Now is a great time to take up a new crafting hobby, and readymade craft kits are the perfect way to get started because they have everything you’ll need for a complete project. Last summer ALDI was selling a great range of Harry Potter craft kits, including knitting, crochet and sewing, and I’ll be reviewing 2 of these below. Although I can’t see these kits currently on sale in ALDI, you may still be able to pick them up on eBay or Amazon, and if not, my review should give you a general indication of what to expect from other craft kits sold in ALDI (they always have some!)
ALDI’s Harry Potter Sewing Kit
The sewing kit I tried was a Sew Your Own Characters kit, featuring Harry Potter, Dumbledore, Voldemort and Hedwig. I did see a second version of this kit with Ron, Hermione, Hagrid and Dobby too.
What is in the Harry Potter Sewing Kit?
For each character there was a selection of felt pieces (already cut into the required shapes) and coloured embroidery threads. The box also included a needle, an instruction guide and the toy stuffing. The kit was separated into individual little packages for each character so there’s no chance of mixing up the pieces and threads, which was great. To complete this kit I also needed glue – a glue gun was ideal – and scissors.
How I got on with the Harry Potter Sewing Kit
The instructions were broken down by character and also contained a general guide to all the stitches needed to complete the project. It wasn’t the most complicated of projects, although some parts were a bit fiddly as the finished characters are quite small. The instructions were pretty simple to follow, although I did notice a couple of discrepancies – they described attaching the heads to the bodies via their necks, but there were no necks! This didn’t bother me at all and I simply adapted, but if this was the first sewing project you’d ever done it could possibly fluster you.
Overall this was a nice, simple kit to follow. I’d recommend it for beginner sewers as well as Harry Potter enthusiasts, as despite the simplicity of it, the final results are quite effective and definitely worth the effort. My favourite characters to create were Harry and Dumbledore, and think they look the best too – I actually hung them on our Christmas tree last year! Voldemort was a similar but simpler version, but as I’m not keen on the Dark Lord I’m not really sure what to do with the final item. My least favourite was probably Hedwig because she looks a bit out of place due to the scale of her! She was very simple, which made her a great one to start with.
Overall I enjoyed this kit over the course of a few leisurely evenings.
Harry Potter Knit Your Own Scarf Kit
ALDI were selling kits to knit your own scarves and hats for all four Hogwarts houses, and I tried out the Ravenclaw scarf kit.
What is in the Harry Potter Knitting Kit?
This box contained 3 balls of blue DK yarn and 1 ball of grey DK yarn, plus bamboo 4mm knitting needles, a darning needle and the instruction pamphlet.
How I got on knitting my own Hogwarts scarf
This was the first knitting project I’d ever attempted, and as a complete beginner I was completely baffled by the instructions. I couldn’t really follow the general stitch guide at all, and would recommend getting some initial support from a friend or YouTube videos if you are attempting a kit like this. However, once I’d picked up how to cast on/off and knit/purl, it wasn’t such hard project for a beginner. I found the bamboo needles quite good as their additional grip prevented my knitting from slipping off. The yarn itself was quite cheap quality, although it served the purpose and there was more than enough to complete the project.
Knitting a scarf is actually much more repetitive and time consuming than other knitting projects, such as toys. It took me several weeks to complete it, which is great if you’ve plenty of time on your hands, but as a complete beginner I was desperate to see the finished results sooner! However the repetition was also a great lesson in knitting, and by the end I felt really confident in hunting down some new projects to attempt. Plus, I’ve always wanted a Hogwarts house scarf and I found it very rewarding to knit my own! One day I might even attempt to follow this pattern again with some higher quality yarn and without any of my beginner’s errors(!)
Are ALDI’s Craft Kits Worth the Money?
Both of these craft kits are fantastic projects for Harry Potter fans and I’d recommend them both. The designs are really effective and so the finished results are very rewarding. The kits are theoretically fine for complete beginners, but in my opinion you’d need a bit of additional support to understand the instructions if you’ve never sewn or knitted a stitch before.
ALDI craft kits are usually around the £5 mark, which I think is great value for something like a Hogwarts scarf! If you are considering a kit like this, I’d consider how much time you want to devote to your project though, because while the sewing kit took me a few evenings, the scarf knitting took weeks! Even so, I’d recommend giving ALDI kits a go if you see a design that you fancy, as they are worth the money.
English Rose from Manchester's Blog 
Great reaading