Basic black ballet top McCalls

 

This is a simple but very wearable basic black ballet style top. Its a favourite style for me and made from my TNT McCalls 6612.

Its just plain black scuba.

I really made this for work but as you can see its just as wearable with my favourite play cothing;

Here its worn with my RP Cerena trousers.

I rarely make the more wearable practical stuff like this top because its kind of boring but really I should get round to a few more basic things like this because at least they are value for money because I actually will probably wear this one out. It is money well spent.

And for winter this will be very warm!

Take care and have a lovely day.

Thanks for popping by,

Bracken

Lilac gingham trousers

 

I took these trousers away with me when we had a short break in Cornwall. I am feeling so lucky. I have had more holidays this year than in any oher year of my life! These are really nice holiday trousers because they do not crease. 

This is Butterick pattern B5778. I made it before several times. Possibly my favourite pair of these is the very first pair http://brackencrafts.blogspot.com/2016/05/38-side-panel-leggings.html though I also made them in faux leather and in upcycled real leather which have been worn lots as well.

This time though I did not want side stripes but since I had only small bits of fabric using this particular pattern allows me to construct a pair of trousers from my scraps. The scraps are from various old projects using the same gingham fabric and can be seen :

Gingham jacket and trousers - I pretty much never wear these but keep them anyway! At one time I wore the leggings quite a bit but the jacket is just too costumey. Maybe with a zip front instead of buckles it would become more wearable?

Gingham work skirt

Gingham along top - one of the most worn things I ever made

I even almost managed to get the pattern to match.

I am really very happy how these worked out because I honestly had no idea if I could make these leggings from woven stretch fabric let alone by using my scraps and they turned out really wearable. I could even wear these for work.

So there are lots of photos of these because I am very pleased with them!

These were obviously taken a few weeks ago when it was a bit warmer. I will be packing them away now I think for spring when the weather changes again.

Take care and have a lovely week. Thanks for visiting my blog

Bracken

Cape!

 

This has been a very long time in the making phase. I cut this out and started sewing up a whole year ago. I actually got to just needing to do the hems and then it was spring so I gave up on it.

I was inspired to make this ages ago before  when I read about it on Melissa Feyers blog https://blog.fehrtrade.com/gallery/3443/a-teal-wool-cape/

I did make a big mistake with all the stopping and starting making this I never trimmed round the inside of the hood edge so its a bit bulky and does not quite lie as flat as I would have liked. Other than that I am very proud to have this completed at last. I was hard to make this despite I expected it to be easy.

I did not want to double faced fabric to look rubbish on the reverse side. I attempted to do french seams everywhere but the curved seams on the shoulders make this really hard and I had to give in and then used bias binding to tape all the rest of the inside seams. The hood is self lined.

Hem has bias strip and then invisible hemming done on my machine. I did fill in a few bits I missed by hand I must admit!

The end result is a very neat cape inside and out though so I am happy.

This is the original of this pattern:

 

I even had a go at doing invisible hems with my sewing maching which is not as easy as I have read it to be described. I missed a few bits and ended up sewing them by hand but the invisible hem function on the sewing machine is well worth trying out because its saved me hours of hemming by hand.

There are poppers sewn to the storm flap which covers the zip.

It was hard to get good photos of this the day I wore it because it was very windy. I think this is going to be a great autumn coat (cape).

Its worn here with my upcycled skull tshirt and my wide leg trousers - also Burda.

I like this so much though I am seriously considering making another cape now. Just not sure which pattern to use. I have loads of 1970s Burdas which seem to be full of capes so probably will make one of them - to justify keeping them of course. Though I kind of fancy making a traditional peasant cape of the kind that was in common use everywhere and by all classes during the last few hundred years.

Take care and have a lovely weekend. Thanks for popping by

Bracken

My very first pair of knitted socks

 

My Mum has always said to finally get to be a good knitter you must have made some socks. I always found socks daunting but I keep seeing posts on socks and I have all this yarn. Some of the yarn in my stash is hard to use because I accidentally bought lace weight mohair many years ago now. I managed to use some to knit this jumper which is a nice lightweight summer jumper.

 I keep it in an organza bag and carry round with me because it takes up such a small space but its not the warmest of tops. Whilst reading other peoples blogs a while ago now I found this post on combining yarns to make different thicknesses. 

 https://orcasislandknitting.me/2017/10/21/key-for-two-yarns-together/

This post explained to me that if I was to combine 2 strands of my lace weight then I could get fingering / sock weight. Well the idea of socks started to grow.

Well I have always done this (knitted two or three strands together to get eg chunky weight or to get a marl or to change the colours with stripey stuff) but never understood really the different weights and how to achieve them. I know double knit doubled gives chunky or what they used to call double double knitting wool when I was a kid!

