Extermi-knitting

So I finished a knitting project. Despite all of the crafty geekery that's been going on around here lately, these handwarmers are not for DragonCon! They were a birthday gift for my sister-in-law, who is also very much into all things Doctor Who. (Happy birthday, Julia!)

The pattern is "The Oncoming Storm" by Laura Isaacs. She gives options for knitting in the round and flat, and I chose to do the flat version since this already had a couple of things going on that were new or fairly new to me-- I haven't done that much knitting with multiple colors of yarn, and I'd never had to pick up stitches for a thumb before. So for the latter in particular, I figured it would be simpler to just leave a hole when sewing it up instead of lots of binding off for a thumb hole or whatever.

The black yarn was leftover from Doug's hat, and I'd actually purchased the grey yarn for this (Caron's Simply Soft) about 2 years ago, because I've been meaning to make these for her for that long. But, time being the wibbly-wobbly thing it is, it got away from me a bit and I just never seemed to be able to get them started. So I started knitting these back in January, because I figured if I did that, surely I could finish them by August! I probably would have finished them a lot faster, if I hadn't been doing things like taking Craftsy knitting classes with my mom, working on that never-ending cardigan, and having my usual springtime work-induced carpal tunnel flareups. So it was very stop and start. But I did finish these around the end of July, save a quick wash and light blocking that I had to do last week. I don't think the blocking made much of a difference in the stitches since it was all acrylic yarn, but one of the silly dogs likes to carry things around in his mouth, so he's perpetually stealing things like any sock he can get his paws on, and my pajamas. And apparently, one handwarmer, because I was dumb enough to leave my knitting bag on the sewing room floor. You just can't give family members gifts that are coated in dog slobber, you know?

Aside from having to figure out the picking up stitches thing, they went together pretty easily, and I'm feeling a little more comfortable with switching between colors now. I do still have a pretty good chunk of that grey skein left over, and a little of the black, but I figure I can always use that to make Doug another hat or something. Hopefully it won't take me another two years to get to that.

I didn't manage to get a picture of both mitts on, because Doug was working on a messy house-related project outside at the time and I didn't want to interrupt. But I can leave you with a canine photobomb shot!

June in review

All things considered, it wasn't a bad month, sewing-wise. I did two of the four challenges for The Monthly Stitch's Indie Pattern Month, busted a couple of pieces of stash, and made some progress towards what I need to get done for DragonCon.

1. Projects completed: 3. There was the Tiramisu maxi-dress, my Tiramisu-Moneta mashup for my Belle costume, and since I had a yardish left of the maxi-dress fabric, I tried out the Maria Denmark Kirsten Kimono tee. I haven't had a chance to take pictures of it yet, but will try to do so soon. I also hemmed a skirt for the same friend whom I did some prom dress alterations for a few months back--she gave me the skirt at the same time, but I'd been slacking.

I ended up with approximately half a yard left of the blue from the Belle dress, plus some large, oddly shaped scraps. So my stashbusting total for the month is 6 yards used up (2.5 from the Belle dress, and 3.5 from the maxi-dress and Kirsten tee.)

I also added some stash, though-- my mom was cleaning out a bin at her house and found all of these fabrics she'd been given that wouldn't work for quilts, but would work for clothes. So I took four pieces off of her hands, which adds up to about 11 1/2 yards in. Yikes! That light greyish lavender solid piece is going to need some work--there's some rusty-looking stains on it, and that's not a color I'd wear, but I figure it could be a good candidate for a dyeing experiment. And they all need to be washed a second time, because after one trip through the washer and dryer, they still have a weird musty smell. But I'm kind of in love with the colors on that plaid. And already plotting possible shirt ideas for how to use the gingham without the results looking too country, and found some cute ideas on ModCloth, which are now on Pinterest.

Side note--I'm not surprised, but slightly annoyed, that it's so much easier to find stashbusting ideas for fabric I wasn't planning on having than, say, the pieces of brocade that have been sitting in my stash for years!

On the knitting front, I'm making slow progress on my Roheline cardigan. I haven't gotten past the point where I'm increasing every few rows yet, but I tried a sleeve on the other day, and they're almost up to my elbows. I am planning on making the sleeves about an inch longer than the pattern calls for, to accommodate my monkey arms, and I still need to do the shoulders and yoke once I get to the point where I can attach the sleeves to the body, but that gives me hope that I might actually finish this one before it gets cold! Which is good, because I already have my next cardigan picked out and have the yarn for it. I'm also working on a couple of smaller projects on the side. One of which is for a gift. So I'll talk about those later.

One non-clothes thing I made, which might be a little cheesy: an anniversary gift for Doug! Since the traditional gift is paper, and I didn't have a ton of time to make anything, I decided to go with an idea I'd seen on Pinterest awhile back for those nights we want to hang out but aren't sure what to do. I kept the basic principle of different colors for different kinds of dates (at home vs. cheaper nights out vs. dates that take more planning and/or money), but decorated the sticks with scrapbook paper that I already had in addition to the paint. And since I didn't get all of the sticks written on before our anniversary, we did some brainstorming to add some things that fit us a little more than the ideas that were on the original website--there's at least two sticks in there that have something to do with hockey! He liked it, and we did finally have a chance to pull an idea from it for what to do last Friday night (board game night!) So I think this will be a fun thing to have around.

