ISSUE 1 SPRING 2015 £5
Welcome to the very first issue of The Dolly Mixture, the Zine dedicated to creative women in all different arts. The inspiration for TDM came from my very own personal blog, under the same name. I have always thought that women in the arts don’t get enough recognition for what they do. Being in a band myself and being the only female, I found myself experiencing just that. The aim of TDM is to bring to light some of the UK’s most interesting and inspiring women crafters, artists, illustrators, writers and musicians and for them to receive the credit that they deserve. Each issue will collaborate with an artist who will design the cover page. This issue we collaborated with Rosie O’Connor, a graphic designer from Widnes. Enjoy an artistic adventure with a ‘zinester’, a professional knitter, a visual artist and a free super easy tutorial on how to make crochet flowers ready for spring.
The Dolly Mixture thedollymixture@gmail.com 07720246100 18 Princes Street ,Liverpool, L1 8XB 2
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ART TITLE PAGE
ART 4
The meeting place was a fairly new vintage style tea shop in Widnes, a small industrial town which isn’t necessarily known for anything exciting except for it’s Rugby League team and it’s newly opened Nandos, so this tea shop was rather quirky for such an un-fashionable town. I arrived nice and early, ordered a pot of tea and tried to avoid thinking about the sort of embarrassing things that happen when meeting someone new. Rosie arrived not too long later with a massive smile and gleaming green eyes.
The nerves went out the window and we began to chat like old friends reminiscing on the past. I eventually thought it would be best that I started to write some of this casual chitter chatter down. Rosie O’Connor is 21 and a graphic designer undergrad at UCLAN who is in third year, which is a placement year. She is currently doing her internship at Décor Fusion in Manchester and is learning things such as branding, logos and website design. “I wanted to be a vet but then the gore put me off and I don’t think I could have got an A level in 4
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science anyway” laughed Rosie when asked what her dream job was. Rosie nearly gave up with her studies after a negative experience at her first year of college until she discovered the art foundation course at St Helens College. “It got me onto lots of different aspects of art so there would be fine art, illustration and then graphic
Self Portrait by Rosie.
ROSIE
Rosie O’Connor 5
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design. I really enjoyed graphic design because it had a broader spectrum, you get to do a bit of everything to create a piece of Graphic Design.”
details of the theme and what The Dolly Mixture was all about and was absolutely thrilled to bits with her interpretation. “I wanted to do a cross between Spring and
I start all of my work by drawing it out first, a lot of people I work with just dive straight in but I like to add my own personal touch to a
“so maybe it was his mistress or something.” Rosie designed the cover page for this issue; I contacted her with my fingers crossed after seeing some of her work on her Instagram. I gave her very basic
femininity so I did a Mother Nature theme but I also wanted the face to be based on a modern day feminist, so I chose Emma Watson.” The process of making a piece of graphic design artwork sounds very tedious, “I make a rough design, get an opinion and then keep on improv ing. 6
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piece.” Along with being a full time student undergoing her internship, Rosie also has her very own Etsy shop called ‘Rosie Cheeks’. She sells custom prints in very modern frames. They are only £10 and in my opinion look much better that some you may find on ‘Not On the High Street’ for a ridiculous £30. “Ideally I would like to sell them for more as I’m only making a couple of pound from each one, however I’m just after ‘bigging’ my shop up a little bit first. There’s a lot of
competition around so once I’m known a little more, I can raise the price a little bit.” I’m sure Rosie won’t have any trouble with that soon. Although she doesn’t have these designs listed for sale on her shop, I first discovered Rosie from the ‘Learn to Love Yourself ’ print. I have assured her that she should start selling these body positive and feminine prints (because I want one!). I thought I would ask if she had had any weird requests yet with her shop? “My weirdest request was a heart shape with some lyrics in it. I had
never heard the lyrics before and when I googled them I found out they were from a really obscure rave song. There were no names given either so maybe it
was for his mistress or something!” Rosie’s favourite orders are the more personal ones, “It’s 7
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for my cousin, you know the nursery rhyme ‘Monday’s Child’? Well this one is Friday’s child. I never have to buy gifts for anyone’s birthday anymore, I just make them!” Rosie’s advice to budding designers is to “do research, do an art foundation course then you can decide what aspect of art you prefer. Oh and if you want to carry on your studies then UCLAN is a really great university, I love it!” Rosie was an absolute pleasure to meet and there is no doubt she will do well with her art. I wish her every bit of luck for the future.
