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Sep 23 2011
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sewing

What I’ve been working on.

Ally has been gently nudging me for oh, only a month or so now, to finally get a blog post up.

It seems that I manage to let the world get at me far too much (witness the eye twitch that will.not.quit. for the last four day), in between regular summer plans, and emergency “lets get the little sister married and moved to Texas in three weeks–with only three days for the wedding” plans.)

I made this chair cover much earlier in the summer, but I’m so inordinately proud of it. The pattern comes from one of my favorite sewing books, One-Yard Wonders. (Please see the other projects I’ve made from this book, such as the dog jacket I made for my sister’s dog and…. oh, I guess I should post about all the other stuff I’ve made).

The fabric came from Ikea, and cost almost as much as the chair it’s covering, also from Ikea, the Jeff folding chair. It’s the same chair pictured in the book, so when I saw the pattern, I absolutely knew I was going to make it. The whole thing, chair and fabric cost me $14.

So far, I’ve covered two chairs, and these chair covers were super quick, once I figured out how to fold the fabric for the top pleated portion. It took me two nights (one each night), and probably about 1-2 hours each, longer for the first one, shorter for the second when I knew what I was doing. I managed to make them in time to have my sister and her now husband (then boyfriend) over for dinner in July when he was home on leave.

The only complaint I have is that the ties are not exactly perfect for this chair. I put the forward ones–the ones for the front legs–exactly where the pattern said to, and they’re a little too far back. It was good that I had left the ribbon really long, and was able to still tie it around the front leg to stay.

I have two more chairs to cover, and will probably use a stripe pattern I saw at Ikea, or a faux bois that I saw. I’m still undecided, which is why I still have two more to cover.

As a final note, the photos in this post were taken by my mister as he has decided to make photography his hobby, and he loves encouraging me so he’s going to (hopefully) be taking my finished object pictures for me. We’re still working on the concept of photo styling, but without his help I’d have no photos to post tonight.

And now, I leave you with the sickeningly sweet photo of my sister and her new husband. Worth all the stress that I’ve had for the last month. Love you!

Aug 29 2011
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projects, sewing

Twin Monster Sewing Project Complete

Two Kojis - only one can survive!

Koji 1.0 and Koji 2.0 will soon be unleashed into the hands of babes.

From the silly and sarcastic Muppets to the wild rumpus in “Where the Wild Things Are”, children love monsters. One of my favorite books as a very young kid was “There’s a Monster at the End of This Book!” featuring Grover, one of the most endearing monsters of our time (right next to Sweetums).

I want to pass my monster loving ways to the next generation, and, as luck would have it, I found the first of many an opportunity.

My friend Jessica is due to bring twin boys into the world later this year. While monster adoration is not strictly boy territory, I jumped at the opportunity to work on this project for them and wrapped it up this weekend. The pattern comes from one of my favorite pattern books — Wee Wonderfuls.

There are two differences between these nearly identical twin monsters: One has yellow eyes while the other has pink and the spike colors are reversed. If I could do one thing differently, I would likely machine sew the spikes, tail and mouth before sewing the body together. I loathe hand stitching and although the effect is nice, I’m just not good at it.

Koji Profile

The back and side profiles of the Koji twins.

Never having been a little boy, I asked those with experience in such things if my monsters are likely to win the approval of the soon-t0-be-in-this-world twins. So far, the response has been  ”yes,” with a close friend of mine predicting that the boys will keep them at least well into their twenties.

Whether these monsters will survive that long in the chaos that is any child’s playtime is hard to say, but I certainly hope the boys have fun with them.

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Aug 17 2011
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projects, sewing

Sewn monster seeking brother

Grrr

Koji looks mournfully out the window into Eureka's foggy skies ... He knows he has a brother soon to come.

“Koji” is one of 24 patterns in the Wee Wonderfuls book and is made from corduroy, vintage buttons from my grandmother’s sewing drawer, felt and striped flannel. Angry Chicken mentioned a few times how adorable the dolls in Wee Wonderfuls are (which prompted me to seek out the book) and I have to agree. Blogger Hillary Lang  wrote the book and each doll pattern is unique, not just variations on a theme. Upon first seeing the Koji monster pattern, I knew I would have to make one but I didn’t realize when I bought the book that I would be making two.

My friend Jessica became pregnant with twins earlier this year, and I immediately set to crocheting her a bird baby mobile based on a pattern in Amigurumi Two by Ana Paula. If you want to have a project done by the time the baby shower comes around, you have to start early! I did not know the gender of the babies-to-be when I started the mobile, but I figured birds were a safe bet no matter what the kids would be.

Turns out first-time mother Jessica is destined to give birth to two boys (ack!). I knew immediately that matching Kojis would be the answer for my post-baby shower gift. Jessica and her husband are both lovers of all things tie-dye for their babies, and I happened to find hand-painted corduroy fabric from Arcata’s Fabric Temptations that looks a lot like tie-dye. I still need to add the spikes to the first Koji before he is finished, and then I will cut his brother from the same cloth (and potentially give him different colored spikes and eyes).

