A Little Milestone

After I'd been using  Ravelry for a couple of years, I started to think how lovely it would be to design and share a pattern (and even lovelier if I could design something which I could sell!). The tutorial for Little Tinsel Trees has been written up and published on this blog and (fanfare and drum roll!) it's my first pattern published in Ravelry! Now I more or less know what I'm doing with that (and I have the ability to create a .pdf file easily, not something I had with my old computer and software!) I'm planning to get some other patterns written up and published as free patterns. I love Ravelry, I love the other designers who happily publish their patterns for free, so I'm so happy to have become one! Squee, it's even got compliments already, despite it now being past the season when everyone is furiously crafting things for the winter holidays and celebrations.

I'm counting the tutorial and the published pattern as two items. There are only a few other things which count towards the creation goal:

Three crochet squares. The sizes are only approximately the same, a couple have taken a bit of invention to size up (learning point, do 2 rounds of trebles (UK terms) rather than a round of double treble and a round of double). The first set of four seemed so quick and easy; not so much these, each one taking me an evening (with breaks and interruptions). I've learned a neater way to join in a new colour and can now do stitch clusters without wondering if I'm doing the right thing. I also feel like I can switch more easily between UK and US terms.

A pair of summer palazzo pants bought in a late summer sale last year (when it had started raining again here in Wales, although the rest of the country was still parched and sweltering). Two inches too long, now taken up and ready for summer if and when it eventually arrives. We need to get through spring first.

Another pair of old socks reduced to jersey yarn.

I've spread out a selection of sea glass and found my wire (the law of the stash - I'm missing the gauge of wire I really wanted to use for some of the pieces). Other stuff has taken over for the moment, but watch this space!

This batch of things: 7
Cumulative total: 21

Create 365: The First Set of FOs

It's been something of a slow start, despite my various WIPs and UFOs. And yet, this is a learning journey as well as creative exploration.

The first FO (finished object) was to create space, have a bit of a clean and tidy, and decorate for Christmas. Even though this is only a temporary thing, it counts as a creation for me; with no friends or family visiting, it would be so easy not to decorate. Putting up the tree and some decorations, if only for myself and for a couple of weeks, gets me out of my rut a little and creates some seasonal cosiness. There is a nostalgic sweetness in unpacking the decorations; some of the baubles are at least 45 years old! It also meant that I took the time to swap around a cupboard and a bookcase, which I've been meaning to do for months, and which makes the living room look a little larger. The decorations are now down and put away again, except for the cards, which I shall come to soon.

The first set of Create 365 FOs

In mid-December I started a pair of plain socks in Stylecraft Head Over Heels 'Etna', because I'd made a pair to sell and loved the yarn colours, so wanted a pair for myself. Having finished them and unable to resist, I made another pair (King Cole Zig Zag 3158 Pinecone, a blue/brown print). The burgundy print socks are the 'desk drawer socks' I made a back in 2014 (blog post here)  which needed some mending at the angle of the heel and instep.

The next item on the bottom row is the 'Wellen Baktus' (Wavy Baktus) scarf, which was technically finished before the start of Create 365 (so it doesn't really count). I had intended to use the faulty dyed, white bits of yarn I'd cut out as I was knitting to create a couple of tiny snowflakes, one for each end, but there wasn't enough yarn even for a couple of tiny pom-pom snowballs. So it's finished except for a hand-wash to test for fastness.

The silvery blob in the lower right corner is a little cork/bottle topper tree. I made a few of these in King Cole Tinsel Chunky for the craft market in mid December, but forgot to write down what I did, so I made another and wrote it down before I forgot! I'll write up the pattern and find out how to list it on Ravelry as a separate 'creation'.

Top right is a mended scarf. There is a Japanese tradition and art called Kintsugi or Kintsukoroi, of mending broken pottery with lacquer mixed with powdered gold, silver or platinum. The mend shows and is beautiful in itself, reflecting change and imperfection. Having attempted to darn the holes in this scarf (and wondering why I was even bothering, considering it's just a cheap, viscose scarf which crocks dye even after several washes) and found the loose weave just pulls apart, I decided to use a coppery metallic embroidery thread and cover the holey areas with chain stitch. I could never darn this to disguise the holes and make it look perfect again, so the embroidery both mends and embraces the imperfection.

Centre back, an attempt at a crochet motif. The brushed acrylic yarn was donated, and I thought I might use it to make some sort of crochet, snowflakey baby blanket, but I lost patience with the catchy yarn (and I needed to use a larger hook, but that's already in use for something else). So the motif, and the yarn, can be donated to the Yarn Bombers. No doubt they will be able to create something wonderful. #alwayslearning #lifestooshort.

