biscuit: Cotton + Steel Cowl

Monday, February 23, 2015

Cotton + Steel Cowl

I have resisted buying big bits of fabric, expensive bits of fabric. All new fabric for one project. Expensive fabric... Yeah, so I caved in. I have been watching all the Cotton + Steel fabric coming out and finally I was pushed over the edge of temptation by the Mochi lawn. I love them. I decided to make myself something to wear for Birmingham this year so I would feel chic and creative.

Here we have Mochi Lawn - Speckled in Navy and Tokyo Train Ride Lawn - Mystery Food in grey,
both from The Village Haberdashery. The pink mini pom poms are from Ebay.

I love the salve edges so I saved these so I can think up a project for them.

As for the pattern. I followed the Figure 8 cowl pattern on The Village Haberdashery blog. Here is my review... The problem with easy patterns is that they don't account for the thickos like me. I think I am better with paid for patterns as they tend to spell everything out for you. In retrospect I should have treated the pom pom application like piping, but I am far too thick. Here is a catalogue of errors...

Mistake number one. Good work using the piping foot. But bad work not setting the needle a few steps inwards so that when you come to do the second line of sewing you can move the position over so that you are sure to sew over it so it's not visible. I found following my line of sewing very tricky.

Mistake number two. I should have used cotton the same colour as the pom pom trim to apply it to the backing fabric then it wouldn't have mattered so much if it was visible. You can see I chose navy to match the backing fabric. It stands out. It's stupid. I am a doofus.

Mistake number three. I made my cowl longer than the pattern specified. It said 175cm long. Ack well I am very tall so I tend to make everything bigger so it looks big enough on me. Showing a cowl on a 5ft waif is not the same as showing it on a 5ft 10 beefcake. I wanted to ensure it looks big. Of course it is really too big at two loops and too small at three loops. Silly. It works though, it's just not perfect.

Mistake number four. Look up how to join pom pom trim before embarking on the project. Nowhere does it say how you join it nicely. I fluffed mine totally. Look you can see on the right. One pom pom end is fraying into the night as we speak. I just cut it and hoped for the best. I am basically an idiot.

But I love it!

I think three turns is okay. It will keep my neck warm which is what I wanted, and be good on the bike. I don't want a cowl that just sits on your chest like a breast shelf, I need it to be round my neck.