Oh hey, do you know what time it is? It is highly specific resource time!
Today we have the Royal School of Needlework Stitch Bank! There are HUNDREDS of stitch types in the RSN Stitch Bank.
And more added regularly, let’s look at a recent addition
I picked the first one in the 25 recently added Elizabethan stitches, the Elizabethan French Stitch
The stitch bank provides written and photo tutorials as well as a video option to learn to do it yourself. There are examples of the stitch in use, resources, references, everything but a needle and thread!
I looked at some of the tutorials last night and holy shit I'm so impressed! They're SO thorough!
Not only do they have written and video instructions, but there are photo and illustration options for each image AND a "flip view" button so that left handed people can see all the images in reverse!
I am going to jump in and add, as you said they are very detailed in their directions, something that takes a lot of time and money.
If anyone who has enjoyed this resource has the means, I encourage you to adopt or sponsor a stitch to help keep this free to access. I know not everyone has the means to (fair, been there) but if you can, check out their sponsor options
RSN Stitch Bank Progress
And one other resource I have shared before, The Lady's Magazine. Embroidery patterns from 1770-1819. In case anyone wants some historic ideas for using all these new embroidery stitches
It's fully lined (with some very weeb fabric I had left over from making a friend some trousers):
The nori wrap is actually two pockets:
And it is the perfect size to hold the stuff I usually take with me when I go places:
(and I had help making it. well. "help."):
If you'd like to make one, here are the instructions:
(Note: I've never written crochet instructions before, so if these are confusing anywhere, please let me know so I can improve!)
Materials:
- Rice-color yarn (I used Caron 1-lb Off White)
- Nori-color yarn (I used uhhh something from my library's Makerspace, but it was the same weight as the rice yarn)
- K hook
- Tapestry needle
- Cotton fabric
- Needle
- Thread
To make the rice ball:
- Chain 44. Turn your work
- From the 2nd chain, DC 42
- Ch 1 and turn
- HDC 42. Ch 1 and turn.
- Repeat for 65 rows (mine is 59 and I wish it were a little longer)
- Ch 1 and turn 90*
- Down the raw edge, hdc 1 stitch per row
- Ch 2 and turn 90*
- SC 42 across the initial DC row
- Ch 2 and turn 90*
- Down the raw edge, HDC 1 stitch per row
- Ch 2 and turn 90*
- SC 42 across the second DC row
- SlSt into the ch1 from instruction 6 and cut your yarn
To make the nori wrap:
- Ch 27, turn your work
- From the 1st chain from your hook, HDC 26
- Ch 1 and turn your work
- Repeat for 31 rows
- Ch 1 and turn your work 90*
- SC one crochet for each row, down the raw edge of the rectangle
- Ch 1 and turn your work 90*
- SC 26 across the initial chain
- Ch 1 and turn your work 90*
- SC one crochet for each row, down the other raw edge of the rectangle
- Ch 1 and turn your work 90*
- SC 26 across the final row
- SlSt into the final stitch and cut your yarn
Assembly:
- Center the nori rectangle in the middle of the rice rectangle
- Using the nori yarn and a tapestry needle, sew on the nori down both long sides
- Sew across the center of it as well. This creates two pockets, one on the front and one on the back
- Turn the bag inside out
- SlSt down each side using the rice yarn and a tapestry needle
- Weave in your ends
Lining:
- Set the bag down on the liner fabric of your choice
- Trace around it
- Fold the fabric in half
- Cut out the fabric
- Fold down the top raw edges
- Sew down the side seams using a 1/4" seam allowance, trapping the folds in place. They will have raw edges but that's okay
- Place the liner into the crochet bag the way you want it to look, then turn the whole thing inside out. This is the easiest way, in my experience, to make sure you're putting the liner in correctly
- Line up the folded top edge of the bag with the bottom of the DC row at the bag's top, aligning the side seams of the liner with the side seams of the crochet bag
- Zig-zag stitch along the edge of the liner. This leaves the DC row exposed atop the liner
Straps
- Measure how long you want the straps to be. This is the distance from the back of your shoulder to where you want it to sit at your side
- Add to that measure about 3"
- Double that number. That's the length you want
- Using three strands of yarn (I used 2 rice yarn and 1 nori yarn), chain the length. This was 120 chains for me, and it was very short
- Do this twice (two straps)
- Using a tapestry needle, weave one strap through the DCs at the top of the bag, so that it exits at one side seam, then through the bottom corner of the bag. Tie the two ends together
- Do the same for the other strap, coming out the other side of the bag
- Try the bag on to make sure you like the length
- Once you're sure you're happy with the length, pull the bag open
- Using a single strand of yarn and a tapestry needle, stitch together the inner side of the two chains, so that they make a single strap. Do this for the length of the strap up to the top of the bag, which should be FULLY pulled open for this. For me, this was 30 chains
- Tie off the end when you reach the top of the bag, then weave in your ends
- Do the same on the other side. This makes it so that you don't run the risk of sticking your hand through the space between the chains when you're putting the bag on
Congratulations, you've now made a crochet nori bag!
I saw pill bugs on here a few weeks ago and really wanted to make my own! The pattern is a bit rough but I hope it works (I tried to get it perfect for like a week before calling it good enough).
Just print out (or copy from a screen) the first page and cut out the pattern pieces. Hopefully the pictures on page two will help but if not I will do my best to answer any questions!
Hope you enjoy and make your own lil isopod friend!
If anyone makes this, I would love to see pictures 💕
I wanted to try making plushie, so I tried this pattern. Thank you, @livvi3love! ^^
I didn't have fleece, so I used felt instead, and the sewing is very wonky, but I love my new Boy.