Back left, a 200g ball of super-chunky acrylic, which is also destined for the Yarn Bombers, as it will make a nice something-or-other, like a tree trunk out of a lamp-post. I experimented with seed stitch and linen stitch and different needle sizes and stitch numbers to make a rufty-tufty, manly cowl, but found the yarn colours too drab and the yarn made my eyes itch!

I need to pick up the pace, but can't spend all day crafting!

Total so far: 7

Create 365

I'm in awe of some of my arty friends, who are so productive and create such loveliness. Even some friends of mine who have been posting about what their naughty Christmas elves have been up to, complete with pictures.

Glancing through old posts, especially those from this time of year, I despair at myself; the same old aims pop up time and again. Lose weight, exercise more, earn some money, learn how to do all sorts of things, get everything sorted out, get a grip!

I spotted a post in which I talked about peyote stitch bezels around stones and the offending articles are still in the UFOs box, where I left them years ago when I couldn't decide how to create the bails. I had another look at them when a crafty friend came round for a cuppa and decided that I would not be able to get a pinch bail or even a jump ring into the beadwork, (because I didn't 'cheat' and use a strip of double-sided tape around the stone, so the beadwork is as tight as I could make it). Beaded bails it is, then.

With the turning of the year at Yule, and thinking about my recent creative impulse, I set a goal. I need to be more productive and to do a major de-stash, so I am going to make, create, renovate, repair, alter and complete 365 things.

I have an appalling record when it comes to personal goals, as they often dissolve and disappear within a month, displaced by important and urgent stuff or other interests. Given that I need to be smarter about the goal setting, I decided posting every day and having a photo of every object would be unfeasible and unsustainable, so I'll post periodically and keep a running total. Although 365 is one object a day, I probably won't complete one a day, but I shall have to try to produce more or less 30 things a month just to keep on track. If I run short of time I might start making lots of earrings (although that at least will help de-stash the beads and give me something to sell!).

I've a long list of crafty things I want to try, and have been saying for years that I should pick my art things up again.

Choreographies will count. Making/repairing elements of the garden will count. Making everyday meals will not count, nor will making a mess (something I can do with no effort at all!) I've also decided that blog posts won't count unless they are tutorials or patterns, but I do need to complete a lot of draft posts too.

So that's a major aim for the year, to bring things back into use and create lovely things. How do you think I'll do? Feel like joining me? Let me know what you think in the comments below!

A Year of Stitches

Not that I need another project, but an invitation from a Facebook friend in Nottingham (a wonderful dancer and consummate craftswoman, as well as having gorgeous cats!) was too attractive to resist. I haven't done any embroidery for years. Time to regenerate my rusty embroidery skills!

The idea  is to create some embroidery - sampler, free-form, whatever you like - using a different stitch every day for a year. I'd seen a post on Craftsy last year about it, and it's an idea which has evidently caught the imagination of many embroidery enthusiasts.

I managed to find my frame, my stash of embroidery floss and some calico. I managed the first fortnight or so, working in a doodle-like fashion, trying not to be too judgemental or a perfectionist about the result. I did rip out one row of stitches, because they were just too untidy.

But it's evidently not the year for this, because I found that I quickly became bored and dissatisfied with my doodle and didn't have the energy to restart it as a sampler. I usually have no problem with Art For Art's Sake, but started thinking I should be creating something functional, and felt a vague sense of guilt.

Then I received a very large book (well, 5 books plus prologue and epilogue) to edit and the embroidery project has already slipped. It's sitting in the living room, and should be tempting, but after a few hours correcting appalling typography and wading through paragraph-length sentences, I find I don't have the concentration to do any embroidery.

I even feel torn that I've decided to give the project up, but it was clearly not meant to be, at least for this year. It's not as if I don't have other WIPs!

Belly Dance Costume on a Budget

It was with a deepening sense of gloom that I watched the coverage of the Autumn Statement. The forecast is that low and middle income 'households' who are the JAMs - a nice new acronym, the 'Just About Managing' - will find themselves worse off as a combination of inflation and welfare cuts take hold.

When you are just about managing (and especially when you are actually not managing but determined to have some belly dance space-time), it can be really difficult to justify money spent on costume for a performance, especially if your time and money is so short that this may be once a year. The temptation is to go for something cheap, preferably something which will do double duty as everyday clothing, perhaps something you already have in your wardrobe. This can be really difficult; costume should ideally look like costume. There are few instances where you can get away with everyday wear, unless your everyday wear is somewhat bohemian and full of rich fabrics, colours, textures and bling! So, bearing in mind that I'm considering amateur performances in relatively 'safe' spaces, such as local haflas, here are some tips on what you might look for, what you might get away with, and how not to waste your money.

