The Making Spot

Wake up Crafters! Coffee Cosy how-to

Ruth — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 08:00:00 +0000

We don't know about you, but we sometimes need a little extra help on a gloomy Monday morning. We were chuffed to find this coffee cosy tutorial from Tiny Happy that will make our caffine habit much more stylish! Read on to find out how ...

Mostly making: knitted bunting

Zoe — Sun, 26 Feb 2012 00:00:00 +0000

We've swapped our embroidery needles for the soothing clackety clack of knitting needles this week - and have been busily spending our evenings knitting triangles to make knitted bunting. The plan? To festoon our stand at next months' Stitch & Craft Show with some lovely homespun decor! We'll hosting The Making Spot lounge at London Olympia at the show, and can't wait. We're using Amanda Jones' Quick Knit Party Bunting pattern (first seen in Simply Knitting's Royal Wedding Supplement), & swapped the colours from red, white & blue to The Making Spot's colour palette. Read more to find out how we're getting on...

Free Emily Peacock cross stitch chart

Sat, 25 Feb 2012 07:00:00 +0000

Have you heard? CrossStitcher is celebrating its 20th Birthday!

As a special treat, Emily Peacock has designed a Happy Birthday cross stitch pattern, and they're gifting it to our lovely blog-readers (I know, we’re too good to you). This fab free chart also fits pretty neatly in with our embroidery month celebrations.

The best bit is that it’s not just suitable for momentous magazine birthdays, it’ll be pretty handy for regular people birthdays, too! If you need another reason to crack the needle and thread, their Easter-themed 250th Issue has a whole heap of frankly awesome patterns to inspire you – including delicious cupcake designs from Tinou le Joly Sénoville. Nom. You can buy Cross Stitcher issue 250 here or download the digital issue for your phone or tablet.

And don't forget you can download more Emily Peacock charts over on our main site.

Win a Polka & Bloom embroidery pattern!

Zoe — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 08:00:00 +0000

Here's a little Friday freebie for you! As part of our embroidery month celebrations, Carina from happy-making embroidery website Polka & Bloom is offering a free pattern to three lucky followers of The Making Spot! 3 lucky winners will get their pattern of choice aboslutely free! Read on to find out how to enter...

Stitch-tastic embroidery inspiration

Ruth — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 09:04:41 +0000

Our embroidery month series is in full swing! To continue our celebration of all things stitchy, we’ve rounded up the loveliest embroidery projects we can find…

5 great stash busters

Zoe — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 18:20:57 +0000

Wondering what to do with all those half-finished balls of yarn gathering in your stash? We've rounded up these quick knitting & crochet patterns to use up odds & ends and turn them into stylish accessories and gifts to treasure. Read on to find our 5 favourite stash busters...

Interview: Mr X Stitch

Ruth — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 08:27:39 +0000

As part of our embroidery month series, we've delved into the stitchtastical mind of Mr X Stitch. The King of all things weird and wonderful in the craftiverse, he's just gathered up his favourite boundary-pushing stitchers and featured them in his book PUSH Stitchery (including the wonderful Gillian Bates, creator of this beach hut canvas). Read more to see what he's been up to lately & find out the strangest surface he's ever seen stitched!

How Tuesday: Couching

Zoe — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 11:26:05 +0000

Hi everyone! My name is Floresita and I edit a wonderful craft blog called Feeling Stitchy - maybe you’ve paid us a visit? If not, I’d love to see you all there sometime - we’re a group blog that features projects, tutorials, books, and photos on the topic of embroidery and craftiness. I’m super-honored to be guest posting on The Making Spot today! Today I’m going to show you the basics of Couching (as I understand it). If you’ve never tried couching before it’s a wonderfully easy stitch that will add a lot of texture and color to your work. Without further ado: Couching 101!

Happy Pancake Day!

Ruth — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 10:59:28 +0000

Shrove Tuesday is upon us and we’ve fallen head-over-heels for this cheerful crocheted pancake. Paris the Pancake is part of a mini-army of happy foodstuffs from Etsy crafter Necessary Nonsense - we have a soft spot for Burton the Banana, too. He may not be edible, but he does have a winning smile and a whole lot fewer calories than your average Pancake Day treat.

Interview: Emily Peacock

Zoe — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 02:00:00 +0000

February is embroidery month, and we love the chance to fly the flag for all the oh-so-talented stitchers in the craftiverse! So we're hosting a week of daily posts filled with all the lovely people & websites who inspire us to have fun with thread. To kick start the week, we chat to Emily Peacock, who has led the way in making tapestry trendy again with her bright designs. She also happens to be one of our favourite designers over on The Making Spot.