Sewing Two Overland Cloaks For A Wedding
Hello friends,
In June this year our nephew is getting married, and him and his wonderful fiance are having a Medieval/Renaissance Faire themed wedding. Since they encouraged everyone to dress up in Medieval/Renaissance Faire inspired outfits for the event, it was time for me to pull out my sewing machine and get to work.
Now was the chance for me to finally make a medieval winter cloak of my dreams, which I've wished to own for a very long time. After a lot of searching on the internet, and asking some knowledgeable friends online, my friend Karyn suggested the Overland Cloak by Twig + Tale pattern, which is a "luxurious hooded cloak designed for hiking and adventure, with a generous dash of dreaminess". When I bought the Overland Cloak pattern, and showed it to my husband, he got very excited and wanted a cloak of his own, and so it was now up to me to now make two cloaks for the upcoming wedding...
As this wedding is happening in the middle winter, in a community hall, which more than likely is going to be a little chilly, I thought it best to make cloaks with some heft, so we could would stay warm and toasty on the wedding day and into the evening festivities.
First up was finding the fabric needed for the project. I needed 5 metres of outer fabric for each cloak, and the same for lining. From Spotlight we picked up two satin linings in midnight blue and gold. For the outer cloak fabric, the pattern suggested fabrics including wool coating, linen, cashmere and twill. I went hunting in our local secondhand stores to see if I could find any fabric treasures, and came across a steal, 10 metres of vintage gold velvet fabric for $80. This fabric came home with me to be used for my cloak.
For hubby's cloak, I couldn't find any more appropriate secondhand fabric which would work for him, so I ordered some black 100% pure wool coating from the The Fabric Shop in Auckland. When the fabric arrived I was so pleased with it, it wasn't too thick, but it was warm and very good quality. The only bad thing about the fabric is that it was so warm and cosy that Rosie cat became enamored with it and wanted to snuggle with it, and so the fabric quickly became covered with her cat fur...
With all that done it was time to cut out the fabric and then start sewing. I sewed my cloak first, and to be honest the vintage gold velvet was horrible to sew. Even with a Brother Walking Foot the velvet fabric shifted and bunched while sewing, and it took me a long time to make this cloak because it was so difficult, and I was getting very frustrated with it. I eventually finished it, but the cloak has lots of small flaws which are thankfully mostly hidden inside the linings.
On the other hand, hubby's cloak was a dream to sew, and the outer pure wool coating fabric was boiled and felted, which meant I could skip the overlocking steps since the fabric didn't fray at all. I managed to finish hubby's cloak in about a week with Rosie cat's help.
Hubby's cloak look's amazing on him in his favorite colours of black and midnight blue. It sits really great on his shoulders (size 5 pattern), and is the perfect length for all your Medieval/Ren Faire, and Lord of The Rings needs. He chose silver buttons which we got from Spotlight. As you can see from all the photos hubby's cloak is covered in Rosie Cat fur, because she just won't leave it alone.
My cloak looks amazing in shades of gold velvet and satin, along with gold buttons which I also chose from Spotlight. My cloak was sewn in a size 4, which was based on my shoulder width. Due to the incredible difficulty in sewing the cloak, I was unable to insert buttonholes into the velvet fabric, because the buttonhole foot on my sewing machine kept slipping while trying to make the buttonhole. Instead I had to sew on snap fasteners under the top section, and then just sew buttons on top to look like they had buttonholes.
Hubby and I both chose the oversized hood for the Overland Cloak, but they ended up being huge on us, so much so that it completely covered my face if I wore it. I think next time I make an Overland Cloak, I'll choose the smaller rounded hood available.
All in all I'm very pleased with both of the Overland Cloaks that I've made for the wedding. And I certainly now have the Medieval cloak of my dreams. But I am already planning on making another cloak, this time in pure wool coating in shades of purple like hubby's one, with silver buttons, and a smaller rounded hood. And I already have all the fabric and buttons that I need, I just need to find the time and energy to make it...
