Third Baby Jacket

Here's another baby cardy - a 'regular' one this time, as I selected the 3-6 month size.  After putting in loads of work on making a 0-3 months layette for a Chinese baby a few years ago - thinking an Oriental baby was bound to be nice and small, and her being big enough for 3+ months clothes at birth, I decided that I wouldn't be making tiny things for friends again.  I usually do something for when the little one is a few months old.

This one was a new pattern for me and I enjoyed it.  It was meant to be part worked in size 6/5mm needles and part in size 8/4mm, but I felt that the larger needles left the lacy part just too open, so I did the whole thing on 8s.  (Yes, I'm still using the old English sizes, partly as I have a bag of needles from my mum which are mostly in the old sizings).  As the little girl will be mixed race - half Philipino, half Serbian and therefore a little darker than average, I thought cream would be better than white and so got 2 50g balls of cream Sirdar Snuggly.

I found some lovely peach coloured buttons and decided to embroider a bullion rose design to match, as you can see in the drawing.  Multiple problems ensued.  For one, I'm still not confident with bullions, despite having experienced success on the wedding gift bellpull and a few previous projects, and so I delayed it, and procrastinated, and put it off.

Eventually, I realised I was actually getting stressed out by tiptoeing around it and just made myself get on with it.  The results were not good.  Not good at all.  For one, the thread was far too fine and I didn't have the right sort of colours in thicker types, so the knots didn't show up well at all, nor did they sit well. So, I abandoned the whole bullion idea and did a design in whatever suitable shades of pearl cotton #8 I could find.

I have almost a whole 50g ball of the yarn left, so I'm going to have a go at the matching hat.  Look out for that soon.

I've almost finished my black cardy now.  I've knit all the pieces and am working on the button band.

Text and images © Elizabeth Braun 2017

Some Trimmed Up Baby Jackets

Today I'm going to share two of the four things I've stitched since my monster wedding projects series.  They're both baby knits and, yes, I knit them myself too.

I've got really into knitting lately, which partly explains the absence of embroidery projects shared on blog.  I've also recently completed a scarf and am well on with my first adult sized garment - a blanck chunky cardigan for me.  More on those another time.

The first two are premature sizes and were done with a view to entering the completed items into this year's Otley Show as there's always been a category for premature baby clothes before (afterwards to be donated to a local hospital's premature baby unit ☺).  However, when I saw the Show schedule for this year, they'd actually changed some of the categories and, with 10 weeks or less to Show date, the charity knitting class was changed to 'baby blanket, max 1m'  So, the two tiny cardies I'd knitted were no good as far as exhibiting there goes this year and the only other category that I'd something almost ready for, a scarf, was also dropped in favour of a knitted household item, so I decided to scratch from the Show all together.  I felt much better afterwards too as it would have been a fair strain to get all the pieces ready in time, as I like to enter enough to get myself a free ticket.

Anyway, I have two pregnant friends at the moment, so I decided to keep hold of these preemie knits just in case one of them arrives early and then later on either put them in another Show that has this sort of charity class or send them to a suitable unit or organisation myself.

This first, blue one is made to my usual go-to girl's pattern in beautifully soft cotton DK (King Cole Cotton Soft yarn) and stitched on in various Anchor & DMC Coton à Broder #16 shades.

The second one, in white Sirdar Snuggly DK was a tricky one to knit as it was more or less a one piece construction - but a good learning experience.  I decided to trim it up very simply so that it could serve for either a boy or a girl.  It isn't exactly what I'd hoped, esp. as I had to use Coton à Broder #25 instead of #16 (lack of colours in the range), but it's slightly more interesting that just plain white.  I also managed to mess up the buttonhole spacing, but I dare say the little mite who wears it won't mind in the least.

Text and images © Elizabeth Braun 2017

Needlecrafts Review of 2016

I can't believe I'm actually doing this 4 months late - I would have preferred it to have been posted on 31 December 2016, but here it is today - on the first day of May 2017 - the summary of my needlework year 2016.

