Make Do & Mend

Whether it is for reasons of frugality, or thumbing your nose at consumerism, or because you can't bear to throw out a favourite garment - it feels good to Mend, Repair, Recycle...

Oh Dear!  I had managed to get super-glue on a favourite singlet top - it is a flattering pistachio green, a nice rayon knit and it has a matching cardigan so I did not want to toss it!
But nasty dark (and stiff) spots of glue down the front - one big splodge and a trail of small ones. 

Now, I also like to mend things in a way that adds to them - Up-cycle rather than Re-cycle - and my favourite method of hiding small stains or mended holes is by embroidering something pretty over the top.  I often work lazy-daisy flowers (there are quite a few YouTube clips if you want to know how to do these) but I felt that this top deserved something a bit more special so I worked some Bullion Stitch roses, with buds etc.

 The fun part comes first - selecting which threads  to use. 
2 greens ... not too blue or 'sweet'
and for the flowers I went with shades of apricot instead of the more obvious pinky rose colours.

I like the 'Susan O'Connor' bullion stitch rose - basically you start with the darkest shade & work a bullion loop (in the middle of that big stain).  And because I'm not very good at this - I needed 2 loopy stitches!

 

 

 

Then with the next shade work bullion stitches spiralling around that centre...

Sorry for the blurry photo

Then progress to a lighter colour and work more bullions around ...  And even if you are not very skillful the result is still quite pretty.  Especially if your photos are blurry!!

The splash pattern of small stains seemed obvious as a 'rose bud' on a curving stem.  Here is the bud - 3 bullion grubs with a dark one in the middle.

 Rose and bud on finished stem - used stem stitch for the stem (naturally!) and bullion grubs beside the bud & for the leaves; small in the dark green with long grubs above in the light olive colour.

SO - those stains are quite disguised now but those flowers are awkwardly placed and the rose is floating in a very isolated way.  So I put the singlet on Daphne (my mannequin) and planned with pins how to make the emboridery look like a Deliberate Design Decision but with a minimum of additional work!     

Oops - obviously needs to be ironed, but one of those creases inspired the placement of another bud-on-stem.

And here is the finished singlet top - worked another full Susan O'Connor rose & a bud to keep that first rose company, and a 2nd bud-on-stem curving in the other direction.