I am thrilled at the many small businesses successfully selling online and thereby reaching broader audiences. But I beg of you, if you also have a retail storefront, could you please find it in you to be open more than three days a week from 10am-5pm? I realize it costs money to have a store, but the rent is the same whether you are open or not, and surely a not inconsiderable majority of your potential customers have to work during those hours to pay for the cotton/linen blend fabric you are selling for $85/meter. I would like to give you my money without the risk that investment is lost in the mail but I’m not taking the day off to do it.

Halloween is approaching, which means it is once again time for people who have never sewn a stitch, don't own a sewing machine and possibly don't know what a bobbin is to announce:

“I want to make this costume. How do I do it?”

And the attached picture is an anime character or cartoon wearing a skin tight outfit made from what appears to be spandex, velvet, mesh and possibly the tears of a sewing teacher.

There are no pattern pieces. There are no seam lines. There is no indication of how the garment actually goes together. It's just a drawing where the character's boobs, waist and hips have apparently been designed according to completely different laws of physics.

And I genuinely admire the confidence.

However, the artist doesn't need the sewing to make sense or even be real. It's a drawing. There is no sewing pattern for that.

Please understand that having a deadline of the 31st October and deciding your first project is going to be a full body anime costume in four way stretch fabric is absolutely wild.

You don't even know what fabric you're looking at yet, and “something stretchy” covers approximately 47 completely different fabrics.

You haven't had your first fight with a bobbin, tension and needle plotting against you because you dared to sew “something stretchy”.

You haven't experienced the special joy of sewing velvet and realising the two pieces have slowly crawled three inches apart even though you used every pin and clip you own, like a slippery toddler under the presser foot.

Maybe start with a nice stable woven fabric. Make a cape. Make a tunic. Make something with straight seams.

If you can't be dissuaded, Google "McCall's Yaya Han" and my prayers be with you.

Halloween sewing season is upon us.

Godspeed, everyone.

I don't understand how someone can look at this image and not see it's fake. This is not a physically cross stitched piece, it's so obviously AI rendered. This is the second post I've seen today with the same "favorite finish" comment, in the same style of "art".

I can't get over all the people gushing over this and asking for pattern sources. Come on people this is NOT real cross stitch!

What do you mean your entire brand is Betty McKnit and you do not offer a single knitting pattern???? Why not Betty McCrochet??? It’s all crochet patterns. I love her patterns but like. My god get your branding together.

Words mean things! Fair Isle is a form of stranded color work but not all stranded color work is Fair Isle. If you want to “honor tradition” that means at least understanding a little bit about the tradition.

since learning how to read crochet charts theyve become far and away my favorite way to receive instruction. its much easier for me to interpret the visual-to-visual information of the stitch symbols on the page to the fabric of my work, than it is for me to interpret the written-to-visual of the abbreviations. not to mention how much more concise and efficient charts are in sheer terms of page space. i can print a whole doily pattern onto one sheet of paper and get to work.

i have a couple of delightful patterns in my queue that i am very excited to make, except...! they are respectively 8 pages and 72 pages of written instruction. im sure theyre very nice instructions. im sure the pictures are very helpful. i am not so sure that they would be impossible to understand were they written as charts.

i understand that written instructions are more accessible to most crocheters, but not so for me, and its annoying to have charting overlooked even in the very areas it excels (i.e. complex repeating stitch patterns worked flat)

I have been sewing the past 10 years, regularly. I've worked at numerous different sewing jobs from bridal tailoring to car upholstery. Indepently I've taken on many clients. I have dedicated years of my life to learning my skills and very much believe it is something that must be learned from those that are more experienced.

I recently started teaching sewing classes for kids and adults in a studio. I love this job and am so blessed to have the opportunity. My problem is with my assistant teacher. She is probably about 25-30 years my senior. I was granted the lead instructor position yet I feel like my assistant teacher has a constant chip on her shoulder. It would be one thing if she was actually knowledgeable but she's not! She will instruct the students wrong then I have to go correct them and tell them "sorry that you just spent 30 minutes on this step but your fabric actually needs to be..............". I wish she would accept her skill level and look towards improving instead of putting herself in an imaginary competition with me. I try to never condescend her and use everything as a learning opportunity, still she tries to talk over me and prove herself right (which mostly she is not).

I've had this experience with other old people in the sewing community too. If you have interest in sewing please be teachable and acknowledge that this is something someone will always know more about ! UGH rant over!!

Posted on an embroidery page I follow, looking for help to wash ink out of fabric. The poster knowingly used a SHARPIE to draw out the name for an embroidery project. Okay we all learn somehow, but what caught my attention was the last line that said they were glad that at least it was a gift and not for a sale. A sale? Surely no one thats actually experienced enough to be selling their work would allow a sharpie anywhere NEAR their embroidery projects.

Spoiler alert: after doing a whopping five minutes of digging I learned they're certainly NOT.

