Blanket hat

I have knitted another hat and this one is like wearing a cosy blanket! I love it. I downloaded the pattern from Parallax Knitting and the pattern is called Russian Princess in Exile, which seems to fit as one of my friends thought it looked Russian on first viewing.

This is a replacement hat for an old bought cream hat that got melted chocolate all over it and well brown stains don't look good. I was so tempted to go and buy another hat as I have never done cables before and I made mistake after mistake. I arranged a craft circle (my nice term fro stitch and bitch) night in my house and Kelly helped me out with the pattern. The next day I just sat down and within 2.5 hours it was done and dusted.

Glad I held out as it means I still have not bought anything mass produced this year, its made of NZ wool and the 12mm needles I got from the opshop.

xx

Pocket Hoops

To make a waist seem tiny make your undies big! Mmmmmm, well that's what pocket hoops seem to do. I have been working on my 18th century costume and even though I have now moved on to my petticoat and trim here is a quick look at my pocket hoops (yes with unfinished corset, darn).

I used dyed drill and then silk dupion for the casing which I think looks quite pretty. The slit in the top of each hoop is for the ladies pockets, which would hang around her waist and then drop into each hoop, handy for that fan or knotting shuttle.

I seem to eat, sleep and dream my course at the moment, but have made a special effort to download at the pictures from my camera so more up dates soon.

xx

Japanese Shibori

This blogger has been an unwell blogger, blah! The deeply uncool thing about this episode is that it is during my holidays, boo! Anyways... before I got sick I did some Japanese Shibori on some super soft jersey as I wanted to make the t'shirt on the right from my Burda World Of Fashion 02/2009 and although the colour is not me I thought the interesting pattern spiced up the shape.

I am very interested in using natural dyes but I am only learning about it at the moment and so went and bought some Dylon Cold Water dye in Moon Blue

I found some strong linen thread at the Wellington dump shop last year and I used this to sew in my patterns. For a quick overview look at this How To on Burdastyle



I used a ball point needle as I did not want to hole the jersey and make it run.

I stitched semi-circles on the fold and then alternated with straight lines and semi-circles until I got to the selvages.

You do have to pull really hard to get it to scrunch up. Mine kinda looked like a washed up jellyfish.

Then it was time for the dye bath. I have a huge tub we use for washing our dogs! I gave it a good clean and then placed in my damp fabric and poured in the dye solution.

I swished it around for a while and then left it to absorb! I then chucked it in the washing machine on a rinse cycle to get all the excess dye out, it came out looking like a blue washed up jellyfish... until I cut all the threads (and saved them for next time) and opened it out.

I really like the pattern in the middle! I now have to cut out the pattern and sew it... sometime soon I hope.

I had a lot of fun doing this and I can see how you could do quite precise patterns if you have the patience to sew them.

I think I may have to put some time aside to cut out a lot of patterns that I want to sew and then slowly find the time to sew them... plus all my refashions that are waiting for me too.

I have however made a start on my quilted jacket! Yahoo!

xx

Coco

No, its not me or the girls from the costume room, it is a scene from a movie I am really looking forward to, Coco Avant Chanel (Coco before Chanel). A film about Coco Chanel's rise to fashion fame. I can't wait to see the costumes.

You can see the French trailer here and read more about it on IMDB

Right now I am catching up with my 18th century corset, remember that all those months ago! Well, hand sewing binding on tassets is a wee bit time consuming, so back to it!

xx