Dissing the sewing and loving the knitting

I’ve been feeling very meh about sewing but well satisfied with knitting lately.

I spent a sad hour or two mooching around my sewing space trying to find inspiration and a surefire win project. Instead I ended up looking through acres and acres of patterns that I traced and altered but never made, muslined but never made, made but was unhappy with. The big issue is fit. I find it so, so hard to get fit I am happy with. That’s why I’m so unhappy with ready to wear clothes, and why I sew, but gosh the fruitless hours and hours of my life tracing, altering and still being disappointed – well it’s enough to make you take up quilting. Not that I’m going to, but I understand why people do.

But this lovely envelope arrived in the mail today (irritating weeks after the rest of the world got theirs it seems) and I might just give this top and skirt a go.

There’s even a Cake Hummingbird sew along, not that I need the sewing advice dispensed, but the fitting advice will be right welcome. I also traced off the Renfrew knit top pattern so maybe my sewing enthusiasm will return

On the other hand, the knitting is going roaringly.

I just love the smell of this merino yarn. It smells so sheepy and is soft but also slightly tacky, like there are still traces of lanolin in the yarn. I just have to give it a lovely big sniff every time I take it out. I’ve always loved the smell of wool, especiallty freshly washed wool jumpers. Mmmmm

I have made the selfish decision not to knit Julian a jumper for his birthday until I have finished this cardigan for myself. I really desperately want to be able to wear this cardi NOW, NOW, NOW and certainly this winter. The leaves are already mostly fallen from the deciduous trees and my winter coat is by the front door, the kids wore beanies to walk to school this morning. It is woolly jumper time and I am so looking forward to this one.

It will have pockets!

I’m also surprised by how much I’m getting into the garter stitch. Being a fairly new knitter I have tended to avoid it as I felt that it looked too beginner-ish. But the texture is really beginning to grow on me and I am pleasantly surprised. Which is just as well really since I have so 3.5″ of the garter stitch body still to go.

We went down to the beach last weekend and the kids had a fabulous time wading, getting drenched and running around on the beach.

It was lovely to get away.

Yarn dyeing!

I’ve done a little yarn dyeing lately. I really do enjoy it. I started out dyeing because I wanted to create beautiful hand-dyed multicoloured yarn of the type that sells for much more than I am willing to pay.

I decided when I started dyeing I chose Landscape dyes and bought a mixing set Chamomile (warm yellow), Wattle (cool yellow), Grevillea (hot pink), Desert Pea (fire engine red), Marine (blue), Kingfisher (turquoise), and Currawong (black). I also bought a how to dye guide from Three Irish Girls. It was well worth the money. There is a lot of dyeing information online but having a well researched, comprehensive instruction set was a great place to start.

The base I used is Bendigo Woollen Mills Luxury 8ply. My aim was 300g of green yarn to make a jumper (sweater) for Julian. I was aiming for leaf green and ended up with this pallid lime.

I used the Kettle Dyed Solids method with extra measures to increase marbling in the skein – dry yarn, a hot dye bath and no salt. You can see that the three skeins each took the dye quite differently.

I used 6L of water and 6tbsp of Wattle stock solution and 1tbsp Turquoise stock solution.

The other 100g is earmarked for a hat for Althea. The plan was a red and purple multicolour using the method for Kettle Dyed Varigated Colours which is a low water method. I’ve had a lot of trouble getting good dye penetration into the skein using this method and this was no exception.

Yuk. I used three different colours using different quantities of Desert Pea and Marine: Red (3tbsp Desert Pea and 1tsp Marine); Reddy Purple (2tbsp Desert Pea and 1tbsp Marine); and Purple (1tbsp Desert Pea and 1tbsp Marine).

I was really disappointed with both yarns so back into the pot they went!

The green I over dyed using the same method but 8L of water, 18tbsp marine and 16tbsp chamomile. I really much prefer the greens made with a pure blue rather than turquoise. Tealy blue-greens are so much more appealing to me than lime-yellowy greens.

The purple-red I over dyed using one deeper dye bath with 3L of water and 7tbsp grevilla and 3tbsp marine.

I think Althea will much prefer this pinky purple than the cool purple I made before. The red patches show through the overdying in a subtle way that I like. Overall I am now very pleased with both yarns.

