Social Sunday stitching sessions

Thanks to everyone who responded to our survey about informal Sunday afternoon knitting and crochet sessions! We’ve decided to hold these on the last Sunday of each month, starting this month on Sunday 30 April, from 1.30pm to 3.30pm.

Come and join us for knitting, crochet, expert help, and afternoon tea. We'll provide at least two experts, hot drinks, and biscuits; you bring your current projects, problems (preferably knitting and crochet related), and charming company.

We need at least 6 attendees to go ahead (so we can pay our experts a decent fee for their time), and places will be limited to 12 so we can all fit in the shop, nestled among the wool shelves!

The cost will be $20 a head and we need you to book for each session please.

Register in store, or online here.

New Fabrics!

Our top dress fabric suppliers have lots of new stock and I’ve bought up more than usual, in anticipation of having more space once the craft cotton section is depleted (see below).

All our dressmaking fabric types have been expanded – winter wovens and knits, linens, cottons, summer/sporty knits, printed viscoses and rayons - and there’s more to come.

Not all fabric types or colours are readily available, and there are obvious limits to what I can fit in the shop, but please don’t be shy to ask whether I can source something that you’d like to have.

New Yarn!

You may have noticed (and touched) the incredibly soft Sesia Vivienne 2 ply mohair/silk in a box on the counter. It’s a perfect addition to many garment knits, giving a soft halo effect. The available colours are plentiful and amazing. I’ve chosen 8 to showcase the yarn and can get in other colours as needed.

The 12 ply Sesia Eiffel mohair/silk is perfect for a luxury garment and, again, the range of available colours is larger than my shelves can cope with but I have 10 colours displayed in the “fuzzy” 12 ply section of the shop and can order others as needed.

Dressmaking Patterns

In addition to our big selection of StyleArc patterns, we have more Pattern Fantastique and Megan Nielsen patterns coming in soon. I bring all these patterns in from Australia and USA and do bulk orders to keep the freight costs down. That means you may need to wait a few weeks for a pattern if you want one that I don’t have in stock.

As an example of why we can’t stock every lovely thing we see on overseas websites, recently I investigated bringing in a line of dressmaking patterns from France. The freight cost alone was about $8 per pattern for 40 patterns and only slightly less for 100 patterns. With the wholesale pattern price being in euros, and with the current conversion rate, I figured I’d have to charge well over $40 a pattern to justify the exercise. And that’s assuming they sold well. If they didn’t, I’d be out of pocket to quite a considerable extent. I didn’t go ahead. I just wasn’t into them that much!

Craft cotton sale continues

We still have 100 top quality 110cm wide craft cottons on sale for $18 a metre and all the rest (except Japanese) are discounted by 20%, including the latest arrivals!

I replenish the $18 a metre selection regularly, topping them up from the dearer shelves, and this ruthless sale will last for as long as there are craft cottons taking up space that I want for other stock.

The craft cottons are lovely and we will miss them but in order to have a bigger variety of dress fabrics and yummy yarns, something has to go!

Please give us your unwanted supermarket or other reusable shopping bags

Now that winter is approaching and customers are buying up larger quantities of wool, we sometimes need decent sized bags with handles for purchases that don’t fit in our biggest flat paper bags. I can buy some in but if customers have unwanted clean shopping bags at home, please bring them in and we will re-use them.

Other donations

On the subject of giving, we’re still collecting items for the Crafting Threads of Aroha volunteers, who distribute them to families and individuals who need them. Always welcome are new knitted or crocheted garments and blankets for babies and children and unused wool or fabric that the volunteers can make into useful items.

I’m also happy to receive, sort, and donate any unwanted collections of sewing and knitting materials, books and patterns that customers have accumulated or inherited. Please contact me first to let me know what you have and when you will be bringing it in as it takes time (and space) to do the sorting. I will dispose of any unusable items but anything useful will be given to an appreciative charity, customer, passer-by or, in the case of some buttons, the shop, where they become part of my low-priced wee bags of pre-loved buttons.

As for passers-by, every now and then I put outside the shop a carton or 2 of free items - small fabric remnants, pre-loved sewing notions, wool that’s not suitable for charity knitters – and I’m always pleased how quickly they get picked through and emptied. But one day not long ago I put out 2 boxes and a few minutes later found another item to add so went outside – and there was nothing there! Someone had taken everything, boxes and all. I actually felt a bit miffed that more people didn’t get the chance to take something they might like, but then again it was all free so I guess I can’t impose rules about sharing!

That’s it for now,

Stay warm and keep crafting!

Jo, Jess, Vincent and Toni