While the love / hate Valentine's Day debate continues, we can ALL take a moment to share our love of...PUFFINS!
As the Brits say, I'm feeling pretty "chuffed" about my new puffin pattern. They're (ahem, finally) now available in the shop (PDF downloads coming soon). This one has honestly been a very long time coming. I love puffins so much, I felt pressure to make sure it was EXTRA awesome. Needless to say, ten versions later, here we are! I hope you love it as much as I do. 🖤🖤🖤
And since it's Valentine's Day, I whipped up a celebratory, original, Hook, Line & Tinker Valentine's Day Puffin Playlist. [yep, it's now a real thing] Scroll on down. There's more 😂
Happy stitching!
- Laurie Dolhan -
It’s small business week here in Canada! As a small business owner myself, I may be biased, but I am a BIG believer in the power of independent retail in our economy and communities.
Running a business is HARD. Almost every small shop owner I have had the pleasure of knowing is driven more by passion than the pursuit of wealth. They are good to their employees, give to their communities, and support other small businesses. They are my people. And I have BIG LOVE for SMALL SHOPS. Please help share the ❤️ #smallbusinessweek
Shop small, shop independent, shop ethical.
Pop on over to our FREE Downloads page to find our #BigLoveSmallShops pattern and more.
Give the new pattern a try! Let me know what you think. And of course, happy stitching!
- Laurie Dolhan -
If you have ordered a complete kit or preprinted fabric from my website within the last few years, you likely received a blank square of fabric with your order. Did you figure out what it was for?
When I stitch, I personally like to add an extra layer of fabric in my hoop. And when there is imperfect fabric on hand in the studio that can’t be used for printing, I share. ("a square to spare" LOL) Layering is a small trick that can easily elevate both your experience and your finished project.
Passing along a layering square is a helpful bonus with your order and helps me minimize and divert waste. #winwin.
Give it a try! Let me know what you think. And of course, happy stitching!
- Laurie Dolhan -
I feel like a kid that has just moved into her very own big girl room. Since 2020, I have not had a dedicated office / creative space for myself. What square footage I claimed was messy, chaotic, and shared with other humans. It was a dumping ground for everything that didn't have a home somewhere else. But I have my own office in our new home! It's a luxury I am thoroughly enjoying. I'm already feeling more focused and inspired...even more so with my new gallery wall.
The wall in my creative space is a mix of hoops made by other hands, patterns I've stitched from other designers, and prototypes for my own designs. It's a bit of a mishmash and I LOVE it.
While the video I shared on social media makes it look like I whipped it together in seconds using supernatural speed, in actuality it only took 25 minutes. Not bad, especially since my real speed was closer to a sloth than a gazelle.
How can you put a large gallery wall together in less than half an hour? Well, by using magic of course! The magic of clear push pins.
Note: a thumbtack has a large, flat head that you push in with your thumb, while a pushpin has a spool-shaped head that you also push in with your thumb. I didn't know the difference until I started writing this article. In the video below, I definitely say thumbtack. *sigh*
I know, office supplies aren't the sexiest solution. But "stick" with me and I'll get right to the "point".
Give it a try! Let me know what you think. And of course, happy stitching!
- Laurie Dolhan -
Not so fun fact: I’m decisive, tenacious, and very good(?) at making offers on houses.
Simplifying life and work (goals!) has been extra, extra...complicated. As a small-batch, crafty business, the “we” in Hook, Line & Tinker is myself, my husband Trevor, and now our son, James. We’ve been blessed by the help of many other hands and hearts over the years, but today, for now, we’ve been keeping things cozy while we make some big moves.
When our business outgrew our home studio in 2021, we moved into a too-large-for-us space that came with a few extra stressful, unexpected challenges (leaky roofs are not good for business). It wasn’t working.
My family and I decided our best option was to find a new home with the space, and a community with the proper zoning (tricky), to let us combine work and home life under one happy roof again. Easier said than done…and we never thought it would be easy.
This house was meant to be our house, our perfect home sweet home. Our community. The new roof to shelter both family and our happy, crafty little business. Every hurdle and misstep conspired/designed to lead us to…
Honestly, I’ve always loved WOLFVILLE, Nova Scotia, but it has always had notoriously limited availability, particularly in our budget. I didn't think it was possible. But here we are, furiously scrambling to pack up both home and shop. We’re official!
After selling and then navigating our way through 2 unsuccessful and one successful house deals, we're behind in pretty much everything. 😬 Your patience and understanding during this transition is truly appreciated.
P.S. I’ve decided I’m never ever moving again, so I’m very glad that I love our new home! Which is kind of a shame, because I would really like to work with our amazing agent Mary Bennett at PG Realty again. She expertly helped us sell our current home and quickly seal the deal on our new home in Wolfville. Just saying, she’s my hero. (For the record, she had nothing to do with our two disasters in New Brunswick. We made that mess without her. LOL)
- Laurie Dolhan -
If you are someone that purchases PDF patterns, wants to make their own patterns, or is just naturally curious about how things work, I just may be sharing a little bit of magic with you today.
