Dork Adore » Patterns

The State of Craft book review

Dork Adore — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 10:00:00 +0000

I’m a huge fan of the home-made gift at Christmas. For Christmasses past I’ve received hand-knitted mittens, homemade plum chutney and wallets with Manga characters stitched on.

Meanwhile, I’ve inflicted on loved ones gifts such as garishly striped scarves, a tie – covered in sequins and the word “DAD” in felt appliqué – and C90s with painstakingly detailed inlays.

As the last order-in-time-for-Christmas dates approach in shopping sites, I’d much rather spend a day cosy indoors hand-making presents for the geeks in my life than face the horror of Christmas shopping on a real-life high street.

New book The State Of Craft (edited by Victoria Woodcock, Cicada Books) offers plenty of inspiration for presents.

The book is a mix of crafting tutorials (knitting, French knitting, sewing, cross-stitch and crochet), interviews with professional British crafters, and craft projects.

The tutorials are probably a bit too brief for someone with no previous experience, but they’re a good reminder if you know the basics. Of the actual projects, there are some seriously geeky treats amongst the sixty-plus illustrated instructions and patterns.

Water Pistol lights

Maris Schiess contributes a tutorial on making festive decorations using fairy lights and cheap water pistols. Quick, colourful, and Christmassy.

Dazzling 3-D Tee

Next up, something to wear on Christmas day. Mr Wingate has provided a tutorial on making a brilliantly eye boggling, screen-printed t-shirt. It’s a little unclear from the tutorial whether it’s actually 3-D, but certainly the layering of yellow, pink and blue prints make for a striking geometric print.

It also requires more specialist materials than some of the other projects – a proper silkscreen is required – but it seems like a good intro to printing your own graphic t-shirts. Which seems like an eminently useful skill to me.

Mini Protest Banner

Cross-stitch, cross-stitch! Something about the combination of embroidery and pixellation makes this seem like the geekiest of the crafts.

Craftivist Collective are producers of handmade mini banners for non-violent activisim, and for this book have provided a brilliant pattern for a Superman cross-stitch, with the words “Good planets are hard to find & I can’t f*@king save you this time”.

Again, this looks like a quick project to whip up in the evenings leading up to Christmas – if you can’t face any more drunken office parties.

Always useful to know how to embroider an “@” symbol, too.

Invaders Tote Bag

My absolute favourite piece from the book has to be Urban Cross Stitch’s Invaders Tote Bag featuring – you guessed it – an embroidered Space Invaders screen shot, complete with high score, credits, and laser beam.

The project also features water-soluble cross-stitch canvas, which I’d never heard of before but am now dying to get my hands on.

The finished bag looks brilliant in the photos, but it also inspired me to think of what else could be improved by the addition of hand-stitched aliens. There’s a whole world of fabrics looking mightily in need of some boxy alien spacecraft to me now…

State Of Craft is a fun, easy-on-the-eye craft book with plenty of nerdish treats between its covers.

But, to be honest, if the handmade present idea seems a bit too much like hard work this Christmas, there’s still time to go to Amazon – or a lovely local bookshop – and just give the book itself to any craft fans in your life.

State Of Craft is out now (£14.95, Cicada Books)

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Etsy Finds: The Big Bang Theory

Michelle — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 14:00:01 +0000

In celebration of the fact that I finally learnt all the words to the theme tune (I am shamefaced to admit ‘Maths, Science, History…’ had me stumped) and because I have a whole lot of love for those lovely geek boys from The Big Bang Theory, I have decided to dedicate an entire Etsy Finds to them.

Although I must confess I have sneaked in one non-Etsy item in the shape of the Mrs Sheldon Cooper necklace which I just couldn’t resist (a big thanks to my fellow dork Tamsin for bringing it to my attention.

Top Row (L-R) Mrs Sheldon Cooper Necklace, £7.95 from Sugar and Vice; Dino Tee (as worn by Sheldon), $16 from Happy Family & Bazinga Coasters, $9.50 from Pinky Crafts

Bottom Row (L-R) Big Bang Theory Pixel People Finished Cross Stitch, $45 from Wee Little Stitches*; Rock, Paper, Scissors, Lizard, Spock Cross Stitch pattern, $5 from Robin’s Design and it just wouldn’t be a geeky etsy finds without some Big Bang Theory Peg People, $55 from Randomly Generated

*Psst. If you would prefer to stitch the Big Bang Theory Pixel People yourself you can grab the pattern for just $6

Recommended reading: More Etsy Finds | The Big Bang Theory on Dork Adore

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Beasties by Diana Schoenbrun: Dork Review

Michelle — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 19:39:50 +0000

Always wanted a zombie, werewolf or yeti to pet and call your own? Well then you need to get your mitts on the new craft book Beasties: How to Make 22 Mischievous Monsters That Go Bump in the Night by Diana Schoenbrun, and you can create your very own menagerie of magically mythical creatures.

