Multi-Dales!! Shop Update

What an exciting week!!! On Monday the Mini Woollydale Stitchscape kit was launched and literally five minutes ago (Friday) the Woollydale II Stitchscape kit has been released!!! There are sheep coming out of my ears!! 

I am so grateful though as since Monday's kit launch, I have sold nearly 10 Mini Woollydale kits which is amazing for the first five days. The rush to get both of them out now is because Woollydale (the original) was my most popular kit ever and as it's coming up to Christmas and I have a couple of virtual shop things going on, I wanted my shop to have in it the best products it could!

I really love these little sheep pieces. To me, the thinking is that you are looking out of the same window but on different days so in one hoop it may be slightly over cast and dull, still pretty but with more muted colours, and in another hoop it's sunny and summery, with zingy greens and colourful flowing water. There is absolutely nothing stopping you from purchasing both and having them as a pair of Dales.....

The beauty of the batik fabric in the Woollydale II kit became even more apparent when I was cutting up the strips to prepare for kit compiling. Not one strip is the same, some of them are mostly purple whilst others are more green with blue, there are pops of yellowy/orange in some, but muted yellows in others. I've tried to show this as best as I can in the listing but your kit is not going to be identical to my version - something which is very ingrained in all of my kit designs. It's the excitement of finding out which one you are going to get!!

So, you can get yours either in my Etsy shop, here, or in my Web shop, here.  It's completely up to you where you go and where you feel most comfortable purchasing from. Don't forget though, the Mini Woollydale is a limited edition so it may not be around for long!!

 

My Community! Shop Small & Local

I imagine you'll have heard this over and over again but as it's something so close to my heart I thought I'd mention it one more time (and it probably won't be the last). The lockdowns we have had this year, and are currently in, whilst helping to keep us safe and reduce the number of those affected by the COVID virus, are doing nothing for our little independent shops and businesses! 

I have been hugely supported by these little quirky shops or handmade, homegrown businesses that find those extra special products or bolster creative skills that big corporations can't and don't supply. We little people have to stick together and I'm always keen to give back to those who have helped me on my journey to being able to do what I love with hand embroidery and teaching Stitchscaping. 

This lockdown is different to the first one in that we are more prepared this time around. It isn't such a shock and care has been taken to ensure that, whilst physical premises can't stay open, their fabulous little corners of the world stay open around the clock online, potentially reaching even further than they usually would. It's especially important at this time of year, which is well known for its springboard in creativity and rise in sales, as people rush to have the most beautiful Christmas table and give the best presents (Kirstie Allsopp style). 

One of my biggest supporters has always been Saira at the-stitchery in Lewes, who I actually met whilst going for a job interview a few years ago. I didn't get the job but what I did get was huge backing and support, and a new friendship! She helped me springboard my kits by letting me help myself in the shop (see this blog post here) to whatever I wanted with a view to developing two, exclusive kits just for the-stitchery and, when they sold out, agreed to become my first stockist of any other kit that I produce. 

The-stitchery has done a fantastic job, and have worked really hard, getting as much on their web shop as possible (including my kits!) but there is so much more available and if you need anything at all creative wise it's a fantastic place to start. Just send them an email detailing what it is you need and they will get in touch as soon as they can. (Email: info@thestitchery.co.uk)

Somewhere else that has majorly boosted me is Closs & Hamblin (formerly known as C&H Fabrics Ltd). They are my biggest stockist by far with kits in several of their branches across the South East and, whilst they do have several locations they are still a family run business with a tight knit team. They were also the first company to offer me a job whilst I was wandering the streets in search of one after graduating from university. Currently all of their physical stores in Brighton, Guildford, Horsham, Chichester, Tunbridge Wells, Winchester, Eastbourne, Canterbury and Windsor are closed to the public but again they are working really hard to get as much of their produce on their website. They have quite a vast range of things from baby toys, craft kits, (Stitchscape kits), puzzles and games, soft furnishings, Christmas decorations, candles.....there's literally hundreds of things!

Below is a blurry photo of me from a couple of weeks ago in the Winchester store when we popped over to have a wander around the shops. Naturally a selfie was required with the Stitchscape kits!

Not all of my community members are shop owners though and I have a lot of thanks for Louise and Sarah of Made & Making in Hassocks. They run the most amazing workshop studio and I was following them on Facebook and lusting over how much space they had and the gorgeous creations around the walls when one day I got a message from them asking if I'd like to be a tutor!! Once I'd picked myself up off the floor it was an instant yes and I've been running a monthly Stitchscape workshop every month this year - when we weren't/aren't in a lockdown. 

After the first lockdown they worked really hard getting the studio space a safe place for crafters and tutors to go back to and I personally found it a fantastic experience to be the workshop that some of the ladies chose to go to as their first proper venture outside in months! During this second lockdown they have lots of online courses being held on Zoom you can sign up to, kits available for some of their most popular projects you can purchase, and gift vouchers available to buy to be redeemed on any course you fancy. 

They have a whole host of different classes, some run by themselves for quilting and sewing (even one just on getting used to your own sewing machine!) and others by tutors they've found and sourced for you to do things like sketch booking, quilling, calligraphy, paper craft, fabric flowers, sewing in pretty much any form, flower headbands, straw work and of course, Stitchscaping.  Even if you don't want to purchase a physical product, there's definitely someone you know who would appreciate a gift voucher for a class.

So, I'm not saying that you should only purchase from these lovely places (I mean, you definitely should take a look anyway - can't hurt can it?) but I am saying that maybe you could consider purchasing from somewhere smaller than Amazon or the big high street chains. Local businesses and small sellers can be found on Etsy, Ebay, Not on the high street, Folksy, Ravelry, Instagram, Facebook, NuMonday and their own individual sites. I guarantee that every purchase you make from these people (myself included) will do a little happy dance for every item and probably lovingly wrap it and package it for you with little details and sweet stickers - no slapped on black tape and squashed boxes with masses of unnecessary bits of paper and stuff floating around in there to burrow through. 

