Two Crafty Brownies

Half Granny Shawl Tutorial

Hello my lovelies!! When you read this, I will be arriving back from our US trip. Oh it's been fab!! I am blown away with how stunning the scenery is, and more than a little beguiled.......

My Lu has been doing a sterling job of manning things in Two Crafty Brownieland while I've been away. Didn't you just love her rainbow brooches? She makes working with clay look so easy I may just have to give it a go!

I finished the gift I was making for my dear friend K. We were at university together, and she now lives in California with her hubby, making wine!! We always come to visit them when we are in the States, and I wanted to give her something handmade. Various people have asked how I made these shawls, so I am going to try to write the pattern for you, eeeep!

Disclaimers: these are not my patterns, they are gathered from various sources and put together in a fashion I like. I consider myself a crochet beginner so please forgive me if there are any confusing bits, I have never attempted a crochet pattern before! Huge thanks to my sis-in-law, S, whose shawl inspired me, and who taught me the basics of granny triangles.

I used 5 balls of Bergere de France Goomy 50 wool in Imprim rose, that I bought in John Lewis. The wool cost about £20. I used a 4.5mm hook. I have realised that I really don't like doing horizontal rows of crochet. I hate long chains, and whenever I have tried, I end up with a very crooked piece of work. I love love love going round and round, so granny squares and the miriad of variations are perfect for me.

(The shawl modelled by K's gorgeous daughter in secret, before I wrapped it up...) I wanted to make a soft, drapy shawl with a looser pattern at the edges. With a half granny you are essentially going back and forth along 2 edges of a square, making a triangle that gets bigger from the centre out. (I made a teeny tiny shawl to check my instructions!!)

The granny part of the shawl is made of clusters of 3 trebles, separated by 1 chain. The corner is two clusters in the same space separated by 2 chains. You start with 2 treble clusters in the centre of the shawl, see the needle in the above pic.

I am using UK terms here...... deep breath, here goes.

First, make a loop on your hook and chain 4. Slip stitch into the first chain to make a ring.

Now chain 4 and then 3 trebles into the ring, chain 2, then another 3 trebles. Chain 1, do a single treble into the ring. Chain 4 and turn your work. In the pic above you can see your central corner, with the turning chain, and then the work turned. You'll now work down that left side and up the right side. Do 3 trebles into that first space marked by the needle. Chain 1, and then 3 trebles, 2 chains, 3 trebles into the corner space, followed by a chain 1. Another 3 trebles into the top right space. Chain 1, 1 more treble into the same space, chain 4 and turn.

And you just keep repeating that until its big enough for you. I did 42 rows of trebles (1), a lacy scalloped bit (2), a chunkier border (3) and then a picot edging (4). You can make each section as big or little as you choose. I did 3 rows of the scallops and 5 of the chunkier part.

For the scalloped part, do your usual chain 4 and turn on the last row of your granny trebles. Do 1 treble into that first little space. You are now going to do chains of 5, slip stitching into the 1 chain spaces of the row below. When you get to the end, as per usual, you chain 5 and then do a treble into the last little space, chain 4 and turn. A treble into the first little space and then off on your chain 5s, this time slip stitching into the centre of the chain 5s below. Do as many rows as you want.

The chunky border is made of a chain 3, 2 trebles and a chain 3. Make your trebles in the centre of the chain 5s below. Always do the same at the end i.e. Chain 3, 2 trebles, chain 3, 1 treble into last little space, chain 4 and turn. 1 treble into the first little space, chain 3, 2 trebles, chain 3 into the 3 chain space below.

For the picot edging, end your last chunky row but don't do a chain 4 as you no longer need to increase. Instead do a double crochet (dc) into that first little space and another dc in between the 2 trebles below. Into the next 3 chain space, do 5 trebles, chain 4 and 5 more trebles. These are into the same chain space and make your picot point. You can do these into each chain space, but I wanted to spread them out, so I alternated this with 2 dcs into the next chain space. You can space these as you like. So you will have 1 dc into the space between each of the 2 trebles below, 2 dc into the spaces between the picots (where my finger is).

