SWAP - the first garments

The colours didn't come out all that well in the photos, and the print hides the detail of the sleeves a bit, but these are the first two potential tops for the SWAP, both coverstitched, but one is better than the other.

The teal coloured one is Burda Style 09/10 No. 121, the turtle neck that I have become so keen on. I actually made a version of this pattern in the same print as shown above, and haven't decided which of the two tops to put into the SWAP.

The print is Butterick 5525 view E. Aren't the sleeves fabulous? The sleeve cap is square and sewn together across the top then pleated to get that effect. However, the draping relies on the sewn seam lying down inside the drape and I am not entirely certain it is going to play ball in that department when worn. So it may not make it to the SWAP if it turns out to be one of those annoyingly needy garments that needs constant attention to look as it should. I am not a fan of needy garments. Also, it doesn't fit quite as neatly or as nicely as the Burda. In particular, the sleeves are rather wide from the drape downwards and the body is much roomier than it should be. I went down a size because its the big 4 and they are always very roomy on me. I think I might have needed to go down to a size 6. All of which reminded me why I don't often sew with the big 4 patterns.

I tried so hard with the cover stitching, and practiced on a top that went wrong and will now be used as a pajama top. However, practice didn't make perfect on this occasion. And there won't be more practice for a while as the foot lift lever on my overlocker broke this afternoon. Necessity being the mother of invention, I am running a long chain off and just turning the work around to shove the next bit under the foot, so I can continue to overlock. But you can't really do that with coverstitch.

Also yesterday, I cut out a pair of Marfy trousers from a pattern I hadn't used before. Well, that was fun... NOT. Something went wrong when I altered the pattern against my master draft.

Front pieces were an inch longer than the back

The legs were so tight I looked like a pin striped stork... complete with corrugated knees

Corrugated knees that I couldn't easily bend due to the tightness of the trousers.

Even worse, the dratted things were somehow off grain.

So, there I was, poured into a pair of polyester pin striped monstrosities, looking like a stripy legged stork, or a throwback to the eighties, sort of hopping about, kind of unsure whether laughing or crying would be the appropriate response. So I laughed... you sort of have to.

Cue four hours of tissue cutting and sticking and much headache inducing thinking and book consultation.

In the end, I drafted a narrower leg from the master draft. Which is, of course, what I should have done in the first place.

However, regular readers will know just how much I hate to leave a mystery unsolved, and indeed, dislike being beaten by a few bits of tissue paper.

So, this morning, renewed and reinvigorated by four hours sleep, I found the problem with the original trousers... or perhaps I should say, I found what I think is the problem with the trousers.

As at now, I have a muslin ready to go for the new Marfy trousers, which have a very cute petal, or tulip type hem shape, but haven't started the sewing on those yet.

I also have, part constructed, what will hopefully be a wearable pair of black straight leg trousers based on my basic trouser draft but with narrower legs, a side zipper and contoured waistband. I did the invisible zip this evening and was really pleased with the finished result. The seams of the waistband match exactly right across, the only fault is the base of the zipper has a bit of a bump where the fabric falls off the end of the zipper. Perhaps it will be magically alright when its on me rather than pinned to the dress form as it currently is.

Neither trouser is necessarily for the SWAP. This is because the main reason for Sewing with a Plan is to kick start my desire to make all kinds of things that aren't in the plan.

PS. Apologies for the text all running together. I do know how to divide things into paragraphs... but sadly, Blogger feels that my attempts to do so should be met with a blank refusal to comply with the keyboard's commands.

Yes, it will.

"Will it or won't it" is finished. And it will.... amazingly I have one skein and two little balls left over.

I love this sweater so much, it came out just the way I thought it would. The collar is finished with the new stretchy bind off learned for the Tang Sweater. The rib on the body makes it fit nicely at the waist as you can see and its light but thick with a really cosy feel.

I finished it last night, so the whole sweater took a mere twelve days to knit. I shall be wearing it tomorrow I think.

And soon to come will be some knit tops. I have cut out three tops and have one done apart from the coverstitching on the hems, cuffs and in one case neckline. Coverstitching is a skill I still need to master and so this will be one of the skills I will be practicing in the Stitchers Guild SWAP. I am not sure whether I will complete as I have so much work on with the college course but I think I am going to start off anyway.

I've abandoned the rather elaborate and time consuming plan I originally had in favour of a more boring set of garments which are actually more necessary in the wardrobe. Thus, my SWAP plan is to make:

one jacket - A burda pattern which I've done before made in black polyester suiting. It has a zip front (new or practicing technique is the separating zipper installation)

One Skirt - Black wool. To go with the jacket. A Butterick pattern with a flared back. I want to pipe the seams which is a new technique for me.

Two pairs of trousers. On these I will perfect pockets, something I am not that good at. Both will be black polyester. Both are likely to be TNT Marfy patterns.

One other bottom. Which might be a skirt and it might be more trousers. I wanted to leave a gap because I have a Marfy pattern for trousers which are exceptionally complicated. I want to make them but can only do so if I can find a spare two weeks to really do them properly.

Five knit tops. Various patterns.

One purple and black print with a scoop neck and fancy sleeves. That was cut out and part made today.

One purple and black print with polo neck. The Burda Style pattern I was raving about a few weeks ago.

One dark teal polo neck. Same Burda Style pattern.

One red - pattern not yet chosen.

One - plain colour jersey - not decided which yet. Oddly enough, I do have quite a choice in the stash.

Finally, one blouse. Purple polyester satin. Possibly with a tie at the neck.

All the knit tops will be coverstitched as my new or improving technique.

The blouse, well I will need to think up a technique to include that is new to me. Not thought that one through properly yet and this might be swopped out for something else if the mood takes me.

There isn't a storyboard as I haven't had time to do one. With limited time I wanted to concentrate on the sewing part. Also, it doesn't have a name, though in my head its titled "Boring but Necessary" as its so full of basics.

Marfy for 2011/2012

Woo, hoo, its out. Its out at last. The new Marfy catalogue is available for pre-order and I have placed an order for my copy, which I guess will be with me in late January or early February.

The free patterns look as though they are the same as last year's. I am sure that it makes sound business sense to use the free patterns two years (or more) running. However, even though I understand this intellectually, my inner little girl wants to stamp her feet and shout "not fair". I will be rather disappointed if there really are no new ones.

Since I haven't actually made up all of the free patterns from last year anyway, and still have several purchased ones that I haven't tackled yet, I shouldn't really be doing the foot stamping thing, and lets face it, there are many more important problems in the world than not having a new set of free patterns.

So now the countdown to catalogue arrival begins.

Will it or won't it?