I think it's safe to say that 2016 was Year of the Wedding for me.  I made stuff for 4 weddings, some of which ran in succession and kept me busy for quite some time.  I'm still wondering if the 'must get on with it' for so many weeks in a row is part of what's kept me away from embroidery most of the time since....??  Maybe I burnt out a bit.  May also be that I work better for a reason, rather than just for the love of the process and/or a lovely design.  It's in my make-up, I doubt I'll ever be any different in the way I work.

Here goes with the stats:

I made five cushions/cushion covers ('pillows' if US English means more to you.☺) which were:

- Two scatter cushion covers for us made with red fabrics, woven braids bought in Taiwan back in 2010 and machine metallic threads, both backed in black.  (I didn't get a decent photo of the completed braids one - they all bleached out.)

- One scatter cushion cover in hardanger: white and variegated peach on white and backed with peach and beige coloured fabrics.

- Two small wedding souvenir cushions, worked silk on silk to 'design specs' given by the couples (the grooms of which happened to be brothers.)

I also did two bellpulls, both as wedding gifts:

A wedding dress modesty panel:

A wedding card and an anniversary one:

Made a new Bible cover for my hubby:

Knit four baby cardigans (one still needed trimming up at the end of the year) and made two baby quilts:

And a 'finishing up' project where I mounted nine previously worked things (eight by me (including one I actually did in May), one by a friend) into cards and frames etc:

I also worked on one more knitting project - a scarf for me, and two embroideries, one of which was started in late 2015 (and finished in February 2017) and the other begun in August 2014 and is still dragging on ad infinitum.

Total number of full project completions was 16, plus the eight finish-ups of my own, makes a total of 24 for the year and 4 projects to carry over.  That's not too dusty, is it?  In fact, I think it may even be a record for me!  Even if I am a bit late.....

I'm adding no goals for the current year beyond that I hope that I finally finish the Paradise Island cross stitch and make that up into another scatter cushion cover and I have three small embroideries that I've prepared the fabrics and two of the sets of threads for.  I have another, quite major project underway at the moment and I'll be sharing that with you later this month.

Text and images © Elizabeth Braun 2017

Finishing up some older projects

I think many, if not most of us have some little itsy-bitsy things hanging around waiting for us to finish them, or finish them into something once the actual stitchery is complete.  I had a few of these and so, once all the wedding pieces were done, I had a bit of a finish-a-thon.

Long term readers may remember some, or even all of these pieces.  The first ones, the four tiny hardanger cards shown part worked here, I posted about around the turn of 15/16.  I had put the beading on sometime in the latter half of last year at some point when I actually wasn't in the depths of Intensive Project Hell, where I spent at least 3 months of 2016 (no wonder it was such a productive stitching year!), but I just hadn't mounted them into cards.

On one day, I mounted the four hardanger cards as well as the two old needlepoint birds in the frames that came in the kits, including giving them felt backings.

Mounting the other two cross stitches was quite easy using an iron as they're first put onto fusible webbing/Bondaweb, (which I had to buy a new supply of as I'd run out) but the paper not peeled off.  I then stuck them onto the relevant pieces of card, trimmed up the dress one and set the cat-a-cello (which my friend, Katy worked for me years ago) aside in a plastic pocket ready to go in the front of my long nelgected music folder.  I'm not exactly thrilled with the results of the dress card - it's too bitty and disjointed for my tastes, but I'm sure someone'll love it!

My project box was a great deal emptier for being able to move these eight items out!  There were nine things to be done at that point, the ninth being the lilac bellpull I shared a few weeks ago.

That's it for project catch up blog-a-thon - the series of almost 20 bi-weekly posts that have been needed to bring you up to date with my projects.  I hope you've enjoyed all these pieces. ☺. I can't promise such regular amounts of eye candy from here onwards, but there'll be things to see as I get pieces ready for this summer's show(s) and other things.  Let's see what we can come up with!