First, bear in mind that your costume should:

• Suit the dance style. Think about the dance - is it more cabaret or folkloric? A distinct style, or fusion? You might get away with jeans and a T shirt for Shaabi, or summer skirts for something folky or fusion, but not for something more classical.
• Fit you. Not so loose that the movements can't be seen or that it slips around or down, not so tight that it looks like you might spill out or it rides up, not so long that you trip over it, nor too short.
• Flatter you. Maximise your assets, minimise your faults, cover up anything distracting, such as large, scarred tummies and bingo wings, and look as though you are wearing the costume and not the other way around.
• Provide some visual interest and look like a unified group. I'm all for individuality, but if everyone just wears what they have or like, you can end up with every style of costume in every colour (which is what happened for the Imago dancers' first show piece. Ah well, it's all experience!). Costumes don't have to be identical, but should have some sort of richness, either in their decoration or the blend of colours and perhaps textures or fabrics, and if not all the same, then a limited set of styles can bring a group look together.)

The first thing is to assess what you have, or can borrow.

• Skirts. A skirt should be long and move nicely. Long means down to your ankles, or onto the instep of your foot, rather than calf length. Try turning in the skirt and twisting your hips to see how it moves. Ideally, you should have a skirt with a hem at least 3-4 metres long. A circular skirt will have a hem 6-7 metres long. A half circle skirt with godets (triangular inserts) can also work well. Tiered skirts used for folkloric or tribal style dance often have hems at least 9.5 metres long, roughly equivalent to a circle and a half, but if the top tier is too long, onto the thigh, it may not move well. This is often the case with tiered 'broomstick' skirts sold as summer skirts, which often do not have enough fabric gathered into the tiers to move well.
• Tops. A good basic is a close-fitting vest top or strappy camisole of fine cotton, poly-cotton, polyester or viscose jersey. This can be paired with a cropped-length tie-top of some sort, in a matching or toning colour. Make sure the tie top is big enough so that it does not ride up over the bust, and you can get a sleeker look with a top which has ties long enough to cross in front and tie at the back. Any T shirt should be close-fitting, with a deep and preferably decorated neckline. The only time I would suggest something 'blousy' would be a folk top with a gathered neckline, full sleeves and some embroidery.
• Trousers. I've seen a lot of trousers described as 'harem pants' recently, but they are really just pull-on trousers with pleating at the waist and a narrow ankle. These can work if they are made in a drapey fabric, otherwise choose some made from a decorative fabric (and more of it!), with elastic at the ankles (and long enough to cover the ankle bone). For tribal fusion, flared jazz pants, perhaps with a small over-skirt, can work well.
• Dresses. Depending on the cut and decoration, an evening gown could double as a cabaret dress. (And a dress galabeya could double as an evening gown.) A simple column or A-line summer dress with a beaded neckline might also work when worn with a matching coin belt.

Now you're in a better position to consider what you need.

Do:

• Think ahead; the earlier you start to plan and put a costume together, the better.
• Be prepared to spend some money at some point. Start a costume fund. It is possible to get a dress galabeya, which could see you through several styles of dance, for around £50.00 (although the way the currency is going at the moment, not for very much longer!).
• Be prepared to have more than one costume if you are going to continue!
• Know your size/measurements and look carefully at descriptions and pictures when buying online.
• Resist buying the first thing which catches your eye because it's cheap and looks like it will do.
• Support your local dance events and buy from souk/bazaar vendors. You get to handle costumes and try them on, and you are often effectively supporting small businesses. If the vendor travels to Cairo (for example), have a chat about the sort of thing you're looking for, what you can afford, size and colour preferences.
• Have a look at internet sites selling professional costumes. With the change in exchange rates, these are far more expensive now, but you might get lucky with a sale, and it will give you ideas.
• Keep an eye on eBay, there are bargains to be had, especially if you happen to be the right size for another dancer's second hand, quality costumes.
• Keep an eye open in charity shops for evening dresses, skirts and tops which could be adapted, and outrageous bling in terms of jewellery, providing it suits the costume you are putting together.
• Reality check. If you sew or can have someone sew for you, re-purposing clothing can work out cheaper, but there is a lot of work in a belly dance costume and you may spend more on the beads and sequins than you'd planned. Have an idea of the cost of fabrics per metre and how much you would need to make a garment from scratch, which is sometimes quicker than making alterations. You might be able to buy a lot of sequins more cheaply than salvaging them off another charity garment. Blingy jewellery which could be used as costume decoration needs either to be removable or in a mount which won't rust.
• Remember that even professional quality costumes often need some adjustment to fit your unique body!

