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The Damned Are Welcome Here

Tag: sewing

  • ONE PROJECT DOWN AND TWO TO GO

    One of the Damned

    I bid thee welcome, Dear Damned Ones. I trust that your existences are filled with delight and mirth.

    I succeeded in the completion of the black linen shirt and I am joyous. Wore it last Friday to celebrate the birthdays of two most esteemed companions. There were seven of us in the party, and it was a most splendid occasion.

    Here’s a look at the front of the shirt. It is rather challenging to discern the happenings that transpire in this photograph, but I am quite certain you will easily grasp the essence of the matter.

    Here are two better pictures, though only by a trifling margin, of the sleeve lace and the neckline lace:

    The rhinestone eyes appeared with some distinction in real life, I am profoundly delighted to declare. Maybe I should make another shirt in white. The crochet will show up vastly superior to the black.

    To gain the completion of the linen shirt for Friday, I did toil with great diligence for the two previous days. Needed to finish it on Thursday so had time to give it a gentle cleansing. Was not able to partake of other pursuits during that time which left my modest lodgings somewhat worse for wear. Particularly the culinary chamber. I am happy to say it is a modicum improved this day.

    Now let us proceed to the spider jacket. The shoulder pads remain a trifle troublesome, but, fingers crossed, the solution will manifest forthwith. One shoulder pad is partly sewn in and partly pinned in and is acceptable, I daresay. Can I ask for more than that? Yes, but it is unlikely that I will be successful.

    For the Dali jacket, do I know where I’m going with this? Not really. Actually not in the slightest. Here is the second photograph added, showing some stitching around it.

    Please understand that the corners will be attended to.

    I do know that I want to have bigger swaths of the blue fabric and not so many fabric-printed pictures because of their stiff nature. What I have been giving considerable thought to is merely having outlines of the various objects in the paintings. For this one just above, have an outline of the sagging clock say. Just recreated line drawings of the paintings. Or maybe more elaborate designs. Dali’s moustache, say?

    Will need to get some pens to mark the lines of stitching. The kind of marker that disappears somehow, with heat or time, or whatever.

    Finally, a word of advice for those of you with a diminished acuity of vision. Always have a second pair of spectacles ready to spring into action should the first pair falter. The left arm of my reading glasses became unattached. I could not, for the life of me, fix them in any way, shape or form. So, for now, I’m wearing them taped to my face at the bridge. A nice long piece of tape that goes from the top of my brow to the tip of my nose. While I am sure it is exceedingly alluring to my face, it is most vexatious, indeed. Will have to purchase new reading specs tomorrow. This taped version is a most distressing burden.

    So, thank you, Dear Damned Ones. Such a pleasure to have you attend my little blog. My gratitude is without bounds.

  • ONE WORK NEARING COMPLETION AND AN ADDITIONAL DESIGNTAION TO PONDER

    One of the Damned

    I bid you welcome, Dear Damned Ones. Am absolutely jubilant at your presence here.

    For the lace on the linen shirt, I find myself nearing the completion of this endeavour. Should you recollect, I only had the lace at the opening in the neckline to finish. Well, it’s more than half done. This lamentably atrocious pictures shows one half of the lace for the opening:

    The eyes are only placed, not sewn in, but I wanted to show something of how they will appear when finished. I’m going out a week from tomorrow with friends to celebrate two of those friends birthdays and would truly delight in donning it for such a momentous occasion. Haven’t found red beads for the crosses on the cuff lace, but their purchase can be attended to at a later juncture.

    Have the motifs for the other side sewn together so just have the three rounds of crochet around all to do. And then, of course, sew them onto the shirt and attach the red rhinestone eyes. I am happy to be in close proximity to the culmination of this endeavor.

    For the spider coat, finished attaching the sleeves. Tried making shoulder pads. Haven’t been able to find the shoulder pads I prefer and resolved to make two. The Closet Historian, on her YouTube channel, made some and the process seemed simple enough. Well, simple for her, but me, not so much. It probably would have been a good idea to watch her video while I was making them, but that apparently is too sensible for me. Went completely by memory. How could that go wrong, I asked myself.

    Dali jacket is coming along slowly. Very slowly. Very, very slowly. So slowly, in fact, that I have only added one more picture and basted some blue fabric around it. Did finish the first picture. Here it is, in all it’s photographic glory:

    With a close-up of one of the corners:

    Does need a good pressing, but that will come later. Can’t say I really love the basting stitches on the sides, but I do rather like the corners. Shall proceed in that vein alongside the supplementary pictures.

