BurdaStyle Cowl Neck Jersey Top

A sleeveless summer top in double jersey with a cowl neckline.

In fact, this fabric was purchased to be a dress but the fabric had other ideas. It is part of my knit jersey stash that I bought way back in the summer.

I'm afraid that the 2 yards I ordered, and was charged for, turned out to be closer to 1.5 yards. When I decided that the time had come for the dress to unfold, I discovered that it wasn't going to be enough. The knit is crooked and the fabric yardage wasn't there. A single layer dress in fabric this thin would not have been pretty so I faced facts and made a top instead.

I realised how many patterns were at my disposal, now that I have a copy of Burda Style so I had a look and quickly found what I was looking for. Sleeveless, double layer, stretch fabric. Pattern tracing is not something I enjoyed, but I look at it as the price to pay for this many patterns for $9.50. I had to go over the outline with a black marker to be able to see it through my (gift wrap) tissue paper. I added a 1cm seam allowance.

The top was super-easy to sew. Cutting out the knit was the second hardest part (after the pattern tracing). I now use a layer of computer paper under the knit fabric and the needle-jumping has become minimal. I learned a new construction technique for enclosing seams within a lining - the first that are fully enclosed with all machine sewing. I'll be trying it again for sure, although I don't know if it will be as easy with cotton which is thicker and stiffer. It requires a bit of reaching through tunnels of fabric. The thin jersey lends itself to the cowl neckline perfectly and the neckline means no need for nice finishes or exposed seams. Perfect!

I've left the hem unfinished but I now have a twin needle so I am going to hem it. The pattern is also a bit too large and I am going to go back and take in the top pieces of the side seams.

Final cost: $20 (unless I make something else from Burda)

For the record, the pattern is BurdaStyle 11/2013 Dress 112, I made a 38, but the arms feel a little large.

Re-hemmed Angel Dress

 

As promised, I re-hemmed the white dress into a more suitable length post-nativity.

Knitted Christmas Tree Decorations

These Julekuler were the perfect way to try my hand at stranded colour knitting. 

They are small enough that it feels like making a sample, and they come together quickly, but you actually have a result at the end.

I bought some polystyrene craft balls to stuff them with. I like how they give a perfectly round shape, which toy stuffing just would not achieve. My gauge ended up being right for the 7mm size.

The pattern I started with is called Balls Up! Ravelry link here. I ended up drafting or modifying designs to fit the number of stitches. There are loads more I want to make. I like the red backgrounds better, on the white there is more likelihood of the darker yarn showing from underneath.

Merry Christmas! X

Angel Dress

 
My big girl isn't going to want to dress like this for too much longer, so it is lovely for me that she loves dresses like this.

She admired this fabric at the Isle of Wight so I got 3 meters. I knew it would make adorable children's dresses and now that I've worked with it, I've seen that it is very versatile. I could easily wear a summer top in this. Maybe 3/4 sleeves, or a cute Sorbetto. It needs lining or underlining but it is lovely and soft and hangs well. 

The school nativity play was just the deadline I needed to get on and actually make the dress I was planning. Luckily she has been cast as an angel. I've left the dress really long, almost floor length, and I will shorten it after the play to a more suitable dress length.

I used the trusty Cottage Mama Party Dress as my pattern block. The pattern came up pretty small in the chest and length. She has grown fast, so I have now re-drafted a bodice block for her current 6-7 yr size. The pattern length is the reason there is a cummerbund around the dress. I'm pretending it's a design feature. Actually, now that she is bigger, a plain bodice would look overly large in a plain-ish fabric such as this so I do like the feature that the band adds. I can see a lot of puckering in the pictures so it could have done with some lightweight interfacing. I top stitched over the band as well as around the armholes and neckline.

I'm getting better at installing invisible zips. I am so pleased I splashed out invested in an invisible zip foot for my machine. It is truly worth it. I almost got the two sides to line up evenly, I only had to take a little nibble out of the back neckline afterwards.

As I knew I would after my last post, I steeled myself for lots of skirt unpicking and reduced the skirt circumference by half. It is now 140cm around, which is one width of the fabric. I'm so pleased I did. The fabric is so delicate and light that less really is more with this dress. Plus, in white, with that fullness of skirt, there was a real danger in her being mistaken for a 6 year old bride, instead of an angel!

