Mel Gross Designs – the Creative Log

Category: Crochet

  • Creative Check In: Cozy Crafts+

    Creative Check In: Cozy Crafts+

    With the temperatures dropping here in the Southern Hemisphere, I’ve been slowing down a bit and focusing on cozier crafts lately.

    Although most of what I’m sharing today is still a work in progress, I did manage to finish one project! This cute cat bed for my babies to stay cozy through the winter.

    It was nice to use up this leftover yarn I had lying around—pretty colors, and I got blessed by the yarn gods by having exactly enough to finish the project with no leftovers. 🙂

    I’m happy to share it’s been approved by my cats of all shapes and sizes. Cat tax below ⬇️

    On the other hand, I picked up this long-forgotten project (I think it had been about a year since I last worked on it?) and tried to make some progress—not very successfully… I’ve had to undo my work a thousand times and I’m having a hard time following the pattern.

    This is my first fillet crochet project, and following the grid is making me a bit crazy. I keep getting lost in the counting and all the tiny squares.

    Since I was already changing the design anyway, I eventually gave up on following the chart exactly and just started chasing the shapes I wanted through trial and error… and more error.

    Tiny stichesss!!
    I decided to start over since writting this post, this is where I am at atm

    Things I’ve Been Enjoying

    Besides my textile work and my ongoing woodblock printing practice (which I share in more detail in dedicated posts), I’ve mostly been enjoying cozy crafts to keep the creative juices flowing without too much pressure. I’ve been enjoying whatever sun I can get, lots of reading, baking and color-in watercolor postcards!

    I tried going back to drawing on my iPad but I ended up having much more fun with colored pencils and a good old sketchbook, just like the old days. I spent well over a decade drawing on paper almost every day, so it’s funny to realize how much I missed it. I’m really enjoying these loose sketching sessions—they’re full of little experiments, happy stims, and the freedom to simply draw without expectations.

    Overall, my creative practice has been a little less structured than usual: Lots of open tabs, lots of half-finished ideas, and waiting for enough energy (or clarity) to move certain projects forward. I’ve also had a handful of digital projects quietly cooking in the background… but those are best kept secret until they’re ready to share.

    woodblock print-zine experiment

    A Little Inspiration

    Although it’s already been about a month, I did take a couple of trips recently, and traveling is always deeply inspiring for me. Spending time with loved ones, seeing new art, people and scenes, trying new things and having new experiences… that always fills my creative battery and they’re an intrinsic part of my creative practice.

    Here’s just a few moments captured from my trip to Pipa, RN and São Paulo, SP; two wildly different destinations in Brazil. In Pipa, a good relaxing beach weekend with my dad. In São Paulo, an odyssey of a nonstop weekend where I saw more than sixteen concerts in one way or another.

    Creative fuel: My favorite Youtube videos recently

    A mix of video-essays and researches about topics I’m interested (mostly tech-related) plus some fun animations and songs/music related content too. I highly recommend them all!

    Creative fuel: More cool inspiration

    I’ve been surfing the internet old-school style – following links and rabbit-holes – more and more (to try and get away from the grasps of late-stage capitalism). Here are a few favorites I’ve stumbled upon. Have fun!

    Books, poetry and essays: plumbum/library

    Explore space: joshworth.com/pixelspace_solarsystem.html

    Philly-based cool-ass zine: philadelphiacitywide.com

    Medieval Beastiary: bestiary.ca/index.html

    Rather than tackling big ambitious projects, I’ve been enjoying the smaller, quieter kinds of creativity that make me want to keep me fueled, sane-ish and that feel right. (Of course there are always a few projects going on the back burner because that is the kinda-crazy I am, but taking it slow with my creative practice recently has been nice. I hope you are taking it easy too!)

    For now that’s it friends,

    Happy crafting! Stay safe & sane!

  • The Making of a “Crochete” – part 2: Crochet Fanny-Pack Process and Results

    The Making of a “Crochete” – part 2: Crochet Fanny-Pack Process and Results

    -> This is the second post describing my process of creating a crochet fanny pack as a gift for my friend. Read Part 01 for context.

    Starting again with a clearer direction

    Starting the fanny pack the second time around was noticeably easier. I already had a better sense of what worked and what didn’t, which gave me more confidence to adjust the design instead of second-guessing every step.

