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A little bit of sewingPosted by on Friday 27 November, 2009 06:51 PM Grab yourself a coffee, this is going to be a long one... You can click on any of the pictures to see a bigger version in my flickr account. I have discovered that it's a lot easier to sew in small bursts than knit. With a 10 1/2 month old baby it's very important to be able to throw down whatever you're doing at a moment's notice to rescue him from being stuck under a kitchen chair (for example) and not lose your place in your project. Not losing your place is especially important since by the time you pick it up and figure out where you're up to the baby has gotten himself stuck under the kitchen chair* again and you haven't made any progress. It's also far too hot to knit or crochet, so this is what I've been up to over the last month or two. Firstly, I finished the 21 pairs of baby pants! These pants were all made from patterns that I drafted. For the pattern I used the flat trouser block from "Metric Pattern Cutting for Children's Wear and Babywear: From Birth to 14 Years Firstly, we have baby stretch-knit shorts. All made on my fabulous new overlocker from op-shop fabric. I went into the op shop one day thinking "I'd like to find some blue and brown knit fabrics to make the baby shorts" and found exactly that in the very first op shop I went into. I'd say that doesn't happen often but the truth is I seem to have some weird kind of op-shopping mojo and I often find exactly what I'm looking for. I don't find everything but it happens a great deal :)
Baby nerd shorts. Nerds are cool, therefore my baby needs baby nerd shorts. These are also op shop fabric. I don't know what the fabrics are but these are real favourite "going out" shorts. The green is woven but very elastic so I'm guessing maybe there's some lycra in it or something. The green ones are also known as Charlie's golfing shorts.
Blue baby camo pants. Lightweight cotton drill. The fabric from these was from the $2/m discard bin at Spotlight in Wollongong. I bought a meter, which should have provided me with enough fabric for a pair of shorts as well but it was cut really crooked so I didn't have quite enough for the shorts. Boo to the person who cut it. Oh well, at least there's enough left to do something with. I just don't know what yet :P
Baby track pants. All op shop fabric! I spent about $20 on various fleecy over the Winter. It turned out to be an AWFUL lot of fabric. I swear there was something like 3 or 4 meters of the orange. However a redheaded baby can only wear so much orange before looking like a piece of fruit, so I only made pants, no sloppy joes with it.
Long pyjama pants Half of these get worn as daytime pants so maybe I should call them "versatile pants" or something... Spotty and stripy cotton pants. This fabric was from Spotlight, about $4 per meter. I managed to get shorts out of them too. I love this fabric, it's easy to sew and doesn't cost much.
These are made from a light vintage cotton that I found in an op shop in Dapto. Dapto has some really great op shops. It has little horses wearing hats on it.
Another op shop find: stretch knit with trucks, tractors, cranes and bulldozers.
Microfibre pirate print, $5/m from Spotlight. I hate sewing microfibre. I need to learn more about how to control it. These kept gathering up as I was sewing.
Short pyjama pants Yet more op shop fabric. The local op shops have such great fabric that I buy a lot there.
and these are the shorts I made from the previously mentioned spotty and stripy fabric.
That's it for the baby pants! Here's a cost breakdown for anyone who might be interested: # 1 pair of red plaid shorts from op-shop fabric. Cost approx 50c I have also been sewing for my daughter. She gives me most of the ideas and then I see what I can come up with. She's going on her very first overseas trip soon so I made her this passport holder so she could keep postcards and stamps and whatnot in it as well. The outer fabric was a fat quarter that I bought for something else (not enough fabric), some brown satin binding from the op shop and for the pockets I used some fabric oddments that were given to me as a gift. I made the pattern up. It's a bit wonky but who cares :P
Magic apron The magic apron is from "First Steps in Dressmaking" by the Woman's Institute of Domestic Arts and Sciences Scranton PA 1949 Edition. It's named thus because you draw the pattern straight onto the fabric and don't need a paper pattern. I really enjoyed the embroidery around the edges. I made a mistake on the strap (I folded it to the front instead of the back) but she didn't mind so I left it that way. Next time I would make the seam allowances bigger than the 1/4" in the pattern but that's the only change I'd make.
Shirred sun dress made from a souvenir sarong. I fought hard with my machines to sew the shirring. I tried the sewing machine and couldn't get it to gather. Then I tried the chain stitch on my overlocker and the elastic snapped. I ended up sewing 14 rows of 3.5mm long and 3.5mm wide zig-zag stitch with my sewing machine and threaded the elastic through it on the wrong side. An inelegant solution but it looks fine on the outside :) Things I will try are loosening the tension on the chain stitch looper on the overlocker to the point where the elastic doesn't break any more and see if that gathers. I've also seen the hint that if you have a sewing machine with a drop in bobbin, to try putting the bobbin in the other way around. My shirring rows are approximately 1.5cm apart and 5cm longer than the measurement from underarm to the point where I wanted it to finish. Elastic was cut 5cm shorter than the under bust measurement (don't worry if it shrinks after cutting).