I sat down recently to review my capsule wardrobe list, and all things considered, I've been doing pretty well with it so far! Though I forgot to factor in the DragonCon stuff at the time. So for the upcoming month, here's my goal list:

From the capsule wardrobe: the black maxi-dress, which will be super-fast since it's basically a long knit tank top, and the Reglisse dress, hopefully in time for the Sundress Sewalong that Heather is hosting. Also, the skinny jeans, which I have somewhat started already, at least as far as pattern retracing and altering goes. I'm hoping to get those cut out today and start sewing by the end of the week. They'll double as part of the DragonCon sewing (yay for Doctor Who companions who wear normal everyday clothes!), and the timing is perfect for Lizzy's Jeans in June/July sewalong!

Aside from the jeans, I'm also hoping to knock out the rest of my Belle costume-- I need to make a white top to go underneath the dress, which I'm pretty sure I have something in the stash I can use for that, and a hair bow.  The Monthly Stitch's theme this month is monochromatic (all black and white), so between that and the black dress, I should be good to go! If I have time, I can probably also finish my Amy Pond outfit, since all I'll need to do aside from the jeans is to slightly refashion a plaid top that I found at Goodwill awhile back. But if not, I can easily knock that out in August. I have one other costume to do aside from those, plus buy a wig. (And now that I decided to go with my old Eowyn costume instead of finish the Tauriel costume, I found out yesterday that Simplicity just released a pattern for one of the other Tauriel costumes! Go figure.) I'm trying to get better about being realistic about what I can accomplish in my sewing time, so let's see how I do, shall we?

a post of small things, part 1

None of these are really the sort of thing that warrant an entire post by itself, so this is going to be more of a round-up. Which I'm actually going to do in 2 parts, because otherwise it's going to be super-long. So I'm going to start with what I've actually been working on or finishing up lately, and then move to the things I have to think through a little more tomorrow.

1. First off, my most recent completed sewing project. I've used this bib pattern before, though I think this may unintentionally be the last time-- I left it on the kitchen table and now it's not there, so I'm thinking that the dogs ate it. (Our dogs are the type who would have legitimately eaten my homework when I was a kid. They recently ate our checkbook, as evidenced by the fact that we recently found a quarter of one check with a chewed-up edge on the floor....and we haven't found any other remnants of it!) I hope I can find it or something similar again. It was an online freebie, though I can't remember from where since I downloaded it years ago. I like that it's a larger size to keep clothes cleaner, and this has become my go-to for the homemade portion of any baby shower gifts. And I have another friend who recently found out she's pregnant, so I know I'm going to need it again in the next few months!

I made this set for one of my oldest friends, who is expecting a baby girl in May. It's kind of neat when you unintentionally choose perfect fabric--I needed a little more on a recent order to get free shipping when I picked up something for my Tauriel costume, and knew this was coming up, so I ordered half a yard each of this owl fabric and some coordinating flannel to back it with. The owls were cute and on sale, and I figured the colors were neutral enough that she could continue to use them if she has a boy somewhere down the road. Then I found out that she's decorating the nursery in an owl theme! So there was a lot of owl-themed stuff at her shower. (And a lot of pink. So yellow is probably a nice change!)

2. My mom and I are working through a Craftsy knitting class together. We agreed that it's probably a little too easy for us, though I have still learned some useful things. This was the main scarf from the class, which I finally finished a couple of weeks ago. I wasn't sure how it would turn out since I used a more textured yarn and the ends were lacy, but I kind of like the funky look of it. Also, I managed to knit the entire thing continental-style, and I'm pretty proud of that since continental purling is the weirdest hand motion. I still don't really feel like I have the hang of it, but the ability to switch back and forth from my usual English-style might be useful with my carpal tunnel issues.

The yarn is Chacabuco from Araucania, which Ravelry says is now discontinued. I found it mostly ok to work with, though pulling the puffier bits through the loops was sometimes difficult, particularly when binding off. I'll have to keep that in mind when choosing a future project, because I do still have one skein of this in a different colorway. I actually got to this particular skein pretty quickly as far as stashing goes, since I bought it back in August specifically for this class, and I mostly used it up. (There's about 20 yards left. What do you do with 20 yards of bulky yarn? Seriously. There really weren't that many options on Ravelry.)

3. My costume for the Shieldmaiden Sewalong continues to go slowly, but I did get a little further, at least.

Hey, look, actual #shieldmaidenmarch progress. pic.twitter.com/u0bG4714SE
— Becky (@sew_and_so) March 21, 2014

I have two more pieces to cut out, plus any other little decorative overlay bits I may want to do. It's a good thing I'm making this out of bedsheets, because it's a bit of a fabric hog!

February Stash Diet update

Here's my totals for the month!

For sewing, I finished a whopping 6 projects! Three pairs of Thurlows, a Plantain tee, plus an infinity scarf and a tablet case. I love the months off from my retail job. I only used up two pieces of fabric completely, though I made nice dents in the fabrics I used for the pants. I did also buy several pieces of fabric this month--there was my travel exception that I made for Mood, plus I used my regular allowance to buy a piece of faux leather for my March of the Shieldmaidens project. I also bought two half yards of fabric to make a baby gift for a friend, since I needed a little more to get free shipping anyway and I really don't have baby-friendly stuff on hand.

Total fabric out: 7 1/2 yards
Total fabric in: 10 yards
Difference: + 2.5 yards
Total stash left: approximately 327 1/4 yards
Pieces of fabric completely used up: 2 (the cherry print cotton for the charcoal Thurlow pockets, and the paisley knit for the Plantain/scarf)
Patterns used: 2. I believe I have one more to go for my pattern buying allowance.


