Any Length of Time

This is a backpack made from oilcloth and an unused pillowcase for the contrast fabric and lining.  The pattern for this was in an issue of Sew magazine.  The oilcloth was odd to work with, I never really felt that I found the 'right' tension for it although the finished seams were sturdy enough.  It has so far lasted at least six months in regular use as our daughter's nursery bag.  The only damage that has occured is that the seams where the bottom straps are anchored have pulled out of the oilcloth where the straps were attached in one place only.  The next time I make one of these, I will make the straps longer and stitch them all the way along the bottom side seams to distribute the weight more evenly.

Again I could make these on order if wanted, baseline price would depend on the type of oilcloth wanted for the outer as oilcloth can be pretty pricy.  Can also be made without oilcloth.  Prices without oilcloth would start at a baseline  of £25 and would vary according to the fabric you wanted.

I made this lovely bag from some pink linen that Esther gave me, oh, about three years ago, as well as some trusty black polycotton, some even trustier double satin black ribbon, and a snippet of glitter cobweb net that has been in my scrap bag for even longer than the pink linen.  Measurements I can't give right now because this was made as a gift and has been given away, but I made it large enough to hold A5 paper so it could be used for work, lunches or even if you pack light a teeny tiny overnight bag that will hold smellies and a change of underwear.  You'd be amazed the uses a woman can find for a bag.  No, really.

I can make these to order: cost would start at a baseline of £20 each and final costs would depend on what you want it made from, whether or not it's in my scrap bag, or whether I need to buy it in.  The lighting was a little dim when I took these photos so they are a little off colour ambiently.

This is a knitted jumper that I made for my daughter.  It was made to a dress pattern called Oriental Lily by Georgie Hallam (which is available for free through www.ravelry.com ).  As it is knitted top down, it can be made short as a jumper, mid length as I have done for a tunic, or longer for a dress.

I used up some scrap coloured wool, wound up with a common thread of black to give it continuity.

Once finished I tidied up all the ends where the scrap wool had been tied together on the inside, and then lined the garment in pale lemon wynciette to make it an even warmer garment and also to limit any irritation from the wool.

Total make time, about 3 months from cast on to complete finish, although the project laid fallow for about 2 weeks after the knitting was finished before I did the lining.

Theo has decided to risk his hand at returning to live role play, several years after the sting of being hit in the face by the Nomads at Curious Pastimes has had time to fade.  He is playing an Avian, you will see this rather clearly from the very nice Kangena corvus mask he is wearing in the final shots.

He needed a headpiece to set off the mask and in my creativity I decided to go ahead and feather the thing.

I started with a plain black one piece hajib, this being a garment prefabricated to fit the head and around the face and neck in a concealing manner.  This took a lot of work out of the equation for myself.  We fitted the hajib first of all to figure out how far it needed to fall around his neck and down his back.  The Kangena mask has a wide elastic adjustable strap to hold it on and I needed to make a feathered flap to conceal this strap.  The pin in the earliest picture is there to show the line of this flap.

I then tested some fabric offcuts, some black feathers and Copydex (the brand name of a very reliable glue).  Fortunately this test was positive: after the glue had dried we picked up the offcut by the glued on feathers and swung it about a bit, and there was no sign of give.  This decision to use Copydex saved me a potential nightmare of having to sew each feather on individually.

I cut the flap to hide the strap from some offcut and sewed this on.

For lack of a better way to describe it, I then invested many hours of my life into gluing the feathers onto the hajib.  The pictures are chronological, showing the various stages.  I started at the back at the bottom, and put a row of larger feathers all around the hem.  Then with some smaller goose feathers from eBay, I just started gluing in layers working my way up.

Due to the length of the feathers I stopped halfway up to the flap and feathered the flap to see how far down it would cover.  I then went back and feathered in all the gaps.

The crown of the head was feathered last and working from the back towards the front at all times so there would be no 'parting' effect at the top of the head.  I then paused to see if the front peak of the hajib would need feathering or whether it would be covered sufficiently by the mask.  It wasn't, and it did.  So I carried on feathering until it was finished.