Here is the first section of my latest knitting project, which has been named "Will it or Won't it?" because I am not sure there is enough yarn. The pattern, from DROPS, and pictured above, has optional sleeves and a very interesting collar. The vee neck is picked up and the ribbed collar knitted onto it. I suspect there is a trick to doing that neatly so that the vee shape is retained. I really do want sleeves. I doubt I would wear it as much without them. However, I only have ten skeins which are either 61 or 73 yards long depending on whether you read the ball band or Ravelry, and I need more than 750 yards, since I am adding length to the sweater as well. I've E mailed the place I got the yarn to find out if they have more, and have guessed at four skeins being sufficient. Any extra left over will make a marvellous cowl or hat. Its a bit of a gamble though, as the yarn is hand dyed and has no dye lot. However, I've given a description and attached the photo I took of the yarn for Ravelry, and am hoping for the best.

The yarn is the gorgeous Araucania super bulky bought at the show last month. Doesn't it knit up into a gorgeous fabric? It isn't difficult to knit with, or at least it wouldn't be on metal needles I suspect. However, it is sticking quite badly on my Knit Pro wood circulars so I do spend a lot of time pushing the stitches about, and the tips on the needles are very pointy, so I've got a knitting injury. Luckily I didn't bleed on the yarn though. The yarn is well twisted and doesn't split or fluff up at all and the definition on the cables is excellent though hidden somewhat by the tweedy yarn.

I'd forgotten just how quickly bulky yarn knits up. The piece shown above was done over three evenings, and I've only got a few centimetres to knit before I split for the armholes, at which point front and back are knit separately. I am toying with the idea of kitchener stitching the shoulders together so there won't be a seam but need to look up in a book to see if that is even possible for shoulders.

Also, I have formed a mad plan to try and do a set in sleeve, picked up and knit downwards, like on the Tang sweater, so that if I have enough to start the sleeves, I can knit the sleeves simultaneously and if I run out of wool, there will at least be usable sleeves, even if they are shorter than would be desirable. The gauge of this sweater is roughly half that of the Tang sweater so I am guessing I could pick up half the number of stitches at each point and follow the Tang instructions. The yarn is well twisted so it should frog reasonably easily if I stuff up.

Black Tang

At last. I have finished the black Tang Sweater.

The rib at the bottom took two evenings to do. Finally finished it at 0010 hrs this morning, and wove the ends in this evening whilst waiting for dinner to cook. As you do. Well, I do anyway.

The pattern is from Wendy Bernard's Custom knits and is a top down set in sleeve pattern. It was a sweater of firsts; first provisional cast on, first picked up set in sleeve knit top down, first wrap and turn on the short rows on the sleeve caps and first time using Jeny's Super Stretchy Bind Off. This amazing method is detailed in Knitty Fall 2009 and produces, as the title suggests, a bind off of such utter stretchiness that the rib will stretch all the way, unlike most other bind offs. For a woman who normally has to redo the bind off multiple times so she can get the sweater over her head, this is a totally amazing discovery. I did intially bind it off too loosely and had to unpick the bind off and redo it, but it was worth it. And next time I will know I don't need to bind off loose with this method.

One important note; I did struggle with the collar. It has to turn over so if you start out knitting 3x1 rib the right way around, and continue that way, by the time you get to the part where you fold it over, the wrong side of the rib will show. Having unpicked it twice, I checked with my kntting guru who said it was OK to do what I had planned, which was to knit the first three inches in 3x1 rib, then change so that I had purls over knits (P3, K1) which very neatly produces a turtleneck which will fold over obediently and look correct on the outside.

The yarn was a gift from said knitting guru who hates knitting with black yarn so much that she donated it to me. I am the queen of black. I wasn't going to turn it down. Its Jaeger Matchmaker Merino Aran and its really, really soft and scrumptious. Softer than the arans I've worked with thus far, it drapes nicely so it looks like an indoor sweater rather than a thick and bulky outdoor sweater. The waist shaping also helps to give the sweater its fitted look.

Overall, I am very pleased with the outcome. However, it is very evident that it is going to be the kind of sweater that will be a complete magnet for pet hair. Some sweaters I own don't seem to have a single hair attached to them (usually the sweaters I don't love all that much), this is not going to be one of those sweaters. The dog need only walk by on the other side of the room from the sweater and hair magically adheres to the yarn. Which I can see is going to be quite annoying.

Next on the knitting list;

a tension square in the Araucania hand dyed bulky in preparation for casting on a sweater.

More work on the rainbow shawl if there is time.

Next on the sewing list:

Two jackets

Two pairs of trousers

One Skirt

Multiple BWOF turtlenecks.

Serious excess of cuteness

In a change to the scheduled programming, here is a photo, taken this morning.

It is my dog's birthday today and whilst I don't treat my dog as a human, dress it up or otherwise treat it as anything other than a dog, I do buy her a present on her birthday, and she does get a dog stocking at christmas. I freely admit that this is more of an entertainment for me than anything else.

As she is a gundog, one of her favourite activities is to carry things about. She carries towels, gloves, the sofa throw, socks and of course toys and is quite happy just trotting about with them.


So when I saw this toy yesterday, I knew it would be perfect.

Behold, Miss Spaniel with her new leopardskin handbag. It is a proper dog toy, securely sewn, the handle is rope and it has a squeaky inside it. She is so soft mouthed that these toys are perfectly safe for her as she rarely destroys them. And of course, I can sew them up if they get damaged.

Normal programming will be resumed very soon. I am knitting the very last bit of my latest sweater but sadly the faster I knit the slower the garment grows. The last little bit of every knitting project seems to be the part that takes the longest.

Knitting and Stitching Show 2010

The Knitting and Stitching Show came to Harrogate on Thursday, and I have been twice. On Thursday with my mum, and then yesterday with RuthieK. For the first time ever, I came in under budget, but still got quite a respectable collection of fabric and yarn.

Here is a shot of the whole collection.

At the back of the photo you can see sock yarn.

To the left is a pile of Araucania Limari Multy bulky yarn.

At the front is a skirt pattern which I have coveted ever since I saw the version that Ann at Gorgeous Fabrics made, which has slotted seams.

The fabrics are, from the back left:

Purple poly satin of such lusciousness that I didn't believe the chap on the stall when he told me it wasn't silk. It really does feel like silk.

In front of that is four metres of black polyester which is ex-Windsmoor so its very good quality.

Next to the silk in the middle row is some heathered purple knit, probably rayon.

Below that is some grey rayon knit.

Below that is a semi sheer polyester print blouse or dress weight. I've got two metres, enough for a shirt with a scarf length left, or for the over layer of a dress for summer.

At the far right there is a 1.5 metre remnant of John Kaldor polyester print jersey.

In the next photo you can see the full glory of the Araucania yarn. None of the balls are the same colour exactly as they are all hand dyed. I shall need to learn how to knit carrying the yarn up so I can knit with two balls in turn so the colours work properly. There is 1000 grams and I am not entirely sure of the yardage. The skein tag says 61 yards, the Ravelry entry says 73 yards. I am not sure that I have enough for an entire jumper unfortunately, but there was only one bag of this colourway. I have two patterns in mind, one can be sleeveless or have sleeves, the other is a cardigan with short wide sleeves and big buttons. Or if I can't get gauge, it will be my old standby, the top down sweater recipe in Custom Knits by Wendy Bernard.