For knitting, I finally managed to start the sleeves on my cardigan! I also finished up a scarf for the Craftsy class that my mom and I have been working through together, aside from sewing the two halves together and weaving in the ends.. I am so, so close to finishing up that skein of yarn-- if the method for figuring out yardage from weight that I found is correct, I only have about 20 yards of this particular yarn left. Seriously, what do you do with 20 yards of yarn?

I didn't do so well on the yarn in vs out this time. Since I was sharing my beginner knitting Craftsy class with my mom, she decided to buy another one for us to work through together--the "Improve Your Knitting" one, which is probably what I would have gone for in the first case if it had been available at the time. I did check my stash, but unfortunately didn't have anything on hand in the right weights and amounts for the three projects that we'll be making for this class. So I ended up buying another 8 skeins of yarn! Hopefully these will get entirely used up during the course of this class, but I will not be counting these towards my yarn purchase allowance when I do use them up.

On the plus side, aside from my cardigan, I can make my totals a little more accurate now. I was finally able to give one secret project to its recipient--I made these dishcloths for my bestie, who recently bought her first place! So this was part of her housewarming gift, which had a geeky-but-practical theme going. So these have the Earth symbol from Stargate, a TARDIS, the Golden Snitch from Harry Potter, and the Starfleet Academy symbol from Star Trek. (I also bought her this apron--it references both Lord of the Rings and the Big Bang Theory, and is a favorite quote to throw at each other on a regular basis--a cookbook, and a cast-iron skillet--also known as Samwise Gamgee's/Rapunzel's security system!) I basically used up both skeins of yarn on these dishcloths.

I didn't quite finish my Robson coat in time for the end of #bluefebruary, so I'm going to count that yardage total towards March. I also did some dyeing to prepare for my costume yesterday--I'm trying to do my costume on a pretty tight budget, so I dyed some bedsheets that my parents were getting rid of. They did get darker, though not quite dark enough for my intended costume. So I think I might sew the main part of the costume up anyway, and then try the one dye I know works for polyester. (You have to boil it on a stovetop, so I need a smaller quantity than queen-sized bedsheets!)

Thurlows so nice, I made them twice

Twice more would probably be more accurate. But I finally got to test out my plan to sew these assembly-line style. I still have one more pair cut out to sew, but the serger thread has to be different for it to look best, so I waited. Navy blue and charcoal, though? Black served absolutely fine for both.

Since I've already showed two pairs of these, there isn't too terribly much to say. (Other than I need to work on my tripod camera positioning, because this angle makes me look kind of stumpy!) I did make a few minor detail changes to make them more jeans-style, since both of these are made from a lightweight denim. There's topstitching on the waistband, the darts, and around the welt pockets. I added a bar tack on the fly and some topstitching to just after the front pockets after wearing the charcoal pair for a day, because a stress point was already showing! (I also reinforced the stitching in the crotch and thigh areas for the same reason.) I did not, however, make the belt loops for these two pairs-- I didn't even cut them out this time, since by the time I got to that step for the other two pairs, I was pretty much mentally done and just wanted to hem them and be finished.

I am happy that this navy denim pair can count for the #bluefebruary sewalong!


And here's the charcoal pair. Do I look a little smug here? (That wasn't intentional. I also need to work on my posing. Sadly, this was the best of the lot.) Even though you're probably tired of me talking about making pants, I think these will both be great additions to my wardrobe that will go with tons of stuff. I had to give myself a break from pants yesterday and made a quick knit project instead (to be blogged soon), but I think I'm ready to continue with the last pair now. And then take a bit of a break from pants...but it won't be forever, because I need some jeans! (Especially since my one pair of skinny jeans accidentally ended up in the dryer this weekend and now I can't get them on anymore. So sad. On the plus side, now I know what to do with the leftover stretchy denim from the TARDIS skirt...)








One bonus project-- I actually finished this in January, but couldn't show it until now, since it was part of Doug's birthday present. He's been talking about wanting a Microsoft Surface tablet for months, so I teamed up with both sets of our parents to get him one. It came with a thin keyboard-style case, but I thought an extra case would also be helpful to keep things from jamming between the keyboard and the screen. So I used a scrap of the charcoal denim to make this envelope-style case, basically just winging it on the measurements by folding the fabric around the actual tablet.

The inside fabric was a fortuitous find-- I went to Goodwill with my bestie recently to try to find some preliminary costume materials for some stuff we're hoping to do later this year. While poking around the home decor section, I found this bedsheet that's all the various hockey teams in the NHL. Doug is a huge hockey fan, so I snatched that up and smuggled it home! I only needed a small scrap for this bag, but made sure to center one of his two favorite teams so that it was showing--the one that would require me to cut into the least amount of fabric, of course! I still have quite a bit of this left, though I'm not counting it as adding to the stash, but I'm sure I can use it up for some big blocky project like making pillows for the basement, aka his "man cave".

And now for totals:

Pattern: Sewaholic Thurlows (plus improvised pattern for tablet pouch)

Amount of time it took to make: About two weeks, plus some breaks to make the pouch while Doug wasn't home, so that averages to a little less than a week per pair. Not too shabby.

Fabric used: lightweight denims from Fabric.com

Amount of fabric used: approx. 3.5 yards (about 1.25 yds of main fabric/.5 yd lining per pair) - there's approximately 1.75 yards of each main fabric remaining, though not the full width of the fabric. (Any ideas?)