    One of the biggest changes was the shape of the bag and the embroidery approach.

    In my first attempt, I tried a more squared shape, thinking it might be simpler and cuter in crochet. It didn’t work as expected—the result felt a bit awkward and, in my opinion, not very cohesive.

    So I went back to my original sketches and committed more closely to the initial design. It was more complex, but since I was starting over anyway, it felt like the right moment to improve the structure properly.

    And spoiler: it ended up much closer to what I wanted.

    Original Attempt

    Paper pattern and planning the structure

    My first step was to create a paper pattern of the updated bag shape.

    I did a bit of research and several paper mockups before arriving at a template that felt right. This became the base guide for the entire construction process.

    I also added the star motif directly onto the template, so I could ensure the design would align continuously across the top and bottom panels of the bag.

    Crocheting the main structure

    With the template ready, I crocheted the three main pieces of the bag using it as a loose guide.

    Instead of following a strict pattern, I worked more intuitively—experimenting with increases and decreases until the pieces matched the intended shape.

    To help the structure form a 3D shape, I introduced subtle darts by decreasing stitches along the lower rows of the bottom panel. This helped the bag curve more naturally.

    The shaping wasn’t perfectly symmetrical, and the edges ended up slightly uneven due to the adjustments. My attempt to smooth them out didn’t fully fix this, but I knew it would be mostly hidden once assembled.

    Testing the embroidery technique

    Next came the more delicate part: the star embroidery.

    Before committing, I tested different stitch options using leftover crochet samples from earlier experiments.

    From these tests, I found that:

    • a larger cross-stitch (1 crochet row high) worked best
    • using a single thread gave the cleanest result

    I was initially worried this might look patchy or semi-transparent, but I decided to trust the process and see how it would read once fully filled in.

    Mapping the star and stitching method

    To keep the star geometry precise, I used the same method I developed in the first trial: I blocked out the star shape using tape and then embroidered inside it.

    This technique worked well for maintaining clean edges, especially for geometric designs.

    I also added extra alignment tape across key seam points where the crochet panels would meet, ensuring everything lined up correctly before stitching.

    Embroidering the final star design

    With everything aligned, I completed the embroidery.

    As the star took shape, I added a few extra contour lines—especially at the points—to sharpen the geometry and reinforce the edges.

    I also used a simple (slightly improvised) twist stitch around parts of the outline to give it more definition without making it visually heavy.

    At first, I wasn’t fully sure about this choice, but it grew on me as the piece came together.

    Constructing the lining and inner structure

    Once the crochet exterior was complete, I moved on to the lining.

    Using the same paper template, I cut the fabric pieces and began hand-sewing the inner structure.

    Before sewing everything permanently, I pinned the entire bag together first. This helped me understand the order of operations more clearly.

    Once I had a working pinned version, I deconstructed it step-by-step and wrote down the assembly order, then rebuilt it in reverse.

    The first step was sewing the bottom edges of both lining pieces, forming the internal pocket structure.

    Zippers and internal assembly

    Next, I installed the zippers.

    For the front pocket:

    • one side of the zipper was sandwiched between the crochet front and the lining
    • the other side connected to the matching lining piece

    The alignment of the star motif had to match precisely when zipped, which required careful adjustment and re-sewing in some areas.

    The back zipper followed a similar structure, connecting the top crochet panel and the back lining while maintaining a clean internal pocket separation.

    A key challenge here was ensuring there were no gaps between compartments once fully assembled.

    Straps and reinforcement

    Attaching the straps was one of the more structurally important steps.

    Because crochet and cotton fabric alone wouldn’t provide enough strength, I reinforced the strap system by anchoring it through the middle structural layer of the bag.

    I cut a reinforcing fabric strip slightly shorter than the length of the bag and stitched it securely into the central structure between the two inner pockets.

    The straps were then attached to this reinforced section, ensuring that weight would be distributed through the stronger internal structure rather than just the crochet or zipper seams.

    This helped stabilize the entire bag and improved durability significantly.

    Closing the structure

    The crochet panels were then sewn together at the bottom using strong black thread and reinforced stitching.

    This step enclosed the internal structure and locked the straps into place.

    At this point, the bag finally started to feel like a finished object rather than separate components.

    Final details: strap sizing and charm

    After assembling the main structure, I adjusted and tested the strap length to ensure proper fit and comfort before final stitching.