Avoid:

• Harem pants, skirts or dresses with metal coins on as part of the decoration; they will be difficult to wash.
• Costumes which claim to be 'professional' but do not look like anything which, say, Eman or Hoda Zaki, Hanan or Bella would produce.
• Anything marked as one size fits all, unless it really can fit you.
• Anything which seems to have an identity crisis. A quick look through eBay this evening resulted in a lot of yoga, Bollywood and ballroom costumes tagged as belly dance.
• Anything which looks like lingerie/underwear. This includes bras with a decorated front, but still with the stretch straps at the back. (You might get away with it peeping out the front of a tie-top or deep-fronted galabeya, but don't spend money on one unless you are sure it will fit!)

Really Don't:

• Go for Carnival, Halloween or other dress-up costumes - they're not usually designed to be danced in. Yes, that includes that set of  'endless wave' style harem pants with small clusters of beads on the points, halter top and belt smothered in coins and sequins, all for under £18.00. What a bargain, so difficult to resist, even when you suspect that the halter top will not fit (as they even point out that it won't provide full coverage for a B or C cup bust). Shown on a tiny model, it looks lovely. I know someone who bought the pants, and the loosely woven chiffon tore under the weight of the bead clusters (not that they were heavy!) and kept on tearing, before she'd even started dancing. The same goes for cheap 'tourist tat' costumes, especially if the bra cups are shaped like cones or as two circles joined half-way up by a short strap. These often also have some sort of flower, target shape or a tassel on the nipple. Just don't go there.
• Start with accessories. However tempting it is because they are cheap, little elasticated wristlets with coins or a jingly ankle bracelet are the least of your needs and may not suit the style of the costume you're putting together. If anyone wants to buy these for you, encourage them to put a few quid into your costume fund instead!

Happy costume hunting!

Further reading:
You might want to look at a previous post when I was thinking about costuming a couple of years ago.
Shira's website is full of superb information, indispensable reading!

The Bling's The Thing

I'm terribly excited to have a performance group again, after a little lull. We were quite active a couple of years ago, and started to discuss troupe costumes.  Then most of the dancers disappeared from class due to pregnancy, illness, shift and other work changes, new love interests, etc.

I'm so proud of 'my' dancers, including a couple of ladies who have really only been dancing anything from a  few weeks to a  few months. Having done a beginner's choreography last term, this one to Nourhanne's Habibi Ya Eini is pretty cute (even if I say so myself) but not very easy. They are working so hard and they are up for the challenge, although nerves are starting to kick in as the show comes closer. It is part of the Imago ethos that performance is optional and open to all abilities. This is a hafla-style show, so it's a safe place to perform for the first time.

Preparing for a performance can be scary and for your first performance, a little bit terrifying. Apart from doubts about whether you can learn and rehearse the choreography in time for the performance, the other big question is, What Shall I Wear? This is always a tricky one for beginners and casual dancers, and especially problematic for anyone not under UK size 16 and/or with body issues such as scars, flabby bits you want to keep hidden, unusual proportions and feeling so self-conscious that you may want to dance with everyone else, but blend into the background so that no-one can see you, and would fight to be at the back. Oh yes, I have all those issues, except for the last two which I'm over now, unless I have to watch myself in a mirror or on video.

Another issue is cost. If you are slim (up to a UK size 14, max!) with perhaps only A-B cups, and happy to show some tummy then it's quite easy to get a cheap, basic, far-east import costume of georgette/chiffon circular skirt, belt and bra for under £40 excluding post and packing. There are some fun, colourful costume pieces, if you can fit them.  They are marketed as One Size (don't get me started ...). They are also marketed as 'professional' and although they can look good, you should expect to pay £250 to £450 for a truly 'professional' full costume. At Raqs Britannia a few years ago, I overheard a couple of other teachers discussing how they don't let their students perform until they are at least 'intermediate' (in their book, dancing for a couple of years, not the JWAAD intermediate standard) and only then if they are prepared to buy their own 'professional' costume in the troupe colours. Not that all dancers are intermediate (whatever that means!) after a couple of years, and all very well if it's for paid, professional bookings or stage shows, but overkill if we're talking the local festival or street carnival. There's more to dancing well and being professional than the costume. A beautiful costume will certainly help you to look and feel the part, but it's what you do and how you do it that really counts!

Then there is the question of how to approach costuming a troupe. If everyone wears the same thing, the troupe can look very smart and can also help the self-conscious to feel that they are blending in. On the other hand, if you don't feel the costume suits you, it can make you feel worse and you might not dance your best, either. I was in a troupe where the requirement was for all white and I felt like a belly dancing meringue, conspicuous and uncomfortable.

Most costume decisions are about style, colour and cost, so for troupe costumes, it's a matter of finding a combination that works for everyone.

