Lorelai Shawl and Make2along

I finished my Lorelai shawl!!  Took me about 7 months but it's down and it's huge and I love it!!

Pattern: Lorelai Shawl by Shannon Cook 

Yarn: lots of different types (see my project page here)

 This project started with an OOAK (one of a kind) skein of DK merino/cashmere yarn that I had gotten from Tanis Fiber Artss. (The top and bottom blue)  I had the yarn for awhile and couldn't decide what to do with it. When this pattern was published I wanted to knit it but talked myself out of it.  A couple months later I was  looking at my TFA yarn again and all of a sudden I knew what to do with it.  I went to the basement and dug around in my yarn stash and came up with enough other yarns to make a Lorelei.

I wear it like this for warmth and to keep it out of my way on the front.  Handy when teaching kindergarten.

This is how I wear it most.

It is so cozy and warm.  I love it.  Here's a couple of ways that I can wear it.  I know I've heard some podcasters talk about how they aren't sure how to wear bigger shawls.  This is what works for me.

I wear it like this around my house to be cozy.

Jeni, of Tiny Paper Foxes is hosting a Make2along that ends at the end of January.  This idea is to make to items that go together to make a portion of a outfit.  For the second part of my outfit I made a Granville button up shirt.  I used a white quilting cotton to make mine.  The fit is perfect and I've got a button-up shirt that goes with almost anything!

I love the phrase make2along.  I'm at the point in my sewing and knitting where I'm really trying to make sure what I'm making fits with other things in my handmade wardrobe.

What do you like to make?  Are you interested in making outfits?

November already!

I keep writing all sorts of blog posts in my head . .. . but never get them onto the computer.  So instead of several individual posts that are never going to happen here is a summary of some of my knitting and sewing since August.

1. Margrathea Shawl by Martina Behm - yarn merino/silk by YarnInk

2. Flax for T, by Tincan Knits - yarn James C. Brett Marble Chunky

3. Flax for C, by Tincan Knits, and Owligan by Kate Davies - yarn James C. Brett Marble Chunky

And it is too short.  I've ordered another ball of yarn to add 3 inches of length!

4.Sewing for me!  The Indiesew Fall pattern collection - Laurelhurst cardigan, Cabin Tunic and Sloan Leggings (Faux leather panels!)

I love the pockets in the tunic.  The cardigan is cozy but feels so dressy when I wear it and the whole outfit feels as comfortable as pyjamas!


5. Finally finished my quilt! (3 years)  I begged my 93 year old grandmother to quilt it for me!  She finally agreed.  She said she wouldn't finish till after Christmas and she had it done in 2 weeks!  Thank you, Nana. I sewed on the binding and now I'm set for a cozy winter!

6. Halloween Costumes - Anna dress and cape for my daughter and her cousin wore an Elsa costume made by my sister-in-law

And my son wore the owl costume I made last year.

I finished a few other things but didn't manage to get any decent pictures yet.  Maybe in the next update. 

Sunshine and clouds outfit

The yellow skirt fabric just looked so summery and fun to me in May that I just had to get it.  I quickly self-drafted a pattern using a RTW Maxi skirt I bought when I was pregnant.  I used the pockets from the Sewaholic Hollyburn skirt pattern to add pockets.

 I started making the grey top the same weekend and I just finished it this past weekend in August.  Oops.  It just wasn't doing anything for me when I finished it. The pattern is a free pattern from Spitups and Stilettos, the Harper Blouse.  It's supposed to be tunic length and it's not.  It just didn't look flattering.

So I left in a my UFO basket for awhile.  I couldn't get out of my head this grey sleevelss blouse with this skirt. So I dug it back out.  Ripped out the side seams.  Did an SBA (small-bust adjustment) to the pattern and modified the side shaping on the pattern to be more similiar to the Sewaholic Granville pattern.  (Do you see a trend here?  I like Sewaholic patterns . .. the only one that I struggled with was the Thurlow trousers, I have an un-blogged pair) I re-sewed the darts and side seams and followed the directions for the armhole edging from the Made-by-Rae Josephine Top pattern. For a free pattern the Harper blouse is good.  I like the half collar look.  It took some fitting and pattern changing but now I've got a nice sleeveless top pattern that looks quite great!

Patterns:

• Skirt - self-drafted with pocket assistance from Hollyburn skirt pattern
• Top - Harper Blouse by Spitups and Stilettos (free pattern), with assistance from the  Granville pattern.