Text and images © Elizabeth Braun 2017

Lauren's Wedding Card etc

At the Knitting and Stitching Show, I had fun with a Rowandean 'make and take' piece again this year, having already decided to use it for a wedding card to go along with the dress panel and bellpull.

It was worked in about three sessions - two of them at the Show.  I did a bit, went off to look around again, then came back and did some more, then took it home to finish off.  Problem was that, as I'd left it in the hoop at the stand the first time I took a break, I forgot to take it out of the hoop when I was leaving the Show with it and, consequently, waltzed off with one of Katrina's hoops!  I realised what I'd done shortly afterwards and posted it back to her, so I hope she got it OK...

I didn't get any WIP shots this time, but here it is before and after the main fabric was trimmed to a heart shape and mounted onto a card.  As you can see, I chose a very different colour scheme from the last time I did one of these.

I love these little pieces and fully intend to do another one at this year's Show.

I needed to wrap the bellpull up somehow, but didn't want to roll it or risk it getting folded.  So, I cut a piece of purple card - the same cardstock as I'd used to mount the Rowandean piece on, and used that to support it.

The hanger hung comfortably over the back and I prepared and printed some care instructions to stick on the back of the cardboard too, so that the new owners know how to wash and iron it if ever needed, i.e.hand wash in cool water and press from the back onto a thick towel.

I found some terrific clear wrapping plastic at Wilko's instead of the usual patterned paper.

The last stage was to paint a plain, manilla A5 envelope with lilac metallic fabric paint (I don't have metallic regular stuff.  I don't paint much), put the card in that and then fasten them together with a little bit of double sided tape in between the two, and then attach this ribbon.

And that's the last of the African wedding series.  Hope you've enjoyed it.  It was nice doing three such very different pieces.  I felt I was able to give dear Lauren a little bit of everything. ♥☺♥

Text and images © Elizabeth Braun 2017

VS Renaissance Rose bellpull - finished up

Here we are at the finish line for this project.

As this design was for a framed piece whilst I wanted to make a bellpull out of it, I needed to adapt the bottom.  It wasn't terribly difficult - I just needed to add a row of buttonhole edging around the outside of the hardanger section and then, using the new edge this created to site a row of four-sided edging on each side.  When this had got to the needed height, I just turned the top over a pretty hanger I got at the Knitting and Stitching Show in November.

And that was it!

Here the purple card back makes a nice contrast and shows off the cutwork section nicely.  I actually used this type of card as a support when packing up the bellpull, which you can see next catch up project post when I also share the wedding card.

Text and images © Elizabeth Braun 2017

Wedding Dress Modesty Panel - fitting and wearing

Here's the last instalment in the adventures of a wedding dress modesty panel.  I'm not involved in any of this section - except that I took one of the two wedding screenshot photos.  All other photos etc in this post are from the bride's family and friends over in Ghana on the Big Day.

The bride's dad sent me this lovely shot of her getting out her dress and receiving the modesty panel ready for fitting.  It came along with a heart warming message:

"Lauren really happy with your work. Thank you soooooo much."

In the same photo batch came this one of fitting in progress.  Janet, the bride's mum, is a very accomplished seamstress who also made a Ghanaian style outfit for herself for the day. ☺

And here it is in action!  Photos etc were coming in during the ceremony to all Lauren's friends here in the UK and I was busting with flattered vanity when I saw that she had deliberately sat during the ceremony with her hair on one side so as to show off the panel - the one that was meant to be hidden!! ☺♥☺

It did get hidden during the more 'active' parts, but you can see a tiny bit of it here during the wedding vows (my screenshot photo).

"Screenshot?  How come?"  I hear you ask?  Well, as so many family members and friends weren't able to go over to Africa for the wedding, the whole ceremony was streamed live via YouTube and left on for catch up later for people who weren't able to join at the actual time (including us).

