Eleven Stitches

Pinterest Made Me Do It

Have you heard of Pinterest?  It's a place where people can showcase, or "pin", pictures of things they like. I have found that it's a great source of inspiration, and I have actually bought or sewn a lot of things because of Pinterest.  In fact, I made a Pinterest board of everything that Pinterest has made me do!

Here's a dress that started as an inspiration from Pinterest.

When I saw this picture on Pinterest, I thought it would be fun to try and make it.  Then I found some soft houndstooth fabric, and I decided to pair it with Butterick 4443.  I had made this pattern a couple of years ago, and I had a problem with the neckline gapping.  This time I sewed some horsehair braid into the neckline, and it did help with the problem. 

Since this is a cold-weather dress, I wear it with my yellow cardigan.  I'm very happy with this dress!

Another dress that is Pinterest inspired is this one.

I saw this picture on Pinterest and thought it was nice.  Then I saw this great flannel plaid fabric and knew that I wanted to make a long-sleeved princess-seamed dress.  (Even though the girl at the cutting counter told me that I should make pajama pants out of it.)  I decided on  Simplicity 2338.  The collar was a little bit of a challenge, and I had to re-do the pleats in the front (so they're likely not exactly as intended), but I'm so happy with the dress.

It's really comfortable too.  I liked the fabric so much that I bought it in a green colorway as well.  I haven't sewn that up yet, but maybe in time for Christmas? 

Thank you, Pinterest.  Are you on Pinterest?  Has it inspired you to craft?

Cherry Cardigan and a Patchwork Skirt

Happy Belated Thanksgiving to all of my American readers!  I was planning to blog over my break, but obviously I did not.  David and were in San Francisco to visit his family, and we had a great time. 

I have a finished sweater to show you today! 

Pattern: Cherry by Anna Bell
Yarn: Foxhill Farm Millspun Cormo Cross, 2 skeins 
Needles: US 6
Modifications: I didn't make the belt that is strung through the eyelet rows.

This was a fun knit.  The knitting of it went pretty quickly, and the cable pattern was easy enough to memorize.  It was a little difficult figuring out how to start the cable pattern, but the designer has since updated the pattern to make that easier.

I bought another skein of this yarn at Rhinebeck this year because I thought I was going to run out on the button bands and collar.  It turned out that I had just enough!  I'll have to figure out something else to do with the extra skein.

I used a mismatched set of vegetable ivory buttons I got from the button lady.  They might be a little bit too small-- they sometimes pop out of their buttonholes. 

I also wanted to show you my patchwork corduroy skirt.

I had originally bought this corduroy for a quilt many years ago.  I've lost interest in the quilt, but I thought it would be fun to use some of it for a skirt.  I got out my crayons and make a sketch of how I wanted it to work, and then I used the Simplicity 2411 pattern (again) to make it. I pieced the fabric for each pattern piece before I cut it out.

I think it's especially fun to wear this skirt with the brown and purple shirt I made last year.  It's a patchwork outfit! 

This is the last of the photos from the big photoshoot that I asked David to help me with several weeks ago.  Now I have another big list of things to photograph, and David has promised to help me today.  More soon!

Two Separates

I have to admit that making a complete outfit out of separates makes me feel really proud.  I've found that people I run into (who know that I sew and knit) will ask if I've made part of it, but they assume the rest is store bought.  I just think that's really fun :)

Here are two things I've made!  The shirt is once again Vogue 8634.  It's such a great pattern, and I sewed it up so quickly the second time around.  If you're looking for a pattern to experiment with sewing knits for the first time, this would be a good candidate.  The fabric I used is an interlock knit from JoAnn Fabric.  I'm temped to make more, but I'm a little nervous that my wardrobe would get too predictable with so many big collars :)  Please note how the collar is artfully arranged.  David's helpfulness is not only limited to photography, but also includes collar prepping.

The skirt is Simplicty 2411.  It's a pretty straightforward skirt.  I made most of it in the spring and then lost interest when the weather got warm, so all I needed to really do this fall was put in the lining and finish it up. 

I've been trying to blog frequently, but I STILL have a huge backlog of things to show you!   I'll be back soon.   Have a happy Monday :)

A Grellow Dress

I really love this dress.

The pattern is Butterick 5315, which is sadly out of print, but still available right now on their website.  The fabric I used is a charcoal double-knit.  Since it's an interlock knit, it has horizontial stretch, but not vertical.  The pattern was intended for a woven fabric (like the one I made in 2009), but this knit translated pretty well.  The only mod I had to make was to take it in a couple of inches at the waist, which worked just fine.  Oh, and I eliminated the zipper, becuase this dress stretches enough to not require one.

As you can see here, all of the stitching was done with yellow thread, and the collar was finished with some homemade yellow bias tape.  The pockets are also out of yellow fabric.  The buttons are a mis-matched set that I got from the vintage button lady at the NJ Sheep & Wool festival.  It's nice to start using those buttons and not just collect them! 