    Do want to say that the printable fabric is kind of crunchy. Doesn’t flow like regular fabric. So, I’ve decided not to employ as many pictures as initially conceived.

    If you remember, I’m doing this on a rather ugly colour of linen. A dreadful version of beige. I most definitely do not desire that any of the linen be revealed. Will add bigger swaths of the blue quilting cotton with slow stiches. Considering doing the stiches in some pattern copied from the various pictures. I shall endeavor to elucidate that matter more clearly in a future post.

    Lastly, been reading Steal Like an Artist by Austin Kleon. His website is here, by the by. Thus far, the book is quite good. Main message is you should get out and be creative even if you don’t know what you’re doing. In fact, that’s how you figure out what you’re doing. Fake it ’til you make it, he says. Exceedingly sound counsel, I believe. The copy I’m reading is from the library but will probably buy my own. Then I will be able to peruse the book at my leisure.

    This shall suffice for the present moment. You have my undying gratitude, Dear Damned Ones, for your presence here. Ever so thoughtful of you to come.

  • GETTING STUFF DONE. OH MY!

    One of the Damned

    Welcome, Dear Damned Ones. Most appreciative of your taking time out of your lives of thrilling excitement to attend my most humble corner of the Internet. Apologies for the longwindedness of that sentence, but it greatly pleased me.

    Finally, at long last, I have commenced the slow stitching on the Dali jacket. Here’s what is done so far:

    Can’t say I actually like this, but it does herald further achievements. And this is under the left arm, so not the highest visibility. Those squares on the corners will be stitched next. And I think the lines of stitching should be further apart.

    You, know, a part of me, a very stupid part, wants the stiches to be perfectly even, perfectly aligned. Impeccable, truly. And that want is a load of poppycock. So far, I haven’t done that but part of me wants ever so much to do it perfectly. Must get over that nonsense.

    Fortunately, my typical slothfulness has made the decision to just freewheel it exceedingly simple. And, so, my stitching will continue in its untidiness.

    Now, the stitches are a bit tight so there’s some bubbling of the picture. Oh, and a warning about ironing glue-backed printable fabric onto other fabric. It can still come up at the edges. Anyway, for the other pictures, I’ll stitch the edges down before adding the fabric for slow stitching.

    For the lace, have made a few motifs of just the skull. Here’s one:

    Quite like it, actually. It will be even more splendid after adding the red rhinestones for eyes. Each motif measures about two by three inches and there will be eight to surround the opening at the neck edge. Like this:

    Mocked up Folkwear Patterns’ Croatian shirt pattern for this picture. Kind of shows what’s going on, just without the lace at the cuffs.

    Also making good progress on the spider coat. One sleeve is attached, with only a tiny error that I haven’t decided whether to fix, and the other sleeve is pinned on ready for sewing.

    Profoundly astonished with my achievements these last two weeks. Indeed, I am utterly flabbergasted. Managed to do something every single day. Hope to maintain that momentum. Although it will mean the spider coat (black velvet, if you recall) will be finished this summer, a rather inauspicious time to wear it. But, hey, I’ll take what I can get.

    Thank you for attending. I would like to express my deepest gratitude for your esteemed presence. I humbly beseech thee to return in two weeks.

  • SOME WORK DONE IN SPITE OF PAPER OBSESSIONS

    One of the Damned

    Welcome, Dear Damned Ones. Thank you for coming. I am most honoured by your presence.

    Did get a wee bit obsessive with a YouTuber I just found. It’s Book and Paper Art. Spent a little time down that rabbit hole. She has two hundred and some videos, almost three hundred, so I’ve been in danger of a very deep rabbit hole indeed. She has a wonderful technique for turning paper napkins into paper that you can use as, well, paper. By just adding a cornstarch paste to both sides of one sheet of the napkin (she separates the layers), it stiffens the napkin which makes it nice and sturdy. In another video, she shows how to stitch a little book together. I will definitely be watching more of those. She also has a website: bookandpaperarts.com which includes free stuff. There are lots of pretty pictures that have been scanned and you can just print them off. So glad I found her.

    Now, on to the work I’ve completed in the last two weeks. Almost finished the lace for the left sleeve. Couple more rows and it can be attached to the shirt. Wanted something to sparkle up the lace and found some red, just the right size, sew-in rhinestones for eyes. Didn’t buy enough, of course, so had to go back and get a couple more packages. Forgot about the skulls I want on the lace at the neckline. They need rhinestones, too. Wanted some small red beads for the crosses, but couldn’t find any I liked.  Will look online. Possibly Beadazzle.