Although all of our patterns are now printed on our super fancy, monster-sized, commercial-grade fabric printer, printing used to be pretty lo-fi here at the studio.
For six months before I launched Hook, Line & Tinker in 2017, I heavily experimented with varying methods of printing on fabric. It wasn't the sexiest aspect of launching a creative business (yawn). I didn't know if anything would even come out of all my efforts. Time has proven it was time well spent. All that trial and error helped me to discover my own simple but effective way to transfer prints to fabric. Although I've been pretty mum about it in the past, I'm now spilling my secrets.
Hook Line & Tinker's original printing process is quick, easy, and readily repeatable at home…by YOU. The truth is, for my first 4 years creating embroidery kits, I printed all my fabric using an (ahem) inkjet printer.
You may already have everything you need to make your own print magic around your home or office. Ready to give it a go?
To print PDF patterns to fabric, all you need is:
1) Light colored cotton fabric cut to 8 ½” x 8 ½” I’ve personally only worked with cotton. So while I know that quilting cotton and unbleached cotton work great using this method, I simply don’t know how the technique will work with other fabric types. But by all means, experiment and let me know how it goes! Keep in mind that the darker the fabric, the more difficult it becomes to view the lines when it’s time to stitch.
2) 1 sheet 8 ½” x 11” (A4) cardstock
Whether you use a fresh piece or one pulled from recycling, you just need one letter-sized piece of cardstock. Once you prep your piece of cardstock, it can be used again and again. I have sheets that were literally used hundreds of times.
3) Painter’s tape
I have always used green painters tape because I tend to use it for everything. (Labeling books going to and from school, putting dates on leftovers in the fridge, etc.) Masking tape might work too, but clear tape and washi tape is not recommended.
4) Inkjet printer
In my experience, the cheapest ones worked just as well as the pricier printers. Work with what you have. I can say with utmost confidence that a laserjet printer will NOT work. Aqueous inks are definitely the way to go whether they come in a cartridge or an eco-friendly bottle.
5) Digital image
Maybe a PDF pattern from Hook, Line & Tinker? I heard they have a lot of amazing patterns to choose from. (I'm completely biased.)
Step 1) Prep Your Cardstock Cover the top 1 ½ to 2” inches of your cardstock with painter’s tape. Two rows should be perfect.
Step 2) Attach Your Fabric Center your pre-cut fabric in the middle of your cardstock. Attach using painter’s tape along the top edge of the fabric only. So yes, you're adhering painter’s tape to painter’s tape.
Step 3) Print Your Fabric Here comes the exciting part! Put your prepared cardstock with fabric attached into your printer and then, you guessed it, print your pattern using black ink only (grayscale). Peel the fabric from the cardstock and remove or fold down the excess painter’s tape. That’s it! You’re ready to stitch.
The above instructions are for printing patterns sized for a 6” embroidery hoop. While you can use a printer with a larger format, I find the image maintains the best quality when sized for a 6” embroidery hoop. Ink is permanent.
Questions? Comments? Send me an email! And HAPPY STITCHING!
- Laurie Dolhan -
Last fall, I decided to whip up some business cards with a little FUN - they each had an embroidery pun on the back. When I shared my card images on Instagram - whoooooaaaaa! The PUNNY people came out to slay! The wordplay in the comments was so stunningly impressive I just couldn't let it all languish, buried in my Instagram feed. "Sew" I've "pricked" just a few to share with you.
If your comment wasn't selected, please know that from my heart, it was still very much appreciated. There were just soooooo many zingers, it was very difficult to choose.
@see.jane.stitch Sorry you're out of material. Thinking up sewing puns is harder than it seams, especially if you're hanging by a thread anyway.
When I’m sewing please don’t speak to me I needle a little space
Don't get it stitched. I'm Thready to get embroidering!
The stress of coming up with a stitching pun has me coming apart at the seams. 🤦🏽♀️🤷🏽♀️
Sometimes you rip what you sew!🤣
Christmas trees aren't great embroiderers--- they're always dropping their needles!
My husband asked how my latest craft project was going. I replied "Sew sew".
@lindsaycarroll3 I’ve got a stitch-uation: I’m all out of puns, plz come take over 🫡
Thready or knot, this joke will leave you in stitches! 😂
@gemma_hale93 You're punnier than I am, maybe you can give a stab at it? 🧵
Q: What’s an embroider’s favorite song?
A: Hoop There It Is!
Darn it all. I don't have any pins. I mean puns. But some good ones here have me in stitches
I love a good pun; these have me in stitches! It’s amazing how much material y’all have come up with from one common thread.
Do you have a zinger that absolutely, positively MUST be included in this list, please send it along! Send me an email!
Oh! And If you'd like to use any of my images, you can download them from here. I only ask that you please keep the attribution.
- Laurie Dolhan -