10 creative needlecraft blogs

As any knitting, sewing or crochet enthusiast knows, few things in life are more satisfying than mastering a tricky pattern or coming up with a novel design. To help you get inspired, we dusted off our needles, and went in search of fun and creative needlecraft blogs.

The Gingerbread House

Nifty needlework for a quality quilt
Source: The Gingerbread House 

Londoner Jenny describes her craft room as “a real family space with overflowing piles of fabric everywhere”. A fan of charity shopping and upcycling, she admits to being a real homebird, her two children providing the main inspiration for her sewing blog.

Jenny’s sewing tutorials range from duvet covers to cushions, but it’s her simple crawling blanket and ’I Spy with my little eye’ quilt that caught our eye with their inventiveness.

Very Berry Handmade

Ali's folding card wallet is 'a perfect gift'
Source: Very Berry Handmade

“Stitch - Make - Grow”, is the motto of Ali’s blog. And her many fans simply can’t get enough of her creations. Take her folding card wallet, in the words of one admirer, it’s ‘perfect gift material’ - what a recommendation!

Ali writes her blog at home in North Staffordshire, with occasional contributions from her “other half”, Sandy. Her delightful crochet patterns include an original lacy bracelet. We do hope her twin sons and pooch Barney get their share of presents too!

Trends With Benefits

Cruisin’ for a snoozin’
Source: Trends With Benefits

Kate, Kendall and Emily met in their first year at the University of Leeds and have been best friends ever since. Sharing a little house has taught them the importance of being creative while on a budget.

Clothes restyling, knitting and creating homemade gifts are their specialities. Their style is resolutely playful, as this sleeping mask and their twist on the Union Jack cushion testify. You can even go off piste with their finger-knitted snood!

Emma Varnam

Who’s a good toy, then?
Source: Emma Varnam 

“I only make for love – and design for money,” proclaims Northerner Emma. She’s a wife, working mum and crochet and knitting & crochet enthusiast who simply can’t imagine sitting down at home without picking up her needles.

Emma’s particularly grateful to the friends and relatives who she says have had homemade items, “inflicted upon them in the name of ‘love’”. All we can say is, if said relatives received the knitted Sizzles the dachshund, or the delicious cupcake keyring, they were very lucky indeed.

Millefeuilles

Hats off to Stephanie!
Source: Millefeuilles

There is a definite bucolic feel to Franco-Brit Stephanie Boudazin’s passionate, deeply personal knitting blog. Her aim in life is to “incorporate gardening in virtually everything she writes and makes”. And it shows! A Loire valley resident, the mother-of-three is currently writing up a PhD on Baroque Garden Design.

We absolutely love her sugar plum-coloured hat , knitted in the “delightful and addictive” Rosewater pattern. And daughter Angélique looks totally adorable modelling her yellow Puddle Duck patterned pullover too!

CrocheTime

Putting the hip in hypnotic
Source: CrocheTime

“Legal PA by day, full-time hooker by night.” That’s how South-African-born Natasja King describes herself. She means crochet of course! She may have waited until she was 32 years old to pick up a needle, but she’s  determined to make up for lost time.

And it’s clearly working: her stunning Iznik pattern was published by Inside Crochet magazine. We suggest you check out her clever photo tutorials - they all come in handy PDF format. She really has thought of everything!

The Free Range Family

A heartfelt keepsake
Source: The Free Range Family

Claire lives in the English countryside with childhood sweetheart Nick, their five daughters, three dogs, three cats and two ponies - phew! When taking a break from her hectic family life, she loves “dabbling in all things faffy”.

It seems to us that she’s being too modest. Take the “Little Friend” character from her “Mini Make” series; it displays some really nifty needlework. Why not give it a try yourself? And for when you’re finished, you might make this pretty felt needle case to put your tools in!

Lazy Daisy Jones

Straight As for these A-line skirts!
Source: Lazy Daisy Jones

Former British Airways stewardess Ashley Cramp considers herself incredibly lucky. Not only did she get to be employed in her dream job, but she now sews full-time. A “mid-century scatty mama, yet forever a girl at heart”, the Dorset blogger is passionate about her vast collection of vintage sewing patterns.

And who can blame her? Just look at these stunning A-line skirts! Interestingly, her blog also boasts a ‘Sewing for Men’ section - we’re quite taken with ‘Mr January’ and his lounge jacket!

Slugs on the Refrigerator

Bright and beautiful: Kat Goldin's own 'Hello Sunshine' pattern
Source: Slugs on the Refrigerator 

Iowa native, Scottish resident and mother-of-three Kat Goldin first picked up a crochet needle after the birth of her first child, and hasn’t looked back since. In fact, when she was made redundant shortly after her youngest one was born, she decided to make a living out of it.

The results speak for themselves: Kat is a successful knitting/crochet writer and designer. Judging by the the Hello Sunshine pattern or the Cedar River blanket, it’s easy to see why.

The Little Room of Rachell

Sunshine in a basket
Source: The Little Room of Rachell

Rachell’s passion for crochet began when her German cousins crocheted a wardrobe’s worth of clothes for her Sindy doll. Sadly, her first forays into needlecraft were unsuccessful because all the drawings were designed for right-handers.

She gave it another shot years later and this time she cracked it. Fellow southpaws will rejoice at the ‘Left-Handed Crochet’ section on her blog. Whichever hand you crochet with, mastering the 12-pointed star ripple blanket or even finishing her Tilting Granny Squares creation deserves a medal!