Purple rain Avalon: collar and cuffs

I added gold ruffles to the cuffs of the jacket with a purple velvet ribbon to hide unsightly ends of the ruffle. I also made a gold flower to pin to the collar. I still need to attach it to a pin base but that's just a moment with a hot glue gun. I haven't made the frogs yet. I found a tutorial for it but I really didn't like how they turned out. I know that I can make them much nicer than that so I've busted out my pirated copy of Irish Crochet: Technique and Projects by the Priscilla Publishing Co. and will be crocheting my little heart out soon.

Flowered corduroy Avalon Jacket --Bigger, better, and well, just bigger.

I loved the one that I made for Primrose so much ( it looks absolutely fabulous with blue jeans) that I made a bigger one for Willa. So much easier the 3rd time around. I absolutely adore that flowered corduroy. I am sad to see it go. I have tiny smidge of it left. I may make it into a Insa for Primrose. I have a bunch of nice new skirt patterns, but I'm afraid to use a beloved and irreplaceable fabric on an untested pattern.

Purple Rain Avalon

It's mostly finished. I still need to put some ribbon around the cuffs and I'm planning to crochet some purple frog closures and to make a gold flower to pin at the collar. This was planned as the companion to the Early American Bordello Insa skirt that I made last spring. I found this difficult fabric much easier to deal with the second time around. Since it has a tendency to unravel as soon as you cut it, I singed all of the edges right away. This melted the ends and kept my fabric nice and sound until I sewed it up tight. Unfortunately, my choice of lining fabric was not a good. It tended to burn instead of melt, so I ended up with lots of frayed ends. I eventually applied some light interfacing and that helped. I need a better singing system than a bic lighter though. My fingers got sore and the lighter got very, very hot!

I had a lot of difficulty making choices for this jacket. I couldn't decide on a lining, and now I think I should have gone with a different on. I ended up running out of the gold and had to use a purple stripe for the sleeve lining. I also sewed the front lining to the back wrong way around so I added the blue ribbon to cover the seams instead of unpicking and re-sewing. I added some lavender ribbon up and down the front and back, and then went back and unpicked it all.

I love the way this turned out. I keep thinking of Prince when I work on it, all it needs is a billowy neckpiece to make it perfect for him. I completely adore the gold ruffles on the back. I would like a touch of gold at the cuffs and collar but I'm not sure how I'm going to get it there.

Just as a side note, when Willa got dressed this morning she put on only clothes that I had made for her --the ruffled Feliz dress, Imke hoody, and a pair of pants with a lovely indian print of animals on it. It made me very happy.

Elizabethan Avalon Jacket

This jacket turned out really well. I love the button loops with the lacing on the back. I stitched down both sides of the ribbon on the sleeves and threaded the elastic through them. I am concerned that the velvet ribbon will fray and tear. I had planned to fully line the jacket, but I didn't think that it would be possible with the elastic on the sleeves so I lined the bodice instead. Now I have to make a matching skirt!

Sewing along

I am working on the Willa version of the Avalon jacket. I just picked up the ribbon for it today and I'm quite excited about it. It will be much more embellished than Primrose's. I'm including lacing on the back and lots of ribbon.

I also just ordered a new Farbenmix pattern, Willemientje, and I'm looking forward to making it. I think I may make it up as a Solstice gift for Willa. She will love it -big swirly skirts get two thumbs up from Wil. I also picked up some ribbon while I was getting the pattern. It was just sitting there --covered with hedgehogs and tiny houses!