Red Cedar
More apocalypse, less angst
Making do.
Like I said late last week – although we stayed home for our last bit of summer holidays – we were sure busy with all the canning, socializing, and whatnot. Today I am back at work and don’t have the wherewithal to write much – so I’m posting here a few photos of the sewing and crocheting I’ve completed since last Saturday. I am missing one photo – a winter beanie that I finished last night – but otherwise I am pleased to show off all that I have gotten done on the textile front in the last few days. My next projects include a scarf to go with the hat, and a brown tartan jumper which I have got all cut out and ready to sew. This week I hope.
I had quite a lot of fabric leftover from the cherry halter, plus a yard of black twill kicking around – so I made a set of four pillows to use in the backyard – where we have some uncomfortable seating! These pillows were super simple to put together and I highly recommend this as a form of using up scraps. Tutorial at Cluck Cluck Sew.
On Monday, I finished this denim and cotton dress in the midst of a crazy pouring rainstorm. Sadly, I have no great photos of it, but it is one of my favourite handmade pieces of clothing so far. The pattern was really simple to follow, and I added some ties at the back to give it a little more shape. This dress looks better in real life than in this photo.
I started this cowl a couple weeks ago to use up some leftover cotton (from a shawl project) – I wasn’t sure exactly how I was going to wear it until I attached the button – and voila! A perfect piece to fit under a winter coat or over a collarless jacket. This is for fall wear as I would rather have wool in the coldest months…. but it’s super soft and these are some of my favourite colours.
With the fabric leftover from the denim dress, I made this pair of sprocket pillows for the new trailer (photos forthcoming). It’s a bit drab on the inside, what with the brown decor – so I thought these would make a nice start to sprucing up that wood paneling a little.
And finally, this scrap scarf backed in thrifted wool is one of my new favourite things. I have tons of fat quarters and scraps that could be used up this way and I’m thinking this type of scarf would make simple Christmas presents. They take less than an hour to put together – and this looks so fabulous on me! I also am really glad to have found a wearable use for this fabric.
So that’s it! I was noting the B. after finishing the scarf that I finally feel like I’m in a place with sewing where I can visualize stuff in my head and have it turn out the way I thought it would – which is a whole new level of competency. In the last year I’ve learned a lot about structurally making things work using interfacing, top-stitching, and facings which has given me a whole new level of competence when it comes to putting stuff together. Although I’m starting grad school next week, I am hopeful that having Mondays off work will give me the time and space I need to keep building these skills. It seems the longer I am at a job doing the ephemeral (digital development), the more I crave the satisfaction of tactile work.
Red Cedar 
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