Certain Stitch Needles: Review

I was offered some needles to review and straightaway they caught my eye.  Certain Stitch Needles by Pony have been designed to make consistent hand stitching easier.  Each needle has a colour band near the tip of the needle, it can be felt on the needle and also as you push the needle into the fabric.  I tried out Short Darners, Crewels and Betweens but I concentrated on the Short Darners.

Each packet of needles contains a mix of sizes and the colour bands vary along with the sizes so you can choose different widths and lengths of needles with different band lengths and colours to create your stitches.  They are a standard cost (currently £1.99 at Wool Warehouse).

I used Short Darners with Aurifil 12 Wt for some bigger stitch details on this coaster.  I sewed through two layers; a quilt block and wadding.  I put some guideline creases in with a Hera marker and quilt ruler and got straight to work trying the needle out.  To work out the stitch length I lay the band of the needle next to the thread end and visually noted a point to aim the needle tip.  Once the needle is in and the tip is ready to come out from underneath, the band comes into play and as I rocked the needle in and out of the layers and watched the band travel through, I did make consistent stitches and sewed faster than I usually would.  The distance from the end of the band to the tip of the needle measured twice the length of the band and I found I could complete several stitches at a time using these visual guides.  You can see a video of these needles at work, plus a voice-over and captions, in my Instagram @verykerryberry highlights

It's a clever idea and I would certainly use the Short Darners on small projects where I want to add big stitches as a detail.  These needles would struggle on layers of fabric, I think they would bend out of shape and be hard to push through seam bulk, but they worked fine without a thimble on the fabric/wadding layers.  I did try the Crewel needles which are shorter and thinner, on the edge of the batting and I did find that they are very useful for establishing a consistent chain stitch (also detached chain stitch)  I tried blanket stitch but I wasn't sure how much they were helping.  It needs more experimentation!

They are an interesting product.  Like any needles, personal preference- size, length, thickness etc. varies with each sewer.  I don't know how resilient the coloured band would be over time either as I've only tested the needles over one afternoon.  I would guess they would wear with use and need replacing. When I posted my video review, one commenter, @sarahtextileart, suggested they could work for Sashiko too which I thought was an interesting idea. Lots of Zakka style projects have Sashiko style stitches along with other simple embroidery details and I think that is what I will use these for.  I did try the Betweens for hand quilting...

This is My Small World Quilt (yes from the QAL four years ago!).  It is a mix of machine quilting for the sky and hand quilting on the buildings and is not yet finished.  I used the longest Between needle on the pinwheels and the roof and curve in the pic above.  These are a lot shorter and I think the distance from the band to the tip is the same as the band length.  I struggle with a rocking motion through three or more layers as it tends to make my wrists and fingers hurt, hence why this remains unfinished.  These needles can take more tension and weight, as you would expect with quilting and I did manage those stitches in quite a short time- still makes my hands hurt though!  I sewed one or two stitches at a time.  The coloured band does make for one less thing to think about so I think I will try to pick this up for short times and use these needles as an incentive to get it finished.   I'm using Coats & Clark Hand Quilting Cotton thread.  It's quite thick with a special coating, it never snaps when I'm tugging knots through and I like the appearance, white seems to go with everything!

The Avid Seamstress Gathered Dress in Linen: Review

June and July are crazily busy months for me, a mix of work, deadlines, family events which is taking up all my time.  I made this dress at least 6 weeks ago and usually in a British summer, it would've had lots of wear, but this year we jumped from a late spring into a warm summer which shows no signs of stopping and long sleeves are too hot, but I loved the pattern, I've just cut out two more summery versions so I thought I'd share this one before I stitch up the others!

I haven't experienced an Avid Seamstress pattern before.  As with the majority of indie printed patterns, it is beautifully produced with a colour booklet and step-by-step instructions.  The Gathered Dress is based on their already successful child's Gathered Dress pattern.  The adult version has a raglan sleeve and side seam pockets.  The main feature is the gathered back waist detail. It's a simple, well-cut dress shape, with minimal details and a relatively quick sew.  There's a zip closure but after sewing a quick test version, I could see I didn't need it so I cut the back as one piece and omitted the zip. No interfacing is needed (hooray!) and the uninterrupted front section is perfect for a feature fabric.  It's a variation on a shift dress and the back detail is what swung it for me, a basic shift often doesn't do much for my shape; this dress had the extra element whilst retaining a gentle fit. I had two metres of a wide Italian linen twill weave bought from Stitch Fabrics at a local fabric fair. 