And finally, a shot of the whole sock yarn collection. The Regia Bamboo is for a birthday gift for a lady who is allergic to wool, the red hand dyed is for a neck shawl for me. The brown variagated will be socks for gifting.

The darker of the two purply/grey trekking balls will be Aragorn Socks and the more purply ball will be socks for me.

The very bright ball of Trekking is for RuthieK. She can't knit (yet.) but wanted to know what was so amazing about hand knitted socks. Having explained how much warmer and more comfy they are she was keen to try a pair. So, I had her pick her colour and will knit the socks sometime in 2011 for her. I am pleased to have reason to knit with some really bright yarn so we both win.

A short amount about not a lot

I have been meaning to update the blog for two weeks, and was intending to add photos of my latest top made from a Butterick pattern. But it didn't really turn out particularly photo worthy. So I didn't. I kept thinking the top would grow on me and I would suddenly love it and want to photograph it for your viewing pleasure... but so far... I just don't.

Progress on any garment related activity has been painfully slow and somewhat frustrating. The aforementioned top was way too big on the neckline, requiring two inches added all the way around the neck. I added a self fabric band to the neckline but it didn't improve the look of the top, though it did improve the fit. Or it would have done if I'd made the band short enough. So I now have a PJ top with very fancy sleeves and a pile of tissue pieces waiting to be altered. I did start the alterations, but messed up due to tiredness and haven't got around to trying again.
Normally I like tissue alterations, and would plug away until I had the thing licked, but I've not had the time so its still sat in the dining room taunting me. I am hoping to get it sorted out at the weekend so hopefully there will be a newer and better version of the top to show off soon.

Photos at last and (hopefully) a new TNT

Better late than never I suppose. Here are the black trousers as promised. I wore them as soon as I'd made them and had to wait while they came out of the laundry and I got around to ironing them. It was much too cold outside this morning for a proper outdoor shot, so the photos are not great. I had to fiddle with the contrast a bit to get any detail but they are black, though admittedly a slightly grey black due to the very slight sheen on the fabric. These were made from my Jalie jeans pattern. They are being worn with BWOF 09-10 No. 121. I gather this has been a very popular top on Pattern Review and I am, as always, late to the party.

I love this top. I think I am going to love this pattern a lot. Indeed, I think I am going to love it in lots of colours. Behold the loveliness of the version shown below. This is a black and white poly print which the lovely Leelah sent me as a thank you for loaning out a pattern to her. This has been marinading in my stash for some time awaiting the perfect pattern. I will be wearing this to work one day this week, with a black pleated skirt, thick tights and riding boots. The poly is gorgeous soft to wear, and if this pattern works well and is comfortable all day, I can feel a marathon turtleneck frenzy coming on. This pattern is super quick to make. I laid it out and cut it in about twenty minutes. The construction took about forty five minutes. The hems took ten (I cheated and used Steam a Seam). I am planning to set up the cover stitch machine at some point and hem several tops at once. In the meantime, Steam a Seam is making them wearable. Lazy I know.

Interestingly, I spent longer in town on Saturday morning looking for a half way decent, affordable (ie. NOT £198) ready to wear turtleneck than I spent actually making myself one in the afternoon. And unlike three of the turtlenecks I tried on during the morning, you can't see my underwear through this one. Anyone know if there is a new fashion for having sweaters so thin you can see your goosebumps through them? Whatever happened to affordable basics, well made, and in a range of colours. Every time I attempt to shop for clothes I remember why I sew.

SWAP Rules are up

I'm not good at links but hopefully this will work.
http://artisanssquare.com/sg/index.php/topic,11196.0.html
The rules are up and this resulted in much excitable squeaking and a very quick rummage in the fabric stash. The SWAP planning has been in the back of my mind all morning whilst I struggled with an assignment for my course. For some reason, the SWAP was much more interesting to me than creating a grid of stakeholders for my course.... wonder why that is?

I was really pleased with the twist, which is to try a new technique on each garment. That sort of thing really appeals to me and I have many possible techniques to consider. I do know I want to work with boiled wool for the first time, and will make a jacket with that.
I also want to try slotted seams, that will probably be on my 12 panel Marfy skirt.
Then there is welt pockets, which terrify me, and Ruthie just put up on her blog about lining the vent of a straight skirt properly... well, I certainly need to know how to do that. So that might make it onto the list as I have a straight Marfy skirt which I've not made up yet but I need to check if it has a vent. I do know it has a closure that I can't quite work out how to do so I guess that would fall into the new techniques category even if its not got a vent.
The list goes on and on.

I don't have much free time with the course at the moment but I am madly trying to get ahead of myself so that I can take some time over Christmas to start the SWAP sewing. This year you can cut out before hand, and can have up to three items that were pre-made. Therefore, if I do have time before Christmas, I might make an item or two so that I have got a head start on myself when the SWAP formally begins. We shall see how things go.
But first, I need to formulate the plan properly and decide on fabric. So, if I can get my Project Initiation Document completed this afternoon, I can go play in my stash cupboard this evening as a reward.

It all needs to be organised by 23 November so that I can buy any outstanding items required at the Knitting and Stitching show. Though I think it would just be notions as I think I've got the fabric in the stash already. If I go with my initial plan it will be wine, teal and pink tops, with neutrals ranging from black to a lovely grey/brown and biscuit herringbone weave wool. I also have a lovely pink and wine multi tweed that I am keen to fit in there somewhere. Oh, and I can knit one item... so I might make a sweater or cardigan so I have two layering pieces in my six tops.

I am doing the classic SWAP I think, with six tops, four bottoms, one extra. The extra is my jacket. Or maybe I need to make that tweed into a dress. Hmmm, decisions, decisions. I think I'd better go and get some lunch and have a think.

Black Trousers

Yay. I fit some sewing into the schedule. A week later than planned but I took whole day off from my coursework last weekend and after some tedious but necessary chores, was able to spend an afternoon and evening just sewing. There were a couple of false starts though. My trouser pattern of choice would NOT fit onto the fabric I had, no matter what I did. I had two pieces of fabric to choose from but it wouldn't fit onto either piece. One piece was stretchy, soft, washable and the fabric of choice.. but extremely narrow. I'd bought extra, but evidently not extra enough. The other piece was a stretch wool remnant. Wide enough, but four inches too short to get full length legs out of. The chosen pattern had two piece legs (Marfy of course) which meant they took more fabric.

