An inspirational blog dedicated to self-expression through fashion
Around the turn of the century, Norwegian photographer Solveig Lund (1868-1943) made a good living photographing bunad wear and bridal attires. She was based in Oslo, and at one point had 3 differe…
I wanted to make my niece Anna a crown hat for her birthday, because every little girl is a princess and an aunts job is to spoil kids rotten. But, all the princesses coronets I could find were boring, and St. Edward’s Crown is so iconic I couldn’t stop myself from taking my inspiration from it. I wanted something that would appeal to a child, be shiny and silly but at the same time quite simple and usable. So while it is a rather straightforward double knit beanie, it has a lot of beads. And then a couple more beads. And, well, some more beads than that. Consider yourself warned. I have aimed both my hats at kids, but the pattern could with some added hight and slightly bigger needles or yarn easily stretch to fit an adult. The pattern makes quite a short and wide hat. Size is achieved by calculating your own gauge, and with fingering weight yarn it will probably come out somewhere between 51 and 58 cm depending on your needle size. I guess toddler sizes could be achieved by using lace weight yarn on tiny needles… the number of stitches cast on is 152. This pattern consists of charts and brief instructions. You need to calculate your own gauge. Katie-Maus is doing a very clever alteration (I wish I’d thought of it…) by casting on fewer stitches and adding them on after the bottom band. I tried this on my blue hat and have added a new chart to the pattern.
This week I almost finished one of our old designs inspired by the ancient Russian headwears. It features a young lovely woman in a luxeriousely embroided headwear called "povoinik" and a shawl over it. I decided to call this work "Sudarushka" - it is an out-of-date Russian word meaning a kindly address to a young beautiful woman. Sudarushka, blackwork portrait of a yong lovely Russian girl Let's have a look at the fascinating ancient Russian headwears. It is really a good and endless source of designer's inspiration! And before this small exursion I want to tell a bit about such types of old-time woman’s hewarwear as Povoinik, Kichka, Soroka and, of course, Kokoshnik. Kichka is a headgear imitating cow’s horns and thus it symbolized the woman’s fertility. The horned kichka was worn by young married women and changed it into the hornless one when woman became old. It was mainly used in the Southern provinces (Tula, Ryazan, Kaluga, Oryol, etc.) of Russia. The kichka covered the hair and had a firm part in front above the face, with a piece of bark or a plank inserted, forming horns, a blade or a hoof. The kichka was put on the head, the hair thoroughly covered with cloth, and then the cloth was fixed on the head by way of rounding the hoofs several times with a lace. At the back of the kichka they used to put on a beaded right-angled stripe of velvet, fastened on cardboard for firmness. The first written record of kichka refers to 1328. In the early 20th century this complex headgear was almost everywhere replaced by the povoinik, or the kerchief (headsquare). In the Voronezh Region, however, the kichka remained as a wedding garment till the 1950s. Soroka was the name of the trimmed outer part of kichka-type headwear, its shape usually connected with the shape of a kichka. The soroka was made of fabric and, being stretched over the kichka, sometimes might hide its horns. Any peasant woman could sew it. Kokoshnik is a folk headgear widely known thanks to Russian folk tales. The history of kokoshnik is full of enigmas and mysteries, and nobody knows when exactly it came to existence. It is only known that orders of Peter the Great put an interdict on wearing kokoshnik by boyar ladies. Yet, the headwear survived in peasant and merchant milieu (mainly in the Northern provinces) as an attribute of festive or wedding dress, whereas in the late 18th century Catherine the Great allowed it only as an element of a carnival dress. Unlike the everyday headwear such as soroka or kerchief, it was at first exclusively festive and was richly decorated with pearls, especially in the North. Only married women used to wear kichka and soroka, whereas kokoshnik was worn by unmarried maids as well. Kokoshnik looks like a roundish shield around the head. The name “kokoshnik” comes from the Old Slavic “kokosh” that meant a hen or a cock. The main feature of the kokoshnik is a sort of a crest rising above the forehead. Its shape varied from province to province. It was a light fan of thick solid paper stitched to a cap with a ribbon running down behind. Kokoshniks were trimmed with brocade, galoons, beads, pearls and, the richest ones, with gems. Old time Russian woman's headwear Old time postcard, the begining of the 19th cent. If you feel like, you can find more information about ancient Russian female headwear here Traditional Women’s Headwear.
There are so many cool vintage-inspired Halloween costumes out there. This year I have a new inspiration for what I am going to be…Atomicpunk (aka atompunk). Above image from Planet of…
盖娅传说 Heaven Gaia
“You’re a very skilled craftsman. If you just apply those skills to any medium, you can create anything,” Alexander McQueen told Shaun Leane. The jeweler is auctioning the incredible pieces he created for the designer at Sotheby’s.
The Stairway to Heaven Hat is worked in the round from the rib to the crown. Sizes: S (53-55 cm) / M (56- 58 cm) Yarn: Main Color (MC): Zegna Baruffa Supergeelong (1500 m/100 g; merino 100% with 4 strands of yarn held together) 40-60 g and Contrast Color (CC) Lana Gatto Harmony (1500 m/100 g; wool 100% with 5 strands of yarn held together) 25-40 g. Needles: Circular needles 2.5 and 3.5 mm. Notions: Marker; cable needle, tapestry needle. Gauge: 32 sts and 40 rows over 10 cm in pattern stitch worked in the round with 3.5 mm needles after wet blocking. Charts: These charts are worked using slipped stitches. Unlike Fair Isle, there are no colour changes during the round, no threads floating at the back of the work – or at the inside of the hat. Each round is worked completely in one color. At the end of each round, pick up the next color from underneath the color you just worked with to create a jogless striping (do not twist yarns). The color changes are created by slipping the stitches. Rib is worked with MC yarn.
Hello every One and welcome to the Fabulous Free Lance Friday Edition, thank King or Queen You for joining Me, it is always an Honour to have You in My House. For this Fabulous Free Lance Friday Edition I might be keeping it somewhat short because I’m looking forward to catching up on some of ... Read More "Volume CCLXXVIII: The Fabulous Free Lance Friday Edition; More Magical Hat Tricks of the Crown" »
You know when you have grande ideas of what to be for Halloween… and then you just forget about it till the last minute? That is me every year. This year is no different, but instead of the night before, it was the weekend when I started contemplating my outfit.
