Quick Stitch - Danish Star

In a season where my energy levels invariably languish, this Winter I am seriously conserving my supplies.  Yet my hands seek to keep moving and making, and this simple 'Danish' star project recently grabbed my attention - also known as the Advent/Nordic/Polish/Swedish/German Star!  Folding and weaving fabric seemed a simple enough project to poodle around with, yet it proved to be a tad trickier to master than I'd anticipated.  Here are my first three attempts in a densely woven silk fabric, which made for a very pleasing result.

There are plenty of online instructions to be found for creating this folded star, traditionally in paper and latterly in fabric.  Yet strangly, I still feel the need to create my own textile version, if only to make a few helpful points clear.  Firstly, the fabric needs to be densely woven, fairly thin and must crease well when pressed.  With a passion of repurposing textiles, I opted to use a few of the beautiful vintage Kimono fabrics that I've recently purchase from Jasuin - I so love working with these delicious designs.

So here goes on how I finally constructed, starting with cutting 4 precise pieces of fabric 2.5" x 16".  In reality, the length could have been a bit shorter, however, a bit of extra length proves useful to correct intial folding errors - I'll explain further on.  The creation starts with folding each of the pieces in half down the length and machining an accurate 1/4" seam.  Then to do one of my least favourite sewing tasks - tube turning! 

While I did my best to avoid tube turning on this project, it simply made for the best textile finish.  I've accumulated quite a collection of gadgets for this dreaded task, however, I still find that the simple turning methods are the best.  Once the 4 pieces are turned and pressed, fold each in half across the length and arrange in the 'Brigid cross' layout as shown on my image here - the seams should all be positioned on the inside.

Each of the raw edges then needs to be gently pulled so that the short folds come into the middle and the arrangement will look like this.  Pull so that the centre is snug, without being pinched - an extra press with a warm iron can help.  This initial weaving will loosen as you make the following folds and you will need to keep tightening throughput the construction process.  Taking time to do this as you go along, makes for the best finished result.

I suggest that anyone following my instructions, does so from here on to the letter.  Having instructed a few people since I first made, even a slightly different fold can lead you down a rabbit hole!  Once you have followed through a few times, you may well find your own method.  Starting with the layout as it the last photo, take the top piece of the lower right pair and fold the longest strip upwards - again pressing this supports a neat finish.

Then working anti-clockwise, continue folding the longest strip on each of the other pairs, folding upwards and over the previous folded strip.  When folding the 4th and last strip, tuck the raw end of the strip into the first fold and pull gently so that it lies flat.  Take a litle time at this point to pull all of the folds and a quick press with a warm iron will help to hold everything in place.

The result from your first 4 folds should look like this, with the shorter strip of the pair at the top being on the right side.  It's worth spending a few moments to check that this is the case before proceeding and unfolding and reworking again should yours look different - although please feel free to wing it and carry on regardless!

At this point you need to turn the construction so far over, so that the longest strip of the pair at the top is now on the right.  Then to make a nifty point, by folding the strip back on itself diagnoally and then fold diagonally again so the the tail is pointing downwards.  It can initially take a few attempts to do this neatly and it's also worth checking that the point sits snugly to the central block for the best finish.

The final star point is created by folding the triangle you have just made in half, so that the strip edges are inside.  The fold is then held in position by tucking the strip end into the central opening that sits immediately beneath.  I tried various ways of dealing with the strip tail at this point and I ultimately decided that trimming to hide beneath the last fold was the neatest way of finishing off and that a dab of glue nside helped to hold the star point in place. 

The other 3 star points are made in exactly the same way, by working and folding the longest strip in each of the remaining pairs.  I found that it was best to trim and glue each folded point as I went and to wait a few moments for the glue to dry before making the next fold.  A final press also helped to me form sharply folded points and to generally make a neat construction.