I used up the last of my plain white cotton for the lining and planned ahead at Mood with an array of invisible zips.
Fabric:<£5
Lining: stash
Zip: $1 
Total: about £5.50

Christmas Gift Bags

How about these as an alternative to wrapping paper?

 

I've been thinking about the idea of fabric gift bags ever since I saw SouleMama's a few years ago. The ultimate reusable gift wrap.

Christmas fabric is so cute. I love the gold paint, it really brings it to life. You can get about 4 bags from one meter of fabric. Mine are sewn with the drawstring on the long edge but you could save some ribbon length by putting it on the short edge. I French-seamed the side seams, left 14cm open at the top, sewed a little seam in there, folded over and seamed the channel for the ribbon.

 

Papercraft Christmas Cards

Forgive the terrible iPad photo (see my shadow?), this is the only photo I took of our 2012 masterpieces. If I'd had a blog at that time, I would have felt justified in taking many more photos, with my nice camera.

We had a lot of fun making these cards.

I bought these supplies:
1. Set of blank cards with envelopes
2. Pack of A4 Christmas papers
3. Bottle of PVC glue
4. Tub of red glitter
5. Scraps of yarn
6. Scraps of cardboard
7. Scraps of aluminium foil
8. Letter stamp set and ink pad (red)
9. Confetti shapes

There are loads of supplies that you probably already have around the house: ribbon, wrapping paper, beads, sequins and cotton wool would all be great additions to the supplies above.

Then we set to work cutting and sticking. I got some inspiration from papercraft websites (I'm afraid I forget which). The tree and the squares definitely did not spring from my own imagination. Here's a rundown of each card:

Red Star, Noel
I started with the red star, Noel card. I drew the outline in pencil on the card, then went over the line with glue. Then I sprinkled the glitter all over the entire card and poured it away (saving for later, of course) to reveal the glitter stuck to the glue. Very simple but very effective.

Present
Next up, I tackled the present. Layering the papers is a great way to get a better looking finish on the cards. This is two rectangles of complimenting papers, slightly different sizes. The smaller one is stuck on top of the larger one. More glitter-over-glue makes the ribbon and bow.

Snowflake
The kids really enjoyed making snowflakes. We folded sheets of paper in half, and half again, then cut sections away, leaving the centre point intact. When you unfold it, you have a magic snowflake. For contrast, I stuck it over a large red section. These would be great to make out of aluminium foil and stick on a turquoise or blue background. Maybe this year, we will do all foil shapes.

Baubles
Now we're getting on to my favourites. These looked great. I used different circles I had around the house: a glass, inside of a sticky tape roll; to cut different size circles from the papers. I glued a line of scrap red yarn for the string and made a glitter bow on top. Buying a set of papers, rather than individual sheets was perfect for this because I could use the same design in different colourways and keep the whole thing looking co-ordinated.

Fireplace
This was really fun. We cut out a tiny stocking shape, plus a large rectangle for the background and two strips for the sides. Then I pulled apart the layers of a piece of corrugated cardboard for the mantlepiece. I peeled the three layers of cardboard away from each other and used the flat side but stuck it wrong side out so you could see the lines where the glue was. I fancied it looked like a grain in the wood.

Christmas Trees
These were made from strips of paper laid in rows with the edges trimmed to make a triangle shape. Cardboard was the perfect tree trunk and I cut a scrap of foil into a star shape for the top of the tree.

Squares
This was a total scrap-buster but looked really special. Some of the papers had quite juvenile pictures on them and I didn't want to use them in other cards, but they worked really well here. I cut out some of the stuffed animal pictures, plus a tiny star, tree and circles. Then arranged them on the tiny squares. Some of the squares I left without a shape, if they already had pictures on them. There are loads of variations that you could do with this basic layout and once all the tiny pieces are nicely cut and arranged side by side, it makes a really cute card.

We had to mark our handiwork as handmade so I bought a set of letter stamps and a red inkpad. We arranged the letters to say "Made by Cathy and E..." and stamped this on the back of each card. I didn't get a picture but it looked really cute.

I weighed all the cards down under some heavy books for a few days (the paper ones, not the glitter) because they were curling up quite a bit. I think it worked - you'll have to ask my family in Australia how they looked on arrival.