Have a wonderful day
Julie-Ann
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My Favorite Dahlia Varieties Of This Past Summer
Hello friends,
Today I thought I'd share with you my ten favorite named dahlia varieties of the 2025/2026 growing season. This list is in no particular order, but no doubt you'll probably see a pattern emerging...
First up we have the Polka variety, which is an anemone dahlia with white and cranberry outer leaves, and golden fluffy inner leaves. Honesty, she is probably my new favorite dahlia of all time. Her colouring is just so unusual and happy, that she'll always have a space in my garden.
Number two is my second favorite new dahlia variety of all time, Bumble Rumble, a collarette dahlia with bright pink and white and gold flowers. She's a stunner in the garden with her frilly petals, and the bumble bees do indeed rumble over her all summer long.
Dahlia variety number three is Misses Amy, another anemone dahlia, with cranberry and light pink colouring. She has a huge pincushion top which makes her another favorite of bees and butterflies in our garden.
The next variety, Mambo, is another stunning anemone dahlia in my garden. She has magenta and red and peachy toned flowers, and her inner anemone petals are very unusual, as they lie flat with serrated gold tips.
Dahlia variety number five is Dream Seeker, a collarette dahlia bred by Dr Keith Hammett in New Zealand. This bright orange dahlia also attracts bees and butterflies all summer long, and her florescent colouring brightens our front garden for months and months over summer and autumn.
Cafe Au Lait Rosé is the only dinner plate dahlia to make it into to my favorite dahlia list for the 2025/2026 season. Her flowers are huge, and the deep magenta flower petals are stunning against the green backdrop of the garden. If I were to only keep one dinner plate dahlia CAL Rosé would be the one.
Princess Nadine is another eye catching collarette dahlia I love, and her cranberry shades fading to golden yellow petals are just so pretty. She's probably my third favorite dahlia overall in the garden.
Sweet Sanne is one of the two decorative dahlias which made it onto my favorite dahlias list. Her ombré dark peach colouring is gorgeous against her dark green leaves.
Joal Kaitlyn, is another decorative dahlia which made it onto the list. She was an expensive buy for me, but she is completely worth it in my opinion. Her smoky peach/apricot colouring is just so unusual that she stands out in my front garden. This was hubby's favorite dahlia last season, and that's a big thing for him since he doesn't really care that much about plants.
And finally we have Zahra, a creamy white anemone dahlia. Her poofy flowers may be small, but they stand out against all the other brighter dahlias in the garden. She reminds me a lot of the double white daffodil varieties flowering in my garden each spring.
As you will have probably noticed by now, this list is mainly made up of anemone and collarette dahlia varieties. As the years go on, I seem to be attracted more and more to these fluffy and bright and unusual dahlia varieties.
Already in this coming year, the only dahlias I've bought in pre-sales are collarette and anemone varieties. And I've already made some space for them in the garden by digging out some dahlia varieties which no longer interest me...
Have a wonderful day
Julie-Ann
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Knitting Socks for Mother's Day
Hello friends,
I've recently finished knitting another pair of socks, this time not for me, but for my mum's Mother's Day present. She, like myself, is blessed with having Raynaud's Syndrome, which means that our hands and feet easily go cold and numb in winter, and our skin turns a pale white colour as blood drains away from those areas of the body.
One of the best ways to help combat this is to keep our hands and feet as warm as possible by wearing cosy merino socks and gloves. As of yet I hadn't knitted my mother any socks, so I thought it would be a nice present to give to her for Mother's Day.
The yarn I chose was Country Wide 4 ply merino sock yarn in the shade 452, which is in bright pink, orange, blue and green colours. The pattern I used was the fingering weight Rye pattern by Tin Can Knits. Luckily my mum and I share the same sock size, so I didn't need to measure her feet to get the sizing right.
It only took a couple of weeks to knit up the socks. It was a bit tricky to try and get the colour repeats lined up, but I did the best I could given the time crunch.