SARAH WESTGARTH
Sarah Westgarth is a Fashion Promotion and Imaging student based in London. Sarah states she is “an image maker that works specifically on band visuals.” Her skills don’t stop there though, she is one very talented lady! Sarah runs a blog dedicated to fashion and female fronted bands, she does photography, set design, makes jewellery, film making, dressmaking and the list really does go on. Let’s start with Sarah’s blog, ‘Fashion and Female Fronted bands’. “I’ve always been drawn to female fronted bands before I even knew anything about feminism. I also like seeing what bands wear and if what they wear on stage is an
exaggeration of herself or a character they have created. So I had this idea in the back of my head that I should start a blog.” Sarah has interviewed bands such as PINS, The Witch Hunt and Pawws.She focuses on females in bands since “going to a lot of gigs and festivals, you kind of see the same male dominated bands that have the same kind of sound, I find it kind of refreshing and inspiring to see a girl up there.” Sarah claims that although she is really busy planning a future event, she is sure there will be more content for her blog in the near future. “The artwork I do kind of fits in with 8
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it now anyway, so I don’t necessarily have to plan stuff specifically for the blog. I loved doing the film on Big Joanie so would like to do something similar to that again.” Sarah worked on a short documentary on London based band ‘Big Joanie’ with a couple of other creatives who “wanted to create a short film showcasing the feminist punk scene and diversity in music so we thought that they would be perfect! We just contacted them and went and shot a gig they did at The Montague Arms.” Sarah’s work clearly speaks out ‘feminist’ and ‘feminism’. Although Sarah calls herself a feminist now, this was something she
SARAH
Sarah working on outfits for ‘The Tuts’. 9
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felt differently about a few years ago. “I think I was a feminist before I knew what it was! When I started my blog about three years ago, people would ask me if I was and I’d say no just because I didn’t know anything about it. I’ve always preferred bands with female singers and one day my friend said to me ‘so you like the Riot Grrrls yeah?’
and Joanna Gruesome however she would work with “anyone DIY, it doesn’t specifically have to be a girl band.” Sarah is collaborating with Dovetown to put on an event of girlbands such as The Tuts, Wolf Girl and Mammoth Penguins along with a showcase of all of her work and visuals.
The George Tavern in London. Sarah has been doing a lot of work with The Tuts, “they’re cool girls and love everything I’m producing so it’s worked really well. I like that they have a punk attitude and they’re really good fun and they don’t give a shit. I also love that they’re proud feminists.”
“I just think there’s a bit of a stigma with the word and lack of knowledge which is why people don’t identify as one.” but I hadn’t even heard of them. So after discovering that movement and reading a few books and watching documentaries, that was when I really got into feminism. I just think there’s a bit of a stigma with the word and lack of knowledge which is why people don’t identify as one.” Sarah would love to work with numerous acts such as SleaterKinney, The Julie Ruin
“So the backdrop i’ve made will be at the back of the stage, then The Tuts will be wearing some outfits I’ve made fitting in with the same theme, there’ll be giant sculptures and then there will be an animation projected onto them during their set. I’m also making jewellery which will be available to buy as a token of the event, then I’ll be making a film on the whole night!” This event is April 18th at 10
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Sarah doesn’t have any future projects planned yet as she is working extremely hard on creating everything for this event. “I’m going to be contacting a lot of labels to see if anyone wants to collaborate. It’s good because my skills are quite easily transferable. I could do music videos, events for album launches, album artwork or even a set for a photo shoot, anything really.”
Sarah’s dream job is to be able to do what she is doing now but freelance for labels. So record labels, bands, promoters, be sure to keep an eye out for Sarah Westgarth the visual artist superwoman!