    Here’s a couple of my usual terrible pictures of one of the skeletons:

    And:

    Started the spider webs for the spider coat. Being the clever person I am, was smart enough to check my other coats to see which side the buttonholes were and that was the side to make the spider webs. I’m a girl so buttonholes are on the right. Now, I was quite proud of myself for remembering to check this. Unfortunately, by the time I started embroidering a web, a whole three minutes later, I apparently forgot this and started stitching on the left side. Shouldn’t be surprised, should I. Short-term memory is the first to go. Okay, so had to take that stitching out. Fortunately, didn’t mess the fabric.

    Here’s another terrible picture:

    This one is particularly bad, even for me. Sorry. Don’t know why it’s so blurry.

    Now, as for the Dali jacket, well, again, sorry, have only done one little thing. I pinned one of the pictures to the jacket. Doing the actual slow stitching is next. I will have some of that done by the next post here. I promise. Really I do.

    So, thank you for coming, Dear Damned Ones. Hope the hijinks of your life are pleasing to you.

    One response to “SOME WORK DONE IN SPITE OF PAPER OBSESSIONS”

    1. Donnalee of Laughing Dakini Tarot Avatar
      Donnalee of Laughing Dakini Tarot

      Those are very clever and even look like what you are hoping they look like. Well done you. best wishes

      Like

  • TITLE, TITLE WHERE ARE YOU? I NEED YOU!

    One of the Damned

    Welcome, dear Damned Ones. Pleasure having you attend. I’m charmed, as always.

    Thought I’d be a bit late with this post. But for happy reasons. My sister arrived today for a three-week visit. She was going to come last year but had to continually put off her visit. I’m happy she’s here now. Kept worrying that she would have to postpone again. Too much worrying. So, hoping the anxiousness goes away. Haven’t been a complete basket case, but have been in a bit of a tizzy. Really do need to remember this sign:

    Don’t know where I got this picture, but I think it’s quite apt. I do create problems in my head way too often.

    Now, did I actually do anything on the two jackets I’m supposed to be working on: one with spiderwebs and one with Dali pictures? Well, nope. Was hoping at least to do a sample of the embroidered spider web, but, well, nope.

    And even though I have these two jacket projects to work on, I, of course, have been thinking about a new jacket to make.

    Couple of years ago, got some dandy quilting fabric that would make an ever so spiffy jacket.

    Here it is:

    Bought the fabric from Funky Monkey. They have lots of wonderful quilting fabric, by the way. For the lining would like to have a Harlequin pattern in the same purple and green in the fabric itself. Not sure what fabric to use for the lining, might go with Kona quilting fabric. Would it make great lining? Nope, but it would be easy to sew with and look quite dapper. And dapper is good.

    Actually did get some lace attached to the end of one sleeve of the linen shirt. Here’s a picture:

    Sorry for the usually bad picture. Seems the only thing I’m consistent in is bad photography.

    The lace is kind of long and goes from a couple inches above my wrist to near the end of my fingers. There’s elastic just before the lace so I can pull the lace further up my arm and out of the way to wash my hands. Clever planning, there, I say.

    Do have another project I’ve started working on. A crocheted rug with alternating black and white stripes. The white is a bit brighter than I thought it would be, but spent enough money for it already so going with what I have. Wanted to include a picture here, but, no. The ones I took were even worse than my usually bad pictures.

    Lastly, been listening again to some music and thought I’d share my favourites right now. Jelly Roll: Only & Love the Heartless, Shinedown: Monsters. Nickelback: Burn It to the Ground. Yes, Nickelback. They’re a great band. Wish people would stop pretending they aren’t.

    So, thank you dear Damned Ones. Your presence is ever so appreciated. See you again in two weeks.

  • FANCY IDEAS ARE SPROUTING

    One of the Damned

    Will you look at that. A new blog post exactly two weeks after the last one. Third post this year, and all two weeks apart. Can’t quite believe it. So far, my New Year’s resolution is happening. Yay. I know saying yay isn’t very gothy of me, but too bad. I’m happy. Okay, later I’ll go listen to some sad music.

