WIPW - Sequins and beads

It's mid week and time for the Work In Progress Wednesday report.

So what progress have I made? Well, I've added sequins and beads in the open spaces created by last week's Chevron stitches. 260 sequins and equally many beads. It took a bit of time...

I'm not the only one to have something to report. Go to Pintangle and see for yourself.

The HINA Rabbit

Here is the tutorial for the HINA rabbit I promised yesterday.

First make a rough cardboard pattern like this for the body and ear.

I have used polyester chirimen which is nice and stretchy, but any fabric is OK.
Mark the seam lines. One body part should be mirror image.
Use pink or pattern fabric for the inside of the ears.
Cut out the pieces with a seam allowance.  

Stitch all sides except bottom with tight backstitches.

Notch out small triangles with scissors.

Press the seam allowance over the cardboard pattern.

Turn right side out and stuff the rabbit's body with wadding.

Then stitch up the belly. Turn and press the ears, they don't need wadding.

Stitch the bottom of the ears together then stitch them in place on body.

Mark the mouth and nose with a Fly stitch.
Make the eyes with red glass topped pins,  cut off most of the pin and fix with bond.
Insert strands of white cotton thread for the whiskers and 'starch' them with bond.
Leave to set and dry.

Have fun!

HINA 2013

It is time to prepare for Hina Matsuri, the Doll Festival, celebrated by families with daughters. I have written about it on the Hina page (found at the top of this blog, or click here).

Traditionally you display the dolls from about a month before March 3rd, which is the main day. The best time to put up the decorations is on a TAIAN （大安）, a lucky day, according to the Chinese calendar. Today is Taian:

Many families have a set of the traditional dolls, the Imperial Couple and their attendants in ancient dress.  You can read about them here.

Families with less space might have other decorations, like these made of paper, Japanese lacquer, clay or porcelain. 

I, on the other hand, continue to stick to my favourite type of ornament, the Hanging Hina Dolls. Making stuffed dolls and ornaments from kimono scraps is an old tradition in mainly three areas of Japan: Inatori a hot spa town on the Izu Peninsula, Yanagawa in Fukuoka, Kyushu, where the dolls are hung across the river and the best way to enjoy this festival is of course from a boat on the river and Sakata in Yamagata Prefecture where the dolls are dangling from Japanese paper umbrellas. Click on the links and enjoy!

So I spent yesterday making three new ornaments for my own display; a Rabbit, a Flower and a Bag of Fortune:

Tomorrow I'll post a tutorial for the rabbit.

TAST #50 Inverted Feather stitch

The TAST stitch this week was the Inverted Feather stitch. See and read more on Pintangle.

It was a new stitch to me, and I found it a bit difficult to keep the tension even. I started out making a rectangular frame, then saw that the stitch had a 'Roman Numeral' look about it (IX or XI). Adding a clock face and some hands was then the obvious choice! The result, a very wonky clock!