Sunday 31 July 2011

Notebook Cover

Sorry! I'm a terrible blogger, I know :(

I really meant to do an entry all about Alpaca in April after I'd spent a few days separating locks of Huacaya and Suri alpaca. But, I got sidetracked with other things and then it was Summer. I find the heat and humidity impossible to felt in, and my wool tops become staticy making it a nightmare to lay anything out. We had about a week of lovely cool weather recently though, so I took a chance and made myself a new felt notebook cover.
I wanted something colourful, so I used a rainbow mixture of bright blended merino:


I'm so used to using lots of  'extras' in my felt that it looked a bit 'flat', so I added some silk, ramie and bamboo tops, some silk scarf scraps, pieces of organza and cotton gauze, silk throwster's waste, a few locks of Bluefaced Leicester and some silk noil and a silk carrier rod:


I think I made my strips of merino a bit too narrow because the colours went a bit 'muddy' as they shrank together, but the other fibres lifted it.


It probably took me longer to decide which part to use as the front than it did to sew it :) but I finally made my mind up and made a simple notebook cover:




I have a set on flickr showing how to make a simple notebook cover and if, like me, you always forget how to start off with blanket stitch, or even if you've never tried it, I have a set for that too :)

*** I'm sorry, but Blogger's new way to really annoy me is by not allowing me to comment. I really hate not being able to acknowledge that people have left comments, but I do really appreciate everyone reading the posts and commenting, and I do read them all.

8 comments:

  1. Very pretty and useful! I especially like that you took the time to do a blanket stitch. It really finishes off the project in a special way!! XXO-

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  2. This is the ONLY way I can make a cover. I have tried the seamless ones, but it never seems to fit right at the end. I LOVE this one and I agree the add ins make it POP! Off to check out the Flicker set.

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  3. It looks gorgeous Zed, i think i might have to try this, i want to make a cover for a small photo album to give to Kelly's mum when our grandbaby arrives lol

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  4. glad to see you back, isn't it addictive adding the embellishments on the wool . I have a hard time stopping .

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  5. Good to see you posting Zed. This is great, feels like it has a lot of energy.

    Are you going to post about your alpaca experiments?

    Shelley x

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  6. Thanks everyone. Thanks, Kaz for the tip about not checking the 'stay signed in' box to enable me to post. I'll look forward to seeing your album cover with all your gorgeous stitching :)
    I haven't tried a seamless one yet, Heather, I keep meaning to, but it seems like so much more work-and maths! :)
    I hadn't finished with the alpaca experiments, Shelley. I'd only done the huacaya samples, I wanted to do the same with the suri. I could do it in two parts, but they'd probably be months apart!

    OK, now I can post comments...anyone know how I can get my list of Followers back? Grrr!

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  7. I have all sorts of problems with Explorer. When I switch to Firefox- it all seems to work much better. Have you tried switching browsers?

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  8. I haven't even upgraded Explorer yet, Shelley! :)

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