I WILL have trousers I vowed, and pulled out my jeans pattern. With a bit of fiddling I managed to fit that onto the stretchier of the two fabrics with a bit left at the end. I put the pattern piece behind the curved front pockets so I had a smooth front (no pockets) with a fly. Then I left the back pockets off, and I didn't do any topstitching. I kept the yoke at the back but by the time I'd finished lifting the back of the trousers up to get rid of wrinkles I might as well have had no yoke at all. Its got a straight waistband, with a hook and bar closure but there is a fake button on the outside to make it look like it buttons up. Thanks to RuthieK for that tip.

I amazed myself with my speed. Started cutting at 1420 hours. Took a break of about one and a half hours for dinner. Set off after dinner and finished them by 2100hrs except the hems which I did up on Monday night after mum had pinned them up to the right length to wear with heels. Wore them on Tuesday and they were super comfortable. However, it was dark by the time I got home from work so no photos are available. They are just basic black trousers so not really much to see, however, if I get chance I'll take a picture when they have been laundered and ironed again. If they wash well, I think I might have to go get some more of the fabric. Luckily I got it locally and the bolt had plenty on it. Next time I will buy a bigger piece though.

Not sewing

I haven't sewn as much as a stitch, nor knit one either, since I last posted. Well, I suppose that is a slight lie... last weekend, RuthieK visited me and I sewed two seams on a muslin for her. But apart from that... not a stitch.

We had a lovely weekend but sadly we had a visit from the Unpixies, as Ruthie dubbed them. Ruth brought her gold tie waist blouse to show me and we decided it needed to lose its bow and gain some pretty buttons and loops. But Ruth had sewed those ties in so tightly that I honestly couldn't see the stitches. Pixies must have done it, we said. And a great pity there were no Unpixies about to Unpixie their work. So we had to Unpixie it ourselves. Good job I had two seam rippers. Its one of the most amusing seams I've ever unpicked because we couldn't stop giggling about these Unpixies. isn't it good to know that grown adults, with responsible jobs, can actually behave like two year olds.

Also, in another echo of two year old behaviour, neither of us would give in and go to bed. We were so busy chattering about sewing that we both looked like zombies on Sunday morning, groaning into our coffee about it not being sensible to stay up really late at our advanced ages (well mine anyway, Ruth being younger than I). So this week at work has been challenging in the staying awake in meetings department. Indeed, I was challenged by the Chairman on Wednesday as to why I was looking at him funny. I wasn't looking at him at all, I was sleeping with my eyes open. Said eyes just happened to be pointed in his direction at the time.

But the main reason for the lack of sewing or blogging is my College course. I started a diploma in Management and Leadership in September, and haven't had a minute to do anything but eat, sleep, work and study since then. And there hasn't been as much of the sleeping as I would have liked either. It has been a long time since I have studied anything academic. Its taking me longer than I expected to get into my stride with the course which has meant a lot of very late nights, early mornings and a lot of playing catch up at work because I miss one afternoon a week to attend College. Having said all that, I am enjoying the course immensely and its already showing benefits at work I think. I've worked pretty solidly all day today and achieved most of the targets I'd set myself with the course work, so my reward is updating the blog.

I think that my blogging and sewing is going to be a bit sporadic whilst I do the course, but there WILL be sewing (she says to herself grimly and with determination). But its only been four weeks and I am really missing my sewing already. Tomorrow I hope to cut some trousers out. That will be a reward for working on a 1000 word report on Health and Safety.

Warm tops for a rapidly cooling climate

Two versions of a cowl neck. The pattern is Loes Hinse' Cowl top, pattern number 5203. Its a TNT for me, I've made three or four of these at one time or another, and they have all fallen apart from overuse. Its one of the very few patterns I have made no alterations to. I make a straight extra small and it works. Its got cold here so I am very much in the mood for warmer items and you can't get much warmer than these. Both are made from a furry backed fleece. I believe its the stuff you make dressing gowns out of and I did have reservations about how well they might come out. However, I am pleased with them both. The oddest thing is that the purple is much softer and rather more stretchy than the navy. Yet its the same fabric, from the same vendor, bought on the same day.

The navy one has been cut down so its two inches shorter than designed and the collar has been shortened a bit as its a little tall for me really though very comfy in the depths of winter. I didn't put the hem slit in on either version.

The grape coloured one has been lengthened two inches and the wide hem has not been sewn. I took a minimum one inch hem, so the result is a tunic length. It did look a bit plain without anything on it so I've added some pockets which I drafted with the aid of a saucer. Like you do. Mum bought a Hot Fix Crystal wand and some crystals earlier this month and I also bought some crystals so we could both use the wand. And there would be a close up of the crystals on the pocket edge, if only my camera batteries hadn't died. But perhaps you can just see them on the photo? The colours are pale green, amber and champagne.

I am wearing the grape tunic now, with the leggings shown in the photo (minus the belt cos that's just for when I am going out not for lounging about doing the blog and eating biscuits). I found some handknit socks which are black, grey and shades of pink and grape. I've got them on slouched over the leggings which I know is NOT the way one is supposed to wear them but I grew up in the eighties. And my feet are cold all the time so leggings and no socks just ain't gonna happen. I think I need some sparkle infested LA Gear trainers, white of course, and a curly perm and I'd be sorted.

Next on the list is a pair of black trousers. I went in the cupboard and I don't have a single pair of black trousers. Its scandalous that the queen of black items should have no black trousers and this must be rectified very soon. After the trousers, a new black straight skirt is also required.

Mini Annis

I had a partial ball of Kidsilk Haze left after I'd made a version of the Annis shawl for a friend's birthday. At around the time I was casting off the shawl, a mini version of the pattern was posted on Ravelry. Said mini version required the use of beads and I figured it was best to try beads on a small project first so this Mini Annis was born.

I wish I'd beaded more of this. I was so sure the beading would be a pain in the bum to do and would take forever, that I only beaded where the nupps were supposed to go. I wish I'd beaded the spines of the lace now as the beads were, for me at least, not that difficult to place. I used a very fine crochet hook with the bead threaded onto it, picked up the loop, ran the bead onto the loop, transferred the loop back to the needle and knitted it. "Simples" as the Meerkat on the ad would say.

So having practiced on this one, I am confident I can tackle the beaded shawls in my queue. But of course I didn't cast on a beaded shawl. I've cast on a Garden of Alla shawl in the rainbow laceweight I got for my birthday. I started on 5mm needles but I wasn't sure I liked the look so I've changed the tips to 4.5mm and will start chart two using those. I am hoping the transition won't be too obvious.

But I can't knit lace and do other things simultaneously yet, so for TV knitting and nights when my brain won't cope with repeating a stitch pattern accurately, this week I also cast on my first top down, set in sleeve sweater. Knit in black Jaeger Merino Aran yarn, the pattern is Tang from "Custom Knits" by Wendy Bernard. I had to learn to do a provisional cast on for this one. It took me two days to cast on sixty four stitches. I actually cast on way more than that, then dropped the first forty or so. It took me that long to get the rhythm going and to manage stitches that went all the way around the needle. In the end I had to cast onto a really large straight needle then knit off that onto my beloved Harmony interchangables.

