Wednesday 13 March 2024

Coat in progress

 

These are terrible photos and taken in doors at night, in electric lighting, which never looks good for me but, I wanted to show you what I have been up to. I have made a bit of progress on my planned coat - cape coat. 

 

This is Burda style magazine 128, 12/2002 and its almost finished now. 



Its called a cape coat but does not seem so cape like on me as in the magazine. It will still make a nice coat though I think.

The outer layer is a wool mix tweed - well it feels woolley but I actually do not know the fibre. Its off a discount stall and they said it was wool mix so its debateble. I suspect its a polyester. The back is a shiny knit so its just the front is "wooley".

 

 I lined with velboa faux fur that I stupidly bought 7m of because its not often you see this so cheap - yes love a bargain me!

Not yet sure what to do with the rest of the velboa but I am thinking a plain hoody might be nice - you know, glam up my wardrobe with fake fur, but in a boring every day way that is easy to wear maybe? 

I have not worked out the hem as yet. Might need to hand stitch that to get a good finish. Previous coats have been proven to be faster finished by hand than machine so its probably what I will do. I should also get a neater edge that way I think.

I need to add the button hole at the neck. This style has just the one button as closure and the front completely overlaps, so I am intending to search out an antique button from my collection for it because I have boxes of old buttons from various great aunts including some that are huge 1960s ones. I think that would work on this.

 

No idea why I was pulling such a silly goofey face but you can see my neck here. The neck is still a raw edge and its just stay stitched.  I am going to add a hood because its practical in rainy UK, but this is meant to have a normal collar. I have yet to cut out the hood. I actually do nto yet know which hood pattern I will use but maybe just a basic one froma  sweatshirt that I have already made so I will know how big it will be. I prefer a larger hood.

You can also see the cuffs. The cuffs are not actually meant to turn back and I just did that to show you, but to be honest I quite like how it looks. Probably whether I turn back or not will depend on the weather but its nice to see they look good like that. 

So I have quite a bit to do to finish this, but its going on well, and so far its working out ok, despite my having to completely unpick on of the pockets. I ended up with one pocket flap/piping slightly wider than the other due to doing that but I reckon it will not be seen by anyone but me so I am sticking with it rather than unpicking the pocket that worked and trying to make them identical. Its literally 2mm different so being opposite sides I do not think anyone can actually tell. Close ups on them are on my last post. Anyway thats what I have been doing so far the past week. So far so good with this one and hopefully next week I can show you how it is once its finished. 

I have actually now started to believe in this coat so I really do not want another UFO. I should perhaps return to some of my other half finished coats after this and try to get at least one of them finished.

Have a great week, take care and thanks for visiting my blog,

Bracken

Friday 1 March 2024

An Easter basket for Egg Hunting, Upcycles and my socks

 


I made an Easter egg hunt basket for a small person I know. Its made from synthetic and very cheap felt from Amazon. I bought the felt ages ago meaning to use it for finger pupperts. Well that never quite happened so its available in my stash and I decided this basket will be needed and why buy one when you can easily make one.

You do not get enough of any one colour in the packs I bought from Amazon to do for example a base from one colour so I did it as quarters and the sides as narrow strips.

 It kept me busy last Sunday morning but did not really take long at all. The base is lined with white cotton to give it a bit of strength and I glued a top layer over this with fabric glue after everythig else was constructed (see below). That makes the inside look nice but is not otherwise needed.


It was a bit tricky to sew the circle sides but with some twisting and slow sewing it worked.






The handle is two pieces of ribbon sewed on top of each other to make the handle reasonably strong. It only has to carry a few eggs though of course.

Top is edged with ribbon folded over and sewn down. That will stop it stretching.


Et Voila!

With glued base



Looking back at my last month's or so's posts I am so aware how rubbish is my new mobile. I use the camera to take the photos - or my other half does. But there is no clarity. They are just rubbish. Its a Samsung A14 and I have to say I would avoid and buy just about anything or just wait until you can afford better if I was you. Its an awful phone. Not at all like my previous Samsung. It often will not turn on - as in the screen stays black when someone rings meaning if they ask me to turn off the call I can't. Or not unless I actually login. The fingerprint recognition works once in 20-30 times - no I am not exagerating. Face recognition is slghtly better but still more times than not it will not work. Its the worst phone I have owned in 10+ years! 

