Category: Blog

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Part-time Sales Assistant 1 – 2 Days a week plus cover holiday

 Coast & Country Crafts & Quilts have a vacancy for a Part-time Sales Assistant
Part-time Sales Assistant 1 – 2 Days a week plus cover holiday.
Job description:

  • Must be flexible on days available during the week including some Saturdays, with Friday being a regular work day, plus extra days when required to cover other staff, further regular days may become available in the future. Working hours are 9.30 – 4.30 plus any overtime required.
  • Job includes serving & advising customers on sewing related queries so must have a good eye for colour & knowledge of a sewing craft (embroidery, quilting, etc)
  • Requires a polite and good telephone manner to answer the phone
  • Be computer literate with a basic knowledge
  • Fill website orders, manage website and shop stock (training will be given)
  • Must be trustworthy, reliable, patient, work methodically, accurately, tidily & work well as part of a small team.
  • A knowledge of retail is an advantage but not essential.

Please be aware this role can be physically demanding, with lifting, carrying & cutting fabric, and you are on your feet most of the day.

If you are interested in joining our happy team, please send a CV & covering letter to sally@coastandcountrycrafts.co.uk or drop one into the shop for the attention of Sally.

Closing date Tuesday 30th April 2024

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Customers Gallery

We will update this page regularly to add more photos so don’t forget to come back to check it out for inspiration. If you would like to share your creations pop in so we can photograph it or email us a clear picture and we will let the world see how fabulous you are.

 

Jeanette has thanked us for inspiration and look what she has made. A beautiful seaside bunting using our wooden buttons and Seaside Town by Lynette Anderson.

Dee made these simply amazing festive Luna Lapins. She made sure to check our bags and pockets when she left as we were very keen to keep them!

We were absolutely in awe of the stunning Tilda Quilter’s Holiday made by Julie and quilted by Sandy Chandler. Made using a kit from us following a pattern in Homespun magazine. Breathtaking work from them both.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Margaret has made a simple but beautiful quilt top using a selection of flannels from the shop. We all wanted to take it home. For extra snuggle factor she is backing it with our polar fleece. When using a fleece backing you do not need wadding.

 

Joanna was inventive with a Heather and Sage panel and made this beautiful quilt for her grandchild.

Alicia has been super productive and has made three versions of Life’s a Journey for gifts.

Which is your favourite colour way? We think it is hard to choose as they all look beautiful.

 

Siobhan put her own twist on the lovely Garden Gathering Bag by Gail Pan. She used a variegated thread in place of redwork to create a superb result.

 

 

Trish has made this festive table runner using the Blizzard range of fabrics.

She made a pieced back too, lovely.

 

Alicia has been very busy. These two beautiful quilts brought a smile to our faces.

Heartstrings by The Birdhouse Here, There & Everywhere by Hatched and Patched made with a fabric pack from us.

 

Michelle bought the Market Garden Quilt Fabric pack from us. After making it up and gifting it to her mum she is about to buy a second pack to make one for herself. We can see why. Her quilt is stunning. A blend of mainly Hatched and Patched Market Garden fabric and Lanacot Wools.

 

 

 

Sally  plucked up the courage, after a little persuasion from us, and made the Tilda Lazy Gardener quilt using a kit from us. She is pleased with it and we think deservedly so.

 

Claire made up the Cottage Garden Kit from Beaks and Bobbins. She says she has not worked with ribbon and beads before and loved the process of learning and developing new skills while she was recovering from illnesses. We love her work and the way it is displayed.

 

Gill made her Little Dresden Quilt entirely from Lynette Anderson scrap bags. We are in awe and love it so much. No piece of fabric is too small to be utilised!

 

 

Lorraine designed this quilt herself using mainly Blume and Grow fabrics. Some of the blocks are by Thimble Blossom and Lori Holt. What a triumph this is.

 

Mel showed us her absolutely stunning landscape, titled The Meadow, using fabric and lace scraps. We love her use of all the tiny bits of fabric and lace and the mix of stitch and appliqué.

 

Look at this lovely example of the Willowbrook Market Garden Quilt. Designed by The Birdhouse and pieced by Tess using her stash.

 

We love Tilda here at Coast and Country and look at this beautiful example of the Embroidery Flower Quilt. It is a Tilda pattern and uses Tilda Solids to give the impression of an embroidery design.

We like the way the quilting has been done too.

 

Sylvia dropped by to show us her simply gorgeous Celtic Knot quilt made using Liberty fabric. Such a lot of hard work using hand applique and hand quilting. Utterly beautiful but she says it will end up in her wardrobe. This needs to be displayed for all to see, a proper heirloom.