There is also a lone and very sad little sock, part knit and sitting patiently in my In Tray at work. This is my lunch break project and there haven't been any lunch breaks for the last couple of weeks.

I think I might suffer from multiple project syndrome or something.

Vogue 8670

Hmmm. What do you all think? I'm really not impressed with this. Its the same pattern as the burgundy and blue one shown earlier in the week though you will notice that I have modified it somewhat. This was a last minute save rather than a conscious design decision. The middle photo shows a close up of the collar and the raglan opening before I made the change.

I feel I've got the fit through the body and sleeves correct, and its comfortable. But the neckline is terrible. I chose a very stretchy, thin, viscose knit in a sort of greyed blue since when I laid out the red bamboo jersey it turned out to be badly off grain and very badly marked with dark, oily looking patches over the whole three yard length. Very disappointing.

I was very careful this time to stretch the neckline as evenly as possible, but it came out very badly puckered yet again. The first time I thought it was the fabric, this time, I don't have that excuse. Furthermore, mum made this pattern up last week and got the same problems as I did, and she is much better at easing things than I am, and used a very stretchy knit, so I really don't think its just a fabric or experience issue.

I hate to blame patterns and try very hard not to do so, but this time I am really wondering. The raglan closure on mum's version sat very oddly and mine did the same. It wouldn't lie down nicely or stay closed no matter what I did to it. The end result looked like something out of Star Trek. Mum has said she will not make the pattern up again. I felt that I didn't want to waste the fabric, and the body and sleeves do fit, so I turned it inside out and sewed the raglan opening closed then sewed the neckline shut (after checking it would go over my head) and added three buttons close together on the neckline to further hold the collar shut and give a bit of a lift to an otherwise very plain top.

BUT, its still all puckered round the neck and that annoys me. Mum has told me countless times today that it looks no worse than a lot of stuff you buy in the shops, and I am just being a perfectionist. But I am not sure. What do you think? Am I too close to the work to be realistic about this? Or is it really a bit of a mess? Is it only suitable to wear at home with jeans, or could I wear it to work without looking like I've not ironed my outfit? The thing is, I made this thinking it would work with one pair of trousers that had a similar colour pin stripe, but it also works well with a jacket, four bottoms and two cardigans. I'm tempted to wear it anyway and just pretend it was supposed to be all puckery.

There is a round necked version on the pattern, which I might try at some point. I suspect that might work better as the problems with this view do seem confined to the collar. But I bought this pattern for the cute (or so I thought) turtleneck version, so I am a bit disappointed.

Its very like a football shirt.........

and its got a hole in the collar... which doesn't fit on the neckline. But luckily its only a muslin. This is what happens when you determine that you will use up small bits of fabric I suppose. The hole in the collar is the result of incompetent serger handling skills, the inability to fit the collar to the neckline is due to cutting the collar piece with the stretch going the wrong way. I'm not above admitting to holes and rookie mistakes. Personally, I like to hear that things go wrong for people. Its not that I actually wish things to go wrong... I really don't. Its more that it makes me feel better about my own errors. So, in case others are similarly afflicted with a desire to see all that can go wrong, I try and offer up a few disasters to make those readers feel better. I don't offer them all up, that would be a bit depressing, but some is good. It strikes a balance.

The pattern is Vogue 8670 and should have buttons to close the neckline. There is a lot of stretching required to get the collar onto the neckline so when it says four way stretch knit, it really does mean that. Despite the rather inauspicious beginning, I really think this has a lot of potential as a pattern. I was surprised to find that all that stretching really did make a neckline that fit my neck well, though it was difficult to ease the neck evenly and a few puckers resulted. The collar is actually a straight rectangle and I had many concerns that this would not result in a garment that looked like the drawing. But it did work. Must be all that stretching. I have slight reservations about its resemblance to a dentist's scrub top when the buttons are on, but we shall see. I think that problem could be resolved if necessary, by having an invisible closure rather than buttons so that the opening is not as obvious, or loop closures (though I really don't fancy making loops from jersey). Next version is going to be in red bamboo jersey, if I ever find time to cut the thing out.

Work has been mad for the last two weeks, which is very unusual. I am certainly not complaining about being busy, it does make a very welcome change but it does cut into the sewing time. Next week I will be starting a course for work, which is going to further restrict my sewing time and there may not be quite so many blog posts if the course proves very challenging. On the other hand, the urge to distract myself from my inability to do my homework might well result in more posts. When I was doing my degree (part time evenings) the standing joke was that the only time my study group had really clean houses, dust free skirting boards, no laundry pile and a clean car, was when an essay was due.

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

The Good

Two shopping trips yielded the following lovely fabrics;

From a quilt show yesterday, the pink fabric shown at the top. Which is from Rosenbergs and is 98% silk, 2% lycra. It was a shockingly reasonable £5 a metre. I've got three and a half metres and will use some to line the wine coloured boiled wool jacket which I am planning to make this year. The rest of the silk will be made into a blouse.

The other four pieces came from Abhakan. The aubergine, red and purplish blue plains are all poly or lycra type knits. The printed is a cotton or poly cotton jersey. The plains are for tops for work and the print is for pajamas. Indeed, I've cut the PJ's out already today.

The Bad:

1. An overlocker needle broke at the very start of a project this afternoon. I don't have any spares since I couldn't find any at the show yesterday despite a thorough search. So the overlocker is now temporarily out of commission, just at the point where I had six knit items cut out ready to sew.

2. I spent two hours last night knitting the heel of my latest sock. I turned the heel and began to knit the gusset. And I thought as I worked... little sock you are not really turning neatly are you? Oh little sock, why are you not becoming magically sock shaped? And I looked at the little sock, and I looked at my instructions (and lets face it, I'm not a sock knitting novice) and I looked again at my poor little socky, and I thought AHHHH. Aha. No wonder my poor little sockie is not very happy and sock like. I have knitted one side of the gusset under the heel instead of down the side of the foot.

So I pulled it out to start again from the heel flap. And my very kind dog decided to assist me at that crucial point by depositing a small, rather damp, stuffed squirrel toy, on top of my knitting and scratching me, and the sock, to get attention. Sending the sock unravelling speed into freefall and necessitating the re-knitting of the entire heel flap.

3. I have to go back to work tomorrow.

The Ugly

And it really is very ugly. Let me introduce my version of Vogue 8634. Made, would you believe, in a size XS. Even though I measure as a Small. This one fits mum.... who measures up at a medium.

