Wednesday 8 October 2014

Yarndale inspired Mandala

I expect those yarn addicted blog followers amongst you can not have failed to notice that Yarndale took place last weekend, up in Skipton, North Yorkshire.

The first ever Yarndale was held in 2013 and from what I have read, was a tremendous success.  It is described as a "creative festival celebrating all things woolly and wonderful" and from pictures I've seen, it certainly lives up to it's claim.  One of the people involved is Lucy over at Attic 24 a wonderfully colourful, yarny blog which I always enjoy visiting.  Recently she posted about the Starflower Mandala made from a free pattern


found over at Zooty Owl's Blog.  It was perfect for a visual display she was organising for this year's Yarndale and a few other friendly bloggers offered to help her out by making one or two themselves.

I came across this event too late this year to be able to get myself up to North Yorkshire, as it is quite a trek from down here in South Devon! But, I have already put it in my diary for next year when I hope to rectify the situation. Anyway, I am telling you all this so you understand where the inspiration for my mandala came from!  I instantly fell in love with the colours and the size so decided I would make myself a bit of Yarndale!!

I have some gorgeous Planet Penny Cotton which is so easy to work with and comes in a range of cheerful, bright colours (Planet Penny - another wonderfully colourful, yarny blog!). There are about 18 rounds to the pattern so I chose just 9 colours, deciding to start with red through to blue and back to red again.


I made a start .... the first 4 rounds


Now up to round 9!


and I'm afraid that is as far as I have got!  So far it is about 10" wide from point to point.  I am aiming to work on this over the next few days but if I had taken time to finish it before I wrote this post I wouldn't have had time to write the post. To finish or to post? Catch 22 I think!!  I should be able to show you the finished article next week. Watch this space.

I would just like to share one more little snippet with you.  I have been thinking of doing a bit of dressmaking for a while now, but it's not easy making things to fit when you have a few lumps and bumps in the wrong places!  Anyway, I thought I would start with something simple and have chosen to make a sleeveless top.  First hurdle - to find a pattern.  I came across this one Sorbetto by Colette Patterns which is free to download.


It prints out onto about 20 sheets of A4 and comes with really easy instructions on how to print it out to the right size and easily matches up using those little black diamonds you can see in the picture below.  Here it is all pieced up and ready to go.


It was easy to work out which size to follow, once I had measured my lumps and bumps, and there were also finished measurements so you could chose the perfect fit.  I'm going to try making it first using calico so I have the opportunity to make final tweaks if necessary before tackling the real thing!
I'll keep you posted on how it turns out.

Off to finish my Mandala now, thanks for reading :)

16 comments:

  1. Oh I LOVE the colours of your mandala and can't wait to see it finished. Good luck with your sewing project and a good idea to make anything new in calico that way you have a fitting which is more personal to you. Thanks for visiting my blog earlier today Anita

    ReplyDelete
  2. Yes Yarndale is brilliant, I went last year but was unable to make this time, you will really enjoy it I'm sure if you go next year. I love this mandala it's on my to do list too, I love the colours, rainbow happy colours, hope your sewing works out for you, I'm a bit hit and miss in the sewing area haha, it was lovely to see you on my blog, hope you pop by again. :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hopefully I will manage to go next year. I will definitely visit your blog again :)

      Delete
  3. I am glad I am not the only yarny crafter in the world that has not been to Yarndale. I would love to go. Maybe we might bump into each other one year! :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Love the mandala Mum! May have to come to Yarndale with you next year :D x

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hehe i love the pom-pom sheep at the top of your post! Your mandala is so pretty, planet penny cotton was the perfect choice :) x

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes it is rather lovely, it's from the Yarndale website. I couldn't resist it. It seemed to sum up Yarndale. The Planet Penny colours were just the job :)

      Delete
  6. The Mandala is gorgeous and the planet penny cotton looks perfect for it. I really wanted to go to Yarndale again this year but couldn't with having Sciatica. Definitely going next year though we will have to meet at the knit and natter area!

    ReplyDelete
  7. It all looks fabulous, I love those colours too.

    ReplyDelete

I really appreciate all the lovely comments you leave so thank you for taking precious time to do this.