PlanetJune Blog: Latest News, Patterns and Tutorials

I won this book through its blog tour, so I decided to review it for you. The following, as always, is based on my honest opinions!

Overview

Mend It Better: Creative Patching, Darning, and Stitching by Kristin M Roach, who you may know from her blog Craft Leftovers, is a combination book consisting of basic mending advice and project tutorials for creative mending.

The tutorials, mostly contributed by other crafters, show a variety of mending options to cover tears, holes and stains by crafting embellishments or making a feature of the damaged area, and upcycling projects to improve badly-fitting clothing or thrift store finds. Kristen also provides a tutorial for making a cute zippered mending kit.

Colourful creative mending projects (e.g. this page is from the Mola Applique Patch tutorial by Carina Envoldsen-Harris)

The bulk of the book is reference material: it includes a lot of excellent mending information: repairing various fabrics; fixing damaged seams and buttonholes; repairing or replacing damaged zips and pockets, and much more. But calling it just a ‘mending book’ doesn’t really do it justice (and I haven’t seen this mentioned in any other reviews) – it also includes instructions for alterations you can make to your clothing: taking in a seam, adding hidden pockets, taking up a hem, adding bead or stitched embellishments, etc.

Detailed information, e.g. how to mend pile (left) and stretch (right) fabrics

The information starts from absolute basics – no prior knowledge of sewing equipment or techniques is assumed. The written instructions and accompanying photos are clear and comprehensive. Although I’m not in love with the narrow 3-column page layout, it’s efficient – there’s lots of information on each page but it doesn’t feel cramped. All project steps are clearly numbered, so it’s easy to follow the instructions.

Mending information starting from the basics

My Experience

I skimmed through the whole book to give me a basic idea of techniques I could use at the moment and then decided to fix a backpack where the fabric had frayed along the seam allowance and left a big hole along the seam. I used my sewing machine and sewed a patch onto the back of the frayed fabric, then unpicked the original seam and re-sewed it to include the patch. I didn’t think to take a ‘before’ picture, but, as you can see, the result is pretty much invisible:

The fabric had frayed along the seam, leaving a big hole between the arrows.

Next I consulted the section on fixing leather. I had assumed my office chair was real leather until it started to wear through and rip, and I could see the sad pleathery truth. Months ago, I tried to mend it with Speed Sew fabric repair glue, but it didn’t hold, and the rip worsened every time I sat down until it reached this sorry situation:

The rest of the chair is fine, though, so I really needed to fix it somehow before the exposed foam started to disintegrate and made the chair unusable.

As my ‘fabric’ is cheap faux leather, I wasn’t sure if the leather-mending instructions would work, so I started with this tiny hole on the other side of the chair front, to test the method. I tried the ‘mending a tear in leather’ instructions but, although the instructions were fine, it quickly became apparent that it wouldn’t work in my case – the pleather tore with any stress on it, so I ended up having to make large whipstitches over the top of the hole to keep it together. Result: a mended hole, but not a pretty one.

Tiny hole, before and after stitching

By this point, I could tell that fixing the giant rip neatly was not an option, so I decided to go for a functionally creative mend, using patching and gluing techniques from the book in addition to trying to sew the hole so it would stay closed.

I cut some black webbing to fit inside the gaps, and then slowly glued a section of the seat cover to the webbing, and stitched the hole closed. The rip was so large that pulling the sides together was extremely difficult, especially as the seat fabric ripped if the stitches were too close to the ripped edge. I found that making large stitches through the fabric and into the webbing was the best bet – the stitches kept the fabric in place against the webbing while the glue dried, and added support for the glue.

