"Do or do not -There is no try"

It was with some trepidation that, today, I finally cut into my felted jacket. 

 

I have lost a lot of weight since I made it 4 years ago and it didn’t sit right on me anymore. I love the colours of the felt so I didn’t want to ruin it. As a result I have spent some months looking at it and thinking about what I could try to do with it.

I need a major piece for an exhibition in October and I've already promised to do something with this jacket so it had to be done. 

The new pattern was drawn on interfacing, fiddled with and pinned together to make sure it fit. Next step, feeling slightly nauseous, was to cut into over 30 hours of felting meters of silk and wool together.

The result is good.

I took off the white silk ribbon embellishments. Adjusted the neck and armholes and cut quite a bit off the hem and sides. I may play with those off cuts and make a matching bag so as not to waste them. The seams have been tacked together and I will machine over those tomorrow. Then decide on a fastening for the front. There is still quite a bit of the skein of silk ribbon left so I may or may not include some of that. At least I have made a start and I am fighting my way out of the funk I have been in. 

The starting instead of looking at it and thinking of what I could try has been inspirational and I am fairly sure of what I am going to do.

As Yoda would say “Do or do not – there is no try”