Bright Idea

This is the kid's Halloween costume - quite a production, let me tell you...

And here's the rig:


What you can't see is the metal construct (coat hangers, reshaped) that supports the glow sticks. The faux tungsten filament was sewn on in numerous spots, very messily. And those jeans are actually a shade of gold!

You have to trust me, it was quite something on the trick or treat circuit.

Foggy

In case you've been losing sleep over my previous post (Lord knows, I have), the sweater has definitely shrunk back in the direction of its original proportions. The question remains: Is it bigger than it was before I blocked it (cuz the size was perfect, esp. given the short row horizontal bust darts I finagled)? In truth, I'm afraid of the answer so I'm telling myself it's still not dry. I suspect my nerve will return when it's irrefutable that the sweater is no longer damp i.e. tomorrow or 70 hours after it first got wet.

I am definitely less traumatized than I was yesterday. After all, it's just a sweater, in the end. It took me 8 days to knit it and I learned a lot. Worst case scenario: Another Xmas present off the list.

The clasp still has not arrived so I can't really assemble it for a photo. I will, likely tomorrow, give you a blow-by-blow of what I did well, and what I could have done better. I know, you can't handle the excitement :-)

Yesterday evening I started knitting some fingerless gloves to go with my keyhole scarves. The pattern is Vancouver Fog by Jen Balfour:

That's a little preview of the lovely cable. The pattern is written for double-pointed needles, but I don't have them (nor have I used them), so I am using magic loop. It makes it a little bit less intuitive - and, seriously, this cabling is quite a bit harder than that which I worked flat in my keyhole scarves. I've never made a glove / gusset / thumb finger (really small diameter knitting) so it's all a bit experimental. I'm hoping it's going to work well though.

I've chosen a couple of other fingerless glove patterns that take a skein of yarn - so that I can use up some of the extra balls I couldn't return for one reason or another.

Anyone knit this pattern? What do you think?

Shout Out to the (Knitting) Experts: Blocking Insanity Eeeek. Need Reassurance.

OMG - after having just finished a fairly excellent sweater with Debbie Bliss Rialto DK (a fairly excellent merino/microfiber blend wool), I wet blocked it and it grew 680 times?!?!?!?!? Honestly, my extra small sweater is a freaking tunic. The small, delineated stitches have gone big and ugly.

I've lain the sweater flat and tried to mini it up to its previous size (as if).

Please tell me this thing is going to dry back to its original proportions. I didn't treat it roughly. It's not like the yarn came with instructions contraindicating washing.

I'm kind of freaking out.

Wiggle Skirt (With Photos)

I have so many thoughts about my just-completed skirt (skip to the photos below if the text is of no interest...). This is the third time I've made it, but it's the first time I actually finished the waist properly. When I started sewing, I had a really tough time with facings. I didn't really know what they were, so I interpreted them to be waistbands. With really bad instructions. Ah, inexperience...

At any rate, now I understand facings - though I don't tend to like them. In this skirt they work well.

I used the rest of my Lady Gray coat navy boucle, with a certain amount of natural crosswise stretch. Seriously peeps, how many modern ladies do you know who have a peplum coat with a matching skirt! Got me thinking about the origin of sets. They're an efficient and prudent use of fabric. I'm sure the home sewists of the 50s understood that.

Furthermore, I realized - as I was working with a truly lovely fabric - that the key to constructing garments that seem expensive is to use either very thin-weight fabric, or very thick-weight fabric. The heft of this skirt is SO retro. And it is very attractive around the hips and ass.

While making this, after having muslined it a year ago, and fitting it painstakingly each step of the way when making this version (the third), I realized something about home sewing that doesn't really thrill me. See, in the final analysis, despite everything, the waist is too big in this fabric. Partly, that's because of how the stretch worked unknowably with the facings. Partly the crosswise stretch really took on a life of its own. My hips are slightly slimmer than my dressform's, and my butt has actual flexibility in its shape, so I can actually lower the high waist to sit more at the low waist and it's alright. On the form, it just looks weird (and I even pinned the back in the top shot to make it seem more fitted).

