hexagons, hexagons
Tuesday, 6 April 2010 08:37 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
yatiIn somewhat more productive sounding news, I have decided to go back to sewing things by hand. So. Have some hexagons. Lots and lots of hexagons.
I find that I can't really sit idly while watching TV. I used to be able to read when the TV is on, especially if it's something that I've seen before, and somehow or other I could divide my attention between it and the book, and more often than not I'd get lost in the book and forget the TV is on. Nowadays I can't seem to concentrate on my book even when it's something I've seen many times (Adam Lambert and your super angsty music video, I'm looking at you) -- the noise distracts me more than anything, I guess.
I could hole myself up in my room and read, but it's too warm upstairs, and the TV is on most of the time when there's someone in the living room. When the choice is between the silence in the sweltering hot bedroom and the TV in the living room, I have to choose the living room. The heat is ridiculous these days.
So I pay half of my attention on the television and piece hexagons together.
I think it's one of the first things my aunt taught me how to make after she showed me how to stitch a straight line. (I got bored stitching straight, even lines into chequered fabric after a while. They ended up being handkerchiefs, those pieces of chequered fabric.) Those first hexagons ended up in a rather lopsided, untidy cushion that had problems with colour coordination. I gave the cushion to my best friendarianur -- she probably still has it somewhere. (Though I don't blame you if you've lost it, you know -- it was a perfectly ugly cushion, all things considered, and I was, what, twelve? when I made it.)
You can read instructions on how it's done here. The instructions are clear and the pictures bright and pretty! I don't quite sew the pieces together that way, but basically it's the same technique. I only learnt that the technique is called "English paper piecing" and the flower-like pattern is called "grandma's flower garden" recently. All you need is fabric (I prefer lightweight cotton), paper, needle and thread, and lots of patience. So far I have a few flowers and a ball:
Those flowers will be pieced together to make something bigger. The ball -- my first attempt! and it's not very tidy -- is being used as a pin cushion. The cat was mildly interested in the ball, but in the end he left it alone.
Probably a good thing. He would've torn out the stitches in no time.
I find that I can't really sit idly while watching TV. I used to be able to read when the TV is on, especially if it's something that I've seen before, and somehow or other I could divide my attention between it and the book, and more often than not I'd get lost in the book and forget the TV is on. Nowadays I can't seem to concentrate on my book even when it's something I've seen many times (Adam Lambert and your super angsty music video, I'm looking at you) -- the noise distracts me more than anything, I guess.
I could hole myself up in my room and read, but it's too warm upstairs, and the TV is on most of the time when there's someone in the living room. When the choice is between the silence in the sweltering hot bedroom and the TV in the living room, I have to choose the living room. The heat is ridiculous these days.
So I pay half of my attention on the television and piece hexagons together.
I think it's one of the first things my aunt taught me how to make after she showed me how to stitch a straight line. (I got bored stitching straight, even lines into chequered fabric after a while. They ended up being handkerchiefs, those pieces of chequered fabric.) Those first hexagons ended up in a rather lopsided, untidy cushion that had problems with colour coordination. I gave the cushion to my best friend
arianur -- she probably still has it somewhere. (Though I don't blame you if you've lost it, you know -- it was a perfectly ugly cushion, all things considered, and I was, what, twelve? when I made it.)You can read instructions on how it's done here. The instructions are clear and the pictures bright and pretty! I don't quite sew the pieces together that way, but basically it's the same technique. I only learnt that the technique is called "English paper piecing" and the flower-like pattern is called "grandma's flower garden" recently. All you need is fabric (I prefer lightweight cotton), paper, needle and thread, and lots of patience. So far I have a few flowers and a ball:
Those flowers will be pieced together to make something bigger. The ball -- my first attempt! and it's not very tidy -- is being used as a pin cushion. The cat was mildly interested in the ball, but in the end he left it alone.
Probably a good thing. He would've torn out the stitches in no time.