Stashed since: 2012

Current stash total: Counting the 6 yards I just bought at Mood, about 336 yards. Well, it's still some progress.

Two last projects for 2013

Now that Christmas is over, I can show one of my more recent secret projects! And even though most of my "craft" time since then has been "completely reorganize the craft room" time, I did take a break from it on Saturday night to knock out another project. So I thought I'd share.

First up are these placemats, which I (partially) made for my mother-in-law. I can't take credit for too much on here--making them in the first place was Doug's idea, and I honestly would not have been able to get these done even remotely on time without some greatly appreciated help from my own mom. I did the quilting and cutting, but she cut and sewed on all of the binding strips and also did the majority of the hand-sewing for that. Thanks, Mom!













A close-up of the fabrics. The penguins are because my mother-in-law is pretty much obsessed with them--seriously, she loves anything with a penguin on it! And Doug thought this would be more practical than another figurine. The flip side with the Christmas puppies are because the lighter one in particular strongly resembles the older of our two dogs, which she also loves a lot. It's really hard to find penguin fabric that isn't blatantly Christmas, but I'm glad I succeeded, because then she can use them more often.

The other project I finished over the weekend was for the #SewGreenDecember sewalong that the Sewcialists on Twitter have been doing. It's another Renfrew, my third one now, so there's not too terribly much to say, other than this:

1. This was my first time doing the V-neck. It's not quite as crisp of a V as I would have preferred, due to the fabric, but I'm proud of how it turned out nonetheless.

2. The fabric itself is a very drape-y, more or less a textured slinky knit. Thus the not-crisp V. The other effect that this had was that this one seems to have ended up a little longer than my other ones. The sleeves in particular do bunch around my wrists a bit, and pull down to handwarmer length. I don't mind this, actually, since my hands do get cold frequently. My only regret is that I didn't think to add thumb holes until after I tried it on! As for the print, all I can think when I look at it is that it's like a closeup of Impressionist shrubbery. Which is probably what this shirt will end up being called on the sidebar, because I'm not-clever like that.

3. Since it was already cut out, this was super-quick. It's really nice to have a TNT pattern that I can knock out in a few hours while watching tv. It's also nice that I was able to use up a piece of fabric that has been sitting in the stash since before I started this blog!

So now I've done all 3 neckline options, and two of the three sleeve lengths on this pattern. I'm sure there will be more, though I don't have any more planned for the semi-immediate future.

I do have one more end-of-year post I'll need to do, since I did get some fun crafty/handmade things for Christmas that I wanted to show off. I'm also in the middle of inventorying my fabric (on a spreadsheet) and my yarn (on Ravelry), to give me something tangible to track in my stashbusting efforts. I do have to say that the numbers on my fabric are embarrassing at the moment--I haven't quite finished due to finding some things in unexpected places (and another fabric purchase that Gillian and Heather completely enabled me on, when I commented on Twitter that I had an Archer pattern and literally nothing to use for it), but at last count, I was over 320 yards! And that's not even counting scraps! Yikes!

another wedding shower gift

The shower was over the weekend, so I can finally show the related sewing projects!

As I said before, these were for my friend Nicole--she's the one real life friend I have who occasionally sews, so I knew she'd appreciate it! Though we probably won't be sewing together again, since she moved to Boston to be closer to her fiance and will be staying there after her wedding. I'll miss her, but I am happy for her!

I like to run with a small theme for wedding gifts, even when I'm buying straight off the registry, and this one was no exception. She'd asked for Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking, and the cover was so pretty, I couldn't resist! And I already knew I wanted to make her an apron, since one of our last fun sewing adventures together was making Anthropologie-inspired aprons. The apron she made for that was actually a wedding gift for one of her friends, and I thought she should have one herself. So I went with the same apron inspiration she'd chosen, the Tea & Crumpets apron. (Since this one's on sale, I doubt I saved any money--but I've always felt that white is very impractical for an apron that one wears while actually cooking, unless you're a professional chef who isn't as sloppy with the tomato sauce! Plus I was guessing at what colors she might actually have in her kitchen, based on her registry and Pinterest boards.) This cute bee fabric jumped out at me immediately, but it was really hard to find something that matches it! I'm really grateful that my quilter mom went along to help me out.

I drafted most of the pattern myself, based on an apron that I'd been given at my own shower. But I did borrow the pocket from the Cake Pavlova skirt, because it looked like a perfect match!  And since I have one or two of these skirts in mind for some stashbusting, it was good to have a chance to practice the pattern a bit.



The other thing I made was this set of placemats. To continue the French theme, we found this fabric with French lettering on it. But the one I really fell in love with was the bicycle fabric, because it just seemed so perfect for her. And it really did end up being perfect, because her grand entrance to her shower, which we held outside, was riding in on her bicycle! I will admit that my mom did help me finish these up, since I was running out of time and needed to do one side of the binding by hand. I will also admit that the corners are not nearly as nice as the ones that my mom usually makes, because I completely forgot her instructions for them. I guess I'll have to consult with her on that later, because I'm sure I'll be making some more placemats at some point, if only so we have another set. (Mom made me some for my own bridal shower.)

She was really excited about it, as were most of the people at the shower--I got a lot of compliments on my sewing skills! (Especially once someone asked me if I'd made the dress I was wearing, too.) I'm not quite done sewing for her yet, as this week's project is altering her wedding dress! Which, thankfully, will be a relatively easy job. The dress fits her perfectly in the bodice, so all I have to do is hem it. Of course, it's also 3 layers, the inner lining is silk charmeuse, and the outer layer is silk chiffon! My plan is to just do a narrow machine hem on the charmeuse and the outer lining. I may hand-stitch the chiffon, though, since it's a little crinkly and I don't want it to go all lettuce-y on me.

