Friday 16 September 2011

Cape

I was asked by a work colleague if I could make his partner a cape. She wanted it in the style of a Jedi Cape from star wars. They supplied me this pattern


She wanted to be able to wear it all year round when she went out for dinner, to a party etc. Even though it would only be for special occasions it would still need to be warm enough to wear in winter but cool enough for summer. To accomplish this rather than lining the cape as the pattern says I made 2 separate capes. One was made from black polycotton. The other was made from black fleece.
This is the outer layer made from polycotton.
With hood up

With hood down
This is the inner layer made from black fleece. This section has no hood.
Inner section of cape

I then added poppers around the neckline seam on both sections of the cape so that they could be joined together, this way just the outer can be worn in summer but both in winter.
Poppers to hold both layers together.

This is the final cape - I didn't have my mannequin handy to take photos so had to hang it over the edge of the kitchen door.
Both layers together.
 Close up of the hood.

This was an easy pattern to make and I enjoyed doing something different to what I had done before. I learnt some new techniques working on different fabrics. I am thinking of making one in satin but just lining it not adding a detachable layer.

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Saturday 10 September 2011

They call me Klutz

Well as the title says I am a bit clumsy. I am always having accidents, normally stupid ones.
A couple of weeks ago I fell down the house stairs before hitting the baby safety gate at the bottom - I was bruised and stiff for a couple of days.

The stairs - fell from top to bottom.

Well I managed to fall down the stairs again last Saturday. This time I only went down the bottom two stairs. I slipped on the baby gate and landed in a heap sat on the floor.
Bottom two stairs.
This time as I landed my foot when under as it hit the laminate flooring and I felt my foot bone hit my ankle bone. Couldn't stand on it for a while but then it wasn't too bad unless I put all my weight on it. Sunday was a bit painful but I just thought I had bruised or sprained it. Went to the doctors about something else on Monday morning, he took one look and told me to go to A&E to get it x-rayed as he thought I had broken the bone. Spent 3 hours in A&E only to be told I had fractured it but they had never seen one like it so had to go to fracture clinic on Tuesday. At fracture clinic doctor had a look at foot, looked at x-rays, consulted with a colleague, looked again at foot. Then decided he needed to speak to an ankle specialist  - who was in surgery.  They think that I have an extra bone in my foot (called an accessory navicular.)
The doctor decided that they would give me a boot to support my foot along with the crutches I was already on, he would then speak to the specialist once he was out of surgery and then take it from there. Well the specialist decided that they needed more pictures so I had to go back to the hospital on Friday to have CT scans. I now have to wait for the specialist to look at them and get back to me with what they are going to do next.
This is my foot in its boot.

I have been signed off work for 2 weeks at the moment as I work in a factory stood on my feet for 8 hours a day. When they decide what to do next then I may need longer off. I am going to have to learn to power my machine with the other foot and do more hand sewing. I am making good progress on my quilt as it is all hand sewing. I will post more about that with photos another day.

I am so clumsy that I have in the past fractured my wrist 3 times - the same bone each time (fell over a football, fell over the dogs bed - the 3rd time it didn't heal from the 2nd time)  My sister in law told me that my 16 month old nephew can manage the stairs better than i can!!