Two simple floral hipster skirts. Drafted from instructions in Metric Pattern Cutting Waistband: Hipster waistband, page 96 Skirt: Slightly gathered skirt block, page 85 Once again this fabric was from the $2/m bin at Spotlight.
8 gore skirt with faced waistband. I didn't have enough fabric to make it as long as the blue skirt with suffolk puff trim (below) so I lowered the top to make it sit lower on the hips. Pattern was traced from an existing skirt. I made small adjustments to the fit, added belt loops and lowered the top of the skirt. Next time I would either slightly gather the trim or put little pleats where it meets a seam in the skirt.
8 gore skirt with suffolk puff trim This skirt was made with the same pattern as the previous skirt. The waist sits a little higher on the hips because I had more fabric. The main fabric is a medium weight cotton, $5 from the op shop and the suffolk puffs are made from scraps.
The suffolk puff trim on the skirt led to "Mum can you make me a blanket with those too?" 142 x 6cm suffolk puffs - it will take 900 to make a coverlet
Which led to me thinking I should use the smaller scraps to make myself one with 4.5cm suffolk puffs 62 x 4.5cm suffolk puffs - it will take 1,600 to make my coverlet. I made one before which you can see here
I use the Clover Quick Yo-Yo Makers to make my suffolk puffs. Below is a tutorial on using them which I put on youtube, or you can find out how to make them without any special tools by Heather Bailey. But even after making two different size suffolk puffs I still had some usable pieces of fabric left. I decided they would make a great english pieced quilt. My hexagons are one inch along each side and I'm using commercial die-cut templates because I didn't think of printing the hexagons and cutting them out of cereal boxes until just now, lol. English paper piecing is very easy to do. I've never done it before and mine's turing out great. You can find a tutorial by Sunshine's Creations here. Unlike Wendy, I have stitched through the paper when basting but that's because this is the first time I've used the technique rather than disliking the technique she has used. I'm in no hurry to finish it so I don't mind if I have to remove the basting before quilting.
Then I got side tracked by a big back of leftover fleecy fabric. It kept taunting me because even though I had made 19 baby bibs, 4 pairs of size 0 baby pants, 6 pairs of size 1 baby pants, two easter rabbits, one cosmonaut, one baby blanket and used some as the batting in three baby quilts, there was still a load left. So I cut out a load of 21cm squares and overlocked them into a fleecy quilt, 160cm high x 180cm wide for Winter TV watching.
I still have to tie-quilt it. I'm going to use a lime green number 5 perle cotton and have the tied ends on the back (I think). The thread is a few shades darker than the fabric. I've never made a tied quilt before so there's another technique for my repertoire :P The backing is a 1970's vintage sheet that was almost on it's last legs. It was too cute to send to the rag bin so I thought I'd extend it's life a bit. If it gets holes in it I can always patch it. My butterfly and shamrock quick yo-yo makers arrived the other day but I haven't had time to play with them yet. Unfortunately Charlie thinks they're baby toys because of the brightly coloured plastic and he's stopped napping due to some new teeth. I'll make some samples as soon as he starts napping again and write a review. Well that's about it! I'm off to open some doors and hopefully get a breeze through the house. It's supposed to be in the mid 30's celcius tomorrow. Yuck. * Really. He does that a lot. I'd put the chairs somewhere else only that's where I sew ;-) New ToysPosted by on Monday 9 November, 2009 12:00 PM I couldn't help myself, the new butterfly and shamrock (4 leaf clover) Clover quick yo-yo makers are on their way to my house thanks to the current exchange rate between Aussie and US dollars :)
My daughter is currently doing her school exams, but once they're over I'll show you the skirt I made for her using suffolk puffs and the other three projects that ensued. Still Breathing :)Posted by on Thursday 8 October, 2009 12:44 PM I know it's been several months since I last posted. It's amazing just how much time running around after a baby can take! It's also amazing how much mess a newly crawling baby can make whilst roll/crawling around the living room with a teething rusk
but I digress... I have a new overlocker!
Isn't it beautiful? It's a Pfaff Creative Coverlock 4874. It's a 10 thread, 3 needle overlocker. I decided I wanted an overlocker 10 years ago and I finally got around to getting one when I realised that drafting your own sewing patterns isn't brain surgery :P I learnt to sew when I was in highschool but always hated using commercial patterns because they never fit properly and it seemed so fussy to have to alter every pattern every single time you wanted to make something, even when you've spent $17 on the pattern itself. Years later I started buying fabrics from the local op shops and decided to have a go at drafting patterns that are a bit more complicated than elastic waisted skirts (ahem), and it all fell into place. My daughter has 4 new skirts, the baby will soon have 21 new pairs of day/night Summer/Winter pants and I have projects lined up until the end of the universe :) Here's the next one's before picture.
