Luckily my dose was minimal but as I had witnessed it’s horrible potential I decided to cancel all the good things for the week, a class, catch up with interstate friends, babysitting, and a WAFTA meeting that I did not want to miss. Despite my general malaise I got started on K1P1#3 and it’s little story about books – Enid Blyton books in particular. I have a quarter<\/em> of the family collection, my siblings the rest. We had to divide them – such was our love for these well-read stories. Regular library visits were our norm and owning books was a real treat.<\/p>\n I spent quite a bit of time working out the correct approach to the artwork of the fabric I needed to design. How should the fabric tell the story? Do I draw interpretations of the books, photograph those that I own, chase my siblings to photograph theirs? Do I use text or covers or illustrations?<\/p>\n How should it feel<\/em>? Primary (school) colours? Vintage old, faded yet gay (in the word usage of the Blyton era of course.)<\/p>\n I then had to chose the fabric to print on…linen, vintage coloured cotton or cotton sateen? I kept in mind that my woollen palette is limited and to get working now<\/em> I need to see if I can make what I have here work. By the end of the week I have a selection of eleven woollen fabrics each linked to an Enid Blyton series. From the Famous Five and Secret Seven through to St Clares and my favourite The Magic Faraway Tree – a total of eleven favourite<\/em> series.<\/p>\n I pulled tiny jpegs of cover artwork that appealed from the Enid Blyton website and formed them into eleven fabrics. I did have plenty of choices but some weren’t team players. All week I tweaked and printed and played with colour stories. I haven’t made a sample yet but I expect no problems. The first two K1P1 quilts are neat and ordered but with this one I am aiming for a primary school feel with the colours off key. Throughout the week I returned continually<\/em> to the pastel paint chip boards – they gave me thinking time – and by the end of the week the first eight are in tweaking mode only.
\nThen my pain-savers of swimming, pilates and walking were let go, one by one.
\nMy back protested<\/strong> in bold.
\nPain vs feeling miserable. Equal winners.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/janmullen.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/Blyton-fabrics-6.jpg\")
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\nI’ve gone for the sateen, the smooth feel of it is closest to the hardback covers.<\/p>\n
\nThe tartan selection could work?
\nFaded – I don’t have enough.
\nDitto brights.
\nIn the end I think I do have enough ‘odds and sods’ to give a bit of ‘reminiscing\/vintage’ colouration – a bit of bright, a bit of dull, using various parts of the spectrum. Certainly not a crisp clean look – rather like the spines of old books muddled together on a shelf?<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n
\nNext step is to construct one row of each print- eleven rows – and then work out how many of each to print.
\nI anticipate moving easily to full printing then the slower construction phase.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n
\nGarter stitch is also my preferred option at the moment as it is the usual start for a young knitter. I am not planning on dropped stitches<\/em> but I am planning for the piece to be a bit garish and ad hoc? We’ll see what develops in the coming weeks.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n
\nThe more I work on them the more subtle they are as a group… think vintage lingerie, I suppose, instead of baby pastels?
\nI certainly enjoy making them but these little devils surely suck up time.<\/p>\n