In this scene - the legal registration required by Ghana law before the religious ceremony, you can see dad in the background holding up his phone so that the bride's eldest brother, who lives in China, could 'be there' in real time.  On the other side was her 2nd brother enabling their 3rd brother (who has a tiny daughter) and maternal grandparents back home in the UK via his phone.  It was a truly intercontinental event!  Marvellous! ♥

Along with these two beautiful photographs that came from the newlyweds a few days later, I got a lovely recorded message telling me that many people had commented how nice her dress was at the back. (Vanity swells again!!)

A most successful project, I think.  The fact that people were complimenting her on the appearance of the panel means that it served its purpose well and that no-one was offended by too much skin in the wrong place.  That was the main thing.

Of course, I'm delighted with the results too. ☺  I'm wondering now if I'll ever get chance to do any more projects like this....

I'll conclude this project with this Very Lauren screenshot from the wedding talk. ☺♥☻

The card and 'regular' gift coming up next!

Text and images © Elizabeth Braun 2017

Wedding Dress Modesty Panel - final preparation stages

Here we are arrived at part six of the dress panel project - the penultimate instalment.

And. This. Part. Was. Scary.

Actually, the part that worried me most was, after removing the embroidery hoop, I needed to trim the excess stabilizer off and I was scared I would cut the net.  One misplaced snip and the whole thing could fray irretrievably.  Thankfully, that didn't happen and here you see it soaking in our bathroom washbasin.  After which, it came out just that little bit crumpled up.

It dried quite a bit flatter though. Phew!  It was mostly the silver threads twisting and turning.

I re-rinsed the piece to make sure that all the stabilizer was out of the net and the threads - the silk felt horrid whilst still full of half dissolved Romeo!  Once it had dried again and I'd finger flattened a fair number of the silver threads, I subjected it to the book treatment overnight as you can see here.

From the bottom up:
-Thick or well folded towel(s)
-Beaded piece upside down so that the beads and stitchery sink into the towel and don't get flattened themselves and ruin the piece
-Heavy books

You can also use this sort of method to iron beaded pieces (or those using thick threads and 3D stitches) and/or clothes.  Iron from the back onto a thick layer of towelling and you'll have a lovely result.  Here's the finish I got.  Not 100% straight, but more than straight enough and much better than the wet version above!

Here's the panel mounted on a piece of dark green A4 card and popped into a plastic pocket for protection on the next part of its adventure - flying over to Ghana.

This is where I bow out of this project and, next time, you can see Janet, the bride's mum, fitting the panel and some shots of the whole dress in action. ♥

Text and images © Elizabeth Braun 2017

Wedding Dress Modesty Panel - Beading and Embellishing

Part five today - the beads and jewel embellishments.

I'd never used pearl beads of this size before, or diamond-like sparklies either, so I wasn't really sure of myself here.

This first shot you might remember from the introductory post in this project series - it's from the dress proper and shows what sort of jewel trims it had, including the pearl beads in the small flowers and leaves.  Actually, I forgot to put them above the leaves in the end....  Just remembered that whilst writing this!

Here's the whole panel with the pearl beads added.

And a close up of my favourite section with just the beads on.

The dress proper had two different sizes of pearl beads, whereas I was working with just one, so I ended up adding more in later on to even things up a little in the central, large flower.

These are the sparklies I was given to work with from both top and bottom.  I'd never really seen anything like this before, especially not with a view to working with them.  As you can see, the back has an 'x' shaped finish and no visible attaching mechanism like beads have.  So, what I ended up doing was fastening the jewel to the embroidery by catching threads around the arms that hold the stone in the setting.  That worked very well

Finally for today we have a few shots of the final panel with the addition of the sparklies.  I loved these.  They ended up being realy quite easy to do and they just look great!  I was happy to add the leftovers to my stash. ☺  Wish I could think of something else to use them on now.  Couture 'commissions' aren't something I get every day, sadly!  Part of me rather likes the idea of working as an embroiderer in a big fashion house.

Here's the whole panel still in the hoop, just before being taken out and prepared for fitting.  More on that next time, on Monday.  Join me then! ☺♥

Text and images © Elizabeth Braun 2017