I'm also pretty close to finishing my Sewcial Bee dress. I'd like to reinforce the midriff, since the serged stitches were pulling a bit when I put it on Donna to let the hem hang. I also need to figure out exactly how I want to hem it--I don't want to just leave it raw, because it's a pretty thin jersey and I suspect it might develop some runs if I do that. But if all goes well, I'll have both of these dresses done in time for Pantsapalooza!

Still gift-crafting...

The good news is that I am completely done with project 1 of 2 for my one soon-to-be-married friend, and have made some decent progress on the second. I'm hoping that I can finish machine sewing on that by the end of the week, and then save the hand-sewing bits for tv-watching time with the hubby.

Gift knitting has been set aside momentarily, as my carpal tunnel is mysteriously flaring up again, and knitting is way harder on my wrists than sewing. So I need to let them rest and recover a bit first.

I did take a momentary break from the gift projects on Saturday in order to trace out my Reglisse pattern. I'm having a bit of a debate on how to handle the top, because the fabric that I bought for bias tape, thinking it was the tie and sleeve, is actually just for bias tape, and I don't have enough to cut those particular pieces. So my options are a) leave the tie off altogether and cut the sleeves from the print fabric, b) see if the more local but smaller Joann's has the same color of cotton, since I have to go there this week anyway to meet a fellow bridesmaid for shower crafting, or c) see if I can squeeze both the ties and the sleeves from the print. Which I'm not sure will look right. Also, I'm not sure if I have enough fabric to do so--I've seen several reports around the blogs about this dress being rather short, so for my own comfort, I traced the skirt to the length of the largest size, even though my own size fell right about in the middle. (I hope I have enough fabric for that, too!) I'd love to get this done by the end of the month, so I can at least wear it once this summer.

And, just so this isn't a totally picture-less post, I also made this on Saturday:




I did taste the end piece,and it was delicious. (And turned out much better than my first attempt!) Bread counts as crafting too, right?

secrets revealed

I mentioned in a couple of recent posts that I was sewing some baby shower gifts. Well, the shower was last Saturday, so now I can show what I made for my friend!

The first gift wasn't really a surprise for her, to be honest. I've made this pattern before, maybe about a year or so before the blog, for my best friend from high school when she had her first child. I was telling this particular friend about what I was sewing, and she said that whenever she got married and had a baby, I'd have to make it for her, too, because she's had pretty much a lifelong love affair with duckies. So this was straight out of a pattern, some old Simplicity one, I think. I definitely had an easier time sewing this one than the first time I made it, mostly due to the fact that I have a serger now and could reduce the little yellow bits that went everywhere!


And here she is, modeling the hoodie towel!
















She wasn't expecting the other gift, though! I thought it would be fun to continue the (very short) tradition of geeky baby bibs, and she's been a huge Star Wars fan for pretty much as long as I've known her, which is since we were kids . My first thought was to attempt appliqueing Yoda onto something, since she loves the little green guy in particular, but I (thankfully) found this fabric on Spoonflower instead.

Check out the adorbs--that little Boba Fett jumping on the trampoline just KILLS me for some reason! And Han chasing Leia with a frog....awww. The fabric came with either a blue or a pink background, and we didn't know what gender the baby is until the day of the shower,so I went with the blue.  It turns out she's having a girl. I think she did it on purpose, because she's like me and not the biggest fan of pink and didn't want to get overloaded with it. But it's ok, because I happen to know that blue is one of her favorite colors, and girls can like Star Wars too! Another friend (the one making the gift list next to her in the photo) and I turned this into a group gift, because she found a Darth Vader onesie and some plushy Star Wars toys, and we stuck those and the bibs in a lunch box. The mom-to-be was pretty amused.

So there you have it-- my last pre-dress finished sewing projects!

So, so close....

My goal for yesterday was to finish the raincoat. And I almost made it. But then disaster struck, in the form of eyelets...

All those raggedy sharp edges.... apparently all of that trouble I was having with the belt for the Licorice dress wasn't a fluke. The eyelet setting went even worse this time. I even asked my tool-savvy dad for help, and he couldn't get them to go in right either. So we concluded that the eyelet setting tool is a piece of crap, and that I'll need to get a new one. He thinks he can get the eyelets out without messing up the belt itself, which is hopefully going to be the case. So I'll have to talk to him about that soon... I can salvage the buckle either way, but worst case scenario, I found just enough fabric to make a new belt if needed. I just need to remember to keep an eye on the A Fashionable Stitch shop for when the eyelets come back in stock so I can get those, the hammer-in tool instead of the awful pliers tool, and some new belt backing if necessary. Sunni's customer service is great-- I emailed her last night to ask if she carried those aside from the entire belt kit, and got a response back within half an hour! So I would definitely highly recommend her shop. (As an aside, Sunni, if you manage to find jeans rivets to stock, I will love you forever!)

On a happier note, I think the coat itself turned out pretty good!

Not quite the same look as what was in the magazine-- let's just do this properly and I'll do a pattern review, shall we?


Pattern: Burda Magazine 3/2009, #119


Pattern Description: Double-breasted trenchcoat with gun flaps on both sides, knee length, inverted box pleat in the back.

Pattern Sizing: 34-44. I made the 40.

Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it? Close, but not quite...I just realized now, while looking at the line drawing vs. my photo, that I should have pulled it closed more in the front when I was figuring out button placement and that's why the double row of buttons would have just looked silly. Oops. Oh well, it's probably more functional this way, anyway! I also left off a few of the extra details, like the mini-belts around the wrists and the epaulettes. And the belt, obviously, but that will come.

Were the instructions easy to follow? They're Burda magazine instructions. 'Nuff said. Truth be told, I didn't follow them too closely, because I had to rework half of the order to accommodate the waterproofing, and my desire for a full lining. But hey, look how nice it looks! Inverted box pleat and everything! Um, don't look too closely at the internal hem, ok? That was a bit of a wrestling match, but hopefully it won't show too badly.)

What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern? I liked the styling of it, and would have quite happily incorporated those extra details if they wouldn't have added extra holes in unnecessary places that I would have had to waterproof. There wasn't really anything I seriously disliked about the pattern itself, more my construction process. But that's not the pattern's fault.

Fabric Used: A waterproof taffeta from Gorgeous Fabrics for the outside, and some polyester stuff I was given for free years ago for the lining. The lining is also fully underlined with flannel for warmth. (I also used the flannel for interfacing where needed.)

Pattern alterations or any design changes you made: As already mentioned, I fully lined the coat, rather than the yoke/sleeve only lining that the pattern called for. And the accidental design change in the front with the buttons. I did a lot more topstitching than it called for, since the taffeta was very prone to fraying and I needed to finish all of those seams accordingly (lots and lots of flat-felled seams. Great practice for those jeans I still plan to make.) I also used a belt-making kit from A Fashionable Stitch, rather than the directions that the pattern called for. I made no sizing alterations, since I wanted to allow extra room for bulky winter clothes, other than maybe making the sleeves a bit longer.

Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others? I think it makes for a nice, classic trench-coat look. I might sew it again whenever my lightweight spring jacket wears out--wouldn't this be fun in a bright, cheery twill print or something? 


Conclusion: This has nothing to do with the pattern itself, but I am SO glad to be done with this thing. And I really hope this raincoat holds up for a long, long time, because I don't want to waterproof anything again for a long, long time!

In other sewing news:
1. In one of the recent interims of letting waterproofing stuff dry before I could continue, I made these:

 Yes, I have another bridal shower to go to! This time, for a cousin getting married in March (the wedding I'm knitting that black shrug for.) So I whipped up yet another of my go-to apron pattern, along with the potholders I tried out back in the fall for a last-minute addition to a friend's shower gift. These seem to be along the lines of the colors she wants in her kitchen, so hopefully my cousin will like them! I can probably make the apron in my sleep by this point. The potholders still need a bit of work, as I still haven't quite figured out the best system for getting the bias tape around the top, (Probably because I keep insisting I can do better than the pattern, and making the loop out of the bias tape instead of a ribbon like the pattern calls for.)


Speaking of that black shrug, I'll do a knitting update soon.... in about 3 rows, it will make a better picture than what I can take now. But there has been progress. Honest.

2. My next project is mostly cut out and ready to go. And it's....(drumroll)....another brown coat! More specifically, the brown corduroy one that was #1 on the list. Hey, I've been meaning to make that thing for 2 years now. So I have the outside all cut out and interfaced where needed, with some extra-large seam allowances. My plan is to baste it together, tweak the fit where needed, mark that on the pattern, and then cut out the lining. Corduroy's tough. It can take being a muslin and a finished jacket. Now if only I could find what's left of my old fabric notebook so I can remember how many yards I can take off my stash list...

3. I also need to sit down soon and figure out what I need for the next several projects I'm going to tackle. Especially since the button packs are buy one get one free next weekend! (And maybe check out the Simplicity patterns, since they're 5 for $5...)

4. I got an early birthday present today...I'm signed up for one of the sewing classes at Craftsy. I got an email this morning saying that the pants-fitting one is currently half-price, and since I have both jeans and trousers coming up in the queue, I figured this would help immensely. I do have two pairs of jeans that I love the fit on (one boot-cut and, surprisingly, my one pair of skinny jeans, both purchased from Goodwill), and a pair or two of pants that I also think fits pretty well. Actually, I was thinking just yesterday that I wish I could replicate this one brown pair I have, because the fit at the top is great but I've washed and worn them so often that there's starting to be some obvious wear-and-tear on places like the back welt pockets. Plus they're just too short to look really good with my boots. So since the whole idea is reverse-engineering the fit without destroying the original jeans or pants, this could be just the thing! I've liked the Pattern Review classes I've taken in the past, but I'm excited to try the Craftsy ones since they have video and no set dates, so I can just do it as I can without stressing about falling behind. (Plus they're less expensive. Always a plus.) I'm thinking for the jeans, I can use this to make whatever last tweaks are needed to the muslin I already made for the last jeans class, and use the pattern I already have from there. So then I can finally cross that off the list, since I've been saying for, oh, only the last 3 or 4 years in a row that this is going to be the year I successfully make jeans!

Year-end crafting

Now that Christmas is over and all gifts have been given, I can show the rest of what I've been up to this month.

1. Herbal eye pillows. They're filled with flaxseed, lavender, and peppermint. I got the idea and the basic instructions from this blog that I found while Google-searching how to do it. The pillows themselves are bits of muslin from testing out that little black dress at the beginning of the year, and I was able to use some 100% cotton scraps from several projects over the last couple of years. I made one for myself, one for my mom, one for the cousin that I got in the family drawing on my mom's side (as part of an after-work relaxation kit--she's a nurse, so she has to put in some long days), and one that I'm not sure what to do with yet.

