I need to ask: where should go when I’m in Denver tomorrow and Boulder on Monday? I have a couple of hours to kill in the City Center area in Denver tomorrow afternoon and all Sunday evening and most of Monday in Boulder. Any suggestions–yarn, fabric, food, sights? Thanks!
Burda 7890, already paying for itself!
March 16, 2009 at 3:36 pm (sewing)
A new craft means a new set of blogs, and one of my sewing favorites is Dawn at Two On, Two Off. Not only is she incredibly prolific, but she’s got great taste and she has similar shaping to me (similar, not the same–don’t expect any bikini shots here folks! You can thank me for that if you wish). So when she makes something, I pay attention.
She made a wrap top from BWoF that made it to the top of my list, and I was pleased to discover that the pattern sold in the envelope–Burda 7890–also had a jacket. When we were in the northeast this December I found myself stealing my husband’s Northface fleece jacket, in spite of my rather deep-seated prejudice against fleece (the pills, oh the pills!). But can you even imagine me paying $70 or whatever for any clothing item? Me neither. Enter Burda 7890.
I did the full review at PR here, if you are interested in the details: http://sewing.patternreview.com/cgi-bin/patterns/sewingpatterns.pl?patternid=16217
I’ll just tell you all that it is supposed to be made with a sweatshirt or stretch terry, and I subbed a non-stretchy fleece in one size larger than I’d usually make. It worked out great, except for the forearms (you can see the wrinkles below). Must be those years of piano practice!
I also just sewed the zipper to the inside and skipped all the ribbon stuff. I will say the self-facing was very cool!
So the jacket has great lines, is comfy, and collects cat hair like it’s gold.
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Then today, I finally made the shirt! PR review here
Also a success, with a 1″ tuck above the bust on all pieces. And I conquered the twin needle! It’s been a good day.
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Next time I might bring the shoulders in just a hair. Then again, it might be the fabric.
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Twillish jacket, revisited
March 10, 2009 at 6:58 pm (finished knits)
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Ain’t it just the way it goes that when you finally do something right you don’t take good notes?? When I made my “Not Alpaca but Twillish” (rav link) jacket a year and a half ago (blog link), I made a lot of modifications to the pattern (a Norah Gaughan pattern “Alpaca Twill,” from Knitter’s Magazine 84, Fall 2006). I started out making good notes for myself, but by the time I got through my fourth and final version, I was just riffing and I can’t really tell you what I did. I’m still not sure how much help this post will be to anyone who wants to try something like it, but it’s the best I’ve got!
Three sets of notes, upside down, backwards…and totally useless. I didn’t mark which ones I ended up using, or even which ones didn’t work!
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At that point, I started getting requests via Ravelry for my mods. Doh! But I’m actually grateful for those requests, because I started to put down my thoughts when they were still somewhat fresh in my head, or at least more so than now. So I’m going to do my best for those of you who have asked for help, and ask you for patience in return. I’ll be happy to clarify whatever points I can, just drop me a line.
First let me say I take great pleasure in wearing this coat. I wore it to my field’s big society meeting in Nashville (go AMS!) this November, and it was perfect for both the beautiful southern fall weather and the unpredictable climes of hotel conference centers. I could wear it running back and forth from the hotel, and even in the chillier conference rooms, without looking like I was in fact running around the city like crazy. I like that I can wear it with jeans or dressier pants, and layer it over simple knit shirts. I guess that, like all my favorite clothes, the point is that it is easy to wear.
Ok, on to some initial thoughts in no particular order…
1: Beware of hip ease. This note is for me as much as everyone else: be generous with hip ease! I’m used to using negative or sparse positive ease in sweaters, but that doesn’t fly for hips. Anyone know what kind of rules there are for ease in jackets?
My jacket closes at the hip but doesn’t hang there naturally, a circumstance I’ve convinced myself is the look I wanted–but really? if I were making this again I’d add much more ease, please. Part of my mistake was that I changed the way the fronts of the original jacket met, without compensating for the loss of inches at the hips. I didn’t follow the schematics for this hardly at all, and this was one place I should have at least noted the measurements.
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2: Reduced sleeve puff. This is a personal preference, since I just can’t bring myself to do QB-sized sleeves. So I just skipped the last four increases of the sleeves (I made the smallest size, so I had eight less sts in the middle section to be bound off), and that was a really easy way to solve the problem of the puff.
the magazine photo, check out those sleeves!
