This took much longer to photograph than it did to make

With the dreary, rainy gloom we were left with after the snow melted, I desperately needed to inject some colour into my life.

I bought a metre of Kaffe Fassett fabric in my favourite pattern, but in a colourway I'd not had before - a crazy, mad red.  I used a pattern from Amy Butler's In Stitches which I have wanted to do since I first got the book - the sash with beaded fringe.  John Lewis couldn't provide me with a beaded fringe, but I had some giant ricrac at home, and I liked the way the curves of the ricrac echoed all the spots in the fabric, so I went with that instead of the beaded fringe.

It is an incredibly simple pattern, and so very quick to make up.  The whole thing - cutting pattern pieces, measuring and cutting fabric, attaching trim, sewing sash and slipstitching the gap - took a couple of hours.  After supper and before bed.

But my goodness it took a long time to photograph.  The next day there was no sun, and our house was very dark.  So where to take the picture?  The colours of the fabric are so vivid and luscious that I couldn't have them looking dull and washed out - that's not Kaffe's style at all.

I tried wearing it and taking photos in the bathroom mirror - but the mirror was too dirty.  I tried in front of the sitting room mirror but there was too much stuff in the way.  I tried hanging it in our bedroom window.  That was pretty good.

And the close ups came out well.

But the window frames kept getting in the way and the brown of them clashed with the scarf.  So I tried hanging it from our bedroom lampshade.

And that was okay, except for the clutter and the doorway in the background.  Taking all those photos meant that I was running late to pick up the children for school (I know - can you imagine the feebleness of that excuse? so sorry I'm late for the children, I was trying to photograph some Kaffe fabric in the best light possible) so I took the car rather than the tube and as I parked I saw that the bright red of the sash sash (worn as a scarf) against the slightly faded mauve of my old Boden coat was wonderful.  So I took another picture for good measure:

And then ran down the road and through the school gates, just in time.