Exploring vintage crafts like, knitting, sewing and crochet! ✨ Hello! I'm Claude a costume maker, sewing teacher and dress historian making my own vintage wardrobe. I share tutorials to help you learn new sewing skills and share making logs of my projects so that you can see how those skills work in context.
I love sharing my sewing adventures with you all; whatever they may be. I love to experiment and try new things so I'll be sure to share all of that with you too.
My personal style is usually around about the middle of the 20th century. The 1940s is probably my favourite era to wear but I love to sew styles from all decades. My master's degree in Victorian studies has given me a passion for historical costume and I am looking forward to many 19th century outfits to come.
So welcome! I hope you will find something here to inspire your own creative journey and I look forward to sharing my work with you.
lol I really related to the crochet comments. As a very good knitter, it's honestly so hard to force myself to do crochet projects that are actually suited to my level of skill instead of failing at the intermediate/expert patterns
If I might offer a suggestion based on my own experience: when I struggle to read things (anything at all but it happens most with patterns) I will honestly just highlight shit. Particularly things for sizes or for wrong side vs right side. You could go through the pattern and look for W's and highlight all the WS in one colour, then look for R's and highlight the RS in a different colour, and that way you don't need to know the difference between the words at the time because you're just looking for a letter. Might not be helpful for you but it does help partition documents for me and it's how I break things down. Also thank you for a calming video while I try to get back into crocheting after two weeks off for the migraine from hell. I've been prone to them all my life and never had one this bad and it's nice to just listen to someone talk through some crafting while I slowly work my way back up and not feel like I'm alone in that.
14:03 as someone who studies UX Design, and wants to specialize in accessibility - it always saddens me to hear people dismiss those who are actually disabled. I wish more people understood that making things more accessible benefits more than just the intended audiences. Examples: speech to text, ramps on sidewalk curbs, alternate text, screen readers, captions, dark mode, etc. these were made to make things more accessible, and yet plenty of people use them who aren’t disabled. Inclusive designs/layouts should always be the standard.
Is it a vintage needle thing or a UK needle thing for the big numbers to be the small needles? Sizing conversion charts are giving mixed answers but I was definitely confused for a second when you kept say 13 for a small needle.
Re: the WS and RS confusion, whenever I run into something on a pattern that I know my brain will confuse, I color code them and either use a highlighter or my ipad to color code things.
That blue looks really pretty on you! I've had Ranunculus parked for a lonnnggg while cause the sample photos are beautiful but I haven't touched it yet cause I was afraid I'd feel what you're feeling about it. I was thinking mohair and merino held together though. Sell or do a fun giveaway contest.
The thing of it is is that people these days don't value things that actually take a lot of time. Because they themselves could never see themselves doing it. Because they don't have the gall or the wherewithal or the desire to do it yet when they see someone else doing it they're like oh that's wonderful but I'm still not willing to pay money for it that's decent money for it because I see this as something as a side hobby instead of an actual vocation!
I would say most people don't know the couture things are being made to be disposable like yeah they wear it one night but the general populace isn't thinking it's made to only last the one night
I tell creators occasionally about their audio fails. I always get "What DO YOU know about it?" back. I'm like, I dunno 20+ years in broadcast production? The idiots don't want to know, the newbies can't wait to learn. That's where I leave it. You're great. Don't change.
what you choose to do with it is your choice - but I remember you said you didn't like working with the yarn? so why frog it instead of letting it go? but frogging can be freeing - enjoy💙
THANK YOU for verbalizing something I've had trouble putting my finger on. I have this strong urge to use up everything in my stash, or at least try, and I rarely give or trade stash, which makes me think oh, I'm tightfisted, or that I inherited the use-it-up from my parents' youth during the Great Depression. Nope! I enjoy the creative challenge! I do! I love the puzzling and daydreaming of different ways to murder my oddest stash bits. Thank you so much for helping me say it aloud.
The purpose of yarn is to make something out of it that you love and will use. If you don’t love it and won’t use it, it’s a disservice to the yarn NOT to frog it. I can’t wait to see what it becomes next.
When i was concussed i would screen read pdfs for school. I used xodo pdf reader app. You can highlight segments for the software to read and i recall it reading the citations in the parantheses. It might be a better option for screen reading knitting patterns
I know it is disappointing and you should grieve the fallen project. However, knitting (and any other art/craft/skill) should be for your enjoyment and pleasure. If it isn't giving you those things, find a way to adjust your perspective and start again. Refocus. Find new. I am a quilter and I do this all the time. Good luck!! Love watching you!
Frog it! Frog it! Send it to the pond! (Thank you to the other comment who said this, I hadn't heard it before, stealing it.)You've helped me want to use more of my stash this year, which bolstered the feelings I already had to just knit with more of my yarn, which was languishing and getting eaten by moths... And I've already knit more things this year by the end of June than I knit in the entirely of 2023 AND 2022 combined! And I've been happy about them! And many are gifts. So yeah, frog it, do what you're heart tells you, and good luck!
I'm currently in the process of frogging a cardigan that I finished about a year ago but never wore because the yarn was scratchy and it didn't fit quite right. It's been surprisingly cathartic! I think I like creative challenges too. I'm happy for both of us!
Yes! Frog it! Let’s goooooo! I know you worked hard, but that dress just didn’t feel like Claude, IMO. I have a skein I’ve frogged at least 10 times because the project just never felt right. You gotta follow the creative intuition! Can’t wait to see what you do next
Awful. Simply awful. The shape, the color, the size, the style. Cut your hair and dress with modern geometric forms, near the body. You are a beautiful girl so you can put your avantages up front without these horrible otipeaux.
I know it sucks when you're in a flare and everything gets so frustrating and you feel like you can't do *anything*, but it's so reassuring to see that I'm not alone. We're not alone. I recently got a very shallow wooden box (meant for kinetic sand and other sensory play for kids), just so I could have a place for my embroidery project that I can just set down, put the lid on it and not have to worry about my cat eating part of the project. Even having to put my project in the kitchen when I'm not working on it (because of said cat), had proven to be too much. It's frustrating, but we can only work with what we have physically and mentally. ❤
I think I've said it to you before, but i so appreciate your honesty in regards to your ability and disability. We both have different diseases, but so many similarities that we face with adversities and having to compensate for them. It's always so good to know I'm not the only one facing these challenges! I've given myself permission to have a break from knitting at the moment, even though we're half way through winter here in Australia and I'm trying to finish a jumper I am making for my 9 yo grandson that I started early last year, because everything I touch is going wrong and I'm sick of knitting and unpicking and knitting again the same rows 6 times! I did have the forethought to make his jumper 3 sizes bigger to account for the unpredictability of my health..... just like you. I love that purple mohair you bought. It's it the colour Purplicious 678? If it is, I may have to have a sneaky little purchase! 💜 I hope my ramble makes sense to you and that there aren't too many autocorrect errors, I'm to titred after writing this to go back and check. Happy Knitting 😊
I also have ME & POTS (and fibro/AuDHD) and have given up many a crafting project because I just didn't have the mental resources to keep track of the pattern. My favourite part of knitting is being able to turn off my brain and just use my muscle memory to make rectangles, but it can be hard to get my brain back online again when I have to change direction in the pattern. I would love to be able to create something I can actually use. Do you have any tips for getting past this barrier?
What got me was that the seamstress used a cheap zipper on such a luxury project. I, as a layperson, was offended and would have taken the dress back and sued for the embarrassment!