My daughter bought this jacket from the op shop. First I removed the sleeves and shoulder pads, and then pinned the sides in above the waist to make it a more fitted shape. I still have to sew the sides, after which I'll refit the sleeves and add a gathered broderie anglaise style lace to the cuffs, replace the buttons and give it a good wash. Next time I'll wash first, lol. As for the overlocker, it's incredibly easy to use. Easy to thread, easy to engage and disengage the upper looper and knife and super easy to understand. The only thing I would have liked to be different is to have better threading guides in the instruction book so I don't have to go to the computer CD animation when I haven't doe something right. It's so easy to thread that I pull all the threads out when I want to change them instead of tying on the new thread and pulling it through :) Finally I had some exciting news in my mail yesterday. Clover have re-released the Hana Ami Loom! It's the Rolls-Royce of flower looms and I suggest everyone should go and buy one right now before they go out of production again!
A Very Basic Wizard's CloakPosted by on Sunday 16 August, 2009 08:18 AM The topic of sewing a wizard's cloak came up on Ravelry this morning and I thought it was worth posting my reply here as well, since there are stitchers who don't knit or crochet and might want to know how to make a basic wizard cloak for their kids. The question was how to sew a simple Hogwart's style cloak for a quick costume. Thanks to an old library book on Elizabethan costuming, I knew the answer :) This is a slightly expanded version of my reply to the original poster. Wizard cloaks are made from a circle. Big circle with the radius as long as you want the cloak to be. Fold it in half. Cut a hole in the middle of the circle for the neck. Cut down the front of the circle for the front opening. Cut slits for the sleeves, making sure that the bodice is wide enough for the chest measurement with a bit of ease. Sew sleeves and side seams and hem everything else. Stick a button and a buttonhole on the front. Or ties.
To make a better finished cloak you can add facings to the neck and front opening. A fancier cloak might have pockets in the side seams for holding the wizarding essentials (wand, toad, vial of goo etc), or a hood. A hood can be made of two pieces of fabric shaped like this
Sew them together along the top and back, hem the front and sew it to the neckline. Or sew it to the neckline and then hem the hood and the front at the same time (I think that might work). Sewing Stretch-Knit Fabric without a Serger / OverlockerPosted by on Wednesday 8 July, 2009 12:18 PM Tutorial: Using the Clover Quick Yo-Yo MakerPosted by on Tuesday 16 June, 2009 05:55 AM I finished my video! I have a large list of other videos I would like to make but if there's anything you'd like to see please let me know. But for now I present: Using the Clover Quick Yo-Yo Maker
Toys and Other Assorted OdditiesPosted by on Friday 24 October, 2008 10:27 PM Apologies for taking so long to get to the toys post, I had quite a few days of utter exhaustion now that the baby-in-progress is almost 30 weeks and spent many days napping instead of blogging :) I did finish all of my basic sock monkeys however, a doll that I started sewing so long ago that I don't remember when I even started it and I made an elephant! Actually, I've gotten so carried away with making and finishing toys that you're going to need a cuppa while you read this. ... Don't worry, I'll wait ... Back? Comfy? Good. Firstly, sock monkeys! A couple of years ago I decided that I would put a tutorial for sock monkeys on my website. Then I discovered there was already a zillion of them available online and decided to just make some monkeys instead. For some reason I didn't decide to make one, I decided to make seven. Don't ask me why :P For some other unfathomable reason I got scared about sewing the arms and tail and decided that they would truly suck when they were finished and weren't worth bothering with. I shoved them in a bag and forgot all about them until I found them in a box of craft stuff in the garage and decided to finally finish them after all. They're made from various sized socks from baby size to large women's knee socks. The monkeys themselves are all finished but they really need outfits, so here's what they will be when they are finished: Sock monkey in sheep's clothing - this little stripy guy is going to be dressed in a knitted jumpsuit in fur, or loop, stitch with a hood that makes him look like a sheep. It seemed like the right outfit for him :)
Pink sock monkey is going travelling and already has her outfit. A trendy pidge scarf and crocheted hat in wild handspun alpaca with felted wool bobbles. I used this hat pattern and just stopped increasing when it was big enough.
Baby sock monkey is going to have a red sleeveless pullover with a picture of a banana on the front. He's made from a pair of baby socks with monkey faces on them and has embroidered eyes instead of buttons because he's intended for my baby-in-progress when he's old enough for toys.
Sci-Fi fan-girl sock monkey looks all meek and shy now but wait until you see what she wears when she goes to the monthly sci-fi fanclub gatherings! (Why yes, I did used to go to occasional meetings of the local Doctor Who fan club). She's going to wear a Jayne hat, a classic Doctor Who scarf and a jumper with "Don't Panic!" embroidered on the front. I may even give her one of my obscure Dr Who or Torchwood related badges that I bought on Cafepress.
Schoolboy sock monkey is going to wear a school uniform jumper and needs a skateboard, although I haven't figured out how to make him a skateboard yet.