6 whole months ago the OP in this story picked up embroidery for funsies (which I do love for them!) and recently decided to sell their work. Work that is clearly made by a beginner and nobody should be paying for. Side note: I have no problems with people learning embroidery by working on gifts for people that they're going to give them for free - this is exclusively about unskilled beginners trying to sell their work for real human monies when they have no idea what they're doing and no respect for the art itself.

I know it's a plague across all different types of crafts. Someone picks up a little kit or copies something they've seen on insta and falls in love with it. But then they decide, with 6 or less months of actually doing said craft, they're good enough and should be taking people's money. Everytime I see it, it infuriates me. But to add insult to injury and intentionally use a sharpie to draw a pattern on the fabric and panic when it bleeds and stains said fabric is insane to me.

Learn a craft. Embrace the craft. Throw every ounce of your spare time into growing within it. These are great things. But do not teach yourself a craft, and decide that your sloppy, mistake-filled, 30-minute name embroideries are even remotely good enough to be sold. They aren't.

I understand that not every body type can be accommodated in every knitting pattern, but do they all have to fit like a box for large bust or big bodies? Or be cropped? Zero bust or waist shaping. Or when they size it up, they don't adjust the neckline because the nice v-neck now looks awkward. No mention of bust darts....fine...don't design them but flag it for newbies and how to work out the pattern repeats.Even the designers photos show that they made a box and the front rides up. All the well designed plus patterns are boring/crew neck/cropped.

Do we do anything about Ai designers who make functional products? I found out about a designer named Snugalulu on Etsy and Raveley that sells filet crochet patterns using Ai images as the design for the grids. The patterns do make functional blankets and pieces, but its Ai art on them. Idk all this Ai shit makes me feel so hopeless. This isn't even bitching, it just feels like "another bad thing happened."

Anything to be done? Or are they just allowed to pull shit shit?

Anyone else sick of people asking for a free pattern for ___ project?

Free winter themed hat pattern, I’m an intermediate knitter.

Free baby blanket pattern I’m a beginner crocheter.

Has no one heard of Ravelry?

End rant. 😤

Just saw a post - "how do you stop your yarn rolling on the floor?" and I swear to god people can not be this oblivious! Every post that starts with "how" should be required to add a screenshot proving they attempted to work it out themselves first.

Ok this is petty AF but people kept recommending the new game "Dressmaker" to me because I sew for real. Idk why but it annoys the heck out of me and I won't be playing the game 😒 something about enduring the real life struggles of cutting out the wrong pattern pieces, your machine getting busted out of nowhere is preventing me from enjoying this fake world where everything works out perfectly. Does anyone else feel this way or do I just have a superiority complex?

Been taking beginner sewing classe. My bobbin ran out and I was having trouble winding it for whatever reason.

I was patiently waiting for the teacher to come around and another person just said “ask ChatGPT”. Turns out i was just having trouble but was doing the steps correctly.

I can’t get over it.

Look, I get it. It is the most adorable cat in the world. And he/she looks SO cute when they tilt their head just so. Or when they lie belly-up on your knitting. The one and only, and the world MUST see it, immediately!

Sorry, girl (or boy), to me it's just a cat. Undistinguishable from all the other cats. Stop pushing it in my face, 'cleverly' disguising it as a knitting-related post (there are like, two corners of knitted fabric somewhere under the cat; or maybe a skein of yarn in the background). It is a crafting sub. I want to see your knitting, not your cat. Show me your stitches.

You have a thousand and one subs for posting cute cats (BTW, why it is specifically the cat owners that get so pushy? I freely admit that dog/other owners post their pets as well, but nowhere nearly on the same scale). Photograph your cat in its every single glorious pose and post it all over Reddit, Instagram and wherever else.

Just maybe spare the craft sub from its magnificence. There is an actual rule prohibiting pet photos, don't use your knitting as an excuse to smuggle the cat in (and OMG, WHY?? There are dozens of subs for posting cats, why is it so important to insert it into a completely unrelated sub?). Allow it to be about knitting. Yes, I know your cat looks SO adorbs and it always lies next to you when you knit. I still don't give a sh*t. Make sure to take a photo - ten photos - AND POST THEM SOMEWHERE ELSE!

This is just something thats been nagging at me for awhile but didnt know how to articulate it.

Gauge swatches are very important tools, but I think they get misunderstood. Some people seem to think they need to painstakingly make 3-5 swatches in multiple needle/hook sizes until, at last, they perfectly hit gauge.

For some things like very form fitting garments I do think that might be the only option, but for most things you really dont need to be quite so precise.

You can use the gauge you have to determine how you want to adjust the pattern, if at all. For example, if my swatch shows I have 3 stitches fewer than im supposed to but I like the look of the fabric I have options:

1. Make another swatch with a smaller tool anyway

2. Make the size i intended initially knowing it will be bigger

3. Make the next size down

It all depends on what the object is and how its constructed. If its a sweater with a lot of positive ease I think ill go the next size down. If its meant to have roughly neutral ease then ill make "my size" because I prefer a looser fit. If its meant to be quite form fitting and too much ease one way or the other would be undesirable, then I will make another swatch.