Even better, I got to play with a yarn swift and ball winder for the first time! Thanks so much Renee and Megan!!

A tale of two wadders

So I finished up my first garment from the US trip fabric/pattern haul and I just couldn’t bring myself to share it straightaway because it was so bad. Unwearably bad. Hello Vogue 1333.

Just check out the volume! Back AND front bustle. Nice. Also this

Those tucks STICK OUT big time. It actually looks worse than the photos show. It was very windy when these shots were taken and it still stuck out.

And check this out.

So bad. I seriously considered ripping off the elastic waist and adding a yoked waist and a zip, but in the end there really was no saving this skirt. I’ve put in on several times and I just have to take it off before I step out the door.

My husband commented that this skirt pattern is a great idea that just doesn’t work out, and I agree. Now partially this is my fault. This pattern is for a knit and I used a drapy polyester blend woven. I did this because I don’t love knit skirts and I had seen a successful woven version of this online – review here and pic here. I probably should have noted that sfshaza has a totally different figure type to me hmmmmm. Anyway I kvetched about this pattern on PR here.  Clearly success is possible with this pattern (cool stripy version) but not for me – I’m giving up on this one.

So what I really needed was some success! A quick and easy win. StyleArc Eva knit top will do the trick!

Oh yeah. Let’s check out that neckline.

So nice. Not. And just for full exposure here’s the back.

The sleeves are too tight and not long enough – I lengthened the 3/4 sleeves the pattern came with, but the biggest issue is that neck band.

First of all the proportions are wrong in the size 16. The band needs to extend further down so that gathers fall across the  bust not above it. It just looks a bit truncasted and polo-ish. I know I’m full busted but still I think the grading is a bit off.

Secondly the band is interfaced. All the back neck ickiness is caused by the back piece not fitting smoothly onto the band, which it won’t because you can’t stretch it on as it’s interfaced and not stretchy. This also causes the band to stick up and not conform to the body. There is also not enough fabric in the gathers for them to look like gathers, they look like mistakes.

The pattern says that the interfacing is not mandatory, it depends on the weight of your fabric. This is a very lightweight jersey that I picked up as a remnant from Clear It on Brunswick St, Fitzroy, where they sell the Alannah Hill leftover fabrics. Surely this lightweight stuff needed it? I cannot imagine being able to sew those square front corners on without it, and anyway the patterns suggests running stay-stitching around the neckband before insertion which would make it non-stretchy anyway.

You can see from the RTW top (City Chic) I’m wearing with the dud Vogue skirt that vertical bust gathering can look quite good on the busty girl. This top does not get that look.

So two duds in a row. I really hope that my next project works out!

An easy win

Sometimes you need an easy sewing win – and that’s what these little wide wale cord pants for Julian were.

The pattern is from Ottobre 6/2012 pattern 5 Veijari pants. It comes in sizes 62-98. I made the 98 for Julian – he’s wearing a RTW size 3 and is 22 months old. I estimated Julian’s height with a tape measure to be about 96cm and the pants are fairly roomy and a bit long. They are a bit silly with no shoes on, but I probably won’t take them up. I get so sick of things getting too small so quickly that my kids end up in oversized clothes quite often.

The pattern has all this cool, but time consuming detail, which you can see from the shots above that I elimated – knee darts, mock fly, back yoke, front pockets and fancy back pockets. I kept the yoke for the red pair and squeezed some back patch pockets out of the fabric for the blue pair.

This is how I add seam allowances with these patterns – using a seam allowance guide – so much easier than any other method I’ve tried.

I did the elastic waistband using my favourite no-casing method, documented here.

Back pockets!

I love my little toddler in some snuggly winter pants and God knows I needed a sewing win!

Orange swirl hat

I have cast on a winter hat for my toddler son. Which is exactly what one should be doing when I have a big cardigan for myself that I am half way through and desperate to wear RIGHT NOW.

 

But my baby doesn’t have a hat and I just bought him a bright orange winter coat, which would just look so adorable with a bright orange hand dyed hand knitted hat……….

 

Wouldn’t he look cute with a little orange hat?

