Friday 25 February 2022

A-symetric velvet dress

 

This is the first dress I made from my faery inspired fabric - as in inspired by Cassandra Clare type of Fairies rather than pretty winged creatures the size of a spec. Its part of my New Years sewing plans. I was very cold when the photos were taken so they are not very interesting I am afraid. I want to wear this though, and tend not to wear things once made nowadays till I get round to the photos.

I made this Burda Style pattern 12/2014 #121 several times previously so yes, slight cop out but I had to be sure I never destroyed this fabric. I know the shop already sold out of it so this is all I am ever likely to find.

 When I measured the old pattern I had traced - right at the start of my sewing adventure - I realised it was miles out. I mean I am amazed the old dresses fitted at all so this must be a forgiving look. I also wanted to make a smaller size this time though so I totally retraced this and started again. I chucked the old pattern as well since when something is so far out then it should not get used again.

I really really love this. I think its the nicest dress I have even made so I can't wait to get on with my next piece of faery velvet.

Unlike the black dress I made last time I added the side gathers to the velvet dress. The red dress made back in 2015, did have the side gathers. I am not sure why I missed them out last time.  

I have also now added them to my old black dress too. I actually have two identical black dresses but so far have not found the other. Its probably stored with my summer clothing so once I find that I will ruche that one too. They definitely look better with the ruching.

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlCdeFKlFYoWuNk1a__EI-TaoqWdcZV43WiGjDZIz7Tqi_FSsQmVRQ5GZA9IgXt6W4tTZMMQhzQXwJ9qyCZS4cRzztk-ziWUHyVJVMJDIaDiiO5rqqCt_XFA1VQa7vocQBUX85nM7MiahK/s400/WP_20151116_09_01_49_Pro.jpg

I also shortened this latest version. I think its much more me!



This fabric cost me only £11 for the two metres I bought. I have a small bit left but since I have other prints in the same velvet fabric I am waiting till I have a few more offcuts and maybe I reckon do a mixed printed dress or top from all of the bits together.

So this is my first dress, or garment even, for my Faery project which I was planning as part of the 2022 New Year sewing plans so I can tick this one off my list!

I actually feel like I have made a very slow start to my sewing this year and not really done much as yet. Not sure why. Maybe the break I had to take during Christmas - so the table is available for lunches etc! - lost me my sewing mojo?

So how are you getting along now with this years sewing/ crafting? 

Bracken

Friday 18 February 2022

Velvet Body

This is made from scraps left over from my Christmas glittery velvet trousers. 

To be honest I am not sure really why I made this or even why I bought the pattern. I suppose I got caught on the body band-waggon reading other sewists blogs. I never really liked bodies in the 80s and I had several then. I still do not like them.

Its not pattern matched because there was simply not enough scraps to do that. Its a bonus to make this at all from what was left over from the trousers. I have that sway back thing going on here as well! 

Or at least I think thats whats wrong?

Have to admit though it is rather good with my trousers and the fact I accidentally added the waistband fabric nap the opposite way really works well. I wish I could claim I did that on purpose!
I do like the dancerish look but dislike the lack of comfort.

I suppose  might  use this if it stays in my wardrobe. Today, when it was photographed I wore it about 2 hours and took it off. Its not comfortable. I do not though think its my make. I just dislike bodies in general. But there, I should have known better and not bothered. 

Though I suppose at least it was inexpensive being made from scraps and it might be of use at some point you never know. And, I can now say I own a body!

Its a different make but I do not expect to repeat this one. Its also got nothing to do with my current sewing plans for 2022 so I went off on a tangent already. Though I suppose there is less scraps to add to my stash. Just not so sure making something you do not really like is the way to reduce my stash!

I remember going to a party in the 80s and hating the body I was wearing then and undoing the gusset half way through the night and just tucking that one into my jeans. Several of my friends reported similar experiences so that is not just me. If I want the "body" look infact I  prefer a proper leotard. 

Is this normal or is this how others feel?

I know many people love bodies so much and they seem to have gained in popularity again. I suppose its the clean lines they give. 

Ah well you can't, as they say, win them all.

Thanks for popping by

Bracken

Saturday 12 February 2022

My Mosaic socks and the January 2022 KAL Finished

 So I am slightly late with this update, because I was away the last few days. 
 
I rushed to finish my socks to wear them when I was visiting Krakow which I returned from yesterday at midnight. 

 

They are a little imperfect. 

I think I have more of the purple marl and less of the bright pink on the toes of my second sock (left in the photo) - which is also not as well sewn up across the toes but it feels ok when wearing despite the visual impairment. 

I am toying with unpicking and adding a couple more pink rows in fact. Not sure yet.

In the end its just me will see my toes and does it really matter if one has more pink than the other?

