May(de): Bye Baby Bunting

Cardigan: Cocolatte – Remixed

Skirt: Sussan

Tights: Sussan

Boots: Duo Boots

Still going!

Earlier in May(de) I showed you a remixed cardigan, and said that I was going to make another version of it in more pastel subdued colours. Well, here it is!

The colours are a little more vibrant in real life, but they’re all patterned fabrics (as you’ll see below).

I was delighted to discover – a few days after I completed the remix project – a pastel bunting necklace at Lovisa that matches pretty splendidly. I bought it, of course.

Necklace: Lovisa

The instructions are pretty much identical to my original remix, but I thought since I was going to make it anyway I may as well photograph it.

So, first off, you’ll need a cardigan, some tearaway backing paper, and an assortment of fabric for the bunting flags.

Cut the fabric into a number of small triangles. The first time I did a complicated mathematical equation to figure out exactly how many flags I needed. This time I winged it. Winging it is fine.

Take a fabric marker or a bit of chalk and mark where you’d like your string of flags to go.

Pin some tearaway backing paper onto the inside of the cardigan. I can’t actually stress how much you shouldn’t skip this step. Without it anything you try to sew onto the cardigan (especially those with a lot of stretch) will end up buckling and warping the fabric. I forgot to buy backing paper, so I used interfacing instead. It’s more expensive, but it does the job.

OK, time to pin your flags into place. I tried not to be too methodical, so they’ve got a random pattern going on. Personally I prefer that than going pink-blue-yellow-green-pink-blue-yellow etc etc.

Once you’ve got the flags pinned into place crank up your sewing machine, and sew them along the top (where the string would be if it were real bunting) using satin stitch.

Once that’s done switch to a regular stitch and go up and down the remaining two sides of the triangles. You can do this in one big zig zag. Oh, I should add that you can finish the sides of the triangles (before you sew them to the cardigan, obviously) with a zig zig edge to stop them fraying if you should so wish. I liked the shabby chic effect of the tatty edges, so I kept them.

Once your flags are attached it’s time to tear off of the backing paper…

And you’re done!

May(de): Stars In Her Eyes

Top: Zara

Cardigan: Table 8

Jeans: Levi Curve

Boots: Duo Boots

Belt: City Chic

Dear oh dear, that’s two days in a row that I haven’t blogged. I’m so sorry – I’ve been badly under the weather – I took two days off work, and have more or less spent the entire weekend in bed, apart from a very welcome visit from my bridesmaid Bella on Saturday.

The sweet girl had surrendered her jacket to a friend, and was wandering the city in her t-shirt, bravely pretending that she wasn’t freezing to death. So we went to my favourite cheapie cardigan shop – Cocolatte – and bought her a cardigan, then came home and remixed some hearts onto the elbows with my still prolific quantities of wool roving.

I wore the one item I’ve been able to find that fits from UK powerhouse Zara; a star-print blouse.

Little-known fact about your blogger: I am obsessed with space.

When I was a little girl I wanted to be an astronomer (this was before I discovered how much maths was required) and I must have been the only child excited by the prospect of a world-ending comet; I was sure that the government had a Plan, and we’d end up in giant spaceships travelling the universe, a la Star Wars.

I’ve grown out of the “astronomer” stage now, but I still have a bit of a thing for stuff that reminds me of the night sky, which is probably why the moment I saw this amazing midnight sunstone necklace on etsy I knew I had to have it:

Necklace: Friedasophie

The necklace has the most beautiful sparkle (my photo really REALLY doesn’t do it justice) it looks like a big chunk of the night sky.

It’s another stretch for my “May(de)” criteria, but I’m running out of cold weather custom-made items! A few more days to go, but I’ve got at least one DIY project in the works, so sit tight!