The second collar in my series of wearable armour for corporate women is this blue neckpiece. The idea here is to make a protective piece. So, according to the sort of folklore I was brought up with, blue wards off evil spirits, which is apparently why we dress baby boys in blue, and thus the piece is largely blue. In other traditions shiny things dazzle the devil and keep him away from you, so it has lots of golden coins. The piece is also clearly a nod to the lovely tribal embroideries that are inspirational for so many of us. The best example for me is probably, as I have said before on the blog, The Shining Cloth:
This is a book that I think everyone should have, as it is packed with glorious photos of amazing decorated cloths.
My piece has been hanging about for some time waiting to be made into something. I got into a good habit a couple of years ago of using the leftovers at the end of a project to make up a block, and eventually you have enough to make a quilt. This piece was leftover from a series of small quilts about Walter Benjamin which I made last year:
I had this very pretty little piece made up of bits of hand-dyed fabric:
It had some machine stitching on it:
And I decided to do some hand-stitching with the lovely Madeira lana thread:
Then I squared it up a bit and sewed on the coin charms which I think I got very cheaply at a Hobbycraft sale:
Finally I made the cord:
This one is very light, and I think it could be worn. Being a major fan of the kaftan, I have several things it might go with. But it will be interesting to see which ones people do want to wear when I go to the next stage of the project.