Part of the backdrop for Sarha’s showcase. 11
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ENTERTAINMENT
How long have you played bass for? 2 years. What made you want to learn in the first place? I’d been just singing in bands for years but I’d always felt awkward. As soon as I picked up a bass I knew that was what I wanted to do so when I started a new band I bought one and taught myself. Favourite bassist? Probably Maureen Herman or Melissa Auf Der Maur. Who are your main influences personally? No Doubt, Smashing Pumpkins, Babes In Toyland, Hole,
Silverchair, Sonic Youth. Team Dresch. A lot of 90’s stuff. How did Dancing Cake start? Yeah, we’ve been together a couple of months now. I knew Lee from gigging
recordings? We’re releasing our debut single on the 27th of March, which will be available to buy on cassette. What is the writing style of
“We are really outnumberd and that’s what needs to change!” together in old bands and when he said he was starting a new band I jumped at the chance. He met the drummer when he served him in Subway when he worked there, weirdly enough. When will there be 13
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Dancing Cake? At the beginning it was mainly Lee because he had all these songs already written but now it’s more of a collaboration. How would you describe Dancing Cake?
Weird timings, harmonies, male/ female screamed vocals. Lots of fuzz and noise. Sad lyrics. Imagine surf rock with hardcore and grunge. Who are the band’s influences? Biffy Clyro, Torche, Nirvana, Refused, Mastodon, Smashing Pumpkins. Then some poppy stuff like Plumtree and Shonen Knife.
Have you been in any bands before Dancing Cake? The band I was last in was a post-grunge four piece called Antesaint playing bass and I was lead vocals. We have an EP out that we released last year that you can find online! You’re the only girl in the band. How do you see yourself- as a musician or as a girl in a band? A musician definitely,
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because that’s what I am. It’s always difficult to see myself the same as the boys when I’m constantly being called ‘the girl in the band’ by others though. What are your thoughts on female musicians in the alternative music scene? It’s still a niche thing which isn’t great news for any of us. The Leeds/
Reading poster really proves it in the worst way. It’s very rare I play gigs and there are other girls in bands! We are really outnumbered and that’s what needs to change. How do you find being a female musician in the alternative scene? It has its ups and downs. I love playing
band on the line up to crash at ours and one of them made a ‘joke’ comment about staying in my bed, which made me very uncomfortable. I’m autistic so I’m not great at most social situations and I found it very difficult to laugh off. They wouldn’t have made that joke if I wasn’t female. And
being the only girl and one with another girl and it doesn’t differ too much. I miss the girl power aspect of being in a band with other females though. We were always fiercely protective of each other which you don’t get too often. What has been your favourite show so far?
shows and throwing myself about on stage for half an hour with two of my closest friends. You get the odd person being weird but playing music is the best thing I do with my life. Have you had any negative experiences from being a female musician? So many. I recently played a show where I’d invited a touring
people trying to look up my skirt when I play on a stage. Have you had any positive experiences that are due to being a female musician? A girl once came up to me and said how she was going to start a band after seeing a set! That was really great. What’s it like to be the only girl in the band? I’ve been in bands
Panda, Classically Handsome Brutes and Veins. We’d been put with a lot of bands that weren’t like us on line ups before and everyone ended up hating us so it was so good for all the bands to be the same mix of weird and heavy and getting cheers and good words after. What’s next? Release our single and videos, play a lot
“They wouldn’t have made that joke Probably a show we did with Negative if I wasn’t female.”
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of gigs! Record an EP.
