(Disclaimer before we begin: 2019 Kat wrote this, and 2023 Kat just pulled it out of a long lost drafts folder to share with you! I’ve made a few updates but enjoy the photos of our old house!) Hello! Today’s a bit different! There’s no sewing in today’s post, and no beading either - although there is intent to bead! I want to show you how (and tell you why) I built my embroidery hoop stand. I’d better start with the why. There are a few caveats to using a hoop for Tambour Embroidery - specifically tambour beading. The hoop isn’t an ideal holder for tambour beading when the beadwork intends t ..read more

If you've been around this space for a post or two (it really doesn't take longer than that) - you'll know that one of the only things that rivals my love for making things is my love for researching making things. Today I want to tell you about something I spent HOURS of my life researching. Snaps! I’m going to talk mainly about baby clothes as the context for snap comparison because it was the context of my research, and also because it’s an area where the snaps have a bit more variability - often in other types of projects there’s a clear choice of snap to use, whereas in baby clothes you ..read more

This was supposed to be the year I finally made it to the Art Deco Festival in Napier, New Zealand - but Cyclone Gabrielle had other plans and the event was cancelled the day before it began… But that’s not really where the story starts. I always end up with mixed feelings after I finish a project, and I’d just finished Frocktails 2023 which was a huge undertaking. I’m happy to see them finished, but also quite sad that all the fun is over - which turns, perhaps predictably, into eagerness to start a new huge project! That’s how it started - five months ago, when Frocktails was finished, my fr ..read more

Well! If you’d told me a year ago that I’d be sitting down today to tell you about a hoodie I made with a pocket for my cat… I would have been really excited about the prospect of having a cat, but I can’t say I’d have believed you… and yet here we are! Theo is a bit of a velcro kitty. He likes to be where the people are at all times, and it is a great travesty to him that he is so small - his preferred vantage point from which to watch the world is much more human-height than cat height. What I’m saying is that he likes to be carried. He’s also - at just over 8 months old - already pushing t ..read more

As a tambour embroidery enthusiast, I think it’s safe to say I spend more time than your average bear thinking about embroidery marking tools. My requirements - especially when beads are involved - are extremely specific, since beads can’t always be submerged in water to wash marks on fabric away. Instead, I usually opt for brush-away options involving powdered chalk, or (more regularly) steam- or heat- disappearing options like the Pilot Frixion pens we all have a love/hate relationship with. Tambour embroidery has been around a lot longer than Frixion pens though - and they’re not always a ..read more

Today’s project is a bit different. I haven’t done an exploration of unusual materials in such a long time, and when I was researching this project there was very little online from people who had attempted something similar. So. If you’re interested in doing bead or sequin embroidery on silicone sheets, or in sewing a project made from silicone - this post is for you! I’ll go into the detail of why this project exists in a different post - the short version is that I was doing a bit of a deep dive into Kim Kardashian’s 2019 met gala dress - designed by Thierry Mugler and made from silicone ..read more

Hey! Happy New Year, and happy summer from the houthern Hemisphere! I’ve been slowly working on a top-secret machine embroidery project (I’m allowed to tell you it’s my sister’s wedding veil, but no other details are permitted, unless you’d like to join my Patreon and peek behind the proverbial curtain!). Since I’ve been sworn to secrecy, you’d be forgiven for thinking that not much is going on around here, as other projects have really slowed down. I do have something to show you, though - and they’re truly gorgeous! I’d like you to meet my latest and greatest shoemaking project. They’re my ..read more

Hey! Hi again! I’m on a roll! I’ve been looking through my photos which is a surefire way to get me fired up about projects I’ve made but not shared - and today is just one such occasion! I wanted to share one of the very first embroidery projects I made with my Bernette 79 Sewing/Embroidery machine - and I liked it so much I made it twice!* Today, I bring you the story of the digger hoodie for two small humans I happen to know. *Ok well, other people happened to like it quite a lot too…! Before we start: I’m very lucky to have this Bernette B79 as part of my ambassadorship with Bernina New Z ..read more

Note: I’ve dug deep into the blog draft archive to bring you this gem that I apparently never posted from 2018 - because I have some exciting news, (and I also really want to clear out my drafts folder). I’ve launched my very own Patreon page, and I’d love for you to come check it out! Patreon allows creators like me to provide exclusive access to supporters in exchange for a bit of cash, which then in turn helps me create better content to share with you by funding things like cameras and lights so I can film more video tutorials! It’s a cool system. My Patreon crew will get deep-dive behind ..read more

Hello and welcome to the post I promised would follow my last intro to my new B79! Two posts, so close together - what a novelty! Last time, I introduced you to my new machine - and I had so much to say that I decided to break out my first project into a separate post so that it could have the attention it deserved - as you do. So - without further ado, meet my new skirt! I'm very into my skirts at the moment - I've never really been a huge fan of them, until I realised that the reason for that was simply because I was a bit too tall to wear RTW skirts comfortable - a problem I can certainly ..read more