The Copydex needed time to get tacky to hold the feathers as they were not entirely straight feathers.  I often had to work with one hand tucked underneath the fabric to keep it taut while the glue and feathers were being applied, which meant I spent many evenings peeling dry Copydex residue off my hand.  The ruff was held back with normal hair slides while I feathered the bare patches underneath it.

Materials cost I spent about £20 on feathers, although I have about £5 worth of them left over.  Copydex costs a couple of pounds and this project used about three quarters of a large pot of it.  The hajib was purchased online and cost approximately £5.  Therefore materials cost about £25 in total.

Hours put into this were in the region of 20 or so.  I worked on this for three weeks and put in approximately an hour every day.  We let the glue dry naturally on each area so each day I feathered a reasonably sized area and then let it dry overnight.  The choice of feathers made it a little slower, they needed to be layered quite densely.

I could make this on order but the hours needed to create it would make it very expensive.

Our small child has been asked to take an easter bonnet in to nursery next week.  Given she is currently approaching 2 years old I didn't see much sense in getting a shop brought bonnet for her to decorate as she doesn't yet have an appreciation of the fine art of decorating.  However, as she is not a baby any more she can certainly participate in making the bonnet, after all the child has been asked to bring in a bonnet and not the parents!

Therefore this evening I spent some time and made the basic structure of the bonnet ready for her to decorate on Sunday or Monday.  It is made of strips of folded paper woven together and held together with the assistance of the application of some sticky tape (the small child helped with that part).  I hope that we can encourage her to paint it and glue some pictures of flowers onto it (we cut some out from a gardening catalogue that came through the door).

I can write up a tutorial if comments indicate there is interest.

A hair snood, also known as a caul, which is used to 'bag' long hair at the back of the neck.  The band can be pinned into the hair to prevent it slipping down.  I have made this one for a slightly different reason and that is that my new modern short hair cut will not go entirely well with the character I will be playing at the next Maelstrom event.  Therefore this snood has been made with a cover up job in mind!

Instructions

I made this in about 2 hours from start to finish.  There is no pattern.

Measure your head around the nape of your neck and up over the top of your head roughly where you think you will be pinning the snood to your hair.  The internet tells me this will typically be a measurement of between 20 and 25 inches, mine was 21 inches.

Choose the fabric you will use for the edging band.  I used some lemon polycotton to match the lining of the rest of my kit, and cut out a four inch wide band on the bias.  Cutting the strips on the bias (at a 45 degree angle to the normal grain of the fabric) gave it a little bit of a stretch and makes it easier to put on and take off.  If you use a naturally stretchy fabric you may not need to cut on the bias.

I sewed this four inch wide band into a loop that measured 21 inches in circumference, and then set it aside to get the main part sorted out.

I took an 18 inch square piece of fabric, in this case green polycotton to match the rest of my kit, and rounded this into a circle.  Quite fortunately I had a dartboard to hand to use as a round template and draw around, it turned out to be the perfect size.

I then put the first decorative stitch around the circle of fabric, set in far enough to avoid any seams.  I did this with my sewing machine so it took very little time.  It is important to decorate it at this stage because the next step will pucker up the fabric and make it harder to get things right.

When you are ready to make up your snood, use a hand sewing needle to gather up the edges of your circle.  To help me get it right quicker I loaded my needle with approximately 22 inches worth of thread.  Secure your thread well when you start to sew, it is very irritating for knots to fail when you are trying to gather up fabric!  Work all around the circle of fabric with a basic in and out stitch so when you pull on the thread the fabric will pucker up.  The smaller the stitches you make, the smaller the puckers will be.

Gather the fabric up to match the length of the band you made earlier and secure the thread well.  Spread the gathers out evenly, and pin the contrast band to the gathered circle edges with the wrong sides together.  I overlapped about 2 inches to get a good solid seam on.  Machine stitch around the circle edges.  I then trimmed some of the green off because it made it a little harder for me to get the finished seam I wanted.

