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Sewing, knitting, embroidery, easy and fashion blog

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New organic fabrics: Quilted jerseys

Dec 21, 2016 12:00:00 AM

We were looking forward to presenting you our new organic cotton fabrics: quilted jerseys .

Right now, we see them everywhere, but it's hard to find them in 100% organic cotton! We found the rare pearl and we are very happy to offer you a quality fabric with trendy colors and ecological.

This quilted jersey is very wide: 1.75 m. That leaves you plenty to do. ;)


Quilted jersey is used in many models. It is soft, warm and pleasant. Looking for sewing ideas?

For children's and baby's clothes: Baby pouch, Legging, Bloomer, Pyjama, Vest

For women's clothing: Skirt, Sweat, Vest.

Accessories: Snood or scarf, Bag, Pouch

The yellow quilted jersey verges on the mustard, a good idea to spruce up your wardrobe. The pink is just well dosed, the dark blue verges on the duck... We have the possibility to take other colors so don't hesitate to keep up to date!

These beautiful quilted fabrics are available in dark blue , in light pink and in mustard yellow . We offer you the exact sewing thread number for each fabric!

We hope to soon introduce you to new discoveries in organic fabrics... Case to follow. We would like so much to propose you pretty patterns to sew in these jerseys quilted organic, ideas flow but time is missing.

Also discover our pinterest page with many sewing ideas in our fabrics here.

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Comments Posted in News By Amandine

The cashmere sweater and ecology

Nov 14, 2016 12:00:00 AM

This cashmere sweater so soft and warm, we all look for it in winter... Expensive, but prices are falling.

Unfortunately to the detriment of a territory and a people: Mongolia.

Being an adept of beautiful natural wool and knitwear , this subject particularly affects me. People often ask me: why don't you offer cashmere in a ball?

Here are some arguments to explain you, evoked in particular by my dear spinning Fonty:

1/ Cashmere goat produces very little wool: 100 to 150g. The mohair goat is rather around 3.5kg. You need some cashmere goats to make a sweater! Basically, we multiply the necessary grass area by 20.

2/ Goats pull the grass to the root, unlike sheep.

Cashmere production is naturally in fragile areas: Gobi and Altai steppes in Mongolia. By increasing demand, the development of livestock farming is leading to desertification that is close to an ecological catastrophe:

The Gobi Desert progresses about 500 meters per year.

3/ The extra-fine Merino wool is of a casi softness comparable to cashmere! But here it is, it has less good reputation, is cheaper and resellers make less margins...

Yet this merino wool is now found in each of the balls 100% natural wool from our French spinning mills . The treatments currently allow a washing machine operation at 30°, what more could you ask for? Note that the hottest wools are yak, alpaca, mohair and merino instead of cashmere.

If you are interested in the subject of cashmere, this video will teach you more:


Cashmere, alpaca, mohair...What differences?

This subject affects me even more because Mongolia does not even benefit from its cashmere wool, considered the most beautiful in the world! Indeed, Mongolia does not have the industrialization capable of transforming cashmere into yarn on a large scale nor to knit them... Everything is sent to its neighbouring country (1st cashmere producer in the world): China.

 

So it's decided, not only I still don't sell a ball of cashmere wool but also, my next sweater will be merino wool!

What do you think of that?

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Comments Posted in Discoveries By Amandine

How to choose your knitting needles?

Dec 16, 2014 12:00:00 AM

Whether you are a beginner or not knitting, the choice of knitting needles is paramount! And there is choice, from straight needles to circular needles through double pointed needles and all materials, we will try to guide you with all these needles variants and their uses.

how to choose your knitting needles

Take stock on materials. Knitting needles, all kinds they can be can look as:

- Metal : It's the knitting needles matter that is most often found , especially in the grandmother knitting box ;). They are unbreakable but can writhe, heavier by diameter, emit a clicking knitting. Your work in progress can easily slide on metal knitting needles (not easy for beginners). The cheapest on the market! (find our metal needles here)

- Plastic (or acrylic) : Plastic or acrylic knitting needles are quite common in large numbers because lighter than metal. They tend to hang knit very well which can also be troublesome for beginners. By cons, they are silent.

