I finally completed my road trip journal.  Not bad – only a month and a bit late!  I might share a few pages here in due course, but for now, I’ll leave you with one of my favourite pages because I’m sure you will feel better for a little Schiller.  Auf Deutsch, of course. (It’s from Wilhelm Tell and was scribed on the wall of the steamer we took on the lake that afternoon)

So, with an afternoon to myself, I cracked open the box of goodies bought in La Droguerie, Lille: the makings of a scarf.  Everything included, this should be a breeze, I thought.

Aha!  En Français!   Pas de problème!

I knew how to “surfiler”, bien sûr. 

But what about the colours?  “Bleu Canard”?  “Bleu Klein”?  My hero was brought in as a second opinion and we studied picture and materials and worked it out together.

Actually, I’d already sewn the pieces together by then and fortunately, had got it right!

The ends of the scarf are finished with a double piped edge, really clever, especially when someone has already done the first step of the piping!  I stitched one edge in place before realising that this is tricky – the fabric was stretchy and needed more care.  I got out my Clover clips and found them very useful indeed as I had another go, taking it slowly and carefully.

Actually, I needed several goes before I could get the stitching close enough to the piping cord for it to look acceptable.

Having completed all four piped ends, I sewed one long edge and pressed the seam open, as per instructions.

Time to apply the spots.  Each one was cut from fabric with a thin vilene backing.  Having sorted them out and distributed the colours, I pinned them in place ready to sew.

So far so good.  I considered getting out the 505 spray adhesive instead of pins but thought I’d continue as the instructions told me to.  With hindsight though, I ought to have done that – it would have made the next step much easier.

Zigzagging around circles isn’t easy.  The small, one inch circles especially so and having completed two or three, I wished I’d handsewn them, or even done some more free-style embroidery scribbles instead.  Never mind.  In true blogging tradition, I have included the photograph of the best one.  Just imagine they are all like that!

Twenty four circles later, and I was glad to be finished with that.  Time to sew the other long edge up and finish the ends.

The piping is a really neat feature of this scarf and it’s something I’ll keep in mind for future.  Not only does it add a little personality to the otherwise simple rectangle, it adds weight to the ends and also conceals the hand stitched closing seam.

Weird colours in this photograph – it really is the same scarf!  But it shows the end result with the double piped seam.  Neat!

And there it was, done!

I’m really pleased with the finished scarf, not only the colour combination but the individuality too.  La Droguerie do come up with these good ideas with a little French “pizazz” and elegance.

Best of all is the fabric.  It’s cotton sateen, has a rich sheen and depth of colour and was very enjoyable to sew.  Worst thing was stitching those pesky circles to a single layer of fabric without any stabiliser.  Next time, I’ll add another layer of something underneath, just to hold it all together a little more.

Not bad for an afternoon’s work though?