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Picking Up Stitches

Knitting, crochet, cross stitch and more - the wonderful world of working with wool

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December is here!

December 1, 2022 by Annie Leave a Comment
December Crochet Xmas tree garland with crochet hook

December rolls around again! Time for some new crocheted decorations, methinks!!!

Of course, the old favourites are back – Santa, the reindeer, the little Xmas dogs and cats. But this year I’ve added a few more – and they were a great success at the craft fair in Broadstairs that I took part in last week, so I hope you’ll like them too.

For this December, the decorations include a couple of new garlands, and a neon-bright version of the fairy lights, plus more cards too!

Crocheted Christmas Garlands

Here is the Christmas Tree Garland – sweet little trees topped with buttons!

December Xmas tree garland with 5 button-topped crocheted trees on a black string

And our good old reindeer is making his debut on the Reindeer Garland – three reindeer and two cute little red baubles that reminded me of Rudolph’s red nose!

crocheted garland featuring reindeer and red baubles

Here’s the neon-bright fairy lights with the tree garland – they definitely get themselves noticed!

neon-bright crocheted fairy-light garland with Christmas tree crocheted garland

Crocheted Christmas Decorations

The decorations for our December tree haven’t been forgotten either!

The mice are back again, but this time, they have joined the church choir and have sweet little white ruffs!

Little crocheted mice with choirboy ruff collars.

I’ve added a traditional poinsettia too – well, poinsettias scream Christmas, don’t they?!

crocheted Christmas poinsettia decoration

New cards for December

There are a few more Christmas card designs to choose from this December too! All feature detachable decorations.

As well as the traditional holly and mistletoe, there are also little Christmas trees, which match the garland.

Xmas cards with crocheted tree decorations attached.

And no Christmas is complete without the Xmas wreath and some brightly wrapped parcels, so they’ve made an appearance too! Which do you like best?

Xmas cards with detachable crocheted wreath and present decorations

I’m going to put the pattern up for the little mice soon, so keep a look out on my instagram for news!

New crochet courses coming…

And in other exciting news – From 2023, I’m going to be teaching some crochet courses at the Broadstairs Adult Education College here in Thanet (that’s the region of the county of Kent, where I live). If you’re in the area, please let me know if there’s anything you’d like to learn and if possible I’ll add in a course. And if you’d prefer a solo lesson and you live in the Thanet area check out details of lessons here. I also offer Zoom lessons if you live further away!

Posted in: Christmas, classes, crochet, Thanet news Tagged: Christmas crochet, crochet, crocheted decorations, xmas garlands

Lining the Spring Bag

May 26, 2020 by Annie Leave a Comment

A lining for your bag

I decided to add a lining to my finished crocheted Spring Granny Square Bag. I’m no expert at sewing, so I thought I’d draw some diagrams which hopefully might help any of you who haven’t done much sewing like me!

And if you haven’t crocheted a bag yet, why not head back and start here.

Choosing the fabric

Luckily I had lots of scraps of fabric in my craft room – collected from working on women’s magazines over the years – there were always lots of samples left over from features that were just too good to throw out!

I decided on a stiff cotton upholstery fabric that held its shape well but wasn’t too stiff and bulky. It’s best to choose something with a bit of substance to help the bag keep its shape – so avoid flimsy or shiny fabrics.

Now I had to work out which way the grainline ran. This is a technical term, I know, but it’s important when cutting out pieces – if you don’t cut along the grainline when making this lining, the fabric may stretch out of shape. The fabric has threads that run both ways if you look carefully – imagine a weaving loom, with some threads going from top to bottom (the warp thread – which is the grainline direction) and the shuttle weaving in and out of these threads from left to right and back again (the weft threads). At each side of the fabric is a selvedge – these are the finished edges down either side that don’t fray – you’ll often find information printed down this edge of the fabric.

The grainline runs up and down the fabric, parallel to the selvedges.