I usually make a necklace or two for my mom's stocking every year as well. So here's this year's--she mentioned she didn't have much gold-toned jewelry. It's hard to tell from the picture, but the chain is broken up here and there by some antique gold-colored freshwater pearl beads.

I also got some lovely sewing and knitting (mostly)-related gifts this year from my family...

New fabric! From left to right, 3 yards of a lightweight charcoal denim that absolutely has to become pants, a black/white/grey silky print (I think about 2 yards), and a yard each of 3 cotton prints for me to make a new bag, of this style. It's kind of cool that I basically have an entire outfit here! I'll just have to make sure to choose a pants and top pattern that will work well together.

 And I got new yarn! 2 skeins each of this really thin bamboo yarn (I'm guessing for socks)...

....and 2 of this lovely colorway of the Serenity yarn I like. For acrylic, it's super-soft and I love their color palettes!

A few other miscellaneous things: 3 knitting books (2 with some really lovely patterns, and one that's a pocket-sized tips book), a tiny circular needle which I'm guessing is also for attempting socks, 2 pairs of scissors (a badly-needed pair of new fabric scissors, since mine are rather dull, and some pinking scissors so I can stop stealing Mom's all the time), and a little pendant from my sis-in-law.

Here's the close-up-- we both love Van Gogh, and I already had the "Starry Night" pendant. So this is the "Sunflowers", of course. I love that it came with two little sunflower charms so I can make some earrings, too! (Sunflowers are my favorite flower, as you've probably figured out by this point.)

So that pretty much wraps up the holidays. My seasonal retail job is basically done for the year, so unless my job hunt proves more fruitful over the next couple of months than it's been so far, I've basically got no work other than my flute teaching until March. So I think a lot of my non-job-hunting/non-work time will probably be spent playing around with some of these things. I'm hoping to get that mock-up of the raincoat cut out this week. And I have one more holiday-related project up my sleeve, which must get done this week. I'm also planning on doing the traditional year-end wrap-up post at some point this week. But first, I need to figure out where to put all of this stuff...

Ok, so I'll go ahead and do that knitting update now.

I probably won't have time over the weekend anyway....I'm entering the part where my next 3 weekends are booked completely solid!

Anyway, here's what's been on the sticks lately.

#1: I started a scarf for my friend Shantelle to go with the handwarmers I made her (which she loved), for the dual purpose of using up the yarn and to give me something brainless to keep my hands busy while we have our Project Runway marathons. Just a basic k4, p4 ribbing, so I really don't have to think about it.

#2: The knitalong sweater! So far, she's just had us do the neckline ribbing, so this has been waiting for the next step to go up. So far, the hardest part has been just casting it on, which I had to do about 4 or 5 times for various reasons (cast on too tightly, ran out of yarn on the tail, etc.) I'll be glad to get to the increase section, since so far this is reeeeeeally stretched out on the circular needle and I've been afraid it'll stay that way from letting it sit!

#3, my "Counterpoint Hat". This is what I've been working on the most--the ribbing is done, and I'm about 5 rows away from starting the decreases. I'm hoping to get this one done by about the middle of October, since it seems like fall weather may actually be arriving soon and I think this will go really well with this vintage 70s leather jacket I have that my mom passed down to me. Plus I'm taking a little solo road trip to visit my best friend from high school for a weekend around then, I'm hoping to come home via Shenandoah National Park, and I think it would be fun to have a cute fallish hat to wear in any of those at-arm's-length self portraits I might be inspired to take on Skyline Drive.

And here's a closeup of the squiggly little mini-cables. I think I'm going to have to figure out a way to block this when it's done, since I seem to keep ending up with a bit of a pull right after the cable, despite my tendency towards super-tight knitting tension. But hopefully that'll even things out. If I can figure out how to block something knitted in the round....

green stuff

Not the most creative title, but that's what I've been working on this weekend.

This was last night's project. I have yet another wedding to go to later this fall, and the shower is next Friday. I wasn't going to be able to go at first due to a mixup in the invitations that meant I didn't get it before I made other plans, but since the shower was originally supposed to be the same day that Hurricane Irene came through here, it got rescheduled. I ended up buying most of her gift but I wanted to give her something handmade as well (especially since she's from the same group of friends as the bride-to-be that the cherry apron was for!) Didn't have the time or funds for a whole apron, but I did make her these potholders from a pattern that my mom had on hand and some fabrics left over from my quilt. I actually really liked how these potholders turn out--this might become the go-to pattern the next time I need to make a shower gift!

I spent the majority of today starting off my Vogue dress, and got the bodice pretty much sewn together. So here's the front so far.... (sitting a little lopsided on the dummy, now that I look at the picture, but hopefully I can fix that when it's on myself!)

And here's the back, though not quite how it'll end up (since the seam is  pinned to the outside.) I think I'll have to tweak the back shoulder part a bit, maybe shorten it up, but it's only basted on right now so that will be easy enough to fix. The zipper is supposed to separate the back a bit more, so I may need to take some of the length out there, too. Guess I'll have to actually try it on to see, but I'm all sewed out for today!

The surprising thing is that it looks like I'm going to end up doing this entirely on the machine instead of the serger, which I haven't done on a knit project in awhile! But there's so many places where you have to stop sewing at a certain place or sew on stay tape and that sort of stuff. I've been using the walking foot on my machine and it's helped quite a bit.