Until then, Koji 1.0 waits.

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Apr 15 2010
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sewing

A-Plus A-Line Skirt from Burda Style Pattern

Mosaic image of the A+ A-Line skirt, sewn by Lisa.

1. Left side view, 2. Front view, hanger, 3. Right side view, 4. Right side view, hanger.

Last Tuesday, I had a job interview. Which of course means that Monday was spent creating a skirt to wear to the interview.

I had decided, even before I knew that there was an interview, that I wanted to make the A-Plus A-Line skirt available for free on the Burda Style website. I had printed it out over a month ago, and had been taking my own sweet time in taping the pattern together. And let me just say, taping the pattern together took way, way more time than the actual sewing of this skirt.

I started Monday afternoon, and probably worked on it for about 4-5 hours, which got everything done except for the hems on both the skirt an the lining. There was nothing terribly complicated about the pattern. If you’ve made any sort of skirt before, this one is just as easy, even if you’ve never done a lining before (and I hadn’t.)

The outer fabric is grey wool suiting that I bought ages ago when it was on sale. The idea was to make a skirt/jacket set with it. The skirt is out of the way, now I need to improve enough to feel like I can make a suit jacket. It was my first time sewing with this type of fabric, and it was relatively easy. The hard part was getting crisp lines with the iron. The lining is purple rayon bought specifically for the skirt. I think all linings should be in fun colors.

Over all, I’m really pleased with the skirt. It fits, which I wasn’t particularly expecting (I cut the 16, but have now moved on to thinking I’m larger than I am than that I’m smaller than I am). I had decided if it didn’t fit me, I’d send it off to a friend who is a little smaller than me, and who’s mom could take it in if it so needed.

Pattern Notes:

  • The pattern took about two yards of the wool fabric, and about 1.5 yards of the lining.
  • I hemmed it up to land above my knee, but now seeing the photos, I think I’ll let it down an inch or two. It just looks too short to me to be “professional.” This length would be perfect in a flirtier fabric.
  • I am not pleased with the puckering just under the waistband at my sides. This is obviously a fit issue. My solution would be to either lose weight or to try to figure out exactly why it’s puckering. (At this point, losing weight seems like an easier option).
  • I still need to work on my zipper insertion. If I could afford a pile of zippers, I’d start making little bags to practice on. Even though the zipper is red and I didn’t use an invisible zipper, I think I shouldn’t be able to see it as much as I do.
  • I would love a blind hem foot, but that would probably require a new machine as well. But I did not enjoy hand hemming the outer skirt.
  • The mister and I really need to work on our photograph skills. And perhaps learn how to actually use the little Nikon. And wait until daytime for photographs.
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Apr 03 2010
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knitting, WIP

Finally, the second chart on Icarus.

In progress, second chart.
I know iPhone photos are terrible quality, but I’m just not going to pull out the Nikon for an in-progress pic (well, not until I manage to get myself an Eye-Fi card, but that’s another matter.)

I am finally, FINALLY onto the second chart of my Icarus shawl. Where I thought I was never going to get. It’s pretty much the only thing I’ve worked on this week, other than the slight detour for the mister’s birthday present.

Continue reading →

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Mar 23 2010
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sewing

New blue polka dot skirt.


So, after two days of sewing, I managed to finish my first skirt of the year.

I used McCalls pattern M5631, which called for 3.5 yards of fabric. Before I opened up the instructions, I really couldn’t wrap my head around how a skirt could call for the same amount of yardage as a dress pattern I had bought. And then I started sewing. Having both pleats and gathers, this skirt is really full. And very likely to flip up in the wind (which totally happened when I wore it out on Monday.)

I let the Mister pick the version of the skirt to go with, and I really like the fake layers at the bottom. They’re harder to see in the polka dot, but they are a nice little detail. I like how I followed directions exactly and the skirt hits at exactly the right spot on my knee.

This is absolutely my favorite, and am pretty sure I can wear nearly any color top with it; it’s all a matter of finding the right shade. One really good thing about making my own skirts is that I can take a swatch of fabric with me when I go shopping for tops to be sure that the colors will match.

Pattern Notes:

  • I made the size 20. For serious. Had I made my waist size, the skirt would be sitting about five inches higher. I am ridiculously high-waisted. As it is, it sits about an inch below my belly button, which is exactly where I like skirts of this type to sit.
  • The pattern was really straight forward. Sizing comes completely from the waistband, the pleats and the gathers. All the sizes (14-20 in my pattern envelope) used the exact same skirt piece at the same dimentions; the smaller the size, the larger the pleats and the more the gathers. Will make it really easy to pull apart and downsize if I lose the weight I’m trying to.
  • Did the “C” view, but omitted the waist sash because I don’t really need to emphasize that.
  • Ended up inserting a regular zipper; tried to do an invisible one and failed horribly, so I went back to what I know I’m good at. I’ll try again on the next skirt.
  • The hem and fake tiers were really easy to do, as the skirt body is actually square. Thus I didn’t have to try to ease in anything on a curve.
  • I am most definitely planning on making this skirt again, as soon as I can afford some more fabric.
  • I used a light-weight cotton (no idea what, bought it at Hancock’s); but can see this in a voile with a lining, a linen, or any other light-weight fabric.
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Mar 17 2010
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knitting

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

Hope everyone remembered to wear green today! Our family is a little bit Irish, and it’s my aunt’s birthday today, so we always celebrate by wearing a bit of green.