It was a long, hard job – stitching through thick webbing with a thin curved upholstery needle is hard work, but a thicker needle would have damaged the pleather even more, so I persevered. And here’s the result:

No, it’s certainly not pretty, but it all holds together: my frankenstitches feel very stable with the glued webbing to back them up, and I think I’ve succeeded in saving the chair – the foam shouldn’t degrade any more now it’s safely hidden away. Now I just need to crochet a seat cover to hide the frankenstitches, and my chair will be as good as new 🙂

I’d ignored these problem for months, but having a book of mending techniques at my disposal makes me feel like I can tackle these things. Next I’m going to try fixing a too-loose zip that keeps falling down!

Peeves

• There’s a lot of information contained in the 200+ pages of this book, and some of the chapter headings are a bit broad and unclear (e.g. the Surface Fixes chapter includes fixes for snags and pulls, how to fix a patch pocket, 2 different project examples of adding new patch pockets, and instructions for re-pleating a skirt, while the Getting Fancy chapter includes lace, leather and stretch fabric repair). A one-sentence summary of each chapter on the Contents page would have been very helpful – I’d never have thought to look in ‘Getting Fancy’ to find the leather repair instructions! – so I definitely recommend consulting the index if you’re looking for something in particular.
• I have a very understated taste in clothing and I can’t imagine using any of the project ideas on my own clothes. They’d definitely be a fun way to extend the life of children’s clothing – which are much more likely to need mending anyway – or if you have a less conservative dress sense than me. Having said that, if I look at the projects as embellishment tutorials instead of mending tutorials, I could adapt them for decorating cushions, bags, etc, so they still have some value to me.

Final Thoughts

Mend It Better: Creative Patching, Darning, and Stitching has plenty of eye candy and project ideas for creative mending, upcycling and embellishing. For me, though, the real value of this book is in the well-explained techniques that will let you fix and mend common problems and make alterations to get more mileage out of your clothing (and also luggage and even upholstered furniture: although the book focuses on clothing, the techniques can obviously apply to any repairs of fabric, zips, buttons etc).

The techniques explained here are absolutely worth the purchase price, even if none of the projects appeal to you, so I recommend Mend It Better as a solid reference for a variety of sewing and mending techniques. I’ll be keeping my copy in my reference library, so I’ll have more confidence in attempting fixes and alterations for my clothes, and I’ll be well prepared next time I have a mending emergency!

Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve started some purely recreational craft projects to keep my hands busy in the evenings and weekends so I don’t accidentally start doing work again all the time. I’ve decided to try designing a couple of cardigans for myself. As I have no interest in becoming a professional knit/crochet-wear designer (I can’t do everything!), I don’t have to worry about taking notes or keeping my designs easy to follow, and I can hopefully tailor them to fit me, not the mythical average-sized woman.

To keep things interesting, I’m designing one in crochet (using some lovely Lion Brand Cotton Bamboo yarn that I’ve been hoarding for well over a year) and designing a knitted one too (and yes, this really will be my second knitting project ever, and my first attempt at purling!) – I’ll teach myself the other knitting techniques I’ll need as I go!

My WIPs: knitted and crocheted cardigans. I think I can do this!

Making any kind of fitted clothing is all very new to me, but I thrive on challenge and don’t like following other people’s patterns, so these are actually perfect relaxation projects for me. I can try them on as I go and adjust things if I need to. I really hope that my years of designing 3D shaping and beautiful stitch patterns will let me create clothing that doesn’t look embarrassingly home-made or ill-fitting, but that remains to be seen…

I’ll post photos and more details of each when I’ve finished them! I attached the first arm to the crocheted one last night, so that should be finished soon, but the knit cardigan is obviously going to be a very long-term project, assuming I can ever finish it. And that’s just fine – no rush, no stress, no deadlines; I’m just enjoying the process.

And now for some other news:

Vacation Shipping

As I’ll be visiting my parents later this month, I won’t be able to ship any orders while I’m away. So, please, if you need any crochet tools (Amigurumi Essentials Kits, Detail Stuffing Tools, Stitch Markers), order them by July 12th so I can mail them to you before I leave! Any orders received after this date will be shipped on my return, on July 30th.

