work has kept me MIA for the last couple of weeks, and my poor blog has been sadly neglected. i've been up to my elbows in stewardess hats and animal ears and tails for a new stage adaption of 'Martha Speaks'. fun, yes, but it left me little time or desire to tackle my own projects. the show ships out on Monday, so at last i have some time to myself. and what do i do? i start stitching. yup.
i made a pair of pants for one of the characters in the show and loved how the pocket was put in, so i decided that i needed a new skirt with the same detail. after all, spring is coming and my wardrobe could use an update. but was it enough to make a new skirt? oh, no. of course not. so out came the long needle, crochet cotton thread and my G hook. time to make some fancy edging!
the first step was to stitch to the hem of the skirt a nice embroidery chain stitch. in this case, in a multiple of 8. when that was done, i single crocheted all the way around to create a nice foundation for my intended lace border.
to create this particular trim, follow these 2 simple additional row:
Row 1: Ch 1, sc in same space, ch1, skip 1 st, *sc in next st, ch 3, skip 1 st, sc in next st, skip 1 st* continue around, join at end with slip stitch.
Row 2: Ch 1, sc in space formed by joining sc. in next ch 3 space: triple crochet, Picot 3 (for picot: ch 3, sl stitch in 1st loop of chain, creating a tiny loop) create a total of 4 tr/picot combos, then tr once more: there should be 5 tr topped with 4 picots total.
skip next ch 1 space, sc into next tr, skip next ch 1 space.
repeat this pattern all the way around, skipping all ch 1 spaces and alternating the picot/tr cluster in ch 3 spaces with sc in ch 3 spaces.
join at the end with a slip stitch.
admittedly, i'm a bit obsessed with embellishing these days (there was an earlier post on this blog of a skirt i made and created a shell stitch edging when i first learned the technique). but what a fun way to refresh a spring wardrobe! and there are endless possibilities when it comes to crochet borders. aside from many excellent books bursting with edgings and motifs, the internet is lousy with them. then there's the option of going rogue and experimenting. the nice part is, you can always frog what you've done and start over, no yarn wasted and no harm done. and now, i'm off to dig through my closet to assess the possibilities for my 'new' spring wardrobe.
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