Arrrrr-Gyle the pirate sock monkey is going to have a costume worthy of the very bad pun that became his name and occupation. A white ruffly pirate shirt, a red waistcoat, a big felt pirate hat and a needle felted parrot. I only wish I had known he was going to be a pirate when I sewed him because I'm sure I could have worked a wooden peg leg somehow :)
and you already met Gary who is an evil flying sock monkey based on the ones from The Wizard of Oz. I used the classic sock monkey instructions to make them all, with one slight difference which I think makes all the difference to their level of cuteness. After stitching on the heel of the second sock for the snout, I used 4 strands of sewing thread to gather around the neck, wound the ends of the thread around a couple of more times and then pulled it really tight. I also stitched closed the bottom of the ears and then folded the bottom in half edge-to-edge and stitched again to create the crease in the ears. I haven't tried it yet, but did you know you can also make an elephant? I need more socks! Especially after buying this from amazon: It was the lips that got me. I just love those puffy socky lips :) Sock monkeys, however, were not the only unfinished sewing project that I had lying around. I had started sewing this doll so long ago that I've forgotten when.
For a long time she existed with unstuffed arms and legs and her face drawn crudely with a red biro (I'm much more intelligent in that respect these days and use a disappearing marking pen). I stuffed her appendages, embroidered her face and finished her off with a wild halo of blue English Leicester locks for her hair. To make this type of hair take a lock of wool, separate about ¼ to ½ a cm width of fibre, thread it into a large needle and pull one end through the scalp of the doll. Tie the ends in a couple of tight knots to fasten. Once it has a full head of hair trim any ends that stick out too far and add hair ornaments of your choice! Dolly is going to have a knit or crocheted top (I haven't decided which yet), a matching scarf and a skirt sewn from these materials from my "odd bits" stash. I've been waiting for ages to find a project for this lace trim.
She's made from one of my favourite vintage toy books called "Toys for Your Delight" by Winsome Douglass, published by Mills & Boon in the 1950's. Who knew they didn't just publish trashy romance novels? Here are a couple of pictures from the book that someone has posted on Craftster (I don't have the paper cover, I always wondered what it looked like). The two pictures shown after the cover show the heavily embroidered style of most of the patterns. The instructions aren't the detailed style that we're used to today, but they offer a wonderful opportunity for original style and expression. As a Harry Potter fan I'm thinking that making a griffin might be a good idea :) More pictures on Two Little Banshees blog. But wait, there's more! Lucy Learn to Knit is a similar doll to the blue haired dolly but she's much more modern and made from a kit with a pre-made doll.
This is the third Lucy that I have knit. She''s made from a kit by Hawthorne Cottage Crafts. They haven't updated their website in forever though so I don't know if you can get them any more but they do have a contact phone number you can try. I love these Lucy dolls but after three I think I might make some more that are a little different. Of course I couldn't resist yet another monkey. This one was made famous on the Yarn Harlot's blog a while back. Even though I'm generally not one to made "fad" projects (until 50 years later, lol) I couldn't resist this little guy. He's the small version of the Funky Sock Monkey by Debbie Stone from Blue Moon Fiber Arts. The pattern is extremely clear and quick to knit. I plan on knitting the large size when I can figure out who to give it to. This one is made from oddments of handspun wool.
The very first thing I knit for the baby-in-progress was this woolly ball, knit from a 1940's pattern found in a newspaper. Whenever I see a scrapbook in a junk or antique shop I always check to see if it contains craft patterns and that is where I found this pattern.
Next is a knitted Bundle Baby by Noreen Crone-Findlay. You can find out where to get the pattern via my Ravelry project page.
This is another pattern that offers a great deal of individuality in the different ways you can finish the doll. I made mine with Aussie 8 ply yarns. The pattern is very much self-published in that the layout reminds me of very early Elizabeth Zimmermann newsletters but once you get used to the old-fashioned format it's very easy to follow. This one took very little time to make and I'm extremely pleased with the finished doll. I plan on making a lot more over the coming years :) My next project is an elephant made from a 1970's Simplicity pattern. When I was 7 years old (in 1977) I bought a cat stuffie from a fete at the retirement home where my Mum used to work. I loved that cat (I still have it) and since it was obviously hand-sewn I decided to keep a lookout for the pattern. I finally found it in a few years ago in an op shop! Little did I know at the time but I also made the camel in grade 7 sewing class :) This time I made the elephant. His ears need ironing, or should I leave them a little wrinkly? Well, elephants are traditionally wrinkly...
Here's the pattern packet.
And while I was out shopping the other day I found this:
Which I, of course, bought immediately. I make most of my projects with stash fabrics, yarn and embellishments. Mostly thrifted, some bartered for, some gifted and occasionally purchased on sale (and once in a blue moon I may even pay full price for something)! A couple of years ago we moved from a large house in the country (I'm not a country-girl) to a very small house in what is still considered country-ish town but definitely not the bush. I therefore have to be creative in my stash stashing. The chaos that is my craft crap (click through for labels)
That's about it for the toys but I have embarked on some more challenges. I've decided to learn to read Japanese knitting patterns. I srated with a very simple project, the apple tissue pocket from Keito Dama issue 139 (the current issue at the time of writing this).
