Cardigans for Gifts

As gifts for a few 22nds and a 21st, I decided to put my talents to the test and make some Missing James cardis (and headbands - post will follow). These girls I was designing for live in Melbourne and have very sophisticated individual styles, so I had to decide carefully what type of motif I would put on the back. They aren't the types of girls that would have a bright pink lotus flower with a bright orange koi fish. So I decided to create very delicate bamboo and blossom motifs with intricate beading that each represent the individual girl's style.

I've decided to use these cardigans for my line. They are resonably inexpensive and incredibly soft. When I get the money I'll look into getting cashmere and merino wool hoodies and cardigans, but for starting out these acrylic cardis are just perfect.

I hope the 3 birthday girls loved their gifts! I've asked for them to send photos for the blog, so a post will be following up shortly.

Bisous.

Clothing Tags

I've printed tags for my sweaters at home. It's so easy to do! You just need to shell in the bucks to get the silk to print on. I bought Ink Jet Printing Silk by Jacquard to print my tags. I just created the image, put it into word, copied it and printed out an A4 page. Easy. Simple.

The only hard part is to keep the silk from fraying once you've cut the tags into individual pieces. I've been using clear nail polish, a trick I learned at ballet for keeping my pointe shoe ribbons from fraying. I can get "no-fray" stuff from Lincraft or a hobby shop, but that's just more money. The clear nail polish works fine, it just creates a scratchy surface, but over time it becomes flexible. And it does the job.

I've been a bit busy making some gifts, but I won't post the projects until I've given them to the respective recipients. There were a few birthdays lately, and it's the perfect way to get my work out and about.

a flattering comment from the person who means the world to me

The most flattering comment about this new line I'm doing was from my Nan. She was so proud I was able to make something cheap (like a $10 dress) and make it look designer. "You can sell that type of thing, and you're even now looking at designer prices - like seventy to eighty dollars!" She's so adorable.

I wouldn't sell my $10 cardigans for $80 (although my work could cost $60, plus another $10 for materials), but I would sell the cashmere ones for around that price. I need to get around to ordering them, but at the moment I'm a bit short on cash (as I'm heading to Melbourne next week). I'm gonna wait a bit and see what more people think before I spend that kind of dough.

I have a few birthdays coming up and I've ordered a few pairs of boots, so hopefully word goes around quickly. I've also experimented with making my own labels for clothes and shoes (a post will be up soon showing these). I just need to get the iron down, which is alway a big feat.

But what I really enjoy about this project is making. I love making. And I'm glad that, finally, my making is for a good reason, instead of just accumulating stuff.

Finished Cardigan

Cardigan #1

The cardigan is almost done - but here's the (almost) final product. The motif is falling cherry blossoms on the back and front right hand side. Black beads will be added for some sparkle and detailing, but I wanted to share what it looks like at the moment.

Cherry Blossoms

So, I started the sweater prototype to see how well the felt would applique onto a thinner fabric. It worked brilliantly! The only thing is that my prototype is a cheap $10 cardigan, and I'm planning on ordering in Cashmere/Merino hoodies to applique on. But, to try it out, I'd rather spend only $10.

I decided to do a cherry blossom motif, as stated in my previous post. The only major problem was that I didn't have the colour wool I wanted for the pink petals, and I had to go to Lincraft to stalk up once more. As always, Lincraft was a dissapointment and didn't have any more felting wools - so I bought a mohair/alpaca blend of pink knitting wool instead. I was a bit worried about using it because it was in "string" form instead of lump of wool, but it worked pretty well. It was actually quite nice to have the different textures of the knitting wool and the felting wool mixed together.

The middle of the cherry blossom has a yellow centre with light pink petals. Darker pink was added to make it look more like a cherry blossom instead of a kid's drawing of a flower, and soon I'll add some black beads to add more detail.

What I find really interesting is the final product that ends up on the inside of the sweater. A muffled motif appears instead of the crisp petal shapes that happen on the outside. It's very beautiful, and I'm wondering if I could ever use it somewhere.