Here’s a picture of the selvedge of the fabric I used. You can see there’s a handy arrow showing the direction of the grainline.

So the grainline is running up and down the length of the fabric.

Now you need to measure your finished bag carefully.

Measure the main square on the front – from side to side (A) and top to bottom (B). Note down these measurements – my bag was exactly square 25cm x 25cm, but it doesn’t matter if yours isn’t, just note down the measurements you have.

Now to these measurements I needed to add extra on each side for the seams – this is called the seam allowance – and extra at the top that would be folded down to create a hem at the top of the bag eventually. I added 1.5cm for the seam allowance to each of the sides, and the bottom, and I added 3.5cm at the top. I needed two pieces this size. The grainline would run from top to bottom (along the dotted line marked B). These front and back pieces would be 28cm x 30cm in my case… (1.5cm + 25cm + 1.5cm wide and 1.5cm + 25cm + 3.5cm top to bottom).

My pattern looked something like this…

Now I measured each side of the gusset – from side to side – the narrow measurement – (C) – and from top to bottom (B) which should be exactly the same size as the side of the main square. Mine measured 5cm across and 25cm from top to bottom. Again, I added 1.5cm to each side and to the bottom and 3.5cm to the top. The grainline would run from top to bottom (line B). So these pieces for me would be 8cm (ie 1.5cm + 5cm + 1.5cm) by 30cm (ie 1.5cm + 25cm + 3.5cm)

Then I measured the gusset at the bottom. The width was the same as before (C) and the length was the same as the bottom of the main square (A). As my square was 25cm wide, this strip was 5cm x 25cm. Again, don’t worry if your bottom piece is not the same as your two sides, just make sure you have the correct measurements for your bag. To this piece I added a seam allowance of 1.5cm on each side. So my final piece was 8cm (ie 1.5cm + 5cm + 1.5cm) by 28cm (ie 1.5cm + 25cm + 1.5cm).

This time the grainline ran along the strip (line A).

Now I just needed to measure the strap. The width (D) and the length (E). Mine measured 6.5cm by 78cm. I added 1.5cm to each long side and 3.5cm to each short end so my strip was 9.5cm (ie 1.5cm +6.5cm + 1.5cm) by 85cm (ie 3.5cm + 78cm + 3.5cm). The grainline ran along the strip (line E)

I carefully cut pieces out of my fabric. If you wanted you could make paper templates first to make sure you have the right sizes and then pin these to your fabric and cut them out.

Next you need to mark two points at the bottom of each main square – this point should be exactly 1.5cm up from the bottom and exactly 1.5cm in from the side. Mark each point clearly on the wrong side of the fabric.

Now finally it was time to start sewing the pieces together! It doesn’t really matter what colour thread you use in your machine as the stitches won’t show.

First place a side gusset piece and a main square right sides together. Make sure you have the wrong side of the main square facing you while you sew so you can see that point you marked. Sew carefully from the top, 1.5cm in from the edge and stop exactly at the marked point.

Now sew the other side gusset piece to the main square in the same way.


The pieces go in this order and you’ll be sewing along the dotted lines

Once you’ve sewn two side gusset pieces on, use an iron to press the seam open on the wrong side so it lays flat.

Now take the other main square and sew the strips to this too… You should end up with a tube. Make sure you press the seams open again after you’ve done this.

Sew the back to one side, then finally sew the back to the final side to make a tube.

Now this next bit is a little fiddly, so make sure you pin the pieces in place before you sew. Place the bottom of the gusset right sides together with the bottom of one of the main squares and sew along the edge 1.5cm in, starting at a marked point and stopping at the other marked point. Now sew it to the bottom of the other main square. The short ends of this gusset piece are still open at this point.

You’ll be sewing along the dotted line in each case, first to the front and then to the back

Now you have another couple of seams to press flat with your iron – and this is getting more fiddly.

Next you need to put the lining flat on the table and carefully pin the short sides. This time, sew really carefully 1.5cm in from the edge, pulling all the extra fabric out of the way as you go, so you don’t accidentally catch any fabric by accident.

