Swirl Cardigan -finished

Here is the finished cardigan and I am really pleased with it.  The yarn is gorgeously soft and squooshy and the cardigan itself is very warm and cosy.  Love the colour and as you can see, it works as a casual cardigan  with jeans or as a smart jacket for work with a straight skirt and a belt.  Looking at the photo, I need to find a belt that isn't quite such a stark colour contrast, but I just grabbed one from the box.  I normally wear this navy one with the navy swirl.  I guess it might take a while to find a belt that goes with this colour jacket though. 

Unusually for this blog, I thought I'd let the  photos do the talking so here they are:

self drafted paneled skirt

Believe it or not, this skirt took all day on Sunday to make. Mainly because it was one of those projects that just seemed to be fraught with issues.

The pattern was self drafted and is the bottom part of the straight dress I drew out last weekend.  However, in my determination to ensure I didn't overfit the hips and waist I made it much too large. In the end I took a quarter inch off every seam allowance plus extra on the waist.  I've altered the tissue to take the quarter inch off but will fit as I sew for future garments as I think its better to leave enough  to take it in, rather than making it smaller and then having to let it out and not have enough seam allowance to do this.  Also, the fabric is boiled wool and stretchy.  I am going to do a version of the skirt in a woven to see how it fits in a less stretchy fabric before making any further amendments to the tissue.

The fabric is left over scraps from two jackets.  Inspired by Ruthie's recent scraptastic tops I thought I'd get in on the act with this skirt.  I only had odd shaped pieces and only just enough to get this skirt out  with careful cutting.  This has a back seam and originally had a back zip but it wasn't really needed with this fabric so I took it out and sewed up the seam.  I left the skirt waist a touch larger than was really needed and installed wide elastic, which I made into a circle by sewing it up with zigzag stitch, then quartered it, quartered the skirt waist, stretched the elastic to fit, sewing it on with zig zag then turning it to the inside, understitching, then turning the elastic to the inside.  Its a similar treatment to a purchased skirt I have which is comfortable.  Finally, to make the elastic stay inside where it belongs I've stitched in the ditch of all the seams and through the elastic to tame it.  I have included a photo of the waist elastic treatment.  The elastic is super wide, I think about four inches (I've not measured it).

The hem was machined but it  stretched out under the machine foot so I had to hem it by hand in the end.  I would have saved time in the long run if I'd just done that in the first place of course and it would have been less bulky.

I'm rather pleased with how it looks in the end.  I am sure it will look much improved when worn with something other than the top I have on with it.  I finished it quite late in the evening and just threw it on and rushed outside before it got too dark to take the photo.


And finally, apologies for the rather boring layout.  I'm typing this on my new toy; a tablet.  Huge learning curve, and I can't work out how to alter the layout or upload photos direct from the tablet.   I also got a wireless keyboard to go with it... and I'm being driven bonkers by it. It seems to think I'm typing in a multitude of foreign languages all at  once, and is very keen to add just about any kind of written linguistic emphasis you can think of to just about every letter (with a particular emphasis on O and I).  I've also got the letter C stuck four times in this post.   I can't see this particular keyboard lasting me very long before it goes out the window followed by a stream of rude words.  However, I do rather like writìng my blog from the comfort of the sofa.  :)  

Next ùp: was going to be a dress... but I just discovered tonight that I don't actually own a plain black skirt for work.  No idea how the queen of black clothes managed that... but it needs to be rectified.

Swirl Cardigan

The swirl cardigan which I've been working on since late May is finally finished, or at least the knitting is.  It is currently sat on the dining room floor, pinned out and blocking.  As far  as I can  recall from last time I made one, it will take several days to dry but I couldn't wait to post about it.

I love these cardigans as they are easy to knit, if a bit time consuming given the sheer number of stitches, particularly in the outer ring, which in this case has over 600 stitches in the first row.  But most of all they are the most fabulous shape to wear, and go with almost anything you care to wear them with.  I already have the yarn for my next one.

I will post this in two  parts; the just finished and blocking shots today, and then, once I've got it sewn up, I will try to do a post with me wearing it.  I am rather hoping this will be dry by Wednesday so that I can take it to knit night to sew up.  Not only does someone there really want to see it in its unsewn state, but I was rather hoping one of the more experienced knitters might teach me how to sew it up properly with mattress stitch as despite a fair few attempts at using YouTube to learn this, it is a skill I haven't yet mastered.  As the seam can be seen from both sides due to the construction, it is crucial that its sewn up invisibly and not in my usual lumpy and ham-fisted manner.

This version is blue faced leicester aran  which I dyed myself with Wiltons icing dye in Christmas Red.  Although I used two entire pots of the dye, I didn't get quite the depth of colour I'd planned on but I think this came out better than planned in terms of colour as it seems to work with more items in the wardrobe than a darker colour might have done. 

The pattern is Plum Perfect but I did four welts of eyelet on the main circle, as shown in the close up, following the instructions for the Tangerine Rose pattern, which does include this stitch pattern.

 And here is it, damp and with its blocking wires in place.  I've got it in front of the patio doors in the hope that some sunshine will come along and dry it off.  But the weather isn't co-operating. 

An amended Marfy

Or perhaps its an updated Marfy.  In any event, it is a Marfy that didn't have sleeves but now it does.

Regular readers may recall my excitement at making a lovely bright coloured sleeveless mohair coat/jacket.  I was convinced it would get worn until the thing fell apart.  Except, somehow... it wasn't.  Its been worn about six times.   

