The Zwiebelmuster design is full of flowers, leaves, stems, and curlicues. They can all be crocheted, appliqued, beaded, and embroidered. So that’s what I did, and it took some time.
You know from reading the earlier post about the Winterling wall hanging, that I photographed a coffeepot as a model for the vase. I enlarged the photo to the size of the wall hanging and printed it. The coffeepot/vase became my pattern, which I consulted for size and shape as well as light, shadow, and the actual blue design.
For a project like this, I use the paper shape for a template. This first photo shows the paper template next to the fabric vase, which is made from knitted fabrics pieced together. The fabric vase is a little bigger than the paper, to give me room to fold under the raw edges.
Various shades of blue knitting created some highlight and shadow. But tulle or netting is the best for making shadows. More layers of tulle mean darker shadows, as you can see in this next photo.
I made a start crocheting leaves and flowers with No. 10 crochet cotton. I crochet without instructions, measuring my foundation chain against the printed template. Sometimes I have to unravel and recrochet a piece several times, but eventually it turns out alright.
We’re getting closer with this one. Usually, I try to get most of the pieces crocheted before starting to sew them in place. That’s because I have to pin, unpin, rearrange, and repin many times to get the flowers and leaves to look right.
We had a beautiful, warm day in the middle of February, so I sat at our patio table with coffee to sew the crocheted pieces in place. And sew. And sew.
It’s just about finished here. Yay! After this, I folded under the raw edges and whip stitched them down before handsewing the vase to the wall hanging.