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3: Knit from the top down. The best thing I did was to make the fronts and back from the top down–which I recommend purely so you can determine a happy finished length, but also because then you can try on the collar section as you go, and rip out from the beginning if you need to do so. I personally abhor trying to figure out where I should be in the pattern when I have to rip a lot. Then again, looking at my revised schematic (below), you might think better going the other way!!
To knit it top down, I just reversed the instructions- CO where it said to BO, increased where it said to decrease, etc. For the sides, I cast on 3 sts and did increases when the pattern called for decreases, and vice versa (see specific notes section below). Oh, and if it matters to you, I did my M1 increases two stitches in from the edge–just where I thought it looked best.
4: Major collar reduction. Here was my major change: I made the collar about one third of the original size, and I also skipped the “work even” rows on the collar sides to make a sharper angle at the front. The original pattern shows a pretty good overlap and a tie under the bust, but I made mine to just meet at the front, and since my Ravelry pictures I’ve added a decorative clasp in the front center.
I also slipped the first st. of the collar side on each WS row to give it a nice defined edge. (See below for some of my specific measurements on the collar, if you think that will help you out!)
collar knitted as written (you have GOT to be kidding, I say!!), plus an initial attempt to understand how to fix it, and finally the finished result:
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5: Made both front panels at the same time, in exactly the same way. I did this because then when I turned one around the rib pattern spiraled in opposite directions on the front. (Ok, and because by the fourth time I knit this collar I wasn’t being as careful with notes as I should have been and knitting two at a time takes care of that laziness!) This is just a personal preference, though. It made seaming a bit harder on one side, but I really like the effect on the front when the sides swirl away from each other rather than going in the same direction.
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6: A question for you: I’m curious about yarn choice for this coat. I used a chunky wool single (not doubled), and although I’ve gotten some pillage under the arms it turned out to be a great choice. It has enough body to it that it doesn’t hang or cling too much, an important consideration for me in the rear view with a longer coat like this. I’m sure the alpaca blend recommended (Berroco Ultra Alpaca) has a great drape, but alpaca is so heavy and hot I can’t imagine it in a full coat–not to mention doubled. So I’m interested to know what thoughts people are having about yarn.
On to some specifics:
Just for your own guidelines, my bust is about 32″, and I wanted less ease than I would have had with the XS of 37″ given in the pattern. So my jacket is about 34″ at the bust.
Here’s a schematic I drew off of the original pattern piece to show you how simple my collar mod ended up being. The red line is about where I think my collar ended up, with the mark “collar point” where I stopped increasing and started decreasing on that side.
The 9″ mark is at the collar point, and the 10″ mark is at the fold line.
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Here are some other shots to try and show the shape:
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Good luck! As my dissertation adviser is wont to say as I leave his office, “Couragio!” |
I’m two!
March 8, 2009 at 4:51 pm (blog life, sewing)
I just discovered that Sulala is two years old today! What a perfect day to dive into my sewing habit with full force.
It’s a little hard to explain my relationship with the Singer.
My entire sewing career is linked to this machine (minus a few brief flings, notably a one-night stand with my 4-H leader’s machine and a continuing affair with my mom’s Bernina), so it stands to reason that I can use her as the foundation for my sewing back story. My mom sewed a great deal for me on this machine when I was younger, happily stitching pants for me when I refused to wear jeans or any store bought pants, for example, or crafting the entire wardrobe for my Am*rican G*rls doll. In junior high, I made bags of varying quality, but never really got into sewing. During high school I golfed. In college when Mom upgraded I inherited the Singer. I made a few blankets for DH (imagine the domesticity of your RA sewing in her dorm room!! Wouldn’t you want to turn to her with all of your problems?) and my grandma, and then of course whenever I moved I made curtains and other household-y things for our various dwellings.
I think I had to wait until I understood patience a little more to really get into sewing, though, and patience is a lesson that knitting has never stopped teaching me. I wonder if anyone else has had this experience: until I started knitting–or maybe more accurately, reading blogs about knitting–it never really occurred to me that the fault of poorly fitting clothes was not mine! Until I was able to make decisions about how I wanted a sweater to fit, I did not understand how my body shape really affected what I bought. I simply thought that I could not wear the majority of styles that were on the store shelves because I wasn’t shaped right. (Well, and then there’s the fact that I am cheaper than dirt and never really put much effort into anything regarding looks.) For example, I have a really hard time buying dresses that fit upper and lower halves together, so in my head for years I’ve just thought I can’t wear dresses.
