Dying Dilemma 2025 Part 15

Dying Dilemma 2025 Part 15

Time for a change.

Lots of Tails

I have been Sewing on Coins and Beads for ages. I want a bit of a Break as Fingers getting a bit Sore. I decided to turn the Skirt inside out. I am looking to see how many Tails I have. It is a Lot.

More to Come

I have been Cutting Off Tails for quite a while. I have a huge pile of Tail Ends. This is because each Tail consists of at least 6 individual Threads. I have done both Tiers but I will have More to Come when I start the next round of Beads.

Wrong Hole

Oh No! I have got out my new packet of Beads and I have found that they are different from the ones I have been using. The Hole is in the Wrong Place. Instead of being at the Bottom there are two Holes at the Top.

Single Bead

Alright not to Panic. I simply need to rework how I do this. I pull the Thread through like I did with the Coins. Then I add a Single Bead. It looks okay from a distance. So I can continue.

Test Trouble 2024 Part 2

Test Trouble 2024 Part 2

I have narrowed down the selection further. I have decided to use the Longest piece.

Button Hole

First problem is the Button Hole. I cannot use that in this Project so will have to remove it.

Cut Off

I have Cut Off the Button Hole. To keep it equal in Length I have done the same with the Opposite End.

21 1/2 Inches

I need to keep a Record of what I am doing. I have Folded the Material in Half Lengthways. It is 21 and a half Inches long. So if I double it the complete is 43 Inches.

1 3/4 Inches

Whilst I had the Tape Measure out I thought I better Measure the Width. It is 1 and three quarters Inches wide.

Hemmed End

I can now continue. I have Hemmed both Ends of the Material.

Hole Problem

If you look closely at the above photograph you can see that there are Holes in the Material. This is the result of Unpicking the Material and removing the Thread.

Autumn Cape Bag 2022 Part 35

 Autumn Cape Bag 2022 Part 35

Technically my Bag is now usable. However, I want to tidy it up.

Sort Leaves

Before I can do anything I need to Sort out my Leaves and see what Colours I have. I may need to make some more.

Pin Leaves

I start to Pin the Leaves in place ready for Sewing.

Inside Out

Some of the Leaves are quite hard to get to, especially the further down the Bag you go. For these I turn the Top of the Bag Inside Out. This makes it much easier.

Yellow Hole

I have found a Yellow Hole. By the looks of it is the result of a dropped Stitch, which I did not pick up correctly.

Hole gone

I Sew the Hole together. I then place a Leaf over it to hide the Mistake.

Yellow Problem

I have found another Yellow Problem.

Problem Fixed

Again, I Cover the Mistake with a Leaf. I try where possible to use different Coloured Leaves to help break up large blocks of Colour.

Autumn Cape Bag 2022 Part 32

 Autumn Cape Bag 2022 Part 32

I am going to continue with the Embellishments

Flap Join

 

I had started adding Leaves across the Flap Join. This not only covers the Join but also Strengthens it.

More Gold

 

I searched through my pile of Coloured Leaves. I realised that I was short on Gold so had to make some more. I also made a few Orange Leaves.

Flap Leaves

 

I have now Covered the Flap Join with a variety of Coloured Leaves. I can now move on to something else.

Hole

It is difficult to see but there are quite a few Holes. This is where Stitches have Stretched. I placed a piece of paper underneath to spot them easier. In the photograph above, there is one in the Brown towards the bottom.

Hole Gone

I have tightened the Knitting by Sewing in some extra Red. The Hole is now Gone. Unfortunately, there are more I need to do and it is a thankless task.

Butterfly Banquet 2022 Part 3

 Butterfly Banquet 2022 Part 3

On to the next stage

Make a Hole

 

I had to add some Holes so I could put Thread through to hang it. I needed it equal so I decided to put the first one through near the Top or North North East if you prefer.

 

Thread and Knot

 

I cut a piece of String and Thread it through from the Back of the Dish. I then Tied a Knot to stop it coming through.

All Tied up

 

I then proceeded to repeat this process 3 more times. To strength I added extra Knots at the edges. Once done I Tied them altogether with a Central Knot. It would now be ready for use.

*****

As I stated previously the above Dish is just for show. This is because I neglected to take photographs when making the original. Here are some photographs of the Original in use.

Blueberries

 

Before you can Feed the Butterflies you need to add something to the Dish. Have you ever seen the expression of a Market Vendor when asking if they have any Rotten Fruit? 

This is because Butterflies are attracted to the decaying juices. I obtained some Blueberries and my Boyfriend kindly Hung up the Feeder for me. We had to hang it up High because of the Cats in the area.

 

Gone Windy

Just one thing. Don’t do it on a Windy day because this is what happens!

All Steam Ahead 2021 – Belt Up Part 3

 All Steam Ahead 2021 – Belt Up Part 3

On to the Final Stage of Embellishing the Belt. If you ever want to confuse a Bicycle shopkeeper go and ask them for a Bicycle Chain and then try it on for size.

In Spirit

 

Another Tip from Lovely Laura of https://www.alyssa-rose.co.uk/ It is not often you want to take Oil off a Bicycle Chain but if you do use White Spirit or Turps. After leaving it overnight then wiping it down with some baby wipes it came out a brilliant Silver Colour.