Also, do you see the "KRISTY" label?  I finally ordered some personalized labels, and it's been fun sewing them into my garments. 

I got some more practice doing buttonholes on this dress.  Although my sewing machine complelely balked on the bottom button because it was too close to the seam for the skirt.  So I hand stitched something that looks a lot like a buttonhole, and then sewed the button on permanently.  The other ones all are completely functional.

Here is a back view of the dress.  It's got some nice detail with the top and bottom pieces, and the back pleat.  It also makes the dress give comfortably when moving in it.

This is definitely a cool-weather weight dress.  The fabric is heavy (and it swings delightfully when twirling). So realistically I need to wear something with it to cover my arms in the cool weather.   As I was making this dress I saw a cardgian at Banana Republic that seemed ideal.

I could not be happier with this dress.   Yay!

Rhinebeck and a Red Jacket

I had a great time at Rhinebeck, which is now several weeks in the past!  I went up there with my friend C, and it was a long weekend of good food, shopping, and yarn, of course.

This is what I picked up.

It was kind of more than I meant to buy, but I think it will all be very useful.

Starting with the green yarn at top left and spiraling clockwise we have:

• Brooks Farm Mas Acero to make another skirt.  I'm not sure which one yet.
• Maple Creek Farm Laredo to make Larch
• Tess Mohair & Merino to make Levenwick, which is currently in progress.
• A skein of Foxhill Farm Cormo to finish up a cardigan in progress because I thought I was going to run out of yarn, but then I didn't end up needing it. 
• Two skeins of Stonehedge Fiber Mill Shepherd's Wool to make two hats, one of which is already knit up.
• The yellow and grey yarns are Miss Babs' Northumbria Fingering BFL to make Paulie.
• The pink is Socks that Rock Lightweight-- a birthday gift for my mom.

I also promised a jacket. I wore it at Rhinebeck and got several compliments.

The pattern is Uptown Coat from Favorite Things.  It was a pretty simple pattern.  I had been nervous about sewing a jacket, but this one is not difficult.

I made the pockets out of flannel instead of the jacket lining.  It's nice to feel some warm flannel pockets on a cool afternoon. 

The jacket is fully lined, which makes me feel quite proud.  The pattern has the lining be cut about an inch shorter than the outside of the jacket, but I found that made it difficult for the lining to cover up the hem.  I think next time I would cut it the same size and just hem it a little higher.

And I was pretty insistent that the buttons be turquoise.  You can also see here that the topstitching thread is also turqouise.  This is the project where I started to learn how to use the buttonhole foot on my sewing machine. 

Overall, yay, I'm so pleased with this jacket. 

I asked my long-suffering husband to take blog photos for a lot of the backlog of projects I've finished and not blogged.  I figure that the end of Daylight Savings Time will make it even more difficult to get blog photos on a regular day.  I've got lots more to show you coming up soon!

Made by Me

I'm very proud of this particular outfit, because it was entirely made by me. 

(OK, not the boots.  I would be in trouble if I could also make shoes!)  I started by making the Running Stitch Skirt.

 

Pattern: Running Stitch Skirt by Yumiko Sakurai from Interweave Knits Fall 2010
Yarn: Brooks Farm Mas Acero, 2 skeins
Needles: US 8
Modifications: I added an elastic waistband instead of a drawstring one. I grafted the skirt together instead of seaming it, and I did the top of the skirt in the round.

This skirt was a quick knit and I love the result.  The contrast lines are flattering.  The skirt fits closely, but not *too* closely.  If I end up wearing this skirt a lot (and I think I will) I would even consider making a second one!

When I finished the skirt, I found that I didn't have any shirts that I really wanted to wear with it, so I decided to make one.

This is Vogue 8634.  I love this pattern!  The only modification I did was to seam the top front piece because I ran out of fabric.  This pattern was so easy and fast-- I cut out the pieces in the morning and sewed it up in the evening.  I've already got some fabric to make another one. 

So yay, I have a new outfit made by me!

Maybe we'll see each other at Rhinebeck?  If it's too cold to wear just this, I'll also be sporting a bright red jacket, which I will show you here on the blog very soon.  Have a great weekend!

 

 

Summer Has Gone

I didn't want to admit it for awhile, because I had such a great summer this year.  But the school year has started anew, and the cool fall weather is (finally) here. 

This summer I was lucky enough to go on two trips.  First of all, I went to England, where I got to see Stonehenge.  There are some more pictures in my Flickr set.

I also picked up some yarn while I was there, which has so far resulted in two first socks.  The second green one is next in my "purse knitting" queue.

David and I also took a road trip to New England and Canada in August.  We had never taken a road trip together before, and it was great.  We had to hurry home a day early, though, so we could prepare for Hurricane Irene.  (We were fine, just lost power for 2 days.)

Sadly, I have not made a set of photos for this trip, but here is a picture of me in Nova Scotia.

As the summer was winding down, I finished a last "summer dress", but I think with some boots and a cardigan it might well last me into fall.