I do not have a ton of money to spend on a mobile but this one is particularly bad. I have only had it a few months but it has to go. I usually keep my mobiles 3 years or so, usually until something vital stops working or I drop it once too often and the screen completely messes up. A small crack I will live with for a year or so. I do not upgrade very often because I prefer to be environmentally concious and I think its wasteful doing so. I do not go for contracts either unless its an amazing deal. I haven't found a good deal in a while, so just stick with Tesco Rocket packs which work well for me and I do not feel tied in because I am not. I just hate contracts. Anyway mobile phone rant over, but apologies for the really bad photos. I will sort this asap.

So this week I feel I have achieved something on the sewing/ crafting front. I actally made another pair of trousers 

I sewed up my trousers - these are new and were planned at New Year so at least I achieved something in sewing this week. I think they will be great for spring once the weather starts to warm up a bit. Its a polyester/lycra fabric so warmish but not warm enough for colder weather and probably far too warm for summer so spring/ autumn clothing, so perfect for making just now when the daffs are coming out. Hopefully it will stay around 10DegC for the next few weeks and I may even get to wear these to go somewhere.




They are worn with my top which is upcycled - kind of. Or at least "updated".

 


Its now a kind of long top/ mini dress:

Probably best right now with leggings but this has potential as a dress when it does evenyually warm up a bit. When I made this, I made it the same as several similar tops, but this one just did not work. The hems kept rolling over - wrists, hem etc, so I have now added ribbing to them and it does seem to have solved the problem. Since I love this fabric and the style its good to make it work at last. Though I do wish I had actually lined the hood. usually with this pattern I do but I decided the grey inside was OK. That was a mistake I think. Its kind of slippy which stops the hood working.  Does not matter too much and its too much hassle to completed take it to bits to add a lining, so we will see if I can live with that. Its much improved now I think anyway.
 
This top also had a pull cord in the neck which I decided I could not get on with so that went and was replaced with a proper hem. Sewn single stitched though so not with a stretch stitch, so I will see if it lasts. The original top before alteration is here:

 

You can even see the rolling hems in the original photo. It got so annoying when worn I just stopped wearing this top. I found I was constatly fiddling with the wrists and hems. Otherwise I think this is still a good top and hopefully now I will wear it. I like it much better now and it would be a shame to just recycle this because I like the fabric very much. So far I have worn it twice without problems so I am hoping I sorted this one out. 

AND I also nearly cleared the massive pile of repairs and upcycling that seems to build up on my sewing table. Much of which I have to say is not even my own mending. Its been this way since I was in my 20s. Girl has sewing machine, therefore she will fix everyone elses clothes for them. I do not mind as it goes, but recently the pile got so large I was really put off even doing any sewing at all. Except for my very much ongoing coat its all gone now so I am ready for a new challenge at last.  

I do feel I have not yet really got back into my sewing after Christmas and New Year and being nearly March thats not good.The Egg basket has helped me a little, but its like I just cannot quite get my mind into sewing.

Having got to the end of repairs on other peoples clothing, I upcycled my old red dress into a new skirt. I love this but my partner hates it so we will see how it goes with wearing it. Sometimes ( very occasionally!) he is right. 

 I thought the fur was a great idea but maybe it would be better on a heavier weighted fabric but the available upcycle was this stretch red skirt made from a dress that never worked out right -------Oh ages ago now. In fact you can see how much the blog has changed when you see those old photos!

This "skirt" is not new. I made a really badly fitting and rubbish dress back in 2016. Its sat in my wardrobe being hardly worn since. I suppose really I hung onto this because it was such an early make and at the start when I made this, it was worn, but as time passed its just been there taking up room. I could not bring myself to chuck this. I should have. Then about a year ago I cut the top off. I wore it with an unfinished waist several times as a skirt and so it had to remain taking up room.  Then a few days ago I got inspired to add the fur trim to the hem. And because I liked it I also actually added elastic to the waist and its become a proper skirt.


I think maybe I pulled the elastic slightly unevenly? 

Still it will not be seen and it does look ok when worn.

Its worn with my jumper. And I feel they go very well together.


The the other thing I got round to was I unpicked the first sock ------------here is what I have now...........


 

So sad!

But my second sock is coming along nicely and I will redo this one later once I finish that one. I actually cast on this sock again the other night but thats all so far. I will finish sock two first then redo sock one. 

It took me two evenings to get it undone because I never spread my yarn over more than a couple of stitches and I weave it in all the time. That makes it very neat on the reverse but it turns out to be absolute hell unpicking it like that. I never had to unpick so much before. Anyway now its just 3 balls of yarn.

