Finished upcycled mandala

I continued my hair slide at “In the stitch zone”, having decided in the end to use the little coiled rings and stitch a red bead in the middle of each one. I’ve spaced them singly, twos close together and a three, placing them all fairly centrally, thinking that they are less likely to get tangled in my hair than near the edges.

I cut out two pieces of pelmet vilene and a piece of red felt, intending to put the layer of felt behind the stitching. I roughly pinned them together to check how it would work.

I did a row of running stitches around the edge and centre hole, with a good secure knot at the beginning to be able to gather it up over the vilene. I did the back first to check it would work.

Then I did the front, and it was almost done before I realised I’d put the felt over the vilene. I didn’t want to unpick it, so the felt is between the two layers of vilene which seems to work fine.

I put a tiny bit of PVA on the back, over where I had snipped to get a neat finish, but unfortunately it seeped through a little. Not a problem, it would be against my head, and would probably dry invisibly (well, almost). I slip stitched / ladder stitched the front to the back, in the middle and round the outer edge.

The slide is finished, and it’s used up a few bits of my stash that I wasn’t sure what to do with.

I’m pleased with the colours and textures, and wore it to the session this week. A few of the group noticed, and Alex took some photos for me.

It works with the orange things that I wear as well as the red!

Upcycled Mandala Brooch Workshop

This week at “In the stitch zone” we started a new project, an Upcycled Mandala Brooch. As usual I was grabbing bits of fabric, threads and notions of various types in the last minutes before leaving home, and I ended up with three inspiration type packs, still leaving me with far too much choice and stuff, but not sure what I was really wanting to do.

Alex showed us a few examples and made suggestions of shape and size, and mentioned that they could be attached to a couple of different types of brooch backs, a hair slide or bobble.

I settled on a rusty red piece of dyed(?) calico out of the red pack, and then decided I didn’t really want another brooch, but a hair slide similar to my felted one would be useful. I then went off piste even more with an irregular shape. The tacking lines are the outline of the finished slide (it has a straight piece that goes under my hair in the middle section). The fluffy yarn was only suitable to couch with, but gives a nice texture. The variegated ribbony yarn was best couched with the closely woven calico too.

By the end of the session I had almost couched it all down. The under-and-overs remind me of Celtic knotwork, easier to manipulate than draw!

I had got some beads and other bits with me in the red pack, but think the little gold ones mght get caught up in my unruly curls. Alex had asked what we thought about having another week on this project, as a few folk hadn’t been able to come, and the project for the following two weeks will only take a week to do. We all agreed this was a good idea, and it also means I can find other bits to add when I have a better look in my stash now I know what I’m aiming for.