​Helllooo lovely people, so what have we got for you today then? How about 23, yes 23 FREE knitting patterns for men's garments and accessories). Drops have published their latest pattern book online for you to download for yourselves and it's full of great patterns for blokies. We're always being asked for basic beanie hats, socks and glove patterns and they're all here for you. Click on the link below and get printing....
http://www.garnstudio.com/catalogues.php?id=251&lang=en

We'd like to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a happy, peaceful and healthy New Year. We hope you all have a good break over the holidays and come back refreshed and ready to tackle new stitchery projects which we can help you with. Our sale has already started and there's plenty of new things being added right up to Christmas Eve when we close at 1 p.m. (re-open Wednesday 28th). The sale will continue until Saturday 7th January when we need to prepare the room for the new workshops starting. I've popped the new programme in here for you to see in case you fancy booking one. Photos of the samples are on the workshops page here on the site (drop down menu under 'more...'). The Beginners course is now full but we have some spaces on the Intermediates course on a Tuesday afternoon. We've also got extra dressmaking classes available on a Wednesday evening from 6.30 to 9 p.m. and all abilities are welcome. There are also some spaces available on the Monday afternoon class, just give us a call to reserve a space. 
Whatever you are doing this Christmas have a great time!
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Ruth, Lorna, Sue and the Leven Crafts Girls
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Hello and welcome to our post-Halloween, pre-Christmas newsletter. The clocks have gone back which has given us an extra hour of stitchery time and we’ve lots to help you along with this. As time’s marching on towards the festive season our fabric offer for the next fortnight (or until they sell out!) is advent calendar panels, reduced from £7.50 to only £6.00 each. You’ve still got plenty of time to complete them so give us a call if you want one (or two) sending out or putting to one side for you.
We have had a lot of new fabrics arriving in the last couple of weeks. We have the new Lewis and Irene Little Flo’s Flowers ranges which are small, ditsy florals in all sorts of shade and very Libertyesque. They are great for ‘fillers', backings and smaller-scale projects. We have now got a lot of bright Michael Miller fabrics, perfect for all sorts of projects (as long as they’re bright ones!) which we’ll be putting onto the website as fast as we can for you to choose if you can’t get into the shop. We’re also trying out a small range of Michael Miller flannels in soft pastel colours and designs which are perfect for backing quilts to make them extra snuggly. We’ll add to the collection if they get a good response to these. I’ve included a photo here of some of them.



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With the arrival of the cold weather we’re selling a lot of yarn and have two great offers on until the end of December. Any of the Drops yarns containing alpaca – Alpaca, Baby Alpaca Silk, Nepal, Lima and Lace all have 25% off which is an amazing saving. Lima and Nepal are only £1.50 for 50g which makes a garment SO inexpensive! We’ve also got 25% off some of our Bergere de France yarns – Merinos Alpaga, Magic, Initial, Baltic, Berlaine and Recyclaine. We’ve lots of gorgeous colours and plenty of patterns for you too.
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Our patchwork and quilting workshops are just about all fully booked up to Christmas but we’re now pleased to say we’ve got the January to April programme sorted and the list is show for you below. We’ll get the photos of the samples up on the website as soon as we can – we’re stitching the new samples as I write! The cost of the classes has stayed the same and we hope we’ve put together some projects you’ll like. You can ring us to book a place, pop into the shop or book online through the website and we’ll give or send you a materials list when you book. Our dressmaking workshops are currently running on a Tuesday evening from 15th November and will continue in January as listed. A 4-week block of workshops costs £48 and all abilities are very welcome.

Don’t forget we do gift vouchers which can be used towards the cost of a quilting workshop and which would make a great Christmas present for a quilter. We’ve lots of other lovely things for Christmas too, including craft lamps, patchwork, knitting or embroidery kits, fabric bundles, jelly rolls, books, sewing tools, machine trolley bags and workboxes. If we can make your search for gifts a bit easier we will – come and see us! We’ll also keep a ‘wish list’ for you, so when the dazed and confused partners come rushing in looking for inspiration in mid-December we can point them in the right direction. New sewing machine? No problem! 10 fat quarters? Easy peasy! Just let us know what you’d like.
As always, if there’s something you need, just get in touch and we’ll be only too happy to help you.
Looking forward to seeing you soon.
Happy stitching!
Ruth, Lorna, Sue and the Leven Crafts girls

We've just put together some new workshops for this gorgeous Christmas table centre (which also looks amazing in non-festive fabrics). It would make a great Christmas present and is easy to make. We have Thursday 24th November or Wednesday 30th November to offer you, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. for £25.  Book soon as places are  limited...