My great realization? Well, if I'd found this rather nicely constructed, practical but elegant skirt in a store, I'd have tried on one size down. Maybe it would have fit, maybe not, but I'd have had that alternative. Here, I've spent hours to craft something that is really well-made (if I do say so myself), despite its flaws which I won't go into, and it doesn't fit perfectly. My only recourse - which, in real life I don't have because this fabric is long gone - would be to make the exact same skirt again, knowing what I know of the fabric ease now. That's neither practical, cost-effective nor enjoyable, as it happens. (Note: I do realize I could undo the waist facing, get rid of the lining and basically reconstruct this actual skirt, but that is NOT my thing. I can't get up any interest in doing that.)

Some Extra-Instructional Techniques:

• One thing I did, and would recommend this for all skirts of heavy weight, is to open the darts and press the to each side, to diminish waist bulk. Fortunately this fabric doesn't fray, so that was fairly easy. And the lining covers the evidence.
• I also shortened the lining above the back vent, and left it untacked (free), It acts like a slip.
• I haven't actually hemmed this yet, but I will wear it as-is because I serged the bottom and it is totally invisible (or, when pointed out, looks like an interesting design element). I like the length - 1.5 inches below the knee - and I want to work with it for starters. If I decide to hem, it will be as easy as removing a couple of tacks from the bottom of each side of the vent (sewed in to keep the vent from flopping). Note that this length is not universally flattering but, if one is hour-glass shaped, it can elongate the frame. It tends to work with slender calves best. And boots or heels.
• I used my serger extensively on this project. Y'all know I love that machine and do not begrudge for one minute having spent an exorbitant amount of money on it. It created a very neat finish.
• The bemberg was in rough shape by the end of it. I stained it, I had to unpick the centre back seam and there are little holes left behind. There's a long line of damaged weave in the centre of the back. Admittedly, it was there in the beginning and I knew about it. If anyone can recommend a lining that's easier to work with, and nicer, I'd love to know. I don't really enjoy bemberg, despite hearing of all of its virtues.
• In retrospect, I don't much like lining. I'd probably make this without lining the next time, and wear a slip.
  

Now onto the pics:

Waist is pinned at the back here (shhh...)

This photo is badly over-exposed but it does show the boucle and the line of the skirt and the unhemmed bottom. I said I wouldn't point out flaws but the zipper is not fab. The fabric really bunched on one side, despite all of my efforts to avoid that. It's in the nature of thick fabric.

The lining is gathered at the top, not darted. And is actually done evenly on both sides though this photo doesn't show that...

You can see the fabric flaw running through the lining. Somehow, I don't care.

I'm quite happy with the way the lining was stitched to the zip. I hate the look of this kind of hand stitching but it's not likely to rip off - as have some of my other experiments.

So, what do you think?

Clasping at Straws

The modern era has its challenges, for example: where's a nice sweater clasp when you need one?

I wandered the city like an idiot, visiting craft establishments galore in the veritable craft centre of Canada, and I could barely find anyone who even understood what a sweater clasp is.

So, in case you were born after 1970, a sweater clasp is the thing used to hold together the keyhole in this retro-inspired sweater I just happen to be knitting:

Split Neckline Cap Sleeve Tee

Sidenote: Would it have killed Ms. Japel to name this sweater something snappier (no pun intended) than the Split Neckline Cap Sleeve Tee. It doesn't exactly roll off the tongue! Now I'm going to have to call it the SNCST (if I can even remember that).

Eventually I took to the interwebs. While I'm not really into Ebay - it freaks me out and it's ugly - I do love Etsy (the cuter, crunchier granola sister).

