The Big Comic Relief Crafternoon

It's April 2013.The excitement of the Red Nose Day Dolls project has died down and I've just about got my head around the astonishingly ace total (£4200) Ros Badger, 22 designers and I managed to raise for brilliant causes through the love of handmade. Then Jodie, (RND doll designer and felt-wrangling genius) and I exchange a few emails. 'PDFs' she writes. 'Downloadable PDFs of patterns are what we need next time'. 'Yes!' I reply, 'that way everyone can join in'.

The idea rumbled and simmered. I wondered if we could make a whole magazine full of patterns for Comic Relief. Last May I emailed Jane Toft, She co-invented Mollie Makes and won a Big Fancy Prize in 2013 for being its brilliant editor-in-chief. Sometimes we tweeted eachother about Giorgio Locatelli. She answered my email and we met in a cafe in Bath. She agreed to help to try and make the plan a reality. I was so thrilled by her enthusiasm for it. She didn't tell me I was barking, which was very kind. She pitched the idea to the Mollie Makes team in September. They said yes. We told the Comic Relief team. They did an excited dance. We were off.

Ron and Audrey the felt guinea pigs are designed by Jodie 

On Thursday the magazine we have made will be on sale in Sainsbury's. It will also be on iTunes and Google Play (this may take a day or two extra to happen).

We nearly didn't manage it, several times. Securing sponsorship to fund the at-cost printing and distribution was, ahem, tricky. At 1.30am on Tuesday 6th January I was proof reading patterns and wondering what the foof I was doing. I may have strayed into the realms of overexhausted lunacy and done a bit of crying. Jane did the work of four members of an editorial team. She missed college field trips so we could meet the print deadline. My hair has been utterly terrifying for five months. I think there's a weasel living in it. I'm certain my children want to throw my laptop down the toilet.

Liberty floral French knickers by lovely Lynda Lewis from last year's Great British Sewing Bee

The magazine is called The Big Comic Relief Crafternoon and has over 50 patterns, tutorials and ideas including felt guinea pigs, bacon and egg wristwarmers, crochet red noses, dancing felt chickens, foldable doodle books, knitted beards, Liberty floral moustaches, fancy handmade pants, craft-themed DIY crockery and a cross stitch Mexican wrestler guinea pig.

I cooked up a necklace tutorial (below) and Monica helped me to bring my first crochet pattern to life - crocus wristwarmers in the mosaic above.

If you fancy giving £5 to Comic Relief and bagging a collection of gorgeous original patterns and tutorials into the bargain then pop off to Sainsbury's or your nearest internet (I'll post the link to the digital version here as soon as it's available) on Thursday and bag yourself a copy.

The cover price is £7.99 and £5 from each magazine sale goes straight to CR to help people leading incredibly tough lives in the UK and Africa.

Illustration from The Big Comic Relief Crafternoon by Emma Carlisle

I've written a full guide to running a craft fair in the magazine. It would be wonderful if people used ours or their favourite well-hooked and stitched patterns to make some lovely things to sell at a fair. Sometimes tiny fairs are the loveliest - I've bought some beautiful items from friends' coffee tables whilst being plied with wine and cake. If you plan to meet up with other makers, knit/crochet/sew some ace woolly or fabric gear and sell it to raise a some handmade pennies before the Big Day on March 13th then the donation page for our project is here.

Here's a blog button if you'd like to grab it and spread the word:

I may need a little lie down now.

Many many people have given their time for free to make this magazine and the films that go with it. In random order: Kerry Lawrence, Kate de Quidt, photographers Alun Callender and Shane Rumsey, Nina Camacho, Barley Massey, Lara Watson, illustrators Emma Carlisle and Rebecca Cobb, Trevor Witt. Evie Franks, Emma Freud, Iain Russell, Anne-Cecile Berthier, ace pattern tester Lesley Moogsmum and our wonderful designers: Florence, Haafner, Clare, Lauren, Lucy, Moose Allain, Jamie, Oh no Rachio! Tif, Tania, Marna, Messyla, Lynda, Monica, Zoe, Manda,  Pygmy Cloud, Jenny, Twinkie,  Gretel, and of course, Jodie. I hope I haven't missed anyone off this list.