Monday, December 21, 2009

MIA

Well nearly, but not quite...weddings and teaching have kept me busy, but I've still be knitting away...and at least now I have a corner to sew in and keep all my clutter under control.


I have been working away, both sewing and knitting. First of all the knitting. Finished is Kim Hargreaves's Jen from Precious in Rowan Cotton Glace. It was a quick knit despite making a mistake on each piece and having to pull out most of my work a number of times. A lovely summer cardi.




And the buttons are from Wool Baa in Albert Park. Next is Frankie from Kim Hargreave's Breeze. I'm knitting it in JaggerSpun Wool Silk DK and I've run out. I'll have to put it on hold for a while as I wait to order more yarn. It has knitted up beautifully and the colour is fantastic.


Also on the needles and likely to get finished more quickly is Kim Hargreave's Lilac, also from Breeze. I've pulled out the lace edging so many times as I keep making mistakes...but three quarters of the way there now.


And now to the sewing. The top is Simplicity 2934 View C with the capped sleeves from View D in a cotton knit from Tessuti. It is a fabulous shirt, a really easy pattern with some nice touches. It does run on the large size especially in length. I made another one in a Gucci Viscose knit. The skirt is my third version of McCall's 5590 View C with the pockets from View A. This remnant, again from Tessuti has quite a bit of stretch, so it's very comfy to wear.



This little shirt is made from a piece of remnant cotton from Clegs...about 1.2 metres. The pattern is McCall's 5884 View A. This pattern runs really large and taking my lead from some comments on Pattern Review, I cut out a 10 and took two inches out of the back. Also I cut the tie down the selvedge rather than on the bias. Works a treat. I've cut out two more (you can see the material piled up next to my sewing machine in the first picture). One is a white spotted lawn and the other is a blue and coral spotted silk, again both from Tessuti. Maybe before Christmas?


Another remnant, from Tessuti, made it into a cute little shirt with some easy simple detail. The pattern is from Wendy Mullin's Sew U, a medium with bust darts but not the waist shaping. I cut the button facings with the fronts by extending the pattern by the width of the facing less seam allowances and folded the facing outwards to make a placket style detail down the fronts as well as on the sleeve (all suggestions she makes in the book). Perfect with my denim skirt!


I have perfected is tee-shirt...made here from a cotton print from Astratex from Wendy Mullins Sew U Home Stretch. The sizes in this book run really large, so I've made my own pattern for the back and the front and cut down the neck to a shape of my liking. I make the neck band by cutting a piece that is 80 percent of the length of the neck opening and stretching it slightly when sewing it in place.


Hanging out after washing are my work pants...I finally bit the bullet and bought a pants pattern maker pattern, Simplicity 2700 and cut out a curvy 14 as a muslin with inch seams. For this pair (my work pants, that's why they're drying on the line not on me) made in a stretch cotton, I let the seam allowances to 5/8ths of an inch between just above the knee and the waist to give me room to move. The next pair I'm going to make are out of denim with a little stretch, so I'll increase the seam allowance again to make them more fitted. I'll also change the pockets to make them look more jean-like.


I've a very long list of sewing to keep me going, hopefully I'll get a bit done after Christmas!

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