Vintage Inspired Baby Sweater

Somehow in all the holiday crafting I also managed to finish a sweater for the baby girl who will be joining our family in February (or March, as my very reasonable three-year-old likes to point out).

I fell in love with the Louise Cardigan, a sweet pink raglan from Vintage Baby Knits (and would post a picture from the book here, but alas, can't find one anywhere) but decided to make this one in a lavender gray...

 

This pattern was a breeze to follow. The instructions are very clear and all the steps make perfect sense (I'm always bothered by patterns that have the knitter do something odd, but it never becomes clear as to exactly why). It's knit as one piece, which is lovely, and the details are all very simple to do.

I changed the yarn—only because I couldn't find the yarn the designer used in stock anywhere—and had to have only one button rather than two. (Only because I went to three fabric/yarn stores looking for the perfect buttons and simply couldn't find them. Then I found this one in my stash at home. But there was only one, so there you have it.) But other than that, I followed the pattern word for word, which is such a joy, and probably the reason I was able to finish it so fast!

This book has definitely captured my attention: I'm already working on two other projects from it...

 

 Audrey Hoodie

Daisy Soakers

And I'm sure I'll have to make this sweetie-pie:

Stella Pixie Hat

But I suppose that's another post!

Happy knitting everyone!

Book Sale!

Did Santa forget to bring you that knitting book you (so politely) asked for? Well, we've got you covered! We're having a little sale Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday: all books will be 10% off! Give them as gifts, or dive into a new project yourself. Some of the books on our shelves include:

Material Obsession: Modern Quilts with Traditional Roots

One More Skein, 30 Quick Projects to Knit

Printing by Hand

Hand-Stitched Felt, 25 Whimsical Sewing Projects

Last-Minute Knitted Gifts

Last-Minute Patchwork + Quilted Gifts

Knitted Socks East and West

There's so much inspiration in these books, each one is packed full of great projects by talented designers. Use the code: BOOKS10 at the checkout to get your 10% off.

Get 2010 off to the right start with a(nother) new project!
Happy crafting all!

Santa Can Sew

Look what Santa brought...

Doesn't it look a lot like these Black Apple Dolls from the Martha Stewart site? Well, all I can say is that Santa has good taste, and knows where to find cute patterns!

Santa gave this doll (Holly, named by my five-year-old) sleeves and a button barrette, but other than that stuck pretty closely to the pattern.

I hope everyone had a lovely holiday, and got exactly what their hearts' desired!

For You!

Christmas Lights Scarf by Phydeaux

Order any pattern today and get this beauty as our holiday gift to you! Just get your order in before midnight and I'll email this pattern to you directly.

Happy holidays everyone!

Two Days and Counting...and Bunny Still Needs Stuffing

Have you seen this super awesome book by Kata Goulda?

Kata Goulda's Handstitched Felt

Well, it's filled with lovely patterns and craft ideas using felt (I'm now in love with felt), including these:

 

 

In an unusually organized fashion, I picked out a few projects for holiday gifts and purchased all the materials back in October. I got started promptly — I mean, who doesn't love a new project? And just look at how cute this bunny is:

But I need two bunnies and whoops, I got distracted by all the other cool holiday projects I had planned. So poor Ms. Bunny still looks like this:

Cute, but um, not exactly hug-worthy. Here's to late nights, good movies, and cotton stuffing!

 

Happy sewing!

New Colette Patterns

Look for these lovelies from Colette Patterns in the shop right after the first of the year:

 

 

 

 

(And check back here for a guest post by Colette Patterns designer, Sarai Mitnick, in the near future!)

Happy sewing everyone!

Tassle Cap and Ruby Slippers

I so love the patterns from She's Crafty Handknits. Sweet and lovely! Like this matching Pixie Cap and Ruby Slippers, knit by designer Hadley herself:

(You can get the pattern for the Tassle Cap here...)

I've read that we can look forward to new She's Crafty patterns in the new year...I can't wait!