My daughter also wants a lovely (and complex!) cardigan/jacket from the same magazine so I'll have a real challenge with that one. I am confident though! Confident, naive, one of those... Future sewing projects include undies for the sortahubby. View A :)
I bought some green stretch knit from the op-shop the other day to give them a go. I've never made undies before but they don't look too hard (famous last words). Well that's it for this post. Next post: baby cardigans and jackets. That will just leave hats and then I'll tell you about more sewing, current knitting and wonder how on earth I'm going to get everything done before the baby arrives! Wall Decals, Reversible Placemats and Button PendantsPosted by on Wednesday 21 May, 2008 08:46 AM This week on Decor It Yourself Meg shows us how to make removable wall decals. I had no idea that contact paper comes off so easily these days. I remember lining drawers with it in the 80's and you could never get the sticky stuff off. But now you can. Yay :) Over on the Craft Magazine blog I found a link to this video tutorial on sewing reversible placemats from the Sewing Republic. I would hand stitch the second side of the bias tape so the stitching is invisible but I'm fussy about things like that :)
And at CraftyPod check out this tutorial for very cool button pendants. I'm thinking of making a couple :) Wardrobe Blowout!Posted by on Tuesday 6 May, 2008 01:05 PM Regular visitors to my blog (all one of you, lol), may remember Florence Dollington, the doll I made from the Japanese Una-Na doll book. A few weeks ago I finished some ponchos for her and started sewing little skirts and things to go with them. Here are the results. Firstly, a very pink outfit :)
The poncho is made from some handspun wool/silk that I spun a couple of years ago. I wasn't sure what to make with the rest of it but it's so incredibly light and soft that it needs to be something special. The skirt is made from a hot pink printed acrylic felt fashion fabric sample from Reverse Garbage. All the clothes are made from discarded fabric samples (so is the doll). Next are a skirt and top. I really like the way the top looks but it gets all screwed up when you put it on so any future ones will be slit down the front with buttons or ties of some sort.
Next is the same skirt with a matching buttoned stole. The stole is made from a scrap of alpaca bouclé from Rare Yarns
I added little embellishments to the ponchos and capelets that I had made previously. Here's the orange one. I added a little crochet flower and button and a matching edge.
The turquoise one has a new ribbon and flower
and the beige one has the little silver ribbon that was on my Easter chocolate rabbit :)
I also made a few more ponchos and scarves. A little brown one with a vintage button closure and matching hand bag
A pink handspun one with a crocheted edge made with embroidery cotton.
A handspun green one with contrast purple edge and tie.
And all the scarves :) The first one was knit from a lot of yarn colour card samples. I tied them together to make a fashion scrappy scarf.
A scarf made from the same handspun wool/silk as one of the ponchos
These are all crocheted by the way :) This one is made from some Bendigo Mills 4 ply baby wool that I dyed
And finally three little handspun scarves
I have fabric all picked out to sew several little outfits and shoes to match each scarf or poncho. They're very addictive.
I Have a Gazillion Zippers from the Op ShopPosted by on Monday 28 April, 2008 10:37 PM and now I know how to use them to make the little purses I bought them for. http://www.twelve22.org/2006/07/zipper_tutorial.html Brilliant. Thanks a million twelve22! How to make a book bagPosted by on Friday 25 April, 2008 09:20 AM No, not the kind that little kids take to school, the kind made from a book! Courtesy of Curbly.com Tiny Happy Bag TutorialPosted by on Thursday 20 March, 2008 12:52 PM I love sewing bags (and using them!) so I was very happy to come across this bag tutorial on the Tiny Happy blog. If you make one, show me a picture :) A Nice TouchPosted by on Thursday 13 March, 2008 10:48 AM I've been busy sewing some shopping bags from a Japanese embroidery book and decided that they need a little something to finish them off. (Pictures will be coming when I finish them). My fabric is a lightweight denim with flowers sprinkled on it, so I thought a flower would be a nice touch. At the moment I'm wavering between a complex ric-rac flower or this really cool fabric flower that I just found on the Burda Style website. Or something made from handmade felt.
Decisions, decisions... Click Clack, Stitch Stitch, Sew Sew, Splat CrunchPosted by on Thursday 10 January, 2008 12:15 PM Ok, technically there is neither a splat nor a crunch, bet hey! Artistic license and all that :) Three or so weeks ago I promised I would upload photos of other projects I had made the next day. Then there was Christmas and New Year's and swimming and shopping and destashing and... Let's just face facts, shall we? This is as fast as I get :) I still don't have a photo of one of them, but here are the rest. I finished these wristicuffs for Miss Brittany last night.
They're made from some of my very, very early handspun. It's lumpy and bumpy and dyed with Kool-Aid. It's also incredibly soft and Brittany asked me to make her something out of it while we were sorting out the garage stash. I wanted to destash it but there you go... Techy specs - Yarn: lumpy handspun 2 ply merino, approximately aran weight. Spun by me about 10 or 11 (maybe 12) years ago. Pattern: K1, p1 rib on 4mm needles. 1 inch smaller than wrist circumference (unstretched). The next projects are quite picture heavy so bear with me. Two Una-na dolls made from the Japanese book by Mimiwn. I love making these dolls. I can see myself becoming quite addicted to making them little clothes and accessories. I had to stop myself buying a little toy kitchen dresser at the op shop the other day because it was the right size for them. (If I had my own, much larger, house I would have bought it). The black haired one is called Pansy Dollington (Brittany's) and the brown haired one is mine. Her name is Florence Dollington. Unfortunately Florence has developed a tendency to swear like a sailor when least expected (but definitely *not* when my Dad is around, haha). I suspect she's got a little bit of a dolly "drinky drinky" problem to tell the truth...
