Cable Knit Sweater Turned Pillow

Like many people, I look forward to Autumn when the weather gets cooler, the leaves change colour and it’s sweater weather. Last Autumn I was looking to add some texture and warmth to the living room with pillows for our wicker chairs. Realistically I knew that knitting pillow cases would take me longer than I’d want to spend on this project so I decided to use a secondhand sweater.

I was lucky and found this grey cable knit wool sweater and was able to stretch it out to make two breakfast pillow covers. The front and back pieces each became a pillow case and I finished the bottom zippered edge with bias tape and zipper.

If you’re looking to add some knitted texture to your living room this was a fairly quick project. Finding the right sweater is probably the hardest part.

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New Oversize Tote

The first “Shibang” bag was a large denim tote that I made and embellished with my first hand dyed wool and loopy first hand spun yarn. It was purple with an orange centre and in an abstract way looked a bit like a flower. I was a Textile Arts student at Capilano University in my first year and I wanted a bag that could carry all of the wool, fabric and books I was bringing to class each day.

What I liked about this bag was how it added some interest to any outfit and was different from anything I’d ever seen before. I began making large tote bags in 2005 and continued for a couple of years until I focused on creating smaller items.

This season I am bringing back the oversize tote in new version — made on heavy wool with structure, leather handles, rivets & metal feet. This is the perfect canvas to showcase a large colourful abstract flower and it looks good with a blazer and jeans, a casual outfit or for travelling.

The style is inspired by classic shapes with an influence from vintage luggage.

One perk of being back in the Vancouver area is that I am close to all of the family furniture and special belongings that date back many decades. The suitcase and trunk pictured above have been in the family for a long time.

The trunk was used by my great aunt Flora when she travelled to Scotland to visit family and brought it full of food. The brown suitcase belonged to my great uncle in Australia and he gave it to my parents to use when they were returning to Canada after their honeymoon in Australia and didn’t have enough space to carry everything back.

Process Photos

A few process shots and a Fall colour palette of jewel tones and muted hues. There’s something about the raw materials that I just love to look at and autumn shades are my favourite.