Handmade Pledge

 Buy Handmade

Another little post about the world of fabulous handmade goods (our very favorite kind!). You can follow the link above to pledge your handmade allegiance, pick up a button for your blog, and find out more about the folks behind the movement.

Buyhandmade.org is a collaboration between Etsy, Craftster, indiepublic, Craft Magazine, Interweave, Burdastyle, The Austin Craft Mafia, Design*Sponge, and The American Craft Council, nine prominent forces in the DIY and handmade worlds. Calling ourselves The Handmade Consortium, we have banded together to encourage people to buy handmade this holiday season.

The ascendancy of chain store culture and global manufacturing has left people all dressing, furnishing, and decorating alike. The connection between producer and consumer has been lost. Buying handmade helps them reconnect. We created the pledge as a call to action for consumers to be conscious of how they spend their money this holiday season. We want people, whenever possible, to support independent creators and shop outside the big boxes.

For more information please write pledge(at)buyhandmade(dot)org.

Good stuff, don't you think?
Happy crafting all!

Pasha Beauty

I don't know about you, but I've admired this hat pattern by Jane Richmond Designs since I first got it in the shop:

Pasha by Jane Richmond Designs

So of course I had to knit one for myself (nevermind the unfinished pile of handmade Christmas projects watching me accusingly from the WIP basket...).

I love everything about how this pattern turned out: I didn't change anything at all, not even the yarn color (I used Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino, which is a yarn I love, love, love)! Well, with one minor exception. The hat looks much cuter on my five-year-old than on me. Don't get me wrong - it looks lovely on me too, but like everything, it seems, the more adorable the model, the lovelier the garment.

 

 

I guess I'll just have to make a another one for me...maybe in red...

 

Happy knitting everyone!

Gingerbread House

I love Wild Olive patterns, and you can get this one free on Flickr.

Happy stitching all!

Drop What You're Doing!

And get started on this super cute Chritsmas cookie and hot cocoa set from Sweetie Pie Bakery!

Felt is so easy and fun to work with. No need to worry about frayed edges or an iron, simply cut, sew and embellish.

Nearly every color of the rainbow in wool felt can be found at A Child's Dream Come True, FilzFelt, and A Market Collection.

All the sweetness without the cavities—what could be better?

Happy sewing!

Last Minute Knitted Gifts: Baby Pants

I've been knitting for a long time, and I've made a lot of different things, but I've never been terribly interested in making a pair of knitted baby pants. I guess I always thought that sewing them would be so much easier, so why not leave the knitting for something that sewing just couldn't beat—like a sweater?

Well, all that changed recently. I fell in love with the pattern from Last Minute Knitted Gifts (and, as a side note, the soakers from Vintage Baby Knits—but that's another post), and decided to give them a shot.

The pattern is written for denim yarn, but there are notes for those of you who, like me, couldn't possibly choose the same yarn as the designer (why make things easy?). I went with lovely mustard yellow cotton (Cottontail by Reynolds Kids), which translated without a single math equation.

The instructions are very well-written and super easy to follow, and I did—mostly. The changes I made were mostly born of mama-knowledge.

My first alternation was to add a panel in back to accommodate a cloth diaper (no trim little hineys in this house!). Instead of knitting the back straight up to the waistband, as the pattern calls, I increased one stitch on each side of the crotch (so, instead of knitting the five stitches that were the cast off crotch, I knit seven—one on each side of the original five—on the first round) until I was half way up the back (in this case, 3") then I decreased one stitch on each side until I got back to the original number of stitches. This created a popped-out diamond shape where the diaper will be.

My second alteration was at the waistband. Instead of a drawstring (it's kinda a bummer to try to tie a bow on the pants of a six-month-old that stays tied but doesn't cut off the circulation), I used elastic. In order to get it in with the fewest tears and curse words, I put it in place while the waistband was still unfinished (finishing meant folding it in half and sewing the cast-off edge in place). Then, just before sewing up the last couple stitches, I cinched up the elastic, and sewed it into a loop.

 

I love the way these cute little pants turned out! So much so, in fact, that I've already bought bamboo (Sidar Snuggly Baby Bamboo) for another pair.