    Finally, I created a small star charm to match the main design.

    I crocheted it freestyle, made two matching star shapes, stuffed them lightly, and stitched them together. I added a small chain to attach it to the zipper pull.

    And that is how I created this crochet fanny pack!

    It came out both cute and functional, and I’m really happy with the final result. If I were to make one more adjustment, I would probably try to make the embroidered star a bit more filled in, closer to the look of my first trial. Perhaps adding an extra layer of stitching would help create a more solid block of color. That said, I don’t mind the slightly patchy look—it adds to the handmade character of the piece.

    I actually finished this project several months ago, and my friend Luiz has been wearing it almost nonstop ever since. It has become part of his everyday look, which is probably the biggest compliment a handmade gift can receive. The bag has held up remarkably well so far. The only repair it has needed was reattaching the star charm, along with the expected wear and slight matting that comes from regular use. I was especially happy to see that the interior structure is still intact and that the bag has proven to be as durable as I hoped when designing it.

    This post took me a while to put together because of how complex the project was. Some parts of the construction—especially attaching the zippers and explaining how all the layers fit together—are much easier to do than they are to describe. I hope this write-up is clear enough to be useful to anyone working on a similar project.

    Looking back, I think some of the strongest ideas in this design were the overall shape of the bag and the way I reinforced the straps and zipper area to improve durability. If you decide to try any of these ideas in your own projects, I would love to see the results.

    Until next time, happy crafting!

  • Crochet Roly-Poly: Process and Results

    Crochet Roly-Poly: Process and Results

    I was inspired by this piece by Tumannart for this project, and although I expected it would be a little tricky with all the pieces it requires, I was not expecting the level of complexity this little dude would have. It ended up being one of those projects where you just have to trust the process and figure out the details as you go. This is how the process went:

    The base

    The first piece I made was the inner body (or the “belly,” as I call it), since it would determine the scale of the entire project. I wanted it to be small, but not so tiny that it would make the project unnecessarily difficult.

    I noticed in the reference image how the body was sectioned off, and I figured that was meant to help the plush roll up once finished. So I made sure to replicate that in my design by alternating back-loop-only rows every few rows. I also carefully planned the size of each section: large enough to later attach the little feet, but small enough that I could fit multiple pairs without making the body look too long. I ended up with five inner sections plus the two end sections.

    It was rewarding to get a glimpse of how the rolling mechanism would work in this early stage of the project already. I spent a few minutes playing with this first finished piece enjoying how it moved easily as I rolled it. It’s a neat simple trick that can be helful in a handful of projects that need a hinge-like movement.

    The legs, head and antennae

    The next step was crocheting all the smaller pieces that would later attach to the body: the seven pairs of legs, the head, and the antennas, all scaled to match the body.

    I wanted the head to be slightly oversized, overflowing the width of the inner body a bit. It took me two tries to get the head right and several attempts for the antennas — they are so tiny and skinny! The legs were tedious at times, but also kind of relaxing because I only had to make matching pairs instead of having every single one be perfectly identical.

    The shell panels

    I was really looking forward to this step.

    I started by crocheting little trapezoid-shaped panels, but quickly realized they needed more padding and dimension in the middle top area to properly allow the overlapping shell pieces to move. I also intentionally varied the sizes a bit, making some larger and others smaller.

    At first, I tried crocheting the pieces in their final intended order, but I eventually gave up on that approach. Instead, I made a whole collection of panels in different widths and heights and figured out the arrangement later. I kept testing pieces directly on the body as I worked so I could better understand what shapes and sizes were still missing.

    Putting it all together

    I first tied all the legs onto the body using the leftover yarn tails from each piece. Then I reinforced everything with tiny careful stitches so the legs would sit and point exactly how I wanted.

    Next, I attached the button eyes to the head, then sewed the head onto the body, and finally added the antennas. I intentionally left the antennas for last — even though it would have been easier to attach them beforehand — because I wanted to double-check their placement once the head was fully attached.

    After that, I sewed a back-panel (fabric and a a thin layer of stuffing) onto the body section using a piece of fabric cut to size plus a bit of filling. I made sure all the padding stayed hidden from the outside.

    Finally, it was time to attach the shell panels onto the back — by far the hardest part of the project.

