Knitting and sewing

The shawl is finished, and being worn. I am wearing it as I write this, and it is keeping my neck beautifully warm. My "Context scarf", to give it the correct name, is being worn by my tailor's dummy Aggie.

So what did I do? I went and started another one yesterday. The same pattern, but this one is knitted in a beautifully coloured sock yarn called Trekking XXL.

I popped in to my local wool shop yesterday and found the yarn amongst the sock yarns. I had wanted something with brown, orange and yellow in it since I wanted a small shawl to wear with a red jumper and brown skirt. It is lucky this design knits up so quickly.

Yes, I have been sewing too - quilting and adding beads, buttons and ribbon to my journal quilts. More hand sewing than machine work. Photos will have to wait until another time since I really need to get the first three finished and posted on the Yahoo site before posting the photos here.

I also have two blouses I really need to make for choir. I made one blouse some months ago, but it is deteriorating badly. The fabric I had used is the problem. It was a lining fabric which I hoped would be good enough and has now started stretching at the seams. I would have been happier had the stretching been caused by my being too big for the blouse. Sadly it is just pulling after having been washed a couple of times. So here you see the fabric I have bought to make two blouses. There is a rather pretty lilac and a brighter cerise colour. I bought these from the Fent Shop in Macclesfield. The fabric is a slubbed polyester and is much denser, whilst also being softer than my current choir blouse.

I shall be using one of these two patterns. Both were found in a charity shop. I shall probably use the McCalls pattern for the first choir blouse since the blouses are not worn tucked into a waistband. The Burda blouse will be so pretty for the Spring............ The next concert is next weekend, so I had better get on and make them.

Sewing and keeping busy.

Well, I have been keeping very busy doing some sewing. Not my usual kind. I shall need to get back to the quilting and textile "art" before too long since I need to have some creativity in my life too.



This past week or so I've been trying to hone my dressmaking skills, ready for making my daughter's wedding dress. The first piece was this crepe de chine blouse. It is such a lovely design and fits well, and is already one of my favourites. The pattern is V7903, a Today's Fit pattern by Sandra Betzina for Vogue. (Yes, each link is different. I do hope that you find them useful.)



This was the second item - a shirt. Again, such a comfortable design to wear. Sadly, since it is made from quilting weight cotton, it is really a little too warm to wear at this time of year. That said, I did wear it last week during a particularly chilly couple of days. It was nice to feel warm! However, one child did bring me right back to earth with a bump, when she innocently said "my grandma has curtains like that". I really couldn't help laughing, since the fabric is similar to the old toile de jouy design, so yes, could easily be seen on curtains and the like. It reminded me of the time when I bought some gorgeous red floral fabric to make dresses for my daughters when they were small. Now that time I did buy curtain fabric - and those dresses were loved and worn such a lot.......... My girls were only five and three at the time. Happy memories.
Oh yes, the pattern for this shirt is this one: Classix Nouveau Great White Shirt from Hotpatterns. Again, a really well designed pattern which fits beautifully. I was really impressed to find the pattern printed on really sturdy paper. The instructions were good too.

My third project is currently being rescued from complete disaster. A pair of trousers, and no, I didn't make a muslin.......... yes, bad mistake. I made them too big and so have had to take them almost entirely back to the original pieces again. It was all pinned and ready to be reassembled earlier this evening, when I managed to break the zip. Well, to be accurate, I accidentally took the metal zipper piece off the cut end of the zip itself and wasn't able to replace it........... More disassembly later, I am about to replace the broken zip with another one from my stash.......... Thank goodness for having a stash of zips..................... I decided enough mistakes had been made, so stopped for a cup of tea, and a Blog post. Why, you may ask was the end of the zip cut in the first place? It was part of the instructions for making the fly front. It has to be cut when the waistband is added. Why did I get so far before I realised I had made such a stupid mistake? I don't know. I should have stopped many times to check the sizing, but didn't. Lesson now learnt.

The pattern is this one: 3363 from Kwik Sew. Please don't let my misadventures put you off this pattern. It is a really nice design with good instructions. I was just enjoying myself too much to stop and think and try them on.

It's just as well that I can laugh at myself. I've been chuckling at how silly I have been whilst writing this. Still, better to get everything wrong doing a project like this than to get my daughter's wedding dress in a mess................ Back to the sewing machine to retrieve these trousers. I really need to add them to my wardrobe.

Hopefully, I will be able to show a completed pair of trousers which are wearable before too much longer.

Getting reacquainted.

Sounds daft, I know. It is a very long time since I really knew my old machine, it's foibles , weaknesses, strengths. I got the strong feeling this last week that, if I was ever to get any sewing done whilst my younger daughter has my own machine, then I would really have to get to know this machine really well once more. I need to trust it. It needs to trust me............

I may be going too far here, but I do talk to my machines and, in return they purr along to me as they work. If I forget to talk to them, they stop working well.......... It has happened far too often for it to be anything other than the truth................... Or perhaps I am going completely around the bend towards insanity.

No, if it works, don't stop doing it.....................

I started by cleaning my untidy workroom. No views of the "before". Believe me, you would not have been able to see much more than glimpses of the floor, and very little of any of the surfaces. There was also an enormous pile of stuff to the left hand side of the sewing machine. This is now tidily put away in the wardrobe. (Away to the right of this photo.)