Just a note that if you want a picot point at the bottom point of the shawl, make sure you check how your picot points/spaces will go before deciding when to finish the chunky rows. I literally went along saying "point, space, point, space" to check everything was going to end up where I wanted. And this will depend on the decisions you make about number of rows. I know this sounds a bit vague, but the whole idea is that you decide, rather than me just telling you what to do. If I, as a beginner, can do this, you totally can too!! And if you have trouble, email me via the contact form!!

I hope you're still with me, lovelies!! Sorry for the wordy instructions, but this is as much for me to remember how to do it as it is for you!!

Lu and I will be taking August off from the blog, but we'll still be around on our social media accounts. Have a fab August, and see you in September!!

Sending you loads and loads of love,

Jenny xxxxxooooo

A Year of Sewing Clothes

Photo by my Lucy

Hello treasures! How has your week been? Were you as shocked as I was by Lucy’s crochet confession? As someone who knows her pretty well, I can tell you ‘winging it’ is not her usual way of operating! Oh no, I am the Winging It Champion here in Two Crafty Brownieland…….. however, I'm delighted to now not be the only Winger round here!! Onward, Lucy!!

Batik Tunic, photo by Lucy Lu

I’m here today to tell you about my year of sewing clothes. I made this decision back in April last year, after watching some pattern drafting classes by the calm and wonderful Cal Patch on Creativebug. You can read that first post here, and my 6 month round up here.

Some things I learned to do on Creativebug

A little aside about Creativebug…… it is a company that deliver online classes on all things arty and crafty. They have a wide variety of lessons of different lengths, and once you join (it's $4.95 per month) you get access to all of them. I have learned so many techniques here……. pattern drafting, bookbinding, watercolour, image transfers, crochet……. I cannot recommend them enough. This is not a sponsored post, just my own humble opinion, though I would love love love to work with them one day!! They have a 14 day free trial which I tried first, do go have a look!!

Stretch top and matching knickers, photos by Lucy Brownie

So……. back to my clothes…… back in October I was just starting to tackle knits. I'm ashamed to say I had had my overlocker for over a year at this point - and had been too scared to use it!! Come and take me away, Sewing Police!! As with many challenges, once I ‘just started’ it was actually much easier than I had thought, and I can now even thread it from scratch.

Flared tunic, fabric from Guthrie and Ghani, photos by the Other Brownie

I was also realising that there were a lot of gaps in my wardrobe, and I had very little that was warm and cosy to get me through the winter. 

Sweatshirt, photos by Ms Lucy

Honestly, darlings, I just can't put into words how much I love this process. I have learnt so much, I have made mistakes along the way, but my wardrobe is now 97% handmade. I don't make bras, socks or jeans (yet) but apart from that it's all mine.

'Swing Cardigan'

In all I have made: 9 t-shirts, 15 dresses, 8 tunic tops, 7 fleeces, 1 cardigan, 14 pairs of knickers (yes, Kelly, really!!) 2 pyjama bottoms, 2 pairs of trousers and 4 pairs of leggings.

Linen tunic, spot the gorgeous photographer....

What I love most: shopping for fabric rather than clothes, knowing that no child in a sweatshop made what I wear, finishing the insides to look neat, choosing my own style and colours. Oh and that sometimes, my dress matches my pants!!

What I've learnt: to be careful and go slowly, that it's ok to ditch things if I don't like them, that each mistake is a lesson learned, so learn and move on........

I have mostly drafted my own patterns, which I can use again and again, and this makes me so happy........

I committed to doing this for a year...... so what now? Well, I'm going to carry on, as long as it delights me. This next year I want to embellish, add in some more complex design features and maybe crochet a garment......watch this space!!

Special thanks to my Lu, who patiently (and very professionally I might add) came and took pictures of me, and who is always there cheering on everything I do. Love you, Lu!!

And love to you too, our lovely readers. Have a fabulous weekend,

Jenny xxxxxooooo

 

Make Your Own Bias Binding

Hello my lovelies! How has your week been? I was so impressed with Lu's clay fruit and veg. She does it so neatly! How does she do it?????