The green body was then attached firmly to the contrast band.  I turned and straight stitched a very narrow hem along the unfinished and free edge of the contrast band, for the sake of neatness and not getting any fraying later.  I turned the snood the right way round and tucked the edge of the contrast band right underneath the raw edge of the green main fabric, to seal it up completely.  I then ran a decorative machine stitch all around the band in a contrasting colour, which finished it completely.  Trim loose threads and it is done.

Custom Order

For those of you with no skill, time or inclination to make your own snood, I can do it for you at the princely sum of £7 plus material cost, inclusive of packaging and postage by first class post.  You can send your own material if you want a truly custom job as long as it is a suitable fabric.  Very slippery or stretchy fabrics might require an interfacing or lining to give it stability and this would incur a small extra cost depending on what was needed.  Basic decorative stitching is included if required: quotes can be given if you want any hand embroidery, ribboning or beading work.

Any queries please email query@fallenseraphim.com

This is an example of a hooded cloak.  The cloak is 'shouldered', that is it has a seam following the line of the shoulder, which means the weight of the fabric doesn't drag over to your back every time you move.  Size is 'one size fits all'.   Length can be adjusted.   This can be made to your specifications in terms of

• Fabric (heavy fabric such as cotton drill, faux suede or corderoy sits well on the shoulders unlined.  flimsy fabric such as silk, satin, polycotton should ideally be lined to give it a bit more weight)
• Hood lined or unlined
• Full lining or unlined
• Choice of fastenings
• Shouldered layers (none, 1 or 2)
• Shape of hood (long lyripipe style, pointed as the example in the photograph, rounded at the back of the head, or very full at the back of the head like a kinsale cloak hood).
• Plain or decorative borders (samples available on request)

A good guideline price for a hooded robe is about £60 with hood lining.  Made of lower end fabric such as cotton drill or polycotton, about £40.  The shouldered layers are nearly full circles to give it the flowing drape, so the addition of shouldered layers will add a bit more to the cost.

Full lining will push the price up a bit, both for materials and the extra time it takes me to cut and fit the lining.  I usually line in fairly cheap fabrics such as lining fabric (the thin slippy stuff), polycotton, or curtain lining fabric if it needs a bit more weight (usually comes in cream).  However if you want something like velvet lined with silk, expect the lining fabric to cost nearly as much as the main fabric.

Postage and packing is charged at cost by package weight for the delivery service you require.  I prefer to send all goods that cost over £30 by a recorded or special delivery service for peace of mind.  I cannot give you an accurate quote of postage and packing in advance as the final finished weight of the item will depend entirely on your choices: the more fabric involved, the heavier the finished item will be.

I accept payment by Paypal or uncrossed postal orders.

If you are interested in placing an order, please contact query@fallenseraphim.com with your specifications.  I will cost your specifications free of charge and provide you with a quote.  Any quote over £30 must have a 50% deposit paid at the time of the order.  If you do not complete the transaction when the item is complete, the deposit is non refundable to defray my costs, unless I have failed to meet your specifications entirely (e.g. I make it in hot pink instead of death gray, or I fail to meet a deadline that I have agreed with you in writing).

This is an example of a shouldered hood.  Size is 'one size fits all'.  This can be made to your specifications in terms of

• Fabric (heavy fabric such as cotton drill, faux suede or corderoy sits well on the shoulders unlined.  flimsy fabric such as silk, satin, polycotton should ideally be lined to give it a bit more weight)
• Hood lined or unlined
• Sleeves lined or unlined
• Full lining
• Choice of fastenings
• Shape of hood (long lyripipe style, pointed as the example in the photograph, rounded at the back of the head, or very full at the back of the head like a kinsale cloak hood).
• Plain or decorative borders (samples available on request)

The robe photographed was priced up at £60, which is a good guideline price for this garment.

