Something Blue

In the last week I've been working with a lot of blue, which is somewhat alarming as I am NOT a blue person at all, at all.

I'm working on putting together a knitting pattern for a pretty lace & beads neck warmer, a button-up collar thing and because the lace stitches I've used are called "little waves" & "fish tales" it conjures up images of mermaids. I wonder if mermaids get cold necks? Anyway - this knitting pattern will fit a young girl 6 to 12 yrs and I'm doing an adult version in 10 - 12ply yarn ... handspun. SO first I must spin the yarn and the first step is to dye some roving in suitably mermaid-ish colours. Like this -Bendigo Woollen Mills' "ReadySpin" dyed with Sandolan primary blue. The green/blue in the back corner had 1 teaspoon of Landscapes "Kelp" added. As there was still some colour left in the pot and I don't like to waste all those chemicals, I put in another 200g of roving which come out a soft sage green - very gum-leaf.


The other very blue project is a very Over The Top dress-up outfit for little granddaughter. Now when my daughter was about the same age her daughter is now, I made her a dress-up outfit inspired by an illustration in a book of Nursery Rhymes ... here she is - what a little moppet!

Yes, she is wearing sandals and socks (the cheapest footwear available at the time) that apricot floral polyester came from upstairs at Coles Variety store in Sydney's CBD ... what a wonderful shop that was! The cream lace was a gift from a lovely neighbour. I didn't own a sewing machine back then - that frock is all hand stitched, I still have it and can't bear to part with it so I've made a new outfit for my moppet's little moppet. This time lots of machine stitching - some quite visible :-)
Difficult to get a decent photo without a little body in it. Apart from the visible machine stitches this one is slightly more "historically accurate" - square neck-line (trimmed with elaborate lace) and very 18thC sleeves, elbow length, pleats at the top of the sleeve head & "engageants" (aka those circular frills).


And the cap is a whole lot smaller -






Had a lot of fun sewing this outfit - using lots of stuff out of stash - that electric blue embossed poly fabric has been hanging about since the 1980's! I hope little one gets some fun from wearing it and being a Princess!

Dress Ups

As a Costumier (lurv that word - it is just a fancy pants way of saying "costume maker") I have strong opinions about costumes, even dress-up fun costumes for little people. Our grandson has lots of commercial SuperPerson outfits, most involve a cape but what disappointing capes they are. Mean, thin rectangles of fabric that velcro to the shoulders - HURRUMPH! you can't play with that - all they do is flutter behind when the child runs (something the child can't even see!). A Cape HAS to be at least 3/4 of a circle it has to be generous so that you can swish it about and fly with it and hide your face with it like Zorro ... a Cape should be a gorgeous garment that you can be imaginative with.

A Cape like this one! it is a whole circle :-) fully reversible, with disco fake sequin stuff one side / silver satin the other. I decided to avoid the traditional SuperPerson / cartoon character colours (bue, red, black) because I'd like my grandson to invent his own character ... here is the back with his initial.
Granddaughter is getting a costume too - seems we can't avoid the gender stereotyping (super-hero for boys, tutu pretties for girls - hmmmm I could do a rant but I'll spare you). At least this is an Australian prettiness - a May Gibbs style Gum-Blossom Baby - I got carried away with the tulle, less would've made a good Ragged Blossom.


I dyed a cotton body-suit (Americans call them Onesies) it went nice and blotchy - squares of nylon tulle (the soft type so she won't be all prickly) bunched and hand-stitched, mini pom-poms stitched at random to represent the pollen.

I'm chuffed with the way these turned out - hope the little ones like them too.