We've had so many new things arrive for you this week I don't know where to start! Three new shades of Bergere Ideal (don't forget the events tomorrow night or Friday morning) - very Autumnal and very gorgeous. We have new Michael Miller fabrics at only £10 per metre, Mouseloft Christmas and mini cross stitch kits, Sewline marking pencils, Clover quilting pencils, YLI invisible thread (the best there is in our opinion) and three different quilting/appliqué templates. So much loveliness and that's just the staff!! A reminder that the Bergere sale ends this week and the Drops merino sale next week. Talking of next week (October already, can you believe it?) we'll be starting a month of Pink events to support Breast Cancer Care, our chosen charity. More information about these very soon. Meanwhile do pop in to check out the newbies or give us a call to order by post - see you soon! ​

From today (24th September) until 22nd October all the Simplicity patterns in the current pattern book are half price - an amazing reduction! If you want us to order a pattern for you we can post it out to you, usually within about 8 days, depending on the day you order.  Give us a call to place your order on 01287 610207.

​Jenny's coming back! Two more 'Learn to Crochet' workshops - flowers and granny squares this time. Only 10 places on each so get yours booked asap! You can ring us, Facebook message us or book through the workshops page on here...

Well where did that summer go? Perhaps it's yet to happen and this month is going to be tropical! Anyway, regardless of the weather we've lots going on here at Leven Crafts this month. The Bergere yarn sale will continue for another three week or so to give those of you who haven't been knitting or crocheting over the summer a chance to stock up with supplies. On 7th September the Drops Merino Mania sale starts with 25% off our two Merino yarns - Extra fine Merino and Baby Merino. This offer is on until 7th October so plenty of time to choose your favourite shades. 
Don't forget we've two Bergere de France promotional events on at the end of the month on Thursday 29th (7 p.m.)and Friday 30th (10.30 a.m.) where we will be showcasing the new Autumn/Winter yarns and giving away for free this season's mega-pattern book which normally sells for £12. Tickets are strictly limited to 20 per event due to space and you'll get your ticket cost (£5) refunded on any spend over £25. They are already selling so give us a call to reserve yours as soon as you can. 
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We've new Makower fabrics arriving this month from the Heartwood range which are just delicious. Here's a few pictures to give you a sneak peep...

Oh and I nearly forgot the Makower Haberdashery fabrics! 

 From DMC we have the Top This kits arriving very soon. They consist of a pre-made character pompom and materials to knit a simple beanie hat to attach it to. We think these are going to be very popular for Christmas presents and stocks will be limited so do pop in and have a look.

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​There are still a couple of spaces on the Monday afternoon dressmaking class which starts on 12th for 4 weeks (to continue if numbers allow) if anyone is thinking of having a go. Beginners are very welcome and we have machines to use if you haven't got one. Ring to book a place or book on here via the workshops page. You can order Simplicity patterns from us and we have a range of dressmaking fabrics available too. 
We also have a couple of spaces on the Tuesday morning, 7 week beginners' Patchwork and Quilting course, starting on 13th. If you've always wanted to learn how to do patchwork and quilting then this is the course for you. It costs £70 for the 7 weeks plus materials and you'll be taught all you need to know to make a lap quilt by the end of the course.

We mentioned in the last newsletter that we have a social knitting group that meets on the first Friday of every month and new members would be very welcome. We have some ladies in this group who would be happy to teach anyone how to knit if you'd like to learn, so why not come along?
We're also hoping to be able to offer beginners' crochet lessons very soon so keep checking back with us if this is something you're interested in.

​As always, it would be great to see you in the shop and if you live too far away we are very willing to post out supplies to you. We try to put as much as we can onto here but quite often we simply run out of time! If there's something you think we might have give us a call to check and we'll get it to you if we have it.  
​See you soon! 

​Ruth, Lorna and the Leven Crafts girlies

It would be lovely to see you at our Bergere event. Past events have been great fun with sample garments to see and try on and yarn to feel. Tickets are limited to 20 per session due to space but it's SO worth coming along for the free pattern book (worth £12), not to mention the wine and coffee! See you there!