- Bamboo and wood in general (rosewood, birch, etc.): Our favorite knitting needles! In bamboo, they are extremely lightweight, the knit slips a bit without hanging. Wooden needles are completely silent. We also provide birch wood needles (basix birch from KnitPro) and rosewood (Symphony from KnitPro), which are more resistant than bamboo needles and much more sweet!

Then we need to talk about the needles numbers, all needles have a number, it is engraved on the cap or the needle itself, this number indicates the needle diameter and matching (must match) to what is indicated on the ball of wool. The lower the number, the smaller the needle and the thread will be small and thus thin your knitting (and vice versa).

straight knitting needles

We now turn to the type of needle, there are several:

- Straight needles (1 tip): these are the most common knitting needles, which come in pairs. They may be 25 cm (see our KnitPro Basix instead of children) to 40 cm for longer, depending on the width of your knitting (but the stitches can be compressed).

Double tip knitting needles

- Double tip knitting needles: These knitting needles, straight too, are dedicated to knitting in the round. The double-pointed needles usually come in batches (4 or 5) for thin seamless tubes knitting, such as hats, socks, leggings, gloves and mittens.

- Circular knitting needles: Unfortunately unknown from beginners these needles are very convenient. Circular needles are designed, too, knitting in the round, but can very well be used for the "classic" flat knitting! So instead of buying one pair of straight needles + 1 circular needle from the same number, you can take only the circular needle. There has been a lot of development for this kind of needles in recent years. There are now two types of circular needles:

Fixed circular metal knitting needles

- Fixed circular needles: As their name implies, fixed circular needles are composed of two tips connected by a cable of a given length. The cable is more or less flexible (which can be annoying). They are less expensive than interchangeable, but you can not interchange the number of needles and the cable length.

Interchangeable circular needles KnitPro
- Interchangeable circular needles: it is essential to bring in when you start knitting seriously ;) ! Interchangeable knitting needles are used to create "a la carte" your needles, you buy the diameter tips you want and a cable to length, then you have just to make the connection with the small tool provided with (small wrench to tighten the needle or it may be unscrewed by knitting).

We offer the interchangeable Symphonie needles from KnitPro, they have a flexible cable and resistant rosewood ends, pretty and very pleasant to the touch.

interchangeable Symphonie needles from KnitPro

As you can see, all these needles types have their utility. Each needle has its job in the knitting world, but if you start to practice seriously this rather addictive activity , a tip:
- invest in interchangeable circular needles, you can all knit with!

The only knit that can possibly resist to interchangeable circular needles, is the small round knit as the caps end, gloves and mittens, socks and gaiters. Fortunately, there is a technique to bypass, It's the method of Magic Loop which may require some dexterity at first but which is very useful!

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Comments Posted By Amandine

The blog "Le son des Grelots" tested for us our Kiwi baby's vest & shorts sewing pattern!

We love the pattern description on her blog and the very pertinent remarks she gave us back.

She chooses to reverse the front and back of the baby's vest to show the wrap-over-top side which gives a nice variation.

Click on the image to access her blog's article:

Kiwi baby's vest & shorts sewing pattern test by the blog Le son des Grelots

Is it not a lovely version?

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Comments Posted in Our customers have talent By Amandine

Which pair of scissors for sewing?