The final touch was confetti inside the cards and we also glued one snowflake shaped confetti to the outside of the envelope.

White Dress

I have a make-in-progress to share:

I am posting now because I think I am going to have to take out the skirt and reduce the circumference. The fabric is very delicate and light and the skirt is too full and gathered, it looks like a wedding gown!

My knitting has taught me that if I suspect it is wrong, then it is wrong. It is better to stop now, re-do and get it right. Right? Right.

Mood Loot

I got to Mood Fabrics while I was in NYC!

Of course, I made time in my schedule to get there and I was so pleased that I did.  The store was very well signed and the staff were really helpful.

As you can see, I didn't get much in the way of fabric but the one I did get is silk and is going to be perfect for the lining of my Little French Jacket. The chain is for the hem too. I baulked at the silk organza for stabilising the sleeves because I got a bit overwhelmed by that point.  I got loads of invisible zips because, at $1 each, you can't beat that price. I wish I'd got more.

Finally, tracing paper, a tracing wheel, and an impulse buy at the checkout, Perfect Fitting, which so far is great bedtime reading! 

There is so much more I could have bought, I didn't want to go crazy without specific projects in mind, if you are in NYC, it would be an amazing place to have nearby to pop into when you need something.

The entrance to the store is something I've not experienced before, it is an office building, no signage, you just go in and take the (non-self-service) lift, I mean, elevator, to the third floor where it opens out like a warehouse.

I did see some beautiful Marc Jacobs fabric, a dusty pink with embossed leaves, silk (I think). I couldn't figure out what I might make with it, it was too heavy for a dress or blouse and too pale for a skirt or jacket. A spring coat would look great, but I have a pink coat and I am trying to be a bit more sensible in my making - by making things that my wardrobe actually needs.

Shopping plans

Guess where I'm going to be this week?  Here's a clue:

The store I am probably going to visit 5 times in 3 days starts with an "M", ends with a "D" and has an "OO" in between...

Design help please!

I have an upcycle in mind but I am struggling with the details. Maybe you can help me?

This is a bridesmaids dress that I wore last year, I want to re-make it into a girl's party dress.

When I hold the skirt up to the older one, the waist seam comes to her underarms. I'll be removing one skirt panel because it is marked.  The skirt is a-line. The bodice is pieced, 7 pieces in all. It makes it very difficult to cut a new bodice for a child.

Do I:
a. make a skirt only
b. take in all the pieces and keep the same style, fitted for a child?
c. do something cleverer that I haven't thought of?

Dual Ghouls

These two little ghosties had fun trick-or-treating on Halloween!

The costumes had been requested for months and I knew it would be easy to oblige.

The little one fitted into one meter of polycotton that I got at the Isle of Wight this summer. The big one is much taller and her costume had to be cut from my favourite blue sheet. Yes, I will be washing these, unpicking them and putting them back in my stash.

I seamed a few large darts though the head area to pull the fabric closer to their faces. It made it (slightly) easier to see if the holes were up against their eyes. Otherwise, the edges were cut with pinking shears and I stitched around the eye holes to reinforce them.  I left the edges completely unfinished at the hems.

Unfortunately, wearing a sheet over your head to go up and down stairs, kerbs, cross roads and be offered candy by strangers wearing scary costumes is not easy. They want to be witches next year.

Text

M's Halloween Pumpkins

This is Mr Cathy's one and only crafty activity. He does it extremely well, don't you think?

Cosy Cabled Hat

This hat actually took about a day to knit but it has taken me a week because of the number of times I restarted it. I struggled to get a neat cast on for the brim; everything I tried and then joined in the round looked like a mess because of the stretching caused by the magic loop method. In the end, I did a single cast on with two extra stitches and knit back and forth until the fabric was stable. Then I could join without distorting the hat. I seamed the open part afterwards and it has come out really well.

I'm not sure about the size and shape, the pattern is for an adult but this one is better for a child. I can wear it but it stretches and makes the cables look ugly. I have enough yarn left that I will make this again for me (I have a pullover that I am matching this to). For an adult size, I am going to add one more set of cables (8 sts) and continue for one more inch or so before decreasing.

Ravelry notes here.