 

 

Well, here's to trying new things!

Happy knitting everyone!

Save Handmade

"Save Handmade" Button from Cool Mom Picks

I've seen this button around, but I just found the source of it over on the Cool Mom Picks site. Although this is not new news, it's still relevant, especially since enforcement will begin in just a few months. Here's the overview from Cool Mom Picks, but you can find even more information on their site:

We're all for strengthening the safety standards of mass-produced toys, clothes, and accessories made in China, and banning toxins like phthalates and lead. But this year, Congress passed the ill-conceived Consumer Products Safety Improvement Act, a law which goes into effect in two months and will absolutely decimate the small toy manufacturers, independent artisans, and crafters who have already earned the public trust.

With this act in effect starting February 10 2010 so many people we love will be impacted: Moms who sew beautiful handmade Waldorf dolls out of home, artists who have spent decades hand-carving trucks and cars out of natural woods, that guy at the craft show who sold you the cute handmade puzzle—even larger US companies who employ local workers and have not once had any sort of safety issue will no longer be able to sell their goods. Not without investing tens of thousands of dollars into third-party testing and labeling just to prove that toys that never had a single toxic chemical in them still don't have a single toxic chemical in them.

Yikes. Check their list of how to get involved - most things would only take a minute or two and could make a huge difference.

She Made a Village

In the spirit of a handmade holiday, I decided to make ornaments for extended family this year. A project that's not too big (I have a tendency to go a tad overboard, then burn-out) but also not too small — especially when paired with a box of homemade candy (I got all my recipes from Martha, in case you're intrigued).

Using this fantastic tutorial from Pimp Stitch, I made a little compound of elfin houses, as I think Lauren put it in her original post.

I basicallly followed the tutorial exactly as it was written: cutting out the pieces, stitching them together inside out and adding the loop of ribbon...

...stitching on the bottom and then flipping them inside out before adding the embroidery and stuffing them.

The only change I made was to embroider them before stuffing them - but that was really only because I'm not a terrifically confident stitcher and I was afraid I wouldn't be able to maneuver the needle adequately on such a small space without being able to catch it from the back.

I'm very pleased with the way they turned out (these, by the way, are not stuffed yet) although they are a bit more squat that Lauren's (still cute though!).

Happy stitching all!

Amélie's Tour of French Sewing and Knitting Blogs

Today we are so lucky to have a guest post by Amélie of My Daruma, a fantastic French fashion blog (conveniently translated for English readers in each post) who recently posted a lovely interview about Magpie Patterns. Amélie had the fabulous idea of introducing us to the world of French sewing and knitting blogs, so this is our first (but hopefully not last!) peek at all the creativity that France has to offer.

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Hi, my name is Amélie. I'm a french blogger living in Lyon and I'd like share with you a humble introduction to the French sewing and knitting blogosphere.

First, I really should mention that the French online crafting community has grown tremendously in the past couple of years. There are so many talented people out there that it is sometimes difficult to keep up with the newcomers. Another characteristic of this community is its collective spirit. There are several very active collective blogs. Some are centered on sharing experiences on a given pattern company like Citronille (Fans de citronille), C'est Dimanche (C'est Dimanche Addicts) or the numerous and resourceful Japanese pattern books (JCA). Others focus on specific challenges, like J'ai rien à me mettre with its semestrial challenges on a given theme like "the little black dress" or "the holiday season."

But let's get back to the individual talented French sewing and knitting girls out there and let me share with you a few of my favorite craft blogs.

Octobre Rose
Satine's world is graphic, poetic, vintage and slighlty eccentric. It's the blog that got me into sewing three years ago. Her beautiful daughter Elle gets to wear the most beautiful outfits with ruffles, incredible hats and glittery shoes. It's kind of like living in Alice in Wonderland...but in real life. Very inspiring!

