Review: Cotton & Twine Stitchy Boxes

Giveaway Win: February 2019 Cotton & Twine Box

DISCLAIMER: This is not an advertisement and I am not affiliated with Cotton & Twine or it's parent company, The Historical Sampler Company. The giveaway win had no obligation to review or post about this box; all opinions are entirely my own.

I was absolutely delighted when I found out that I had won an Instagram competition for a stitchy subscription box from British company Cotton & Twine (on Instagram as @cottonandtwineboxes)!!! I rarely win anything, so it was a very lovely surprise 😊

You have probably noticed that there are all kinds of subscription boxes around today, ranging from beauty products to books. Why not needlework supplies? This is my first experience with a subscription box of any kind, and this pretty printed box came in a protective plain cardboard liner box. I like that you could easily reuse it for other mail!

The printed floral motifs would make a nice embroidery pattern!

Cotton & Twine Subscription Boxes are produced by The Historical Sampler Company, run by two friends, Joanne and Suzanne, who design cross-stitch and tapestry (also known as needlepoint) patterns. In April 2018 they started the subscription boxes, and you can see the themes/contents of past boxes to get an idea of what they are all about.

Although you can sign up for a continual, automatically-renewing subscription, you can also buy one-off boxes, if a slot is available (there are a limited number produced each month). The March 2019 box is currently sold out but you can register for e-mails about future boxes right here.The Historical Sampler Company also offers Gift Boxes, available for order at any time with a similar idea and make up.

The box contents came prettily wrapped up in pink tissue paper, sealed with this lovely sticker of the C&T logo! It makes you feel like you're opening a present 💕

The Cotton & Twine boxes are super fun: they each contain a small stitchy project with full kit, some related goodies and some sweet treats, along with some type of tea (very British!). It's a wonderful idea - take some time for yourself, make a cup of tea and stitch away for an afternoon! My box arrived on Friday morning, and I couldn't help but think it would make a great weekend entertainment 😊

Here are the complete contents: Sherbet Pips candy (totally new to me!), Green Tea bag, 3 cute wooden Gift Tags, a DMC floral hoop and the March 2019 Pattern and kit.

The stitchy kit comes with a full size, easy to read Black & White pattern insert in the pamphlet, with a full colour photo of the finished design on the front. The little pink organza bag contains the contents: a piece of Zweigart 16-count tan Aida, pre-folded into quarters, the DMC threads (with thread numbers) on a presorted cardboard keeper, and a gold tapestry needle in a sealed plastic slip.

But my absolutely favourite part is this super cute DMC floral print hoop, which you can use to frame your stitching when it's done ❤🌸 I had no idea there was anything like these on the market, and they are adorable! Each box came with one of four different colours (shown with the photo from the pattern pamphlet):

I was hoping for the pink, but I got the yellow and I truly love it! Cheerful and sunny 🌞

I love how the Cotton & Twine patterns are modern while still being classic and pretty. I've gotten the fabric hooped up and I'm stitching the little sheep right now; I hope to have a finish to share soon! Overall, I'm super impressed with the quality of the Cotton & Twine boxes, and I would recommend them to anyone interested. If were to offer suggestions for future C&T boxes, I would ask them to consider some minor changes:

🧵 The organza bag is cute and reusable, which I love! You can just squeeze the tiny hoop in empty, but not with the fabric in: if it were just a few inches larger, it could serve as a project bag while you're working, which would be great!
🧵 The wooden gift tags are lovely but I couldn't help thinking it would be better if they had holes along the side to serve as thread keeps! I really don't know how I'm going to use three either; maybe one tag and another little something would have been better;
🧵 I would personally rather have had no tags at all (since they aren't stitchy) and another hoop - one to use to frame the project, one to use on a future project;
🧵 Small stitchy supplies and tools - thread skeins, needle minders, thread keepers, themed scissors could be included in future boxes along with projects.

Have you ever tried a stitchy subscription box (of any needlework technique), or have you been considering one?

SFSNAD SAH Challenge Virtual Tour

Original WWII Poster excerpt; see full poster at the British Imperial War Museum

If you're a stitcher or crafter, you've probably heard that old thrifty phrase "Make Do and Mend", which came from the shortage of supplies under rationing during the Second World War. This phrase also happens to be the theme of the last Stitch At Home Challenge from the San Francisco School of Needlework (SFSNAD).

You may remember my Joyful Jester, which I entered in the previous Stitch At Home Challenge - Burlesque. In that challenge, we were given a Bag O' Bits full of scraps of metallic threads, courtesy of Kreinik, which we had to use in our project. For the Make Do and Mend Challenge, participants were, fittingly, encouraged to use found items and stash supplies in innovative ways - that is, to "make do" 😊

Many of the participants also took up the second half of the Challenge -"mend" - by incorporating visible mending into their work. Mending is a very old technique, where the aim was usually to repair cloth as seamlessly as possible. Visible mending takes the same techniques but uses highly contrasting threads for a decorative approach. There is a whole school of thought behind this method, including a rebellion against "fast fashion", but for an introduction I enjoy following the tomofholland blog.

Visible mending also draws heavily from the Japanese mending traditions of Sashiko, which according to A Threaded Needle encompasses four types of stitching: Simple Sashiko (tutorial: clouds pattern), Hitomezashi (tutorial), Kogin (examples) and Boro (see Authentic vs. Modern Boro and Boro Style , Boro in Fashion, tutorial for clothing from Threads magazine and this Boro Bag tutorial for a sense of the style).

I first discovered the SFSNAD on Instagram, and what I really love about their Stitch At Home Challenges is that they are free to participate in, for stitchers of any skill level, and are open Internationally. You can ship your project to San Francisco, for display in a special exhibition at the end of each Challenge, or - as I did - you can send in a photo to be used in the Online Gallery that is hosted a few months after the end of the Challenge.

But what is really neat, and what I wanted to share with you today, is that for the Make Do and Mend Challenge, the SFSNAD has made a Virtual Tour available on YouTube, and it is amazing to watch! It is so fun to see the many different interpretations on the theme, and to see the wonderful creativity of the stitchers who participated.

The YouTube link is here, or you can watch the tour below:

The current Stitch At Home Challenge theme is Borders and submissions are open until April 15th, 2019. Please see the Challenge post for entry forms and rules, and the Borders Inspiration Blog for ideas. I will not be entering this time, but I really enjoyed the Burlesque SAH Challenge and hope to participate again sometime in the future 😊