One sock finished

This is sock one which is just finished. Its made using 2.5mm needles in the Winwick Mum basic sock pattern. So all normal!!

The yarn is Summer Sunset from WYS.

 

Yellow at top is the waste yarn from the WATG sock kits. 

Also the blue heel is similarly the left overs from the toes of the same kits. Its the normal heel stitch heel from most Winwick Mum sock patterns, which I like very much. Its comfy to wear.

The toes on sock one is a new ball of WYS yarns that I had in my stash and have yet to knit into socks. The colour is Blueberry Bonbon. Lovely name! I may have to knit the rest of that ball up once I finish sock 2. 

I have just started sock 2. Its taken me quite a while to finish the first sock but as I said previously; I am not a fast knitter. 

I started sock one some weeks ago when I finished the leopard spot socks.

 

These are much longer than that WATG pair. I do not like the length on that pair (or rather the lack of length) but there is no way to lengthen them. 

 

I am however very happy with how this sock has worked out so I am aiming to try and finish the pair for Christmas so then I will be able to take part in the January Haven which is the yearly Winwick Mum knit-a-long. I am already looking forward to that.

Have lovely week, thanks for popping by, 

Bracken

Dryrobe style changing robe

Last time I had a holiday I decided dryrobes are easy to make so I planned them and started collecting fabric last year. 

I then spent months and months looking online and in shops at RTW dry robes. I made sketches measured etc and if you really wanted to make these the actual Dry Robe website gives you all the measurements and info you need. You can just screen shot their diagrams to work this out. So there is no pattern for this other than for the hood. I used the mens jacket pattern hood from Burda Style 08/99. I was just looking through it at the time of making and I am sure there are tons of similar hoods that could be used. You need one that zips right up to the chin to keep you warm but I have seen a couple of bloggers use a hoody type hood instead. That would be less warm and its not what the commercial dry robes have but would be ok rather than no hood. 

All they do not say of the Dry Robe website is their sleeve measurements are taken from neck to wrist. I never understood at the start of making so ended up shortening them on both robes, but now you know this, it will be an easy thing to make. I would encourage anyone to have a go at this one rather than waste cash buying this. Its such a basic easy shape.  

If you use a heavy weight fabric like this waterproof polyester canvas then it does get very heavy to hold while sewing so is best done on a reasonable sized table. Otherwise, this is easy to make and you could use patch pockets rather than welt. Some versions of dry robe copies do this. Adding pockets into the side seam is not a viable option though due to the width needed to use this as a changing robe. I went with welts partly because I need to get my head round making them and stop faffing around avoiding patterns that have welt pockets. It seemed a good way to deal with this personal fear head on. It would not cost too much if it went wrong but would really make me happy to achive it and I have.

I underestimated how much fleece I needed so had to buy more. This is a budget fleece which is £7.50 for 2m. Botht he outer and lining are from Pound Fabrics. The fleece comes pre-cut into 2m lengths. I began with 4m of purple so 2 if these lengths. But when I started to make I realised I will need a bit more and the purple has sold out so I had to go with royal blue. That's the reason the pockets have a contrast.

As explained above the main problem with these is my dislike and total incompetence at welt pockets. It put me off making for months! In the end I watched lots if YouTube and realised the bag making version is better for my purpose because of the bulky fleece pockets and the video I watched they have a facing then add the pocket after. 

So I decided stuff it and went for it. 

As you can see my zippy welt pockets are very far from perfect. Also, the video I watched made a huge point you need a half inch for the welt. This meant my original zip choice won't work and I needed wider zips. I have these khaki metal zips in my stash that I bought years ago so I used them. I just hoped the metal zips work, don't catch hands or hurt when it's cold. It's what I had so I used them and got very wobbly zippy pockets. But they are fine as it turns out.

I made the pockets as follows:

Sew on line, then cut

turn inside out

Clamp edges for a while to encourage to be flat. Unfortunately never took the next photos but I masking taped zips in place, sewed on right side and left masking tape there.