But it will be remade!

Other than that I messed up the welt pockets on my coat. I sewed one onto the front of the pocket and the other onto the back! So useless at welt pockets! I cannot get away with leaving them as they are so have to take them appart again which inevitably means one will end up larger than the other. Or thats what happened the last time I did this!


I think I can sort them but we will see. I am really in need of a course actually on making welt pockets. I avoid them usually, but decided the challenge was good. Hopefully I will actually get the coat eventually and not just abandon this.  It would be such a waste of decent fabric to throw it away. Its going to have mismatched pockets as it is but I can live with that. I do need to do something about making welt pocket things though. I need to learn properly from someone and preferably in a proper class not on you tube etc. I need the face to face for this one. I might with a bit of luck get to show you the actual coat next week. Its my aim to get this one finished so I can wear it.

Otherwise, I have a now cleared sewing pile and I am inspired at last to get something made off my New Years list - and that does include the coat!

Have a great week and thanks for popping by and its really time to be visiting a few of other peoples blogs. Isn't the internet wonderful really that we are able to do this so easily. And to know and interact with people from all over our lovely planet. Amazing!

Take care lovelies,

Bracken



Wednesday 21 February 2024

Socks problems!

Looking at this photo don't my socks look impressive?
Well so I thought too but all is not well with them.

Here I could just do a blog post and not tell anyone what I have done, but whats the point of that? Its not about bragging about "Oh look at this, I made this etc etc" Its about sharing the truth with all the ups and downs that come along with like minded people who understand the frustrations as well as the joys of crafting, even when some do not do the same crafts, most people get this kind of problem.
I lost my 2.5mm needles when I started to knit these. Well no, I began with a straight cast on on 3mm then did the ribbing (mostly) using a Addi Sock Wonder circular. I do not get on with these really. Maybe because my hands always cramp and hurt because I have chronic arthritis but I thought I would try them out, hence paying out loads for both a 3mm and a 2.5mm. Anyway I own them so decided to attempt to knit with them. They are very good if you want to carry knitting around with you - much better than double points for that, but I am slow knitting with them and prefer the double pointed needles, despite every now and then I end up dropping my knitting off one end or the other. 
 
Part way down the ribbing I swapped to 2.5mm double pointed needles. All was well. Then one evening I miss-placed two of my needles. Still have not found the things. So I looked through my stash of needles, many of which belonged to my Great Great Aunts, so very old imperial things. I do not use them usually just keep them because they are "heirlooms" from my familly/ancesters. I used my needle gauge to check the size etc (- its obviously wrong!)
 
And then I got along with knitting my sock on what are very old, going rusty, needles. The rusty bit is why I decided stuff it and bought two new sets from Love Knitting because it turns out Drops Budget range sell for £1.70 so two sets is sensible bearing in mind I cannot find two of the damned things anywhere. So now I have 10 double points in 2.5mm so that should sort me out for a while.
 
I carry on knitting with my ancient needles whilst waiting for the new ones to arrive - the last generation to use these died in the early 60s! 
 
Try on sock. Its a bit tight but I assumed I had pulled the fairisle a bit too much and it does fit so carry on. New needles arrive and I swap over to them. Lovely by the way. Drops budget range, I definitely recommend. Nicest needles I have had in yonks. Aluminium so will only suit you if you prefer metal needles. I do.
 
As I knit I realise the foot part of my sock is much more stretchy than the top. I come to the conclusion my needle gauge I used to check the needles is out and I actually must have knitted with what equates to 2.25mm. According to Love Knitting thats an old size 13 and there is not actually an imperial equivalent to a 2.5mm. See here if you need the chart. I never realised there was no imperial needle to match a 2.5mm till now so this is all a learning curve.

Well I reckon I can live with a slightly tighter sock top so continue anyway. I can get it on and even wear a thinner pair underneath which is important to me because I have Raynauds Syndrome so will need two pairs a lot in the UK. 
 
I start sock two.
Disaster!
 
If you look at the photo here you can see my problem:

 I have 8 rows of diamond patterns ( or 4 if you count actual repeats rather than patterns etc)  to get to the heel, but on sock two to get the same size I only need 6 rows of diamonds (or 3 total repeats). You can also see relatively clearly the tension is totally different on the two socks. The right sock is much much tighter knit with far smaller stitches. I realised for sure what was wrong about 10pm (22:00) last night. 
 