I wore them for two days in Krakow though and walked loads! Right up from the old town to the castle, all around Wawel hill where the castle sits at the top and all round Krakow the next day as well. I also took my previous two pairs of socks with me and all three pairs now need a wash. Always the downside of a holiday, the washing after you get home.

The shots are taken in our AirBnB appartment so not the best lighting, and also the ones on the chairs were taken at Birmingham Airport before we took off so not the best photos,` but I think they do show my socks quite well.

The stripey underside
So yes a little imperfect but still I am in love with these and they are comfortable and very warm. I had to swap for a thinner pair on the way home because they are so warm, but certainly I am happy I attempted these. I might try the Lace socks next - also by Winwick Mum. Lace sounds good for spring and the daffs have buds on at home now.
But first though, I am now knitting the Swirly Slouchy hat despite last week I had decided to stop hat knitting. I just fancy this beret type of hat for spring.

And even though the mosaic pattern is very imperfect and does not quite look as it should do, and the socks are not the same as each other, it really does not matter. They still work wonderfully!

Also having walked literally miles in these there is no sign of thinning or wear yet so very happy wth the kid mohair yarn too. 

And Krakow is lovely. An amazing city to visit. Its actually supposedly warmer here today than it was last week in Poland yet weirdly the UK feels freezing. Must be to do with us being an exposed island or something. It certainly feels wetter here and its not even raining today.

 Have a great weekend

Bracken

Friday 11 February 2022

TWO HATS - The Isolation Hat pattern and the Jason Hat

 



The first hat is the Isolation hate by Thorbjorg Saemundsdottir.  

This was, at the time I downloaded it, a free pattern on Ravelry. The author was at that time in Isolation from Covid-19 hence the name of the pattern. You have to pay for it now but this is the link https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/isolation-hat

Its deceptively difficult to knit this. Or at least I found it difficult.Challenging!

The brim (which should have been wider but I copt out due to finding the seed stitch, which is ribbing but the opposite way round so you K1, P1 then P1 K1 ( in the round this is - flat would be the opposite) on next row and is somehow much more difficult than ribbing to knit) is made from 2 strands of lace weight kid mohair together and the body of the hat is three strands of lace weight kid mohair.Yes still trying to use up my stash.

For me this is a very understated garment - well ignoring that its bright orange and green but the design is in appearance very simple with the band of star stitches going around half the hat at a diagonal. It reminds me of 1920's cloche hats rather than the more common beanie design. Its actually not meant to be so gathered at the top. I cocked it up. I may have to make another of these just because I found it so hard to knit and it does make a nice change from my usual cables and lace and the other more colourful patterns I usually knit. I found knitting it alongside my sockalong and a fairisle jumper ( for Mick so bigger than my usual garments) it went very well and was a relaxing knit until I realised I had somehow missed a star stitch about 30 rows back. Still never mind. I put that right and reknitted etc.

Let me tell you this is hard to knit! I had to rip the body of it back 8 times and the crown I did three times. In the end the crown is not quite the same as the pattern but does work so I gave in at that point. In the end this has a crown similar to the Jason hat which I had already finished so I used that design to get this one to work.

This hat is part of my new "Faery" clothing theme. Now why? Well hard to say. Partly colour, partly design which will work for colder spring days and it will I believe co-ordinate with the watercolour velvet patterns I am currently working with - more later on this fabric and these spring clothes. I think orange and green remind me of daffodils and spring flowers and the design is lightweight, not bulky and very simple so will work with the clothes I am planning.  

Possibly a yellow velvet cushion does not make the best backgound for this colour scheme.


The top is imperfect. I got a bit lost in the directions. I probably should have gone back and redone it again really but 2 months of knitting this was gettinga  bit much and spring has arrived and I want to wear it now not next year. I started this before my Dads Jason Hat (below) which I finished on 23rd December.


The selfie pictures have a different version of the hat really cos I undid the top after that and reknitted it a few days later. My partner could not see the difference but I can. I was just not happy with it as it was. I am glad I took the time to redo it even though all I did was a few more decreases and added one row to the length. I am not so sure you can actually see though!

I also just a few days before Christmas made the Jason hat 

 

This was an emergency make and I do not have many photos. My poor Dad was freezing waiting for my Mum outside the shops. Both my parents are in their 80s (well my Mum is 79 till June!) and my Dad is in a wheelchair having lost a leg back in 2011. And because of this he is unable to get ito many of the shops where they live. The shops all have steps which is not very inclusve but just the way it is. So my Mum bought him some piece of rubbish hat which kept sliding off his head. He showed me so when I was visiting the weekend before Cristmas and the wind was bitter outside. So when I went home I set to work making a hat as quick as I could. This hat took me 3 days. I knew I would be visiting them just before Christmas so I rushed this and dropped all my other projects.

