The Dude

I finally finished this ambitious project a few months ago.  I'm happy to report it's gotten a lot of use and even a few compliments. Surprisingly, it actually didn't take as long to knit as I imagined it would, but the complicated colorwork did require extra attention so it wasn't the best project for social knitting. 

The most challenging part of this project was the collar.  It calls for short rows, a new tehnique for me, and I found it really difficult to figure out on my own.  I had to watch several you tube videos and knit a couple of test swatches before I finally understood how to do it. 

I'll leave you with one last shot of Josh doing his best Lebowski.

Heirloom

I come from a long line of crafty women and these beautiful garments were knitted by my grandmother.  Sadly, she passed away when I was only three so I don't have a lot of memories of her but I have learned that knitting was a passion of hers.  My aunt had been holding on to these baby clothes but I convinced her let me have them to frame.

This is not the best photo but if you look closely you can see how delicate the stitches are.  I particularly love that she used a feather and fan pattern on the sweater, a favorite of mine (Check out the feather and fan scarf I made for June here).  I'm sorry I never had the chance to learn from her but I'm glad that I have a few pieces of her work to inspire me. 

Good News, Bad News

The good news is it was easy to sew and it has pockets.  The bad news is that it looks like grandma's housedress.  I think the problem might be the fabric.  I made this muslin for Simplicity 2004 in more of that thrift store cotton I got on the cheap.  It went together easily but all I can see is grandma's housedress.

The pattern envelope shows the dress with a belt and that does help a bit.

I'm thinking it might look sharp in a navy/white striped seersucker (see swatch pinned to the yoke) but I'm still on the fence.  Do I go ahead and cut in to the good fabric or hold off for a better pattern?  Comments are welcomed.

I Love the Internet

You might remember I was struggling a bit with this simple pattern (Simplicity 1969).   In a fit of desparation I googled the pattern number and happened upon the lovely and talented Beth from the Rusty Bobbin blog who wrote that she had recently purchased the same pattern.  I described my problem and she generously explained what I was doing wrong (as I suspected, it was a case of user error).   She was so helpful and sweet she even went so far as to offer to make up the pattern and photograph the steps for me (fortunately, her explanation was very clear and no photos were necessary). 

I now have a completed muslin (minus topsticthing and finished hems) that actually fits and I'm looking forward to sewing up a new top.  I've added a link to the Rusty Bobbin blog in my blogroll.  If you are interested in garment sewing, I highly recommend keeping up with her blog.  Did I mention she knits too?!

Summer Sewing

I finally sewed something that I would actually wear in public! I made this skirt using Anna Maria Horner's Flirting the Issue skirt pattern which you can find here for free.

I am still new to apparel sewing and hesitant to cut into good fabric so I opted for this floral print quilter's cotton. I picked up an entire bolt of it at the thrift store for $6 so there was plenty of room for error. The pattern calls for a lightweight cotton fabric, like a lawn or voile, but the quilter's cotton worked well enough. The pattern is fairly simple and basically requires the ability to measure your waistline, cut a rectangle based on that measurement and sew a few straight lines. It was a bit of a challenge threading the several rows of elastic through the casings (a beer helped) but overall it's a good project for beginning apparel sewists. I don't have a serger and I didn't want to spend the time on complicated seam finishes for this project so I just used a simple pinked seam. I'll see how it holds up after a few washings and decide if I want to to attempt a different technique on future projects.

The print would not have been my first choice but it's growing on me and paired with a tie front blouse, cardigan and my favorite bow necklace, I feel a bit like I'm channeling style icon Emma Pillsbury.