Stitches

It has been such a long time since I posted about the things I've been making  - there is quite a backlog!  

Most of the stitches have been knitting and the sewing projects are mostly things I can't really show you.  I can show you the complete mascot costume - one Hound Dog.  

Previously I've posted about the making of the head and about the hind feet - this is the complete costume being modeled by my darling hubby.

And a back view to show the tail.  BTW please do not notice the uneven lengths of those curtains!

 

Of the next project I can only show you a teaser - and tell you that it is all ecru with lace & embroidery - it involves masses of hand-stitching and quite a lot of glue.

And now to the knitting - the commissions for costumes have continued.  Some have been repeats ... and this was a repeat of a repeat   Eh! What!

 

Well, the first tatty & distressed shawl for the Bird Lady in Mary Poppins was a great success and they wanted a 2nd one - which I made from the yarn supplied - half of which was mohair.  That 2nd shawl was quite 'splodgy' and I think the mohair made it look quite elegant (it is the last item in this post).  Perhaps it was too elegant and it didn't look like the 1st shawl  SO I had to make a 3rd one ... and I now consider myself an expert in the art of Bird Lady Shawl Making :-)  For this 3rd shawl I sourced the yarn - it is a long length variegated yarn meant for socks.

 

I've also made a 2nd Cardigan / Jacket for Colline in Opera Australia's current production of La Boheme - there are some cast changes.  It is another distressed and artfully 'badly knitted' thing and I would like to avoid all shades of mustard for the next decade!   Had to hand it in without buttons (they weren't supplied) so here it is with safety pins.

 

And a back view - with those pleats and some of the deliberately 'knitted in' holes.

 Now if you go to the Opera Australia web site you'll see David Parkin wearing the 1st of those mustard cardi/jackets - with the beanie and scarf that I knitted.  I've borrowed one of the pics here ...

 Had my first commission for some knitting for the small screen - the next 'season' of Underbelly (starting in some states (or all?) Sun 21st Aug) is set in the 1920s.  If you watch the show, keep your eyes peeled during some of the more domestic moments for a character knitting a chocolate brown jumper.  Of course, it may all have ended up on the cutting room floor but I provided the knitting in 3 stages - just commenced ...

Up to the 1st (or 2nd?) sleeve ...

And Very-Nearly-Almost-Finished ...

 

  Poor ole' Bruce the Body there with those sharp metal things at his neck - very appropriate for this TV show!  The jumper is based on a vintage pattern and has old-fashioned styling including very deep rib bands.  I also had to source all those knitting needles - making sure that they looked like those used in the 1920s.  

There were some other commissions, not for the stage but via Jonathan Howard The Hatmaker.

 Donuts? toilet-seat cozies? hand-knitted UFOs?   No, but almost as unlikely.  Jonathan was making a top-hat for a client who wanted it hand-knitted and he wanted cashmere.  So these are, in fact, the parts of a knitted top-hat!

 

First I had to find the cashmere - the desired 'look' was chunky, country-fied and natural - hand-spun seemed the best option.  I bought some natural brown cashmere fleece (fluff) from Belisa Cashmere lovely soft stuff it was like spinning a cloud - I put in about 20% wool to make it easier to handle.  However, it was still brown - the client wanted charcoal so into the dye-pot it went ... until it became the colour you see above ... actually the knitting was the easiest and fastest part of the whole process!

Jonathan The Hatmaker really likes the look of my hand-spun yarns with all the lumps and fluffy bits ... he commissioned a man's scarf ...  

   The yarn is about 50% alpaca & 50% corriedale sheep, both undyed, naturally coloured fleece.    I used a simple knit/purl pattern with garter stitch edges and as it was to be a fairly short scarf, there are 2 splits.  The wearer can thread the scarf through the splits and the scarf doesn't slip off and get lost.      Here is a close up of the texture of the yarn and the stitch pattern.

I've also been knitting beanies for Jonathan to sell in his lovely boutique.  We've missed the window of opportunity to sell warm woolly beanies this year but inevitably, winter will return!  Here are 2 of the beanies ...

Again, all naturally coloured, undyed fleece, these were spun 'in the grease' so the yarn has retained some of the lanolin.  The mottled yarn is sheep - a grey/brown from the Robinson era with some very dark fleece from another Robinson sheep thrown in :-)   The stripes are 100% alpaca - the same ginger girl as in the scarf above.  Her name is Angelique and the fleece was from her 2nd shearing.

The stripes in this 2nd beanie are the same alpaca - the rest is re-purposed woollen yarn.  I found an abandoned knitting project in an op-shop - following some un-knitting and lots of sorting I plyed 2 of the colours together on my spinning wheel to create a thick tweedy yarn ...

For the ladies I knitted some very vintage, very French berets.  My own pattern but based on a 1940's vintage one.

The yarn is Bendigo Woollen Mills - their very dependable Classic 8ply.

Spring has Sprung - at least in our garden

For some the first sign of Spring is one of these :

This daff has appeared in our tiny front garden - I must have planted the bulb at least 5yrs ago and this is the first time it has flowered!

For many Sydney-siders Spring has arrived when the jasmine starts to bloom

Our jasmine is down the side of the house - don't you love the perfume of jasmine on a warm evening?   not that we've had any of those yet!

For me the first signs of spring are the SnowFlakes (Leucojum aestivum)  with their pretty bell-like flowers,

 

 our little Star Magnolia (Magnolia stellata),  and

 my favourite orchid - a Dendrobium teretifolium. 