Though the above really demonstrates how changing a needle size changes stitch size and shows very well how to alter your tension to fit a pattern should you want to. I unfortunately checked the tension at the start before I lost my needles!
 
So all is not well here. I am not going to knit sock two with my imperial 2.25mm ( 13s) but instead opt for a more comfy sock and undo and reknit sock one. 
On the upside I should finish sock two faster than sock one - unless I make it a bit longer, which I might do actually, but thats not following the pattern. But then the KAL finished weeks ago now so it really does not matter because I am far behind everyone else anyway. I love this pattern though, must admit. Its a bit tricky but thats a good thing. 
 
And in the end its not about being in a race to make socks as fast as other people do. I know one person doing the Kal completed 3 pairs in the time it took most people to complete just one pair. Well me - I will be taking considerably longer! 
 
But the aim is to complete a nice wearable comfy pair of socks and make them well so thats what I intend to do so yes sock one has to be undone. And knitted again on the right sized needles. 

Once you accept a problem it actually becomes easy to rectify it. 

I have been considering un-doing these from the top, but I know thats difficult. For some reason the stitches twist on the ribbing so unless I cut off the ribbing and just undo the body of the top of the sock, it will not work and I might just as well just undo the entire sock and start it again I think. And make it right - I have yet to decide which way I am going here I must admit but experience tells me you have problems if you undo it from the cast on edge.
 
And of course here I also learn a very valuable lesson. Besides having the patience to wait just 2 days to get some more needles its really not a good idea even if you have a modern needle gauge to check by, to use unmarked, very old needles. Its just a waste of time and effort. I should have waited for the post to arrive with my lovely new needles. 
 
On the upside I now know not all imperial needles have a metric equivalent and I never realised that until now. It might come in useful with some of the very old imperial patterns I own should I decide to knit them.

Well have a great week and if nothing else I hope you might take this blog post and see how other people ( in this case me!) have such silly disasters and maybe it might make someone smile knowing they are not alone in stupid behaviour and should carry on knitting/ crochetting or whatever else because you can get there in the end and its all about learning. That has to be good, to keep on learning. And I will finish these socks I promise.
Take care and thanks for reading about my problems with knitting socks,
Have a great week
Bracken

Wednesday 14 February 2024

Book Review: Sew Lingerie by Maddie Kulig

 

At last the book I have been waiting for arrived!

I paid for a pre-publication order for this last year. I read about it on the website Madalynne.  

I used to follow Madalynne's blog for years and years when I first began sewing and even before I ever sewed a single stitch myself. At least this time round in my sewing journey anyway. I had a previous incarnation back in the 80s when I sewed everything but I stopped abruptly one day when first my sewing machine broke and then I was illegally evicted by my landlord. Becoming a homeless person precludes things like sewing because its hard enough just surviving let alone having any hobbies. It was nearly 3 years before I got a flat and then a long time after that to afford a new machine. If you become homeless you pretty much lose all your possessions. 

In fact I suspect thats why I am such a terrible hoarder - in particular of stashed fabrics!

In effect it means beggining all over again. Well I did begin again.

Now back to this book:

About a year ago in fact I bought the pre-release edition of this. It was due last October but never came out. No explanation from Amazon but I carried on waiting. 

And yes I can say it was worth waiting for this book.

So the book :

There are sections for panty projects and bra projects and sections on swim projects and body suits.. 


There is a small section on maternity/ nursing and mastectomy bras which personally I think should perhaps have been a little larger. There is not much there and I remember searching for maternity stuff and finding very little so this I think is a bit lacking but then if you were needing nursing bras this would help you make them and you could of course make loads similar but in different fabrics so it would work. Nursing is also for most women only a small section of life. Mastectomy though would mean a greater need for patterns but there is again information on adapting patterns and I suppose that would allow for experimentation here as well. At least both are included!

Its quite infomative on for example types of bras and types of knickers:


I personally want the swim section so will be using that at some point.

 

 Sorry all the photos I took of these pages came out rubbish! I need a new camera or better phone!

Well I have yet to make anything from the book because it only arrived a few days ago, but I have previously made several of Maddie Kulig's free patterns. If you know them, these new patterns are very similar, and yes maybe if I was good at pattern cutting ( and had the hours to spend!!!) then I could take her freebies and make something similar to these but its not just about the 11 patterns included with the book. Notably the Noelle pattern has two variants here so if you are a fan ( I am) then you would probably like the Ryanne which is on the cover and the Kennedy sports bra both of which are similar to the Noelle. I intend to make both. I love the Noelle!