This is how the reverse looks after sewing: 

So very messy, but maybe the tape may even help stop water coming in? No idea to be honest, but don't want to risk messing up my zippy opening by removing so it's staying put on the reverse.

I reckon it's better than attempting this with this fleece. And the budget stuff is very thick. It's like normal fleece one side and almost sherpa on the other. I used the sherpa side as the side you can see.

In the end I had just two and a half weeks to make both of these so I missed out the inside pockets. It was a hard slog getting them finished, but I did it and with a day to spare. I made the welt pocket linings huge to make up for that, and I think in all honesty I do not need to carry a hot water bottle on the beach and thats apparently what the larger pocket is designed for. I do not surf in the middle of winter. We did one year go in, in October, but I probably will not do it again. I live in the middle of the UK as far as possible from the sea so there is really little opportunity do go in the sea unless I go away on holiday and I cannot do that as often as I would like to. 

These will double as warm winter coats, though my other half says no way will he be wearing his as a coat. I probably will.

I already had most of a whole roll of bright blue velcro so thats what we had to have. It looks OK though I think.

The insides on both robes are purple but the pockets are royal blue because I had to buy more and they had run out of the purple. I do not think it actually matters and the fleece pockets are so warm!

This was quite crushed up in the camper but the thick waterporrof fabric should hang out quite quick I think. 

Bearing in mind the dryrobe is £180+ each and these come out around £70 for us both including the fabric I have bought as extra I think slightly miss-shaped pockets is not so bad. And if I make again they will be better because I now know, yes, adjust for width of zip being used. 

Maybe I am being too perfectionist about my welt pockets? I had a look around town the other day at RTW clothing and much of it has pockets no better than these. I do aim for perfection though, or as near to perfection as I can manage. I do not feel happy with these realy but they do function well so I suppose thats a major thing.

 If we decide we hate dryrobes it's not much money lost and they will easily make into dog coats. Though I actually bought more of the camo waterproof fabric for dog coats as well. It's probably my project for November now I can hopefully get sewing again.

Thanks for popping by and have a lovely week and if you decide to make a dry robe and need any info please do ask because I have tons of diagrams and workings out and am happy to share. 

Have a great week,

Bracken

Planning my makes

 

Above are 4 new velvets. All are stretch and I have plans!

Well I am still not able to sew. But as I mentioned in my last post I have been making plans. I can sort fabrics and patterns and get ready so that is what I have been doing. I have been advised not to spend time bending over a table eg. to cut out fabric for  my next sewing project. Orders from my Physio!

I may have to ask my other half to cut some new dog coats for me because they would be an easy sew and the dogs need them. It would be a nice easy first sewing project for me to get back into the swing of sewing again. Its been weeks now and its really getting to me. I feel like an invalid when I do manage to go out because I need crutches to ensure I stay stable and do not fall.  I feel like an old lady with them. I find it embarrassing. We went out for breakfast yesterday and it was so hard just walking to the restaurant which is upstairs over a shop.  Hopefully not too long to go now and I can be "young" again ( relatively speaking anyway!). 

Anyway, I have been buying fabric for patterns I have been intending to make for in some cases years. Not good for my stash busting which has been going very well for around 2 years now and has seen a serious dent. I found some lovely fabrics when I could do nothing but sit still, so thought I would write about these because there is no sewing going on to speak of. 

Well I had all this time sitting with nothing to occupy me other than knitting which I am slow at due to problems with my hands and Audible. What else could I do but let myself free to plan and that led to buying because in all honesty I cannot currently even get to my stash let alone rummage through to decide what to use and I bet I don't remember half of what is in there!

I have got a skirt I will need to hand-tack to get it to fit. Its an old make but the hand woven wool its made from is lovely as well as warm so I need to get round to fixing it. I made the skirt several sizes too big. I then bodged it but have decided it needs to fit properly and last winter I took it apart to do these adjustments and then never did anything else. Now seems the right time to get this sorted out. Also the cold bit has yet to come here in the UK, and I should be back out and about by then so its good timing to do this because the fabric is 100% hand woven wool. Woven by a small scale crafts-person in Scotland.