Mum is making this pattern and hers is coming out OK so far as we can tell. Others have made this and its come out fine. I've seen the reviews. I used a seriously crappy fabric, which could have had an impact on the result. Nevertheless, this is one pattern I will NOT be making ever again. I cannot get the collar to sit properly, the raglan seams are too short and the sleeve heads (top of the raglan) too wide for my frame. As you can see in the photo showing the neckline before I put the collar on. Something has gone wrong here, probably fabric related because my collar went on in a one to one ratio, no easing. Mum's had to have the neckline eased to the collar. Also, I altered this for fit in a rather haphazard fashion I suppose. Its got an extra small front, a medium back width, extra small neckline, small tapering to extra small side seams and an extra small collar. Its possible I ruined this all by myself with no help from Vogue's excess ease department. And finally, a picture of it on me. Actually that photo makes the thing look nicer than it really is. To be fair, I wasn't certain that the style was going to be one I would like myself in. It was mum's pattern and I just tried it to see if I liked it. And I don't. So I will move on to Vogue number two: which is another raglan. I've got the muslin version cut out but with the overlocker out of commission, it will be a day or two before sewing resumes.

Cherry Red Aran

Finally the sweater is finished, and it actually fits. No, really, apart from a bit of a high back neckline, this does actually fit. Not always the case with garments that I knit.

It was knit top down, using the instructions given by Wendy Bernard in Custom Knits. She gives instructions for a plain raglan, which I've used before, but this time I cautiously added a bit of detail; a cabled braid down the front and sleeves. Whilst its best not to look too closely at the section where I began the braid, counting of stitches not being my most advanced skill, it did come out pretty close to what I had in my head. The braid pattern came from my Harmony Guide to Cable and Aran stitches and I will admit was chosen because it was an easy pattern to work upside down, in the round, without complex calculations and reversals of pattern rows from purl to knit and I understood where it needed to be put on the round to come out in the right place. Its drawn up a bit more than I had anticipated on the sweater but I suspect that it might relax back a bit flatter once I start to wear it.

I added ten stitches under the arms to give a much more relaxed fit and the finished item has about six inches of ease which should be about right for a top layer to wear over a couple of thinner tops for autumn and winter. This yarn is a bit too scratchy to ever wear with nothing under it. Its Troon Tweed from Texere Yarns and is an oiled wool (so it does smell somewhat sheepier than some yarns would). It should be a very hardwearing sweater though. My previous oiled wool sweater lasted me about six years, having been passed down from mum who had it for some years before that. Its the same yarn I used for the Durran Durra cardigan earlier this year. I wore the cardigan three days last week as the weather was a little cool, and the cardi was very warm indeed. So I have high hopes for the usefulness of this sweater in the depths of winter.

More birthday goodies

I am a lucky person to have such wonderful friends and family around me and I am touched by how well some of them know me. In particular, RuthieK, who has sent me the most amazing skein of deep teal laceweight and a length of fabric featuring teal and gold on a dark cream ground, to feed my ever growing teal addiction. Thanks Ruthie. I love them both and the yarn came out of the package strongly suggesting (for this yarn is far to refined to shout) that it should be made into a Traveling Woman shawl. Who am I to deny a yarn its destiny, especially when so politely yet forcefully put. Its been paired up with its pattern in the upcoming projects box.

I am itching to knit something other than the sweater I am currently working on, partly because new yarn is always so exciting, but partly because this sweater seems to have been on the needles for quite a while. Sometimes, the last stage of any project seems to take a really long time. I suppose because you are keen to have it finished and wear it. I've had some setbacks on the neckline of the sweater, and have knit three ribbed necklines, pulling the first out because it was too large, and the second out because it was too small. This third version appears fine. Though I have yet to sew it down on the inside, which could precipate further problems. But I am putting that step off because I don't like sewing up and am now knitting the rib for the hem with the aim of getting this done by Sunday night if at all possible. Then I can decide which lace project to do next.

Jeans again...

Here are pairs two and three. Not a huge amount to say about these. Both have ordinary zip flys. Back pockets are different on each pair. Top stitching on the full length pair is light blue and the back pockets have sparkles hand sewn onto them. The shorter pair are topstitched in very light grey but it reads as white on the denim.

I have a dilemma with the shorter pair. They are not really cropped, and not really long. Just an annoying "I shrank badly in the wash" length. I've not hemmed them yet because I can't decide whether to raid the bin for some fragments of the denim and add a sort of cuff to make them longer. Or cut them off shorter and be done with it. If I cut them shorter I can't decide just how short to go with them. Or, I could just make a minimal hem, and wear them inside boots where no one can see their shortcomings. So they are sat in the workroom awaiting my decision. Meanwhile, I shall wear the sparkle pair tomorrow.

Button Fly jeans

These are my TNT Jalie jeans but I swopped out the zip fly for a button fly because I can never resist a challenge. I followed the instructions in David Page Coffin's Trouser book, though not to the letter as David's example involves making a button fly in a trouser without a waistband. Doing the fly with a waistband is simpler.

I was a bit concerned that the fly might not hold closed in such tight jeans but they seem OK so far, though I did have to move the buttons over a bit further because the originally placement allowed the attachment seam of the underlap to show to the world. The true test will be when I wear them all day.

In the picture, the hems aren't turned up properly as I wanted to take the photos whilst it was decent weather.

I've got blue hands from working with this fabric and I am very afraid that the dye hasn't stopped running. I normally don't put denim into the stash cupboard until its been through its prewashes. I picked it out and cut it assuming it was needle ready. I really do hope that it was.

The fabric is 4% lycra from Fabric.com and is the same fabric used for the jeans on the cover of the Jalie pattern, or so I am led to believe. This is an amazing fabric. Its really stretchy, but still a reasonable weight and I think the jeans are going to be supercomfortable. Which bodes well for the other two pairs.

This pair are topstitched in cranberry Gutermann Top Stitch thread which comes on a reel that doesn't seem to have quite enough thread on it to finish a pair of jeans. I was very careful to use only what I needed each time (having been caught out before by this particular thread), even reeling bits back on again rather than cutting off with long thread tails, but still I ran out before the end of the project. And I discovered this...... whilst topstitching the waistband. So not a particularly obvious area in which to run out of thread. Luckily, I had a couple of longer cut bits plus the bit that wouldn't run through the machine at the very end of the reel and was able to hand sew the missing two inches of topstitching. I had started next to a belt loop just in case I needed to hide hand sewing somewhere inconspicuous. I could have done with the reel having forty metres on instead of thirty. And of course, its a bank holiday weekend here, the fabric store is not open again until Wednesday, and I have two more pairs of jeans cut out ready to go... and one reel of Top Stitch for each pair... a different colour for each naturally.

I will try and remember to only do one line of topstitching, to the hip level, on the side seams. Which should then allow the rest of the important areas to be done. Or I hope it will.

I did the Jalie waistband method which has you put the right side of the band to the wrong side of the pants and sew it on. Then stitch the ends and turn them, then lie the turned under edge of the waistband on top of the stitching line just made, and topstitch the band into place. I've got into difficulties with this method in the past, but today, I used my new fave item; Steam A Seam, to stick that band into exactly the right place before top stitching it. And it worked really well.