Even there, the pickings, for the type of clasp I was searching for, were limited. I mean, it's like no one is wearing these things. I did find a vintage boutique selling quite a lot of them (and lovely ones), but they were of this variety:

Photo courtesy of Pink Rhino Vintage

This type, while totally adorbs, does not hold the sweater pieces in question closely closed.

In fact, I searched for almost an hour before finding this one:

Photo courtesy of Pink Rhino Vintage

(The pearls are textured on purpose and the vendor has happily agreed to take them back if I'm unhappy with the condition upon receipt. The piece is very well preserved, apparently.)

I think it'll look swell on a camel coloured, short-sleeved, retro-inspired sweater with black trim.

Thoughts on this fashion statement? Does any of you actually own one of these?

Shout Out to the Experts: Inserting a Bagged Lining

Sewing Divas: Can you advise - as I can't seem to find anything anywhere (in my 5 minutes of looking): Is inserting a bagged lining as simple as stitching the right side edges of the lining and the skirt at the hem cut line of each, then flipping up the lining and attaching it all at the waist?

The skirt I will make (V8640) does not have lining instructions. Last time, I made a "regular" lining by cutting the fabric pieces again in lining fabric (minus the waistband) and assembling that, wrong sides together, at the waist. I serged the lining hem at the bottom.

This time, I thought I'd branch out, but I don't want to court disaster i.e. no original pattern modified x2 = potential eeek.

To complicate matters, this skirt has a vent at the centre back. I did find Kay's awesome post on working around the vent, but I'm still nervous about the general process.

Any feedback would be so welcome and appreciated. Kxo

Wherein I Tell You I Spend Too Much Money On Crafting...

I think we can say - as, for the second time this month, I've spent $179.00 on yarn - I have a habit. Verging on a problem. The only thing that redeems me is that I am actually using up all the yarn I am purchasing, before purchasing more. That is to say, I have practically no stash and I'm still spending hundreds of dollars.

Those of you who think that sewing is expensive, meet knitting.

Today I bought:

• Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran in black. I was serious when I said I'd be making that shrug again. And I got an extra skein so I can lengthen the sleeves. You know how I like elbow-length.
• A whack of Debbie Bliss Cashmerino DK (a lighter weight than the Aran) in camel (what a terrible name for a colour) and some black Liberty worsted neck/sleeve/hem contrast colour cuz I'm going to make this:
  
  
  Split- Neckline Cap Sleeve Tee by Stefanie Japel
  

I really love Stefanie's patterns (and her instruction). This one is from that book I got recently, Fitted Knits. Seriously, her Craftsy course has totally reframed my understanding of pattern modification.

To wit, I spent three hours scoping out how to fit this on me, modifying the top-down pattern to reflect my sizing needs:

• XS neck / arms which grade to...
  
• ...S body (plus a few stitches) to accommodate a 37" bust. I'm just going to increase them onto my circular needles when I start knitting the torso in the round. Knitters: Does that seem like it will work?
  
• Removal of vertical length i.e. rows between bust and waist
• Decrease in 32 stitches between bust and waist circumference
• Removal of vertical length i.e. rows between waist and high hip
• Increase of 38 stitches between waist and hip circumference
  

Peeps, it's a production - but I LOVE figuring out this wacky math... And I hope my lady/vintage camel/black combo will be elegant rather than boring.

At this point, I bundle all of my projects with their respective patterns, modifications and needles into self-serve ziploc bags. That way everything stays where it should.

Then there's my sewing. In keeping with my add a new skirt and use a TNT plan, I'm going to remake the high-waisted pencil, Vogue 8640, in the boucle I used to make my Lady Grey coat. With this yellow lining. Interesting, huh? I am hoping to get to that this weekend, though there are a few alternate plans coalescing.

I wish that I had the moxy to cut and sew on weekday evenings but I just don't - and I can't do it with my family around me (a priority) which knitting affords quite easily. Pls don't confuse my recent knitting emphasis with a decline in my love for sewing. I just haven't shown those wares in as much detail lately...