My dear husband had mentioned the dreadful phrase "throw out...........".

As a true lover of fabric, fibre, yarn and thread, my various stashes have now been caressed, folded, tidied and put away neatly. Only two lengths of a truly dreadful polyester cotton sheeting that had pilled, and which I could never see myself even using as a "muslin" have been sacrificed.

I should explain that the white desk really should belong in my younger daughter's bedroom. There is no room for it in there, so it does service as the table for my overlocker (serger). The books upon it are hers.

I now feel better, more confident and have started using my old machine once more. It was also cleaned during the general tidy-up and is ready to go...........

The latest edition of "Sew Hip", found on a recent trip into W.H.Smiths was truly well-timed. It has this delightful blouse on the front cover. I shall make this, though I shall probably have to alter it quite a lot to fit my more ample bustline.

Inside was this lovely little hanging.

Fun to make, and so useful, it now hangs on my wall. I used scraps of upholstery fabric left over from making a bag. The lining came from the remnants of a skirt I had made from an overly wide-legged pair of trousers.

The extra pocket on the bottom was made from two extra pocket pieces and their lining.

I also added a small pocket inside to hold my sewing machine screwdrivers - so helpful to have those immediately to hand when needing to retrieve the broken point of a needle.......................... Or does it only happen to me?

I have not done very much knitting lately, but the tunic I have struggled with now looks a little more possible.

The cabled jacket abandoned a little while ago looks as if it may get restarted. Well, three WIPs (Works in Progress) is much better than one WIP and two hibernating projects. Isn't it?

Of course, the socks are still under way, albeit at a rather slow (for me) pace.

Perhaps this is an irrelevant thought, but I can even see the telephone on my window sill. True happiness is made of this.

New projects.

Well, I am well and truly on a sewing binge at the moment. I took myself off to Jaycotts yesterday. A wonderful place for anything to do with sewing machines. I normally visit their internet site. However, this time, I went to the shop itself to find sewing machine needles to restock my collection, patterns, sewing thread and some pattern tracing cloth.

I have never used pattern tracing cloth before, generally using baking parchment to trace off my patterns. (I prefer not to cut up my paper patterns.) Thought I would find it easier to use rather tha the paper which tends to rip easily. What do you use when sewing using a paper pattern? My cats adore the sound of paper patterns with rather predictable results...........

I went on to the nearby Hobbycraft shop. These two fabrics just shouted out to come home with me.

This, though it is really a quilters fabric, is destined for a blouse.

Now, the last fabric (the coffee design), will become a jacket. More of a man's jacket than the patterns I bought yesterday. The design will be based upon my favourite jacket which is beginning to show signs of wear. I have ideas for the remnants - I did buy rather more than I really needed - to become the lining, or the outer fabric of a bag. What the finished bag will look like, has not yet been fully thought out.

One project I have already started, is the lining of two bags. One of them belongs to a friend of mine. It has been a shamefully long time since I was given the bag to line. I last did some linings for two similar bags here. Like the last linings, there are three pockets of various sizes.

Plans

At long last I have started knitting again and I have plans for a quilt!


Its been a funny time just lately, far too busy to really get my head together to do any sewing or stitching of any kind Now the sun has come out and today looks really nice outside. I should really be outside enjoying the weather rather than contemplating starting any sewing! I think I should compromise, and take myself off for a walk and then come back to sew a little later on.


Ah!!!





The plant above, a Spathyphyllum, is the latest addition to my workroom. It was given to me last weekend as a birthday present by my younger daughter, Rosie. Its such an elegant plant.


Now, the sewing.
I rather fancy having a couple of quilts I can bundle into the car, ready for sitting on the grass for a picnic. The pattern below, I have had for quite a time now. I really should try it out.




Last weekend, I went to Hobbycraft and found these stripes and checked fabrics. The plan started to come together at long last.






The colours are such fun. Reduced price too! Just couldn't resist.



Then on Thursday, at the Knots and Needles meeting, we had a speaker, Barbara Crompton, who also runs the shop "Material Pleasures". She got all of us doing some English Patchwork using papers. I hadn't done any of this style of patchwork for a very long time. It got me back into sewing again. Thanks Barbara!


She had brought some items from her shop along with her. I found these. Just the right range of colours to go with the bright stripes and checks!




So now, the fabric has been washed and ironed and I am ready to go.........................

Oh yes, yesterday, I went into Aldi and found the perfect yarn for my next cardigan.




The design is by Sirdar for their Click DK range of yarns. The leaflet number is 8956.


The colour I chose? Well, its a rather nice green acrylic. Acrylic? Yes, well this cardi will be used for school and I do like to be able to wash things easily.




As usual, I rather overdid it and bought enough for three garments (3 x 500g!) The other two colours will come in for some other tops and cardigans I really need.


Then, because I was in the mood, I resurrected this pattern by Vladimir Teriokhin. (Vogue Knitting International, Spring / Summer 2008). This is a design I really love, but last time attempted to knit it using the wrong yarn. This time I am using bamboo, just like the original! It feels lovely..........................