Major project finally done!

 

  

This took forever but only because I worked on it in between everything else I was sewing. I finally decided to get on it and not quit till I finished it for my daughter's fiftieeth birthday. Now I am the first to admit that Van Gogh, I am not. Therefore I am calling this more of a caricature, than a portrait but it does definitely capture her essence, her gorgeous red tresses, her fair Irish skin, her executive demeanor and her  kind heart. She likes it. I gave it to her with a sincere caveat. She does not have to hang it anywhere. I really mean that.  I had the joy of making it, of thinking about her and the 50 years I've been blessed with her in our lives. Thoughts of her and our love were in every stitch and whether she chose to hang it or not was not the point at all. I didn't need that. I just wanted my creativity to honor what I see.  She got my message. 

 What the first photo doesn't show are all the tiny strips of fabric making up this bit of art.  So many strips and pieces and so many stitches. There are zigzags, straight stitches and even hand stitches. 

It was an interesting process or at least one I tried to follow but eventually found I got better results just following my own instincts. In the end I just did my  own thing and wished I had from the beginning. As in all things creative, we know what to do better the next time and I already have a next time planned. It will be a pic of one of my grandsons. 

I hope you like it but more so, just appreciate the fact that you know what kind of work goes into something like this , no matter the result. 

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Monday Mending

This week's Monday Mending was an LL Bean sweat shirt my youngest daughter gave me a while back as a gift. It started out as a classic hoodie with a large cowl collar that pulled over the head for coverage.  I wore it a couple of times and it needed a wash. I really liked it.  I didn't look at the label when I washed it and it went thru a hot water, wash and dry with hub's jeans. It was far too snug to be comfortable after that. Lesson learned. I didn't have the heart to pass it on , plus, I really liked it and put it aside for at least a year. This week, as  I was going thru my ribbon stash, ingenuity hit. 

I decided to cut this cowl style hoodie up center front from the hem to the end of the cowl.  The hood was very deep.   Now it was split right up the middle! I had enough ribbon to trim off the edges at center front and add enough width to make it comfortable again. I don't need a hood for something I will just use as a throw on around the house so I decided to change it into a soft cuddly collar. I pinned the front edges together and then with the excess, I made pleats, equally spaced apart and mirrored from the center back. I topstitched that all into place over the original collar stitching and we were done! I really like this little throw on and so does my daughter. Looks great with my lighter well worn jeans and a maroon turtleneck. 

Happy Sewing, whatever form it may take, from mending to caricatures and all the garments you can squeeze in between!.....Bunny