So here it is in all it’s glory….

I’ve sweated blood over this dressing gown, not to mention having said some rude words and using my bodge skills to their utmost. It pretty much turned out more or less how I intended, there were just some large diversions around the houses on the way. At the end of a day considering this is made from a ginormous ‘second’ towel that has sat under my sewing niche chair for oh, maybe a decade, it isn’t bad. Don’t look too closely, there are definitely  flaws in the toweling and some stains that I imagine will probably wash out – oh and it doesn’t bear much of a resemblance to the pattern I was attempting to follow….except that well…it is a functioning dressing gown at the end of the day!

The Liberty trim makes it I think…but I did waste a fair bit along the way with my ineptitude, which was a shame, but apparently couldn’t be helped.

I should like to finish by saying that despite what photographic evidence may suggest, I am not as big as the side of a house…I’m wearing jeans and a jumper underneath as autumn was switched on rather dramatically two days ago in these parts.

Anyway, I’m now feeling very smug as I have won the dressing gown battle and relieved my stash of a very high volume item, which is no bad thing!

Enjoy your weekend!

Helen

Not literally I hasten to add for those who may not be attuned to the idiosyncrasies of English vocabulary.

Moreover there will be no photo today, for reasons that will become apparent fairly quickly.

Today was a day when I really shouldn’t have got out of bed. Having slept excruciatingly badly after a late night row with an errant teenage daughter – which mainly involved my stating the family position and boundaries and having abuse thrown at me about my inadequate parenting skills because I reserve the right to exercise a modicum of control over my almost 16 year old’s social life, today didn’t start well.

The aftermath of the feud was very definitely in the air and as it was Friday and therefore come hell or high water a running day, I set out to clear my head and stretch my legs with my running buddies. We run every Friday whatever the weather, but today was the first time that we have run in a serious thunder storm, where the paths in the forest had turned into streams and where we had torrents of water running down the inside of our rain jackets!

Once I’d come home, had a hot bath and recovered a little I decided to get cracking on the Liberty edged dressing gown that I cut out last week.

BIG MISTAKE!

Despite having sewn all my life I couldn’t make head nor tail of the German pattern I was supposed to be making. It didn’t make sense and the Liberty trim wouldn’t lie flat at all on the front neckline. The back was just plain weird and the pieces didn’t fit together properly. This was where I should definitely have called it a day, but needless to say I didn’t, rather opting for the trimming things to fit strategy, actually the trimming things rather drastically strategy.

After which I had an aha moment and realized that the reason it didn’t fit was that there was a critical piece missing….which turned out to be under the cupboard and which after my trimming efforts definitely didn’t fit anymore……B****R and other appropriate phrases……

I had already done quite a lot of serging (0verlocking) and finishing off by this stage, but came to the conclusion that it would really be better to try to correct the situation as far as I could.

Have you ever unpicked serging? No? Lucky you. Don’t try. I’m almost cross eyed and half demented, but this dressing gown isn’t going to get the better of me. I’m going to win, even if it does look a little strange by the time I’m done.

Maybe tomorrow or the next day I’ll be able to show you my glamorous Liberty trimmed robe….on the other hand, maybe I won’t.

Time for a glass of wine and a Lewis DVD I think. The day needs to end well!

Have a good one!

Helen

Here is the final part of the rag rugs tutorial.

I keep working on both ends at the same time until the rug starts to look like it finally will meet in the middle. It must meet in the middle rather than at the ends because it would be impossible to get the right level of tension with all those nails in the way – you would have no knuckles left! Also I find it helps in balancing colour distribution to work both ends simultaneously.

Once the gap becomes very small winding the fabric becomes quite fiddly and I finally resort to using the blunt ends of my scissors to push it through. Make it all as tight a fit as is humanly possible.

Once the ends meet, then tie off the ends at the back of the rug and stitch them down. Try as much as possible not to make this too bulky. You may find it easier to stitch down the ends once the rug is off the frame. I do.

Then the moment of truth….pull out the metal rods which have been holding the tension at the sides and pop the ends over the nails….and hey presto, your rag rug is done!

Here mine is, brightening an otherwise rather boring bathroom!

Helen

As you can see I’m coming towards the end with the rag rug. For some reason it seems to be taking forever and a day, which is funny really, because when I made the last one it seemed to get done so quickly. I guess the fairies haven’t been helping in the middle of the night this time!

A word of warning about making these rugs…actually there should be a couple of warnings:

• They make a devil of a mess. Using a normal rotary cutter you end up with gazillions of long frayed off threads, whereas a serrated cutter is a lot better, but there are still billions and trillions of little threads. I have to hoover the wooden floor of my workroom at least 2-3 times a day because otherwise they would tread through the whole house.
• They also make a mess because I have reams of ugly fabric all over the place and what with that and the size of the frame, there is absolutely no room to do anything else….so sorry…no sewing this week at all!
• I’m also a little bit concerned as to how it is humanly possible that I have used up getting on for 15 yards of fabric – which is quite a lot in anyone’s books – and I can’t see any difference in the stash at all.

OK, OK, don’t tell me …..I have a problem. I know! But at least my problem is almost 15 yards less 🙂

Helen

We had a big old storm here last night. The temperatures and humidity are down and there is a breeze playing with the trees. This was the view from my window this morning just after dawn. Seeing sunbeams break through the clouds alway reminds me that we are in the presence of something way, way bigger that ourselves.

Today we are dealing with the difficult issues of being back at school and finding the work a whole lot harder than expected and also a broken heart. It’s one of those days when I actually feel that I do have a purpose as a mum and sometimes I’m able to help just a little 🙂

Hope you’re having a happy Sunday wherever you are.

Helen

Helen