Style should be appropriate for the type of dance and choreography.  Doing ATS in a sparkly galabeya looks and feels too strange; I know, because I have done it. It was a spur-of-the-moment thing, and next time I shall make sure I have a big skirt and choli in my costume case! However, you can think of  'style' in very broad terms, such as everyone in dresses/galabeyas, or in a skirt and top, or wearing one or two unifying pieces which are the same style, such as harem pants and a glitterdot tie top.

Colour can be a difficult call.  It's hard to find a single colour/shade which suits everyone and everyone has their favourites in which they feel happy. It wasn't until I was loading a couple of photos onto my website that I realised how much stage lighting can alter colour, so that it can become almost insignificant. I may have felt like a meringue in my white costume, but under stage lights it became changing pastel shades, light and ethereal.

I usually advise against black for stage costumes, because it's not necessarily as flattering as you'd think and you can disappear against a black backdrop or in dim lighting. It's often chosen by people who want to appear slimmer and not be noticeable against the backdrop but beware! Your audience may look at you more closely if you're difficult to see! That said, sometimes black is the only option.  I have seen a very effective use of various separates - skirt or pants with some sort of top plus a coin belt - all in black and silver. Still, the whole troupe need to be okay with the colour choice.  I tried on a black and silver cabaret dress and it made me feel as though I was going to dance at a funeral.

With a unifying style, a troupe could be in all different colours, or could select a contrasting or toning colour range. This has the advantage that dancers get a choice (e.g. pink or turquoise, or any shades of blue and green) and might be able to use pieces they already have, keeping costs to a minimum.

Photo Credit Kathryn Goddard, Capture This Moment Photography

Here's a shot of Imago Dancers performing a couple of years ago in Cardiff, in whatever we had or could lend each other of black and royal blue, with the dancer's choice of silver or gold, unified by our masks and white boas.

My first 'troupe' costume was a double layer skirt with a top which I'd used for a contemporary dance piece, years before. A couple of years later, I was due to dance in a show for Hossam and Serena Ramzy, when all the other dancers in the troupe backed out at less than a week's notice.  I had four days to select music, choreograph what would be my first solo, and put together a costume.

I made a panne velvet overdress and polysilk harem pants, and wore both a fringe belt and a coin belt.  It was comfortable, covered a multitude of sins and it's still something I wear for more casual events.

However, after a couple of haflas and other performances,  I wondered why I was still feeling much too self-conscious and realised that it was because I felt too plain. Yes, the textures were nice and I was wearing jewellery and a coin belt, but I felt like a sparrow amongst peacocks. Unless you are being seriously folkloric, it's possible that for a local hafla, there's no such thing as too much bling!

Many 'larger ladies' are told to avoid lycra and this may be true in a figure-hugging, day-to-day fashion sense. I believed it, and since many belly dance costumes use lycra, I wasn't sure what to do.  Then I found a galabeya by Hanan in my size and was encouraged to try it on.  As I came out of the changing area, the other ladies in the souk all went 'OOooooh!'. It clung to some bits of me and skimmed the rest, and the bead and sequin work around the neck with the sparkly lycra made me feel elegant and dripping with style. Also, it was very comfortable to move and dance in, and some leggings underneath would deal with my dislike of flashing my legs. (It's the black and gold galabeya I'm wearing in the troupe photo, above.)

Since then, I've become a fan of dance galabeyas, treating myself to a turquoise and gold Hanan sparkly when I saw one in my size, and made an exception to my own black and silver rules to bag a second-hand Assuit galabeya when one came up at a reasonable price on eBay. I'm now planning to make a few. How many galabeyas does a dancer need?

In the end, I am reluctant to dictate when it comes to costuming for casual dancers; it's the dancers' money, and they should have a choice, including borrowing costume or going with what they have.  However, I encourage the maximum use of sparkle. Whatever you wear, if you want to feel fabulous and sparkly instead of frumpy and self-conscious, then the bling's the thing!

A Flower a Day: Week 5 - Flowers by Lucy at Attic24

Materials: Acrylic DK
Techniques: Crochet, Sewing

So, what with all the colourful inspiration and joy at playing hookey, I am finding myself pretty much addicted to crochet flowers.  I had queued up all of Lucy Attic 24's flowers on Ravelry to work through, but ended up sitting with her blog, since that's where all the tutorials are.  Lucy does superb tutorials, with well lit and focused close-up photos and clear instructions, including descriptions of how to work the different stitches and tips for refining techniques. What more could anyone want?