    Challenges and lessons

    My biggest challenge was preserving the movement of the plush so it could roll up and unfold properly without exposing inner sections or awkwardly squishing pieces together. I went back and forth on whether to add a small internal pillow for volume and eventually decided to do it. That hidden bit of padding ended up being one of the key elements that gave the plush its bug-like shape and helped the rolling effect feel natural.

    One interesting thing is that the shell section ended up noticeably shorter than the body itself. This was partly accidental, but it actually improved the rolling movement by preventing too much bulk from building up at the ends.

    Another major challenge was sewing the shell panels together. If I stitched them too tightly, the movement became restricted and the layered “scale” effect stopped working properly. On top of that, I had very little edge space on the body to work with, so the sewing had to be extremely delicate. A curved needle helped tremendously here.

    After sewing and undoing the same sections three separate times, I finally realized I could only add one stitch per shell panel on each side if I wanted to preserve enough range of motion. High tension in those stitches was extremely important to make the mechanism work. The edge pieces mattered a bit less since they naturally needed less flexibility.

    This whole stage became a balancing act between structure and mobility — a little planning mixed with a lot of figuring things out as I went.

    Finally, I crocheted, embroidered, and attached the little tail details I had forgotten earlier, and that completed the project!

    I’ve considered adding tiny pieces of Velcro so the bug could stay rolled up on command, but I’m still unsure if I want to risk the long-term wear Velcro might cause to the crochet fibers over time.

    Results

    Overall, this was a challenging project, but one that felt very rewarding to complete. I really enjoy making 3D projects and stuffed creatures, and I’m slowly getting better at tackling designs with lots of moving parts. The sewing and construction logistics were definitely the trickiest aspects to figure out, but it was great practice.

    I think the finished piece turned out absolutely adorable. I love the mismatched eyes, the tiny antennae, and all of its textures and movement. It has so much personality packed into one little bug.

    I hope this inspires you to create a little friend of your own, too.

    Happy crafting!

  • Crocheting a Star Pillow

    Crocheting a Star Pillow

    Happy New Year, everyone! As a Brazilian, my year is only really starting now — after Carnaval, of course.

    I took a few months off from blogging to rest, but I definitely didn’t stop creating. Lately I’ve been focusing on making more crochet pieces for myself instead of gifts, and this project had been sitting on my “to crochet” list for quite a while.

    I took inspiration from a picture I found on Pinterest and worked from there without following a specific pattern. If you’d like to try making one yourself, here is the reference piece and the original pattern they have available for sale.

    I won’t attempt to teach how to recreate this exact pillow here, since my version was very much a freestyle, trial-and-error process — and the result is definitely not perfect. What I do want to share are some process photos, the final result, and the fact that I had a lot of fun making it. I’d absolutely recommend this kind of project: it’s cute, functional, and not too difficult.

    For the stuffing, I used some raw cotton I already had lying around, along with some generic pillow filling. I made sure to stuff it quite firmly so it would stay fluffy and highlight the star shape better.

    Getting the shape right can be a bit tricky. As the piece grows, it tends to get a little wonky, and making the star “legs” stay sharp and pointy is harder than it looks. In the end, the points came out more rounded than I originally intended — but that seems to be more of a limitation of the medium than a design choice.

    Overall, I’m really happy with how it turned out. It looks adorable and feels great to use!

    Bonus cat picture! Meet Kuru, the studio “helper”!
  • Creative Check In #01

    Creative Check In #01

    Hi there crafters!

    It’s been too long! I’ve missed you… This past month has been a bit of a whirlwind — lots of emotions and a very chaotic creative process. And when that happens, it’s hard to sit down and post, because I’m too busy living the process to be able to distill it into words here. But I’m back with some creative updates for you!

    Lately, my energy has been all over the place: reconnecting with gouache paints, starting to learn filet crochet, finishing an embroidered notebook for my mom, and… spending way too much time playing Minecraft. Yep — I’m 28 and playing for the first time, and somehow got completely hooked.

    I’ve been diving into Redstone engineering (basically an electrical system inside the game) and building automated machines, pretty houses, and — embarrassingly enough — catching cute Pokémon, since my friends and I are playing a modded version. It’s nerdy, but honestly, it’s been fun. Not my usual outlet, but still a creative one. So I am trying to embrace it instead of being too hard on myself.