Now I have a great outfit for when school starts again in two weeks!! AHHH  Bring on the Kindergarten kids!

OAL2015 - Vianne and Cambie Dress

Last year I watched the Outfit Along, hosted by Andi of Untangling Threads and Lladybird but I didn't participate because I didn't see myself wearing the dress they had picked.  Then I discovered the Sewalolic dress patterns that have pockets in them.  So this year when the Outfit Along came up I knew I wanted to make the Cambie dress.  I had just enough of this purple fabric in my stash to make the dress.  The purple fabric is a polyester, thin fabric and it is lined with a gray cotton/rayon blend.

The fit on the dress is amazing!!  I think I will only ever make this dress in different fabrics.  It has pockets, the neckline is very modest for me and doesn't gape when I lean forward!  I had to adjust the bust darts slightly but that was easy to do when I sewed the lining.

The official knitting pattern was the Vianne cardigan, designed by Andi.  I thought it would look good with the dress so I decided to knit it in a yarn I had from Tanis Fiber Arts, the DK weight. 

The lace panel at the front is is simple and pretty.

The mesh panel at the back is neat but I felt it was too much on the whole thing.  I just stopped knitting it when I joined at the armhole.

Very nice pattern.  Andi has s different style of writing patterns but I do like the end results.  This is the third sweater I've knit from her patterns.

 The whole outfit!!  Most of the time I will wear this with flats.  It will be the perfect transitional outfit for the fall!  And now in the heat of the summer the dress is wonderful on it's own.

Jenny Dress # 2

Pattern:  Jenny Dress by Sisboom
Fabric: cotton

This is the second version of this dress I made.  The first one I made to wear to my cousin's wedding last year, with a fancier fabric.

This one I made out of a cotton for wearing to work and on hot days in the summer.

I also added pockets to this by using the pattern pieces of have for the Hollyburn skirt.  Adding pockets took this dress from good to fantastic!

Since I made this at the end of May and it was an unusually cool spring in Southern Ontario I made a navy Julia Cardigann. (This is #5 of the Natalie pattern I've made).

Natalie Top take 2

I finished this top in the late fall, took pictures in the winter and I'm finally posting about it now!

The pattern is the Natalie top by Liola Patterns. It is available on the Indie Sew website.

I bought this fabric in the summer on my fabric expedition into Toronto.  I knew I wanted to make this top with it but I wanted to make another version first before I cut into this fabric. So I made a wearable muslin out of this blue fabric. I do wear this one but it wrinkles horribly quickly. The next one I made was this green one. You can read about it here.  I made the green one tunic length but over the winter I cut it off and hemmed it to be the same length as these ones.

For this version I cut a medium.  I shortened the opening at the top by 1 inch.  I also added some darts in the back to help with the fit. 

It's my favourite top I've ever made.  The fabric is so soft and the fit is just perfect.  Roomy enough to be comfortable all day and fitted enough to be flattering. I love it!  What is your favourite top pattern?

Elsa Dress

My daughter was invited to a "Frozen" 4th birthday party!  I knew I wanted to make her dress, so as she debated between Anna and Elsa I looked to Pinterest for ideas.  I saw lots of great ideas but the more I thought about it the practical part of me won out.

 I first made her an "Elsa" top using the Zee's Tee pattern.  It has an option for a colour-blocked yoke.  I've made several t-shirts for her using this pattern so I knew it fit right.  I found a white, sparkly jersey to use on the top and the bottom blue is leftover from a pair of leggings I made for myself.  Now when she wants to wear her Elsa costume anywhere she can because she has a practical top to wear.

For the skirt I used a satiny polyester and tulle.  I just did a seam up the side and gathered the waist band.  I used more blue jersey for the waistband.  Quick and easy and it was done.  The only complaint I got from it's user was there was no slit up the side, "But Mommy, Elsa's dress is open here on her leg!" Yes, it is.  So I quickly ripped the seam up a bit and serged the edges.  Done.

When I made the top I attached some ribbon on the back so I could attach the cape there, more like Elsa has her cape as part of her dress.

But as I thought about it more I wanted my daughter to be able to take it on and off herself so I just made a loop and put velcro on it.  She loves it.  She loved the party as well.

I had hair extensions I put in when I got married so I quickly braided up a clip in braid for my dark-haired Elsa.

 Here is her hostess, Princess Anna (also in a handmade costume, done by her mom!)

 And off course Princess Elsa had to find all the eggs on Easter weekend!  With any luck, she'll want to be Elsa for Halloween and I won't have to be making another costume come October.

