Green Furry, Detachable Collar

 I'm a big fan of the detachable collar and I've started making my own because it's fun and a great way to use up scrap material!

You don't even need a pattern as it is super easy to make your own. To get the scoop right on the neck line, take a piece of clothing you own and measure the point from one side of the neck to the other. Draw a line on a piece of paper.

Then draw your scoop, deciding how low you would like it to go .

This will give you an idea of how deep to make your scoop. Measure the distance between each side and then half it.

This is how deep the scoop should be at it's deepest point, which is in the middle. Take a piece of paper large enough to draw your pattern on and fold it in half.  Draw your pattern from the fold line, so that when you cut it out, it will be one pattern, jointed together at the fold.

This is the first ever collar I ever made, and I made it a little big, but I decided to use it to show you how you can easily change the size if your not happy with it.

Size 1

Size 2

To change the size, I simply folded the material in half and pinned it together  and then cut it smaller. This can be a bit risky as if you make a mistake you can't undo it. You can also make several paper collars and muck around with how they look...

Then I just pinned the material to some scrap material I had left over from a dress I made.

Then I pinned it together inside out and sewed it together. 

I left a gap that I didn't sew up so that I could could pull the material through to turn it in the right way.

Turned it in the right way...

I handed stitched up the gap to finish the collar.

Now to add the ties. Make sure the ties flow with the line of the collar, this ensures that when you tie it, the bow will sit right. I hand stitched these on as well as stitching the ends of them so they wouldn't fray.

All done :)

Mall of America

 

The Mall of America is totally insane! It is like a theme park! I literally felt like I was in a movie or Disneyland or something! It was one crazy place to be! I have NEVER been in a place like it!

I really felt like I was in a movie when I was in Minneapolis! Partly because I was in America, partly because I was surrounded by the types of homes you do actually see in movies! A lot of famous films have been shot here such as these beauties.


It was so American it hurt! Even those semi circle banners that are the colours of the flag, you always see in the movies, were out and about. It was such a cool thing to see, so much pride in their country and it made me a little sad, that we don't have the same respect or love for the flag in Australia.

I mean, I think we have national pride, but it's much more low key. I love how the American's are very proud of their country, it's good to have pride.

Anyway, getting back to the Mall of America,


They had a giant Lego shop, and a theme park in the middle of the mall, it really felt like I was in a movie, especially with  all the American accents, it was a dream come true to travel to America.

Yeah,  was glad to see they don't allow guns in the mall, but it did disturb me that that that even had to be said...

These animals were electronic, I wished I'd taken more photos of them, but the restaurant was so overcrowded and people were looking at me and I felt kind of silly. But I think I was just tired and overwhelmed.

It took about fifteen minutes for us to decided if we would eat at Bubba Gump Shrimp or the rainforest place, since we had out daughter with us, we choose the place with electronic animals of course!

This was the first thing you see as you walk into the mall, and we opted not to go in because we had been to a zoo not that long ago, on our family moon and it was expensive and thee were so many other things to see in the mall :) 

This was much more exciting! They even had a mini rollercoaster! 

The above outfits belonged to Prince. Minneapolis was his home town, and we were there during the time just after his death and went to his house to see the memorial placed by fans.

Good Night Sweet Prince

 

Heading to the Prince Memorial was a surreal part of the trip. I have never been much of a Prince fan, except for a couple of songs, but you have to admit the man had talent.

I felt sad seeing all the items left out the front of his home, it reminded me of all the items of condolences at the Australia Zoo, after Steve Irwin died.

A lady asked us to take a photo of her from behind, placing flowers at the house, but apart from that it was quite and no one was around. It was on a small stretch of road that was away from the main road as well. It wasn't straight after his passing either so, of course it was quieter.

I felt honoured and a little in awe as I stood at the gate, to think that a great artist had lived here, and I was able to admire the love he had garnered from the world, and pay my respects and gratitude for songs such as Raspberry Beret and Purple Rain.