The pattern is Swirl Hat by Mandie Harrington. The yarn in Bendigo Woollen Mills Luxury 4ply that I hand dyed using Landscape dyes. I did a twisted German cast on which is a lovely cast on that I have recently learned, and of course I had to do it twice because I didn’t make the long tail long enough the first time.

Here is where my Something Silver is at.

I am so looking forward to wearing it, at it’s woollen weather right now, but I have so far to go – another 6″ of body pattern and then a very wide garter band and two pockets, and the sleeves. I’ll keep plugging away. Knitting an adult size garment really takes perseverance!

bits and bobs

There’s been a few big emotionally draining things going on around here, that combined with a toddler that has been waking for the day at 4.30 or 5.00am and just occasionally 3.30 or 6.00am, and the result is that there is no big shiny finished object to share.

I started my Vogue 1333 skirt, and seeing the size of the pattern pieces decided to CUT THE TISSUE. This is blasphemy to me, but just occasionally all the tracing gets me down, especially really large pattern pieces. I can break the rules and ruin the pattern if I want to.

Something silver is creeping along slowly. I generally only get three body rows done in a night before I fall over with exhaustion, and that’s not every night. I am really hoping that it’ll be done in time to wear this winter though.

I even started making some wide wale corduroy toddler pants, that had been planned for last winter, but when overlocking across the bake yoke seam I ended up with this:

which after replaced needles and complete rethreading, still resulted in this:

So now my overlocker is in for repair and service.

It’s cooling down, we lit the fire for the first time of the season, the leaves on the wisteria are yellowing and some plain white yarn arrived in the mail. So in snatched moments, I’ll gather my energy, dream of what colours I’ll dye my yarn and keep on keeping on.

Metalicus swirl panel dress

Back in November I went to my first sewing bloggers meet up (Rachel blogged it here – sadly I had to leave before the drinks bit!) and found this fabulous Metalicus knit at The Fabric Store in Fitzroy. I have always liked the look of Metalicus clothing but have never bought any as it only comes in one size! (which is utterly, utterly ridiculous). When I saw two colours of Metalicus knit for $6/m I bought 4m of each!

This fabric is really unusual. It is a two way stretch and has 50% stretch if pulled lightly and up to 100% if you really pull hard. It has alternating rows of black and white threads and a subtle stripe as well. I’m not sure the fibre composition but if feels synthetic, perhaps it’s polyamide? I normally refuse to wear polyester/nylon etc but this stuff is nice, very light, completely matte and not as clingy as you would expect.

When Kwik Sew 3873 first came out, it immediately appealed to me.  The scoop neck is great, the fitted bodice and full skirt and I love the swirling skirt panels. I overlocked the skirt panel and waist seams to the outside and overlocked the sleeve and skirt hems. I like a deconstructed look!

I made a size L which I chose by comparing the bodice pieces to my favourite tshirt. Bust for size L is 40-41.5″, I am bust 42″ and it is a loosish fit at the bust in a very stretchy knit. I added 2cm length to the bodice below the bust, 3.2cm length to the sleeves, and 5cm length at the hem of the bottom skirt panel. That is very minor alterations for me. It is quite a body conscious style and definitely looks better worn with a slip. Just a note, this pattern does use all the fabric requirement listed. I made view B with long sleeves and I used almost all of 4.0m of 141cm wide fabric. I could not get view A out of this amount of fabric, I did try.

The neck binding piece was a bit long and the neck gaps a bit which I am disappointed with. I didn’t use their knit facing and top stitch method for the neck but made a traditional knit binding. Unfortunately the fabric strip was not quite wide enough for this and it was a real pain to sew.

I’m sharing this photo for sewists educational purposes only. Sadly I cannot look at that photo of my upper back without lamenting the sun damage that is pretty unavoidable as a fair skinned person living in Australia.

I am very pleased with my finished dress.  I wore it out last night (even though it really was too warm for a long sleeved dress) and had many compliments! It’s so nice when a good pattern and interesting fabric actually come together.

So I have 4m of a this same fabric but in a light grey.

It’s a lighter shade than I would normally choose, especially for a skirt or dress. So what should I do with it? Slouchy top, cardigan? Have you worn Metalicus-style knits? I’d love suggestions of what to make with it!