Handmade Christmas Presents
Now that there are no surprises to spoil, here’s a round-up of a bunch of stuff I made for people for Christmas:
A knotwork bookmark in cross-stitch, for Henry. I drew the knot, translated it into chart-form (using Andy Sloss’s awesome book) and worked it while watching two movies and a couple of episodes of Seinfeld one night when I was home alone:
I drew and embroidered this knot onto a pillowcase for Dan (and I gave him a new pillow to put in the pillowcase):
I designed and made this hooded cloak for Henry. He chose the fabric — a green linen blend for one side, and a soft brown plaid flannel for the other side. The cloak reverses from Elven to Celtic. I put a silver knotwork button at the throat. It’s cut in gores so it flows and hangs nicely:
Henry and I were driving around, planning presents for people. I suggested a Dark Side of the Moon T-shirt for Sally, and Henry said he thought we could MAKE one for her. So I bought a plain black T-shirt, blew up the Dark Side logo nice and large, and traced it off my laptop screen onto thin paper (carefully!), then transferred it to the fabric. I backed the design area with a scrap of woven cotton to keep the stretching and puckering under control, and worked the design in a quilting hoop. It’s outline stitch with split-stitch filling the colored areas.
Category: Blog, Handmade 5 comments »
December 30th, 2006 at 6:36 pm
You are just plain amazing. I am in awe of those knots. I won’t say “you DREW those?” because you just said you drew them and I hate when people say “you MADE that?” to me when I’ve just told them I made something. :) But wow. What a talent.
December 30th, 2006 at 6:48 pm
Hehehe, thanks :) They’re really fun and rather soothing to draw! Find a copy of Andy’s book and you can draw knots to your heart’s content. His method is easier to learn than any other I’ve found.
December 30th, 2006 at 10:50 pm
I’m just amazed at the elven/celtic cloak. Now, my boys are much younger, but the “elven cloaks” I gave them a couple of years ago were simply fabric squares that were not even hemmed. (Sewing is. . .beyond me. . .) But, oh, what an amazing cloak you made!
December 31st, 2006 at 10:24 am
Beautiful work, Kara! Wow! Henry looks super in his cloak, too!
December 31st, 2006 at 5:09 pm
Great Christmas presents :) I love the knots too. I had an obsession in my teens with celtic knotwork/art and history/mythology.