I started with Lucy's pattern for teeny tiny flowers. Gosh, these are addictive, possible because they are so quick to do.  If you don't count weaving in ends, one flower takes approximately 3 minutes.  Yes, really!  So I made one in each of the flower colours I'd chosen for this project.  And then one of the tiny leaves in each of the chosen leaf colours. Lucy also suggests playing with hook size. I had noticed that the Woolcraft luminous peach DK yarn is rather coarser and woollier than the other flower colours, which I think are all Stylecraft DK. I used a 3.75 mm hook for all of the flowers, and then made an additional spice coloured one with the same hook, and an additional peach one using a 4mm hook. The resulting difference in size means that the flowers layer quite nicely.
The leaves took me a little longer, simply because they are small enough to be fiddly, there is a strand to weave down the centre of the leaf, and a couple of my leaf colour yarns are a bit soft and splitty.  (I feel a post comparing acrylic DK yarns coming on, but flowers first!)

And so onto the Crochet Flowers and Leaves.  Having used a magic loop rather than chain 4 centre on the tiny flowers, I decided to go back to a chain centre for the first of these flowers.  Ugh! I just cannot get my first round stitches evenly around the chains! I did the double layer flower first, and liked the way that the second layer is worked on top of the first, rather than having to fiddle around behind the flower to add a layer. I decided I would also do the single layer flower with a magic loop centre and ended up with seven rather than six petals where I forgot to skip a stitch.  Never mind, it's fine. The leaves are easy enough, on the same pattern as the tiny leaves - chain a number, work your way back with ascending and then descending size stitches, turn and repeat.  Emboldened by that, I chained an extra 4 and added a couple of double treble in the centre and another couple of treble on the other side of them.

The little picot flowers are cutely ruffly.  I went back to the chain centre just for practice, but after the first couple, ended up doing magic loop centres again. I love the way that Lucy eggs the reader on to do more than one and it is a good idea. You get to practice!  It gave me a 'what if' idea for a flower, exploring the potential for a picot of three chain on top of trebles into the centre rather than doubles (the peach centre with pomegranate petals).

I hadn't noticed them before in the list of patterns, but little crochet daisies looked pretty so I had to have a go at one of them. I went back to magic loop for the centre and found that I just could not manage to get the hook under both loops of the chains in the petals. This was something which I had tried and failed on the leaves done before, and had thought perhaps it was just because of the soft, splitty yarn. I had another go at a chain centre and going through both loops of a chain while making the little leaf, and was much more successful with a coarser yarn.

Moving onto the triple layer flower. These use five colours.  I magic looped the centre The seven petal flower created for the first layer was very cute just by itself, so I made another one. The flower would work just as well with two layers, but I carried on to finish the flower. Although these crochet flowers are destined for my flower garden scarf (or whatever), this triple layer flower would make a great brooch.  I also had a go at the leaf, although my attempts were a little haphazard.  I found it easiest to do the central vein with the 4 mm hook and then go down to the 3.75 mm for the main part of the leaf, but I seemed to end up with more chains than expected and started to improvise with the numbers of various stitches.  Still, I feel that's the best bit of using patterns like this, using the basic methods as a stepping off point to start playing with different stitches and numbers of repeats.

It's May, perhaps a little early for roses, but let's do some May Roses anyway. The coppery-spice one was made with the 3.75 mm hook and the coral-shrimp coloured one with the 4 mm and with a larger double crochet centre. I also made a couple of leaves, forgetting the second treble into a chain in the first leaf and then experimenting with a longer leaf with longer stitches, using the way that one yarn end is passed back down the leaf to change its outline slightly.

The Japanese Quince are still flowering, (although not as beautifully as those in Lucy's photo!) so that was the last pattern for the week, (even though there are more flowers on the blog). Again, I played with the yarn and hook size, doing the pale pink, lighter DK with a 4 mm hook and the coarser peach DK with the 3.75 mm, just to see the difference. I was intrigued by the propeller-shaped greenery, so I had a go at that, got carried away and did one with four arms instead of three.  Oh well, it's all good!

 Clockwise from top left:

Triple layer flower
Crochet flowers and leaves
Little crochet daisy
Japanese quince
Little picot flowers (with my larger one)
A drift of teeny tiny flowers and leaves
May Roses

A Flower a Day: Folded Pointed Petals

Materials: Scraps of satin, pearl for centre
Techniques: Folded and gathered petals, sewing.

These fabric scraps have been in my stash a long time, offcuts from the lining for a wool jacket. The pearl I used for the centre was also an odd one I had in my stash. I should have put a ruler in this picture, as the flower is really quite small, only about 2.5 cm across, if that, as I used up small scraps for small petals. 

A Flower a Day: Velvet Yo-Yo Flower

Materials: Scraps of panne velvet, old button to cover
Techniques: Sewing, yo-yos and covering a button

I liked the texture of the velvet, and used another scrap to cover a plain button to made the centre.  The thing to remember about yo-yos is that they end up just less than half the size of your original circle template.

