PlanetJune Blog: Latest News, Patterns and Tutorials

Okay, so I did a little test this weekend to establish what punchneedle is all about and whether it would be something I could design patterns for. This is my test piece – you may recognise the subjects as my Fuzzy Penguin and Fuzzy Seal 🙂 It’s approx 3.5″x 2.25″ and worked with 3 strands of DMC embroidery floss.

For this sample, I wanted to figure out what kind of designs would look best, so I designed the penguin to be not outlined, and the seal with an outline. I’ve learned a few things about designing for punchneedle:

• Not outlining looks best – the outline looks a bit uneven in places because it’s only 1 loop thick
• Tiny detail is difficult to replicate (e.g. the seal’s nose)
• Bold colours and patterns will look really good

But I can see a lot of potential here. I learnt that punchneedle is really easy to do, and it’s so fast compared with cross stitch! I punched the penguin and seal in under an hour and a half – and it was my first attempt, so that includes my slow start as I tried to learn how to punch correctly. The background took a bit longer, but it’s so relaxing and you don’t have to concentrate much, so it’s perfect to punch away while you watch TV.

UPDATE: By request, adding a close-up pic so you can see what the stitches look like:

L: Back of piece: looks like regular backstitched embroidery
R: Front of piece (edge on): lots of loops. Mine are 3mm tall but the tool lets you adjust the loop length to much longer

Now I’ve finished the experiment, I can visualize a whole series of designs… I think a range of dog breeds would be so cute, and also a wild animal range (giraffe, panda, etc). You could use them to make quilt squares (just add a fabric border), embellishments for bags etc, or just to frame.

Now my questions to you…

1. Are you intrigued by punchneedle? Would you like me to put up a basic tutorial so you can see how it works?
2. Might you be interested in PlanetJune punchneedle designs? (They would, of course, be better than my test piece above – I’m thinking more realistic and colourful)

I’m obviously still in the planning stages here, but I’d love some early feedback before I embark on a design range. I’m not asking for any kind of commitment; just your opinion. It’s a cheap craft to get into; once you’ve bought the actual needle, an embroidery hoop, and some woven fabric, then all you need to pick up for each project is the floss colours.

If there’s no interest, I’ll still make some for myself, just for fun, but I really think this is another craft that just needs a little updating with some fresh, cute patterns to be relevant to us. All the patterns I’ve seen are a bit too, um, country (is that the right word?) for my taste.

Please let me know what you think! Any comments welcome.

My ‘Ice Cream Bear’ crochet pattern made his debut in the Summer 2008 issue of A Needle Pulling Thread magazine, but if you don’t have a copy of the magazine, I’m happy to announce that the pattern is now available to purchase directly from the PlanetJune shop.

I designed Ice Cream Bear to have the timeless look of a classic toy teddy bear. I chose a boucle yarn, which masks the stitches in the finished bear – people are amazed to hear he is crocheted! If the thought of working with boucle intimidates you, you could substitute any bulky weight yarn, which would give your bear a more standard amigurumi look.

By the way, these are the first pics taken with my new camera! So far, so good (although there’s a bit of a learning curve!)

I chose to make a cherry ice cream for my bear, but you could easily make cookies & cream (brown chunks on cream) or mint choc chip (brown chunks on green) or any other flavour of ice cream. Mmm, all this talk of ice cream is making me hungry!

It’s always summer with Ice Cream Bear around. I hope you like him!

Wow, it’s May already! I’ve been officially self-employed for 4 months now, so I thought it was time for an update on how the first third of 2009 went.

It’s funny how things work out: I’ve been so busy with other projects that I really haven’t had a chance to try to build my business at all! January to March was basically filled with writing my upcoming book, Paper Chains & Garlands, and most of April was taken up with preparation for the Creativ Festival.

In between all that, I’ve only managed to publish a handful of new crochet patterns:

L-R: African Violets, Mop Top Mascots, Basic Rose, Alpaca, PocketAmi Easter

But now it’s May, and I have nothing on the horizon, so I finally have time to come up with lots of new designs – yay! Not that I’m short of ideas, but if you have any requests or suggestions, please let me know…

Other business news: I’ve just invested in a DSLR camera (a Sony A200) to help improve my product photography. My old camera had issues with grainy noise in low light situations, so in the past I’ve had to spend a lot of time cleaning up my photos before they are good enough to publish. I’m hoping the new camera will let me get clear, sharp shots without much post-processing, which (once I’ve learnt how to use the camera!) will free up more time for other things.

And I’ve also just made a new homepage that fits in better with the style of PlanetJune. I’d love to freshen up my entire website with a new style, but that’ll have to be a longer-term project!

Old: oops, total disconnect with the rest of my site…

New and improved: matches my blog, and bonus orang pic!

Oh, and one more thing: I was interviewed about amigurumi and romanticism for the latest issue of Yareah magazine. Check out my article online.

This basic rose pattern is a perfect introduction to crocheted flowers, and it’s so versatile – make it in any size and colour you like!

Here are some ideas for use:

• Use the optional stem pattern below to create a whole vase of roses
• Stitch a pin to the back of a rose to make a pretty brooch
• Accessorize a bag by sewing on a couple of roses
• Sew or glue a small rose to a hair clip or plastic hairband

UPDATE: I forgot to mention these would also make a perfect Mother’s Day gift!

Continue to the Basic Rose crochet pattern.

I meant to post this yesterday, but I was just too tired to write coherently! The show was a great success – I met loads of lovely people, made some money, and managed to stay awake and reasonably alert through all three wonderful, exhausting days 🙂

My table. The orang utan got a lot of attention!

