Published - Thu, 25 Sep 25

Project Timeline: 10 Jun - 25 Sep (107 days)

Handbags

I bought a cute yellow bag from Mexico a few years ago and I use it everyday for groceries and local outings. I love it, but is now quite tattered. I think it's an ideal shape and size so would like to make a few versions in different fabrics. This could be great product idea for my future market shop.

This bag design is taken from a bag I bought in Mexico on the street. Its pretty simple, but I love using the bag for its size and shape. It can fit a lot in, but at the same time it's small and lightweight.

I wanted to replicate the bag and thought I would be a good concept for my future craft shop. So while I was in France, I bought some fabric with bold patterns as a statement piece. I wanted the bag to have a firm shape and be able to stand up on its own. The original bag is made with plastic and feels fairly waterproof and sturdy, but I bought cotton fabric instead.

In order to make it sturdy, I experimented with padding. In classic Charlotte style, I want the...

Published - Thu, 18 Sep 25

Project Timeline: 09 Aug - 14 Sep (36 days)

Merino Shawl

A home spun, home dyed, merino wool shawl

This was my first home-spun, natural home-dyed knit project. I have done a cotton-spun kids jumper before, which I dyed blue with a chemical dye. The dye turned out much too blue in my opinion, too bright and 'fake' looking. This time I used rosemary and grass to dye a natural green colour, with an alum mordant and iron-oxide modifier. It worked great. I think the modifier is key to get the colour to brighten up.

The wool was a pure merino wool I bought from fleece. It was a bit greasy to spin, even after some washing, though very soft. I spun all the wool I had, about 400-500g and dyed half of the yarn green and the other half remained white.

I found a pattern...

Published - Wed, 10 Sep 25

Project Timeline: 15 Apr - 09 Sep (147 days)

Merino Wool Fleece

Bought a merino wool fleece so I could wash and spin it for some softer hand spun yarn

Very soft, a bit greasy even after washing once. Not super strong, but has a delicate feel. This was dyed and spun into a shawl.

Published - Wed, 03 Sep 25

Project Timeline: 20 Aug - 03 Sep (14 days)

Frilly Skirts

As seen in Mexico, I loved this design so wanted to recreate it in different fabrics.

As seen in Mexico, I loved the design of a skirt I bought, so wanted to recreate it in different fabrics. It was quite easy to reverse engineer; the original skirt was handmade as well, and I think designed by the same lady. I bought the fabrics while I was in the South of France, in a fabric shop in Nice.

the original skirt from Mexico ->

I find it hard to choose fabrics. I keep getting it wrong, in terms of the color, print and material. All of it really. I usually go too bold or too heavy. In this case, I ...

Published - Mon, 07 Jul 25

Project Timeline: 02 Jan - 07 Jul (186 days)

Dagmar Zipper Sweater

Another pattern by Petite Knit, since her designs have worked out well for me so far. This time, I want to make a jumper out of the sheep wool from my family's sheep in Belgium.

2025-01-02

Spec:

- Knitting size S
- Recommended needle size
- 3ply home spun yarn

Another pattern by Petite Knit, since her designs have worked out well for me so far. This time, I want to make a jumper out of the sheep wool from my family's sheep in Belgium. The sheep bred are not particularly suited for yarn, they are woodland sheep I believe... But I thought it was be so cool to spin that wool and turn it into a jumper.

I have collected the family sheep wool for the past few years, and spun with it, but so far have only made knitt...

Published - Sat, 14 Jun 25

Project Timeline: 06 Apr - 14 Jun (69 days)

Vintage Blouse

Using up some leftover beige yarn.

This is the pattern I followed

This blouse has a lace pattern on the front, something which I haven't knit before. That was a great experience to try. It did mean a lot of looking at the pattern to make sure I'm not doing anything wrong. I don't think I ever got to a stage where I had memorised it. The rest of the blouse was simple stockinette stitch.

Half way through this project I left the yarn I was working with in Belgium so couldn't continue. A few weeks later though I went back to pick it up so was able to continue and finish it off. The sleeves are supposed to be more ...