Cosy Crafty Corner

Crafting projects, instructions, tips, and sharing

[the-fibre-stuff]

Looking for embroidery resources

My kid is repairing a Hallowe'en costume (that I made for the one evening, not for the amount of wear that they've put into it). They have bias binding to cover where the neckline hem has come out, and because we couldn't find a perfect colour she wants to embroider something geometric (repeating) on it.

Does anyone have any good places to look for pattern ideas? We're going for something pseudo-medieval ideally (or sufficiently cool otherwise)

[cosy-crafty-corner]

@ultharkitty any recommendations?

[brickbybrickstitch]

Hii if you're an embroidery artist drop what your favorite stitch is or what your favorite project you've done is. I need more embroidery people to follow and obsess over their art!

(Yes! Even if you're a beginner! Let me hype you up!)

[cosy-crafty-corner]

My favourite project is my 3D magic portal piece:

It took me months, but I'm absolutely delighted with how it came out.

My favourite stitch is a tough question because it really depends on the effect I'm trying to achieve. Stem stitch is fantastic for lines when you want a curve, but I'm going to go with woven wheel stitch roses:

These were done with a hand-dyed thread that had some variation in shade, which I thought worked brilliantly.

[cosy-crafty-corner]

Sometimes, you go to a crafting workshop and have a good time and go home unchanged, never touching that particular craft again.

Sometimes, you go to a crafting workshop and immediately have to buy all the tools so it can take over your life for the next six months in a flurry of creation before the tools sit gathering dust in your hoard for the next decade.

Sometimes, you go to a crafting workshop and the craft becomes part of your regular crafting activity.

And sometimes, you go to a crafting workshop and the craft haunts you for evermore because there are practical obstacles that mean you will never regularly do this hobby but a part of you craves to return to it.

For me, in order, this is: natural dying, needle felting, embroidery, and weaving on a pedal loom. I know that if I have the space to get a full sized loom, I would use it once and then never again because warping it up would be such a pain in the neck - but oh how I want to weave again.

[vinceaddams]

Listing fabric prices by the half metre is bad and shameful and I hate that so many online stores do it. Listing it by the quarter metre is even more bad and shameful.

[vinceaddams]

@tarzamsteroftheayeaye replied to your post:

The quarter metre!  What nonsense is that!  

​I know! Shocking! I came across it here a while ago when I was looking for glazed cotton. (I clicked every single link on this big list of Canadian online fabric stores and this was the only glazed cotton I found.)

You can SELL fabric in smaller increments without LISTING that price as if it's the price per metre!! Grrrr!!!!

[vinceaddams]

Oh my god I just found an even worse one

WHAT IS THIS BULLSHIT?????!?!!!??

just. fuckingn. let people type decimals in the quantity thingy. go to Hell.

[vinceaddams]

Ah, now this? This is good. Today I'm looking at cotton twills and I've seen SO MANY listed by the half metre, but this one is doing it correctly!

Clearly listed by the metre! Decimals in the quantity thingy! Good!!

[vinceaddams]

I'm still not over seeing "Buy exactly the right amount! My fabrics are sold in multiples of 10 cm." and "Order of 50 cm minimum." in the same description. what is wrong with you.

[vinceaddams]

#i found one the other day that was listed with what i thought was a reasonable per metre cost so i thought no more of it until i clicked it#then saw it was listed in 20cm increments??? like you couldnt actually buy half a metre it had to be 40 or 60cm #and the note that said this was the smallest text on the page so they 100% were trying to scam people

Yikes!

I've seen a couple people say it's probably because of website templates not designed for this sort of sale, but I don't think that's an acceptable excuse, it doesn't prevent them from writing the price per metre in the title of the listing right after the name of the fabric. Sure you can have the increments on the number thing be smaller, but there's absolutely no reason to keep the full price hidden as a sneaky math surprise.

Burnley & Trowbridge does exactly that.

[vinceaddams]

Now THIS!

THIS is excellent! I hate it when sites based in Metric countries sell things by the yard, but having both options with fair pricing is genius!

[cosy-crafty-corner]

I thought it was bad enough when I ordered what I thought was 2m of fabric only for it to arrive in two separate 1/2 metre segments. I went back to the order details and the item description afterwards and it did say, in the fine print of the description under a "click to expand" button that it was a half metre unit and that pieces were not sold continuously so I couldn't demand a refund.

The 20cm thing is just absurd.

[cosy-crafty-corner]

Currently stitching beads around the neckline of a plain black top to turn it into a fancy party top

[cosy-crafty-corner]

Top is currently 5 beads more fancy that when I started, but a quick test wear suggests that it needs to be at least 4 beads fancier still

[cosy-crafty-corner]

Feeling better about my ability to sew clothes, having sewn beads around the neckline of this top and realised in the process that it is not symmetrical. One side of the neckline is at least 2cm longer than the other side.

If companies are willing to sell me items that are off by such a wide margin, I can accept my own mistakes in the items I make for myself.