I still need to finish sewing Florence's shirt and skirt. I had to take my sewing machine apart halfway through to clean it, and then everything got put away for Christmas and I haven't been back to it yet. This first picture shows her wearing the first unsuccessful wrist warmer as a shoulder warmer type thing. I'm going to put a little felt & button flower on it.
Here she is wearing an early Spring... let's call it a "ponchette". (I love that word. It's so pretentious).
And finally here she is wearing a ponchette from the same pattern, but in thicker yarn.
Technical details: The red and beige yarns are discontinued dk weight commercial yarns, and the bright blue is some of my hand dyed handspun yarn with (I think) mohair, angelina fibre and possibly something else thrown in. The blue is 2 ply and a bit finer than fingering weight. Next is a quickie that I knit at the doctor's the other day.
The mysterious pattern was posted on Cosymakes a few days ago. Since I had just finished all my simple knitting and I had to leave quite soon, I scribbled out the pattern, grabbed needles and yarn and had a go. I just can't resist small vintage patterns that don't have pictures :) I love this little stocking boot so much that I'm thinking of making a bunch of them during the year in whatever scraps I still have lying around after my major destash (I'll get to that BTW). Techy details: I used thinner yarn and smaller needles than the pattern calls for, but only slightly. The pattern calls for 5mm needles and (I guess) a worsted weight yarn. I used 4mm needles and dk weight. The green is some of my handspun, the purpley red is Jo Sharp DK wool. Well I think that's enough for today! I have more projects to share with you but I think I'll leave them and the story of the destash until tomorrow. I've already taken the photos, so you won't have to wait another three weeks, I swear! Crafty VideosPosted by on Tuesday 13 November, 2007 08:16 AM Still not feeling well so I thought I'd share some craft youtube videos with you over the next few days. Today's video is on making little felt flowers. Need Help with a Japanese Sewing PatternPosted by on Friday 28 September, 2007 03:41 PM Can anyone who reads Japanese please help? I'm addicted to Japanese embroidery and craft books (as regular readers would know) and I need clarification on a couple of things in this bag pattern that I would like to make. If anyone can help with some translations I'd be very grateful. 1: The materials list. (I think that black bar at the bottom refers to the pattern instructions)
2: I'd like to know if there are any important points on the pattern before I draw it up and cut my precious fabric :). Especially if it notes what size the seam allowances are.
and 3: I think I know what this step means but I'd like to know before I ruin my very lovely fabric...
Sometimes I Feel Like I Have ADD or Something...Posted by on Thursday 13 September, 2007 11:21 AM Seriously though, I don't have ADD, I'm just totally out of practice with editing my website (and concentrating on anything) after spending three and a half months spending every waking moment sewing the suffolk puff quilt. So, having said that, here's what's flitting around my brain at the moment! First of all I had an urge to blend some of the fibres from my stash.
I started by drum carding 400gms of fine merino/baby alpaca that my sister gave me. It was already carded and mixed in the packet but the two fibres weren't blended together much so I put it through the drum carder once to mix it up a bit. I'm not going to spin it yet because I haven't decided what to make with it. Next I decided to card together some "little bits and pieces" in order to turn them into a usable amount of yarn. I took some absolutely divine natural coloured combed merino tops that Jenny from Virginia Farm Woolworks sent me as a sample when I bought my cotton hand cards and lace whorl from her last year. This stuff is so divinely soft, it's amazing. It had been sitting in my stash awaiting a project that would do justice to it, but I couldn't figure out what to use it for because there was such a tiny amount. It suddenly occurred to me last night that I should combine it with some silk that my sister gave me, because the silk had been sitting around for exactly the same reason.
This is the result. I ended up combining pale grey and dark grey tops from Virginia Farm, a scrap of 22 micron merino (about 10-15 grams I had left from a 1.5 kilo bag!) also from Virginia Farm, 10 grams each of blue, dark brown, medium brown, burgundy and gold silk, and 5-10 grams each of several other shades of brown silk. I ended up with 120gm of gorgeous light as air wool/silk, about 50/50 in volume. I'm going to spin this laceweight. It's so incredibly light that I should be able to get some amazing yardage out of it. Have a closeup.
