Project 365 – Day 335

30th November 2012 – “Just my type”

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Blanket cape

I don’t think I’ve made an item of clothing since I was 18 or 19, when I made a velvet bodice to wear to a Romeo & Juliet ball.  Sewing has never really been my forte, and it has to be said that the bodice was beautifully embroidered but otherwise very poorly put together as I did the whole lot by hand.

This year I’ve got to grips with sewing machines.  I’m still not brilliant, but I’ve come to really appreciate how much more quickly projects can be completed, and also the range of things that can be done.  Over the past fortnight I’ve used my machine to sew paper, leather and cloth!  I’ll be writing about the leather and paper projects later in the week, but for now here’s a cloth-based one I’d like to show off.

I stumbled across a tutorial by Reese Dixon and loved the finished cape she’d made, and was quite keen on making one but didn’t have a spare blanket… until I took a wander along Portobello Market Friday before last and managed to pick up a rather lovely one for the grand sum of £4.

It really was a good blanket, pure wool and very thick.  A little too thick, truth be told, but I liked the colour so decided to plough ahead with the project anyway.

I followed Reese’s instructions, and it really was trial and error with the fitting, but I got there eventually.  Sewing it together, even with a machine, was a bit fiddly as the blanket was so thick that a double layer would barely fit beneath the foot of the machine, but I persevered and eventually got it done.  One regret is that I didn’t have any brown bias tape, so used a beige-coloured tape instead which works ok but doesn’t quite blend in.  I may replace the edging at some point if I pick up something in a better colour.

Do you want to see it?…

It looks good, doesn’t it?  It should be perfect for throwing on if I’m going out for a ride on my bike as it’s not too cumbersome, allows freedom of arm movement, but should still keep me warm when I’m stationary.  I’ve got a few offcuts of blanket left and I’m currently contemplating adding a pocket to it, just because pockets are always useful.

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Another week begins

I almost completely neglected my blog last week, and I have no real excuse.  This annoys me more than it’ll annoy anyone else, as I have been determined to post regular entries and was doing quite well prior to last week!

Still, no point crying over spilt milk, so let’s look onwards and upwards.  I had a horrendous cold last week and stayed home from work, mainly because I didn’t think I should risk giving my germs to my clients.  I kept myself fairly busy doing domestic things, but by Saturday I was going insane with cabin fever and, after five days, decided I couldn’t possibly be contagious any longer and went for a jaunt down to Portobello Market.

Clearly I was more unwell than I thought, because driving down there and walking around for half an hour wore me out completely!  It was worth it though.  The photograph above shows the spoils of my trip.  I treated myself to some beautiful tulips and freesias (I was optimistic that they’d smell wonderful once my cold cleared up!), a loaf of rosemary and sea salt foccacia, a couple of gorgeous vintage books, and the most fabulously fun vinyl fabric (yup, that’s the giant pencils you can see – isn’t it a fun print?!).  No idea what I’m going to do with the fabric, but it was too pretty to pass up and I couldn’t resist buying a metre of it…

If you’ve popped in to find out where Weekword is being hosted this week, please pop along and see Sally at Diario as she’ll be posting a new word later today.

I’ll be posting regularly from now on, and will hopefully have something new in the crochet department to show you

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Sketchcrawl #25

Well, today was more exciting than expected! I had to work this morning, and thus didn’t sort out to go and join in the London sketchcrawl group. I was a bit grumpy about this as I’ve NEVER managed to make it to a crawl. So, finished work early and thought I’d drive down to Portobello instead and do a bit of sketching on my own, and then call into the supermarket for groceries on the way home.

Sketched a little, then started sketching the paella stall (which has always fascinated me, even though I’ve never tried paella – it always smells so good!). The men running the stall smiled and winked, then one of them asked if I was writing a book (my sketchbook is a revamped vintage book – looks like a proper book from the outside). Nope, I’m sketching. He then asked if I would scan it and e-mail it to him when I was done, and then offered me lunch!

I was polite and said no to the food at first, but by the time I had finished the smell had made me ravenous so I shyly accepted some chicken paella. It was DELICIOUS.

Clearly I didn’t get anything else drawn after that, but what an exciting day!

The lovely paella stall is run by http://www.jamonjamon.co.uk

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