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Slimeball Zine is the first Zine you ever worked on? It is, yes. Me and my friend wanted something we could do together on a regular night each week that would inspire us creatively. Slimeball focused on fun, and we always made sure that it was super accessible to everyone. We didn’t want to come off as pretentious or clique. We gave them out for free, paying for all the print costs ourselves and justifying it with the view that other people spend way more money each month on their hobbies. What made you interested in Zines in the first place? I had a dip into the world of zines as a teen, when I was really into punk, and knew a
few older punks in my home town of Huddersfield. I remember seeing hand drawn booklets, knowing that I loved that idea of instant access to
to what most people would call a zine, but to me the boundaries really are limitless. I know I personally prefer something I can hold in my hands, but I would also encompass
“I will dream and actively fight for a world where we aren’t expected to shave, slap on make-up, diet, undergo painful surgery or dress a certain way...” information, but feeling that they weren’t meant for me to enjoy as I wasn’t a huge part of that scene. I always knew what a zine was after this, but it was only when I decided to throw myself into making one that I really got into feeling comfortable. What is a Zine to you? I don’t know if there is any kind of strict rule 17
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digital media in the world of zines. A zine, to me, is just a really instant and direct way of communicating an idea, passion, talent or message. I keep on seeing a lot about body positivity, what’s your take on it? Body Positivity is such a huge issue I don’t think it can be defined into a single, concise answer.
It starts with the bigger picture of society’s attitudes towards bodies, and what is ‘acceptable’ and ‘unacceptable’, and ends right down at the other end of the spectrum with the issue of how we personally see ourselves and our own bodies. For instance, my opinions on Body Positivity in our society differ wildly from my idea of Body Positivity within myself and my own body. I will dream and actively fight for a world where we aren’t expected to shave, slap on make-up, diet, undergo painful surgery or dress a certain way to be accepted, but on a personal level I still struggle with my own image, and will often take a negative view of myself. I first found you from your zine ‘Am I Every Boyfriend I Ever Had?’- this is a very personal zine and you even said it took a lot of guts and passion to make. What made
you want to do this zine? I have always had the stance that I will share and talk about my experiences, if it helps just one person in some way. Just before I wrote what I now refer to as the ‘Boyfriends’ zine, a man I was wildly in love with decided to end our relationship. I initially didn’t deal with it well, and shut myself away a lot. I realised that I was unhappy, not because of the break-up necessarily, but because I was never really sure of who I was. Since the age of 14 I had been in some kind of relationship, and I would give a lot of myself and never really address what I wanted. The ‘Boyfriends’ zine
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was an instant therapy for me to work through they aren’t actually all boys, and figure out how they affected me. From there I have been able to leave behind the negative effects and work on the positive aspects. What has been the response from it? It’s been completely, unexpectedly amazing. I never have confidence in anything I make, but suddenly people were actually reading it, talking about it and thanking me for creating it. This blew me away. What does it take to make a Zine? An idea, a piece of paper, something to write or draw on the paper with.That is the reason I love zines as an art form so much. The process of creating a zine doesn’t demand specialist equipment, ‘talent’, qualifications, technique or money. Would you say you were more of an artist or a writer? I write a lot as part of my work, but I would
Photo Credit Zubeir Tai
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never consider myself wordy enough to class myself as a writer. Similarly, I don’t think much to my drawings or art, so wouldn’t put myself in that category either. Maybe I sit somewhere between the two? Words and drawings can exist as the same thing, all are marks on paper that we can interpret in our own ways. You’re taking part in the March Zine a day project, how is that going? The March zine-a-day challenge is something I created just for myself. I wanted to push myself, mostly as an experiment to see what kind of things I could achieve if I did something every day. What has been your favourite zine you have made/been part of yet? Definitely the ‘Boyfriends’ zine, purely because of how good it was for me mentally. I dealt with a lot of tough shit whilst making that zine, and came out the other side
of it pretty sure of who I am and what I want out of life. I have to say, you have amazing green dip dyed hair- are you a bit of a riot grrrl? Oh definitely! I do like punk music, feminism and positivity, and I love the Riot Grrrl attitude and scene, but I don’t ever like to pigeon-hole myself. I can relate and identify as Riot-Grrrl, but I won’t ever let it define me completely. Also, my green hair is a choice I made for myself, I didn’t think ‘hey, this would be really Riot-Grrrl of me!’ What’s your take on feminism today? My take on Feminism is and always will be this;Do you believe women should be allowed the same rights and privileges as men? If yes, you are a feminist. 20
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What are your future plans for Zine making? At the moment I am focused completely on this zine-a-day challenge, which will see a lot of my ideas come to fruition. After that, I intend to make April a month of relaxation, before looking at ways I can take my art forward, through practical courses and learning more about techniques and art practices. My work will be for sale on my Etsy for the foreseeable future, and I will continue to make re-prints of things I sell out of.
