I have to come out and say this straight away. This has been one of the hardest projects I've completed in a while. But now it's done I am pretty happy with how it came out.
So I found the pattern for The Poppy Pin from Lemon Pepper Studio right at the beginning of the year. It looked like a lovely project and I'm aways looking for something better than the paper poppies you get at this time of year. (10% of each pattern sold goes to Help for Heros.)
So I bought the pattern - all 42 pages! And checked the material list - some of which I had at home and some of which I had to purchase. It's a very detailed pattern with lots of photos.
Then I made my first attempt. From this I learnt you need really good light for a project this detailed, which made it a day time only project. This restricted when I could work on it quite a lot and it got put to one side.
At some point I had a second attempt and realised I'm getting old and my eyes just can't deal with this fine detail. A trip to Boots and some reading glasses (+1.50) sorted that issue. Wow what a difference they made! This isn't the only project they will be useful on.
So now I could see what I was doing I needed to work on my techniques. This and getting my colour combination right took several more attempts (I've never been the best at sewing) and if I was going to have the pin ready to wear for Rememberance 2025, I would need to get a move on.
So I got on with it and while I think I could still improve my technique, I think it's actually come out pretty well, although it really was only as I finished sewing it together that I decided this. Right up to the last stitch it was 50/50 whether I'd be wearing it or not.
If I could bring myself to try this again, I think the pattern could be modified to make some cheerful winter pansy pins. Thinking yellow and purple. But with many other things on my list, I'm not in any rush to try this out just yet.