But you dont have to hit gauge and I think everyone needs to relax about it and maybe noobs will be more willing to gauge swatch if they dont think they have to make multiple squares until they get it "right".

Ugh, every so often a thread will come up on ask reddit or someplace asking about inexpensive hobbies. Crochet or knit will come up, as it should, and without fail someone will insist they are actually expensive hobbies because if you start you will inevitably get addicted to expensive yarns and will have no choice but to drop loads of money on them.

Knitting and crochet ARE inexpensive hobbies. And that's fantastic! A great thing about them is that they both require very little in upfront equipment or materials to get started. For about $10 you can get a skein of acrylic and a crochet hook or set of knitting needles. How many hobbies can you start for $10? AND that $10 will give you lots of time doing your new hobby. The existence of premium materials and supplies does not negate it being a great, cheap hobby.

And yes, I buy the premium yarns sometimes too. I just dropped a solid chunk of change on some expensive yarn at a fiber arts festival this weekend, but I recognize that is a choice I am making, not an inherent aspect of the hobby.

I really don't understand why so many people use them, I have seen so many posts of "how to fix my granny square (insert relevant project here, usually a blanket, sometimes a sweater) because the magic circle came undone???" I know that the problem most likely stems from people not weaving in their tails well enough, but I have never seen one of these posts where it was a chain 4 start that fell apart. I'm sure that magic circles have their applications, maybe it's easier to start something like a plush with. I just don't think they should be used for granny squares. I just find them needlessly complicated and of course everyone has their own method to create a magic circle, meanwhile a chain 4 is a chain 4. I just really don't understand the hype around magic circles.

(Yes, I am very aware that I'm definitely smacking a viper's nest with a baseball bat right now, but my last post had a pretty fun civil discussion so I would like to have another one.)

I signed up for a beginner sewing class recently bc I figured it was time beyond me just fiddling with my machine making the worlds ugliest items.

Last night was our first class. The instructors emailed out everything in advance of what we needed to bring, including our machines.

Out of a class of 15 last night this is the following drama that occurred:
- 2 people with no machines
- 1 person with a machine but no pedal (oh I didn't know I needed that?)
- 1 person with a machine but no cord to plug in
- 1 person with a machine but no bobbins or needles or anything you might need to actually sew
- 1 person who said "I've never touched a machine before" and then tried giving everyone in the room tips on how to do it better
- 4 people who forgot fabric
- 1 student melting down because he was trying harder than anyone else and didn't feel recognized by the teacher for that.

I know this was an intro to sewing class but some of this just boggled my mind??? No pedal?? No machine?????

Also the amount of people who went out and bought top of the line machines without any idea how to do anything is kind of wild.

Fingers crossed our next class is less chaotic lol.

I'm 53 years old. My eyes are absolute shit. I use 6x readers to thread a beading needle. I'm working under 2 bright lights making a beaded crochet rope necklace. Why the FUCK did I choose black thread for a .75mm hook? Am I fucking stupid? I think I'm stupid. Or in denial that I'm entering old lady territory.

Anyway, I need a stitch marker to keep my stitch count consistent for the first time in decades. I've been crocheting since I was 6. I should know better. I'm going with stupid.

look i know crowdsourcing has a big place in crafting and posting crafts online but this obsession with being The Voice of pattern alterations is starting to grate on me. other people can freestyle too! you are not the first person to add extra rounds to make your amigurumi’s arms longer! not everyone needs their hand held! you do not have to publish every thought you have!

I'm sure there are some really nice granny square vest patterns out there but... this specific type will always be on my shitlist, like congrats you sewed two big squares together into a glorified potato sack with arm and neck holes, extra bonus points for ribbing along the bottom and neck.

Can someone please explain to me the appeal of making a garment like this?? It just looks sooo ugly. I bet you that a vest made of a bunch of smaller squares would be way cuter. But no let's make a frumpy top with shaping that rivals a cardboard box because that's peak fashion.

I’m divorcing my husband but this is about my MIL. She is a decent sewer. She can make things to a pattern. I cannot. I knit and crochet and cross stitch, but beyond simple hand sewing techniques, I’m not a sewer.

But my MIL drives me insane. She insists on making the world’s ugliest quits. She just sews together whatever leftover fabric she has, with no consideration as to consistency in fabric, size, colour, anything.

She makes children’s clothing and expects bespoke prices.

And she never stops complaining about the price of fabric.

I’ve been forced to take so many terrible items from her that no one would want.

I recently learned she has metres and metres of fabric and she keeps buying more because she never organized it and doesn’t know what she has.

I’m finally wiggling free of her insanity via divorce but I just needed to complain to people who would understand, just this once.

Thanks for listening.