Designer Interview - The Patchwork Heart

One of the most exciting crochet designers and bloggers around at the moment is The Patchwork Heart.  The colours and stitches, the founder, Heather, uses are quite simply sumptuous.  We managed to catch up with her to find out more about her craft.

How did you first get in to crochet?

I come from a crafty family where all my grandparents, aunts and cousins make things. I had the privilege of being taught to make granny squares by my mother at a young age and used to enjoy time with her diving into a big bag of colours, making squares for blankets.

When did you start designing?

Having a background in sewing and Mathematics, crochet was a natural progression for me, which took over my life about 6 years ago. My love for colour finds me designing colour recipes of yarn, which I share freely on my blog Facebook and Instagram sites.

What’s your favourite yarn?

My all-time favourite yarn for blanket making is Stylecraft Special DK. It is very soft, affordable, washes well and comes in a fabulous colour palette of over 60 shades. When working with cotton to make homewares such as mandalas, brooches and garlands my favourite yarn is Sirdar Cotton DK. This is very good value for money and comes in 100g balls, with a soft sheen and a  good twist meaning it does not split.

What’s the secret to your success?

I like organised crochet and work in a production line system. This increases my rate of productivity and enables easy planning of colours. So when making squares I will do all of the first rounds together then plan round 2  and so on. Making 1 square and measuring it first means you can then calculate how many are needed for your desired blanket size. At the end of a blanket I will make notes of its size, yarn used, pattern and hook size so that I can refer back to it in future.

What’s the best tip you can share with our readers?

I would advise people to read patterns twice and count their stitches often, to ensure no mistakes. It is very easy to think you know what you are doing and rush along making a mistake!

What inspires you?

I am inspired by colour. It may be a beautiful piece of china, fashions in the shops or flowers in a garden. When my brain sees something I like it automatically converts it into yarn colours and I am off planning a new make!

What are you working on at the moment?

At the moment I am working on a project using ombre crochet in the Circle of Friends square by Priscilla Hewitt. This pattern lends itself beautifully to a sequence of shading colours. I plan to use these squares as a base for 2 new tutorials I will be writing soon. I am frequently asked by my huge gang of followers for advice, so I have listened and plan to write about how to hide ends and how to join squares using the continuous flat braid join.

Thanks, Heather, that all sounds very exciting.