I envision that it will change colour slowly as I spin, but I better not think about it too much right now or I'll find myself having started another project :P And it is soooo tempting to start more projects around here because look what has arrived in the post over the last 3 or 4 weeks! I was browsing ebay a couple of weeks ago when I saw an amazing crochet book from 1946. I felt it was far too expensive considering I couldn't look at it (over $30 including postage) so I had a look at abebooks.com just in case there was a copy for sale. It was a long shot considering the book is so old, but I found a copy for $3! Including postage from the US, it ended up costing me roughly AUD$12 and now that I've seen it, I would have to say it was worth the $30 I saw it for on ebay. :-) It's called "The Complete Book of Crochet" by Elizabeth Laird Matheson and was published by Greystone Press in 1946 (mine is a 1947 reprint) It's full of amazing doilies and tablecloths like these
and also has some really incredible deco style pot holders. At the time of writing this there are 5 copies available on abebooks, if you love vintage crochet go and snap one up! If that weren't distracting enough, I also found this tatting book from the 1950's on abebooks with about a zillion edgings and several doilies that I want to make:
and this booklet that I want to add to the knitting wiki:
That one came from an auction site (not ebay). This book did come from ebay though :) Una-na dolls. It's in Japanese but, having had a thorough look at it, that won't be a problem as it has great instructional illustrations.. I fell totally in love with these dolls when I saw the book on ebay and I can't wait to make one! But I will wait because I'm feeling overwhelmed by all the projects I have on the go, and by how far behind I am on updating the website. Speaking of which, I found something new to add :P We went to visit my Dad on the weekend to deliver his father's day present (it arrived a week late but he loves it so that's cool). He gave me this scrapbook that he bought at an antique shop. He'd purchased it for an article that it had about a steam engine, however the rest of the scrapbook is about spiritualism and since he has no interest in it he gave the rest of the book to me.
The entries date from 1907-1930 and it contains letters, the owner's thoughts on the upcoming war (WWI), photographs, prayer cards and many articles about spiritualism, ghosts, clairvoyants and possession. It's incredibly fascinating so I'll be adding that to the site as well. In an attempt to get back into the swing of things, I'm off to do the housework. Then I'm going to start work on adding the new categories to the website. I intend to put the framework for the new sections up with a single article each, upload those and then add an article at least once a fortnight to each section. To recap what I have said in earlier posts the new sections will be: Hairpin lace I need staff :P Potterflies and Crochet TreesPosted by on Monday 13 August, 2007 10:00 AM I finally had time to fix the thread crochet butterfly that I stuffed up a couple of weeks ago!
and followed by getting totally carried away making more butterflies :-) The first one was meant to be a potholder but I wanted to make it as a decoration so I used slightly finer yarn than the pattern called for. Behold the potterfly!
and finally, since you just can't escape the suffolk puff explosion around here, a suffolk pufferlfy of my own deranged devising.
I made the top of the wings with the extra large Clover quick yoyo maker and the bottom with the large yoyo maker. The body is a rolled up strip of felt bound with size 10 cotton and decorated with some french knots. I'm still playing with hairpin lace techniques. I just found some more patterns in an antique magazine I was looking through last night. Did you know that hairpin lace is also known as hairpin crochet, fork work, krotchee crochet, fourche work, Portuguese lace, Maltese lace and Maltese work? If you're looking through vintage or antique publications and see references to any of these techniques they may refer to hairpin crochet. Maltese lace and Portuguese lace also refer to bobbin lace and other crochet styles so it depends on the individual pattern. Some patterns just marked as crochet also contain hairpin lacework so it pays to keep your eyes peeled. I had no idea I had so many hairpin lace patterns and techniques in my little collection of antique books and magazines until I read through them all. Anyway, here's what I've been doing. Since I won't be adding the hairpin lace section to knitting-and.com until after my brother's wedding (next Sunday), I'll put some rudimentary instructions here in the blog for the time being. First of all, I have come up with a pleasing and extremely simple design for a stole that I want to make for Sunday. (I hope the yarn arrives today!)
Made with fingering weight yarn on a two and a quarter inch staple. The strips of crochet are made with the double stitch, meaning you work 2 double crochet (US single crochet) into the front of each loop before turning the fork instead of just one. The hairpin braid is then joined together using the cable join as shown here on the Stitch Diva website, but joining two loops through two instead of single loops as shown in the tutorial. I'm going to make my stole 6ft long (I'm 6ft tall in flat shoes), with white fingering weight yarn, and as wide as I can make it before I run out of time. I want it to be at least 12 inches wide, I hope to make it 24 inches wide though so I'll need 12 - 25 strips. Wish me luck :-) I also had a go at tree stitch, which is great fun to work and makes a really interesting centre to the braid.
