Project by Lucy Picksley
Nowadays I create my makes designed on what I feel could be my next pattern release and that’s okay, it’s what I do and enjoy. But last week I threw my own rule book out of the window with great gusto and an arm fling that would have taken anyone out.
I was tired, I was grumpy, I felt down. That’s real life isn’t it. We have good days we have bad. Mostly we have the ‘in-between’ days. More recently though my days have been misbalanced and slipped more into the ‘down’ days.
With this in mind I decided to harness my roots and sew for love and for no other purpose. I decided to abandon my drawing book and make without sketching, following my own groove and seeing where I landed at the end of the day.
I had half a metre each of the Reeds and colourful Seaweed to make use of and I’d previously contacted The Crafty Lass (Paula) the amazing designer of the Sea in Colour Range to see if she had some scraps I could make use of to weave into the design which she happily obliged.
So what to make?
Well! I’m also a bit of a knitter, not a great knitter but a good knitter with a bit of promise to improve over time. My WIPS are growing by the day as are my needles, pins and yarn stash. I do try to keep myself in order with yarns categorized in boxes with patterns to suit the yarn. You get the idea. But my needles – well they are just all over the place with no sense of order at all.
So my project with this fabric became clear. I needed an organizer for all types and lengths of needles – simple!
In my last project design, the Wintern Collection I started working with apple and red mesh and it looked amazing. I couldn’t help but think it would look absolutely stunning with the Sea collection, reminding me of the fishing nets we would use to catch the minnows on our family holidays at Cosgrove Lakes as a small child.
The Make
The finished make comes out as slightly larger than A4 when closed (A3 open). On the right hand side there are a number of slots for needles with a large pattern pocket that sits behind them. To the left I have made 2 sizes of mesh zipped pockets to house my circular needles with the largest pocket for the really chunky needles. To the top left there is a smaller flapped pocket that I keep my Double Pointed Needles (DPNs) in and these are closed securely with a popper.
I had loads of fun on the front of the organizer using up the scraps from the rest of the fabric collection Paula had gifted me. I created a little heart template and sewed this up using the Foundation Paper Piecing (FPP) method. I added some bright white to make the colours pop and then overlayed the whole piece with some sparkly PU which (imo) was genius. It just sort of adds to that watery theme.
Plain green has been added throughout to breakup spaces and create width and depth where needed and the entire organizer was filled with a heavy decovil to give it structure and firmness.
What I would change
Like I said at the start this make was improvised rather than planned, I followed my nose rather than thinking too far ahead. Had I known my nose was blocked with an incoming cold then I might have slowed down my thinking! The biggest change I would make if I did decide to develop the pattern on would be to create a flap to cover the top of the needles on the right (same as the uppermost flap on the inside left).
My fabric choice, whilst amazing did become far too busy for me and I would look to calm things down a little with my outer fabrics, perhaps by introducing more white or solids to the design.
Final thoughts
The entire make was a joy. It filled my heart with love and I adored working with such bright and joyful fabrics. As always, and as I’ve come to expect the quality of these fabrics are second to non. They handle well, cut smoothly and most important of all, behave for me.
Well done Paula on creating such a fabulous collection once again x
To see more from Lucy, follow her on Instagram @sew_pretty_sew_mindful, and check out her Youtube channel!
Made by Lucy Picksley for The Craft Cotton Co 2023.