Cashmerino Raglan Pullover

 

I've had these 10 balls of Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Chunky in my stash for three years! They were one of the first yarns I bought when I got back into knitting and it has taken me this long to use them up. I won them in an eBay auction for £24.00, figuring £2.40 per ball for Cashmerino is a good price. Then I stashed them while I figured out what to do with them. I find 10 balls a difficult number (especially Debbie Bliss, which I find a little ungenerous): too few for an adult jumper, too many for accessories. I used a bit as a trim on a baby boy gift, then I sat on it for 3 years while I wore a lot of grey co-ordinates.

I had a few ideas on and off. First I was going to make this vintage cable vest, but I wasn't that into having a vest, nor a brown one. Then I really wanted to pair it with a yellow hand dyed yarn as an accent collar but I knew that I would get tired of it fast. Then Sewaholic saved me from myself with her perfect analogy of more cake, less frosting: I need to make more of the type of garments I would buy in a store, not what catches my eye in the yarn store. The yarn is a perfect chocolate brown, the full sun in these photos makes it look lighter than it actually is.

Taking three years to decide also helped me understand how to get the best possible finish I am capable of producing. This means choosing a pattern carefully, based on the design elements, so that I can avoid having it look too handmade. For example, sleeves: I never manage the right gauge, so seaming pieces together and setting in sleeves, never works out for me. Raglan sleeves save me from needing to match pieces and I may never knit anything with a set in sleeve again. I'm also not very good at picking up stitches (although I am willing to work on this) and having no seams/very few seams is also very important to me. Modifying a pattern to knit in the round, instead of seaming at the sides is an easy alteration to make, and one that I always do.

I've also learned a few other things along the way, like I am rubbish at joining a new ball and I have to sacrifice a few scraps of yarn to make the join where a seam would be. The other key element I liked about this pattern was that it was knit from the top down so I could carry on until I ran out of yarn. I figured if I only had enough for a cap sleeve / 3/4 sleeve / cropped waist I would just knit until it was all used up. I was delighted that I got to full length sleeves (which I always wear on the short side) and the body finished exactly where I wanted it to.

I love knitting large items on chilly evenings - my knitting becomes a lap rug while I'm watching TV! It was fast for me: one month, including a week spent ripping out the rib and re-knitting on smaller needles. Usually anything I make takes at least two months. I didn't modify the pattern very much. The pattern link and my notes are here in Ravelry. £24.00 for a cashmere/wool pullover, I'd buy that!

 

(Photo credits: 6yo daughter)

Long Sleeve Olivia Top

I've been dying to get around to making an Olivia Top for... well, pretty much ever since I first discovered Jess' wonderful Blog.  She has so many generous tutorials there, I am dying to try almost all of them.

With the weather turning cooler, I had been thinking about winter sewing. My sewing is much more summer oriented; cotton prints are the eye candy of the fabric store, right?  But long sleeves and thicker fabrics are what we need in winter.And we have a lot of winter.

This fabric has had a wild ride to where it is today.  It started out as a shirt belonging to my husband's late father. It was a lovely, soft flannel cotton but I knew the girls wouldn't like the colour.  So I bleached it and then I dyed it and here it is, being worn, more than 20 years later, by a little girl as a top. An unrecognisable upcycle, from this:

to this:

I didn't follow the tutorial exactly, I didn't have enough fabric to get gathers into the lower section. It is so large on her that I don't think this top needs them. I used a sleeve pattern from a child's vintage dress pattern that I bought this year. It is a very versatile pattern and I'll definitely make it again. I would like to make a more gathered, puffy sleeve version in a very fine fabric. I'll make it a bit more close fitting next time because it is very roomy on her.

Dress-to-skirt upcycle

When we pulled out one of E's favourite dresses today, she was devastated because one of the sleeves was destroyed and the dress was unwearable.

I didn't get a before picture because she was so upset that I set to work on it as fast as I could.  Instead, here is an after picture of the leftover bodice. How on earth does that kind of damage happen to 100% acrylic fibres?

A snippety-snip later, the ruined bodice was off, (buttons salvaged, of course) raw edge zig-zagged, turned over, elastic in. Done in 10 minutes - while supervising her weekend homework. 

