Joy and more joy!

Easter has brought me double joy, although there was no time for sewing or knitting. My stashes of both materials and yarn are growing and I'm hoping to settle down tomorrow to start on my winter wardrobe.

The first joy was one of our (well my) wedding presents, a beautiful dress model from our friends Kate and John. Heaven!



The other joy was the result of days of hard graft by Michael and Peter in my studio. What once was green is now white. Really heaven!




There's still a little bit of work to be done, but nothing too difficult.

Here are some work in progress images, first on Good Friday as we prepared the room,



and the later in the day as Michael and Peter repaired all the cracks and gaps.





And then on Easter Sunday just before we started to paint after a day spent in a cloud of dust on Saturday.




And finally another joy! A Melbourne shop for Tessuti, that most fabulous of fabric suppliers to be managed by a lovely friend of mine. Watch out for the opening sometime around mid-May! More joy!Easter has brought me double joy, although there was no time for sewing or knitting. My stashes of both materials and yarn are growing and I'm hoping to settle down tomorrow to start on my winter wardrobe.

You have some good days and you have some bad days...

First the good days. I've nearly mastered the shirt pattern in Wendy Mullin's Built by U and these are the two shirts I've done so far. For both shirts the material is from the remnant table at Astratex, around $20 each from memory.



I cut a large for this one and it was too big, so I took in the waist darts all around.



For this one I cut a medium, but fiddled with the button facings, so the front is a bit tight. I also did the collar without a stand and a little fixed cuff, both made from the white selvedge of the material, loosely based on Burdastyle's Emily Variation.

I'm happy with both of them, and hopefully I get it totally right the third time around!

On the other hand

I've just finished labouring over my square neck cardigan from Rowan Studio 11. The yarn is lovely and soft, but tedious to knit with as it splits very easily. I put it on after I finished it and it was beautiful, so I washed it and blocked it. Now it has grown at least two sizes and falls off my shoulders and is quite immodest at the front!



I'm so unhappy with it. I'm tempted just to throw it out, but I put so much work into it. I even knitted a size too small as I suspected the yarn would grow, but not that much! If I'd wanted a shapeless tent, I could have sewn a much prettier shapeless tent that didn't fall off my shoulders or sag at the front! I've damped it down and blocked it again, but I think it's just growing!

Shopping Bags

I've been madly crocheting shopping bags from my Habu Fique (which is ruining my hands and nails and I'm really happy to see the end of it). I've made five Anyone for oranges? Market bags by Sharon Maher





and one small Elisa's Nest Tote from the Purl Bee.



The trim for all the bags was some left over Jo Sharp DK Cotton. An excellent stash-busting exercise yielding some lovely Christmas presents! I'm going to knit another Elisa's Nest Tote in my left over bright orange Jaeger Aqua just for me.

Finished!

Finally my Jasmine (from Kim Hargreaves' Nectar) is finished and how much do I love it!


The yarn is Habu Tsumugi A-1 2/17 which has knitted up with a loose tweediness perfect for summer. It was worth knitting on 2mm and 2.25mm needles!

Also finished is some of my sewing. Finally I've nailed the pants pattern, first my 'jeans' from Built by U by Wendy Mullins.


I've been trying not to live in them, but they are so comfortable. The material is from Astratex in Richmond and has a bit of stretch which is why they look a little saggy baggy. I had enough left over for an A-line skirt also from Built by U. I've tried not to go over the top with my decorative stitching.


Also finished are my new work pants, made from a pattern I drafted from the Built by U pants with a facing at the waist rather than a waistband. The material is by Hugo Boss and is again from Astratex.


I'm thrilled with these, they are comfortable and light and I've managed to get them to fit snugly in the small of my back so that I don't have to worry when I'm crouched over working in front of people.

I've got an enormous pile of material to sew...four shirts using Built by U (which is great as the book shows you how to make lots of variations), some knit tops from Built by U Home Stretch (I've already made a few and they're all in the wash, that's how much I wear them!),


and a dress from Vogue. That's all before Christmas I hope!

On the needles is the square necked cardigan from Rowan Studio Issue 11 using up my tatty balls of RYC Bamboo Soft

Being Green

My Louisa Harding V neck jumper from Modern Classics is finished just in time for a spring cold snap in Melbourne.

Karabella Margrite is beautiful and soft and warm. I only need six balls, so I could have made it a bit longer in the body. Might make another for next winter...

I've started work on Jasmine from Kim Hargreaves Nectar in my Habu Textiles Tsumugi Silk. It's going to have a different look from Rowan 4ply Cotton, but it's coming along nicely...why do I keep knitting on small needles and in green?

I've just knitted a little scarf for Michael's niece Zoë, in the right team colours after the AFL Grand Final. I'm not sure if she'll like it...



My friend Ms Lisa has taken three of the books and I've marked them sold on the previous post.

Japanese Sewing Books for Sale!

I've got more than I can hope to use...so here they are!

$20.00 (Australian) each including postage within Australia...if you want me to send one overseas...let me know and I'll send you a postage quote.

All patterns are intact, some have their pattern sheets loose, but still included. All of the books have come from Japan in the past two months. All the books are in Japanese, but there are plenty of diagrams to help. Two of the books don't have full size patterns, but have the measurement in metric so that you can scale up your patterns.

Dress made of my favorite cloth by Machiko Kayaki SOLD
Dresses, shirts, vests, coats and jackets



Cotton and Linen SOLD
Again a real mix of pants, tops, shirts and dresses



Stylish dress book SOLD
Dresses and shirts



Sewing Recipe SOLD
A real how to book with great photos of all the steps. Tops, shirts, dresses.



Everyday tops and dresses SOLD
Yes, that's about it!



Everyday pants
Ditto



Pants (both mens and womens)
Fantastic range of pants with great suggestions (I guess) on what is the best fit for your body type.



Lace and Buttons (this book does not have full size patterns, but has cutting layouts with pattern measurements for you to draft your own) Tops and dress patterns with heaps of ideas for embellishing shoes, tops, bags and clothes generally.



Dresses (again, this book does not have full size patterns, but has cutting layouts with pattern measurements for you to draft your own). Lots of different more formal dresses.



If you have any questions, send me an email or post a comment. Happy shopping!

Finally...

Yes, Michael's vest is finished!





And I've also finished my Juliet Scarf...I love Karabella Boise, it is soft and it doesn't itch!



I've knitted another Juliet Scarf in Louisa Harding's Angora Pure and I think the stitch definition is better in Boise.



I started quickly knitting my second fitted jumper from Louisa Harding's Modern Classics before winter really ends in Melbourne. This is knitting up beautifully in Karabella Margrite.



And clearly in the grip of a very green moment, I've started working on my Hobo bag by Norah Gaughan from Knit Knit. For some reason I thought it might be nice to knit it in Habu Textiles Fique, but my fingers are not so sure...