You can now carefully trim away a bit of the excess at each of these bottom four corners by cutting diagonally across at each point – make sure you don’t cut too close to the stitches though, as these points on the bag need to be strong as you will be carrying things in the bag eventually.

Now you can slip this lining into the bag to try it out – the right side of the fabric will be visible in the bag, with the wrong side against the crocheted sides of the bag. There should be about 3.5cm sticking out at the top all the way around. Fold the fabric down (wrong side to wrong side).

Now take the lining out again and press the fold.

Next take the strap lining, and pin it to the strap, wrong side to wrong side. Make sure there is 3.5cm overlapping on the inside at each short side. Turn in 1.5cm along each long side and pin then carefully sew along these long sides. You may wish to use your machine (but in this case, choose a suitable colour of sewing thread, as the stitches may be visible), sewing very close to the edge, however I chose to sew by hand, with tiny oversewing stitches.

Now you’re ready to slip the lining back into the bag. This will cover up the overlap from the strap ends. Then carefully sew all the way around the edge – again, I chose to do this by hand.

Here are some close-ups of my bag and lining…

Here’s the lining sewn to the inside of the strap
Here you can see how the gusset lining matches up with the bag and the strap
Here you can see the finished bag!

I’m really happy with how it turned out, as you can see!

Posted in: crochet, inspiration Tagged: crochet, lining a bag, lockdown project, sewing instructions

Part 9 of CAL – finishing the bag

May 15, 2020 by Annie Leave a Comment

Part 9 – the last part is here! If you’ve only just found my blog, don’t worry, head back and do, Parts 1 (main square rounds 1-6) , Part 2 (rows 7-9), Part 3 (finishing the main square) , Part 4 (small squares) , Part 5 (side strips) , Part 6 (finishing the sides) , Part 7 (gusset) and Part 8 ( strap squares) first. And if you prefer standard written instructions, head here.

PART 9 ATTACH THE STRAP AND FINISHING TOUCHES

Attaching the strap

First we’re going to attach the main bit of the bag to the strap and edge the strap. First, position one of the short edges of the strap next to the end of the gusset with wrong sides together, and strap facing you.

Pinned in place

Then, starting at the corner, work across the end of the strap and the gusset in double crochet catching one loop from each side for each stitch as before.

Double crochet across the gusset and strap end

At the corner, turn your work

Here I’ve turned the work and am starting to work along the side of the strap

and with the right side of the strap still facing you, work all the way along the edge of the strap. You’ll be working 1dc each corner space of a small square and 1dc in each stitch until you get to the end of the strap – so for each square, that’s one dc in the corner space, 9dc in stitches along the edge of the square and one dc in the corner space.

Here’s the side of one square completed

Now position the short end of the strap against the gusset, again with wrong sides together and the strap still facing you,

One side of the strap completed, turned again and ready to dc the other short end to the gusset

work across short side and the gusset, then along the other edge of the strap as before. Join with ss to first st. Fasten off.

Here’s the strap attached and edged

Final touch!

Finally, edge the tops of the sides by joining yarn in corner sp of gusset and with right side of bag facing, work in dc across the top edge (ie along the top of the small squares), finishing with a dc in the space on the gusset again. Complete other top edge to match.

Start in the corner and make sure it’s secured to the gusset corner too
Once the ends have been sewn, the bag’s finished

Ta-da! You have your spring bag!

Your bag is ready to go, but if you like, you could add a lining. Hopefully I’ll show you how to do that soon.

I hope you’ve enjoyed following along and maybe learned some new techniques along the way. If you’ve made a bag, please send me a photo, or share one in the comments here, or post it on my Picking Up Stitches facebook page as I’d love to see them.

Posted in: crochet, Crochet patterns Tagged: crochet along, crochet project, lockdown crochet, lockdown project
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  • How to guides
    • 1 Making a slip knot
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