Korbond Scissor Review

As you guys know I love a good pair of scissors! So when Korbond asked me if I'd like to try one of their pairs I jumped at the chance. 

Right so. They cut good.

I've tried them on thick fabrics and thin one and they slice through them every time. I've been using them solidly since February and they still seem as sharp as ever. Which I think is something to do with the serrated blades????

The blades are stainless steel so they are nice and sturdy and they don't seem to be getting loose? 

Does that make sense? You know how sometimes scissors get loose at the screw and them when you pick them up they just sort of flop open? Well it happens to me ALL THE DAMMED TIME with scissors. Probably because I over use them!!!! 

But so far these ones aren't flopping open at all.

 The other thing I really like is that the handles are lined with rubber. 

I find sometimes that if I'm doing a lot of cutting I can get a sore bit around my thumb. Like a blister, but so far these haven't given me blisters and I have been furiously cutting out pieces for baby quilts! Especially seen as pretty much everyone I know is pregnant at the minute!!!! 

Their 9inches long so their not exactly tailors shears but they are long enough for any dressmaking I do and I like that they don't feel too big and clunky in my hand.

So all in all I'd say these are a pretty banging pair of scissors and even better you can get them really easily its a simple as popping to your local Tesco [or you can find them by clicking on the link if you like a little sofa shopping]!!!! Which is very handy for when your partner/parents/child uses them for cutting paper and ruins them and you have to dash out for a new pair!!!  

Much Love

Frankie

xxx

Disclaimer - Whilst Korbond gave me these scissors to review for free all thoughts and opinions are my own.  

CHSI Stitches 2019

 Hey! Look who's back again... What can I say, I thought I was back into the swing of things and then there was a big hiccup with trying to sort out the Internet and boom! Suddenly no TV and no broadband! And due to the Ariel cable to the telly being a bit ropey me and Lil Man ended up spending a month living like 1970's hippies! Thank god for the record player that's all I can say!

Anyway last week I was fortunate enough to get to the CHSI Stitches show in Birmingham. I wasn't sure I'd be able to make it what with Lil man and work and the million other things I have to do. BUT my lucky stars seemed to align and I managed to make it! 

First of all I stopped off at the Craft Cotton Company stand and was greeted with this RIOT of colour!!!!  

This is Stuart Hillards new fabric range called Rainbow etchings. I can't tell you how much I fell in love with these prints! I mean how perfect would they be for a new baby nursery! 

They've also got a range of Dumbo fabrics coming in which are ADORABLE! And with the new Dumbo movie coming out I can see these being a huge hit!

They also have these adoarble animal prints which I think would be perfect for baby quilts! Fun fact did you know that babies can actually see black and white better than colours when there tiny? Plus with them being black and white you could add one bold colour or even use the rainbow etchings range to create something really bold!

And as always they had their usual collection of licensed prints for star wars and marvel! I'm craving fun summer dresses in both of these prints! 

Next I stopped off at the prym stand and took a look at their new knitting and sewing products! Yet again I fell in love with their love "love" range and I can personally vouch for the quality of the items. 

This quilting kit in particular looks brilliant for first time quilters as it contains everything you need to get started. 

As always the Sew Over It stand was one of the chicest there! The new fabrics designed by Lisa Comfort come in a range of prints which are perfect for both autumn and winter and feel beautiful. 

I also had a chance to flick through a few copies of Lisa Comforts magazine and they look absolutely brilliant. Each magazine comes with a printed pattern and the magazine. So really its a sewing pattern with a bonus magazine!

This year sew over it are releasing at least 5 new pdf patterns and 4 new paper releases! I was actually quite shocked to hear that they had 17 printed patterns and 50ish pdf patterns in their whole range! Which I'm sure means you could have a complete sew over it wardrobe if you wanted. 

I loved these cuffs by Albstoffe. They are perfect for finishing sweatshirts and joggers and come in a range of prints and styles! 

They've also got a range of stripe me products which are great for adding a stripe down the sleeves or legs of garments.

I spent a long time at the Sidar stand looking at their ranges, Sidar, DMC and wool and the gang are all part of the same group so their was plenty to look at. 

On the DMC side of things they have a huge range of cross stitch and embroidery kits! And I love what they wrote underneath their interpretation of "the Kiss" 

"From threads with added sparkle, and hundreds of tiny kisses, a work of art is born"

They've also released a range of tiny balls of wool called Happy cotton! These come in a huge range of colours and are perfect from making little tiny crochet critters!!!! I'm totally in love with that bunny so hopefully this will be the year I finally learn how to crochet properly. 

Its also worth mentioning that their are 1000s of free patterns on the Sidar and DMC websites! 