In my little patch of Two Crafty Brownieland I have been sewing. It's now just over a year since I started sewing my own clothes! I will be writing a full blog post about that next, but I am waiting for the official TCB photographer (aka Lucy) to come and help me take pictures. She is in great demand and is very hard to book!

This year I am participating in Me Made May, a challenge that has been running for 8 years now over on this blog. You make a pledge to do something involving handmade/upcycled items of clothing for a month. Since my wardrobe is almost completely handmade now, I decided to give it a go. My pledge is to wear mostly handmade every day, and to aim to get my wardrobe finished by the end of May.

One of the things that always put me off homemade clothes was ugly, unfinished seams on the inside. When I started sewing my own clothes, I was determined that things should look as good on the inside as they did on the outside. So for wovens I always do french seams, and I usually finish my necklines and hems with pretty binding. It has taken me a while to perfect it, and it does take time, but I love, love, love the effect. You need surprisingly little fabric and if you do a load at once, it goes a long way. There are different ways of making binding (strips folded in half etc) but I do the traditional binding you would buy in a shop.

What you need is

Fabric - half a metre or a fat quarter

Matching thread

A binding maker like this 12mm one

Cutting board and rotary cutter makes it much easier to cut.

Iron and ironing board 

Two Crafty Brownies Sewing Essentials

What you do is

Decide how wide you want your finished binding to be. For the method I use to sew mine on, the full width of the binding will be visible so I use 1" strips and my finished binding is half of that.

Cut your fabric into strips. Cutting on the bias gives a much more stretchy binding and I prefer this for going around necklines and armholes.

To do this, fold your fabric into half along the diagonal. You can fold it again to fit your cutting board, but be mindful of cutting along the right edge, I have ruined fabric and ended up with wierd strips with a right angle in the strip.......

Some of your strips may be long enough depending on what you are using it for. If not, you will need to join them, and I find it best to do this before attaching it. Of course you could just sew a straight seam to join the strips, but I prefer this way......

Lay your strips at right angles with right sides facing as above. Sew along the line marked by the grey needle. I pin either side of my sewing line to hold things in place.

Trim the ends to about 1/4". Press the seam open and voila, a lovely neat join!

Now take your strips to your ironing board. Feed one end into the binding maker, ironing as the folded end comes out. For this bit I turn the steam off otherwise you'll burn your fingers. Once it's all folded, I turn the steam on and iron both sides, keeping a bit of tension on the strip as you pull helps. Now you have gorgeous binding to use on whatever you like!! Shall I quickly show you how to finish a hem?

Oh ok then! Wanna grab a cuppa or something stronger? Lay your binding on the right side of your raw hem as above. Leave a tail of a couple of inches for joining. You'll be sewing along the iron line at about 1/4". Sew all the way round till you are a few inches away from where you started and finish, again leaving a tail and making sure you have enough to overlap the two ends. Keep your binding a tiny bit stretched as you sew, it looks better. Now this bit is tricky. Stay with me.......

You basically want your ends to overlap an inch if that was the size of your original strip, or just a tad less as the binding is stretchy. I used a strip of my binding as a guide, see above. You're now going to join the ends just like you did before, laying them at right angles, right sides together. If you left enough unstitched in between this should be possible, though fiddly. Sew parallel to the two pins down the middle. Trim, and you should find it lays nicely down against your raw edge. You can now finish sewing along the iron line and it should all fit nicely. Flip the binding over to the wrong side and sew again all the way around near the other edge of the binding.

It does take practice, darlings and I have had many a glitch and the occasional Bad Word. I learnt this from the internet, possible from you, Anne?

Well, I'm sure only the most hardened of sewists are still with me....... but part of the purpose of this blog is to keep things so we can remember how to do them!! I'll be glad to have this record, I know.

Ok my lovelies, have a lovely weekend and keep reading!!

Much love,

Jenny xxxxxooooo

Jenny's 2016 round up, and a new word!