My Mum used to regularly double up the double knitting yarns.

I also in the past I messed up and bought a large amount of lace weight yarn when I wanted chunky weight so I need to find a way to use it up.

 This photo shows the difference in weight between normal mohair ( the thick strand ) which knits on 5mm to 8mm needles and lace weight mohair. 

I feel I should knit one pair in my lifetime. Then I wondered about mohair socks but it turns out that what I considered a fragile yarn is in fact one of the hardest wearing and is apparently ideal as a sock yarn. My yarn is mohair with nylon too which is apparently the vital ingredient needed in sock yarns! It makes them hard wearing!

This is the yarn I used for my first pair of socks - doubled!

 

I totally ignored the stitch guide and needle guide for this project. 

I was still rather daunted by the small needles but what the hell. The worst that will happen is I unpick them and make something else. Winter is coming and I could really do with some soft warm socks. Then I looked around for patterns and I came accross the Winwick Mum site with a sockalong. Its an old sockalong from a couple of years ago but the different posts are all there and I decided to follow it.  

This is the tutorial I followed: https://www.winwickmum.co.uk/2014/05/basic-sock-pattern-and-tutorial.html

 

I am now beginning a second pair but this time I am using 3 yarns to make them a bit thicker cos I worry the first pair may not wear too well. I read a article that said you should not be able to see through the fabric for good socks so this will be my second pair and have 3 strands but the same needle size etc. Though so far I am finding it much harder to knit with the three strands. Its much easier though to pick up both strands when they are different colours.

 

Here you can see the doubled yarn on each stitch.

You start this pattern on a slightly larger needle and knit the first 2 rows flat before joining into a circle. That makes it far easier I think. I only knitted a few rows each evening and suddenly I have a sock so I started the second one and then wow, I have actually got a pair of socks. The hardest bit is not actually the knitting but the grafting along the toes. I messed that up a bit but it doesnt feel uncomfrtable and I suppose I will get better at this. I had a similar problem with my Icelandic style jumper under the arms where you need to graft. I think perhaps this will be a case of practice makes perfect. 

So here they are my new socks knitted on double thickness lace weight kid mohair.

 I have not worn them yet being as its not cold enough so have no idea if they will stand up to being worn but I will let you know once I try them.

 And heres my socks:

Ignore the dog. He was hassling me to throw his ball.

Here are my rather imperfect socks. I know there are quite a few errors in these but I did really feel I was achieving something when knitting these. On 2.5mm needles too! I actually had to slightly change the pattern - maybe I knit loosely? I found that the 30 stitches on the Winwick Mum pattern were giving me too big socks so I really knitted sock one twice but never mind. I ended up with 56 stitches for my socks and they fit great.

 Also to pick up down the side of the gusset I actually used a small crocket hook because I could just not manage to do it with my knitting needles. That could be down to my hands though. I have arthritus in my knuckles so I cannot always manipulate things as I should be able to. Anyway a crochet hook worked well and I got my stitches on my knitting needle in the end.

I am now beginning a second pair but this time I am using 3 yarns to make them a bit thicker cos I worry the first pair may not wear too well. I read a article that said you should not be able to see through the fabric for good socks so this will be my second pair and have 3 strands but the same needle size etc. Though so far I am finding it much harder to knit with the three strands. Its much easier though to pick up both strands when they are different colours.

 UPDATE: November '21 - I finally wore these and had virtually no wear marks and no holes so I am happy with how they wear. I will make more pairs of these now I know this. I was waiting for cold weather to see if they went in holes with my first wearing before I start another pair in this yarn.

Thanks for visiting my blog, 

Bracken

Tiger top - making the most of oddments

 

This top is made using the McCalls 6612 pattern I seem to always return to at least once a year. In fact that pattern needs tracing before it finally disintegrates I have used it so much. Its very fragile these days. So strange to think I have nearly worn a pattern out!

The fabric is the small bits left over after my recent almost disaster altering my tiger track suit pants.  also cut a couple of other things from the bits but have not yet sewn them up into garments. The sleeves are a bit off grainline at the bottom. I never had enough for full length sleeves so cut 3/4 length and added a bit onto the end. I cut this as a kind f extension but added extra since was not too sure if the sleeves would work so never cut off at the right place meaning I had extra long cuffs. 

Then I decided I could ruche these which disguises the seam where the top of the sleeve joins the added on bit. To make the ruching I sewed 3 lines of elastic down the sleeve cuffs while pulling the elastic taught so it would ruche the fabric once I let it go. Then I sewed the lower ruched cuff onto the normal sleeve and then put the sleeves into the top as normal and did the side seams. Its worked rather well for left over bits of fabric I think. Though doing the twin needle stitched hems was a bit difficult with the ruching. Its very uneven but luckily you can't really tell because the ruching hides it.