The star construction is then turned over to make the remaining 4 points.  The same method of folding, trimming, tucking and securing each point with a dab of glue is applied.  Once I was happy with the star construction, I also added a few extra dabs of glue in the central folds to ensure that all was held completely firm.  

There's then just the matter of creating a simple hanging cord - which brings into play another set of joyful techniques.

Well done for anyone who has followed through on my instructions and who has mastered this charming folding technique.  I'm very grateful to my five 'have a go' Somerset students who kindly tested out my intial instructions by making their own vintage kimono creations - what a pretty collection they made.  

I personally believe that this cleverly folded star is for very much more than Christmas and I feel sure that my mini mastery will have numerous uses in other seasons ahead :)

Natural Fibre & Heritage Crafts Festival 2024

My well documented passion for textiles and history has provided a welcome and positive focus for me this summer and the  atmospheric Coldharbour Mill in Uffcumle, Devon is at the heart of this.  A long loved textile venue, I am grateful to all there who entrusted in me to collaborate and to run an inaugural Natural Fibre & Heritage Crafts Festival.  

Coldharbour is one of the oldest wool mills in the world, operating since 1797 and reknown for producing worsted yarn and cloth for the Fox Brothers empire. It is surprising unknown to many and I am on a mission to change this.

Now operating as a charitable trust, the Mill is run by friendly and hardworking people who have a huge passion for the history that lies within.  This includes many knowledgeable volunteers, who operate the working Mill machinery and enthuse visitors on their regular open days.  Steam engines, looms and spinning equipment draw in those with mechanical minds, with sights, sounds and smells of times past to marvel at.  To walk the worn Mill stone stairs in the path of so many who have gone before is evocative.  To touch their products steeped in so much history is a joy to all who love textiles.

The yarns and fabrics lovingly produced can be found in the charming Mill shop - that is near on impossible to leave empty handed!  There is  sumptious aran and double knit wool yarn and tartan fabrics whose names add to the lure of local history:- Devon Green, Devon Blue, Blackdown Hills, and Somerset.  All their products are 100% Pure British Wool and are spun and woven on heritage machinery at Coldharbour - the name for which is said to be derived from Anglo Saxon meaning 'Old Shelter'.

It was a delight and privilage to bring together a group of like-minded artists and makers in the Mill's atmospheric Fox Gallery this summer.  Each of us took great pleasure in exhibiting a selection of of our work to showcase how natural fibres and  heritage crafts can bring benefits to 21st century living.  We greatly enjoyed engaging visitors with our creativity through displays, demonstrations and workshops over our Festival weeks and most importantly, we hope that we inspired our visitors to have a go at learning a new craft.

I would like to say a huge thank you to this very talented tribe of creatives: Amy Stevens, Arthur Sharp, Bec Briar, Caz Loader, Hilary Tudgee, Jacqui Carey, Jane Hardstaff, Jennie Loader, Lia Duarte-Jenkinson, Marie Evans, Marius Evans, Paula Simpson, Philippa Reid and Wendy Greaves for their professionalism, enthuiasm and generosity in sharing their knowledge and skill.  Also to all the people at Coldharbour Mill who supported this endeavour alongside many priorities and to the  Somerset Spinning & Weavers Dyers Guild.

We ended our fun-filled Festival days with the gallery brimming with visitors and learning :) We are all very grateful to our visitors throughout the Festival weeks and for their warm and encouraging feedback.  We feel sure that the benefits of our collaboration this summer will continue and we are glad to have demonstrated the wonder of creating with natural fibres and heritage crafts, and the power of working together.  Here are those of us present on the final Festival day and a short video beneath of all 15 of us to took part in this very happy and rewarding summer venture.

Quick Stitch - Yarn Bowl

Choosing a project for a single skein of beautiful wool yarn is a dilemma to be savoured and with the increasing availability of quality wool yarn, this is happily becoming a more regular occurance.  Plus by adding in a few of my own spun and natural dye yarns, this delightful dilemma led me to my latest small bowl project offering - yarn bowls.