 Dendrobium teretifolium or has this native Australian orchid been re-named (I simply can't keep up with the botanists) Dockrillia teretifolia    well it has several common names as well - in NSW  'rat's tail orchid' for the long thin leaves whereas in Queensland they call it the 'bridal veil orchid' for the lovely cascades of white or cream flowers.  We call our D teretifolia/um  Errol;  he has been with us for 30yrs and every year Errol delights us with bunches of lovely 'flying' flowers - the scent is gorgeous too :-)

 

 This year Errol started flowering really early - the last week of July!  but those photos, in full bloom, were taken last weekend (7th August).

I'll leave you with a dewy pale pink camellia bloom :-)   pretty?

New Shoes for Blythe Dolls

Lillian & Audrey needed new shoes .... and I found a wonderful fellow Australian Etsy artisan who makes (and sells) really wonderful shoes for Blythe Dolls.  Here is a link to her Etsy shop JemGirl 

Lillian new shoes are a wonderful sheeny purple with Mary-Jane straps and high heels -  Lillian thinks she is extremely elegant and sophisticated in them.  Here she is modelling her new shoes and new winter jumper suit.

Audrey got a pair of low-heeled Mary-Janes, black with twinkles in them  :-)

JemGirl also sent a licorice lollypop - which made Audrey very happy indeed.

We all went to Melbourne recently - Lillian & Audrey are jet-setting dolls and they do love to catch up with the Melbourne Blythes.  

That's Bird with her Bugsie and Bunny with her Wabbit, Audrey, Bibi and Lillian.

 Bunny is new to the Melbourne branch of our Blythe family - she has been adopted by the White Rabbit.

Bubs arrived a little late to the gathering - she was busy getting dressed!

Bubs is a Basaak Blythe clone - Audrey was rather envious of that big evening dress ...

But Lillian was very happy when the irises in the garden started to bloom - they were such a lovely dark purple. 

Elephant Shark Egg Case

Elephant  +

Shark  +

Egg  +

Case  =

 Elephant Shark Egg Case

Found on Brighton Beach in Melbourne about a fortnight ago - here is another photo with the toes of my gym-boots so you can see the size.

At the time I didn't know what it was but suspected that it was the egg case of some sort of shark or ray.  After a little wandering about the www I think that it was most probably an Elephant Shark or Callorhynchus milii.  When hatched this is a funny looking thing - not quite a shark but a closely related Chimaerid - here are some links for lots - more -  information.

Dog Costume ... The making of a Head

If you've a really good memory you might remember that I've been making a mascot costume of a dog - it has been an on-going project that really did take far longer than I had planned ...

It is now finished :-)  and I thought you might like to see some progress pictures of the most difficult part of this costume - the head.   Back at the end of last year I posted about the cardboard mock-up.  This (sort of) became the pattern.

But as with all engineering projects - you have to start with some foundations !   In this case a hard-hat - the harness inside fits the wearer's head, the brim will support the dog's nose, it is firm and you can glue things to it.  Things like supporting foam structures and wires for the ears.  Reminded me of "My Favourite Martian" - Ooops that's aged me !

I'm always forgetting to take progress photos :  the intervening processes were ... messy - bits of PE foam everywhere!

But here the head is taking shape - head, nose, lower half of the ears - all done.  Here I was checking that the end of the snout would work. 

That wire nose / muzzle is the only place the wearer will be able to see through.  It is important to give the wearer as much 'sight' (and ventilation) as possible without making it too obvious that there is a person inside the animal.

And yes, I was using my kitchen bench as the work area - managed not to poison anyone!

The next step was the lower jaw, and I'm starting to work with the covering fabrics.   This is a jaw - hardly any of that pretty pink satin will show - but it needs to be there.

 

And here is the jaw glued and stitched in place - and some fleecy on the nose as well ... pins keeping everything in place while the glue dries.

 

OK - now for the rest of the nose - a bit of artistic drapery here as this hound dog has jowls.  That's the original drawing of the Doggy - he is quite a cartoon type character.

Nose done - next the ears.  Tried to make them floppy and there is a little movement to the upper halves of the ears when the wearer moves.

Skipping a bit now - here most of the fur is on and I'm checking that the 'cape' will work.  The cape is to cover the neck, it will go under the shirt.

 Intervening processes :

• Some padding to refine and soften the shape of the head
• Lots of pattern-making (the fur patterns are not the same as the ones for the foam)
• Lots of confusion about the direction/s of the fur - it grows 'up' on the front & back but sideways and around on the sides.  Sounds odd but it works
• Then cutting and sewing fur - a little gluing in place with lots of hand stitching.

But you have probably noticed - dog still has cardboard eyes.  I left them to the end because they really had to be 'right'.  "The eyes are the windows to the soul" they say and definitely for an over-sized animal costume the eyes could make the difference between a nice friendly doggy and a really scary wolf-creature.

Eye parts -

Eyes finished - felt and satin, machine and hand applique / embroidery.  He has a bit of a "twinkle" in his eyes.


Another little touch ... doggy needed something between his ears :-)   a bit of a "hair do".    In the photo in the mirror above, there is a mess of fur fabric where the front meets the back - a problem that needed a nice solution.

Once again I had trouble sourcing suitable fur fabric - I just couldn't find that "hair of the dog" [sorry!]  Eventually I bought a shaggy fur cushion and chopped it up!

I think the result is cute -