Category: Pashminas

Pashminas and a Happier New Year...

12/6/2014

For everyone who was not there :

On December 21st last year another charity event was organized at Omikron gallery for The Sophia Foundation for children. This time it was not for the children for Africa but for those closer to home, in Cyprus whose families have been severely affected by the economic crisis. It has taken me a good 5 months to post about this and upload these photos as we have had to get through the Christmas madness, setting up an exhibition ....( see our Exhibition Patchaouri 2014 page for a glimpse of how we spent our opening night ) children , family and students , moving to Australia , renovations etc. which, have all demanded a lot of our time ...

Hope you enjoy the slide shows of the exhibition and pashminas that were all available for auction , and yes it was a HUGE success and managed to ensure 8 schools could be set up with kitchens, and, supply meals for their students for a year ... we hope they are all having a Happier New Year....Maro

And a few closer photos of some pashminas :

Ps : Apologies for not writing the names of all creators , memory failing and list in a drawer approx. 1400 km away !!! If you would like to see Patchaouri's contribution to the exhibition please click on the button below to see the blog post ..

PASHmina unwrapped

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Pashmina unwrapped...

21/12/2013

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Last year I was asked to participate in a charity exhibition to raise money for the Sophia Foundation's orphanage in Kenya. (see buttons at end of this blog)
This year ,due to the economic situation that has affected this island, the Foundation decided to set up a school lunch programme to ensure that children who have been hit the hardest get a cooked meal at least once a day. In order to raise money for this cause, 230 pashminas were given to people to embellish and create their own pashmina to wear.
When I got "my" pashmina in my hands I realised what a challenge this was going to be. This pashmina was the real deal...90%cashmere and 10% silk....so soft, lightweight, fine, very fluid nearing slippery.
What to do? Cottons are too stiff, sewing by machine would stiffen and would be harsh and puncture those fine weaves.
At one stage, being totally fed up with the situation and politics we are bombarded with day in day out , I thought of making it into a noose , and having lots of red and blue triangle purses spilling out and dripping onto a Cyprus flag with a sign saying WEAR IT...I got over it and thought again...
The only medium I could think of ,that was suitable, was wool, but didn't represent Patchaouri. The only fabrics left for me to use were my treasured silks...

silks...

silk tie options...

Squares , triangles or even circles? My bodgey stitching with thick cottons or,smaller stitches not to show on the reverse? Embroidery or not? Ties?

After trying out some techniques and stitches on a pashmina scarf I had which ,proved to be a waste of time ,since ,the composition of the scarf was 30 %silk ,70% wool making a huge difference in texture and how the silk sits and reacts...

Did my research on threads , stitch length and
needles I would need and decided on colours, I started "work" on a Gees Bend style with ties.

Finding that silk "sticks" and slides when in tiny pieces, instead of a third of the pashmina being covered, I managed an 8 inch strip before wanting to jump out a window!!!

rounds ,squares...

pleased with how flat I got the silk to sit..

birds eye view...

On the opposite end I used an upcycled neck tie and made a "fylacto" to incorporate this Cypriot tradition of
keeping a chid from harm...and sewed the tiniest blue bead to represent the "evil eye".

Finally signed and sealed in a bright ,mustard wool felt pocket for ,safe keeping when not in use .The pocket is lined with silk and secured with a leather "button"...

BUT, today it's unwrapped and part of this special, important event..

..Maro