My first yarn bowl creation came into being from one of my natural solar dye yarns - starting as a very pleasing skein that I purchased last Spring from Orkney Tweed.  Watching the random colours appear as I wrapped and stitched was very satisfying and had the bonus of stitching without too much precision.  Working an aran weight yarn with a chunky wool cord filler, the bowl took shape pretty quickly and it was very tactile to work on dreary winter days.  My yarn bowl collection grew slowly over the winter weeks and I began to hatch a plan to share my new dalliance with like-minded others.

And so a bright Spring sharing day arrived with 10 lovely ladies in the Creative Hub in Taunton's Brewhouse Theatre.  We began our day simply with colourful aran wool yarn, large tapestry needles and a wool filler cord - my choice in this sample is a variegated yarn The Croft by West Yorkshire Spinners and the filler is garden twine by Twool.  The yarn bowl creations each began by securing the yarn in the end of the filler cord and then wrapping up and around the cord seven times - taking the needle back through the filler after the wraps to secure.

Next was repeating  this wrapping and securing a couple more times, so that around 3cm of cord was covered.  While there are no hard and fast rule about which direction to wrap the yarn, wrapping towards you feels the most logical for both left and right handed working. Once a reasonable length of filler cord was wrapped, the filler end was neatly trimmed and a tight coil created - this was then secured by taking the needle and yarn right through the coil and then back again to get to where the yarn was wrapped up to. 

Then to wrap yarn around the filler cord another seven times, but this time taking the yarn over the cord just wrapped and also over the wrapped cord in the row beneath. This method of wrapping and stitching then became the method of joining the wrapped cord rows together throughout the project.  After making a joining stitch, it's best to pull the yarn tight before making the next seven wraps - the stitch will loosen a little as you move on.  It's also a good idea to by let the needle dangle every so often to get unhelpful twist out of the yarn.

The wrapping and stitching continued in this mindful way - seven wraps and then one large stitch to attach the wrapped cord to row beneath.  I find that the quickest way to wrap the filler cord is by holding it firmly just beyond the point of wrapping and let the coil dangle - of course others may find other efficient ways.  To join a new length of yarn, stitch the old yarn end into previous wraps and thread in a new yarn leaving a tail - I tug these tight after moving forward a bit and then closely snip to avoid tangles when working.

As the coil emerged, a decision needed to be made as to when to start shaping and building the bowl sides.  This is a bit of a guesstimate for a first bowl and looking at the shape of bowls in other mediums can be a help.  To start the shaping, the wrapped filler cord is placed slightly on top of the wrapped cord beneath, instead of alongside, and is stitched in the same way.  It takes a few rounds of doing this before the shaping becomes clear and it's helpful to 'train' the bowl into the desired shape with your fingers as it starts to emerge.

The steepness of the sides is determined by the  degree the the wrapped filler cord is placed and stitched onto the row beneath.  A slight overlap will give a gradual gradiation and the more the overlap is increased, the steeper the sides will become.  It's best to adjust the position of the overlap gradually over a few rows and this avoids a ridge forming from too large an adjustment.  I rather like to bring the bowl shape inwards in the final rows and I do this by overlapping the current wrapped cord beyond the last row for at least several rounds.  

Then comes the decision on how to finish the bowl off - other than just stopping which creates an unattractive cliff edge and an alterative method is better by far.  Coiling the end section of the wrapped filler cord and stitching onto the side of the bowl is an attractive and easy choice - as is a simple fold back of the last inch of wrapped cord shown in my first picture on this post.  Here are a few of the bowls completed by my students for other ideas and I will happily add to these as more yarn bowl creations emerge over the weeks ahead :)

Boro Thread & Needle Holder

My days in these early months of 2024 have called for plenty of portable hand stitching.  To be working something simple with my fingers is always mindful and provides moments of calm on even the most frenetic days.  This neat idea for a thread holder with pre-threaded needles recently caught my eye and using some of my much loved recycled Japanese fabrics and thread felt a very fitting choice of materials.