The knitting was quite straight forward, even though the yarn was shedding fluffy bits as I knit the socks. Because of this fibre shedding I won't be buying this sock yarn again, as it means the socks will probably fall apart faster as they are worn.
All in all it was a very quick knitting project, and I'm quite pleased with the results. My mum has already enjoyed their toasty warmth, after she received them on Mother's Day, and she's very grateful to have them now over the coming winter months.
Have a wonderful day
Julie-Ann
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2025/2026 Dahlia Breeding Season Results
Hello friends,
Today I thought I'd share with you the results of the 2025/2026 dahlia breeding season.
I grew a total of 55 dahlias from seed, or as seedlings, and at the end of season only 14 dahlia seedlings remain. The number of dahlias I've kept is unusually high, and this is a result of me growing some of Floret's Petite dahlia seedlings, which I bought from Emerden last spring. They were unusually populated with promising dahlia seedlings, and this in my opinion makes buying these expensive Floret seedlings completely worth it.
To keep a track of all my seedling dahlias during the season I employed a dual system, first of all a dahlia seedling spreadsheet, and also a physical note book with a page per seedling, noting down when it flowered, what type of dahlia it was, colouring, and photos showing each dahlia in flower.
The majority of dahlia seedlings that flowered were single dahlia types, and most of those dahlias were the colour yellow. This makes sense because the single dahlia type, and the colour yellow, are both dominant in dahlia genetics according to the book "Dahlia Breeding for the Farmer-Florist and the Home Gardener". Thirty eight of the fifty five dahlia seedlings were single types, equaling a total of 69% single dahlias in my breeding experiment. Twenty seven of the fifty five dahlia seedlings had yellow flowers, or they had yellow colouring in their flowers. Both single type dahlias, and dahlias with yellow flowers, are not what I'm looking for in a dahlia in general, as they are very common, and not really interesting to me.
This dahlia seedling, SR5, is a typical yellow single dahlia flower. I don't consider it interesting at all, even though the bees love these flowers. I don't have enough space in my small garden to justify growing them every year.
And now for all the amazing dahlia seedlings I grew this last summer.
First up we have Keith Hammett Beeline II #4, a dahlia seedling from a Beeline II seed packet I bought from the dahlia breeder Dr Keith Hammett. Dr Keith Hammett doesn't have the space to grow every single seed in his breeding program, so he sells seeds packets occasionally. This dahlia is a single dahlia, but the pink to yellow ombre colour shift is just spectacular against its dark green leaves. This dahlia, KHBII #4, is very similar to Dr Keith Hammett's Mystic Sparkler dahlia, which I own and love in my garden. However, this flower is much larger, and I prefer this seedling dahlia's petal shape more, so it makes it worth keeping this dahlia for next year to see how it fares.
Next up is another Dr Keith Hammett dahlia seedling, NZ Gardener #1, which is grown from a seed packet given away by the NZ Gardener magazine. This is a yellow decorative dahlia, with great symmetry in its petals. Even though this is a yellow dahlia, I haven't seen many pure lemon decorative dahlias for sale in New Zealand, and this is the only decorative dahlia seedling I grew this year. It's worth growing for another year to see how it looks over time.
This next dahlia seedling is called Floret Bee's Choice #13 (FBC#13), AKA Pink Lemonade. This is a yellow, white, and pink anemone dahlia, with unusual domed inner anemone petals. I really love its delicate colours, and it's unusual anemone shape. This dahlia is quite pretty, and has a lot of potential. I'll be growing it for the next couple of years, to see how it develops as the tuber gets older.
The next dahlia is another Floret Bee's Choice seedling #15 (FBC#15). This is another anemone dahlia variety, and it is two toned, with pale lemon outer petals, and brighter yellow inner domed petals. I've called this one Daffodil Daze, as it reminds me of the fluffy double daffodil flowers I grow in my garden each spring.
This next seedling, SR#4, is another anemone dahlia. I'm not really sure what to think of it, but I love the purple colouring. I'm willing to grow it in my garden for another year to see if it improves.