So anyway, I have probably enough fabric for the rest of my life if used just for what clothing I actually need, rather than what I want. But my stash is mostly "officey" and I do like some fun bits too. It seems it is mainly the fun bits I use since I make the smart casual work stuff when its needed and not the rest of the time. It just stays stashed until something looks a bit tatty then I replace the tatty item so this "officey" fabric hardly gets used. Not really that surprising I suppose. Though maybe its time to find uses for the officey types of fabrics ( suiting etc) for other items worn outside of work rather than leave it stashed and possibly to be eaten by moths! Or even mice because its in storage. Anything could decide its a nice comfy place to live in lets face it. Its not happened so far fingers crossed, but could. Its the nature of storage spaces. I need to have a look at whats on the high street and see if I can become inspired to use some of the boring grey and black "officey" fabrics I seem to have in huge quantities. 

So this is what I have bought- and there is a lot!

My new fabrics - same photo I am afraid but here in detail:

Well there are the stretch velvets in 4 types. From the top left: sparkly black which is lovely and £2.50 per m. Its available in 4 colours. I have since bought a second piece which is not yet here and is blue. The sparkles don't fall off unlike most of these kind of fabrics I have had before. Good fabric for the price!

Blue/ black at bottom left is a weird irridecent with a black when its dark in one direction and bright electric royal blue in the other so it kind of glitters depending on how the light is. Cost £5.95 per m. Impossible to take photos of well as it turns out. Then top right is a feather print magenta piece which is very fae. Same fabric at bottom right but in red and green. The red green is not a good photo I am afraid. Both are lighter weight, very stretchy velvets which would make good dancewear. 

The glittery blue/black and the black with sparkles are both thicker and heavier with good drape. Better for dresses and leggings, but all 4 pieces are lovely. I think these two will work with patterns for scuba. There is another piece yet to arrive of the sparkly black, but in royal blue instead. That's because I but this sky blue (below) which was wrongly described. Its not at all stretch, but should be according to the website. They will allow a return and apologised about the mis-description, and will even pay the postage for it but I decided to keep it anyway because I just will not buy 5m of anon- stretch velvet. I am sure it will be useful for something! 

I have Burdas back to the late 50s and until the 80s nothing was stretch. So I do not have a clue what I will do with this but even circle skirts like some 50s dresses have is possible. So into the stash! I might even make an ankle length circle skirt or an Edwardian style skirt. And a top. Not yet sure, whereas I do know what I am doing with all the stretch fabrics.

Having said that I saw this jacket in Next. Its a velvet puffa jacket!

Well Velvet! 

Never considered doing that. But there is a similar coat and jacket pattern on the Knipmode website so I may have to buy the Knipmode pattern and make a puffa jacket. It seems for some reason I could not get the photo of this without the caption so you will have to just try and see this regardless I am afraid. 

I actually have enough for a full length circle skirt and a puffa coat or jacket so this is tempting. I am just not convinced my sewing machine will manage to quilt and it will need to do so to make this coat from the blue non-stretch velvet.  It may be something I need to try though because although it would not be waterproof it would be a lovely "going out" winter jacket. I think it could look nice in pale blue velvet as well. I cannot see me wearing the long skirt and jacket together but sets are not usually my thing really and separates would be fine in the same colour anyway. This is definitely a tempting option.

Just for info I also found a free puffa coat pattern on Mood Sewciety but have not yet had a good look at that but it could be a good pattern. When the fabric is this cheap its worth using it to make a wearable muslin because I can still make another one later regardless which pattern I go with. Maybe out of some "officey" fabric from my huge stash.

