Vivian is the person responsible for introducing me to bead weaving which I'm now very addicted to, so it was fitting that I gave her the bugle spiral bead bracelet (blogged here) after she said she liked it.
I think it suits her!
Oh, where was I? The white lace.
This is what I made. I sewed three costume pearls onto it otherwise it'll look really plain.
If you've never made a lace flower before, it's really easy.
Step 1: Cut some lace, 6 to 8 inches. Sew running stitches (double thread) through the holes near the bottom of the lace along the length. Make sure the stitches aren't too small and not too close together.
Step 2: You pull the thread and the lace scrunches up. Arrange the lace into a circle. Secure this formation using your needle and thread. Just keep sewing the center together until it doesn't feel like it will fall apart.
Step 3: Sew pearls to center of lace. I don't feel comfortable sewing the pearls directly to the lace. So what I do is I place a piece of felt cut in a circle between the pearls and lace. The felt makes a big difference.
Step 4: I glue a hair clip to the back. And I don't touch it again until it's completely adhered.
I have a surprisingly small amount of lace. Although I love lace, I enjoy making them more than buying them. Once I found a teacher in Singapore who knew bobbin lace making but she was not confident enough to take me on as a student. The only lace I'm able to make are tatted lace and crochet lace. One day I hope to pick up knitted lace.
I have more costume pearls than is possible for someone who hardly ever uses them. Some are from Tiba's stash while the rest are bought by me.
Oh, I have a pearl story for you. When I was a kid, maybe 8 or 9 years old, I loved to play with my sisters' stash. My eldest sister worked as a dressmaker and she often gave us a lot of accessories and supplies - mostly leftovers from jobs. One day, I found some pearls and I wondered what would happen if I put one of the pearls inside my nostrils. Did I ever mention I was a pretty dumb kid? After I stuffed the pearl into my nostril, I realized I couldn't remove it. I tried blowing it out but it stayed lodged deep inside my nose. I went to my mother and after making one feeble attempt to remove it and failing, she told me to wait till my eldest sister came home. My eldest sister lived elsewhere and would visit us. I always wondered what would happen if my eldest sister never came home. Anyway, I had no choice but to wait because no one was helping me. I was meanwhile going insane. I breathed through my mouth and secretly wondered if I was an adopted child because my mother did nothing!
Finally, my sister came home and my mother told her what had happened. My sister waved me over, tilted my head up, stuck her pinkie into my nostril and dug out the pearl. Just like that, I was free. Able to breathe again. I really thought I was destined to live the rest of my life with a pearl inside my nostril. I did get a good scolding from my sister but she saved my life! Anyway, that's the one thing I really admired about my eldest sister. Nothing seemed to faze her. Pearl in your nostril? No problem.
I made a total of 5 hair lace flowers. I wish I have a larger variety of lace to choose from. Speaking of which, do you notice how expensive lace is? I don't think I will make many of these.
Some of you are probably dying to see the back of my hair clips. So I took one shot, just for you.
I used HT2 textile glue to glue the hair clip but you can opt to get the kind of hair clips which have holes and you can sew them to the lace/felt. I like this glue because it's freaking strong. Although it has a smell and I'm super sensitive to glue smell, it doesn't bother me or give me any headaches. The best thing is it doesn't try to kill me like E6000. I get chest pains every time I use E6000. It's toxic, I tell you.
My friend, Corinna bought this HT2 glue for me when she went to Germany. The poor thing had to search for it! I am so grateful to her.
I thought I'll show you what the hair lace looks like pinned on "hair". My Melly is a good model, isn't she?
Poor Bear found out the hard way he couldn't model my hair clips. He has no hair.
Disclosure: i am a amazon associate and will get a few pennies thrown my way if you purchase via my links.
Partay: Sew Many Ways
Those are really pretty!!! I'm wondering how your sister knew how to so expertly clear your nostril. Maybe she'd done it before :)
ReplyDeletewhen my Dad was little and toy guns weren't seen as a future indicator of murderous tendencies, he had one that had little plastic bullets that you could load but not shoot. he stuck one up his nose and couldn't get it out. My grandma kept telling him to stop picking his nose and he finally said 'How else do I get the bullet out?' They had to go to the doctor it was so wedged in there. Hard to believe he's a very smart guy (based on that tale :)
After Anonymous^ my comment will seem like a breath of fresh air!
ReplyDeleteI had to laugh that you thought you might have been adopted because your mother didn't help you!
Melly is doing a mighty fine job of modelling the hair clip. I don't think bear will be too disappointed, he still got his photo on the blog.