I’m happy to announce the release of two new patterns ‘Seaweed‘ and ‘Hair Scrunchie for Swimming‘, which are both related to my liking for swimming in the sea!
‘Seaweed’ quilt pattern
‘Seaweed’ is a single bed quilt which is inspired by the blues and greens of the ocean. It uses repeated log cabin blocks in a particular way: the centres of the blocks are pale and the outside edges are dark. By
using pale blue to dark blue on two sides and light aqua-blue to dark jade-green on the other two sides of each block and then by rotating blocks, the surface of the quilt has a watery, ripple effect like green seaweed floating in blue water.
The finished size is 60 x 72″ (152 x 183cm) but the quilt pattern uses 12″ (30cm) blocks, so it would be easy to enlarge the design to make a bigger quilt. It is a scrap-friendly quilt. As you can see from the photo above, several different ‘watery’ fabrics were used. As with all my quilt patterns, there are clear instructions and accompanying photos in colour. You can find the pattern in the Etsy shop here
‘Hair Scrunchie for Swimming’
The second pattern is a ‘Quick Make’ pattern for a hair scrunchie for swimming. I should emphasise that you can wear it on land too, but it works well for swimming. It’s made with a thick, synthetic, stretchy material that is great to ease on and off your hair and it dries very quickly. The fabric I used is my own ‘Lemonade Bubbles’ design (seen below), printed on Sport Lycra fabric. You can find the design in my online studio on the Spoonflower here.
The pattern is very straightforward and the scrunchie is quick to make. If you want to try the fabric above in the Sport Lycra option, it is possible to buy a swatch measuring 8 x 8″ and this is exactly the right amount to make one scrunchie!
Swimming in the Sea
In the summer, we shot a short video (showing the scrunchie in use) at the beach in Ramsgate where I live. You can see the video in the Etsy shop listing here. The sky is blue and the colours of the sea are the same as in the ‘Seaweed’ quilt above.
However, I have recently been testing the ‘Hair Scrunchie for Swimming’ during December and January! I love wild swimming, but it definitely takes time to acclimatise to the very cold water in the winter sea and to learn the correct ways of getting warm again afterwards. It’s important to be safe in the water and ideally swim with others. There is lots of helpful information available about this, for example an excellent article on wild swimming from Countryfile here. I’m grateful for my ‘rash vest’ plus my swim gloves and thermal swim hat. You can’t see it, but the scrunchie is in use, under the hat!
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Amanda Jane Textiles offers unique fabrics for sale here, quilt patterns here, classes here and quilts for sale here