Got the Blues

 

And just like that - a cozy cardigan. I’m always amazed at how much faster a crocheted project is compared to knitting — especially an openwork one like this. 

I deviated from the pattern (Hexaparty by Berroco) just a bit. The pattern is designed with a front gap (6” in the size I made - even bigger in larger sizes) which I thought I’d be fine with — until I tried it on. Personal taste, but I felt it looked out of proportion, so I added two additional rows to each front. This brought the gap in line with the 4.5” of the smaller sizes and looked better to me. Perhaps I’m wrong, but it seemed to me that a larger gap on a well-endowed bust just looked like a too small size had been made. I also added a single button at the waist to pull things in when worn. I gradually changed hook size at the bottom of the sleeve to bring things in a bit also. 

Now that this project is done I think it’s time to get back to sewing — just as soon as I tidy up the workroom!

A little color

 

As the days draw in, and darkness falls so early, I like to work with a little more color. This (so far) small hexagon will eventually be folded and formed into one side of an upper front/back plus sleeve. Hard to imagine, isn’t it? 

The pattern is Hexaparty by Berroco, crocheted in Berroco Wizard yarn. While not as bright as the colors in the modeled sweater, these pretty blues give me a lift in these darkening days. 

I’ve done the first front/back piece, and this second side is progressing nicely. I hope to speed things up a bit now that I have a better idea just what I’m doing. I always say crochet isn’t my first language, so it takes me a while to get comfortable with written crochet patterns.  Which is why I totally love working from charted Japanese crochet patterns — you can clearly see where each stitch is meant to be. 

I haven’t managed much sewing since recovering from a nasty bout with Covid, but I’ve finally gotten around to pre-washing that lovely cut of cotton fleece, so hope to have a Sew House Seven Toaster sweater cut and sewn soon. It’s certainly needed — our extended warm season has ended, and winter temps are here!

“Once more unto the breach, dear friends”

Absolutely devastating — that so many fellow citizens decided that a convicted felon, unqualified  individual devoid of decency deserved their vote. They did though, so here we go again.

Lack of sewing hasn’t led to lack of buying fabric — and a recent fabric find may lead me back to my machine. I love a nice, soft, fleecy top for the cooler weather, but don’t want to add any more man-made poly fleece to the closet. I was delighted to get an email from Style Maker Fabrics advertising their Ultra Plush Double Brushed Organic Cotton Fleece. I had to give it a try, and ordered some in the grey colorway. My goodness this stuff is nice! Yes, it’s a bit dear (US$34.99 per yard) but given how nice it is, and how long I usually wear things, I think it will be a good addition to my cooler weather wardrobe. Can’t wait to get it under the needle.

The Time is Now

 

Still regressing

 Still in a state of lack of mojo for large projects. Got an email from Harrisville Designs for something or other, and wandered over to take a look — thinking I might stumble across a simple rigid heddle weaving project. Instead, I noticed the potholder loom. Hey, perfect! I need some new potholders and this is a small project that’s even easy enough for kids — sold!

I wanted something large enough to be actually useful, so selected the larger ‘Pro’ model. I never had one of these looms as a child, so had no notion of whether it was actually easy to use — but why let that stand in the way!  I eagerly awaited delivery, and got to work as soon as it arrived. And, a short while later (although a longer time than I would have imagined) I ended up with this —

Not entirely square, but a certainly useable potholder. The 10” loom yielded an approximately 8.5” potholder. 

It was easy to set up the warp - the ‘pegs’ of the loom seem to be high enough to hold the loops securely. Weaving the weft loops through seemed harder with the tool provided (it would catch on the fabric loops), so I mostly just used my fingers until the last few loops which were too tightly packed and the tool became necessary. 

The instructions with the loom seem fine, and include several charts for different patterns. The kit includes enough multi-colored loops for 2 pads, a tool for pulling the loops through the warp, a crochet hook for binding off and a metal loom. I bought extra loops (one bag white, one bag black) because I wanted to make pads with that color scheme.

 So, why let kids have all the fun — perhaps potholder weaving may be in your future too! Take a look at Piglet’s Potholder Patterns to see lots of fun, interesting designs.

Looking forward, and a look back

 I was sailing along - glad to finally be able to see clearly after the mess that was my first cataract operation - when bam! After carefully avoiding Covid for 4 years my DH came down with it, and a few days later so did I. It seems a lot of folks getting it these days report that it’s little more than a cold, but apparently we got the Super Deluxe ‘All’ the Symptoms version. Not pleasant. And as that cleared up I had Round 2 of my cataract surgery to look forward to. To say I was nervous is an understatement, but my 1 week post-op checkup is tomorrow, and so far (knock wood) it seems to have been the routine procedure everyone claimed it would be initially. Whew!

And so, time to start thinking about some fun sewing/knitting projects for the cooler weather that is surely just ahead - and wouldn’t you know it - all crafting energy has fled. I have things I’d like to do, but the thought of actually starting them just exhausts me. Hopefully a temporary condition, but until then I’ve picked up some little things to feel productive.