Not my prettiest work but she needed new clothes and she likes it so I feel like a supermum! (I have to find some compensation for my many shortcomings!)

Hottest days of summer beach dress

What can be done with less than a yard of knit fabric in a wild 70s design?

I fell in love with this fabric the second I saw it and I didn't care if I didn't have a clue what to do with it. I mulled over the question for a very long time.  A dress, a t-shirt, a skirt, cushion covers?  I kind of knew it had to be a dress, a 70s mini-dress. But I also knew that the 70s is not having a fashion moment right now. In fact, it seems as though every decade since the first world war is having a fashion moment, but not the 70s (ok, not the 90s either). Homewares, yes, but not clothing.


I was going to try a short sleeve version of my New Look pattern that I used for this dress. Then a trip to the beach at the end of the summer gave me the answer. I saw someone wearing a beach dress with shirring through the bust and thought this style would be perfect for my fabric.

 

I sewed the selvedges together (why doesn't the pattern repeat match at the selvedge?), then hand stitched a hem at the top and the bottom. Knit fabric is lovely to wear but it is a pain, pain, pain to sew with. I sewed through paper and the needle still bounced so much that I went over my seams again by hand.

Unfortunately, I also couldn't get the shirring to work properly. It shirred beautifully but came up so tight that I couldn't get the dress on. I am not sure if I was doing it wrong, or my machine tension was wrong, I'll have to try harder to find an solution next time.

Instead of shirring, I took two pieces of 3/4 - 1cm wide elastic and sewed them, at full stretch, to the over and under-bust with a zig zag stitch. The knit is very thin and soft so the gathers fall beautifully. The elastic gave enough weight to the fabric to stop the stitches from bouncing.

I used the selvedge offcuts to make tie straps to make the dress more secure.

Final verdict: it's fine for the one day a year when I'm melting in the heat but I am a bit put off tackling the rest of my knit stash.

Dyeing success!

Upcycling this particular shirt is an ongoing saga. Aren't you riveted to your seat, waiting for the next installment?  Here it is!

After my bleaching misadventures, I thought I would have one last shot at getting the fabric to a colour that my kids would wear.

From khaki green to salmon orange, I contemplated what colour I could put over the top to get something that wouldn't be brown. Navy was a contender but I thought I would go for red and see what happened.

 

What happened was beyond my wildest dreams. I was expecting that I had completely ruined the fibres by bleaching first, but they came out a fantastic bright pink! In fact, this is the exact shade I have been looking for to match for a patterned fabric that I need to tone down. I was expecting to be looking for years for this shade and it came out of my own washing machine.

I haven't dyed anything before so seeing the insides of my machine turn a bright red was pretty fun (and scary!) I added a couple of other shirts that needed bringing back to life. One was a bright green, a shade that didn't really suit me. I thought it would come out brown and I was ok with that, but it came out as a deep grape purple, with green stitching left as a contrast. I love it!

I sense a new addiction forming. What can I get my hands on next?

Little French Jacket sewalong - supplies

I've got my pattern, fabric and extras all ready for the start of the Little French Jacket sewalong.

The pattern is Burda 8949 and I'll be making View B.

The fabric is a navy cotton twill with a white for the contrast trim. I got 3m of the navy and 1m of the white. 7m of the lime green bias binding ought to be enough for finishing all the inside seams. Add self-cover buttons and shoulder pads and I think I'm all set.

I've been giving some serious thought to Inna's comment on my last post. I realise that I am not making a true Chanel-style couture jacket. I was fine with that. Then I realised what an opportunity I was missing. If she is kind enough to come back and comment on my tiny post on my tiny blog, how great would it be to really take the chance to make a real couture jacket, with help from people who really know what they are doing?

So this is going to become my test jacket. A wearable muslin, if you must.

For the real thing, I have my eye on some black wool boucle. I think a trip to Liberty is needed for lining shopping, plus a market research foray into Chanel to see what's going on in their A/W collection for pockets, trims and buttons. C'mon Cathy, you live in London, one of the fashion capitals of the world! Time to make the most of it.

Eeek! I'm so excited to make a true Chanel-style jacket (because that's what we're really talking about, right?)  I'll be starting a bit behind, I want to get this test garment underway but I plan to finish with two cute jackets.  Thanks Inna!