    I think I’ve been low-energy from a touch of seasonal depression (it’s the end of winter here) and because it was my birthday month. In Brazil, we call the month before your birthday “inferno astral” — “astral hell” — when everything feels off and internal challenges show up. It’s not always true for me, but this year I definitely felt it. So it’s been a slower season. Even working in a less focused way, though, I never fully stopped making. Here’s a look at what I managed to create these past couple of months:

    Filet Crochet: Textile Pixel Art

    I decided to try filet crochet because it kinda feels like textile pixel art. Fun, right? Except… it’s also so much counting and precision. No mistakes allowed. Of course, I complicated things by making a custom design. To make it manageable, I bought a pattern for the top so I’m not counting every single stitch blindly.

    The plan: a vest/top inspired by this Pinterest post, with my custom abstract/cybersigilism design worked in. I might add red embroidery on top to give it some color contrast, like the reference piece. Here’s the design template from Stitch Fiddle, and the pattern I’m following for the base is by Isabella Madsen.

    Counting these is the real challenge here…
    My cats are the best crafting companions
    In my Minecraft era, clearly

    Gouache Experiments

    I’ve also been slowly working on a painting over one of my figure drawing studies. It had a strong composition, and I wanted to play with layering gouache on top.

    My usual struggles showed up right away: color composition. The anatomy and volume came out well, considering I wasn’t using much reference, but the colors are muddy and blending together too much. I’m also trying to avoid leaning on line-art for contrast, which is my comfort zone, so that’s a challenge too.

    It’s not there yet, but it feels like it’s heading somewhere, and I’m enjoying sneaking in a few minutes of work on it when I can.

    One Finished Project (Finally)

    Among all these experiments, I did actually start and finish something: a beautiful embroidered notebook with Australian binding, made as a gift for my mom. That one I’m really happy with — a challenging piece with plenty of learning, but worth it. I am already working on a detailed process post all about this baby, so stay tuned for that. Here’s a sneak peak:

    Reading Fuel

    One activity that isn’t exactly “making,” but definitely feeds into my creative process, is reading. I’ve been trying to read more and even decided to double the number of books I’ve read this year. To help with that, I pulled a few titles from my to-be-read pile and went on a little book haul for extra motivation. Since taking this TBR picture, I finally finished a book I had been putting off forever, and I’m already a third of the way through Clarice Lispector’s ‘Perto do Coração Selvagem’ (Near to the Wild Heart ). I’m feeling good about my goal, my progress so far, and this renewed determination to keep reading. And of course, I’m always open to book recommendations if you have any!

    That’s it for now. I’ll share more progress on the crochet and the gouache piece in future posts. And hopefully, I’ll manage another check-in sooner rather than later.

    Until then, happy crafting!

  • The making of a “crochete” – 01

    The making of a “crochete” – 01

    The Idea

    My friend’s birthday was coming up, so I offered to gift them a crochet piece. Their request? A going-out bag/fanny pack. He’s a dear friend with a very bright and fun personality, so I wanted to make him something special, practical, and a bit snazzy. I thought a design with stars would work well for a going-out bag, but it’s a challenging shape for crocheting. My idea from the start was to create a simple dynamic design with two stars, one applied directly to the bag and the second one as a keychain/decoration. 

    The name, “crochete” comes from a play on words between “crochet” and “pochete”, the word for fanny pack in Portuguese, my mother language. The joke caught on between me and my friends, and it is how we have been referring to it during this long long process. Part of the reason I started this blog is so my friends can catch a break from me going on and on about my projects, haha! Anyway, back to the process:

    After researching existing crochet fanny-pack designs, I decided to go with a more square design with curved edges and store-bought hardware for the strap. I wanted it to have two pockets for safety and practicality. (This would later come bite in in the ass, since I have a hard time with adding zippers with liners 😨). I chose the yarn colors, thinking about a scheme that would be fitting for day and night.

    I knew this was a hard project to tackle, because a fannypack is a very utilitarian item and usually has a more modern/urban style featuring thick fabrics. So not quite the strength points of crochet techniques! I welcomed the challenge but was strict about the look and feel of the final result, which made it hard for me not to obsess and work in a inefficient way throughout this process, as you’ll see…

    First Steps

    To start my project I drew the design to scale on a piece of paper and cut out the star shape to use as the guide. My next step was to figure out the approach I would take to create the star design: my options were tapestry crocheting (a technique where you switch colors as you crochet to create the designs; it wastes more yarn but the design is seamless integrated in the fabric) or classic embroidery on top of the solid crochet piece.