Les petits grains de Maïs
Ivanne's sewing is just beautiful. It's got that French touch many of us are after—subtle colors, thoughtful details, and a classic and modern look at once. But be warned: do not expect daily or weekly posts. It's not that kind of blog. But when Ivanne does post, it's a whole collection of clothes she's sharing—with sometimes as much as 10 pieces, all beautiful and all matching. One last thing, Ivanne loves Liberty fabric but has her own way of using it—with "classe"—and it's really worth a look. Even if you don't read French, the pictures will get your imagination rolling.

Dis bonjour à la dame
Carole is a friend of mine living in Lyon. A very good friend to be exact. Her blog has a big audience in France. She's a prolific and very generous blogger and has produced several tutorials to share her practice.  Carole likes Japanese pattern books for their endless resources but also favors C'est dimanche patterns. And she can knit, which is quite mesmerizing to me because I simply could not knit a row for my life. She has agreed to teach me next year. How cool is that? Carole is also co-founder of Bik Nok, a foundation whose motto is "A little sewing for big achievments." Bik-Nok particpates in funding a school in Vietnam relying in part on the French sewing community. Check it out!

Henri et violette
Hélène has a style of her own. Her sewing is all dark or block colors. Don't look for bold prints or designer fabric at Henri et Violette. But trust me, it's just as well. I think Hélène has a "roaring twenties" look. Maybe somewhat of a retro parisian look. She often alters Japanese patterns and the results are very unique.

The sewer cat
Delphine can sew and knit and her blog is of the aesthetic kind. I love her knits and the colors she carefully selects. Everything looks soft and comforting on the Sewer Cat. It's definitly a nice resource even if you don't read French. I'm sure you'll enjoy her pictures and craft.

I hope you enjoyed this little tour of France and rememeber not to let the language frighten you.
The pictures are sometimes enough for our crafty minds, don't you think?

A bientôt!
Amélie

Henri's Flags

I would like to welcome Erin, Portland mama, writer, crafter, and designer, as a periodic guest blogger on Crafty Bird. Erin answered the Call for Crafters (see the bottom of the page!) and has agreed to share her experiences in using the various patterns we sell to make lovelies for home, family, friends and self. For her first post she chose a pattern from Amanda Blake Soule's book, Handmade Home. I'll let Erin take it from here...

For my first project, I chose the One-Word Banner which is featured on the cover of the book. I decided to make it for my son, Henri, since I have been wanting to put his name above his bed (like his big brother, Oliver's) since we moved in 3 months ago.

I had plenty of cream felt on hand from my handbag supplies and many, many scraps. I sorted through all my scraps to find the perfect fabric and color combination for my sweet little man. In the book Amanda suggests either drawing your letters out freehand or using your computer. I chose the latter as I wanted consistency and perfection with my letters. I printed them out using Word with the font at about 500pts. It took a bunch of experimenting to find just the right font and letter size, and in the end, I changed them up a bit while cutting my fabrics.

Next I wanted to tackle the end pieces. The author had sweet little birds framing her word "Dream." For Henri I wanted owls. I spent a bunch of time drawing out how I was going to do it and finally found inspiration on my neighbor's etsy shop, Little Mama's Designs (she makes owl appliques that I have been drooling over), and Henri's owl bedding.

This is where I added a step. The instructions tell you to place the letters one inch above the bottom of your flag, center them and pin. I went a step further and used some Stitch Witchery to fuse my letters and owls to my felt (you MUST use a press cloth here or your felt will melt...). This step insured that my letters wouldn't move on me during my stitching. Next, I took all of my pieces to my machine and stitched around them with a 1/8" seam allowance—allowing for some natural fraying to occur over time.

Once I had all the letters and owls stitched onto my flags, I grabbed my tub of bias binding and found the perfect chocolate brown binding. I chose to make a slightly longer length for my banner, laid it out and placed all of my pieces, pinning them in place. At this point, I stitched all along the open edge of my bias tape and across the top of the folded over banners, securing them to the binding, and Viola! It was finished! The next morning I was so excited to hang it on Henri's wall, that it was the first thing I did.

I am so proud of how it turned out, and I would have NEVER thought of making a cloth name banner if it wasn't for the book. I am thrilled with the experience and looking forward to my next project out of Handmade Home.

Many thanks Erin!