I can’t face sewing an adult garment, but finally made a casual outfit for my vintage Vogue Jill doll.

Sweater is hand knit from a free Ravelry pattern ‘Basic Top Down Raglan Sweater for Blythe’ - a long title for a very small sweater! 

Her pants were copied from a PJ set that she came with when I bought her a few years back. She is a copy of my long since given away original Jill doll. She’s circa 1957, so in dire need of a spa day, so - not so different from her owner!

Haskell Testing

 I’ve finally gotten around to making up the Haskell shirt pattern from Cashmerette and I’m really pleased with the outcome. This is a club membership pattern and my first time completing any of their patterns — although I did cut out one of their non-club dresses ages ago and never completed it. The pattern was fine — my fabric choice was rubbish.

For testing I used a cotton shirting. I love the color and pattern, but it was an online purchase and a good bit lighter in weight than I would have liked. Fine for testing though, and it will be worn — although I will be refining the fit a bit in my next attempt.

The pattern has different front pieces for the cup sizes offered — heaven! A fba is a mandatory pattern adjustment for me, along with narrowing the shoulders, and it’s lovely not to have to do it myself. Since the Haskell has cut-on sleeves I didn’t need to narrow the shoulders either. My fit refinement though will be lowering the dart a wee bit — what can I say, gravity + age.

The pattern pieces fit together beautifully and instructions for constructing were clear (and copious!). I was a bit short on fabric, so I left off the front pockets and had to narrow hem the shirt instead of using a bias facing/binding. The inside is finished so nicely that I (somewhat) regretted not using French seaming for the side seams — maybe next time. All in all a pleasant sewing experience, and I look forward to making this again.

Linen - in real life

 I got my new ‘interim’ glasses last week, and it’s been such a pleasure to be able to see clearly for close-up work. Also pleasant is clearing up a project from pre-operation days — Zalia top by Style Arc.

It was cut out, interfaced and partially sewn previously, but I hadn’t managed to serge around the sleeves. I knew I wanted to see well for going around the exaggerated curves and the linen really need the edge finishing before any further sewing. So, it waited.

You’ll notice it looks unpressed in the photo. While I carefully pressed all seams during construction, I’m showing it as it looks straight from the washer and hung up to air dry. Mostly because that is the way it will be worn. I love the look of crisply ironed linen, but that only lasts about 10 seconds (on me anyway) and I’m trying to accustom myself to the look of rumpled linen. We’ll see how that goes —

I love the color, and love the sleeves so I’m hopeful !

Ye Olde Curiousity

 

I always like to look for vintage sewing items whenever we come across vintage/antique/junk stores in our travels.

The pictured box and its contents are totally unrelated, but piqued my curiousity and I found I just couldn’t leave them.

The box must have originally contained some type of threads — I suspect embroidery, rather than sewing — due to the Handbeitsgarne (handcraft yarn) printed inside the lid. As far as I can tell, the company was located in Saxony, from the mid-1920s until ?. 

Inside the box are a lot (!) of embroidered tapes — most are two initials, a few are single initials.

A Google image search identifies them (for the most part) as French laundry labels. No idea if this is accurate, and no idea how they came to be in a German thread box — but it’s fun to speculate.

I keep thinking that one day I’ll have a flash of inspiration and find some creative use for them, but so far they’ve only been used as labels to mark the back of various slacks. They seem too narrow to easily be sewn together to make yardage and while they could work as trim, the red thread doesn’t always work with the colors I tend to sew. Oh well — Don’t hesitate to share a comment if you have a clever idea!

Minor alterations

 My sight is improving, but I’m still limiting my sewing to very basic projects. I have been able to (finally) have a prescription exam done so that I can get a new pair of glasses to serve during the interim between operations — still don’t know when my right eye will be scheduled.

At any rate, I’ve been catching up with minor repairs and alterations. I had made a jean jacket from a lighter weight home dec fabric a while back, and it didn’t get worn very much. Probably it was a bit light for cooler weather and too warm for hotter weather. I saw a cute jean jacket in a catalog that had short sleeves and decided I’d try that. Sleeves were not really tapered, so it was easy enough to lop off the extra fabric and do a machine hem — they are hemmed to just slightly above my elbows. I like how it turned out, and hope to be able to finish up a yellow tank I was machine knitting to wear underneath at some time soon.

Hopefully it will receive more wear with its new look. Not this week though — we’re hovering around 94F (34-ish C) at the moment, and even light layers are too much.

Buttons…and a Tee

From Stockwell Ceramics in Cornwall, UK — some delightful buttons.

Some vintage style birds, approximately 18mm.

And some square (24 mm) William De Morgan tile designs. 

I was also happy to be able to complete a tee (Pamela’s Patterns) from the really nice Emma One Sock jersey — dead simple, but a nice addition to a casual wardrobe.