(only things I would change from the pattern: putting the eyes and shaping the legs before sewing everything. I thought about the eyes, but I forgot to do the legs and it was tricky to cut once everything was fixed in place)
Edit: I removed the top eye, because it looked weird, now the Boy has a regular number of eyes.
Yay!!! I'm so glad it works (mostly). Thats so cute! I love the purple 💜
I use fleece for plushies since it it a lot more forgiving than felt- it has a lot more stretch and does great for rounding out shapes but really, any material should work (I hope).
I love this free cross stitch pattern by Abby M. According to her, donations are welcome but not expected or required!
I saw the pattern itself on a cross stitch facebook group I'm in and I'm a little disappointed I have too many big projects lined up to stitch it, but it's so delightful!
this messed up vintage cat sewing pattern has tormented me since i saw it & like some other folks have done in that post - i tried my hand at tweaking the pattern to resemble the illustration (and my personal tastes) a little more. i've ended up with this, which i have only tested at a small scale and not this final version exactly (where i have done such things as further widening the cheeks and finalizing the leg shapes.) i bestow it upon you nice folks now 👐
go forth and make weird little beanbag kittens! pls show me if you do!
i followed a sewing pattern that didn't have any irl finished pics of it, and the whole time i was like 'yknow this doesn't seem like it'll work very well, but i'm the novice so i guess i should follow the pattern' and well.
I suspect? the problem is the fabrics that the examples above use--polyester fleece and polyester felt, neither of which are the most stable fabrics, so will stretch in ways the pattern doesn't account for
The pattern is noted in the replies as coming from here
Free vintage patterns including sewing, embroidery, cross stitch, knitting and crochet; 1930s reproduction quilt fabric, quilting and crafti
and it's intended to look like this
Those illustrations--and the 1940s/50s time frame of when the pattern was published--say to me that these were meant to be made from woven cotton calico
My own pertinent experience is in the other direction:
I used this pattern
to make this plush, using fake fur--which is on a knit base--as the pattern directs
Then I made it again using a woven fabric
and that's when I realized that the original pattern depended on the stretch of the knit to help round out the shape
So! While the vintage kitten pattern probably still won't look quite like the illustration when made from calico, it might look less like a creeper. Maybe.
no blame because the linked pattern source doesn't say what kind of fabric to use, and most people aren't going to think about how so many fabrics available today were not available/didn't exist 70 years ago
I'm kind of wondering if whatever was readily available as filling back then might behave differently from modern polyfil, too, maybe? Because I can't imagine putting enough polyfil inside these to make them that round while also allowing them to fold the way the illustrations show
First, lots of people are saying that sawdust would have been the most likely filling, and they're probably right. Loosely packed sawdust, though, but the idea of packing one of these with enough sawdust to make a pincushion is oddly tempting...
I don't think the shape shown in the illustrations can be achieved from this pattern, though. There need to be more seams and or darts for this to be round where it's supposed to be round.
However, I did try a few easy little changes to try to make it stop being quite so much...that
here it is compared to the first one I made
I'll put what I did under a cut, because I have already managed to make this a very long post
The first thing I did was shorten the neck? shoulder? area.
I folded across those two dots (which are meant to show where to stop sewing the underside to the body)
then folded the head back up, matching that big dot (on the line meant to show the grain line) with the previous fold
When I cut the fabric, I extended from that fold, toward the head, then around to the ears
Oops! Not the least bit symmetrical! So I folded it in half and evened it up
Then I took one of the under pieces (marked 'gusset' on the pattern), laid it on one of the upper pieces, folded them in half together, and trimmed off some of the foot area; these are now the front pieces, and they are a little shorter.
I'm so glad you did this, it was driving me insane. The person who did the illustrations obviously made up the whole thing haha. I feel kinda bad for all the people who bought this on Etsy expecting cute lil beanbags and got ... those. 🦒
Able to resist the temptation to edit the pattern myself now that you did it, but not resisting the temptation to study other vintage patterns and how they shaped heads. I do like the big ol forehead gusset style.
Edit: To be clear I'm sure it was that illustrator's job 70yrs ago to romanticize the plain reality and give people a creative push to buy the thing but this is well into bait n switch territory lol
I saw pill bugs on here a few weeks ago and really wanted to make my own! The pattern is a bit rough but I hope it works (I tried to get it perfect for like a week before calling it good enough).
Just print out (or copy from a screen) the first page and cut out the pattern pieces. Hopefully the pictures on page two will help but if not I will do my best to answer any questions!
Hope you enjoy and make your own lil isopod friend!
If anyone makes this, I would love to see pictures 💕
I wanted to try making plushie, so I tried this pattern. Thank you, @livvi3love! ^^
I didn't have fleece, so I used felt instead, and the sewing is very wonky, but I love my new Boy.
(only things I would change from the pattern: putting the eyes and shaping the legs before sewing everything. I thought about the eyes, but I forgot to do the legs and it was tricky to cut once everything was fixed in place)
Edit: I removed the top eye, because it looked weird, now the Boy has a regular number of eyes.
Yay!!! I'm so glad it works (mostly). Thats so cute! I love the purple 💜
I use fleece for plushies since it it a lot more forgiving than felt- it has a lot more stretch and does great for rounding out shapes but really, any material should work (I hope).
The first back panel of a jacket I embroidered! This was from a few years ago and was a serious learning process for me. I'm still super proud of how it came out and love wearing it
andulkaphoto
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