More fabrics

This on left, is sold as wine sweatshirting and is £2.50/m. Very cheap. I have looked at it for several months and not until now gone for it, but decided to take a risk and buy 2m which is the minimum they sell. Its not shiny as expected and reminds me of the expensive tops in mountain climbing clothing ranges. I have bought another 3m because its so good. I have a couple of Knipmode patterns in mind that originally used scuba but I am not a fan of scuba. Having said that I did find some lovely non-shiny scuba camo a few years ago and love the items I made from it but most scuba seems very shiny and reminds me of old fashioned 70s and 80s leotard fabrics. This sweatshirt fabric should work just as well I think. Also I intend to use it to make this dress that's been on my to-make list for quite a few months. I bought the pattern second hand from the local Oxfam shop for £1 but its uncut. I actually bought a few patterns and they had hundreds but when I went back they had all sold.  It would be a lovely winter dress for Christmas holiday season if I can get myself sorted out to actually sew. If not then next spring will be just fine.

The ribbed cuffing (the rest of the fabrics in that photo) is a bargain lucky dip for £12.99. Since its full price is £6.99 per m this is well worth buying. 

I never bought any of the Pound Fabrics lucky dip boxes before but I will do again. Especially for things like cuffing. Its all remnants of under 1m but its easily worth more than double the cost and with cuffing you tend not to need much at a time so its a brilliant way to get lots of colours fast for only small cost. Glad I risked this one too. And luckilly I only got decent colours which will be easy to use. Thats what has always put me off this kind of bargain box. The possibility you end up with lots of hated colours you find hard to use. 

Right then plans:

All of these fabrics are from Pound Fabrics in case you wanted any and no I do not get anything for letting you know that. Beware of Pound-a-Metre though. I got ripped off by them more than once. All companies mess up occasionally so I gave them a second chance and a third. They ripped me off 3 times so it was not just bad luck. The two companies tend to come up together in google searches. 

Black/red wool mix. This is lovely. Slight stretch - good diagonal stretch and £6.50/m. Very nice and I should have bought 3m not 2m. This has been available before so if they restock and I have money I will buy more. I will probably make something that will show both sides so maybe a high low top or skirt? Not yet sure. I bought this one because they had only 4m left and I never got any last time they stocked it. I worked then. This would be fine for officey clothing  but I will use for every day "play clothes" for me. The picture is not very good. Its a black red marl on the darker side and bright red with black flecks on the red side. Nice!

I bought 2m of the stretch lycra printed velvet in pink ( not my usual colour choice because I usually actually avoid pink!) and a single metre of the red and green. 

Its supposed to be feathers. I will use it the opposite way to the grain because I prefer that print. Also against nap makes the colours darker. I though it was very Fae. I have recently been very inspired by this book:

I had this book for my birthday, and its inspired me to think again about "Fae Fashions". I used fae as a theme a few years ago and ended up with some lovely stuff so I reckon this book could be a good place to start again with a theme. I am thinking around 1m of this velvet will be a puffball skirt similar to my previous version years ago. If you would like a really easy tutorial on how to make one have a look. Mine has an elastic waist but if you wanted a solid waistband its simply a case of cutting a band to fit you pls a could of inches ( 5cm) for an over lap. Attach both skirt piece and lining and insert a zip. Any skirt pattern will explain this bit so I will not waist time here doing that but the pattern I used can easily be a puffball without the elastic waist.

Since I like comfort and Christmas tends to mean an expanding waist I might stick with elastic for the proposed new skirt. Anyway, it was so easy to make this and they are back in fashion. They were not in fashion when I made the black one but I always think its a nice thing to have available for when I am in the mood for a puffball. That's actually not very often, but at the time I just fancied seeing if I could make one. I have worn it far more than expected since. I do fancy a velvet one and a couple of puffed sleeved velvet tops I think. That's not set in stone but its how I am thinking for this winter. 

For a small person I bought 1m of this. Its french terry and this small person always likes a top I made previously, so I will make him something to match. I only bought 1m but that's enough for maybe a sweatshirt and shorts for a child. Its £9.50/m so not cheap unlike everything else here.

I also bought this red stretch lace. I rarely buy florals and this is very floral but it was £1/m though you have to buy 3m but even then what a bargain. I wish I had had it last summer but I am sure I will find a use for this.