Forced Hiatus

 Sometimes your sewing mojo hits a wall, and sometimes the wall hits you. This Spring hasn’t been great for finished projects — I blame the erratic weather,  hot and sticky, wooly sweater cold, rainy — it’s been a roller coaster. It finally settled down a bit and I started a linen top (Zalia by Style Arc) in a lovely shade of blue. I was scheduled for my first cataract surgery, but thought I could make a good start and then finish it off after Few days of recuperation.  That was not to be. Complications arose, and it’s been 4+ weeks and my vision is not yet totally clear, although it’s very much improved from not being able to see at all for several days after the procedure.

I’ve managed a few small sewing repairs in the past few days, but still don’t feel confident with “good” sewing and I’m keeping my fingers away from serger blades and rotary cutters for a while longer. Oddly enough, wonky vision doesn’t preclude online fabric shopping — who would have thought? 😀

I’m looking forward to sewing up a simple tee in this lovely cotton jersey from Emma One Sock soon, and  there’s a few cuts of solid color linens waiting to be transformed.

It’s so hard to be patient when you’re itching to sew, but hopefully I’ll be back in the work room soon.

2 Sides of Spring

 Spring — so eagerly awaited, so unpredictable!

My end of winter/beginning of spring project was a simple design from Wardrobe By Me (Boxy Raglan) chosen because I had made it before and knew it would work well with my fabric. The fabric is a luscious wool/alpaca blend from Emma One Stock - a little splurge, but so worth it.

It feels just like a warm hug when wearing it, and I love the color.  It was labeled as dead stock fabric from Italy. I love looking through the fabrics there — always little treasures to be found!

My second project was not sewing, but also a top, that was machine knit. This is definitely a warm weather style, and wouldn’t you know — as soon as it was finished we went from high 70’s (F.) temps to chilly mid 40’s. As I said — Spring - unpredictable!

The yarn is a cotton/linen blend in a lovely teal blue (Valley Yarns Leverett by Webs). Simple styles like this are such fun to whip out on the machine, they take almost no time at all. My very basic LK-150 mid-gauge has no ribber, so that was done by hand, as was the crochet joining of front & back halves.  Adapted from a hand knitting pattern Longboat Key, also available from Webs.

Serger Update

 Although I haven’t been sewing as much this season as I usually do, I have had plenty of time to put the BERNINA L890 through a fairly thorough test of what I want a serger to do. I’ll say up front my serger use is basic — I use it for garment construction —I don’t quilt, and my home dec projects are few and far between. Nonetheless, I want a machine that performs those basic tasks easily and well. 

I looked at this machine for a couple of reasons. I had a perfectly fine Baby Lock Enlighten purchased used from a dealer. Its stitching was fine and the air threading was a game changer for my eyesight issues. It was fine, but not fabulous, and I wanted to see what a newer machine had to offer. I also wanted to replace a fairly old cover stitch machine which had seen better days. The idea that I could have one machine to do both operations appealed, as my sewing room is crowded. So, has this machine lived up to its hype, or is it buyer’s remorse?

Ease of use — it’s a complex machine, and some folks are put off by that. I am still using the ‘idiot’ setting (no, BERNINA doesn’t call it that!) that prompts each step of every operation. Very helpful, especially for things you don’t do enough to have them become second nature. I think it also helps that I sew on Bernina machines so I have some familiarity with how they ‘think’. Air threading of the loopers is fine — not as ‘whoosh’ as the Baby Lock but works well. Two things I love — the presser foot swings away from the needles for extra maneuvering room when threading, and you can actually see that needles have been inserted fully due to slots. So, I rate ease of use as “learning curve, but Bernina gives you plenty of help to succeed “. There are plenty of You Tube videos for the machine also, and (obviously) the more you use the machine the easier it gets.

Stitch quality — one word — wow! Minor adjustments (stitch length/width) for different fabric weights, but beautiful stitching. Easy adjustments for cover stitching and I was blown away by stitch quality.

All in all, I am very pleased. This machine meets my expectations and then some. Is it the perfect serger? No, that doesn’t exist. It is a very good fit for me though, and I look forward to learning more as I use it more. Still cringe at the price, but I’m worth it?!

Spring forward

 Still wintery weather here, but I’ve stitched up a lighter cardigan for Spring. Imagine that - sewing something at leisure, before it’s actually needed!

The pattern is Wardrobe by me Balloon Cardigan. This is my second make from their line, and I’ve been quite pleased with both. Clean lines, simple practical garments that suit my life.The sleeves are indeed balloon - the body not as much. I’ve made the v-neck version and the cropped length, but added 1 1/2” so that it hits at high hip rather than at waist. Buttons/buttonholes left out - I’ll add snaps later if I decide they’re needed, but I don’t usually fasten up cardigans, so…

The fabric is a rayon doubleknit. I was thinking I’d make a matching tank with my leftovers, but wouldn’t you know I made a classic rookie mistake and forgot to lengthen the front bands after lengthening the body - doh! Thankfully enough fabric to recut two pairs of front bands, but probably not enough left for a tank - twin set dreams denied! Who knows though - maybe some creative piecing? It’s always fun to play with stripes.