Superglue Chain

 

I knew what kind of Pattern I was going for and if you look at the Photograph above you can see that I am placing the Chain Over one Hole and Under the next.

Be careful when using Superglue. Don’t do what I did and Squeeze the tube too hard and end up Gluing your fingers together. It might be worth having some Nail Varnish Remover on standby.

Chain Glued

 

I carried on Supergluing the Chain along the Belt. I didn’t go right to the end otherwise it wouldn’t have gone through the Buckle.

Copper Wire

 

Now I can do many things but Reverse the pull of Gravity isn’t one of them. The Belt was now extremely Heavy and I wasn’t sure that the Superglue alone would hold it.

Therefore I pushed Copper Wire through the Holes and Tied around the Chain for extra Strength.

Inner Belt

 

As you can see from the above photograph the Copper Wire is holding the Chain in place at both the Top and the Bottom.

Steel and Copper Complete

 

The Belt is now complete. There is even a little bit of the Chain dangling where you can Hook something on. Since the weather is warm I am going to hang a Fan from it.

Out of Zone Accessories 2020 Part 1

 Out of Zone Accessories 2020 Part 1

Continuing on from Out of Zone Mask 2020

I couldn’t just stop at the Mask. I had to Accessorise. I had tonnes of Copper Wire already Plaited so all I needed was the inspiration.

Copper and Cog

 

I hadn’t used all the Cogs up on the Mask as sometimes less is more. The little beauty in the above photograph was dying to be used.

I therefore made a Knot in one end of the Wire and slipped it through one of the Cogs holes.

First Washer 

The next part was slightly trickier. I Looped the Wire through the Washer and pulled firm. I had to undo and redo this several times to get the Distance that I wanted between the Cog and the Washer. I then ran the Wire under its back then Looped it again around the other side.

Second Washer

 

Now I had one Washer in Place I repeated the process with another Washer. I am not putting any more on since they are metal and I don’t want it to be too heavy.

Earring Hoop

 

Earring Hoops were the one thing I didn’t have so I ended up buying a job lot off eBay. I sorted out which colour looked best then slipped the Wire through the Hole. I then Cut the Wire and Wound it back upon itself.

I made the other one and tried them on. They weren’t only still pretty light but also looked Fabulous!

Cat Before Bunny 2020 Part 1

Cat Before Bunny 2020 Part 1

In my last blog I had the finished Bunny Draught Excluder. However that was not the first one I had made. Previously I had made one for myself in the form of a Cat

Mastermind and Henchman

Before I gave the Bunny away I had taken a picture of it with my Cat Excluder. The photograph above shows them side by side. I could not help by being struck with the thought that they resembled an Evil Cat Mastermind and a rather Dopey Hench-Bunny.

In the Wars

On closer examination I noticed that it looked like my Cat no doubt during an attempt to take over the world had become rather worse for wear. The End of its Paw had stuffing spewing out like a Volcano

Pore Paw

 

Along with the Paw End being ripped it seems that some stuffing had actually fallen out. This had led to a Depression further down the Leg.

Push Stuffing

The easy bit was to simply push the Stuffing back into the Leg until the Depression had gone.

Paw Hole

I was now left with a Hole at the End of the Paw. I had some Black Offcuts so I filled the Paw to nearly the End.

Paw End Sewn

I then finished off by Folding the Edges of End in on themselves and Sewing together with my usual Blanket Stitch. Unfortunately this was only the beginning of the Repairs.

Button Evolution 2018 Part 2

Button Evolution 2018 Part 2

In the last blog I showed how I had altered the Green Winter Cape’s Hood fastenings over time. Now the Body of the Cape needed altering.

Cape Body - Pale Toggles

This is how the Cape is as present. I had previously removed the Buttons and changed to Pale Wooden Toggles.

Toggle by Toggle

 

There was wasn’t much space between the Button Holes. This coupled with the fact that the new Toggles were slightly larger made this change difficult. Therefore instead of removing all the Pale Toggles in one go I tried a different approach.

This time I altered the Toggles one by one. This meant lining up the New Toggles was easier with the previous ones still fastened. I had to sew the Dark Toggles slightly further to the Hemline to adjust for length

In addition to this I had to very carefully cut the Button Holes to make them longer. Rather than using scissors I used a stitch un-picker so I could gently tease the fabric. I also kept stretching the Button Hole to increase the width.

Cape Body - Outer Finished

The outer fastenings were now complete. I now needed to turn my attention to the interior. The inside of the Cape had never originally had any fastenings. However I had to add some as the wind blew through.

Old Interior Fastenings

I have already removed the old Toggles. Next I had to remove the Loops. Previously I had sewn on Loops that were elastic. I realised afterwards that this was a mistake as strong winds had stretched them.

I-Cord

I had to really search through my sewing box until I found a Green that would blend in. I made an I-cord roughly 7 cm long knitted in Green Wool

Loop

Once I had the cord sewed together both ends to make a Loop. I used the excess tail of the wool to do this.

Interior Toggle Finished?

I then had to sew both Loop and Toggle in place. This is a test fastening. I may have to alter it but I won’t be able to tell until I have worn it. Then if it is satisfactory I will add additional Toggles.