A Flower a Day: Organza Ribbon Rosette with Small Rose

Materials: Organza ribbon, scrap strip of organza
Techniques: Gathered ruffle rosette, rolled and folded rose, sewing.

This was made by gathering a length of organza ribbon from some gift or other to create a rosette, and a scrap strip of organza in a toning shade made into a small rolled and folded rose to sit in the centre of the rosette.

A Flower a Day: Pink Polka Dot Flower

Materials: Lightweight satin, button
Techniques: Sewing, gathered round petals

The same bright pink polka dot satin that I used for the 'carnations', but used to create a simple round-petalled flower.  I picked the button for the centre as it echoed the polka dot pattern.

A Flower a Day: Ruffled Folded Strip Carnations

Materials: Lightweight satin
Techniques: Gathered folded strip, sewing

The bright pink polka dot satin was from some pyjama bottoms (not mine) which looked unworn when I picked them up for almost nothing from a charity shop. The folded strip in question was in fact the hem of a pyjama leg, which I gathered and then folded around into something which looks like a carnation-like flower. I'll do the other leg hem in the same way to create a pair, for a matching set of hair clips.

A Flower a Day: Blue Lotus

Materials: Glass lampwork and seed beads, polyester satin.
Techniques: Two layer flower with two different styles of folded and gathered rounded petals.
 

A Flower a Day: Old School Tie Rose

Materials: the wide half of a tie
Techniques: Fold and Turn, Sewing

One to jazz up a business suit while you break through the glass ceiling with a new twist on the old school tie!

Starting at the narrow end, fold the end over, secure with a couple of stitches and continue to fold and turn the fabric, catching the folds underneath with small stitches as you go.

A Flower a Day: Ruffled Lace Carnation

Materials: Pre-gathered synthetic lace
Techniques: Sewing

This was made with a length (although I forgot to measure how long) of pre-gathered lace.  I simply wound it round and round, catching the bottom edges with small stitches to keep it together as I went.

Flower Power

I LOVE flowers. Their varied colours and forms are so beautiful, they always brighten up my day. My Mum, who has lovely green fingers (even though they look a normal colour usually!) started teaching me the common names for the wildflowers we would see when out walking when I was little. I used to love standing under blossom on trees and getting petals in my hair. Flowers seem to feature in most of my happy memories.

I  went through a phase in my late teens of wearing real or synthetic flowers in my hair, on my lapel or hip at every opportunity.   Then for some reason, I stopped making and wearing flowers and spent more time growing the real thing.  In the past couple of years, I've rebelled a bit. Why should wearing flowers be relegated to little girls and weddings?

Belly dancing provided the perfect excuse for a bit more bling.  American Tribal Style and Tribal Fusion dancers often use flowers as part of their hair styles and they look beautiful.  I had some artificial flowers on hair elastics which I liked, but found that the plastic base was forever digging into my head and catching on my hair, veil, whatever.  This lead to some experimentation with cheap artificial flowers, which I always thought should be bigger, fuller, more glittery. 

Artificial flowers made from fabric, ribbon or yarn have a long history, and although they go in and out of fashion, their popularity over recent years shows no sign of decreasing. Over the past couple of years, I have been looking at the plethora of techniques for making flowers from fabric, ribbons, lace and yarn. There are tutorials all over the place for lots of different styles of flowers.  Most do not take much fabric, so they are perfect for using up scraps, or upcycling old bits of clothing. They don't have to look realistic, or even symmetrical or tidy, to be effective.   I've found that, although it's slower, I really do prefer to sew than use glue.

A couple of years ago, I did a 2 hour workshop for Learning Pembrokeshire, where we made some pointed-petal flowers and looked at gathered and rolled strips, and pom-poms.  It was a great success, with participants bringing their scrap fabrics and sharing them. I found that going around the table and repeating the same instructions with everyone was no problem.  I think handcrafters in general are patient people. Everyone went home with a flower and all seemed to enjoy themselves. Since then, I have offered short daytime adult ed courses in making fabric flowers through Learning Pembrokeshire. They are really aimed at people who do not use the computer much or who prefer face-to-face, hands-on learning. None of the courses have run, as they haven't attracted enough people. This is a problem with almost all of the adult ed classes at the moment and has been getting steadily worse over the past couple of years.

Still, I live in hope, so to support the next class or workshop proposal, and because it's April and flowers are popping out everywhere, I decided to challenge myself and run through the various techniques I know and create a flower a day, until I have a mountain of flowers, thus dealing with some of my stash and creating some stock to sell or give away.
 
I'm not intending to post many, if any, tutorials as there are plenty out there in other blogs and on YouTube. They say nothing is new in art, so I don't expect I'll be inventing anything new and am probably not even the first to do a 'flower-a-day' challenge.

Today is Day 1. The question is: what sort of flower shall I do today?