Why all of this self-reflection is relevant is that watching all of you have such tremendous success clothing your own beautiful selves, not as a chore or to hide anything but as a fun challenge, inspired me to try. And that meant turning to my faithful Singer. So last June with my trip to Ireland and Switzerland as my motivation I began to capital-S Sew. (I just realized that really it all started with making a dress for a wedding, but I don’t have a picture of it!!).
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Dancing in Atlanta’s airport: Ok, so I did make these pants (highly modified) from Butterick 5101 and a JoAnn’s knit, but the picture is showing my travel purse. I had such a rough time finding the perfect bag to take along, and finally just a day or two before I left I threw this one together. It ended up being…not perfect by any means but certainly functional. The funny part about the purse is that it is made from a pair of pants that were headed to the wadder pile. Can anyone guess where (hint: the straps were cut from the legs…)? I can’t recount the state of mind that led to this revelation that pants would give me the purse shape I was looking for, but ain’t that the state of creativity sometimes?
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Next is another Butterick 5101 top, view A, made from a nice Ponte knit. Well, nice for this top but not so nice for the pants shown above because it has pilled like crazy (Rats–just realized I made this top twice too, and only have a picture of one version!). Wrap tops can be trouble, but this one a) actually covers a little bit on top and b) doesn’t cling and cut in all the wrong places in the middle. Oh, and c) was very easy to sew! This picture is obviously not from Swizterland, by the way!! I know there are some WI’ers out there cheering right now!
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Here’s that top again with a dress I made to go with it. I’m really hoping that I’m just standing at an awkward angle in this picture, and that my bottom half is not actually attached to my top half like this. I love the fabric, though, a Moda cotton I got on sale in Tennessee. The dress is New Look 6788, view B, and I had to make some major modifications to it so it ended up being a little “meh” without the top over it. Turns out that this “dress” when made according to the pattern is really a “sack” with no shaping at all. I took in the front, added front and back darts, and took in the center back seam to get some semblance of a dress shape to it. There’s no zipper, which is what really should have clued me in that something was wrong here! I’d make it again, with shaping and a zipper though. But look–the final result is me in a dress!
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And a skirt!! Simplicity 5524, in another Jo-Ann linen look (gotta learn to finish seams!!). If ever there was a skirt to convince me that I can wear skirts, this is it. It was easy to make, is easy to wear, and I daresay even looks decent. You can tell I did a fabulous job accessorizing it with the daring choice of a white T-shirt!
Ok, I’m out of patience with looking at myself for today. More to come!
‘Tis a gift to be simple
February 27, 2009 at 8:00 pm (Uncategorized)
For those of you who were getting worried, I’m still a knitter. But if you notice sewn goods sneaking in with increasing regularity, it may be because they make such great gifts! Here are a few of the little projects I’ve made in the past little bit.
First up, for the newborn of one of DH’s friends, these cute little baby shoes. I used this cloth baby shoe pattern and think they turned out to be a sweet little present for a little Lily. The only thing I would do different next time is to double my sole material, since I didn’t find the bonded fleece the pattern recommends.
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These napkins were for one of my dear friends from college. We lived together, what, three different times? so when she bought a house this January it seemed only right to send her a little housewarming gift. Unfortunately this project was much much cooler in my mind. I envisioned knitting napkin rings out of beads and wire, but I think I bought the wrong kind of wire so I ended up improvising. It’s still cute, although not with the wow factor I intended! I used this napkin tutorial from Purl’s blog, just changing the edge stitch to make it a bit more subtle. Next time I’d make the napkins bigger than recommended. Maybe someday I’ll even be invited to Julie’s house to use these!! 
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| One of the best things about a best friend is when you find yourself totally in sync with something even though you have never really spoken about it. Somehow my two oldest friends are both interested in sewing–you’ve already heard about the one who kicks my butt (quite happily on my part, if that is possible) in quilting, and the other well, she made her twin sister’s wedding dress. From scratch. With no pattern. Yeah…
Anyway, we’re meeting up tomorrow to celebrate our birthdays. She’s 362 (or 363, depending on the year) days older than me, so we always have to make a big deal about the three days a year when we’re the same age. She got a dressform for her birthday so I thought it only appropriate that she have a little wristlet pin cushion, based off of this pin cushion tutorial. Yes, that fabric did serve me well! The pattern calls for velcro, but around here “making” usually means “making do,” so I used a snap leftover from my Rancolidoscope.