Note: only the Crochet Tools category of my shop will be affected by my vacation – all patterns are instantly downloadable, as always 🙂

Review and Win contest

June’s ‘Review and Win’ winner is Haley B, with her Chunky Elegance Rug Trio review:

This is a wonderful pattern and easily customizable! I made mine with only one strand of bulky weight yarn and it is still very large – I also used two colors and it looks beautiful like that as well. With only one strand, I used about three and a half balls of yarn. I highly recomend this pattern; don’t be intimidated by how intricate it looks because the instructions are very clear!

Congrats Haley – I’ll email you to find out which pattern you’d like as your prize 🙂

To be entered into this month’s draw for a free pattern of your choice, just write a review of any product in my shop – thank you!

Spoiler alert: in doing this amigurumi stripe technique experiment, I invented 2 new techniques that make much neater stripes than I’ve ever seen before! If you’re not interested in my experiments, jump straight to the Perfect Stripes for Amigurumi video tutorial 🙂

It’s usually best to work amigurumi in a continuous spiral, to avoid any visible seams. The most useful reason to use joined rounds instead is if you’re forming stripes: you end up with a very obvious ‘jog’ between the start and end of each stripe with spiralled rounds, as the ends don’t meet.

Some examples of stripes in amigurumi

I’ve had requests for a video showing how to crochet neatly in joined rounds, and, while making my sample for the video, I didn’t like the results I was getting, so I thought I’d try a little experimentation to make sure I’d demonstrate the best way to make joined rounds for stripes, with the joins as seamless and jogless as possible…

Joining: the basics

To form joined rounds in single crochet, when you reach the end of a round, you sl st into the first stitch of that round. Then, to raise your hook to the height of the next round, you ch 1. But there are several ways to accomplish this, so I tried every option I could think of, to see what gave the best result and whether it’s worth joining your rounds or not…

Spiral (no join)

The standard amigurumi continuous spiral.

#1: Change to new colour in the last loop of the stitch before the colour change, sc in each st around.

It’s the bane of amigurumists: perfect stripes from the front (left), but a ‘jog’ at the back (right, marked by arrows).

The stitches are all even – there’s no seam at all – but the ends of the stripe don’t meet up at all.

Travelling Join

#2 and #3 are the same except for the point where you change colour (before or after the sl st).

Ch 1, sc in next st and in each st around, sc in sl st, skip ch 1. With [#2: same; #3: new] colour, join with sl st to first st.

The seam is almost invisible but the colour jog is still fairly prominent with both options. #2 has too much yellow, and #3 has distracting bars of brown showing at the join of the yellow.

And here’s the main problem with using either of these Travelling Join methods: the end of the round travels forward by one stitch with each round (marked by dotted lines in the pic to the right). This means it’s impossible to hide your seam at the back of the piece, because the seam moves with every stripe.

Stacked Join

#4 and #5 are the same except for the point where you change colour (before or after the sl st).

Ch 1, sc in first st (the same stitch you sl st’d into), sc in next st and in each st around. Skip sl st, skip ch 1. With [#4: same; #5: new] colour, join with sl st to first st.

The stripe ends match up more closely, and the start of the round doesn’t travel. #4 is the method I’ve recommended in the past, and it’s reasonable, although you can see that the yellow has a little jump in the last stitch. #5 has very obvious brown bars at the join of the yellow.

The downside with these Stacked Join methods is the series of visible horizontal bars along the seam (marked by arrows here). They’re caused by the sl sts that you don’t work back into, but the end result is that it looks like you’ve stitched along this seam with a series of too-loose whipstitches – and it’s even more obvious in reality than in my photo.

Experimentation

With my research done, it was time to invent my own join. The requirements were:

• The seam must line up at the back to minimise visibility – it can’t travel around the piece.
• The horizontal bar from my other stacked joins must be reduced as much as possible.

To save you from boredom, I’ll skip a full summary of the couple of dozen variants I tried (you can see some of the rejects in my samples above!) and just present the winners…

Perfect Stripes

I’ve created 2 methods to create the best stripes in amigurumi: the Invisible Join and the No-Cut Join.