    Now, for the crocheted lace on the linen shirt, did figure out how this is going to work and I’m finally moving along on this. When that’s done, would also like to add some kind of beads. Just found a beading supply website that I hadn’t heard of before. It’s called Beadazzle. Has anyone heard of them? I’ve googled online beading places before and Beaddazle hasn’t come up. Although, short term memory is the first to go, so maybe I just forgot them. Anyway, they have quite a selection of black beads I wouldn’t mind using. They also have a store that’s kind of far away from me, but I could get there on public transit. It’s so much nicer to go to an actual store.

    Was also thinking I should find some little charms or something to attach to the lace. Maybe something like these:

    Picture is from the Beadazzle website.

    For the Dali jacket, bought some cotton Kona quilting fabric. It’s royal blue and very nice. Will use it to make bias tape 1/4 inch wide to frame the pictures and just add designs all over. Maybe I could get another colour blue, something a bit lighter, and do a stripey pattern. Also thought of getting beads to use along with the bias tape. Maybe from that aforementioned Beadazzle.

    I’m considering roughing up the piping in some way. The original inspiration for this jacket was this:

    Don’t really know right now. Something to let bubble in my brain for a while.

    Did actually print out four pages of Dali paintings on fabric. They came out beautifully. They’re drying now and I hope that by my next post, I’ll have come to some decision of where to place them on the jacket. Need to print out more, though. It is a longish coat, after all. Will need lots of pictures and various other sundry items..

    And, finally, started the embroidery on the pillow sham using the 18 count Aida. Think I mentioned last time that it was 16 count, but I was wrong. Sorry. The work will be tiny, tiny, tiny, but I do like the idea of more detail. But, this is going to be hard. Very hard. Tremendously hard and will take a very long time.

    Originally, I was going to do it all in cross stitch, but maybe not. Have done some work that isn’t cross stitch which seems to be working well. I’ve just done a bit of work on the base of the ground floor of the house. The floor will be four or five rows of something. The top row is cross stitch using two strands of floss, but the next row is just a big back stitch using six strands of floss. It does cover up quite a bit and I think it will work. Will make the whole thing much easier.

    And I’ve been thinking of including some beads here too. Am I getting overly bead-happy in my head? Probably. But I don’t care. I’m having fun thinking about all the ways I could fancy up what I make. It’s not possible to have too much decoration, is it? Minimalism is dead, I say. Long live maximalism. Would it sound more intellectual in French? Le minimalisme est mort, dis-je. Vive le maximalisme. Or maybe more mysterious in Ukrainian. Мінімалізм помер, кажу я. Хай живе максималізм.

    Well, that’s what google says they translate to. But they sound about right so I’m going with them.

    Thank you so much, dear Damned ones, for your attendance here. Hope to see you again in two weeks.

  • COMING UP WITH A NEW TITLE EACH POST IS HARD, VERY HARD

    One of the Damned

    Well, would you look at that, I managed to keep my New Year’s resolution. Here I am posting just two weeks after my last post. Miracles will never cease. My heart is getting quite flibbertigibbety about it. Is that a word? Flibbertigibbety? Well, it is now. Not sure what it means, exactly, but I like the sound of it.

    So, welcome, dear Damned ones. Glad to see you again. Hope the year is going well for you.

    And, what have I done in the last two weeks? Sorry, just had to mention two weeks again. Two weeks. Still can’t really believe I’m writing again so soon.

    Anyway, finally printed three of the Dali pictures. Only what would fit on one page. And, lo and behold, managed to print on the correct side. First try. That certainly doesn’t happen very often. Or ever. Now, I just have to let it dry, however long that takes.

    Have made one decision about where the pictures will go. This one:

    Will go on my bum. Cheeky of me, I know.

    Still need to get some trimmings for the Dali jacket. Don’t know what kind of trimmings, yet. Have to see what is out there.

    Gaining headway on the lace for the linen shirt. Think I figured out how this is going to work. Maybe next post I’ll be able to show the work in progress.

    Started working on the logistics of crocheting a wastepaper basket. Okay, it’s not actually for waste paper, but I don’t want to overshare and mention what it’s actually for. It will be holding stuff to get rid of. Enough said.

    Anyway, I’m thinking of making it look like a witch’s house, and the roof will be the lid of the basket. Found this online somewhere and gave me ideas.

    For the pillow sham, tried painting the Aida fabric to cover up the horrible beige, but I’m not sure that’s going to work. Only painted one coat so far, but I don’t think I like it. Maybe I should just use the original Aida cloth I bought. The darkish grey one that’s 16 stitches per inch. Will try cross-stitching another sample on it. When I find where I put it, that is.

