Posts about equipment

Sewing FO: Gathered abstract-print skirt

5 September 2018

My latest sewing FO has been one of those rare projects where I had a spark of an idea in my head and it all came together without a real plan. I dreamt of  a… Read more

Choosing a new sewing machine

3 September 2018

You may remember that I was having problems with my sewing machine, with snapped needles, bad tension and jamming. To cut a long story short, went on a voyage of sewing machine discovery, and welcomed the Janome Atelier 3 into my home a a few weeks ago. Read more

Circular needle storage: solved

20 March 2018

If you caught my last post about my decluttering success as a result of Clear the Decks’ super podcast series: Declutter and Organise your Sewing Space, you might be interested to know that they’ve just… Read more

So, I bought a loom

16 February 2018

A funny thing happened last year. On reading a couple of tongue-in-cheek comments about yarn-based hobbies getting out of control on The Twisted Yarn’s review of my Little Book of Yarn Dyeing, my partner turned to… Read more

Needle gauge prototypes!

25 October 2011

I have a little project to share that bore fruit just before my accident – a knitting needle gauge I designed. Frustrated with the ones I own either being too big to carry around or… Read more

Pattern Cutting: Tools of the trade

24 August 2010

There were a lot of things I’d always wondered about the practical task of pattern cutting: How do you draw a smooth armhole curve? How do you make a straight hem? How do you add… Read more

Ghetto stitch markers

2 August 2010

I’m not one to go in for expensive knitting accessories when cheap, home-made alternatives are perfectly good. When it comes to stitch markers, loops of left-over yarn in a contrasting shade normally suite me perfectly… Read more

Design tools

25 March 2009

  I’ve started sketching out a few new garments with the help of Fashion Templates’ free technical templates. The female torso template is proportioned like an Olympic swimmer but it’s fine for sketching out ideas. They do paid ones… Read more

It's a wind up

23 November 2008

I have often looked longingly at pictures of neatly wound yarn on Ravelry after spending hours standing over an upturned table, fending off two cats while hand-winding metre after metre. The thought of hand-winding 900m… Read more