This is Vogue 8728, which is written for woven fabric, but I used a knit instead.  This mostly worked out, although the back was way too big and I took two large tucks on either side to fix it.  I also cut 5 inches off the length of the skirt to make it come to my knees. 

And since I don't want the above photo to be the last one in this post, here's a picture of some pretty handspun yarn I picked up from the New Jersey Sheep & Wool festival. 

Useful Things

One of the things I love about my sewing room now is that I can just walk in and start a project quickly.  These small projects are quite satisfying and turn out to be pretty useful, too!

Ok, the first project here took a little bit of time to do, but it is also quite functional.

Napkins!  I had ordered a fat quarter set of the Urban Circus fabric several months ago, but I wasn't sure what to do with it.  This was a great use, and used up almost all the fabric.  I made four napkins, which are 16" x 16".  I backed them with white linen.

I had three extra blocks left over from the napkins, and I used  them to make pincusions.  The pincushions are actually stuffed with some really dense yarn that I didn't think I would end up knitting with.  This gives me a nice, firm texture for the pins to grab onto.

I had been wanting to make pillowcases for awhile to replace my boring white ones.  I finally found the right fabric to do it.

I used this tutorial, and it was so easy and quick!  I also had never learned how to do french seams before, and I found them very easy to do.  I've since used french seams on several other projects.

I love how that little bit of trim makes it look like a "real" pillowcase.  I added buttons to the end because I used to always have the problem of the pillowcases sliding off their pillows.  This solves that, and I love the excuse to use some pretty buttons.

I've also found that making these little projects is so nice because it's a chance to see pretty prints in everyday use.  It's a little bit of luxury and a pop of color!

Dresden Bags

Even though I'd reached a logical ending point for the quilt with dresden plates, I didn't want to stop making them!  As it turns out, the end of the summer is approaching, and I wanted to give a little gift to my co-workers to thank them for a great summer.  So I decided to make some dresden bags.

I found some great sturdy canvas bags at CVS.  I then made a dresden plate, and sewed it on the bag like I would have sewn it onto a plain square of fabric.  This time the blades are 5 inches long (instead of 6) so that they fit on the bag.

It was a little bit tricky to maneuver the bag under the sewing machine, but not as bad as I thought it would be.

It turns out that I really relate to people by color, and I can usually tell their favorite colors even if they haven't specifically told me what they are.  (True Story: Once I heard someone say that her favorite color was black, and my first thought was "How am I ever going to relate to this person?")  So I made each bag with a specific co-worker in mind, using her favorite colors.

They were a big hit, which was great.  I had so much fun making them.

I have one more unadorned bag at home, and hopefully I'll get around to making one for myself soon.

 ps:  It seems that I missed photographing one bag before it went out the door.  It was all pinks! 

My Sewing Room

I cleaned up my sewing room a few weeks ago, and I haven't really been able to come out of it since then.  Now, when I say clean, I mean *clean*.  I don't have any before pictures, but lets just say that it was difficult to walk into the room.  I was inspired by a marathon of "Hoarders" on TV to actually take a crack at getting the sewing room under control, and by the end of the weekend it was almost done.

To do that, one thing I did was get rid of 7 large shopping bags of fabric.  4 were of scraps, and 3 were of yardage.  I've been quilting for 10 years, and I had collected a lot of fabric that I no longer like and probably didn't want to use.  That fabric was making me feel guilty for not using it, and it was also taking up a significant portion of my storage space.  I gave it away on Freecycle to people who were excited to get it.  Win-win.

 

After I cleaned out my space, I re-arranged the tables in the room to make it a better fit.  I love how it turned out!

This is the view from the door.

In front of the window, I have a table with a large cutting mat. It's also where a lot of my tools and trimmings are kept (over to the side).  I really like being able to look out the window while I'm working.

I came up with this holder for a lot of my sewing tools. 

To make it, I bought a $2 plate and a plate hanger at Target, and some strong magnets at JoAnn Fabric.  I hot-glued the magnets to the plate and hung it on the wall.  For the tools that didn't have any metal, I hot glued a small washer onto them so they would also stick on the plate.  It works really well!

Here is another view of the wall with the fabric storage.

I arranged the fabrics in color order, which has been great for some of my quilting projects.  (More on that to come.)  The boxes on top of the bookcase hold scraps-- two for quilting cottons, and one for knit fabrics.

This is the opposite side of the room.

The design board is simply some batting glued onto some foam board.  I taped a piece of yarn on the back to be the holder for it.  I'm glad that I now have a good place to put my guitar case and a large suitcase as well without them getting in the way.

I have a very shallow closet in this room, and it has been put to use as well.

The shelving in there is actually a cd rack, so it's only about 8 inches deep.  It hold my clothing patterns (I should get prettier boxes for this!), some paints and glues, and then my project bags.  I have a lot of clear zippered bags, and they're each holding a different sewing project.  Up on the hanger bar are three clothing items that need to be finished or altered.  My spool storage rack is full!  Maybe I need to get a second one?

So that's my new room.  I love, love, love it, and it's been great for productivity.  More on that soon!