The cheap Aldi double knit yarn becomes something a bit special when mixed with lace weight kid mohair.
Its one strand of double knit with a strand of lace weight mohair which in theory bulks the double knit out to make aran. I was happy with the ribbing but I think the hat itself was a bit thin. My Dad has said though its perfect and it keeps him warm so thats what matters. Maybe at some point I will make him another one.  It was very cold at that time and I did not want him to wait so this was not a Christmas present because he needed it immediately. It would have made a good present though but next time I will use two strands of mohair on the body part to make the body thicker. If I make another one.
No pictures on my Dad I am afraid. Just a couple on Dolly who lives in the conservatory and goes back to my market trading days. I used to make a sell soap and tie dyed T shirts at festivals and markets. Ah I miss that life but it really was so hard to pay the bills then. But it was free. Or at least I felt I was free then. Now I am not.

The top decreases really evenly and sensibly hence when I got stuck on the Isolation hat I referred back to this and despite this was on 5mm ( I think from memory) and the Isolation is on 3.5mm the same idea worked well.

The Jason pattern is free and its from here: http://sweetfiberyarns.com/blog/2015/11/22/jasons-cashmere-hat

There are some other really nice patterns there as well. Most you have to buy but I think its worth it sometimes.

For now though both of these hat patterns were free when I got them and both are really nice. I have only ever before knitted one other hat back in 2016 and it was a pixie inspired hat.


Ah and a baby hat but I cannot post pictures of my friends baby here so that will remain a mystery 😀

Maybe I should do another Isolation hat but with the pixie top next time? I have no idea how I achieved that it was competely ad-libbed but I should be able to do it again.  There is shapig all down it to make it like a flower bud and the stem bit on the top. Sometimes when I look back I am amazed at what I have done. Not sure if its repeatable yet though but I will write everything down for my next version.

Though I think thats probably it for hat knitting till summer at least. Now I know it will take me 2-3 months for a hat I should start knitting in Jue or July I suppose.

Take care and enjoy your week,

Bracken

Sunday 6 February 2022

Rebecca Page cullottes


 I actually made these cullottes for the work Christmas lunch party which got cancelled. Then I found them very nice to wear beween Christmas and New Year. They are probably going to get worn though for a few months yet because despite the sliver glitter running through them I find them very wearable for weekends and very comfortable. In fact definitely make this pattern if you want comfy unstructured cullottes. These are nice. They have no zips or fastenings and rely on the stretch in the fabric to work.
They have optioal pockets which I included! Just really nice.

 I had a few problems sewing them up with the overlocker and if you can manage to do that and do not mind no hem ( I twin needled a hem which unfrtunately is still a bit wavy but will hopefully calm down and flattern once they get washed) then you could do these totally by overlocker - but I kept getting a  small hole round by the pocket and in the end had to use a sewing machine to reinforce but thats the fabric I think not the pattern. The curve round the pockets just did not work with my overlocker technique. I will know for my next version. There will be more of these, of that you can be certain, because I really really like these.

What can I say I just love these and have cut out a pair of the shorter version because they are just really good to wear.

Here you can see the almost yoga-band-ish waist
I seem to be getting back into Rebecca Page patterns at the moment. But its like everything you change around with life and the season etc. This suits my life right now though.

The top is the lilac velvet Tshirt I made for the Winter loungewear collection I worked on before Christmas. Just scroll back for the last couple of months if you want to see that. I spent weeks working in stretch velvet and made a collection of trousers, leggings, tops and dresses and though it took some time to make all that its now a lovely collection and I am enjoying wearing it all.

Its certainly wintered -up my wardrobe as well as made it more glamourous and warm. 

Now I am ready for some new clothing though and I am veering towards that Fairie/ Faerie theme I was inspired by at the start of the year. It would be really good to actually achieve my aims this year since I bothered to make some. 

Its a New Year and its so exciting - even though its now February!

I have been mass tracing patterns all January as well as trying to find the ones I already traced, which I left in rolls in my loft. Its taken me so long to trace everything I want to make and I had to stop twice because my hand hurt so much with all the tracing! Honestly, you some how don't expect to have injuries from tracing sewing patterns! I swear this was old fashioned RSI - I know it has a new name these days!

Now I will probably have similar issues with all the cutting I need to do before I can actually make what I have planned. I am so excited to feel I am going to get round to things at last though.

There is now fabric in piles all over my sewing area and patterns next to different bits of fabric. At times like this I worry I might use pattern A and it would be better in the same fabric to make pattern B. Really it will probably make little difference but these concerns take up a great deal of time in my evenings!

Take care and have a great week and see you soon hopefully with some new clothes to show you. Thanks for dropping by my blog;

Bracken