Sep 4, 2013 12:00:00 AM

There are mainly scissors for sewing: two kinds of scissors, scissors conventional all-metal type "Nogent" in France or scissors metal blades and ergonomic plastic handles.In these two categories, there is provided a choice of blade lengths that range from 16.5 to 25 cm (see above). The classics are a great value with a more traditional appearance regrindable, those ergonomic handles are adapted to the shape of the hand but are sometimes less accurate cutting of the end (the shape of the tip is coarser than the classic scissors to check when buying.) The cut-son can quickly cut the son at the end of a machine seam. For embroidery, there are small scissors short and thin blades. The pinking shears temporarily help limit fraying or make a decorative finish in tissues that do not fray, but beware these scissors can wear very quickly if they are not of good quality.

Pinking shears

Can we take all kinds of scissors to cut fabric?

fabric to be well cut, demand a certain quality of scissors and precision in cutting. For a beginner who buys first prices scissors, one quickly realizes that all evil scissors cut a little delicate fabrics or thick etc ... We must therefore invest in a good pair of scissors, it is an investment that you never regret, well maintained scissors keep indefinitely

Embroidery scissors

Is there any sewing scissors adapted to left-handed person?

yes, a range of scissors was created specially for left-handed

Métal thread-cut

What size to choose for scissors?

There are different lengths of scissors, those who are very long are reserved for professionals who need long blades to quickly cut long lengths of fabric, but they are heavy and tiring to handle.

Nogent scissors

Which scissors to any activity (embroidery, sewing, knitting)?

For sewing, you need a pair of scissors average length will only cut the fabric with pointed ends (for greater cutting accuracy), a pair of scissors will only cut paper (for employers) and a pair of embroidery scissors for all small delicate and precise cuts (make a buttonhole, pinking etc. ..). When you sew much to the sewing machine, it is also useful to have a wire cutter. For embroidery, embroidery scissors is essential and it is also used for knitting and crochet.

Embroidery scissors

What are indispensable scissors when you start?

A pair of scissors for fabric, scissors and paper scissors embroidery, yes, I know, it's three pairs of scissors to buy!

How can my scissors cut over time?

Still well in time there is a rule of thumb: the fabric scissors cut the fabric and paper scissors cut the paperdo. In fact, the paper is very abrasive blades of scissors, so if you discipline yourself not to follow this rule, "fabric" scissors cut paper will also not intersect anything good! But do not worry, nothing is irreversible, if you have a pair of "classic" scissors you can make sharpening (that is anyway an operation to do make time to time to maintain his scissors.) It was a trade in endangered but thanks to the internet fairy, there are now grinders mail . For scissors plastic handles, there are small individual sharpeners that can refresh yourself its blades. Lately appeared on the Japanese market scissors blades with an exceptional quality of cut, which even allow you to cut both fabric and paper, as professionals we use the paper pattern fusible and this allows us to cut both fabric and boss when the boss was stuck on the fabric.

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0 Comments Posted in Tutorials & tips By A&A

New: Knitting yarn Boréal

Jan 26, 2013 12:00:00 AM

Boréal is the newest addition to the line of knitting threads of the A & A Boutique ! This is a soft and very warm thread thanks to its composition : 50 % merino wool , 50% alpaca. This yarn is very twisted on which makes it durable and very easy to knit.

It is now available in 5 colors:

703 707 708
711 713

Find patterns made ​​with this yarn in Ravelry

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The phenomenon Zpagetti!

Oct 25, 2012 12:00:00 AM

Two new simultaneously:

Firstly, we welcome a new thread in the famous shop ... Zpagetti! This is an amazing thread, it comes from recycled fabric and jersey can crochet / knit with needles 10 to 15 mm ! We thus obtain a work that can quickly go the basket, passing through the carpet bag and pillow.

It is now available in 14 color choices! :

fil zpagetti

The second: The workshop Aléfil in Paris (which holds the knitting store site) is on France 2 this morning!
Report  "Les nouvelles laines sont arrivées !" (the new wool yarn arrived!) by Aurélia Bloch under the France 2 program "c'est au programme" (it's sheduled) on 25/10/2012 by Sophie Davant.

Revisit the France 2 program.

 

A very simple bag project has been notably presented. Find explanations here (french):

sac zpagetti

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