A Stitching Odyssey: Watch This Lace - Elpida's luxurious scarf

Friends, can you believe that Watch This Lace is already back with its second participant today!?! I first came across Madame Pelagie a year ago when Lazy Stitching wrote about foreign language blogs. I was instantly smitten with Elpida's fresh-looking creations. Being fluent in Greek, I also love the nostalgia her beautifully written blog conjures up for me. Having left Cyprus aged 13 and well before I got into sewing, I also enjoy learning what various sewing terms are in Greek! Oh and the creative lasy also designed the sweet Watch This Lace blog button! I hope you enjoy learning a thing or two from Elpida too...

Hello there! I am so glad to be featured here, on lovely Marie's blog! My name is Elpida, and I have a blog in Greek, called Madame Pelagie (you can go there, you won't make anything out of the text, but hopefully you'll like the photos, and, oh, there's always Google Translate, right?).

I started sewing about two years ago, so I am still a beginner, but constantly looking for new techniques and challenges to grow my skills. So, in that context, when a couple of months ago Marie proposed to me to participate in this 'project' of hers, I immediately jumped at the chance! The stages I went through till the final outcome were quite a few and at times frustrating, because nothing seemed to be good enough to be presented to an international (thank you very much) audience...

My train of thought in a nutshell went like this: My first thought was to sew a skirt and then sew the lace trim to the hem on the inside, which I have done before, and I really liked; I like discreet things and surprises! But, considering that, ehm, I've actually done it before, I wanted to do something different. Then a belt came to mind, a kind of an obi (Japanese) belt, wide enough to accommodate several rows of the lace. Don't know why I didn't go for it - the mind acts in mysterious ways! Then I thought (again and still), this delicate lace trim, when pared with satin and pale colours feels at home, but then, its ecru colour with an ecru or powder or light grey satin fabric (I matched all of those together at the fabric store) reminded me of negligees and lingerie. 

So, I decided to go with something I could wear with everything and really enjoy now that the weather is colder. My friend Kiki (a style and aesthetics guru, I might say) had this genius idea that I should make a scarf with strips of the fabric and the lace trim sewn on it, and we spent a good few hours brain storming about how exactly it should be done.

When Marie sent me the lace trim, I went to my favourite fabric store and bought a beautiful alpaca fabric, that had a bit of silk in it, enough to give it a wonderful sheen. At the time I hadn't figured out what exactly I would do with it, but I liked its colour, especially combined with the colour of the lace. That was perfect for the job! Bang! Everything fell in its place: Bliss.

So, I got to work: I cut two wide rectangles (about one meter long by 30 centimetres wide) and a lot of narrow strips (which I literally ripped away from the fabric - very fun to do), enough to cover the front rectangle and a little longer. Oh, I ripped the strips on the straight grain, as opposed to the body of the scarf itself, which is cut on the crosswise grain, so that the light would be reflected differently. I then attached (with zig zag stitch) the strips to the scarf, in such a way so that they could fray (I wanted the fraying effect). The whole idea was to create something unpretentious and elegant at the same time, not very over-thought, or symmetrical, or perfect for that matter. So, I didn't measure anything and kind of eye-balled the place that the strips (fabric and lace) should be sewn. I first sewed the fabric with my sewing machine and then the lace trim by hand - I always like to sew something by hand when making my clothes; it feels more haute-couture to me.

The result was better than I imagined, and the scarf is actually very warm and cosy and luxurious at the same time. Plus, the colour of the fabric (kind of taupe-nude kind of thing), highlights the lace and makes it the star of the day. I feel very special wearing it, with the precious vintage lace and the sheen of the fabric.

Marie, I really hope to have made justice to your lace and thanks again so much for the opportunity to participate to this wonderful project of yours. That was fun! Can't wait to see what the other talented ladies have come up with!

xxx Elpida

I'm so glad that Elpida gave her lace a new lease of life by making something that will get a lot of use - what a great idea! And her scarf will instantly smarten up any outfit!

Next Sunday, I'm super excited to be welcoming the legend that is...Karen from Did you make that?

Previous Watch This Lace posts

Introduction - Armistice blouse (including full contributor schedule)

Week 1 - Winnie's modern librarian blouse