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Six months worth of socks
February 26, 2009 at 8:19 pm (finished knits)
It comes as no surprise when I admit that I have been remiss in blogging. So in one fell swoop, here are most of the socks I’ve made in the past six months (there were a couple of pairs that got away from me before I could snap a shot–sneaky socks! Particularly sad is the absence of a shot of the elf socks I knit for Grandpa for Christmas out of alternating red and green stripes. They were my favorite).
L to R: Panda cotton (for me), Lion Brand Magic Stripes (for SIL), Trekking Natura (for bro), Bernat Denim Style (for Grandpa), and a little peek at another Lion Brand Magic Stripes pair for Grandpa that did eventually get finished and mailed. But refused to be photographed.
I hated knitting these socks–cotton, eh?–but I’ve found that I do enjoy wearing them. The pattern is just bands of knit and purl, and the bind off is a picot BO that I just let curl instead of sewing to the inside. One could choose to see that as lazy, or one could call it inspired.
Grandpa’s February socks, just your plain ol’ acrylic/wool blends
Lorna’s Laces for DH. For some reason I really like these!
for my brother’s birthday. I think I told you all about his apparent love for Lorna and Lorna only when it comes to socks. I actually love it that someone told me exactly what they want in a pair of socks!
Grandpa and Grandma’s January socks–I think these are Bernat Satin or whatever that yarn is called. Slippery, but good for thick socks that will see heavy wash rotation.
Ah, my conscience feels so much better now! I may even be ready to come clean and tell you that today I took the first stitch–knitting or sewing–that I’ve taken in a month!
Bags under my eyes
February 22, 2009 at 5:00 pm (sewing)
But the good kind of bags, of course! I may have failed girl school (as DH is wont to lament when he has to pick out my shoes before we leave the house), but I shall never be put to shame when it comes to bags. I thought it might be fun to show you some of the ones I’ve made or my mom has made for me recently.
First up, a bag I made for my youngest SIL’s birthday. She loves pink and cute things and I love her. This is the small version of Amy Butler Frenchy Bag pattern, and some fabric from JoAnn’s. That’s about all I remember. I don’t really know if the SIL liked it or not because her discovery of the puppy chow I put inside greatly inhibited further conversation.
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| My mom made the next bag. I just happened to be the lucky recipient of her sewing process. It is loud and crazy and I love it. It is also one of those projects that I enjoy because I know where the pieces came from–the body is leftover Amy Butler fabric from a pair of lounge pants, the top is a fat quarter I got for free at a quilt shop, the green piping is from the quilt Mom made for my brother’s wedding. This bag is a perfect size for me, and she put a zipper in the top so I use it often.
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And this is my Weekender Bag. The fabric is from JoAnn’s (this bag takes a lot of fabric!). If it looks a little less than crisp in this picture, it’s because I use it often and the interfacing has broken down a bit. It probably would have held up better had I not insisted on stuffing it to the brim nearly every time I pack! I’m glad to see this pattern is still popular, since it is a great bag. |
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| Last one–my Christmas present from Mom this year. It is Amy Butler’s Betty Shopper, with some modifications. Mom was taken with the pattern from the first, while I found it to be extremely (surprisingly) un-functional. So what did she do? Make it functional for me! She narrowed the wide base a little bit, but the coolest part is that instead of sewing up the top edges to leave just that tiny hole for an opening, she left them open and put a snap on each side. That way the bag’s opening is actually wide enough to see what’s in there. Terribly clever, wouldn’t you say?
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TAMDSE
February 10, 2009 at 5:04 pm (general creativity, sewing)
It’s not too late to blog about 2008’s Third Annual Mother-Daughter Sewing Extravanganza, is it? Good! I hope you enjoy it.
A brief history of the MDSE, because if you know my mother and me, it’s not like either of us has an ounce of sentiment in us (to necessitate a cheesy excuse to spend time together) or an unwillingness to dally in fine crafting (to necessitate an excuse to make something). Well, here it is. The never-before-revealed, true confession as to why the MDSE exists: I invented this occasion so my super-sewer mom would help me make a Weekender Bag. There, my crime is exposed for all the world to see. I convinced my mother that she wanted to make one so she would help me make one (I let the fact that it really took extremely little effort to accomplish that task assuage my guilt-ridden soul a small bit, thank you). The 2007 project was the Kimono wrap and pajama pants set from Amy Bulter’s book In Stitches.