The top is worn here with my black broderie skirt which feels a nice late summer or early autumn-y combination. 

For a few bits of left over fabric thats all over the place grainwise I think this top is so good. I am always a bit worried cutting off grain with stretch fabric because it seems to usually mean the side seams end up all twisted. So far that has not happened with this. But then its almost on straight grain except for the ruched cuffs.  

Anyway so far wearing it so good. 

Have a great weekend and thanks for popping by my blog,

Bracken

Grey Flapper dress

I actually tried to add short sleeves to this and it did not work. So this is another idea that has not quite worked out. I suppose I am becomming more adventurous which in the end has to mean not everything works!

Never the less it is a nice short slip dress and I expect to wear it loads. Maybe with a Tshirt under and tights because we have tickets for the theatre in December. I think this would work as a going out dress. Assuming it does not get too cold. Its simple but not average.  

Though maybe not shown to its best when I walk the dog in walking boots! Still it was a nice day and this was practical at that time. 

Its made using a pattern I have owned for ages and its the first time using it. I made ( almost if you ignore the straps) view A and this is an Arrivestry pattern. I have always been a big fan of Arrivestry designs.

The dress is a very lightweight stretch woven fabric that almost looks like lightweight suiting but it would be too light weight for most suit trousers I think. Maybe shirts though? I have quite a lot more of it so will have to decide what to do with the rest of it. I used to wear a lot of grey when I was younger but it kind of disapeared from my wardrobe so maybe its time it came back in again.

I did not use the straps that came with the pattern partly because I am lazy and it meant getting the pattern back out of a storage box to cut them out and also because I had intended to add elastic type sleeves and this looked weird so I unpicked them and had to think again and in the end went with the original dress design not what I had in my head.

I have since worked out how to make it work - I reckon I just need tubes sewn at the under arms with elastic at the neck edge but I worked that out after I had finished fixing this. 

The straps I used in the end are just long strips with lace sewn on and then wide elastic to gather them so its a very easy fitting dress this one! The elastic is sewn into place as the straps get sewn onto the dress. It gives a pretty bulky "big" lace strap that kind of looks crunchy being crochet cotton lace but whatever. Its a different look. 

Well I suppose I have also used another stashed pattern which is really good and at least managed NOT to sew another TNT pattern up. I really need to try to be adventurous in what I decide to sew but this does take effort. Its so easy to just keep remaking the old favourites, and yes they are favourites, so to some extent I do like doing that, but its also good to have variety and try new things. I think many people do the same with this. Its safe. You know the pattern so know how to make it work. Its easier to ignore the new stuff and go with safe because after all all sewing is a risk. You might ruin the fabric that, even when cheap, costs quite a bit more than most of us can afford to lose. 

I really need to carry on working though my hundreds of patterns now because it is making life more interesting. Although turning out stuff to blog about is far more difficult. I have to remind myself that I started to blog to become part of the sewing community. To connect. Not to blog. The sewing is better when its shared with like minded people who interact with you and you with them. 

I do not sew to blog. I blog because I sew!

Have a wonderful adventurous weekend.

Bracken

 

 

Black Broderie TVW style skirt

The black broderie fabric I used or this skirt is left over from my recent Accidentally Gothic Top. Its really the same pattern as the Strawberry skirt just in different fabric and with less frills and added lace.  

I actually cut two frills for the black skirt too but ended up just with the one.

 

 I decided it was more likely to be worn with the single frill. It has the same cotton lace as my top. I am sure the second frill will get used on something at some point so will not be wasted.

Where the frill attaches to the skirt body I just sewed and overlocked the edge. Then I added a row of lace above the frill and lace along the bottom edge. I also finished the waist in lace. This has no interfacing so is rather an experiment. I have no idea if this will mean the waist stretches but the lace is quite stable so I am hoping!

I took this after wearing it hence the creasing.

It makes for a pretty edge to my waistline anyway.

Summer is nearly over for this year so I am trying to get another break somewhere away before it gets too cold so assuming I manage to arrange time off work I intend to take both this skirt and my Strawberry skirt away somewhere. 

 

Its too cold now for many of my shorts and summer tops but I think these two skirts will work well with tights or leggings under them and transition into the early autumn that is fast approaching. Its worn here over my mesh T shirt dress/top.

This is my grey glitter sweatshirt. I found it goes really well over this skirt. I really should try and get some more of that lovely sweatshirt fabric with lurex because I have lived in this top all summer. Time to start thinking of sewing up sweatshirts and coats I suppose!

Are you already planning your winter sewing?

Bracken