    Lastly, the spider coat is coming along. Ever so slowly. Hope to have a picture of the embroidered spider web before long.

    Thank you for attending, dear Damned ones. Hope to see you again in two weeks.

  • HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL THE DAMNED

    One of the Damned

    Good to see you again, dear damned ones. Your presence here is most assuredly appreciated. All damned ones are welcome here.

    To start, I have officially made it my goal this year to post every second Thursday come Hell or high water. Do I truly believe I will manage this? Yes. Yes, I do. I’m casting off my curmudgeonlyness and throwing it into the ether. At least I’ll do my best. My curmudgeonlyness is horrendously extensive, but I’ll at least give it a good shove. So, I am getting stuff done this year. That’s it. I’ve said it. A promise is a promise. I am doing it.

    Now, last post, I should have shown you my idea about dancing skeletons. They were popular in the Middle Ages. I quite like these ones:

    Quite spry in their boniness, aren’t they. But, then, the dead have such easy lives.

    Not sure how this is going to work, but I do like the idea of this in filet crochet. Was thinking of doing this in a “bone” colour, but adding more colour with fabric paint. Would that work? Hope so.

    So, on to the spider coat. Ordered the red Bemberg lining from Gala Fabrics and it’s not quite the red I wanted. It’s a bit orangey. Should know by now that ordering red anything online can be rather precarious. Gala Fabrics does offer free samples, but, stupid me didn’t take advantage of that. I ordered red Bemberg lining from them a few years ago and it was a true red. Thought I would be getting that colour this time, too. Oh, well, another expensive lesson learned. It is a nice orangey-red as orangey-red goes so decided to use it. Money is tight right now so can’t be buying lining over and over, hither and yon, and such like.

    The linen shirt itself is done. It fits and looks quite fetching. And you can’t really see any of the blunders. Black anything is hard to work with but great for hiding inaccurate stitching. So, now, I just need to finish crocheting the skeletons and figure out how to join them together. Thinking of doing all filet crochet and have the skeleton motifs on an angle. Not sure how that will work exactly, though.

    I do have good news about the skeletons. Spoke last time that one went missing, probably on some necromancy expedition, has returned home. Hope it enjoyed its adventure and can now settle down.

    For the pillow sham, haven’t done anything except get a drop cloth. That means that I now can paint the Aida fabric. As mentioned in an earlier post, I got some fabric paint to cover the terrible beige of the Aida and make it a nice light to medium grey. Don’t want to make a mess when painting. My diminutive apartment is enough of a shambles without sloshing grey paint every which way. Knowing myself as I do, if there is an opportunity to make a mess, I won’t be able to stop myself.

    And, now, extended drumroll please, I can start working again on the Dali jacket. Got my new printer up and running. Will print out some Dali pictures soon and present them for your perusal.

    Thank you, dear damned ones for your considerable thoughtfulness in your attendance here. Hope to see you again in two weeks.

  • SO MANY PROJECTS AND SO LITTLE TIME, BUT I AM ACCOMPLISHING THINGS

    One of the Damned

    Bless you, dear damned ones. Pleasure to be at your service again. It’s been a while, hasn’t it. But I did actually work on stuff. Wonders will never cease, will they.

    So, anyway, been working on the spider coat: Cut out the body and sleeves, attached flannel to the inside of the velvet. Gives it a nice cushy feel to the velvet. Learned that from Kenneth King in one of his books. I think it’s from Designer Techniques.

    Tried to hunt down my copy to check, but couldn’t find it. I know it’s here somewhere, but it must be hiding. Anyway, he shows lots of nifty ways to spiff up the clothes you sew. Good ideas for hiding the places that you mess up. I heard a seamstress once say that every mistake is a new design. Good thing to remember when I make all the mistakes I make. And, yes, there are oh so many.

    The linen shirt is coming along nicely. Almost finished sewing the shirt itself. Just need to finish hemming the sleeves. Do need to add the elastic at the cuff, but have to wait until the lace is attached.

    Still have a long way to go with that, though, the lace that is. Going ahead with the filet crochet skeletons for the lace on the cuffs and just the skulls for around the neck opening. I’ve only done five motifs so far. Thought it was six, but one of them seems to have wandered off. Hope he enjoys himself out in the big bad world.