I got 2m of this stretch camo. Its not the best quality, but will be good for a top or to line a jacket when they need a stretch lining - or maybe as a puffball? That's a thought indeed!

Maybe puffball skirts are the order of the day for me this winter. They are warm after all, with double layers and all that gathered fabric. 

Ah, and I bought a few metres of each of these cotton wovens. 

They do not surprisingly come up under camo but you must instead look for super strike! 

They are admittedly not exactly camo but so very similar. They are £1.50/m and are a real bargain in my opinion despite I have tonnes of camo fabrics already. I was already intending to spend this winter using my other cotton camo ( woven) fabric so these can join the pile. Other than using the new stretch velvets above, I intend to be making clothing for next summer over this winter, so hopefully I will dent the rather large pile of camo type fabrics I have collected over the last few years. 

It would be nice to get the velvets sewn for Christmas though, but as I said I currently don't know when I am going to be up to this. It all takes far longer than you expect when you have an op to recover from it seems.

I also bought this cotton fabric called The Haunting. Its probably meant for Halloween but I intend to just make a summer dress or something from it. I have yet to decide but I reckon it kind of goes with my camo pile of fabric so this is now waiting to be washed and will then go one the camo cottons pile I think and become summer clothing for next year.

My biggest investment partly because of the space storing them will take is this heavy weight boucle. 

In three colours so I have the blue, green ( which looks grey in the picture but is khaki green in daylight so very wearable) and white and have enough for the Burda coat I have been wanting to make for years - since it was released in 12/2015.

 I am not so sure this will actually happen this year though, because as explained I already have a very long "to make" list and I also suspect this should be started after New Year with the knowledge I do not want to rush it and make a mess and I want to make a good job of this so its best left a bit I think. I already decided I intend to add the scarf collar from the Burda Easy jacket. 

I do not like the basic round neck but a scarf will be good so I bought extra to accommodate this. I have 4m of the white. That's another fabric in fact I would not normally buy. I rarely wear white and never in faux fur. But I love the cover photo of this coat and I have stopped working at least for the moment so best I make the most of that. For a little while I can dress however I wish and be truly authentic me. What luxury!

I can't really see me not ever going back to work but for now I am free. Or I would be if I could get myself back in working ( and walking) order. It will come. What I really need to find and buy is some quilted cheap fabric to line this with to make it super warm.

Other items I intend to make from the blue and green boucles are the skirts ( possibly) like these below and the  gillet top like this one. These are all from the same Burda Easy magazine A/W 5/2015

Other than these which are all my new fabrics, I intend to finish my long overdue denim jeans, make a RTW copy of a denim dress I nearly bought last spring but tried on 2 sizes. One was too big and the other too tight but I took down lots of detail so I should be able to recreate the dress to actually fit me.

And yes that big pile of camo fabric will be considerably diminished it I do as I intend so next summer will be a camo summer for me. That's the plan anyway.

I also have only my two dry robes left to show you and a pair of leggings. I have otherwise run out of not yet blogged about makes! Or the ones worth mentioning anyway. And that's unusual because I make far more than I blog about. I really want to show you these though because they worked very well, cost very little and pretty much anyone can make these even with minimal sewing experience so I will get round to getting photos of them in the next week or so if at all possible. And the cost of buying a dry robe is extortionate! 

I think other than that my current makes so far in the last month has been all knitting. I  still have a sock ongoing as well as a jumper and will probably start a child's jumper soon too. I like several items with different needle sizes going on at once. I relieves the pain of my stupid arthritic fingers to change needle sizes which is why I do this. Also it stops the boredom when you for example finish the first sock. If I take a day or so off I then want to carry on and do the second sock it seems. Just me.

Have a great week and thanks for popping by,

Take care

Bracken

French Terry rainbow leggings

When I made my Geodesic patchwork top I also made two pairs of cotton french terry leggings. This fabric has lycra in it. When I first used it to make several sweatshirts and dresses I did not trust this though so I never made leggings. However as time went by I also made some baby clothes and clothes for small kids as well as joggers and I realised they none of them seem to get "knees" in them so the lycra must work.

