Cool new embellishment idea!

Here's a new thought for embellishing recycled cashmere. The pictures tell the tale. It all started with a rather blase' camel-colored sweater. Too boring for use. So I over-dyed the cashmere with Cushing's Copenhagen Blue. The result is a beautiful hand-dyed soft blue that is definitely NOT boring.

So I'm ready to turn the strips into a scarf. I had wanted to try some reverse applique -- where the applique is actually underneath the main fabric rather than on top. You stitch your design and then cut away, revealing the accent color.

For the blue, I chose a nice butter yellow, almost a cream. I cut a 5-inch strip to match the 5-inch width of the blue. The yellow I had was only about 4 inches tall so I had to be careful in stitching. I thought a leaf motif would be nice. To make sure I didn't go over the edge of the yellow, I stitched with the yellow side up. Pretty smart, huh?

Once the leaves were stitched, I cut away the bits I didn't need, leaving a beautiful pattern at the ends of the scarf.

I'll post a picture of the finished scarf as soon as my friend, Lisa, comes over to model tomorrow.