It’s been a while since we’ve talked about some of our essentials when it comes to our own personal crafting. We’ve shared the odd thing here and there, but we thought we’d head into things that little bit further and make this into a semi-regular feature here in The Craft Room.
For many of us, our project bags are just another extension of us, much like our regular bags our. With popular ‘what’s in my bag’ videos being popular online and Vogue asking a similar question to public figures, we thought that we’d put our own crafting spin on things. As soon as I watched Jimin and Jungkook’s ‘In the Bag’ Vogue Japan video a while back, I immediately thought of my own crafting stash…
With my own stitching being more miss than hit at the minute, I thought I’d hold myself accountable and go through both of my kits; especially as there hasn’t been a lot of love shared there at the moment! There’s always the ‘just in case’ levels of Jungkook’s rucksack here in my at home kit, whereas my ‘away’ kit feels a little more on Jimin’s level, just perhaps not as minimal!
The ‘Home’ Kit🏡
I’ve shown what I call the ‘Tower of Power’ in The Craft Room a couple of times now, a stack of boxes where I keep all my DMC threads, which I always keep under my desk. The ‘Home’ kit, however, is a grey felt caddy that sits in the living room and, as soon as it’s tidied, quickly becomes a crafty dumping ground again!
Branded as a baby changing caddy, I repurposed this great Home Bargains find many a year ago. As soon as I saw it I knew it would be handy for my copious amounts of cross stitch kits and the like. Apparently, ‘the like’ includes numerous tubes of hand cream and a tennis ball – I will explain this, but first, to the crafting!
Even if the contents are a mess, tying things up with this pink ribbon I couldn’t bear to get rid of at least makes things feel more organised – plus, the handles on this caddy will not sit upright for love nor money, so it’s a win-win really for the ribbon. I always try to sort this kit out and it never seems to get any smaller, yet the three compartments have some semblance of organisation to it, but I think that’s more because I know where things are rather than their productivity value!
The right photo displays its current contents: stacks of small hoops; little notes I keep in there along with some gems on an old birthday card ’cause cute; a notepad and tin of stationery; my handy wheelie bin that I put my cut-offs in and keep for my ORT jar; a couple of kits; project bags with WIPs in or aida that’s labelled for designs that are ready to start; a rolled up extra project bag; some now-found-on-this-photography-day Post-Its from my days spent scene planning for my manuscript; a little notepad and a few other pieces that always feel like I shouldn’t be without. Oh, and the tennis ball is for when I’m having a bit of grief with the ol’ plantar fasciitis – IYKYK.
The ‘Away’ Kit ✈️
My travel kit, on the other hand, is as streamlined as it can be. I’m a bit obsessed with The Powerpuff Girls and had a few toiletry bags with them on; I’d never really used this for anything and I thought it was a shame to keep it tucked away. It fits a size two Nurge hoop in really well, along with my mini clipboard that holds my pattern that I’m working on, as well as my small kit box.
I’ve always got a piece of paper on my clipboard so that when I mark off, it doesn’t mark the backing of the board. This ratty old bit of paper was a Hello Kitty colouring page I did about a million years ago, and it’s lived on this and my A4 clipboard since.
I’d picked up stitching seriously again back around 2013/2014, so I know I’ve had that page since then at the very least. I have no idea why I’ve become so attached to it, but it’ll be a sad day when that goes in the recycling!
I keep my marker in a small foodbag (I’ve had for lord knows how long) just in case it leaks! The other non-movers would be another hand cream that’s hanging on for dear life and lip balm – are you sensing a theme, here?!
Other than the obvious relevant threads, other kit essentials for me will always be a pair of sharp scissors. My current faves are these green Kelmscott scissors, which seem to blend a bit into the background, here! I’ve always got a few mini highlighters with me as with these created patterns for my Tomb Raider renders. There are always far more colours used than in smaller designs, so this just helps me find the relevant symbols I want to work on and helps me focus on a particular ‘surface area’ in the times I’ll stitch. Needleminders and quilting clips round out my other must haves and that’s about it!
Since changing my ‘away’ kit a while back, I’ve found these changes to be positive ones. While I don’t stitch near as enough as I’d like to, especially at the minute, knowing I have everything I need in my travel kit really helps take out the guesswork with things so I can focus on getting some stitches on the aida, rather than constantly rattling through my ‘home’ kit to check I’ve got everything with me.
So that’s what’s in my project bag, team! If you’re up for sharing what’s in yours, be sure to share yours with us on your socials, tagging us using #WoolWarehouseCrafters and we’ll get sharing! In the meantime, I’m off to have a bit of a tidy… 👀 catch you next time!
If you’re enjoying what you see in The Craft Room, consider subscribing to us below! Simply enter your email to be kept up to date with product launches, inspiration and more ⤵️✨