So, I have decided this winter to see how making leggings from this fabric really works. They are obviously much warmer than normal cotton lycra or performance fabric but these fabrics are all pretty "cold" to wear in winter at least here in the UK where its usually wet and often also freezing. Or at least you feel chilly when you wear these and I am sick to death of tracksuits after being in recovery for the last couple of months so I need a change. I can't wait to be able to comfortably wear something else but that's not just yet. A friend of mine who is Polish told me she hates the rain here. In Poland apparently its cold and damp in winter but rains much less. It did rain when I visited Poland, but since I never lived there and was only there a couple of weeks in the middle of winter, I cannot honestly comment if this is true but it would not surprise me, because we do get loads of rain and I know where my brother lives in Provence he gets much more snow in winter but much less rain and he has very hot summers which we only get occasionally. Actually I would like more snow and less rain!

Anyway these leggings are an experiment. I made two pairs. One in this red colour ( well its red next to the blue fabric!). And one in the same blue I used for the top I made. 

his then gives me a nice new look for winter. The leggings so far are warm. I assume if it snows I will still feel cold but they are warmer than I usually wear. They will be a good base layer under snow trousers too. I tend to store my leggings over winter or wear just under skirts instead of tights so this is a new winter look for me. If these work well next spring I intend to make lots of french terry leggings for the following winter. 

I am not sure if I mentioned I have tried to take a new stance when I sew. I am hoping to make next summer's clothing this winter and then the winter clothes next summer. It really does not work well making things for "now" because by the time I finish them the weather often changes. I am sure it will not stop the odd seasonal make but this is my new way to sew. I will see how it works once I can actually sew again. 

Mind you today for the first time I managed to get a pair of leggings on so that's good news and means I am getting back to normal. I still cannot reach to wash my foot at the end of the operated hip/leg! Its so frustrating! I tried in the shower and in the bath. Just cannot do it!

A friend said recently "its just downhill from here on in". I do hope she is wrong! Mind you some people only see the bad things in life. I am hoping to fully recover. I managed it last time so this should be similar.

Back to this outfit. I have yet to try on my new blue leggings. I made both just before the operation, so never got photos, but hopefully over the next few days I will get some. 

These are just my usual TNT patterns McCall's 6173. 

I have several other leggings patterns but decided to stick with basic for these because I need to know this fabric works before its worth fiddling matching up pieces of more colour-block types of patterns. If they do work then I have a bin liner full of bits to play with later for some real multi-coloured versions. Basic first though. Also this is an outfit and I really like that because I am not going straight back to work like usual, but taking a short break and that means just for a little while I am truly the authentic me. That's nice and not something I am honestly able to say when I am working. 

And these items will work great for Autumn layering:

You will have to ignore the slippers. I am having some problems getting shoes on right now so do not unless strictly necessary.

What I have been up to in place of my sewing is buying lots of fabric online. 

Well what else do you do when you have to sit still for days and days? 

I will try to catalogue it for you soon and show what I have bought and what I intend to do with it. A bit like at New Year I usually have some kind of aims and plans. Well right now my head is buzzing with ideas. 

Though I probably have more fabric than I should have bought but its very nice and I actually bought fabric with a definite intentions this time. Usually I random buy, stash, then try to work out what to make later. This time I sat down with my Burdas and some Knipmodes and I planned. 

I even recorded in a notebook where to find what I want and how much fabric I need! 

Organised or what!

I then made a list and bought specific fabric for what I want to make. Some of this has been on my to-make list for years and I now have the correct fabric types to get this done. 

I will have to do this as a separate post because its going to take me a while, but I do want to share this. There are some lovely fabrics around right now at good prices too. I have waited since 2015 to find some at decent prices so I will get on with this over the next few days.

In the meantime have a great week and thanks for visiting,

Bracken