#6: Invisible Join; #7: No-Cut Join

Can you see how much better they are than any of the standard joins?! The Invisible Join (as the name suggests) gives a slightly better finish, but the No-Cut Join is faster and less fiddly, so I recommend using a combination of the two for any pattern where you need to single crochet in joined rounds and/or make stripes. (More about that on the tutorial page.)

Now I have these new techniques at my disposal, you may well see more PlanetJune patterns involving stripes in the future! Curious how they are done? Allow me to demonstrate…

Continue to the Perfect Stripes for Amigurumi video tutorial >>

It’s time for me to take a step back for a while. I’ve been suffering recently with killer tension headaches and I need to take better care of myself.

I’ll let you into a secret: my patterns and tutorials are only any good as a result of endless hours of research, planning, and refinement, but my finished products look so simple and effortless that, looking back, I never really remember how long it took me to make them (especially as I’m always working on several things at once, so it’s hard to log the time spent on each one).

I have so many ideas: there are masses of designs I want to make, and all kinds of tutorials and crochet experiments I want to work on. Realistically, I probably have enough design and tutorial ideas on my to-do list to keep me working full-time for the next 2-3 years – and that doesn’t include the new ideas and suggestions that I add every week or so…

I can’t keep up with myself – I’m so excited about what I’m creating that I want to do everything!

Unfortunately, that’s not practical… Not unless I pace myself. So, here’s the slow-down plan:

• Assigning a timeframe to my creative work puts needless pressure on me. I’ve hinted at a series of cat designs I’m working on, but something still isn’t quite right with them. Sometimes the only solution is to set it aside for a while, so I’m shelving the cats until new inspiration hits. Apart from commissions, my designs should take however long they need to be the best I can make them.
• Another arbitrary deadline (monthly video tutorials) needs some wiggle room, so my next video tutorial will be a little later than planned. I’ve developed brand new techniques to demo in my Perfect Stripes for Amigurumi tutorial, so it’ll be worth the wait.
• As of right now, I’m on a 3-day rejuvenating work-free weekend – I’ll be doing some knitting (2nd project ever!) and maybe designing a new cross stitch pattern as a stress-relieving craft for the coming months.
• I’ll keep trying to figure out a balance. You may not see me online as much as usual throughout July – I’ll be visiting my parents for a while, and just trying to do less of everything.

Yes. Reading back over this list, it sounds good – I feel like my pressure release valve has just been activated…

My patterns are instantly downloadable after purchase, as zip files. These pose no problem to current computers, which have built-in unzipping software (so you can open them and access the PDFs stored inside). But, unfortunately, iDevices have no native way to handle zip files, and iPad users have been understandably frustrated that their patterns are in a format they can’t read without first downloading them to their computer.

Good news! One of my customers (thanks Jessica!) told me yesterday that there’s now a free app you can get for your iPad called iDownloads+. It allows you to download and open zip files on your iDevice, and then view the PDFs on-screen, print them, and/or transfer them to your computer.

UPDATE: Android users, see my companion tutorial on ZArchiver for Android.

I thought I’d give you a brief tutorial on how to use iDownloads+. There may be other apps with similar functionality, but iDownloads+ is one (free) way you can download and open zip files from your PlanetJune account on your iPad/iPhone.

(Please note: I don’t own an iDevice and can’t provide support for iPad/iPhone apps, so please don’t ask me if you have questions about this – I’m just providing this information as a service to iDevice users who have previously been unable to download and open their zipped patterns via iPad/iPhone.)

To view your PlanetJune patterns on your iPad

1. Download iDownloads+ from the App Store.
2. In your browser (Safari), go to your PlanetJune account and tap the download link for your pattern.
3. From the menu that opens, select Open in… and select iDownloads+ from the list. The zip file will be saved in iDownloads+.