I've found my Boro and Sashiko stitching over the winter months and making neat even stitches very satisfying - I'll come clean and say this is so me!  The traditional fabrics for both techniques are usually repurposed would have been cotton or hemp and invariably blue - indigo dyed cloth was the cheapest available.  

Silk from recycled Kimonos would have occasionally been used for both techniques and I was lucky to have acquired an amazing stock of recycled Kimono fabric pieces last year from Jasuin - owner Jayne has long supplied me with beautiful textiles.  And so I gathered a little collection of blues from my stash and cut and placed them on a shaped piece of blue cotton backing - my stitches were made in an off-white Japanese stranded cotton.

Sashiko stitches are traditionally super even as multiple stitches are made onto a long needle with each needle pass.  Boro stitches are more organic and tend to be stitched with individual stitches as the needle is passing through multiple layers and traditionally there are many lines of stitch, used out of necessity to keep ageing fabrics intact.  

Kimono silks are very densly woven, so I only needed to stitch down the fabric edges - which surprisingly fray very little.  I then placed my stitched piece face down on a piece of blue wool felt and machine stitched around the edge, leaving a gap for turning.  I then trimmed back the excess wool felt, snipped the curved sections of the seam and turned through the gap, hand stitching this closed and machine top stitching around the edge.

I opted to make the circular end of the roll with an English scrap tradition - I like to mix up traditions!  The Suffolk Puff originates from around the 1600s when used with scrap fabrics and stuffed with wool to make quilts.  

I turned in a small seam on a circle of fabric and gathered with a small running stitch in a strong beading thread.  I then cut a piece of wool felt and placed inside before pulling the gathering thread tightly and securing with a few stitches into the back of the puff.

I then hand stitched a completed puff on each side of the roll, starting at the short straight edge on the body piece and ending when I felt a sufficient gap remained  for the thread reel to be inserted.  When working out sizes, it's best to start with constructing the puff and calculate the body size from this.

My end result was perfect for a couple of small thread reels or one large one, a thimble and a needle threader - plus a very long flap with space for MANY pre threaded needles :)

I finally created a simple plait and button closure - I find wrapping a thread around a circular case to close very satisfying!   A hand woven button may yet replace my vintage choice shown here - both of course are equally lovely.  

This small project was without doubt very pleasurable to create and I am sure it will be extremely useful when I'm on the move this year.  It can easily be adjusted to accomodate different threads and needles and I am already imaging the many possible design deviations!

Hand Needles

As my passion for making hand stitches has grown, so has my knowledge of hand needles.  Whilst aware of the various types since filling up my first hand needle case may years ago, I can vouch that my recent excellerated use of hand needles has taken my understanding to a whole new level.  

Observing that others are equally enjoying the pleasures that come from making hand stitches, I thought that an account of my more recent hand needle experiences may be of some help.  Trust me when I say that choosing the correct hand needle for making hand stitches can be revolutionary!  

I use around 7 types of needles in the main and my make of choice is CLOVER - a long standing Japanese manufacturer, so named because the founder used clover leaves as book marks.  There are numerous needle types and I particuarly like their Gold Eye feature for ease of threading.    Most important is that when used correctly, Clover needles do not bend and they glide smoothly through fabric.  

Each needle type comes in various sizes and their mixed size packs are handy for working out size preferences.  The basic rules in choosing is that the needle eye should be large enough for the thread to pass through without distressing it - and the needle shaft needs to make a large enough hole in the fabric for the thread to smoothly pass through without resistance, or leaving a gap around the stitched thread - quite a tall order!

So to start with a general purpose needle. 'Sharps' took me through many years of every day use, however, however, they have recently been replaced by wonderous SELF-THREADING NEEDLES!  No more searching for magnifiers or needle threaders, as they quickly thread by placing the thread in an indentation at the top of the needle and pulling the thread downwards - job done!