‘It’s Alive’
As the title would suggest the book contains 22 stash-busting projects, ranging in difficulty from those perfect for the beginner right through to advanced projects for more skilled sewers.

And because a lot of the beasties are pretty wee creatures, it is the perfect way to use up all those fabric scraps that you can’t bear to part with.

The instructions are clear and easy to follow, and there are some great tips to help you customise your chosen beasties. In fact, the book will provide you with such a vast array of patterns and inspiration, you will no doubt be able to get really creative and dream up some of your very own monsters.

Monster Magic
Aside from the projects themselves, one of my very favourite things about this book is the selection of handy Beastie Tips.

I now feel perfectly safe in the knowledge that should I ever be captured by a Fish-Head Alien all I need to do is tell a tale full of intrigue to secure my release.

My other favourite thing is that Diana has crafted the most intricate and inspired habitats for each and everyone of the wee beasties, such as the wonderfully odd chicken legged cabin in which the Baba Yaga resides.

Conclusion
Beasties is an absolute corker of a craft book, and whatever your skill level you will have lots of fun breathing life into your very own mythical beast. I highly recommend you go and buy it right now.

Beasties by Diana Schoenbrun published by Perigee Trade (Penguin Group) is available from Amazon for just £8.44. Which mini monster will you be making?

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The best craft blogs of the week

Emma Cossey — Tue, 21 Sep 2010 15:00:07 +0000

This week is the start of a new series, where we round up the best of the posts and news in the crafty blogging community.

First up, Crafty Crafty found a free pattern for these cube craft Scott Pilgrim characters above.
Our very own Michelle Duxbury rounds up the best back to school products on her blog Craftville.
Craftzine has a tutorial video to make your own Mozilla Firefox necklace.
Craftgossiping shares a video for a sock skeleton, so you can get cracking in time for Halloween.
Multibeavo offers up the pattern for a Super Mario Scarf for the colder months.

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Dork Craft: Wicket the Ewok Amigurumi

Emma Cossey — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 13:19:20 +0000

If, like me, you’re extremely disorganised and you’ve left most of your present shopping to the week before Christmas, you might want to consider getting a little crafty.

I loved the Ewoks in Star Wars, so this crochet Wicket the Ewok Amigurumi really caught my eye when I was reading through Geek Crafts.

It’s by mum and crafter Lucy Ravenscar, and she’s shared the PDF pattern, so you can create him at home.

Have a browse through the rest of her patterns too, they’re all influenced by her children’s requests.

More free patterns on Dork Adore
More crochet on Dork Adore

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Harry Hill’s TV Burp Knitted Character

Katie — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 18:00:01 +0000

First things first, “Knitted Character” is quite clearly crocheted and if you’re a crafty type (like me) that probably bothers you every single week (a handy reminder that crafty types nearly always need to get out more).

Thankfully, the people who actually made the original Knitted Character toy are equally pedantic, and take the trouble to point out the crafting faux pas on their website. Cloth-Ears sell the Knitted Character (and a bunch of his friends) for £10.99.

However, there’s a bit of a waiting list – unsurprisingly – and if you’re really desperate for your own yarn bunny, some eBay sellers have cobbled together an approximation of the Knitted Character that almost passes for the real thing (if you squint).

If you fancy making one yourself, a pattern like this Amigurumi Crochet Bunny Pattern is a good place to start as is this Easter Bunny Pattern.

Then, all you need to do is add the nose bit (which you can copy from this amigurumi piggy pattern), make the ears a bit thinner, and add in some pink stripes.

If anyone finds an actual pattern for the Knitted Character out there, please let me know!

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Where the Wild Things Are amigurumi crochet patterns

Katie — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 12:01:13 +0000

It’s times like this that you have to get down on your knees and thank the internet for being so marvellous.

After all, how else would any of us get to see this amigurumi pattern for Max and one of the monsters (Carol aka Moishe) from Where the Wild Things Are?

The patterns cost just $5 each (though you cannot sell the finished products). They’re available from Etsy courtesy of the very clever Allison at Crafty is Cool.

More Crochet on Dork Adore

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Dork Adore » Patterns

The State of Craft book review

Water Pistol lights

Dazzling 3-D Tee

Mini Protest Banner

Invaders Tote Bag

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Etsy Finds: The Big Bang Theory

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Beasties by Diana Schoenbrun: Dork Review

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The best craft blogs of the week

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Dork Craft: Wicket the Ewok Amigurumi

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Harry Hill’s TV Burp Knitted Character

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Where the Wild Things Are amigurumi crochet patterns

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