Hello to you, all of our lovely readers! I hope 2017 has started well for you……… I was certainly glad to see the back of 2016. What a turbulent year it was! Big shocking things happened in the world, and at times it felt all turned upside down.

I have to confess, I'm not big on new year resolutions. I do like to reflect back on the past year…..and think about what could be better next time. I try to choose a guiding word for the year ahead, and I like to set some intentions.

So what of 2016? At the start of the year, we had just been writing this blog for a couple of months. We were new on social media, and were just finding our feet as a new venture. Fitting in our weekly meetings, writing the blog, posting regularly on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter at times felt overwhelming. We achieved a lot in this year, and it was wonderful. I am so proud of what Lu and I have built. To some extent, though, Two Crafty Brownies took over my life, and I maybe lost sight of who I was a little. So this post is about the things that stood out for me personally…….

I started sewing my own clothes

some from self drafted patterns.....

I took up crochet

and managed to make some christmas presents......

Even though I long for the countryside, I looked for beauty in my city...

I designed some images for our biz......

and then we got side tracked into tie dye....

After growing my hair for two years, I cut it off and felt so happy.....

I baked

and baked

My oldest went off to university

I signed up for an online painting course and in the process realised I had become stuck in a silly place.

I made presents for friends....

and some things for myself

My intentions for this year are simple........plan ahead, be better organised, keep making! Writing this post the day before it's due, I realise - there's still work to do!

My word for last year was 'grow'. I wrote about it here. I have been waiting for this year's word to come to me, and over the past couple of weeks, it has.

My word for this year is 'dare'. Dare to ask for help when I need to. Dare to believe I can do things I've only dreamed of. Dare to live my best life. Push myself a bit further than I usually would.

Let's see how it goes!

Are you doing anything differently this year, darlings? Do tell in the comments below.

Much love,

Jenny xxxxx

 

Jenny's Handmade Wardrobe

Hello friends! How are things with you? Did you see Lu's gorgeous skulls? They are so cute, and now I notice lots of people spray painting all over social media, I'm sure they are copying her!!

Do you remember about 6 months ago I said I was going to sew my own clothes for a year? I haven't said much about it since, did you think I had forgotten? Or gotten bored? Well, neither!! I have been quietly sewing away, and now I'm finally going to show you some of what I've been up to.

To be honest, lovelies, my clothing collection was in a terrible state. Did I tell you I hate shopping? (!!) Consequently I don't think I have been for ages. The last time I shopped, I needed t-shirts, so I whizzed into Uniqlo, tried one on for size, grabbed 3 or 4 in that size, different colours, and ran out again.

My existing clothes are in pretty poor shape. As I'm sure is the case for many of us, I prioritise my children, they always have relatively new clothes to wear. Me, not so much. So part of the drive for this scheme is definitely to restock. And I want to be much more intentional about it this time round.

One thing I love about being older (I am 48), is that I am much more comfortable doing my own thing as opposed to everyone else's. So I decided to really think this through, based on what I like. My first step was to figure out what I like to wear day to day. After some thought, I have decided to look at my wardrobe in terms of smart vs casual and hot weather vs cold weather, with some things in the middle.

I thought hard about colours and what I like to wear. I like my clothes unfussy. I'd rather not have pockets, unless they are decorative, and as few zips/buttons as possible. I am definitely a capsule wardrobe person, and would like things I can mix and match. If I can pull things over my head, so much the better.....

My very first attempt was from a pattern, Christine Haynes Departure shift. I bought the PDF, printed out all 20 or so sheets, painstakingly sellotaped them together, cut my fabric in size 14, sewed it and........ it was far too big. I took a big chunk out of the front but that messed up the neckline...... I was set to give up completely.

But as I've told you before I happened upon Cal Patch and her patterndrafting classes on Creativebug, and it made complete sense to me. I stocked up on paper, new rulers and got drafting.

I have learned a few hard lessons along the way. Number one: always always sew a 'muslin' or a version in cheap fabric. I didn't do this first time round, I ruined a piece of fabric, and there was no fixing it. Now I always do this, once you have made adjustments, you can use the final pattern over and over, and it is so worth it!