The only other changes to the waistband were: cutting on the straight grain not on the bias and cutting the band in one piece not two. Then the final change; I put interfacing onto the band. The pattern doesn't say to do this but the denim is so stretchy that when I tacked the band into place without the interfacing, I could almost slide the jeans off without undoing the buttons. On past versions I used a band faced with quilting cotton which works very well to stabilise the band.

Tomorrow it will be on to version two.

Another pretty thing

Behold, the lusciousness that is my latest investment. See how pretty she is, sitting on her bed of tissue. I saw this gorgeous silk crepe backed satin on Saturday. Its the exact colour and weight I have been looking for and is the key to my plan for the Stitchers Guild SWAP. There was just a touch more than the two metres I needed left on the roll when I went to buy it today and the wonderful owner of the shop threw the last bit in for free.

It seems I was really lucky to get this piece. Another lady had come in earlier in the week and almost bought it, but changed her mind at the last minute because the colour didn't suit her all that well.

This is going to be one of those fabrics that takes two days to lay out and a week of walking around the layout in fear and trepidation before cutting it. I dread to think how difficult it will be to sew up. But it will be totally worth it.

I will use the 1940 pattern, with the princess seams I think but make a couple more versions in lesser fabrics first just to be totally sure I have the construction and fit perfect before I cut this. Oh, and I will have to find just the exact button to truly set off the blouse properly.

And, from Silk to Denim. The rest of the day was spent cutting out jeans. By determined and very lengthy fiddling about, I managed to get three pairs of jeans from four yards of fabric, though unfortunately, one pair are cropped as that was the only way I could fit them on the fabric. I just bought some riding boots in TK Maxx and I hope I will be able to get away with wearing the cropped ones inside the boots with thick socks on. However, I am not too sure how cropped they will turn out to be.

And now, I am going back to the workroom to pet my silk, cut out the pocket linings for two of the jeans, and look for some flat red buttons.

Blouses

Because I wasn't sure whether the alterations would work, I didn't take photos of the tissue alteration process. But I will try and remember to do so next time because the alterations to the sleeve really do seem to have made a difference. Although I may not have got it perfect yet.

The first blouse was Marfy 1940 which has back and front princess seams, a collar (though I used only the collar stand this time) and the collar does not meet at the neckline, but lies slightly open all the time.

Additional alterations this time were:

Add three eighths to the centre back, and use a back seam instead of a "lie on fold" layout. The three eighths was added only as far as the upper back (above the point where the shoulder blades move) and at this point I tapered in to nothing then tapered further so that there was three eighths taken from the back neck as I have a very small neck. And yes, this does result in an odd shaped pattern piece.

Not sure quite how to explain the next bit; I don't need the extra amount that I added at the centre back once I get past my shoulder blades. However, the excess is added all the way down to make the back hang straight. So, the excess has to be removed again, in a different place in order to narrow the pattern to my measurements on the lower back, waist and hips. This is done by taking half an inch off the side seams at the hem, tapering to nothing about three inches above the waist, but then I drew out further by a quarter inch at the underarm. This last is to add extra width and reach room just under the armhole.

I had previously made alterations to the armhole to make that wider as well.

The sleeve was then altered by slashing the pattern almost into four pieces. This must be done on a board you can pin the pattern to otherwise disaster can easily strike. Also best to do this on a table if you have a curious animal in your home that might (will!) walk on the pattern just after you slashed it all up. The instructions I followed are in Fit for Real People by Pati Palmer and Marta Alto and the diagrams are on Page 169.

So, draw a vertical line down the centre of your sleeve. (tip, transfer a grain line parallel to the line you draw and to one side, because this alteration will probably cut through the grain line on the pattern and you will lose the grain line).

Square across to draw a horizontal line across your sleeve where the sleeve cap ends and the sleeve starts (the underarm).

Clip almost but not quite to the seam allowance line at each of the four ends of the lines. Don't clip through though, these will be your hinges on which your pattern will open. Now, cut on the lines you drew almost to the seam line (leave your hinge in place).

Now, super carefully, open up the vertical line so that the underarms spread apart. I did mine on a board that has a grid of three quarter inch squares and I opened mine up three quarters of an inch at the underarm/widest point of opening. Pin the opening where it needs to be held. Note that the area where you cut horizontally will lap over. This is what is supposed to happen.

When everything is flat and lovely, pin the overlapped bit into place. Now put tissue over (or under it if you have been more organised than I was and altered over a strip of tissue) and stick it down. Stick down your overlap bits. And voila. Hopefully, an altered sleeve that is slightly wider but has not had its sleeve cap changed. It still fit in the armhole very nicely when I did it. If anything, it reduced the ease just enough that I could get the sleeve in with minimal fussing, swearing and tweaking.

And this is the resulting blouse. Which I wore all day yesterday, whilst cutting out and sewing blouse two, and doing some cooking, and some knitting, and other general tasks necessary in the home; and the blouse did not annoy me once. Although I did discover that the shirt needed two inches adding to the hem length and one and a half inches to the sleeve length, but that was very easily altered.

Now, blouse number two. Not an unqualified success story. You may think it looks familiar because I've used the fabric before.

This is Marfy 0187, which is the free tunic blouse from this year's catalogue though I made mine shorter. It has a bust dart and shaped side seams, but otherwise its just a plain blouse. I've added a back seam since I did all the same alterations as mentioned above to this second shirt. I used the exact same altered sleeve. Indeed, the altered sleeve belonged to this pattern technically, even though I did use it on the previous pattern too. So with great confidence, I forged ahead with the second shirt. And finished it late last night. And tried it on. And wanted to spit/scream/swear. Whilst it was better than the previous version (striped, dogs breakfast garment mentioned last week and never photographed for fear of breaking the camera), it wasn't as comfortable as the 1940 shirt. This pulled on the sleeves and slightly on the back. So, I rang a sewing friend to whine about it. Then went to bed and tried not to think about it. And this morning, I let the back seam out a quarter inch (total half an inch) since I didn't feel like being beaten by a bit of cloth. I wore it today, to see if I was just being hyper aware of the blouse's faults because I'd been working on it/them for so long. And you know, whilst its not quite as good as the spotted one, it was wearable enough that I forgot about it for hours at a time. I'm wearing it now, and its fine. I've baked cakes, driven fifty miles, walked around a shopping centre and tried on coats whilst wearing it. Its probably fine. And whilst I did find it pulled badly when I tried to get things off the top shelf in the kitchen, I would imagine that to be reasonably normal.

So, I am claiming 1940 as a success and claiming 0187 as a cautious, "tweak as you go but probably safe to make in fabric you like".

Having said that. I really do wish I knew why one worked better than the other. I guess the only way to really know is to make them both in the same fabric, then I can rule out fabric misbehaviour.