Look at this joyous photo of little Lane sat on the Seagull Quilt made by his Great Grandma Valerie in Canada using a fabric pack from us. The Seagull Quilt pattern is in the Nautical Quilts Book by Lynette Anderson. We are in love with both Lane and the quilt.

Look at this stunning version of Hatched and Patched BOM The Santa, The Tree, The Turkey and Me. Jacqueline visited us to show us what she’d created using her stash of felt and fabric scraps from our popular scrap bags. We love the original design that uses wool applique, but we adore this version too. Look for the fussy cut images and the clever use of a variegated thread for the meandering hand quilting.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kim showed us her deliciously colourful quilt made by combining Kaffe Fasset fabrics from a fat 1/4 bundle, with a bright white sashing. Stunning.


Look at Lorraine in her gorgeous patchwork jacket from the Great British Sewing Bee Book. She used a selection of our fabrics plus a quirky birdhouse end of roll bargain for the lining and a bright pop of colour for the binding. She said she went way out of her comfort zone making this but is so happy she did. We love it Lorraine.

Jill says she is a relative newcomer to quilt making but we are thoroughly impressed by her perfectly pieced Spoondrift Quilt by Janet Clare. She has used the To The Sea Fabric kit. Absolutely stunning.

 

Look at this beautiful lockdown quilt from Sarah, using her stash bought in a hurry before we closed the first time. It is a gorgeous blend of needle turn applique using William Morris fabrics and superbly quilted by Sandy Chandler.

 

 

 

Look at this labour of love from Anne.

She made this Noah’s Ark quilt for her grandson from a Jo Colwill

pattern in the Cowslip Country Quilts Book

 

 

 

 

 

We were thrilled when Brenda brought in her Bluebird Quilt by Janet Clare that she’s had as a kit & was given as a gift last year, how gorgeous!

 

The ladies at St Wenn Quilters have been busy making this delightful quilt in honour of the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee. We think it is stunning. Well done all involved

 

 

 

This beautiful Camden Bag was made by Rachael and she’s making many more. Using the pattern by Two Aunties, a jelly roll and the jumbo and super jumbo Dill buttons. We nearly didn’t let her have this bag back!
Look at these gorgeous cushions made by ladies on a recent workshop at a local group, taught by Sally using her Honeybun Kisses pattern

 

 

 

 

 

 

Look at this beautiful Around My Garden quilt completed by Deborah using a kit from us. Just stunning

Ann has made this pretty cushion using her stash of One Stitch at a Time fabric by Lynette Anderson. She’s now busy making kits for her sewing group so they can make one too. We think it is beautiful.
Linda came back in with a new summer version of her Kimono that she has lovingly made using selection of Cranberries and Cream fabrics. It took one layer cake, two charm packs and 2 mini charms and was made using a vintage Vogue pattern.
Fiona has used the kits in the Platinum Jubilee Box to make the bunting, Union Jack cushion and the pincushion. She has added extra details with machine embroidery and we think it all looks amazing. Fiona said some of the embelishments were to hide errors but we are sure they are really purposeful design elements. How often do we do something similar and end up with a much improved individual project.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Look at these delightful cards that Lisa made using one of our Lucky Dip Stitchery kits, aperture cards and her imagination. We love that she has been inventive with the threads, fabrics and images.

 

 

 

 

Jane has made this very beautiful quilt using mainly French General fabrics.

These two Easter Egg Hunt wall hangings were made by Deborah. We love how she has put her own twist on them both. Pattern is by Hatched & Patched

 

 

 

 

Nautical Flag quilt by Jan
Jan asked us to create a vibrant kit for this Nautical Flag quilt. This pattern is in Nautical Quilts book by Lynette Anderson.
Alison Made this seaside bunting from our button and fabric kits
Kathy appliqued a cute trio of elephants onto a quilt top made using Little Ducklings fabrics
Sue also used Little Ducklings fabrics for her quilt top. We love how the two quilts look so different but so pretty.
Look at this amazing quilted kimono worn proudly by it’s creator. It was a real labour of love and we are pleased that we helped with the creation of her vision. From sketches and an idea of colours to contrast with the William Morris print, the kimono came to life.

 

Pat has been busy making these two beauties. One using Janet Clare fabrics and the other the Habitat range. Very different looks but both lovely.

 

Cindy has been very busy with these quiilts, some inspired by photos in the Quiltmania Diary that we sell each year. What gorgeous colours.

