Thursday, May 14, 2009

My creative space

With many of my children's activities approaching the year's big finales, my creativity is definitely found in dribs and drabs; little things that I can pick-up and put down easily. A year and a half ago, we gave my daughter two sizes of the Clover Yo-yo makers and a charm pack for Christmas. While she happily expresses creativity in baking, she has never showed much interest in sewing and crafting. This crafting idea caught on and kept her busy through the rest of the Christmas holidays. She liked it enough that she decided that should would like to make a throw out of the yo-yo's. Once we had used all the samples in the charm pack we went to the fabric for more of the same line which was Moda's Chez Moi. Unfortunately, they only had a few of the prints in stock, but we bought several metres of what they did have. Unfortunately, shortly after getting at the new fabric, she became sick with mono and lost some of her interest. She did a bit when she was recovering but was quite overwhelmed with the need to catch up with her school work. When she started learning to make the yo-yo's I made some along side of her to help teach her, understand how the makers worked and to keep her company. I soon discovered, as my daughter had, that they are addictive to make. We stopped at some point for a variety of reasons and it has remained a dropped project until recently. I am happy to say that I am back at it and with a up coming (Victoria Day)long weekend, No. 2 should be joining me.




This is another dropped project that has been picked up again. The garden and other things pulled me away from this but I believe that I was also doubting my vision on this project. This is a jacket that I have had for about eleven years. I love the colours and texture of the linen check but I was finding the styling a little dated and overall a little boring. I want to create a vintage safari look (think Out of Africa) and I have started by applying a tatted lace edging made by my Grandma. Amazingly there is just enough edging for the collar and lapels.





On the back, I wish to create some interest. I found this open-work and lace tray cloth(?) and I have shaped it slightly and I am tacking it on the centre of the back. Where there are wear holes or tears that I cannot fix, I plan to sew vintage mother-of-pearl buttons. The buttons in the front and on the sleeves will also be switched up (I hope mother-of- pearl) and I have a pocket hanky and a few other lace bits to try. Does anyone have any ideas of what else I could do? (with out decorating it like a wedding cake).




Tomorrow the post will include a recipe from this book as cooking has really been my creative time lately. My family needs to eat more than I need a revamped jacket. If you would like to see where others have their creative space, check out Kristy's blog.

5 comments:

gardener-b said...

Lovely colours for the YoYos. Are the yoyo makers easy to use for arthritic hands?
Love the way the tatting colour and the lace on the cloth match so well. Mother-of-Pearl buttons would hide those holes and relate well to the tatting.

littlelovelies said...

hello - i'm so glad your little egglet finally arrived and i'm very glad you enjoyed your button surprise! thank you for posting all about it the other day - it really made me smile!
Good luck with your yo-yo blanket and have a lovely long holiday weekend!
x nadine
little lovelies

Anonymous said...

I love your yoyo project. I've not heard of yoyos before and will have to look into it. Do you have any helpful links for guidance?

woollywotnots said...

Hi Jenifir, thanks ever so much for dropping by my blog and for taking the time to explain more about yo-yos. They sound totally addicted and I can't wait to get started. I enjoyed looking through your flickr studio pics. I'd love look at everything in there! It looks an exciting place to be. Thanks ever so much again. Cheerio, woollywotnots.

Anonymous said...

For the jacket, I'm not sure about the back panel. Maybe a wide stripe of lace across the shoulders? Just a thought. I can't say too much given all my half-finished projects that await my attention! I'll keep thinking...
Patti