This year we went more for my mom’s flavor: quilts. We went to her favorite fabric shop, Miller’s Dry Goods in Charm, Ohio, with one of my best friends (Charm is totally worth the effort if you have ever wanted to a) see some real Amish country, and b) buy some good fabric or good boots. A strange combination? Perhaps! But Miller’s is a great fabric store–last weekend at the annual clearance sale I bought $50 worth of heavy cotton fabric for $7, and they always have a good and modern selection–and there is a boot shop there that has really high quality merchandise. One of the (Amish) employees was wearing ostrich skin boots the last time I was there! And I think there is a little restaurant or something in Charm, but I’ve never eaten there. I’d recommend heading back to 39 to find Walnut Creek Cheese for lunch and ice cream. Diversion complete.)
Mom already had her fabric, so she was looking for fabric to make a bag and I was shopping for my quilt fabric. My friend Jess said she was just coming along for fun, but she ended up buying fabric for her first quilt and for a bag. Note to this point she had been a fine sewer but never really had an interest in quilting. We are such a disease! We ended up not working on piecing the quilts together, but I did get to use my mom’s quilting machine set-up for the quilting part. Very cool. Note that Jess and my mom both had their quilts pieced before me, and mine was the simplest of them all. I need to hound Jess for some pictures of her quilt to make this story complete! I’ll get on that.
Here’s Mom’s, although as always the colors are a bit off:
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And here’s mine:
 Obviously she is much more talented, dedicated, driven, and did I say talented than me. I was not so much into the whole piecing thing. Mine is just 9 7-inch strips of c.45 inch fabric, bound with a patterned brown. This quilt was intended for my office (i.e., “the orange room”), and we had so much fun picking out the fabrics together. Orange is always a challenge! |
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close-up of the stitching. I call this particular stitch pattern “the only thing I could figure out how to make the thing do without cursing.” Elegant, yes?
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‘Rithmetic for travelling knitters
January 30, 2009 at 7:54 pm (finished knits)
(warning! the following post has not been approved for those who are easily angered by bad math!)
i + y(w) = h
the formula for determining happiness as a knitter, where i (inches of snow that fall during a New England snowstorm) plus y (yards of yarn) times the amount of said yarn that is w (wool) equals h (how happy you are to be a able to swaddle yourself and your loved ones in wool)
exhibit A: The Burlington gloves: completed in time for walking through fourteen inches of snow dumped on beautiful Vermont
M < a = ($) + 15
where M (mass of a yarn for a project) must be less than a (air) to equal avoiding $ (an additional fine for heavy luggage) in addition to 15 (the airlines’ charge to check bags)
note: also related is M < a = P, where M (mass of a yarn for a project) must be less than a (air) to equal avoiding P (shoulder pain from carrying everything in carry-on instead)
note: see also c α e^-1, where c (complexity of a pattern) is inversely proportional to the amount of e (elbow room) you have to view the pattern and execute the stitches in coach seating
exhibit b, the New Haven Mohair Cowl Pullover (rav link). Squishy yarn to fit in any suitcase crevice, miles of St st, only one set of circular needles: this one was a perfect travel knit! It saw me through eight airplanes, two trains, and four automobiles.
x +1s
The formula for determining how many knitting projects to pack, where x = the amount of knitting that could optimistically be completed if a major storm should hit and the entirety of the trip ends up being spent at the airport and you have to knit to stay awake the entire time to guard your possessions, and 1s = enough yarn for an extra pair of socks.
exhibit c: the Boston Selbu Modern–a great pattern for all you slouch- and semi-slouch lovers out there! Oh, and because DH will want me to tell you this part even though I haven’t figured out how to add this to the equation: add to this one the number of times you’ll be hit on by a straight woman in front of your husband (after she asks him that you’re his wife) because of this hat! Hey, lady outside the Pub at the Hub in Boston, don’t get me wrong I was flattered but I’ll give up the hat before I give up the man!! 
(Oh, and for Jodi I threw on my SIL’s Green Gable one more time to show you all I fixed the collar!! Contrary to the view from this fresh-off-the-needles shot, it does lay much better now.)
and finally,
0C= b-(10/s)
zero! equals how much control (C) you have in the face of b (beautiful hand-dyed yarn) for a ridiculously low price (10 dollars / skein) as you accidentally forget that you weren’t going to buy any souvenir yarn and blow 30 bucks on this gorgeous laceweight from Tess yarns in Maine.
I had to laugh at how many of you commented that souvenir yarn was more your speed than souvenir projects. Looks like we are all of the same mind in that regard! But what should I make? Maybe I’ll save it as theinspiration for my next travel knitting, wherever that may be.
