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.

New Sweater

The knitting spree continues and I recently finished this cabled cardigan. It was a free pattern from Lion Brand and more information is available on Ravelry. It was a good challenge and I'm feeling much more confident with cables now. Of course, not confident enough to show you an extreme close-up of the many mistakes that you'll find if you look closely at this sweater.

Overall I like the cardigan, particularly the dramatic collar and the waist shaping. But I'm not sure I'm sold on the sleeves. I only have one coat that can accomodate them and if I were to make it again would probably attempt to modify the sleeves a bit.

The knitting continues but I'm starting to think about spring and there may be some sewing on the horizon. Stay tuned!

O Christmas Tree

My husband and I have a tradition of adding a personalized ornament to our tree every year. We take turns each year selecting our ornament and try to do something unique. Last year my husband added a lovely hand painted ornament featuring our cats Sophie & Max. This year it's my turn and I was inspired by this lovely print from Spanish artist Blanca Gomez to make our ornament.

I cut the basic shapes from inexpensive craft felt and attached them to a sheet of white felt using wonder under. I added detail using embroidery floss and then to add heft I fused it together with a piece of heavyweight interfacing and backed it with a second sheet of white felt. I cut around the figures and finished the edge with a blanket stitch.

I think this technique would also make great gift tags, sadly there are just not enough hours in the day. Maybe next year...

My Sweater is Famous

My sweater was featured on the Craft blog today!

My friend asked if I would knit him a sweater and mentioned that it would be great if it had zombies on it. I searched high and low for a pattern but couldn't find anything that I liked. Always up for a challenge I decided to try my hand at designing one myself.

I found this amazing site which allows you print knitters graph paper which you can use to design your own intarsia charts. Originally I had a different design in mind but I would have had to use a much smaller gauge to accommodate the complexity and I would have been knitting this sweater for the next 3 years. I think the 8 bit zombie was a good compromise and my friend seems to like it too. More details on the pattern are available on my Ravelry page.

I really enjoyed the process of designing the chart and seeing it come together into a finished garment. I think there may be more intarsia in my future.

Oscar Sweater

When I came across this adorable pattern I knew it time to make my first attempst at intarsia. Although the pattern is called "willie" it instantly reminded me of my friend Sara's canine BFF Oscar.

Things started off well enough and I was pleased to discover that the intarsia part was fairly simple. Of course when I got to the yoke construction and attaching the sleeves it was a whole different story. I won't lie, it wasn't pretty and there was much cursing and un-knitting. However, after putting it aside for a time and taking a few deep breaths (and a glass of wine) I was finally able to figure it out and I'm pretty happy with the result.

I went a size up to give her some room to grow. As you can see it's a bit roomy but still cozy enough for a fall afternoon.

For me the ear detail just makes the sweater. It's too cute for words.

Girls Weekend 2.0

I'm a bit late in posting, but I couldn't let the 2nd annual crafty girls' weekend pass without mention. This year we took the show on the road and headed up to a cozy cabin on the lake for some quality crafting time.

There was sewing,

and knitting,

and my favorite fashionista created a new signature style

which we all modeled as we showed off our finished products.

The last weekend of summer cooperated nicely with warm afternoons to practice our synchronized swimming moves in the lake and cool evenings perfect for knitting and gossip by the fire. We were also fortunate enough to have an expert sewist and an expert knitter right next door who were kind enough to offer advice, food and caffeinated beverages.

It looks like girls weekend will continue to be an annual tradition. I'm definitely looking forward to next year!

All photos courtesy of KH & LH

Twin Set

I'm definitely still going through a knitting phase. I can't seem to stop. I made these sweaters for my friend who is expecting twins -- a boy and a girl. The pattern comes from my favorite knitting store in Portland (Maine, of course!) KnitWit.

I don't normally like hearts as a motif but the heart pockets on this sweater are so sweet I couldn't resist.

I chose a neutral color scheme that would work for both a boy and a girl and just left the heart pockets off the boy sweater.

A simple button closure in the back will make it easy to slip these on and off when the weather gets chilly.

This pattern was quick to knit up and easy enough for a beginner. It comes in a good range of sizes and a different color scheme would totally change the look.