Have you made any costumes for kids?

First Successful bra . . and few failures

One of my sewing goals for this year was sewing a bra for myself.  I signed up for the Bra-Making class on Craftsy with Beverley Johnson.  The class is wonderful.  Very detailed but fast paced enough to be interesting to watch each segment.  The recommended pattern to use is one of Beverley's own patterns called the Classic Bra. 

I'm not posting pictures of me wearing this on the internet but trust me it's really bad!  I'm sure with anyone with a larger cup size than me the pattern is wonderful and great and you can tweak it to make it fit nicely.  For me, every change I made just made it worse.

Version 1 disappeared into the garbage. The beige one is version 2 with an A cup and longer band.  It makes me look like a 10 year old.

The spotted fabric is version 3.  I started to realize that cutting into my actual bra fabrics wasn't going to very economical and started pulling out scraps of jersey from my stash.  For this one I made a AA cup and the same size band as the second one.  There is so much excess fabric at the top of the cup it's ridiculous.

I gave up for a few weeks. Then I saw a few versions of the Watson bra, on someone with a smaller bust.  I decided to spend the $15 for the pattern.  I made a 34 AA for the front and 36 band for the back.  And it fits perfectly! I cut out 2 cups and layered them together for a bit more thickness.

I was so excited I immediately cut out another one.  For this one I used an old longsleeve shirt for the bra fabric. For the lining I used a lingerie fabric found at my local Fabricland.  It was the closest thing I could find to the suggested materials.

Then I took apart an old bra and used the foam cups in between the 2 cup layers, as well I used the straps, back clasp and channeling. I tried putting the wires back in but they were too long.  But with the foam and channeling I get wonderful support.

And then because everything turned out so well I cut out a matching pair of underwear!  Instead of using elastic like suggested in the pattern I just used a double layer of fabric trim for the waist and leg openings.

I don't think I've ever owned a matching bra and panty set before.
 So my first succesful bra make.

Pattern:  Watson Bra by Amy of Cloth Habit

 To any other new bra makers out there:  Things of I've learned

- sewing bras is not like sewing clothes, you can't try them on as you go and adjust the fit.  You have to make the bra entirely to get an accurate fit.

- don't buy any bra kits to start because until you have pattern that works for you you're wasting your money on fabric.

- hack apart old bras and steal the findings rather than buying them. 

- Find a cheap source of elastic because you use a lot of it

- this article on boob shapes was so helpful, I found it while reading Sew Pretty in Pink's post about   cloning a Bra

If you are interested in bra making at all many very talented people are participating in Emerald Erin's Bra- A - Week Sew along.  There are pictures of many beautiful bras.

Beverley Johnson offers 2 day bra sewing at her store in Hamilton.  Since I'm only about 1 1/2 from Hamilton I'm hoping maybe this summer to go and actually take a class with her.  As I said the online class is great for learning how to make a bra . . . . but I need a lot more help adapting the pattern to me.

January Kid Sweaters (and some sewing!)

 So this is what happens when I get out my button box to find buttons to put on sweaters. My daughter wants to learn how to sew buttons and my son throws them everywhere!

 After the kids were in bed I managed to get the buttons sewn on.

 Baby Sunnyside Sweater adapted to a pre-school size by using a worsted weight yarn instead of a sport weight yarn. I did a test swatch and some math and figured out if I knit the 6 month size and added length I would have sweater that is big enough.

 Perfect fit!!  I used a Knit Picks Swish yarn and dyed it myself with food colouring.

 My daughter has gotten taller recently.  All of a sudden all her t-shirts looked like crop tops . . . not a look I like for little girls. She mostly wears t-shirts as undershirts right now but she needed some new ones. I bought this pattern, Zee'sTee by the Tie Dye Diva in a pattern bundle.  I love it.  Its got 12 month to 12 years.  It has two t-shirt versions.  This yoke version here and a pocket tee.  It has short or long-sleeves.  The yoke version is great for using up off-cuts from other projects.

For my son's sweater I made the Latte Baby Coat By Lisa Chemery a.k.a Froginnette

I made the 12 month size and made the arms and sleeves longer.  For the buttonbands at the front he pattern calls for a lattice stitch.  This time I used a seed stitch.  I only did one row of buttonholes but I think I might need to  rip it back and add the second row because it is gaping a bit.

Still warm enough to layer under winter jackets.  So far this is my favourite baby knit.  What is your favourite knits for kids?