So far I have made dresses, tunics, trousers, pyjama bottoms and leggings.  

Let me show you........

The first pattern I drafted was for a vest top and tunic. On the left is the muslin, which I did end up wearing for a while. Lucy gave me both the other batik fabrics, aren't they lovely?

Next I decided to copy a gathered top that Cal Patch has in her book. You draft your basic top and then 'slash and spread' the neckline of the pattern so you can gather it. I loved the loose but shaped fit of this so I made various tops...

And a dress......

I spent a good while experimenting with trousers...... pj bottoms from an old pair, inspired by Jacquie Bunny Mummy's post and drafting my own pattern........

Next I copied a Bennetton dress I loved.......as always making a muslin and then these two versions.......

By now it was summer, so for my holiday wardrobe I made a vest top with side darts and a dress version....

Emboldened, I decided to try again with a bought pattern, now I was more familiar with my own measurements. I dug this one out.......

My plan is to layer these tunics, wear them with leggings or jeans depending on the weather.....

Now it was time to tackle knits. My parents bought me an overlocker for my birthday last year, and I had been too scared to get it out...... but the time had come.

I tried Tilly's Coco, which again had to be adjusted......and then drafted my own pattern.

A few weeks ago we took my oldest to university (boy, was that hard......) so I made him some pyjama bottoms to keep him warm.

So there we go! I still have piles and piles of fabric to sew, and my head is full of plans and dreams, but I am loving this process sooooo much.......I'm just sad it took till I was nearly 50 to discover it.

I'll do another update in a few months, but it's full steam ahead!

Take care, lovelies and have a fab weekend.....

Jenny xxxxx

A Sweet Little Treat

Hello friends! I hope you are having a good week…… I really enjoyed Lu’s birdy post last week. I bet those naughty birds take it in turns to swoop across her garden and see who can bring the pretty lady out with her camera!

I am looking forward to the weekend, as I was working the last one. When I do the weekend, I always try and take something sweet in for the team… Something nice to nibble when people are on their breaks. This time I decided to make Nanaimo Bars. Have you heard of those? I think the recipe originates in the US or Canada. My mum always made them for us when we were little, and I am sharing her recipe here.

These bars are made of three layers, a base, filling and a chocolate topping.

What you need is

Base

½ cup butter

¼ cup sugar

1 egg

1Tbsp Cocoa powder

2 cups cookie crumbs

1 cup coconut

½ cup chopped nuts

Filling

½ cup butter

6 Tbsp milk

4 Tbsp custard powder

4 cups icing sugar

Topping

2 bars (100g) chocolate

1tsp butter

What you do is

For the base, melt the butter, cocoa and sugar in a bowl over a pan of boiling water. Beat the egg and stir in. Stir this mixture until combined and thicker (like custard).

Add the rest of the base ingredients and press into a 9” x 9” square baking tin. I line my tin with baking paper so it's easy to get the bars out.

Beat the filling ingredients together till smooth and spread over the base.

Melt the chocolate topping and butter by your preferred method (I do mine in the microwave in short bursts on medium heat, checking carefully after each time. Spread the chocolate on top and refrigerate until set. Cut into squares and enjoy!

To show you how I made these, and inspired by Lu’s brownie movie, I tried to make one of my own….. See below!

  

I have also been working on my wardrobe project…...nope, not bored yet! In fact I am more and more pleased with it all!

I always struggle to find trousers I like. My ideal trousers are unfussy, no pockets or waistband, just a side zip in different lengths and fabrics. So armed with my Cal Patch book, I started drafting a pattern. This whole process has been quite a learning journey for me. Cal says you should always make a ‘muslin’, using a similar weight fabric to try out your pattern, something you aren't bothered about, and will basically throw away once you are happy with the fit.Well, impatient me, of course I didn't bother the first couple of times I made garments, and learnt the hard way, cutting up nice fabric that then didn't fit properly.