It turns out, mohair and I don't get on that well.  I must be sensitive to it because I find it prickly and uncomfortable on my skin.....so it has to be worn over a garment with a collar and sleeves.  Then there is the weather/temperature... which somehow has never been quite right for wearing it, even indoors. It seems its always too cold for sleeveless, or too warm for mohair.   I've rarely experienced an in between day that made this thing practical.  And its seriously coat-unfriendly with that massive collar. 

Having considered its sad, unworn status, I have concluded that things made from very warm fabric should possess sleeves if they are going to have any hope of making it out of the wardrobe. 

So, on Sunday, I took the left over fabric, a Marfy sleeve pattern (from a blouse that fits me), walked the seamlines of the two patterns, figured it was close enough, cut out the sleeves, fired up the overlocker, and added sleeves to the garment.  

Already I feel this will get worn more often... It seems right that a garment with such an immense collar should be balanced by sleeve ownership.  And I think perhaps Marfy thought so too after they'd designed this one as I've seen a very similar one in a later catalogue which has... surprise, surprise.... sleeves.

The vintage dress again...

And here is the dress, all finished and being worn.  There are multiple photo's because I'm ridiculously pleased with this dress.  Not even finding that I should have made a couple of tweaks to the bodice, has dampened my enthusiasm.   The armholes gap slightly at the back - but taking the princess seam in slightly would have fixed that.  Likewise, I have a slightly gaping back neck... again, fit as you sew would have fixed this, I think.  I compared it to the navy dress, and that doesn't have the same issues, so its likely just an example of different fabrics behaving differently.  I must admit if something works once, I tend to assume it will work again, despite different fabric... its not the first time I've been caught out. 

I've also tried this on with a top underneath it, and it can just about be used as an overdress.  I think if it was made to be an overdress, I'd sew the armhole seam finish at a generous three quarters of an inch, not five eighths, and that would do the trick.   Not that I'd make an overdress with a full circle skirt... but I drafted a straight version of the dress yesterday.  Originally this was just so I could make a muslin that didn't take an entire sheet to create, but I was pleased enough with the muslin to plan a wearable version, so I've traced the dress out properly, given it a square neckline (slightly angled inward) to make it look a bit different, and its sat awaiting fabric choice.  If it works I have plans for overdresses for winter. 

Due to the way I drew out the dress (attaching the altered bodice tissue pieces to a bit of card with tape and drafting down from the existing bodice pattern), when I took the tissue and card apart I had a useful byproduct in the form of a panelled skirt block......this still needs to be traced out onto tissue but I have plans for this skirt fairly soon inspired by a Threads article I read recently. 

 And here is the dress in motion so to speak.  Heaven only knows what my neighbours think I'm doing out in the garden twirling about like a six year old in her first party dress but there you go.  I made myself all dizzy in the pursuit of showing off the best features of my new gown.  Even the dog sat on the lawn watching me as though I'd taken leave of my senses.   

 

The practice Vintage Dress

I have been sewing, but I've also been busy at work so haven't had chance to get on line much.

Last weekend I finally got around to drafting the circle skirt for my vintage style dress, and cut out the dress from five metres of quilting fabric bought at Abhakan Fabrics.   I used most of the fabric as it was only 45" wide.  To get the skirt out I folded the fabric the opposite way than normal. Instead of selvage to selvage, I opened it out flat then folded it along the horizontal so I had enough length.   The bodice pieces were cut around the skirt parts.  I did match the pattern as best I could, though it wasn't possible to match it exactly as its a princess seam.  I am very pleased with how it came out though.

The bodice is entirely lined with self fabric.  This allowed me to sew the bodice and lining together at neck and armholes, and turn them through the shoulders, giving a very soft and flexible armhole and neckline finish, which turned out very neat, and looks like its going to be comfortable.  I like this method so much I'll probably use it for most of the dresses with waist seams.

The dress closes with an invisible zipper which was reasonably easy to install though my zip was a tad short so I had to set it in a bit lower down the back and use a hook and eye to close the dress at the back neckline.  The lining is hand sewn to the zipper tape, as is the lining at the waist seam.   

I think I finally have the armholes right on this version.  Hooray for that as there has been quite a few muslins to get it this far.  But I was concentrating so hard on getting the armholes right that I failed to notice that I have somehow managed to create a curved princess seam on the back that looks as though it should accommodate a very small bust.  As I don't have breasts on my back, this isn't a particularly good look and has necessitated yet another alteration to the tissue.  Though its probably no worse a fit than ready to wear and I shall wear the dress, and its predecessor without any sense of shame as its not hugely obvious (at least I don't think it is). 

As I lack the ability to visualise alterations just on the tissue this means yet another version of this dress is necessary to test my alterations on the back.  However, a further version gives the opportunity to draft a straight skirt for the dress.  At the moment I'm drafting the skirt pieces separately and pinning them to the bodice tissue at the waist.  This way they can be easily separated and I can sew the dress with or without a waist seam, or make the skirt part as a skirt.   

I've already done the alterations to the bodice by lopping a bit of the curve off on the convex side, and adding a bit to the concave side on the princess seam so its all a bit straighter.  As the straight skirt will use less fabric, I hope to be able to get this next dress out of a  1.5 metre piece of blue linen.   

And here is a shot of the vintage style dress, which is finished apart from its hem.  As its a full circle skirt  I thought I'd better let the hem hang out for a day or two before I sewed it.  I'll post a photo of me wearing the dress once I've got it hemmed properly.