Dearest Hive Sewing friends...

My beautiful, quirky, comfy, colourful sweatercoat number two is coming along very slowly and very nicely!

I spent a lot of time this week on the skirt part, and on an appropriate edging that can hold the skirt to the bodice without too much pull or distortion, or messy edges...

I cut the bottom off of a favourite old cardigan, a glorious mixed-colour knitted thing which had been shrunken in stages:

It had started off oversized so at first shrinking, this was actually better for my relatively small frame... but over the years the multiple shrinking went too far and it no longer fitted. So the felted shrunken wool is perfect for this joining layer between skirt and top of the coat.

This is where I thought it needed a joining factor: above and below -

I also have the beautiful green zip set in, mostly! It runs right down into the skirt, so I am being careful with how my edges of the skirt sit: the top of it will need to be aligned with the zip ending.

Here are some additional photos of the skirt it progress: the sections are cut mostly from arms of old woolly jumpers (called sweaters in some other countries): these are all natural materials, and either pure wool, or else cashmere/ silk/ mohair/ angora (and very occasionally acrylic) mixed with regular sheep wool. As I regularly mention, I buy all my jumpers at the 50c stall in the Saturday mercato in Telese Terme (BN, Italia).

I took a while figuring out the best colour combinations; finally settling with a ring of contrasting warm and cool colours. I love organising things spontaneously and intuitively like this; it is a favourite occupation of my time, playing with fabrics: I love also trawling through the garments in the market stalls - just feeling them and imagining what can be made with them - or how they'll sit with other complimentary fabrics.

And this is the belt/ tie which I haven't quite figured out how it will sit on the waist: I want a high waist, or even to tie it just under the breasts. It is made from an old scarf and part of a lovely white woolen jumper that I had; all chopped up and reconstructed.

The pompoms from this scarf are a mess - BUT - and it's a huge BUT!! - they work gorgeously as non-pompoms! They look like chrysanthemums to me, and if I find a way to reintegrate them in to the belt or the coat in some way, or into something else, I will be very happy. I love them now that I am no longer expecting them to perform as pompom!

This is the yummy wool that I was using to edge both the border strip at the top of this post, and the belt/ waist tie. It is from an older jumper, unravelled, and made into a lovely big ball: I have two of them, and they're my favourite balls of wool, hehe!

The border above was MUCH more difficult than this lighter wool fabric to edge/ sew with the thick white wool: the belt was so much easier to get the big darning needle through.

I was also able to do some of the belt sewing on the machine, which was easier on my fingers!

I'm not totally convinced about the central strip on the belt at the back: it kind of defeats its original intention, which was to hide the join in the belt... But I will worry about that later, as it's a less key element, and can be relatively easily adjusted at the last moment: I may add a purple element. Maybe a purple strip to cover the central join...

So today I'll be attaching the skirt to the main body, I think. I tried pinning it yesterday, and it sits well... then I'll figure out what needs to be done with waist, cuffs and zip setting... and suchlike.

I hope you enjoy seeing my coat progress! I cannot wait to try it on, though we seem to be having a perpetual summer here in south Italy!! See more of my arty handmade things on my website here.

Blessings on your work and your play!

LOvE!

Clare.