If you look around online at the moment there are lots of virtual fairs you can sign up to which will essentially be a collection of artists and makers in one place. I am mentioned on a fantastic site just put together called Stones Throw who have collected a Christmas community 'shop' of artists/makers/crafters in Sussex and have links to all of their pages to make them easy to find. 

I am also joining in with a virtual fair hosted on Instagram on the 21st November by the Tree of Hope Children's Charity based in Kent. (Click here to see more about that.)

So, if you are still with me then thank you for getting this far! It's a subject I'm hugely passionate about and I thought I would just leave you with some links to other lovely businesses and makers and artists who I also consider to be part of my community. All of them are definitely worth a visit (just click on their name to go to their sites)!! xx

❤ Snobb Ltd. (For handmade bags, accessories, purses, crocheted items, handmade jewellery and more...)

❤ Tilly Tea Dance (For gorgeous felted art pieces embellished with hand embroidered; frames, pendants, book marks, brooches...)

❤ Top Cat Bags (For handmade designer handbags and accessories, memory animals and more...)

❤ Aries Glass (For beautiful custom glass art and fused glass workshops)

❤ The Wendy House (For handmade bags, children's clothes, bunting, scrunchies, cushions....lots of pom poms!)

❤ Willow River Crafts (For macramé hangers, keyrings, pot holders, personalised wrapped letters and gifts....)

There are probably more that I have forgotten to mention so I will update this if I have!

If you are interested in supporting more of your local community, why not check out Just A Card? It's an organisation dedicated to getting the word of local, handmade, little, independent or kitchen table artists, makers, creators, designers and sellers out there. They are fantastic promoters and you can support them too by purchasing one of their fabulous pins. 

Woollydale II Stitchscape Kit

I am on a Woollydale kit roll! Two new Woollydale kits made and written up in the last two weeks with possibly the release of at least one of them by the end of next week at the latest. How good is that?

This one is the like-for-like replacement of the original Woollydale which I'm not able to run any more because half of the fabrics are now unavailable. It's a 15cm hoop and has the exact same sheep fabric layer with the exact same techniques on it. But it also has three new fabrics, new stitch techniques and a little bit of sunshine in the two-tone yellow flowers as well as some other differences. 

The batik fabric used at the bottom is an absolute joy, it has so many different colours splashed into it - you can just see here the purple and the oranges, which were the inspiration for the yellow bullion flowers as I wanted the yellow in the batik to look like a watery reflection. By complete fluke, there's also a lightening of the background blue just at the point where the reeds part and it looks to me like a shaft of sunshine sneaking through the plants. But of course, as every kit is designed to be an original each time it's stitched up, this may not happen again - or could be even better! This is a 'proper' batik, as in it isn't a batik design that's been printed to look random but is properly made with wax layers that are then melted off. It's a bit more expensive but I think you'll agree that it's totally worth it?

I haven't changed the sheep because they were the main, much loved, feature of the original kit and I daren't touch it! There is a difference in the Mini Woollydale but why change something that works so well already? If you were making this kit for yourself of course, there's nothing stopping you from sneakily looking at the other kit and changing things around. You could keep the running stitches as shown here but add little tiny french knot daisies among the sheep like in the Mini version. 

I've brought in one of my favourite techniques for hillsides (and cliffs and trees) which is the vertical whip stitch over seed stitch. I have used this combination in my Bluebell Garden Stitchscape kit (which also contains lots of 'proper' batiks now I think about it) for the trees and have diagrams explaining how to do it within each kit. It's just great for invoking bunny runs, trodden paths in grass or the feeling of movement and is designed to be random and spontaneous. As it's worked off random seed stitches then you can't be regimented with it (unless you have a regimented seed stitch - eek the horror!) so everyone's will look different. 

I just keep returning to this glorious batik water over and over again! Does the slight green bit and the stitched shapes remind you of lily pads? 

The jute trimming for these kits has actually been hand dyed by yours truly! I ordered it in bulk ready for using in this kit but when it arrived the green was completely wrong (almost luminous) so, rather than waste it, I popped it in our sink and poured over the olive Dylon dye and dyed it into a much nicer colour for you. There's a photo on my Instagram somewhere of it all hung up on the washing line, drying. 

There are a few different techniques used in this top hill. The lighter green has stems made from whipped back stitch in two strands of thread so they are slightly thicker than the darker stems which are just a single strand of stem stitch. At the end of each stem spray are little two twist french knot clusters in ones or threes depending on how much of the printed flower underneath needs to be covered. 

At the top of this layer I have used DMC coton perle thread (one strand) and a single strand of the darker green (used for the stem stitch), folded in half and couched to the edge of the fabric. I've made mine fairly bouncy and twisted it a bit as I went along so that you get hits of the darker green and it has more of a bouclé yarn appearance.

At the bottom, among the bullion reeds, are pistil stitches which I haven't used in a kit for a while. These are really lovely little stitches, understated but adding enough to blend the greens together. There are still a lot of greens and I was a little concerned that they wouldn't all go together but I think generally it has balanced out into a green blend with a pop of yellow and, of course, the fabulous white sheep.

I've ordered booklets from a new supplier for the Mini Woollydale kit so I'm going to wait and see what the quality of those is like before ordering the books for Woollydale II. It shouldn't add too much of a delay though as the books are due to arrive tomorrow and if they're any good, I'm set up to order more in the evening. It's all go, go, GO!