It was lovely to see Mrs H again and admire her beautiful bag patterns! And shes been kind enough to send me a bag pattern to make and review so hopefully soon I'll have the backpack/shoulder bag of my dreams. 

I had a blast on the Kennett and Lindsell stand admiring their beautiful dress forms. Did you know they they provide all of the dress forms for the GBSB? And that they come in a huge range of shapes and styles! The ladies mannequin on the right is actually a 3/4 size dress form and It was so cute and adorable! I can definitely see me putting one of these in my sewing room at some point.  

They were also kind enough to let me spend some time playing with their scissors! Apparently they have around 50+ scissors in their range! I tried some huge ones which I couldn't physically open with my tiny hands but I found the gold ones in the middle to be a good weight and size for me!

Speaking of scissors! These are by Premax and they are scissors with measurements on! they come in both metric and imperial and I'm happy to say that I sniped some fabric and the measurements are accurate. Perfect from when you have to cut a certain length according to a pattern. 

Korbond officially won the award for the coolest stand. It had a sort of coffee bar vibe and was packed with items from their house of textures range. Which consists of all the storage you may need for your sewing or knitting or well anything! I personally have a crafters tote by the side of my sofa and fill it with my current projects , pencil case, notebooks and whatever I'm reading!

They also had their range of sewing tools, most of which can be found in your local tescos and were kind enough to give me two pairs of their scissors to review! So keep your eyes peeled for the post!

I found lots of other cool things as well but I'll save them for another blog post! 

In other news! 

I should be back to regular blogging now! 

I have 13 projects to photograph which I'm going to try and do today and then I can start writing about them. 

I've been watching the GBSB and its really kick started my sew jo! I'm buzzing with ideas of things to make! 

I've started two new knitting projects. They are pretty mindless garter stitch scarves but its nice to have something to do with my hands in the evening! 

Much Love 

Frankie 

xxx

Korbond Crafters Carry Tote

One of the problems of being crafty is the mess. Its the root of many an argument between me and Rikki. But in my defence I have a lot of stuff! And I have been making an effort to be tidier recently. But in my effort to be tidier I seemed to end up with a lot of bags, a bag for my knitting, one for my sewing, one for my writing and blogging stuff, one for my tech stuff……… You get the picture!

Then the folks at Korbond were kind enough to send me their crafters carry tote to try. Now at first I was sceptical, I mean I’ve already got my excellent “many bags” system in place. In fact I’d even mentioned that if I didn’t get on with it, Rikki could have it to store his game controllers and games in.

I should really stop making promises I can’t keep……

I started off by seeing what I could fit in it and so far its contains:

My latest knitting project [And it has a massive ball of wool]

My bullet journal

My blog notebook

Knitting accessories [stitch markers, Stitch holders etc]

Retractable tape measure

Two pairs of scissors

Video Camera and cables

Small Digital Camera and cables

Large SLR Camera

Soft tape measure

Headphones [The massive kind!]

Knitting Pattern

Secret bar of chocolate hidden at the bottom that the boys don’t know about.

In essence it pretty much holds everything that was in my other “many bags” system.

And its already more practical than my tote bags system. For one everything is separated into its own pocket. The tote has 6 outside pockets and the inside is spilt off into three sections. The largest inside section has my knitting project in it, the two smaller sections have my electronics and I use the outside pockets for storing all my notebooks and other bits. I’m not saying where the chocolate bar is hidden in case someone tells the boys!!!

Its made of a thick grey felt and looks very modern. Its not out of place in out living room which is good because it spends 80% of its time sat next to my chair so I can easily reach my things. In fact I’m wondering about getting a second one to store all Rikkis things in and then a third one for storing all of lil man’s things!

The flat base means you can plonk it down anywhere without it toppling over [a problem I was always having with my tote bags] and so far its been on a few excursions away from my chair! Its been into the garden so I’ve got something to do whilst Lil man plays football. Its been chucked in the car in case I get bored on a long car journey and it gets taken upstairs very often so I can write notes or knit in bed. Its been really useful on the days where Rikki is on nights and comes in as I’m getting out of bed in the morning. Instead of trying to gather everything up only to realise that I have my knitting but no pattern I just put everything in here and then I only have one thing to carry out of the bedroom in the morning!

The tote is fromKorbonds House of Textures collection which launches in July. I’ve seen it in person and its definitely worth a look! Think practical sewing boxes made up in fabrics that wouldn’t look out of place in a saville row tailors shop. They are absolutely gorgeous! There is also going to be some sewing type trinket boxes in the range which would be perfect for housing sentimental sewing bits, like notes from sewing friends and your grandmas thimble! Or you know as gifts for people who like sewing.

All in all I really love the whole range and I especially love this tote! Sorry Rikki looks like you’ve missed out on this one! Maybe next time!

Much Love

Frankie