You can’t really see it in the photo, but I did wear the tiny blue rose hair clip. And if you look carefully just in front of my right arm, you may catch a black and white peek at my latest design-in-progress on the table. More on that next week, most likely…

I was tweeting from the show whenever I had a spare minute (so not very often). Being able to communicate any interesting personal news immediately is one of the most appealing things about Twitter, and I loved being able to read the replies on my phone in quiet moments!

My Who’s Who in the Crochet Zoo was a fun talk – I brought along 15 different animals in all shapes, sizes and yarn types, and tried to share some of my knowledge and tips. I had 15-20 attendees and I think they enjoyed it too.

My Crochet a Decorative Rose class on Saturday also had about 15-20 people (I was too busy teaching to count). On Sunday, though, the same class was insanely popular – people were lining up 1/2 hr early to get tickets, and it sold out within minutes! I felt like a crochet rock star! I’m still working on the pattern for the roses, but it’ll be up here in the next day or two, so if you wanted to come to my class but couldn’t get a ticket, check back here soon…

I’ll also be sending out a thank you discount code to everyone who has signed up for my mailing list, so if you’re not on my list yet, you might want to sign up now so you can take advantage of the discount!

Hmm, what else can I tell you about the show? Oh yes, the new business cards! I put out both new designs (Discworld and Guinea Pigs) and the old ‘classic’ style cards, and people took whichever they liked best. It looks like around 50 each of the Discworld and classic cards were taken, and close to 100 of the Guinea Pig cards, so I think going for the cute eye-catching card designs was worth it! I’d like to think that people might pin them to their noticeboard instead of throwing them away as soon as they got home…

The old card is top right – see how much more eye-catching the new ones are? (All the info is still there – it’s just printed on the back)

I didn’t really get much of a chance to look around the rest of the show, but my lovely booth neighbours from Upper Canada Quiltworks were demoing and selling a very intriguing looking craft: punchneedle. Ever heard of it? I’ll do a post on it when I’ve had a go – I couldn’t resist buying one to try! It makes a sort of looped embroidery. I can’t wait to try it out; I have loads of design ideas already.

It’s a punchneedle!

So, all in all, the show was amazing. As always, the best part of being there was getting to actually interact face to face with people. It was lovely to see some familiar faces from previous shows, and to make new friends! Of course, it’s not all good – you have to wonder at the insensitivity of those people who walked past my table with a look of absolute contempt on their faces because my art/craft is ‘only toys’… Hello?! I hope I’ve never been so cruel to anyone’s face, no matter my opinion of their work! But for each one of that type of person, there were 10, or 20, or 100 people who smiled when they saw my work. And that reaction is just better than anything you can experience online… ♥

Just a quick update – day 1 was a success! Pic of the day – can you tell which one is crocheted?

Awww!

This is my new basic rose that I designed especially for my classes this weekend. I’ll be teaching how to make these at the show (Saturday 3.30pm, Sunday 2.30pm) if you’d like to learn how to make them too. Here’s a vase of worsted weight roses for my table display:

And a rose hairclip I thread crocheted to wear at the show:

The clip is made with the same basic rose pattern, just much, much smaller – that’s a 1.5mm hook!

If you can’t make it to my classes this weekend, I’ll be publishing the pattern here soon too. Sign up for my mailing list if you’d like to know when it’s available.

I won’t be home until Sunday night, so expect my show report early next week. Wish me luck for this weekend!

I can hardly believe that the Creativ Festival is this weekend! It’s so exciting – crafters who live in or near Ontario, you HAVE to come to the show! It’s being held at the International Centre near Pearson Airport in Mississauga.

For some reason, people seem to have the idea that this is a typical craft show, i.e. people selling their handmade goods. That’s not what this show is about at all! The Creativ Festival is about trend spotting, inspiration, fabulous shopping, new products, industry experts, how-to’s, make ‘n takes, seminars, fashion shows, book signings, exquisite displays, & exciting door prizes! USA Today calls it one of the top “10 great places for a hands-on craft experience” in the whole of North America. Check out the festival brochure to see what’s on offer.

Here’s me at last spring’s show, working on the first arm of my orang utan!

The show begins this Friday, April 24th, and I’ll be there on all 3 days. Please come and introduce yourself; I’d love to meet some of you in person! Here’s my schedule:

Friday 1pm-8pm (except while I’m giving my talk): Come and meet me at booth #152

Friday 2.30pm: Who’s Who in the Crochet Zoo! When a ball of yarn and a crochet hook meet up with a lot of talent and imagination… cute little creatures come to life. Meet crochet designer June Gilbank of PlanetJune.com and her adorable crochet creations. Just the inspiration needed to crochet for the animal lovers in your life!

Saturday 9am-1pm, Sunday 9am-1pm: Come and meet me at booth #152

Saturday 3.30pm, Sunday 2.30pm: Crochet a Decorative Rose June teaches how to crochet a simple decorative rose with endless possibilities. Wear it as a buttonhole or brooch or use it to embellish a bag or wearables.

A bit more festival info: all workshops, demos and seminars are FREE, and the crafts covered include appliqué, beadwork, bear making, brass embossing, card making, crafting, crochet, cross stitch, cutwork, designing, digitizing, embroidery, fabric dyeing, felting, finishing, fitting, framing, goldwork, heirloom sewing, knitting, lace making, long arm stand-up machine quilting, loomwork, machine embroidery, needle tatting, needlepoint, paper crafts, patchwork, pattern alterations, pattern drafting, punch art, quilting (hand & machine), rug hooking, scrapbooking, serging, sewing, shadow work, silk ribbon embroidery, smocking, stamping, stencilling, surface embellishment and more!

See, didn’t I tell you it was a crafter’s paradise? So what are you waiting for, meet me (and my orang utan) and enjoy a craft-filled day at the Creativ Festival this weekend!