To work tree stitch, work a slip stitch into the front of the large loop on the fork, pass the crochet hook under the front thread of the large loop, yarn round hook and draw through (2 loops on hook), *yarn round hook, pass the hook under the front thread of the large loop, yarn round hook, draw loop through** (4 loops on hook), repeat from * to ** once more (6 loops on hook), yarn round hook and draw through all 6 loops on the hook. Turn the fork and repeat for the next stitch. It's really important not to forget the slip stitch to start with. One thing I did find with the Clover hairpin lace tool is that it feels incredibly awkward with any yarn finer than Aussie 8 ply (DK weight). I ended up switching to a Pony brand hairpin staple in size 4 to work with the fingering weight yarn in these samples and immediately found it a lot easier. Next time I get to the newsagent I'll pick up a pack of large paperclips to see what I can do with those. I suppose I should sew my skirt while I wait for my yarn to arrive, but first a cup of tea... It's Finished!Posted by on Friday 10 August, 2007 12:27 PM I'm going to try and take a better photo outside but for now, I HAVE FINISHED THE SUFFOLK PUFF/YOYO QUILT! Yay me :-)
Begun: Last week of April 2007 Finished: August 10th 2007 Fabrics: Mostly cotton oddments and offcuts from my projects, other people's offcuts and unused fabrics from the op shop and oddments and discarded fashion samples from the Reverse Garbage Creative Reuse Co-Op in Marrickville. Details: 1,600 suffolk puffs made with the 45mm Clover Quick YoYo Maker - 40 puffs wide x 40 puffs high Made as a wedding present for my brother & his fiancé for the 19th August 2007 Number of seasons of Farscape watched in order to retain sanity while sewing all the little puffs together: 2.5 (plus a season each of Torchwood, Dr Who, Battlestar Galactica and Stargate SG1) Will I ever make such a large project in such a short time frame again? Hell no! :-) Suffolk Puff/Yoyo Coverlet Update & Hairpin Lace PatternsPosted by on Wednesday 8 August, 2007 08:46 AM The suffolk puff/yoyo quilt is almost done! First I took the 100 squares that I had sewn together and laid them out on the bed to figure out how I wanted to arrange them. Then I stacked them from left to right (the leftmost square on the top) and tied them into numbered bundles, 1 bundle for each row and stitched all the squares into their individual rows. Yesterday I started sewing the rows together into the finished coverlet and have done 4 rows so far.
As you can see this is a nice size for a cover on the recliner in my tiny studio X living room. Those paper tags you can see at the bottom are the number tags. I tied them onto the leftmost square of each row so I wouldn't stitch the rows together upside down. :-) I just have to stitch the other 6 rows together and I'm finished! I hope to get another three or four rows done today and have it finished and hidden by Friday when my brother (the groom-to-be) comes to pick up my daughter for dancing lessons (she's a bridesmaid & the best man thought dancing lessons would be fun). Continuing my hairpin lace investigations, I hauled out my Weldon's Practical Needlework reprints (most of which are still available from Interweave Press) and have bookmarked all of the hairpin lace instructions and patterns. I'll write out a list of what's in there tomorrow. There's some really great instruction in there which I'm going to eventually rewrite, photograph step by step and put on the website. I might add a little video too. There does tend to be quite a bit of assumed knowledge in antique needlework patterns and I think, since some people will pick up hairpin lace before they learn to crochet, that the step by step instructions would be beneficial. Even More Hairpin Crochet LinksPosted by on Friday 3 August, 2007 07:26 PM Well, one link anyway. Fascinated as I am with the Singercraft tool. I thought this trimming was a genius use for a hairpin lace loom. And while you're there go and read the rest of the blog. It's amazing :-) Flickr.com is a Dangerous PlacePosted by on Saturday 28 July, 2007 01:37 PM
I had planned on playing with my singercraft tool last night but I was overwhelmed with curiosity about this technique and how it's done. So me and my investigating feet* went on a little hunt. The text with Carla's photo is in Portuguese and I don't speak Portuguese so I started (and ended) by looking in the bible of fabric squishing "The Art of Manipulating Fabric I had a go, and since I'm English and I really love the vintage gingham I was using, I had a go at English smocking too.
I really love the top design in the English smocking sample that I did (the diamonds). It has both a pleasing geometry and a lovely stretch, plus the gingham makes an interesting effect of darker diamonds on a lighter background with stripes. I'm definitely going to file these techniques away in subconscious as totally cool and hope they resurface in a project soon :-) * 10 points to anyone who can tell me the source of this quotation! Flickr Favourites Mosaic #9Posted by on Tuesday 24 July, 2007 06:13 PM 35 suffolk puff photos and one cool gathered thingy in progress :-) Click the image to see more information about everyone's projects and photos. The Suffolk Puff/Yo-Yo Squares Are Done!Posted by on Monday 23 July, 2007 07:51 AM My apologies for the rubbish photos. It's difficult to get a good shot at 7:15 am in Winter.
This means that I've sewn all 100 squares and have just got to sew all the squares together into the finished coverlet by August 18th (the 19th being the wedding). I'd like to take it slow and do one row per day but I think I might try for two because I just want to get it finished at this stage! I seriously have to get back to working on the knitwiki, adding more embroidery patterns and all the stuff that needed to be finished, plus I need to get started with adding the singercraft, teneriffe lace and tatting sections. I bought four vintage tatting booklets last week that will make up the tatting section, along with a booklet that I already have (but need to find), and then I need to start work on the weavettes multicolour and texture investigations, and work with the butterfly looms. Among other things. Hmmm, it seems like the suffolk puff coverlet has been a nice break rather than a huge rushed project, doesn't it? The next time I post a photo of it, it will be finished!
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" by Winifred Aldrich. Two of the fleece pants were made with a two-piece pattern and the rest were one piece. The two piece pattern was made by cutting the block in half and adding seam allowance so I could get an extra 2 pairs out of my dwindling fabric
by Winifred Aldrich (4th edition).
" by Colette Wolff. There it was, in the chapter on smocking. Apparently this is called north American (or Canadian) smocking and is the flower design. 
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