crafts
Have you ever heard of a 3D knitted poster? What about a ‘professional knitter’ as a job title? Well, it is definitely a ‘thing’ and Kandy Diamond, owner of Knit and Destroy is your gal. Kandy is a professional knitter who owns an extremely quirky business, teaches knitted textile design and also plays Roller Derby to break up her very
knitted life style. Surprisingly knitting wasn’t a trait that Kandy grew up with, she learnt to machine knit as part of her Textile degree and later learnt to hand knit when she wanted to knit with ribbons but they wouldn’t work with the machine. “Knitting was my favourite out of the textile disciplines I studied, partly because it was the one that I was best at, but also the flexibility and diversity of knitting really appealed to me.” Knit and Destroy sprung from Kandy’s determination to carry on knitting, “when I finished at university, I really wanted to keep knitting. I saw my friend making and selling and my mum has her own business, so this encouraged me to think that I could do 22
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it too! I knew that I could knit and I had a good understanding of machine knitting and had ideas of products I wanted to make. I had no idea that I would be able to a make a success of the business, I just went for it, made what I wanted to and people bought it so I kept on going!” I had never heard of machine knitting and after doing some research on Knit and Destroy and Kandy, I came across terrifying scribbling’s of plans and workings out, I had to find out more about this ‘machine knit’. “Lots of people used to have knitting machines at home, it was really big in the 60s and 70s with many a school jumper and often a whole outfit being created on the knitting machine. It fell
Kandy Diamond 23
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out of favour in line with mass production and clothing costs reducing. When it costs more for the yarn than it would for a finished product, people don’t have the same incentive to make their own.” Kandy also created 3D posters for an exhibition, “that was part of my ‘Death by Knitting’ work, I made a series of 3D posters all inspired by the use of knitting needles as weapons in film. The posters were machine 24
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knitted and used classic Red/Cyan 3D techniques so they were 3D when viewed through the right glasses.” It is fair to say that there is somewhat of a preconception of knitting, and most crafts really. The modernist may think it is useless and a waste of time, or even old fashioned, however Kandy wants to make “well designed products that are a contrast to the embedded stereotype of knitting.” She’s smashing her ethos already! Twin Peaks themed scarves, giant plush slices of cherry pie, cat cushions along with the 3D posters! Knit and Destroy have just launched the ‘Cosmic collection’. “The collection is inspired by space and sees the return of the glow in the dark knits.” Head over to Knit and Destroy’s Big Cartel to view their amazing new space range, mixed with
some of the classics mentioned above. Kandy does do custom orders and stated that she would love to do more one off pieces. “Yes, I do take custom orders and I quite enjoy working on them for a change from my usual knitting. I’ve had a few odd requests over the years, I had a good one recently with someone asking me to knit some ‘hi-vis-cardigans’. Apparently someone has knitted them one and they thought it was so good they wanted me to make more to sell as a collaboration!” I wondered how Kandy manages to fit Roller Derby into her very busy schedule? “I make it fit, it kind of just goes on top of my knitting, I think it’s really good for me to have something that isn’t knitting. Before I started, I would spend free weekends at craft fairs and it was very much all knitting.” Seeing Kandy’s work
is extremely inspiring and her advice to eager learners is, “Don’t give up, there’s nothing like the feeling of satisfaction when you finish that thing you’re knitting! And if you’re struggling, with hand or machine knit, YouTube is your friend.” Unfortunately there are no big events coming up for Knit
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and Destroy, “I tend to do more events in the winter with my stuff being knitted, I find it goes down better then”. However, you can have a look at her work any time of the year and you can even buy patterns for some of her designs, so who knows you could have your very own cat cushion or space scarf in time for the winter.