I made a size 1 (UK size 8) and the fit was almost perfect for me.  The only thing I changed was to lengthen the bust darts by 3/8" to the  0/UK 6  size lines which is quite a common bust alteration for me.  I also flared the bottom of the hem by around 1/2" on each side to add a little extra flare to the side seams I walk quickly with quite a generous stride and so I wanted just a little extra room. I particularly like the fit of the neck and shoulders and I can see this pattern becoming the basis of other tops and dresses.  I am very small busted so anyone larger than a B cup may need to make a full bust adjustment.

I followed the instructions all the way through which start suggesting that after sewing the bust darts, most seam edges are finished before sewing.  I never usually do this but on a simple style like this it really sped up the sewing process and as the fabric frayed very easily it was extra helpful.  They suggest using an elastic method to gather the back skirt but I didn't find this worked for me; I used my usual three rows of long machine stitches instead.  The instructions are generally good with one or two little niggles where the pictures don't quite match the process- e.g. the sleeve shoulder dart came together following the instructions but it didn't quite match the picture, and occasionally some extra pressing details would've been good but these are minor elements in what was a really enjoyable make.  I added some homemade Liberty Lawn binding to the neck facing and over the back waist seam; it just makes the edges a little softer against the skin.

 I've just cut out a short sleeved version in Nani Iro doubgauze whichich I'm currently sewing up and traced off a short font and back bodice to add to a gathered maxi skirt so it looks like it will be a versatile pattern for me.  

You can find the Gathered Dress at Village Haberdashery and Backstitch or buy direct from Avid Seamstress as a printed or PDF pattern. 

There seems to be a blogger glitch with comments at the moment- they don't come through to my email so I'll reply below instead!

Reviewing Sew Now Magazine

 Fiona from Sewing Directory put a shout out on Instagram for people interested in reviewing a new sewing magazine so I quickly left my details and here it is, Sew Now.  There's a huge range of sewing magazines available at the moment which can only be good for sewists- such a choice was unheard of a couple of years ago.  Sew Now has a reader-focused fashion theme which comes through strongly in the debut issue.  For £5.99 you get the main magazine plus a Simple Sew dress/top pattern and an accessories magazine plus additional offers that are well worth having inside the magazine.

The content is a mix of projects, fashion features with  things you can buy as well as make.  Projects range from beginner to intermediate and include accessories like the lovely canvas rucksack as well up-cycling and revamping.  It's from Practical Publishing which also publishes Love Sewing and Quilt Now and I can see some of the content crosses over although Sew Now has a distinct look of its own compared to the other titles.

There is a definite crossover between high street fashion and homemade with features on making bow ready for Christmas party wear, supplementing you home made with high street accessories and clothing and finding patterns that pick up on popular fashion details.  

My favourite element was the range in models, from the usual young slender models to older models and different body silhouettes including plus size which is part of their 'Plus size promise' to feature readers with fuller figures.   

I would've liked to see Anne Acosta (below) in a standing pose so we could see more of the dress she had made.  You may also know Anne as @new_vintage_sewing from Instagram!

When I first heard about Sew Now and it's fashion focus, I quickly assumed it was going to be aimed at young and beginner sewists but that's definitely not the case.  it has much broader appeal for anyone who likes fashion and high street trends and there's more technique and detail that I would usually expect in most of the established dressmaking magazines.  This issue has a feature on making men's shirts from Sewing Bee contestant Jamie Kemp of maledevonsewing.blogspot.com as well as a -'how to' by Wendy Ward on lapped zips which is an excerpt from her new book, A Beginner's Guide to Making Skirts'.

I was expecting a bit of jewellery making and maybe a scarf in the accessories magazine as it is an extra freebie  but it surprised me.  It's packed full of projects, my favourites were trimming a pair of ballet pumps...

and a foxy keyring in suede and leather scraps- it would easily work in pleather (fake leather) and suede pieces too.

If you like a subscription offer for Sew Now you can buy three issues for £6 (currently available for UK residents).  There are a lot of offers inside the magazine as well as the free patterns and accessories mag.  There's a chance to send off for a free printed pattern of the By Hand London Victoria blazer- still in stock when I last looked, and a very cute Sewing Bee tin at a reasonable price (I succumbed!).  The website is still awaiting a few final tweaks but the Facebook page is up and ready. You can also read an interview with Sew Now editor Sam Sterken at the Sewing Directory website.  Sew Now magazine is available in the UK at WHSmith, newsagents and supermarkets. 

SaveSave