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| inside out.. |
We don’t always like to talk about it, but I will today. It was one of those weeks. Where things don’t exactly go the way you want them to. First off it is a school holiday week.
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| weird bubbles in funny places.. |
I had planned to finish a portrait quickly but I am still working on it.
I had planned to chop up a sweater or two, and stitch them together again in a real unique and unprecedented way, and I did, but it proved hard to make the garment well fitting without a mannequin.
Or may be a second pair of eyes and hands.
So I partly cut it up again. I need to think this one over.
The idea for chopping up old sweaters came from Chum, and she had read about it here. I also read about an American hippie artist, Kat O’Sullivan, who has been selling recycled sweaters on Etsy for some time now.
On a podcast, interviewed by the intrigueing American writer on creativity Ricë Freeman-Zachary, she says she sometimes uses 25 sweaters to go into one new coat.
I love her playful designs, even though they are too over the top for me. I like to go unnoticed in a crowd.
After this first trial I went back to study her coats and noticed not only that she has a good reason to keep her interlock seems on the outside – no bumps and it fits much better that way – but also that she usually keeps one sweater intact as the bodice. From that she hangs new skirts and frills and what have you. So she does not have to worry about fitting the new armholes in the right way..
Which was the most difficult thing for me.
So, may be next week will be more succesful!
Wow Kitty! I had no idea this is what you had planned for your sweaters. Can't wait to see more! Love to see you modelling your own clothes too – you look great.
oh, one of THOSE weeks. but at least you have a great new sweater!
(i just have a wastebasket full of bad drawings….)
This is a test to see if I can post a comment.
Ha ha, yes you can, Carol!
Wow, Kitty! love the sweater! nicely done!
Hey Kitty, how funny that I should find your blog today. I am in the middle of making fingerless gloves from chopped up felted sweaters.
I love your idea of making a garment from various pieces of jumpers. It's looking great too.
I find that when you sew two pieces of a felted jumper together, they tend to 'stretch' a bit or look a little wonky. I guess it's just the materials you're working with.
Those coats are utterly amazing. I imagine they would be rather weighty to wear.
Well, back to the sewing machine,
Claire :}
Hi Claire!
I know about the wonky thing..
That's the word I could not find..
I am so lucky as to have a serger
and the serger has a special setting for sewing knitted material.. so it ends up all nice and straight, as you can see from the picture of the sweater laid out flat that I posted
The writer of the Sweater Chop shop, Crispina Ffrench, does all the sewing by hand. She lays down the seams flat end sews over them from the outside of the garment.
And PS yet Kat O'Sulican's sweaters must be pretty heavy!