I was delighted to recently be asked to review something from new local St Albans company Designs and Such. They are an online craft store that sell both craft kits and also one-of-a-kind handmade items which would make lovely gifts.
Being a crafter myself it seemed logical to test out one of their kits and I was sent the Trio of Feltivity kit to make for Christmas. I should add here that time constraints mean that I've only completed one of the trio so far – the chirstmas tree – but watch out for the other two completed projects later in this advent craft month here on the blog.
The first thing I want to say about these kits is that they contain absolutely everything you need to make the completed item, apart from a bit of sewing skill. There's no faffing about to find needles or a certain coloured thread and it was all beautifully packaged together. I particularly liked the vintage style striped paper bags containing all the smaller items in your kit – and from a green viewpoint it was lovely to not get loads of extra plastic to throw away.
I started with the Christmas Tree from the kit and surprised myself at just how much I enjoyed making it. You need to have a little bit of sewing skill, but this really only requires you to do simple running stitch and blanket stitch around the edges. If I have to have one little criticism it is that the kit doesn't include photographs of the finished items – I will be saying this to Designs and Such as feedback though so I hope they'll take it on board and incorporate them in future versions. The sequins give it a nice bit of detail without it being too "bling" and I loved the twine hanging loop which makes a nice difference to the usual ribbon.
Even Little Miss C declared the finished item as "pretty" so bearing in mind that came from a little lady with a limited vocabulary that's high praise indeed. I'm really looking forward to sitting down and getting on with the other two projects in the kit and if you've got someone crafty who deserves a gift before Christmas then this would be ideal. On their website they also have some other lovely non-Christmassy kits that would also make lovely gifts along with handmade items.
Disclaimer: For this review I was given a Trio of Feltivity kit by Designs and Such, which usually retails at £13.99. This kit contains everything to make the christmas tree detailed and photographed above, plus a robin and a festive red heart. These two latter items will hopefully be made and reviewed here later this month!
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