Taught properly and knitting should be all about joy. And not just the joy of a finished garment but the joy of the process! Yes - that's right I did really say it - the joy of the process!!!

So come on - tell me your knitting fears and let me talk you through them. I'd love to hear what they are.....

Felicia x

PS. We have a workshop that addresses just this issue called Beyond Beginners. If you have the fear, but think you would love to be a knitter this class is for you! We will be knitting the cowl in the picture or a slightly simpler version of it. And yes - you could really knit this. With the right teacher.

If you have moved beyond the beginner stage and are looking for something a little more adventurous then check out the classes by the talented Georgie Hallam such as Intro to Seamless or Fixing and Finishing.

We will be releasing this as a free pattern soon!