I'm ready to kick back now....maybe I'll see if I can get some work done on that second swatch for the knitalong.

Something old, something new, something gifted and something blue

No, this has absolutely nothing to do with weddings. But it fits.

First of all, the something old/gifted. I started these handwarmers (also from the Constellation pattern) waaaaaaaaaay back in April. But I didn't finish them until today, mainly due to the Odyssey tank. I actually got the knitting done on Monday or Tuesday (spent a good chunk of Hurricane Irene working on these, since I didn't want to get involved in sewing in case the power went out), but I had to weave in the ends. I used the same type of yarn (the chunky-weight Deborah Norville Serenity in "Majesty"), though I was more careful about lining up the stripes this time when they're next to each other. I also actually remembered to do the ribbing on smaller needles sometimes, so I think it'll end up fitting better. The thumb holes feel a little tight right now, but I'm hoping I can stretch those out a bit.

I made these for my friend Shantelle, who was threatening to steal mine last winter! (She's from Trinidad, so she has a better excuse to get cold easily in the winter than I do.) So hopefully she'll like them and they'll fit ok.

And for the something new/blue:

My first time doing an exposed zipper. Not what I would normally go for, but I had it on hand, and I figured it would be good to try one out before I do the Vogue dress. It specifically calls for an exposed zipper, and I'd rather do my first attempt on a stretch woven than a jersey knit! So this is the sneak preview of the reconstruction project I'm currently working on, hopefully to be finished tomorrow.

Two things:

1. These are the potholders I made to go along with Kristy's apron. Pretty easy, although the quilting made it a bit more time-consuming. I'm going to need to try to think of a better way to apply the bias binding next time I make something like this--the back side is a bit messier than I'd like, but I didn't have time to hand-sew it down.  She seemed to like them-- I think she was amused at how closely they match her current kitchen theme! (Which was the point, since she owns and he rents and so he'll be moving into her place after the wedding.)

2. I need a little advice....one of my friends asked me if I could hem her bridesmaid dress for the same wedding. She offered to pay me (and frankly, given how badly my day job hours have been cut back this summer, I need the money), and asked what I'd charge. I told her it would partially depend on how involved it would be--you know, lining, overlayers, that sort of thing--so I'd need to see it first. That aside....what would be a reasonable rate to charge for something like that? (You'd think that, given that I've been setting prices for my flute lessons ever since I finished college, I'd be better at this sort of thing....but I tend to err on the side of undercharging, I think.)

Layla, revisited

It seems to be becoming my standard thing for wedding showers to make an apron for the bride-to-be. Once again, I used the BurdaStyle Layla pattern, but with a few additional modifications from the last two versions. This one is for my friend Kristy, who is one of my oldest friends (we've known each other since, oh, kindergarten) and is getting married in October to a mutual college friend that she reconnected with last year. Since she's been living on her own for awhile, unlike the last two brides I made aprons for, there wasn't really a whole lot of stuff on her registry to pick from. So I made the apron to supplement something for the kitchen that I picked off of her registry.

This time, instead of hemming all of the edges, I wrapped them in bias binding. (In retrospect, I probably should have trimmed the seam allowances first to make this a bit smaller, since she is also more petite than I am. But hey, it'll definitely protect her clothes!) I also made two ties for the neck instead of one, so she could adjust it to her liking.

The third change I made was to make two pockets instead of the one central pocket. Also edged in bias binding.  I think it suits the print nicely! (Which I couldn't resist, because she has a cherry theme in her current kitchen. And since the colors she and her fiance were picking for the kitchen stuff are still kind of along those lines, I figured that this would go. And if she changes up the curtains and stuff, she still gets to keep a bit of her old kitchen theme.)

I still have a little less than a yard left of the cherry fabric, so if I have time this week, I'd like to make her some matching potholders or something. The shower's on Saturday, so I'm on a bit of a time crunch. We'll see how it goes.

I also got some knitting done over the weekend-- went back to my aunt's beach house for a night to hang out with my brother and sis-in-law for her birthday, and I brought my knitting with me. So I've got about 50 rows of mindless knit 2 purl 2 left before the back is done. I'm hoping I can knock that out pretty quickly! Especially since I already have my next big project lined up-- I'm joining in the Newbie and the Knitter knitalong that's starting up in September. I mean, what better way to figure out that sweater knitting thing than with other people, right? The planned project is the Cadence pullover from Knitty.com. I'm personally planning on lengthening the sleeves to full-length if I can, because I get cold so easily that 3/4 sleeved sweaters are kind of pointless for me. And I guess I got excited, because I ended up getting my yarn for it yesterday while I was at Joann's to get a better matching thread for the apron (and that Vogue pattern I wanted!)

It's a super-soft acrylic/alpaca blend in this "persimmon" color. I used to have a rather strong dislike for orange, mainly due to this nasty carpet from the 70s that was on my bedroom floor for the first several years of my life. It's grown on me in the last couple of years, though. And it's not quite as pumpkiny as it looks in this picture--it's a cooler orange, if that makes sense. Once I get to mid-January or February or so, I always start craving color in my wardrobe to offset the super-blah weather. And since I tend to go for sweaters more than anything when I'm cold, this seemed to be just the thing! Hopefully I've got enough yarn.... I bought out the entire pile that Joann's had, and if my estimate is right, I have more than the pattern calls for. But then, you see how well that went for my current knit!