Lining will push the price up a bit, both for materials and the extra time it takes me to cut and fit the lining.  I usually line in fairly cheap fabrics such as lining fabric (the thin slippy stuff), polycotton, or curtain lining fabric if it needs a bit more weight (usually comes in cream).  However if you want something like velvet lined with silk, expect the lining fabric to cost nearly as much as the main fabric.

Postage and packing is charged at cost by package weight for the delivery service you require.  I prefer to send all goods that cost over £30 by a recorded or special delivery service for peace of mind.  I cannot give you an accurate quote of postage and packing in advance as the final finished weight of the item will depend entirely on your choices: the more fabric involved, the heavier the finished item will be.

I accept payment by Paypal or uncrossed postal orders.

If you are interested in placing an order, please contact query@fallenseraphim.com with your specifications.  I will cost your specifications free of charge and provide you with a quote.  Any quote over £30 must have a 50% deposit paid at the time of the order.  If you do not complete the transaction when the item is complete, the deposit is non refundable to defray my costs, unless I have failed to meet your specifications entirely (e.g. I make it in hot pink instead of death gray, or I fail to meet a deadline that I have agreed with you in writing).

This is an example of a shouldered hood.  Size is 'one size fits all'.  This can be made to your specifications in terms of

• Number of shoulder layers (1 to 3, the one photographed has 2)
• Fabric (heavy fabric such as cotton drill, faux suede or corderoy sits well on the shoulders unlined.  flimsy fabric such as silk, satin, polycotton should ideally be lined to give it a bit more weight)
• Hood lined or unlined
• Shoulder layers lined or unlined
• Choice of fastenings
• Shape of hood (long lyripipe style, pointed as the example in the photograph, rounded at the back of the head, or very full at the back of the head like a kinsale cloak hood).
• Plain or decorative borders (samples available on request)

I believe I sold the example below at about £40.  Cost on a custom make would depend on the fabric you wanted and the cost I could obtain it for.  The shoulder layers are nearly full circles of fabric to give them the drape you see in the photograph: the more shoulder layers you ask for, the more fabric will be required.

Lining will also push the price up a bit, both for materials and the extra time it takes me to cut and fit the lining.  I usually line in fairly cheap fabrics such as lining fabric (the thin slippy stuff), polycotton, or curtain lining fabric if it needs a bit more weight (usually comes in cream).  However if you want something like velvet lined with silk, expect the lining fabric to cost nearly as much as the main fabric.

Postage and packing is charged at cost by package weight for the delivery service you require.  I prefer to send all goods that cost over £30 by a recorded or special delivery service for peace of mind.  I cannot give you an accurate quote of postage and packing in advance as the final finished weight of the item will depend entirely on your choices: the more fabric involved, the heavier the finished item will be.

I accept payment by Paypal or uncrossed postal orders.

If you are interested in placing an order, please contact query@fallenseraphim.com with your specifications.  I will cost your specifications free of charge and provide you with a quote.  Any quote over £30 must have a 50% deposit paid at the time of the order.  If you do not complete the transaction when the item is complete, the deposit is non refundable to defray my costs, unless I have failed to meet your specifications entirely (e.g. I make it in hot pink instead of death gray, or I fail to meet a deadline that I have agreed with you in writing).

Fabric pouches with drawstring closure:  these can be made to your specifications in terms of

• size
• general shape (square, oblong, pointed, rounded)
• fabric
• lined or unlined
• drawstring material (ribbon, upholstery cord, leather cord, bootlace, etc)
• plain or decorative borders (samples available on request)

I do not currently make pouches with embroidery, although I can put you in contact with someone who does these if you want to be referred.

Price per pouch will depend on what fabric and drawstring material you want and the size of each pouch.  I make products in my own time so there may be a small premium if you want a pouch made very quickly or you have a bulk order you want fulfilling very quickly.  As a general price guide I sold unlined pouches for under £3 each, lined were 50p more.

Any queries please email query@fallenseraphim.com