Finished Objects!

I was quite productive over my quiet Christmas and managed the last 20% of some projects in January and February.  At last, I have some Finished Objects (FOs), which feels like quite an achievement!

The Evenstar fingerless mittens are finished and ready to go as a birthday gift-come-pay it forward. My remaining pay-it-forward is a little kai no kuchi box.  I love these and should make myself one, so I have more planned.

The Autumn Leaves 'thing' is now a scarf. Since then, I've finished the ruffle scarf too. Is it possible to have too many scarves? I might have to gift or sell this one.  The ruffleyness is better since I washed it to remove the 'factory' smell of the yarn.

I've washed some artificial silk (polyester-viscose) saris, to see how colourfast they are and how well they wash, in preparation for using them in various projects.

Several other washloads have also been done, but I still didn't manage to empty the basket, however temporarily. I've even made a start on the spring cleaning!

I finally decided how I wanted to do my 'Longshore' random wave crochet blanket, the idea for which has been lurking for a while.  I learnt how to do the different lengths/heights of crochet stitches and tested them out by making a bookmark.

My other 'finished objects' are my tax return, a corporate tax return, accounts, paid bills, a heap of paperwork sorted and filed/recycled/shredded, computer files archived and backed up, and updated risk assessments for my classes.

The 'Sequins on my Balcony' show in Cardigan was a success and I managed to finish the technical spec and cue sheets, and remember all my costume, make-up, etc for the performance. I sorted, washed, dried and priced up belly dance clothing and accessories which I'm selling on behalf of a friend and got one of the printers working so that I could print out labels and class flyers.

I sorted out my issues with the Vite Cowl and that is now finished.  I've also managed, at last, to make a start on fingerless mittens for myself and they are knitting up so fast, they'll soon be finished too!

I should stop boasting, because the To Do list is still as long as my arm.  It's not much really, compared to what some other people manage, but at the moment I feel like Superwoman, and that's a rare event.

How to Make a Bag from an Old T Shirt

I love T shirts.  Mine never find their way to the recycling or charity shops because I wear them until they fall apart.  Then I cut them up for dusters, as they make good lint-free cloths which can be washed and reused until they fall apart or get used for such mucky jobs that they just have to be thrown away.  I don’t have room for more dusters under the sink, so now I’m making old T shirts into bags.  These are handy for shopping, sewing and knitting projects-in-progress and for belly dance costumes.  I put my veils into one, to keep them from being snagged by the coin belts in the same holdall I take to class.  One of my friends saw it and said ‘Ooh, you should make and sell them!’  Well, where would I get a supply of worn-out T shirts?  Especially since Mary Portas has had such an influence on charity shops that many are slowly and surely removing all their old bric-a-brac that crafters love and rely on, to concentrate on selling quality goods.  If, dear reader, you are local to me and have some old T shirts which you’d like me to turn into bags for you, just let me know.  But if you use a sewing machine, it is really easy to do, so here are some instructions so that you can have a crack at doing it yourself.

Step 1: Take a T shirt which has seen better days.  Mine often go under the arms and start to fray around the neck.  (You could use an old vest or spagetti strap/camisole top, in which case you can skip straight to step 5.)





Step 2: Cut off the sleeves and …    Step 3: Fold the T shirt in half lengthways, and cut a scoop neck.  You can see from the picture that I’ve cut a curve about 7” deep.  Keep the off-cuts.  There'll be another tutorial sometime which uses them!

Step 4: Oversew the raw edges where you cut the sleeves and the neck, to reinforce them.  I use my overlocker, but you could also use a zig zag stitch.  My overlocker was already threaded with purple and I was not about to rethread it to match – nothing fancy here!  Anyway, I think the contrasting thread looks nice.

Step 5: Turn the T shirt inside out and sew across the bottom.  This will be the bottom of the bag.  You might want to cut the hem off the bottom of the T shirt first, to reduce bulk, or use the knife and cut as you sew, with an overlocker.  If you want this bag for shopping, reinforce the seam by sewing it twice.






The next two steps are optional; they give the bottom of the bag a square profile.  If you’re not bothered about that, skip to step 8.

Step 6: Still with the T shirt/bag inside out, spread the fabric either side of the bottom seam, so that the end of the seam forms a point.





Step 7: Sew across at right angles to the bottom seam, two or three inches in from the point.  Cut off the resulting triangle of fabric.
Repeat at the other end of the bottom seam.






Step 8: Tidy up loose threads by knotting them and/or sewing them in and trimming them off.  Tip – if you’ve cut the thread a bit short, push your needle in reverse through a few stitches so that the eye comes up next to the short threads.  Then thread your needle with those threads and pull them through.







Step 9: Turn your bag right side out.  You've finished it!