#letsstitchandbitch

Wednesday 11th June 7.30pm @ Waiting Room RSVP via facebook

This month we invite you to a DIY Custom Clothes session! Why not bring along a t-shirt, some shorts, a skirt and pimp it up, rip it up, and customize the hell out of it. We have a huge bag of random fabric you can rummage through! Sewing machines, glue and plenty of needles and thread. The staple ELVIS will be playing and there will be a bar serving local beer, wine, cider plus you can buy a tea/coffee and cake! We will be making these watermelon shorts by fancymade : DIY - WATERMELON SHORTS “Because who doesn’t love watermelon, specially on shorts! I had an absolute blast putting this tutorial together. These shorts are perfect for any music festival, because as we all know, anything goes at these events. I found a dope pair of watermelon shorts on NastyGal.com, but I figured I would just make my own for a fraction of the price. $85 vs. $15 bucks, I’ll take the DIY version any day.” MATERIALS: High waisted shorts Green Fabric Paint Black Fabric Paint White Fabric Paint Fuchsia Rit Fabric Dye Paint Brushes Bucket HOW TO: 1) Begin by prepping your bucket with hot water over a sink or outdoor surface. 2) Follow the instructions on the Rit fabric dye package label and dye your shorts accordingly. 3) After your shorts have been dyed, washed, and dried, you can begin by painting the green bottom trim of your shorts. I would begin by finishing the front of your shorts, allow to dry, then move onto the back. 4) Now move onto your black fabric paint and begin to paint round watermelon seeds throughout your shorts. Allow to dry. 5) Once your green trim and black seeds are dry, finish off by painting the top of the trim with your white fabric paint. Allow to dry, and you’re set! PS. Please allow the shorts 72 hours to dry before putting them through the wash. PSS. You can apply this tutorial and make strawberry shorts instead too! Just substitute the fuchsia dye with red fabric dye. BYOP ( Bring your own project) If you’ve got a haberdashery project you are working on, please bring it along. We’d love to see what you’ve been creating. If you need a chance to get knitting you are more than welcome to join us. Our sessions are all about dedicating one night of the month to getting crafty with local ladies and gents.

Abby Wright

(From the Stitch & Bitch newsletter) The Yarn Bomb* will be whisked away soon. It's coming down this weekend, from Saturday 5th April. This is your last chance to shoot a Yarnie - a selfie including yarn - so take a photo of you or your friends with the wall, and tag it with #colchesteryarnbomb on instagram to be added to our Yarnie showcase. You can also tweet, facebook, or email me your photos. We're Stitching & Beading next week, with a session hosted by crochet mastermind Jessica Wright. Join us on Wednesday 9th April at the St Botolph’s Waiting Room from 7.30 - 9.30pm. She is going to share her skill creating a crochet bead bracelet. The workshop is FREE but you must buy the materials you need to attend. You need:

No. 10 crochet thread

Size 8 seed beads

1.75mm hook.

I co-run Stitch & Bitch - Colchester’s crafty club - and we bombed the town with 10 metres of knitting hung on Friday night (28th February). Over 300 pieces of knitting and crochet were donated by various members of the community, stitched together over three days, and secretly hung up for the public to enjoy in the ‘Cultural Quarter’ on the town’s Street Gallery I curate known as This One Wall.

Yarn Bombing, sometimes known as Guerrilla Knitting, is a type of graffiti or street art that uses colourful knitted or crochet yarn. Unlike graffiti it is easily removed, and non permanent.

It’s been fantastic bringing the crafty community together. We’ve had males, females, young & old, knitting and crocheting for us. I received donated wool and needles and hosted free knitting sessions to help people learn or donate work. It hasn’t cost a participant anything to get involved.

The group, also run by my partners in stitch Megan Fowler, Amy Turnbull (pictured with me in the middle) and Ruby Runnalls Palmer have been calling out for knitting, crochet, jumpers, wool, and pom poms for over 5 months. The idea developed after I pitched our concept on how to improve the town for the event ‘One Idea a Minute’, hosted by Jane’s Walk Colchester.