    I initially was interested in trying the tapestry technique, since it was new to me and I saw great references, but after some patience-testing trials, I had to reconsider my approach.

    The stitch plan/pattern I created to follow

    The problems I faced with the technique were the following:

    1. Not really a problem since I liked the result, but the color-switching technique lets the color you are carrying through (not the prominent color of any current stitch) show through. So the fabric had bits of green and purple seeping through. This was worsened by the fact that I chose a thin yarn to work with.

    2. Also caused by my choice of thin yarn, I had a really hard time keeping my strings organized as I switched colors back and forth… I’m sure I could work it out with some patience, but it was not looking like this was the appropriate technique for this yarn, and therefore project. I chose a pretty thin yarn to achieve more of a fabric feel and keep that modern vibe, but it did not match the tapestry crochet – or at least not as my first go at it!

    3. The border of the star, done in the mint-green, was not bold and solid enough for it to pop. I wanted it to be quite graphic, and as clean as possible, and that was not what I was getting from this technique.

    Unhappy with the results I was getting, I started to consider embroidering the design on top of the crochet pieces instead. Little did I know there were going to be lots and lots of tests and re-dos with this approach too. Looking back, I should’ve started by doing some swatches and technique tests. It would’ve saved me a lot of time, but then it wouldn’t be my chaotic, creative process, would it?

    Embroidering

    I chose a a cross-stitch technique to achieve the “solid color” result for the star I was looking for. However, the problem was how much this process distorted the piece. I was using a doubled thread of the same thickness of the crocheted base. I was also doing small stitches almost every crochet stitch, which was enlarging each stitch significantly after a few rows. This resulted in a distorted rectangle that I was sure would bring me problems in shaping the fanny pack down the line…

    The piece embroidered and blocked
    The piece after a day out of the blocking stage
    Detail shot of the stitches (wet from blocking)

    I went all the way through with crocheting, embroidering and blocking all parts of the bag when I decided I had to try redoing the front sections. I was half-way through my second attempt (which I have to say was much neater and with an improved technique) when I realized the piece was still getting distorted.

    The two trials of the embroidery process

    I moved on to testing other parts of the design while I brainstormed other ideas of how to embroider the star. For exemple I started to test and plan how to attach the internal lining and the zippers. I’ve got to confess this is one of the most daunting parts of the project since I’m not great and hand-sowing and I always get so confused with zippers… so I tacked the pieces in place to start getting a sense of the piece, and that’s when I hit the lowest point of the project.

    I was hating the shape, the technique, how, even though I kept blocking my piece, everything kept getting crooked and distorted. So I decided it was better to start the whole thing over. A bit dramatic, but I had the feeling that after a few months of work already + a few months of this project being shelved, I needed to do what would make me inspired and excited to work on, even if that meant going back to square 1.

    At the same time that I did not want to obsess over this and go overboard on my perfectionism, I also did not want to invest months of work into a piece I would not be happy with at the end. At least I had learned a lot along the way, of what did not work and what I did not like. So I guess I was not exactly at square 1 after all. That’s when phase 2 started … which you will learn more about in a future post. Until then, wish me good luck, perseverance, and lots of self-compassion!

    Stay safe and good crafting to you, dear reader!

    Supplies List

    • Crochet threads: I used a Brazilian brand of threads called Círculo, from a series called Charme (TEX 378), pure cotton. The color codes are:
      • Black → 8890 Preta
      • Purple-Grey → 8336 Cinza Chumbo
      • Matcha Green → 5583 Verde Limão
    • Hook: 3.50mm
    • Sewing supplies: Thin embroidery needle and a cool grey sewing thread (Sorry, I don’t have the specifics for these, but I tried to match the color to the “Purple-Grey” as much as possible – did not quite match though, more blue than purple…)
    • Lining fabric: Thin cotton as close to “Matcha Green” as possible.
    • Hardware: Polypropylene/Nylon webbing strap material in a color as close to “Purple-Grey“ as possible and matching black, plastic strap-ends and sliders. (I minght end up using something else when we get to this step)
    • Assortment of crochet tools like scissors, stitch markers, washi tape, measuring tape, pins, etc…