[cosy-crafty-corner]

Currently stitching beads around the neckline of a plain black top to turn it into a fancy party top

[cosy-crafty-corner]

Top is currently 5 beads more fancy that when I started, but a quick test wear suggests that it needs to be at least 4 beads fancier still

[cosy-crafty-corner]

Currently stitching beads around the neckline of a plain black top to turn it into a fancy party top

[cosy-crafty-corner]

I spent the weekend dipping my toe into the deep pool that is goldwork embroidery, and now I need to resist the temptation to buy every single goldwork supply under the sun.

[cosy-crafty-corner]

Sparkle & Shine Workshop

Playing with metal and beads for embroidery

I really like the "weaving" effect, but I was pleased with the sun & moon combo as well.

Chipping (sewing in lots of tiny metal bits all higgledy-piggledy) is time consuming, but gives a really cool effect.

[brickbybrickstitch]

One of my favorite pieces I’ve done to date ✨

Rebellions are built on hope.

Stitched by me in 2025 🪡

[starcatboy]

Everyone look at the quilt my grandma made me!! I’ve actually had it for a few years now but I wanted to post it so y’all could admire it!

[cosy-crafty-corner]

Decided to try my own spin on a garment I saw a YouTuber make. Got to the point in the creation process where it is constructed enough for me to try it on to see how it might look when finished and pin a few bits into the right places.

And I hate it.

One of the things to be pinned is a waist tie and depending on where I put it, I can either make the part above the tie baggy and hideous, or I can basically tie my upper arms to my torso.

Going to put it aside for tonight and maybe tomorrow I'll unpick the shoulder seams and see if I can salvage it by bringing it in a lot at the top.

If I can't make it work, I can turn it into a sort of beach poncho cover-up thing and I won't care if it gets covered in sand and salt-encrusted because it already looks awful.

[cosy-crafty-corner]

The perils of buying fabric online: it is not the colour I thought it was on the computer screen.

It's still a nice colour, but it clashes horribly with the ribbon I was going to use for the ties so now I need to find something else for them.

[vinceaddams]

Someone who happens to be filming in a spacious room: "Here's a clear demonstration of how to do this simple sewing technique!"

Some clown in the notes: "Ugh I can't stand these useless tutorials by rich people, not everyone has access to bougie shit like "flat surfaces" and "thread" and "chalk"."

[cosy-crafty-corner]

I use my bed for laying out fabric when making clothes as it's the largest flat surface in my flat. I do worry every time that I'm going to cut through my bedsheets when cutting fabric, but you make do with what you've got.

[cosy-crafty-corner]

I'm not going to make it to the June meeting of my embroidery group because of a work thing, so if I want to enter a piece into the summer show/competition, I need to have it ready by the May meeting. Which is next weekend.

I had a piece that I was going to submit but it is nowhere near ready and it is basically impossible to finish it in a week, especially if I want to stop sewing to, you know, sleep or do work or whatever.

So instead of finishing an already started piece in a week, my plan is to start a completely different piece and sew that in a week instead. Foolproof!

[cosy-crafty-corner]

I have finished the planets. I could stop now and just finish up the piece. Or I could add the asteroid belt as a bunch of tiny seed stitches between Mars and Jupiter.

[cosy-crafty-corner]

I'm not going to make it to the June meeting of my embroidery group because of a work thing, so if I want to enter a piece into the summer show/competition, I need to have it ready by the May meeting. Which is next weekend.

I had a piece that I was going to submit but it is nowhere near ready and it is basically impossible to finish it in a week, especially if I want to stop sewing to, you know, sleep or do work or whatever.

So instead of finishing an already started piece in a week, my plan is to start a completely different piece and sew that in a week instead. Foolproof!

[cosy-crafty-corner]

Dragon hoard ornament

I have made myself a little dragon sleeping on a hoard. The dragon is 3D printed and the hoard is made up of beads (with some scrunched up tin foil underneath because it would have taken a ridiculous amount of beads otherwise). I am absolutely thrilled with how it came out! 

Now that it's done, I feel like this is the sort of thing that other people might like, and might even be persuaded to spend money on. 

When I sell my books at physical events, I like to have other stuff for sale as well to help cover the cost of being there (some of the big events, especially in London, cost a lot of money, plus I have to factor in travel and parking, etc.). Normally, I sell things like pens and bookmarks, but I think a dragon sleeping on a hoard of beads would go down well at comic cons and YALC. 

I would need to tweak the design & materials slightly. For example, I used a lid from a candle for this one as the base, but I don't have any more of those, so I would need to find an alternative. Plus the design I used for the 3D model was someone else's available under a personal use license, so I would need to either make my own or find one I like available under a commercial use license. I would definitely want to use stronger glue. I just used a general purpose "ideal for paper" glue which is fine for something I made to sit on my shelf - but if I need to transport it to events and then have other people transport it home without all the beads falling off, then I need something actually intended to work on glass and plastic. 

But before I start rushing into redesign and making a bunch of these, I figured I should do a quick sentiment check with other people so much sure I'm not deluding myself. 

If you were at a comic con, craft fair, or book event and you saw a few of these available for sale, would you consider buying one if you felt the price was reasonable? And what sort of price would you be willing to spend?