    And for the Dali jacket, will soon start again doing some work. Yay. About time, isn’t it. Got a new printer and some of the printable fabric. Wish I had just bought the printable fabric and got on with the printing, instead of trying other things. Really did waste a lot of time and money trying to save time and money. Have I learned my lesson? Don’t be silly. Of course not. That would be too sensible. Once I unpack my new printer that was delivered three weeks ago (or was it four, probably five), I can start printing out pictures of Dali’s paintings and jewelry. Then actually attach them to the coat I made who knows how long ago. Time does seem to get away from me.

    The pillow sham is mostly figured out. The front wall of the house will be missing and the rooms will show. There are two rooms on the main floor: living room and library, and the front door is closed. Second floor has the master bedroom, master bedroom closet, bathroom and a kid’s room. The attic inside the gable of the roof will show, but don’t know what will be inside that. The rest of the roof will just be shingles, but maybe also a dormer window.

    And it only recently dawned on me that the windows need to be gothic, you know, pointy at the top. And the front door, too. Yeah, that didn’t take me long to realize, she says with a sheepish grin on her face.

    Speaking of not having finished much, maybe I just need to lower my standards. Love this cartoon:

    And, I’ve been thinking about a new crochet project because, apparently, I don’t have enough going on. Yeah, that’s my story and I’m sticking to it. But maybe it could be something to sell the pattern for. Not on Etsy, that’s for sure, but maybe Ravelry, or something like it. Anyway, I got the idea from the skeleton motif I’m using for the linen shirt cuffs. Filet crochet in the round with a bunch of dancing skeletons. Not yet sure how this is going to work. Lots to figure out.

    So, things have been going fairly well, knock on wood.

    Thank you so much for visiting. I am always pleased when the damned frequent my establishment. Hope to see you again soon.

  • PROJECTS ARE ACTUALLY COMING ALONG, JUST NOT QUICKLY

    One of the Damned

    Welcome, Damned. Lovely to see you again. Your presence warms my heart.

    So, I was ever so hopeful that I could get off my bum and get this post published three weeks ago. I already knew how to start, though maybe that was part of the problem. I was going to say “Would you look at that. She has a new blog post just two weeks after the last one. Miracles will never cease.” Yeah, well, that never happened. Can’t say I’m all that surprised, though. Why are things so hard?

    On the bright side, I bought a new sewing machine. A pretty good one, actually, for not much money. It’s a Singer Heavy Duty Mechanical and quite lovely. (Is “lovely” a proper description of a sewing machine? Don’t know, but I’m going with it.)

    I actually can give credit for this picture, for a change. It’s from Michael’s website, which is where I bought it. It’s the same one that YouTuber Prickly Alpaca bought for herself a while ago and she quite likes it. Since she sews a variety of fabrics and thicknesses of fabric, and doesn’t seem to have any complaints, thought I’d give it a try. Quite happy with it, so far.

    Can’t afford it, but I tell myself that I genuinely need it. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

    Anyway, started working on a new coat since I’ve had to put the Dali jacket away for a while. Have some black velvet and want to make a spider coat. Well, a coat with spider web decorations. Can’t make a coat out of actual spiders. No, that is definitely not in the realm of possibility. Nope, nope, nope.

    So, don’t want to do buttons and will have hooks instead. With an embroidered spider web and a little spider where each of the four hooks will be. Have eight of the little spider charms, but haven’t figured out other places put them. Except, maybe one dangling down the back somehow. So far, only designed the webs and prepped the fabrics, but it’s a start. Going to interline the velvet with flannel to make it nice and toasty warm for winter.

    Been working on the black linen shirt and think I made a decision about the lace. My sister found this absolutely wonderful crocheted doily on Pinterest and there’s someone on Etsy who sells the pattern. Just look at this wonderful design:

    The skull looks kind of scary. Prefer that to the somewhat cutesy skulls I’ve seen elsewhere. It’s designed by the very talented Ann Wanamaker. You can check it out along with her other stuff on her Etsy shop, Creative Works by Annie.

    Had originally thought to include black velvet ribbon with the lace, but not sure how that will work, now. But I will include several skeletons, altogether. Been working on a sample of the design in some size 10 crochet thread. So far, the pattern is good.

    Have actually started sewing the shirt while pretty much following the instructions on Vincent Briggs YouTube channel. He made an eighteenth-century “Pirate Shirt” sewn on a machine and so far it’s working well. I will say, he’s quite a strange boy, but that’s what I like best about him.

    Well, it seems as if I actually accomplished things recently. Hooray for me. I had hoped that writing these posts would push me to finish more. Guess that sort of happened, so not all bad.

    Thank you, dear Damned ones, for coming. Always nice to have you here.