The Ryane is a segmented version of the Noelle hence if you are ok with pattern cutting you could make it from that pattern. The Kennedy is also very similar. Both could be nice as cropped tops as well if thats what you like. Its the way I like my undies - more like cropped tops than bras. We all have preferences and generally mine are for comfy tops rather than underwired corset types of "bra's" as such. And I have been this way since the day I left home and no longer had my Mother controlling what I wear. Mind you I still intend at some point to get round to making a corset. A proper old fashioned "nasty" heavy corset.

Anyway this book is crammed with info on things like different fabrics and notions and I have already learned things I never knew just from flipping through it. Its going to be a valuable resource for me I think. 

One thing I think is particularly important its very inclusive and has all sizes. Nowadays thats becoming more common but for me personally I used to find it quite upsetting when the likes of companies like Unilever went on about "Real Women" and yes they showed photos of lots of average women but they missed out people like me. I feel the larger world is now very included but what about those of us that are very skinny as am I?

Its not that I diet. I have never ever controlled what I eat. I am just skinny and thats the way I am. I use to find it impossible to buy clothes that fit because I needed childrens clothing but most kids are not 5 feet 7 inches tall ( about 170cm). I often ended up buying boys aged 14 jeans which were too big round the waist but they were long enough and smaller than a size 10 uk womens. Nowadays size 8 is easy to buy and even many shops stock smaller than that so I am no longer considered too small and basically excluded from the RTW sizing ranges. Sad all of my younth was spent in too big RTW clothing really. But thats why I like sewing. Its also easy when you make your own to make things that not only fit but make you look proportionally ok. Everyone wants to look good after all. But I did find Unilever's Real women campaigns very upsetting.

So anyway, I reckon this book is well worth reading/ buying if you want to make undies. It has loads and I mean loads of info on fabrics, construction, techniques etc etc. Far more than you would get in a paper pattern or even on most websites. I am really happy with my purchase. 

Though I will read this, from cover to cover, before I even attempt making any of these patterns. Its taken me a few days just to download them, though its really easy to do. Its just my life is very busy and I could not find free time to do this. Today I am at home and have finally got my patterns. I will probably go ahead and print them because I do not trust digitals much having had lots recently get corrupted. I usually though have multiple hard drives with them saved so not totally bad news but it was a pain trying to locate things - my rubbish filing system!

Anyway have a great week and see you next week, Thanks for popping by my blog

Bracken





Friday 9 February 2024

Red flares

  

This is another pair of flares made, in this case, in a  very warm almost coating fabric which was sold as faux angora. The fabric has amazing drape and I think is going to be very enjoyable to wear as an outfit.

Shame the top came out a little large but I can wear something under it so its not the end of the world. And I am more sure than ever it never needed that neck zip - see previous post for details on that one. Its definitely a size too big. Mind you I do like the extra length on my sleeves. When its really cold outside this is a comfort to wear.


This pair, unlike the grey pair, have a proper waistband. I actually toyed with adding a yoke here and maybe I should have because this pattern is low waisted, but in the end I went with a basic waistband with elastic in a casing - sewn down so it will not twist. The fact these are low waisted would make it very easy to add a yoke. I do like low waisted but sometimes its just nice having a change.

T

These days I sew one side of the waistband to the top of the trousers - sew elastic into a circle then to the outer edge of the now sewn on waistband, fold over twice, so its completely encased, and you cannot then feel any elastic when wearing because I hate having elastic next to my skin. I never used to, but making my own clothes has made me more aware of this kind of thing. Then I sew that folded over waistband down with a twin needle which means the elastic is completely encased and stays put and never twists. I will try and get photos of this for the next time I do it because its far better than adding the waistband and then threading the elastic trough. That works, but I always seem to end up with my wide elastic twisting or folding over and by sewing into the waistband itself the elastic just stays where you put it.

 

The side seams are also straight on this pair which is reasuring after the last pair had twists.

Anyway I diverge from what I am meant to be saying- here are the rest of the photos:

 

The jacket defo looks a bit too big. I will cut the smaller size next time I make it for definite.  

But this is going to be a nice warm outfit for this winter and into Spring, so I am still happy enough with this. I suspect I will never be perfectly happy with any of my makes. There will always be something I could have done better! 

Ah and I made a matching hair band too:

Have a great week

Bracken