We decided the best way to improve the town was to cover it in knitting.

Some donations where anonymous including massive multi-coloured blankets, old jumpers from local vintage shop Bestdays Vintage and beautiful personal pieces like a crochet blanket bedspread by my sister who passed away from MS last year (RIP Sharon).

The wall has a lot of stories and it’s fun to watch people walk past and point out the bits they made. The project was set up for free, involving lots of different members of the community. We hope it has improved our town and made people smile. Fingers crossed the work will stay up for two weeks, maybe even longer.

Stitch & Bitch host monthly events co-hosted by a local textile artists held on the second Wednesday of the month at the Waiting Room. They are free and open to all. The aim of the group is to bring local ladies and gents together through textiles. Next event is Stitching St Botolph’s with Clare Sams on March 12th from 7.30pm.

Thanks again to everyone involved. Without you this wouldn’t have happened.

How to Yarn Bomb Read more about the process in my blogs: How do you Yarn Bomb Part 1 How do you Yarn Bomb Part 2

Statistics Over 10 X 2metres long It took an hour to put up Over 200 pieces of knitting Over 48 hours to stitch it together Over 50 members of the community donated pieces

I have finally co-ordinated a Yarn Bomb with my knitting community/club Stitch & Bitch. You can read more about the construction and story behind the bomb in Part 1. The location is still a bit of secret as I'm awaiting to get some snaps shot with some of the other ladies behind Stitch & Bitch with my photographer Jackie (JustJaq) before I go full hog on the piece. This section will just be a bit about putting up the Yarn Bomb. The area we decided to bomb was a guerrilla knitters dream.. it is a large flat space (a wall if you will), no odd shapes, easy to measure and relatively safe to put up in public - only the use of a small step latter was needed. The final size was 10 x 2 metres.

Photo above is me staple gunning the shit out of that bitch. Around 5 people were needed to carry the knitted log - or body bag as we dubbed it - out to the space. It was then held up and strung up from the top of the wall. Then I went staple gun happy and made sure it was stapled tight. Overall it took about an hour to get it up and secure which I was really impressed with. If I could do it again, don't do it in the rain. It didn't ruin it but just made the whole process a bit soggy... Tomorrow morning I'm popping back to sew on some of the lovely little pom poms and bits of finger knitting we were donated and to get the snaps done with JustJaq. I'll be sharing some of the press coverage as it comes in over the next few days.

Thanks again knitters. Without you this wouldn't have happened.

Hello crafty friends, Join me at Stitch & Bitch for Darn it! December co hosted by textile legend Clare Sams at the St Botolph's Waiting Room on Wednesday 18th December from 7.30pm. *PLEASE NOTE* We've changed the date to co-inside with the Hack Maker Space's Maker Wednesdays.

Stitch & Bitch will now be hosted every second Wednesday of the month in 2014. But don't fret, I'll keep you posted on new dates via the facebook, twitter & website. You can find out more on what you need to bring to darn with us on our facebook event. If you've got a haberdashery project or some knitting you are working on, please bring it along to finish/start with us. This will also be our last event for 2013 so please come and have a cheeky tipple with the stitchers. Here's to another fantastic year of craft with you all. New Logo I've been working with the sterling Ben Philp on new branding for Stitch & Bitch, and the new design is above. I hope you all like it. Expect flyers and posters around town very soon.

Yarn Bomb Update We have begun to sew together the knitting we've received but we still need more. I need work by January 2014 so please donate and knit as much as you can! You can drop donations off at 15 Queen Street or email me for a pick up. Another big big thank you all for your support and donations so far! Knit & Bitch We are still hosting our knitting only evenings at Ruby's Vintage Tea Shop. More details are listed below.

Stay warm and keep knitting, Alex Davis Stitch & Bitch Co-ordinator