“I turned to embroidery during a period of depression, on the advice of my councillor. She advised me to put my sewing machines aside for a while and work with just my hands as a form of therapy; to keep my mind in the moment.” Rachel Alveston has sold her handmade creations online for almost eight years but her most recent endeavour is ‘Rad Boutique’ an
acronym of her business name ‘Rachel Alveston Designs’. Rad Boutique focuses on handmade embroidered patches. Rachel has dabbled in all sorts of arts and crafts, “I’ve always been crafty, so it’s hard to recall but I do remember embroidering and using polymer clay at a young age.” Her most recent newly learnt skill is Lino Cutting and printing, “gouging the lino is surprisingly satisfying.” The inspiration for
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starting an online shop was a mixture of two things, “honestly, for a bit of extra cash and to keep my hoarding in check.” Even when Rachel wasn’t creating pieces for her online boutique, she was still making them so was slowly running out of space. Rachel has a day job but “would love to work for herself full time running Rad Boutique. “I’m quite lucky with regards to my day job though, it’s part time
and my basic hours are mornings so it’s easy to run RAD in the afternoons. I usually come home from work, have a little break and then get stitching!” Along with creating patches of quirky characters such as Daria and Milhouse, Rachel has recently stumbled into creating designs for band tee shirts. “I drew a few designs up as a favour for the band Scouts and by doing so it’s drawn attention to my scribblings, I’ve had a few enquiries since and I would be happy to create tee designs for bands if I’m what they’re looking for!” When asked if she had ever had any weird requests I wasn’t expecting the following, “the other day I was asked if I could make a naked man onesie. Balls and all! They should be an interesting project.” I’m hoping this is for some stag do and not for someone’s personal use. Rachel shares her creative skills with her
sister, Beck who also runs an online boutique called ‘Bad Cats Club’, she sells patches to specifically raise money for the ‘Lyam Kirkham brain tumour fund’ and also creates fun cat related cross stitch designs. “We’re just like a pair of old ladies really, but seriously, she knows that she’s always got me to bounce ideas off.” There is even a rumour of collaboration between the two sisters but “you’ll have to keep your eyes peeled for now.” For people wanting to learn a new craft Rachel’s advice is to “be patient and experiment, find out what works for you, and don’t be too bogged down by what other people are doing.” Advice for people thinking of running their own online boutique is to “be organised, keep good records and make 27
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sure you’re well versed on all the legal stuff such as returns and tax. Too many people go into selling their crafts online without researching their legal obligations as a seller. In other words, cover your ass!” Rad Boutique has an edge that a lot of popular online boutiques are missing, a niche for something a little bit different! Help her out by checking out her boutique and allowing Rachel to
carry on getting the feeling of “seeing that I’ve brought happiness to someone with something that I have made. It’s an incredibly satisfying feeling.”
Rachel of Rad Boutique showing off a work in progress. 28
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2
1
Using your choice of colour, CH 7
SLST in first chain, pull through. 5
4
CH 2 to form the first part of the first petal.
DC (yo, pull through first two loops, yo pull through rest) 3 times. 29
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3
This creates the middle of the flower. 6
Remember these steps carefully as you will need to repeat to make five petals.
7
Here’s two DC, 1 more to go...
8
After your 3 lots of DC, CH 2. 10
CH = Chain SLST= Slip Stitch DC= Double Crochet YO= Yarn Over
Weave in ends and voila!
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SLST into the centre, here’s your first petal. Repeat four times. Use these flowers to make garlands, badges, stick them to greetings cards or upcycle a shabby lamp shade! There are endless possibilities.
If you’re struggling, check out the video tutorial on our YouTube! YouTube.com/TDM 30
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ADVERT
With thanks to: Rosie O’Connor- Front cover page, title pages, Calm Down poster and the star of the Graphic Designer feature. Hayley Smith- Dancing Cake, Leeds Rachel Alveston- Rad Boutique Sarah Westgarth- Visual Artist Kate Roseanne Johnson- ‘Zinester’ Kandy Diamond- Professional Knitter