   

4. Tap Extract to open the zip file. You’ll see a new folder with the same name as the zip file in the Files list on the left.

   

5. Tap the folder. You’ll see a list of the PDF(s) inside the zip file.
6. Tap the PDF to view it onscreen through iDownloads+.

   

7. (To hide the left menu so you can see your PDF in fullscreen mode, tap Hide Files List at the top of the screen.)

   

8. Advanced: iDownloads+ also lets you print your patterns, and transfer the PDF files to your computer via WiFi (using your browser) or via USB (using iTunes Sync). For details, go to Settings and then FAQ in iDownloads+.

I tested iDownloads+ today (hence these screenshots) and it works very well. Good news for all iPad owners! I hope you find this information helpful 🙂

Gamers, take note: they’re here! My set of giant crocheted gaming dice, by popular demand:

I cut out felt numbers to make my dice, but this is a fiddly and time-consuming technique, so I’m not recommending that you do the same: I give tips in the pattern for using fabric paint or embroidery to create the numbers, in addition to the templates I used to make my felt numbers and full numbering diagrams to create a perfect set of gaming dice.

Of course, the Gaming Dice pattern isn’t just numbering diagrams: it also has the ‘missing’ d10 shape – the only odd-one-out dice shape that isn’t one of the Platonic solids, and hence not part of my original set! I had a real challenge on my hands to create the d10 shape: it’s not formed from regular polygons like other dice, but from 10 kite shapes that combine into a pentagonal trapezohedron.

Not only was I constrained by the limits of making a good pattern (i.e. something that you can follow without tearing your hair out or getting confused) but it had to match the look, style and size of the 5 platonic solids in my Polyhedral Balls pattern, to make a complete matched set. And, after many prototypes, this is the d10 I came up with:

I crocheted it in grey to separate it from the other colourful balls, as it’s not part of the Polyhedral Balls pattern and I’m hoping not to confuse anyone with this addition!

Because of the constraints, the final d10 shape looks slightly less pointed from the side (above, left) than a real d10, but the shape is essentially correct, and it functions perfectly as a die – one side always lands facing up, and all 10 sides are equal, so there’s equal chance of any number coming up.

Gaming Dice is my first Expansion Pack pattern – although I have another 9 in the works, and ideas for even more – so I hope I’ve set everything up clearly in the shop so people will understand what exactly they are buying. (If anything is confusing, or you think may be confusing to someone else who hasn’t read the explanation in this post, please do let me know so I can fix it before I bring out any more Expansion Packs!)

What is an Expansion Pack?

• An Expansion Pack is an add-on to an existing PlanetJune pattern.
• The Expansion Pack lets you modify or add to the original pattern to create something else.
• You cannot use the Expansion Pack alone – you must also purchase the original pattern in order to be able to complete the pictured items in the Expansion Pack pattern.

Gaming Dice, in particular, includes:

• The crochet pattern and assembly diagrams for the pentagonal trapezohedron (aka d10 shape!)
• Full numbering diagrams to accompany the assembly diagrams (for the d10 and all 5 of the original set), in right- and left-handed versions
• Tips and suggestions for numbering the dice with fabric paint or embroidery
• Templates for the felt numerals I used for my sample dice

You can buy the Gaming Dice Expansion Pack for $3 individually from the shop, or, if you haven’t yet bought the Polyhedral Balls pattern, you can select it as an add-on to that pattern before you add it to your shopping cart, and save $1 on the pair.

Launch Discount

Now, as I only just released the Polyhedral Balls a couple of weeks ago, you’re probably wishing you’d waited to buy it so you could get the combined-purchase discount, but don’t worry – I’ve figured out a way for you to get the discount too!

If you’ve already bought Polyhedral Balls, all you need to do is add the Gaming Dice Expansion Pack pattern to your shopping cart, together with anything else ($5 minimum), then use the code GAMERSRULE at checkout to get your discount! (Valid until end of June 2012.)