This white collarette dahlia seedling is SR #13, which I've named Snow Dancer (named for the Snow Dancer wolf pack in Nalini Singh's Psy-Changeling book series). She's such a pretty white collarette dahlia, and since I have none growing in my garden, she will make a happy addition to my dahlia collection.
The following dahlia seedling is Floret Petite #2, a magenta on magenta collarette dahlia. This is a really pretty dahlia I bought as a seedling from Emerden Garden last spring. She reminds me a lot of the Cafe Au Lait Rose dahlia, and she also has a large flower head for a collarette dahlia. She's definitely a keeper for next year, and I've collected seed from her to see what dahlia types I get from her.
This next dahlia seedling is Floret Petite #3, which is another anemone dahlia with great potential. New flowers are a very pretty smoky peach colour, and she fades to a apricot colour as the flowers age. FP#3 is definitely another keeper, and I can't wait to see how she performs next summer.
Next up is Floret Petite #4 a stunning lemon and magenta streaked collarette dahlia with white frilly petals inside. She is a stunner in the garden, and very much appreciated by those noticing her. This dahlia probably has the most potential of all the dahlia seedlings I've grown this year. I can't wait to see her flowering again next summer. I haven't chosen a name for her yet...
Floret Petite #5 is another collarette seedling dahlia, and has pointed lemon petals, and curly white inner petals. She was growing in a bad spot in the garden, and didn't get a lot of sun, so I don't think she's grown to her full potential this year. I'm going to grow her in a better place next year, and see how she fares.
And next is Floret Petite #6, my favorite of all the dahlia seedlings I grew this past year. She is a very unusual anemone dahlia, with the outer petals colour shifting in an ombre pattern from dark to light pink, and the inner anemone petals doing the same, but with gold tips. What is also interesting is her 3D shape which is very pronounced, making her look like she's wearing a poodle skirt. She is just stunning and looks nothing like any other dahlia I've ever seen. Her colouring shifts as the flowers age.
I have also kept dahlia seedling Floret Petite #8 until next year. Unfortunately Floret Petite #6 grew beside FP#8 and completely overshadowed the dahlia seedling. Because of this, the dahlia seedling stayed quite small, and it also didn't flower this year. Due to the prevalence of great Floret Petite dahlia seedlings, my plan is to grow it for another season, to see if it has potential.
And finally we have two unknown dahlia seedlings, Unknown 2 and Unknown 4, which popped up in the back garden over summer. Their parent plant I think is Dahlia Protegee, which grows nearby them, and I think when you see the comparison photos you'll agree with me.
First up is the suspected parent plant, Dahlia Protegee, which is a Keith Hammett bred dahlia. She is an ombré magenta to salmon pink single dahlia with dark leaves. This dahlia is an absolute bee magnet all summer long.
And this is Unknown #2 dahlia seedling. She has green leaves, her petals are rounded, and her petal colouring is a deep pink ombré fading out to a baby pink outer. There are also dark pink streaks throughout her petals. When this dahlia flower ages, the light pink fades to a white shade which is really pretty.
And this is Unknown 4 dahlia seedling. She has fewer petals, green leaves, but has more of a pure pink ombré effect. There are also streaks of darker pink running through the leaves. She is also very pretty.
As you can see from these photos, they do indeed look like dahlia Protogee's daughters. I'm happy to keep these dahlias for another growing season to see how they look and change over the growing season.
Overall my dahlia breeding season was very successful. At the start of the season my hope was to grow 2 - 3 dahlia seedlings which were promising enough to keep for another season, but having 14 is a bonus. All I have to do now is store them successfully over winter, and then grow them again next spring to see how they fare. In the mean time we've already had 4 frosts, and my dahlias have all died back, and winter is fast approaching...
Have a wonderful day
Julie-Ann
Want to discuss my post? Feel free to chat with me on Instagram or Mastodon or Bluesky, and now also Facebook.
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