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Workshop Makes

We have been so excited to hold classes again. We were hoping that they would be held in the new workshop space, but it has been delayed. Not to worry, everyone had a wonderful creative time. Here are some of the makes.

Louise Nichols ran a lovely Festive Lino cut tree workshop. Despite everyone having access to the same ‘ingredients’ they have all turned out differently. It was a really relaxed day and we welcome Louise back in February. If you can’t wait then we have plenty of her kits in store.

 

 

 

Caroline Michelle ran a fun Free Motion applique wreath making workshop. Look at the stunning makes, again, all a little different. Caroline will be back in 2024 to teach more free motion applique classes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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A Little History of Feed Sack Sewing

Since I first heard the term Feed Sack fabric, I was intrigued. As I child I helped out on a farm and feed sacks to me meant rough and ready hessian sacks that I could never imagine using to make an item of clothing or a quilt. Then I discovered the gorgeous cotton prints of 1930s American feed sacks and things fell into place.

 

 

I read up on the history and found that out of necessity every scrap of fabric that could be repurposed was used. From the 1840s grains, animal feed, sugar, flour, beans and seeds etc were all packaged in cotton bags. Once emptied the bags were washed and used to make all manner of clothes and household items like aprons and quilts. In the 1920s, the cotton bags were made from softer fabric and manufacturers started to print water soluble labels and sewing patterns on their sacks to encourage the practice and make life easier for the home sewer.

 

During the Great Depression of 1929-1939, the repurposing of feed sacks became even more prolific. Many people were living hand to mouth and the only way of clothing themselves or keeping warm was to make clothes and quilts from the free fabric that came in the shape of the bag. A 100lb feed sack could be opened to create a yard of 44″ fabric–enough for a child’s dress, and about 3 pieces made an adult size garment.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the 30s competition became more fierce as manufacturers vied to produce the most attractive prints to entice women to choose their product. The 40s were the heyday of feed sack sewing due to the shortages of WW2. There were competitions to encourage the use of every tiny scrap of fabric and so we see lots of scrappy quilts made at this time and the popularity of the postage stamp quilt made from inch squares of fabrics.

When we think of feed sacks we cannot imagine how colourful some of them were but looking at photos we can see that the vibrant feedsack inspired fabrics of today are true to the originals.

There is plenty of information available online on this fascinating subject, some of which can be found HERE and HERE

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Gail Pan Visit – August 8th and 9th 2023

 

 

 

We were thrilled to spend two wonderful days with Gail Pan. She spent a lot of time teaching and demonstrating techniques for hand stitching, applique and offered handy hints for finishing her bags, pouches and quilts. It was wonderful to see so many women gathered together sewing and chatting and laughing and eating! We look forward to welcoming Gail back with us in the future.

 

 

 

We have a large stock of new and old patterns from Gail and they are available HERE.

If you are able to visit we recommend popping in to see Gail’s own samples but here are a few to tempt you if you are unable to come to the shop.

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Mandy Shaw’s Redwork Christmas Bunting Panel

Mandy Shaw has created a beautiful Redwork Christmas range for this year which includes two panels. The first is a stocking lap quilt that comes pre-printed where you can quilt on the lines or even highlight the redwork designs with red perle.

The second panel is her bunting panel, suitable for many Christmas Projects. Mandy Shaw suggests using each image to applique onto a background fabric to make bunting. Then using the stockings as stocking shaped bunting garland. Of course the images can be cut and appliqued onto backgrounds to make cushions, bags, a quilt or even a Christmas Garland, there’s just so many ideas!

We have put some fabric packs together which include fabric, panels, bunting tape & ric rac for you to make both the stocking & ornament garlands.

Here are some instructions to help you:
Stocking Bunting: Cut out all the stockings from the bunting panel 1/4″ outside of their outer line. You will need approximately 30cm x 110cm of a backing fabric & wadding.  With the wadding on the bottom, lay the backing fabric wrong side against the wadding (we used an assortment of Redwork Christmas fabrics), then lay the cut out stockings right side down on top of the backing fabric.  Pin in place and sew the sides but not the top of each stocking (you will be able to see the outside line to stitch on from the wrong side of the fabric).  Cut out each stocking leaving a 1/4″ seam, then turn right side out and press.
Work out the centre of your bunting tape, then insert a stocking so that the raw edge is enclosed when you fold the bunting tape in half lengthwise.  Pin in place, then work out what distance you want to place each stocking, pining in place as you go.  Stitch them into place with a red thread, along the length of the bunting tape close to the edge making sure you catch the back of the folded bunting tape as you go.  Lay the ric rac over the top of the bunting tape and stitch in place using a cotton to match the ric rac.  Create a loop on each end for hanging.