Note: If you don’t need anything else right now, this also applies to Gift Certificate purchases, so you can pick up a $5 gift certificate now, get your discount, and have $5 in your PlanetJune account ready for your next purchase, or to send to a crocheting friend!

I’ve been planning for a long time to create Expansion Packs that extend the value of patterns you’ve already bought without you having to pay the full price again for something similar. I’m very interested to see how well this first one works out. There’ll be more to come! 😀

I just have to share pics of the first chameleons people have made from my new pattern – I knew it would look great in variegated/ombre yarns as well as solids, but now I can prove it! And I think the page in my pattern with posing suggestions and examples was worth adding too – just look at these brilliantly-posed examples:

theMarkofSMB & CrochetChrisie

yasminlangley & theMarkofSMB

yasminlangley & Veggie

planetjune & theMarkofSMB

(If you’re wondering about the significance of that last pic, Michigan J Chameleon is a reference to this wildlife post of mine!)

These were made as part of the Free-For-All CAL in the PlanetJune Ravelry group, but I couldn’t wait for a whole month to share them with you. Thank you to Monica, Chrisie, Yasmin and Becky for letting me share their photos – I love how the yarn choices and poses give each chameleon his own personality, don’t you?

Yes, that’s right, I’ve now been blogging for 6 years! Somehow, that doesn’t seem as surprising to me this year – usually it’s a big ‘wow’ moment when I realise my blogiversary is approaching…

Year 6 Review

This was a year of acceleration (and braking). After the stress of Year 5 (an intercontinental move and extended sickness and injury) I started Year 6 trying to get back up to speed. In fact, I worked so hard I was stressed up to the eyeballs. I took December off from designing to relieve the pressure on myself, and took 2 weeks off from everything except essential daily admin over Christmas.

This gave me an inkling of the direction I wanted to move towards – producing high quality work and still having some time left to have a life aside from work. But the break also got me fired up and ready to make changes, so I’ve been setting up a lot of new ‘pieces’ to the world of PlanetJune that will make life run more smoothly for me in future.

I created a new commissions system, finished my new logo, built and coded a new blog design and menu, launched a page to promote people who sell ready-crocheted PlanetJune designs, built up my FAQ, committed to producing at least one video tutorial per month…

Unfortunately, the result of all these grand plans was that I ended up even busier than I was before Christmas!

In between all my other PlanetJune work, I managed to design and publish 24 new crochet patterns:

That’s barely more than the 22 I released the previous year, but I’m aiming for quality with my designs, not quantity. I think it’s always worth putting in the extra time to create something special, and that also holds true from a business/profit standpoint: 1 amazing design can easily bring in more money from long-term sales over the years than 10 mediocre patterns.

Goal Review

My strange situation meant I didn’t set myself any real goals for Year 6:

I need to figure out the logistics of operating from here and how to get myself back on track under such different conditions. […] I need to prioritise getting settled into my new life and getting my health back. Only then can I really focus on making PlanetJune everything I know it could be if I only had the time.

While it hasn’t been easy, and I’m still not 100% settled here, I’ve basically met the ‘adjusting’ goals and moved onto expanding and improving PlanetJune and the resources I offer – yay!

What’s Next?

If you’ve read my post from a couple of weeks ago on beating craft business overwhelm, you’ll already know the strategies I’m working on implementing to make the ever-growing PlanetJune more sustainable with less work on my part: automating, prioritising, and re-energising.

I love doing what I’m doing here with PlanetJune; I really do. Even though I’ve worked incredibly hard to reach this point, I know how lucky I am to be in the position to do what I love for a living, and I don’t take that for granted. Yes, I am slightly overworked right now because I’m in the midst of building all my new systems, but that won’t last forever and then I’ll have the payoff: being able to concentrate on the work I really enjoy: creating, innovating, and explaining crochet techniques. I can’t wait!

Thank you for continuing to accompany me on my PlanetJune adventure – now onwards, into Year 7!