Friday, November 18, 2011

Sewing Gadgetmania: A Red Dot Design Award winner...

Readers, I am very happy to introduce the first guest blogger: Astrid. Astrid blogs from Denmark at Frøken Hanghøj about sewing, of course. Did you know that "Frøken" means "Miss" in Danish? So, today we are about to read a Gadgetmania post by Miss Hanghøj! 


She got quite a treat for us today: a post on an award-winning sewing tool... By the way, you will need an online translation tool to read her blog, and here is the link to her blog translated by Google into EnglishBut, first, read her Gadgetmania post...


Hi everyone! Marina let me do this blog post as a cultural-exchange post [Marina's disclaimer: this was Astrid's idea! :-)]. I found Marinas blog when I took up sewing again after a long, long break… Reading on all her posts on couture camp makes me so envious that I live too far away to participate – in Denmark.

It also makes me think that the sewing world is completely different from culture to culture. I’ve only sewn here. I’ve been to the US a few times and at one point I even brought a sewing project with me, but didn’t finish one single stitch. Too much to see! Especially in San Francisco which must be my favorite place on earth!

Denmark is well known for Danish design. And pastry (Danish!). And the little mermaid and Hans Christian Andersen. Perhaps if you’re into Scandinavian design, you’ve also heard of quite a few names in Fashion. But our sewing notions? They come from Germany. As with most other things that I buy for sewing. Even my sewing needles say ‘nädlen” in German.

So,.. sorry. This post is looking south (Denmark is located north of Germany on the world map for those who have trouble locating this small country of only around 5 million people).

I’ve picked a sewing notion that I believe is not widely known in the US. I could be mistaken though. It won a 2011 Red Dot Design Award for industry and crafts. Red Dot is a German design publishing bureau. They’re mostly known for awarding the yearly Red Dot design award to industrial design that is both functional and pleasing to the eye. Going through their web store I would like to be able to say “I’d take one of each, please!”

In this post I am introducing you to The Purple Needle Twister. Personally, I would have picked a fancier name for it. But this will do, since it’s official.



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I bought it in my favorite local sewing machine shop downtown. For around 12 USD – which is probably a bit overpriced compared to what you’d pay for something similar in the US, but here in Denmark sewing notions don’t go for cheap. Neither do fabric – we’re used to paying around 35USD easily for a scrap of wool boucle. No wonder I often think about going to Turkey or Paris just to go fabric shopping. City-hopping in Europe is a real possibility and if the financial crisis hasn’t gotten to your finances yet – also quite cheap at the moment.

So what does it do? With just a simple magnet it holds all your needles point down and lets you pick and choose the ideal-purpose needle without getting hurt. Like this:





Want to know more, here is a video from Prym, showing the tool in action!



Being someone who carries band aids with her sewing notions, I believe this has already saved me more times than I care to count. And ain’t it fancy? Who doesn’t love purple sewing notions that look like makeup. You can buy it on Red Dots website here [http://en.red-dot.org/2801.html?&cHash=e2d78a8b836d9e2eec2a042e5742466a&detail=8169

Did you enjoy it, readers? I must say I envy Astrid for having access to all these tools! And she said she dreams about having a tomato pincushion! Did you mean one of those, Astrid?






If, yes, than it is already packed and waiting to be mailed to Denmark! 


Back to readers, I could not find the Needle Twister in the US, but got some results on UK eBay when I googled it. If you have seen this notion in the US or Canada, please post a link or more details here!


If you enjoyed this post and also want to contribute to Gadgetmania, send me an email to mvk(dot)fashion(at)gmail(dot)com.




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