Ornament Garland:   Cut out eighteen 9″ wide x 10″ long red fabrics from the Redwork Christmas range.  Cut out nine pieces of fusible wadding 9″ x 10″.  Iron a piece of red fabric to the front and back of each piece of wadding, then set aside.

Iron bondaweb onto the wrong side of each ornament design from the panel, then cut them out allowing 1/4″ away from the design.  Peel the paper off the back & position each ornament in the centre of the 9″ wide x 10″ long red fabric/wadding piece (on one side only).  Iron in place.  Decorate as desired using a machine or hand, cotton thread or embroidery thread & embellish as desired.
On the two 10″ sides of the flag, measure down 7″ from the top & mark this position.  Along the bottom of the flag, find the centre.  Now cut from the 7″ mark on one side, to the bottom centre point. Now cut from the from the 7″ mark on the other side, to the bottom centre point so that you create an pointy garland flag.
From the stripy red & white fabric, cut 11 strips of fabric 2 1/2″ wide creating long strips. Take one strip and iron it in half lengthwise with wrong sides together.  Now you are going to bind the sides of the flag like you would a quilt.  Take a flag & starting on the top of the right hand side, position the stripy tape you’ve made so the raw edges of tape line up with the raw edge of the right hand side of the flag.  Stitch using 1/4″ seam away from the raw edge, but stop at the corner.  Make a little fold in the tape then start sewing down the next straight bit, but stop again at the point.  Fold the tape back at 45 degrees away in the opposite direction you need to go in, then creating a fold that sits on the edge of the flag as you fold the tape forward again, laying it on the next straight bit & start stitching until you get to the next corner.  Make a little fold in the tape again, then carry on stitching until you get to the top of the left hand side (do not stitch it on the top).  Repeat this for all 9 flags.  Fold the folded edge of the binding around to the back of each flag & hand stitch down in place.
Take the left over strips of stripy fabric & stitch them together end to end so you have a length of approx 4m.  Iron in half with wrong sides together.  Starting at the centre point of the long folded strip, position the centre of the strip on the centre point of the top of one flag, with raw edges of the strip matching the raw edges of the top of the flag, pin in place.  Work out how far you want to space the flags apart & repeat the process pinning each one in place.  Stitch in place using a 1/4″ seam from the raw edge.  Fold the folded edge of the binding strip over to the back of the flags & hand stitch down.  Finish off each end with a loop & maybe a button.

Hang up and enjoy!

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Gail Pan Workshops

We are very excited to have internationally renowned designer & teacher Gail Pan from Australia, coming to teach here at Coast & Country Crafts & Quilts in Cornwall for two days just after her visit to the Festival of Quilts in August.  Both workshops will be hand stitching with a selection of Gail’s signature designs available to use.

Stitching Day with Gail Pan in The Olive Grove Bistro, which is on site where our shop is situated.
Tuesday 8th August  ~   Cost £85 per person – FULLY BOOKED

This in our big event of the year!  We will have exclusive use of the Olive Grove Bistro for the day.  The day begins at 10am with coffee & biscuits on arrival & a chance to open your goodie bag.  This workshop will offer a gorgeous assortment of bag projects to choose from with Gail assisting you & she’ll discuss different finishing techniques she uses during the day.
Your day includes a delicious lunch, as well as afternoon tea & cake provided by the Olive Grove Bistro, so if you have any dietary requirements please let us know (a pre-order menu will be available once you’ve booked).  Enjoy a “Show & Tell” by Gail whilst you’re stitching after lunch.
Numbers are limited.  If you’re coming as a group or with a friend and would like to be seated together, please let us know.

Sewing/Stitching Theme Day for just 12 people held in our workshop
Wednesday 9th August  ~  Cost £55 per person – FULLY BOOKED
Enjoy an exclusive day with Gail, on offer will be a selection of Gail’s sewing/stitching related patterns to choose from.  Food is not included, but you can order lunch from the Olive Grove on the day or bring a packed lunch. Tea & coffee will be provided

To book call us on 01872-870478 or buy online HERE

 

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Free patterns for Winter Days Flannels

We’ve just received a delivery of Winter Days Flannel fabrics which will make the cosiest of quilts!

This beautiful Baby Things free pattern uses Winter Days Fabrics, & has been designed by Debbie Beaves RK

https://www.robertkaufman.com/assets/pdf/BabyThings-WinterDays003.pdf

A second free pattern Winter Days is also available for the Winter Days Fabrics.

https://www.robertkaufman.com/assets/pdf/WinterDays-WinterDays.pdf