Wednesday 26 December 2012

Inspiration

I was delighted to find a much wanted book under the Christmas tree yesterday. "Mark Hearld's Workbook" is a fabulous collection of his rich and textural art. I love the way he uses collage and linoprinting in particular, and after 3 weeks of complete creative lethargy I feel inspired to get back in my studio and make some marks! Hopefully I'll have something to show quite soon.







I've also returned to this blanket after weeks of shameful neglect! I've managed to track down all the colours I need to finish it and am aiming to complete it before term starts again in couple of weeks!


Thursday 6 December 2012

Small changes

I used to make a lot of my own clothes, but haven't done so for years. I recently bought some lovely fabric with the intention of starting up again, so naturally I turned to the blogging world for inspiration. I discovered two blogs in particular which have fired me up to not only make my own clothes, but to refashion old clothes. Refashionista and Charityshopchic both take charity shop finds and turn them into  stylish, original clothes. I have therefore decided to make an early New Year's resolution and not buy any new clothes for a year (with the exception of underwear and shoes!), and instead make my own, or alter old ones.

I made a small start yesterday by taking this plain but well worn cardi and adding a little embellishment.


Ages ago I bought some crochet cotton and a teeny weeny hook but couldn't then decide what to do with it.


I decided to add a little crocheted hem to the cardigan.  I started by doing blanket stitch along the bottom and then did two rows of double crochet followed by a simple scalloped edge. The stitches were tiny and took longer than expected and by the time I finished I had abandoned my plan of going up the button band and around the cuffs as well!


 
I'm now looking for some little green buttons to replace the existing ones. Very small changes indeed, but it's a start!