Portia emailed me a very pretty picture and dared me to :)
Which with me can be a really bad idea. Portia was looking for a way of displaying her tokens and awards in a way that both showed them off, and stood alone. So the plan is to adapt this cloaklet to that end. Instead of the embroidered red flowers in the centre of each diamond we will attach a token or award.
The Planning
I've been doing my head in over the past few days working out the pattern and bead maths for this. It is suprising how accurate they seem to be now that I am doing the test piece.
My plan of attack has been to do the trim first. Partly because this will dictate the diameter of the cloaklet.
To start, I needed to estimate how many beads in the trim. So I counted the bottom row of the two sections that repeat in the pattern in the picture. I then times that by the number of repeats I could see (which was 5 approx). Using that number and a measure from point to point on myself, about 10cm down from my shoulder points approx where it would sit on me if I was to wear this, I was able to determine that the trim uses 4.5mm beads, approx. And that the trim is about 5cm wide (and 112cm long).
Having a look online and at the beads in my collection, I've altered the pattern to suit 3.5mm beads instead. I will have access to a greater number of bead colours and types using the slightly smaller ones. Which means that I have lengthened the pattern to fit all the bits in I want.
I've now worked out the pattern repeat with a nice design. I've kept the little triangles from the original in the first 'main' repeat, but instead of a flower I've gone with a mini laurel wreath. In the smaller 'spacer' repeat I've put in a pattern, or rather an initial. P for Portia (times two). Both things I think personalise this for her and look quite effective as well.
I've done the maths for the piece (which you can see at the bottom on the pic above) and added a key for the colours etc. Next step is to do a tester piece and see if the design looks good in reality as well as on paper.
Testing
In doing this test piece I have chosen beads in my collection that are onhand. The colours I've used are not representative of the final product. And I am still deciding what colours the border and the inner sections will be (though I am thinking white for the fill, and a black or brown for the border). I do intend to keep the colours as my pattern shows (for those with colours).
It has been awhile since I have done peyote stitch, so I am relearning what a pain starting it can be :) This time around, because this is a trim piece, I have ancored the starting row to a scrap of fabric which has helped alot. But you can certainly see my mistakes and muckups in the first little bit of the test piece (which is part of the point in doing a tester too).
Using the pins has helped me get this started too. However I do need some longer ones, which I will grab from the shops tomorrow. :)
So far it has taken me about 3-4 hours to get this far (with the planning and patterning too, I'm not that slow! :) ) and I see this taking many an evening to complete! There's still a bit to do before I cover one full pattern repeat, but I will post again when more is done.
