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Tuesday 7 June 2011

Triptych 3 - slashes

My third cushion is made out of an old sweater. It came from Toast and it was very beautiful, was because I washed it carelessly and it got all felted.



I couldn't just throw it away could I?  So it joined my other old worn out favourites that still had some good bits in them,  Because it was so badly felted I knew I could just cut into it with out fear of it fraying.  That is how I came to the idea of doing a modern take on a slashed design. I have always been fascinated with historical costume, particularly the Tudors.  This portrait of Henry VIII in the National Portrait Gallery shows the old technique very clearly, the fabric of an outer garment cut at regular intervals with puffs of the under shirt pulled through, caught in places by gold clasps.  I wanted to use the idea in a little more random way.  


Using the Kidsilk Haze again, I knitted lots of irregular banana shapes


I began by placing the shapes fairly regularly when I first planned where they would go, but got bolder as I began to dig my little sharp pointed scissors in to snip and slash.


I pushed the woolly bananas up from the inside, sandwiching them between the cut edges of the cushion and back stitched them in place.


This one took on a nice natural curve



I thought it would be fun to use odd buttons and stitched the button holes in blanket stitch using red, green and purple wool to match.


 This cushion is the biggest of the three so it is going to go in the seat of the Windsor armchair.


So there you have it, three quite different pieces of good cloth cut from worn out garments, a handful if yarn left overs and a lot of fun.

xx

C

8 comments:

A Lady said...

Fab! Creativity is not short in Chez Nous!

Scrapiana said...

Love it! I've had a picture of an actor in Elizabethan costume (complete with those slits) on my inspiration board. Delighted to see where you've gone with this idea!

Mary said...

Wow! You are so creative and it looks wonderful!

Ali said...

Love the idea of knitting woolly bananas! Dod you cry when the sweater got felted originally? My hubby has a habit of doing this on the rare occasion he tackles laundry.

Caroline said...

Such a creative and fun way to use up old MLIs! My favourite linen trousers recently wore holes on both legs, so I made a mini pair for my littlest, so they live on in small-form now!

Catherine said...

ts lovely to read how much you all liked my trio, thank you.

Ali, I don't think I cried but I was rather cross!

Caroline, I'm sure you would have enjoyed seeing your littlest wearing your old trousers remodelled as when you wore them

Emma said...

Love these cushions...what a great way to recycle.x

do you mind if i knit said...

How wonderful those cushions are! I'm fascinated my your experimenting, I've not seen anything like this before, and it brings a new perspective to knitting that I haven't seen before. Congratulations on the new baby, you must be very excited, and the colours of the wool, gorgeous! I love those milky colours, they're exquisite, and lucky baby, getting a blanket made from that Sublime wool, I've knitted with it, and it's wonderful stuff. Oh, and your dress looks fantastic! I note the thing you said about making a toile first, not something I've done yet, because I'm too impatient, but I know that one of these days I'll regret not doing so! Love Vanessa xxx