Next up are the EMBROIDERY NEEDLES, that I have long used for all kinds of embroidery.  This mixed size pack is really useful as the needles will accommodate all kinds of thread.  All sizes pierce fabric without too many layers easily and they have my favoured 'gold eye' - which brings me to the crucial topic of needle threading.  I have a few tips to share on this, all of which avoids poking a frayed thread end at a needle eye!

So here's my first tip on easy needle threading - ALWAYS start with cutting a blunt end on the thread.  Some folk like to cut at a 45 degree angle, but I find that a straight cut usually works best with this method.  It starts with putting the cut thread end between a thumb and forefinger and pushing the eye of the needle down onto the small amount of exposed thread.  This method can feel very fiddly when learning, but once mastered, it has truly saved me hours of threading time.

Next is a more recent needle find.  SASHIKO NEEDLES came onto my radar when I began hand stitching recycled Kimono fabric and needed to pierce a more densely woven fabric.  A longer version is also available to enable making several stitches at a time.  Stronger than embroidery needles, they also have a slightly larger 'gold eye' which is great for thicker threads.

Staying with sharp needles, there are larger CHENILLE NEEDLES, which I have used a liitle less.  They have a large long eye which is perfect for threading yarn type threads.  With their sharp point, they are most useful in chenille, crewel and gold work.  I avoid using for techniques such as tapestry weaving and darning though, as the sharp point easily splits yarn.

At this point I'll cover my method for threading larger needles.  Particularly with wool thread, which rarely cuts a solid blunt end and and is best folded.  To do this, I fold the yarn over the needle just past the eye and add a bit of tension.  Then I move my fingers up to the fold and pinch and slide the folded yarn over the eye and off the needle.  At this point I treat the fold as before, pinching between my thumb and forefinger and pressing the needle eye down onto the visible thread fold.

Some people like to use a little beeswax with either or both of the threading methods as described.  Personally I'm wary of using as it is very easy to coat the thread with too much wax and the excess then transfers to the cloth being stitched.

While many say not to use spit to get rebelling yarn ends to hold together for the purposes of threading, I have to say that just a touch very often works for me and also is excellent for removing blood from beastly needles pricks!

So on to needles that I've used plenty of late - TAPESTRY NEEDLES.  These look very much like Chenille Needles, except the end of the needle is blunt and is therefore perfect for using with threads in techniques like tapestry weaving, cross stitch and knitting and crochet - and any other craft where splitting the yarn or thread is to be avoided at all costs.

While my use of BEADING NEEDLES is more occasional, they come in extremely handy when I'm looking to add a bit of surface beading to my projects.  This is the needle that is most likely to bend or even snap and I use just to get beads with small eyes on to a length of thread and then I often switch to a more robust needle for the actual stitching - a fiddle sometimes, but a time saver in the long run.

Last but my no means least are MILLINER NEEDLES - also known as Straw Needles.  With a fairly small eye, they are traditionally used in hat making for their very sharp point - which I can say from my one hat making experience was vital.  Their length also makes them very useful for any embroidery stitch, such as a Frenck Knot, where the thread is wrapped around the needle during the creation process.

And one final tip for using a needle, particularly if like me you keep any length of nail.  While mine are pretty short these days, a metal thimble is still beyond working for me and I have used a leather thimble with my hand stitching for many years.  Having recently tackled projects with thicker layers and requiring a bit more welly, I've more recently found this Clover COIN THIMBLE with a metal piece on one side of the thimble to be useful for giving a needle a hard push.

For anyone who has reached reading to this point, I commend you on your staying power through a pretty dry subject!  I hope in recompense that I've been able to offer you some point of interest, if only that you will give a little consideration the next time you reach for a hand needle.  An upside of writing this post is that I decided that a new needle case was long overdue - with hand stitching of course!  My creation with Sashiko stitched bark fabric with silk thread, and silk and wool inners will add to my pleasure of hand needle selection I am sure - and I hope others too.