So with the trouser pattern, I did make a muslin, and was able to adjust things before cutting into my nice fabric. I am so pleased with the result…...just as I like!

I also made some pyjama bottoms. Inspired by this lovely blog post, by one of our favourite bloggers, Bunny Mummy, I used a worn out pair that fit perfectly to make a pattern. Like Jacquie I left the side seam stitched up so my pattern is only two pieces.

One of the things that has always put me off sewing my own clothes is that they would look homemade, with raw seams and messy insides…….but after watching Cal's classes on Creativebug, I have discovered it's perfectly possible to make tidy, hidden seams so the inside is just a nice as the outside. Hooray!

Hopefully next time I’ll have some more trousers to show you lovelies. Take care, and much love,

Jenny xxx

Sew My Own.....

Hello friends! Due to a slight lack of forward planning on my part over Easter, Lu had to step in and do two posts in a row. So now you have me twice in a row! And it's a good thing, because I am so excited I wouldn't be able to wait till next week……

Firstly, do you remember these feet I inherited? Clever Anne suggested looking on the Internet to find out what they were. I did and now I know! Why it took me 10 years I have no idea……. Thanks, Anne!

So…….. Firstly this foot. This was easy as it had the letter G on it. It's a blind hem foot. You use this to make hems with only tiny little stitches visible on the right side. I didn't have time to try it out, this tutorial explains beautifully what it does if anyone is interested!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This funny one with the little brush also had a letter, C. This is an overedge foot. It apparently makes it easier and neater to finish your edges with a zig zag stitch. I tried it out, and it does mean the raw edge folds under slightly, and you don't have to guestimate lining your stitch up with the edge. Not sure I'd rush out to buy one, but will certainly give it a go.......

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The third and fourth feet had no letters, so I had to eyeball a lot of feet online until I figured them out. This one is a blind hem AND edgestitch foot…….. Hmm, don't I already have that? Very useful for sewing a very straight line near an edge, even if you've had to resort to a g and t by now.

The last one is a button sew on foot. Could there really be something that means I never have to sew another button on? THERE IS!! I can tell you, my lovelies, I absolutely hate handsewing buttons on. So I had to try this out straight away. You have to put your feed dogs down, set your zigzag stitch to as short a length as you can, position your button, check the needle is dropping into the centre of each hole, and then proceed very very slowly. And it works. This is such good news because I might need to sew a lot of buttons on…….

Remember last week I told you I had started sewing clothes? Well, the first thing is, I hate shopping for clothes. I mean really, really hate it. I can never find what I want in the right colour, fabric or fit. When I was a child, my mum sewed all of my clothes. Growing up in Africa, it was much cheaper and easier to do this. She always had a little sewing room in all of the many houses we lived in. As an adult myself, I have always wanted to sew clothes. But I have been daunted by the complexity of the patterns, issues with sizing, and the sheer enormity of getting started.

 

For years I have been collecting patterns and fabrics. A few weeks ago, I finally decided to get going. I bought a pdf pattern, printed out all 25 pages, painstakingly stuck them together……. Traced over my size, cut, sewed, tried on…… and it was huge. So then I started messing around with it, cutting strips out of the sides, moving the zip……. And finally gave up in a fit of despair.

Cut to a few days later. I am watching a class online about pattern drafting. Could it really be this easy? You measure yourself, do a bit of simple maths and start drawing lines. You smooth curves, make corners into right angles, cut, sew……. And it fits. Like a glove……..

Honestly, darlings, this lady…… and this book. I cannot believe it has taken me so long to find her!

So, friends, I am definitely committing to sewing my own clothes for the next year. As Lu will tell you, I do have a habit of getting bored with things, and that is why I am stating it here, loud and clear for you all to bear witness. Gulp!!

So far, I have drafted a pattern for a tunic/dress to wear over a t-shirt. I have made four versions, the last being a denim dress. Most people I tell are politely incredulous. What about t-shirts, they say. Underwear? Yep, I'm going to give it a go! And I'm hoping you'll be beside me every step of the way, my lovelies!

Let's get startedt!!

Jenny xxx