Did you ever see....

anything as gorgeous as this yarn?

This little haul was my birthday gift from a very dear friend. I was allowed to open this before my birthday so she could see my face when I opened the packages.

The rainbow skein is laceweight from Grace and Jacob Studio and is merino and silk. The skein is huge, at 1200 metres so I have enough for a large shawl. I have spent rather more of my working day than was strictly ethical trawling Ravelry for the perfect pattern today. I haven't found it yet. But I am sure I will. And when I do, I am sure I will enjoy every minute of knitting with this divine yarn.

The purple and pink is 4 ply superwash sock weight Blue Faced Leicester. Hand dyed in Yorkshire by "Dyed By Design". This will make very special socks. Again, I have yet to decide on the pattern, though I may try and tackle a more complex sock pattern with this.

And finally, the fingerless mitts, knit by my friend from her precious stock of Knit Picks Imagination Sock yarn. This is alpaca and is soooo soft and warm. This colourway is called Evil Stepmother and the arms are knit super long so no drafts can trouble me in winter. I have the greatest and most generous friend ever.

Blouses again

I don't think a year goes by when I don't attempt a blouse of some kind, sometimes several. And each time I think that this time, yes, this time, I will make the blouse that will work. It will fit. It will be warm enough. It will not come untucked/will lie nicely untucked.won't hang down below my jacket. This blouse will work with a jacket or sweater and this time, I will wear the blouse and enjoy doing so. This time the blouse will make it out of the wardrobe rather than sitting on the rail, begging to be picked, quietly hopeful, like the plain girl at the side of the gym at the school dance.

And I suddenly realised the other day, that if I could only get a blouse pattern to fit me, I could stop all this blouse making malarkey because what has me motivated to continue this mainly quite senseless pursuit is the belief that I SHOULD have a good blouse pattern which fits me. And I don't have one. And until I have resolved the fitting issues and feel I've licked the problem, I won't settle.

And the striped blouse didn't lick the problem. Mainly because I thought I'd be a clever wotsit and not have a back seam. Which meant I couldn't do one of my normal back alterations. Also, I forgot to alter the front pieces. It was a complete dogs breakfast.

But, I learned something interesting from it.

Both shirts and jackets bind very badly on my biceps when I move my arms forward. I get horizontal wrinkles all down the upper arm, to the point where I have permanent marks on my favourite jacket from reaching forward to type. I had always assumed this resulted from my wide upper back and have done all sorts of alterations to fix that. However, whilst fitting the striped shirt I was waving my arms about in an increasingly annoyed "look at me, I'm in a strait jacket, what a bummer" kind of a way whilst trying to see my own back to work out where on the back seam or armhole I needed to release extra width, when it dawned on me that maybe my arms needed more room to move forward in the sleeve.

So I tried the large bicep alteration from Fit for Real People, which entails cutting and spreading the sleeve pattern to open up the centre section. I spread mine three quarters of an inch as a starting point. Then I made the worlds' ugliest muslin. And whilst it didn't seem quite perfect, it seemed closer than the striped one. So I went ahead and altered both of my Marfy blouse patterns, though I only did the bicep alteration on one of the sleeve patterns. I will use the same altered sleeve for both shirts.

I cut one of the shirts out last night and will hopefully get the other cut out in the next day or two and then get the construction under way this weekend.

Stylish Waterproofs? Part Two

I'm not sure that my search for the elusive stylish waterproof is going all that well. Perhaps there is a reason that waterproofs can't be bought in more urban styles.

The fabric is quite challenging to work with as it doesn't ease. This means the seams, which I have been pressing to one side and then top stitching, get a bit wrinkly. And although the fabric for the latest pair appears to be some kind of cotton or poly cotton with a glazed finish (I don't actually know for sure what the fibre content is since it came from a Fabric Mart free bundle some years ago and was unlabelled) it is still rather difficult to work with, though at least it can be ironed, unlike the brown, so at least I could tame the seams a little on this pair.

The lack of ease in the fabric causes quite a bit of trouble on a deeply curved crotch curve such as this one. Both pairs have wrinkles at the base of the fly which show, and a few wrinkles further down the curve that no one should see, but I know are there. And you can clearly see on this pair how the fabric is pulling against the waistband area even though I was very careful to leave as much ease as possible there. The fabric creeps badly on the top layer when sewing so too much ease and there were puckers, not enough ease, and there was pulling. I felt rather unable to win.

The lack of ease in the fabric also translates into a binding tightness when worn if enough ease is not allowed. I discovered this in the brown pair, and for this pair I have sewn the side seams and inseams at three eighths of an inch, to give myself a bit more room in case I want to wear them over a pair of trousers. I sewed the crotch seam at the original five eighths because I realised, just prior to trying to sew at three eighths, that this would shorten rather than lengthen the amount of sitting room I had. Also, my fly extension was designed for a five eighths seam and I wanted to preserve the same fly size. To give myself more sitting room, I've attached the waistband with a three eighths not five eighths seam and made a two piece waistband (outer and inner pieces) and sewed the top seam at three eighths, giving me an extra half inch sitting room.

In theory. In practice, it didn't work so great and I don't have much more seat room. Not sure quite how I managed that since I made the waistband longer than I needed and added belt loops. Theoretically these should have been too large in the waist, allowing me to wear them slightly lower to allow the seat room. Somehow, this didn't work out the way I had planned.

The cotton fabric, whilst almost as rustley as the brown, does seem to drape slightly more like "real" trousers and therefore is nearer to the look I was trying to achieve. However, both still look like what they are; waterproof trousers.

So I don't think I have quite achieved what I set out to do. Perhaps its not possible to do it for reasons of fabric type and ease of movement. However, I do think that both the navy and the brown pair are slightly more elegant than the grey Rohan Dry Bags which I have been wearing for the last ten years. They were my mum's, she wore them for about ten years, and passed them to me to "tide me over" until I could afford some in my own size. I am actually wearing my jeans and a heavy buckled belt under the Dry bags in the photograph.

I don't plan to give up on my quest, but I think it needs a different type of fabric in order to work well. One option I am considering is making a pair of polyester fabric trousers with a rip stop lining instead of the more usual lining fabric. The polyester should be relatively quick to dry, practical to launder and shouldn't fight too badly with the ripstop, which is reasonably slippery.

Meanwhile, I have two new pairs of waterproofs so, if nothing else, I reckon I've saved myself well over £100.

However, one crucial thing has yet to be tested; I don't yet know if they are truly waterproof. Not that I would actually wish for rain, but usually in Yorkshire you get it and wish you hadn't. But, since I made the trousers, we have had little rain, it hasn't happened when I have needed to go outdoors, and its been namby pamby, drizzley rain. Not the normal horizontal, gale force wind-blown downpour that would truly test my handiwork. I was tempted to stand in the shower wearing them. But I think that would be going a little too far.