Reinventing the collar.

Hello everyone, I hope you have been enjoying the May day bank holiday weekend!

Blogging activity has been reduced to once a month lately, which is not favourable to either me or you.  There is much going on in the making world of Colour and Cloth and over the next month I will be setting time aside to tell you all about it.

Today you find me on a peaceful journey over the Irish sea after a beautiful weekend in Scotland.  Enjoying the 2 hour ferry journey catching up on news, the latest magazines, text messages and of course blogging!

Here's a little project that had been put on the back burner for a while...

A buttery chocolate brown leather jacket by Irish designer Roisin Gartland. 

 

 

Im a real sucker for Irish designers.  I like to support local talent and industry, even though it was a charity shop find for £5 a few years ago.  I never really wore it and I have just realised why...it was the collar.  It had to come off!

Scissors in hand I started snipping. Now what to do with the now detached collar?

I love sheepskin, and had a very small skin than had never really found a lasting purpose.  Inspired by our costume making for the 'Wildlings' Season 2 Game of Thrones' I played about with some collar ideas on my mannequin.

 

Northern Ireland's very own Ciaran Hinds in the HBO series Game of Thrones wearing his Wildlings costume well.  Image by Helen Sloan.

I love designing accessories and garments that can be worn many ways and this was no exception.  Heres are at least 5 ways to wear. 

 

Option 1

 

 

Option 2

 

 

Option 3

 

 

Option 4

 

 

Option 5

 

 

Lets not forget about the leather jacket...heres how it looks now.  Much better I think, and more comfortable to wear.

 

 

Pity the weather is hotting up now...I will have to wait until winter to wear it! As they say in Game of Thrones 'Winter is Coming'.
I say lets have Spring, Summer and Autumn first!

                                                                       Until next time,

Enjoy creating
Christine x

D.I.Y ... Stacking shelves and shoes

Long time...but after a very relaxing seaweed bath I was inspired to do a little D.I.Y and put some shelves up in my bedroom. 


I am sure I am not alone when I admit to having over 30 pairs of shoes (not including boots) so a gal needs plenty of space to store them all.  We all know a girls best friend are Diamonds, but along with her daddy, her triple D is 'D.I.Y'.

Marilyn singing 'Diamonds are a girls best friend' from the film 'Gentlemen Prefer Blondes'.

I sometimes forget what shoes I actually own because they are hidden at the back of the closet in boxes.  If they are on display then they will be worn more often.  I had written on my 'To do list' - get some shelving for shoes.  In what will be another blog post I was given over 8 drawers from a linen factory that was closing down in Belfast, these were perfect to display and store my shoes.

Every girl should have one of these!

I have to be truthful here....

I called my dad :)

Heres me and my dad in the 70's at the caravan in Newcastle...great memories!

My dad is a D.I.Y wiz-kid.  He worked as a butcher all his life but I think DIY has always been one of his big hobbies.  My mum is very lucky...

The guy in the picture is NOT my dad!!

So with tools in hand: nails, hammer and a spirit level I found a wall in my bedroom with nothing on it!!  ... These things are pretty hard to come by these days after being in my house for 8 years!

Blank, but not for long.

Up go the drawers  note the handles on the side.  Dad made the dividers.  A lick of wood stain, and a few hours drying time and the shelves were ready to be anointed with shoes.

First shelf filled.  Thats 3 pairs and counting.

4, 5, 6, 7...

8, 9 , 10, 11...

12,13,14...

15,16,17 (the bottom pair have already been counted)

18,19

and 20!  These lace up Gladiator style stilettos are strung up through the drawer handle.

The finished shoe shelving.  I can still spot a place for a very low shoe...can you?!

I don't often get the chance to wear heels, but I am going to make sure that these superstars get a night out on the town very soon.

This DIY project took me 30 minutes to put up.  My dad took a good few hours making me the inner shelves, thanks Dad!  Many thanks also to Peter of 'Copeland Linens' Belfast for the drawer donations.

Until again, happy DIY-ing

Christine x