My pin knit up  from the shamrock pattern link that I shared with you all on Sunday. It was very quick to knit up; I did one for me and another for the Mister in about an hour total. I ended up using worsted weight yarn with 2.75mm needles (US 1).

I love little pins like this. Now I’m up to two: one for valentines day, and one for today. Maybe I can figure out a little flag next to do multiple holidays.

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Mar 08 2010
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knitting, WIP

Once again into the lace.

Delphine Top

Because I apparently didn’t feel like I had enough lace knitting on my plate, I decided to once again start Delphine, the lacy cap-sleeved top. The pattern is originally from French Girl Knits (a book I am longing to add to my collection), but luckily for me, the pattern was also excerpted in the Spring ’09 issue of Interweave Knits.

In all, I think I’ve started this top about 10 times. The photo above is actually from the last time I started knitting it, when after about five inches I had come to the realization that it was never going to fit be, as I was in denial about what size I really was. All the other times I started it, I usually screwed up on the first two rows; sometimes I twisted the join, sometimes I didn’t have enough stitches, sometimes I completely screwed up the lace repeat. The yarn I’m working with, though, has held up nicely to the repeat man-handling. It’s Knit Pick’s Shine in the sport weight. I love how it feels and how it looks when knit up. I may never try a different type of cotton yarn.

This time, I seem to be going along well. I’m about four inches in, and I haven’t majorly screwed up the lace pattern yet. I seem to have a hard time remembering the yarn-over before the purl stitch on the first row of the pattern repeat, but I usually catch myself, and yarn-overs are easy enough to pick up on the next round when you see you’ve got them.

I’ve had to lay down a few rules for this top, though. Since I’m knitting the Icarus shawl at the same time, and that one has a definite due date (May first, to wear to a wedding), I’ve sternly told myself that I can’t knit on the top until I’ve finished at least one pattern repeat of the shawl that week.

So right now, I’m staring longingly at the top while I forge on ahead with the 4th pattern repeat of the chart I’m on. Maybe, if I’m lucky, I’ll be able to work on the top by Wednesday. It makes good TV knitting for me since I find the four-row pattern repeat easily memorized, and easy to work on while not looking.

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Mar 05 2010
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knitting

Elephant for Grandma.

Baby Elephant

This year, my Grandma is  celebrating a banner year—her eightieth, in fact.

In tribute to her and for an awesome birthday present, I decided to knit her an elephant. She loves elephants. My cousin counted all the elephants in grandma’s house once and came up with over 100. I’m sure the number has climbed even higher since the family is continually gifting her items swathed in the pachyderm.

When I ran across the baby elephant pattern by Hansi Singh (link to pattern on Ravelry*), I knew I had to knit it for her. I always have trouble finding her gifts (I feel like I shouldn’t encourage the elephant gifting, as my family had me trapped into penguin-gifting for awhile), but she didn’t have an elephant especially handcrafted for her by family. That makes it okay, right?

*I wouldn’t usually link directly to Ravelry since it requires you to login (and thus join) to see anything, but right now Hansi’s Etsy shop is empty, and the only sure-fire way to purchase her patterns is through the Ravelry pattern store.

Pattern Notes:

  • Very quick to knit up, two pieces (head and body).
  • Think the head alone would make a very interesting brooch, if you’re into that sort of thing.
  • For some reason, when I picked up the stitches to make the belly (4 stitches from holder, pick up 18, repeat) following the instructions directly afterwards would have centered the decreases on a diagonal from leg to leg. Instead, I knit 4 stitches and then followed the directions which gave me the decreases centered between the legs.
  • It reads like you pick up way too many stitches for the tail, but it looks okay once done.
  • I did the bottoms of two feet, knit the belly to the kitchener stitch, stuffed, kitchenered, and then used the other two open legs to completely stuff the body full before knitting them closed.
  • While it seems silly to bind off in the CC at the legs only to pick up stitches in the CC to knit a row and pull tight, it really looks and works better this way for the legs. Gives it a definite edge instead of rounding.

In all, I really like this pattern. It’s really well written, easy to follow, and not entirely sure that my problem with the belly decreases wasn’t my own fault (for all the completed projects on Ravelry, no one complained about a problem).  I will probably make this again; the dogs go crazy for it when they see it, and it’d be the perfect size for a baby toy.

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Mar 04 2010
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knitting, thoughts

Knit sweater conundrum.

In addition to dreaming about a new dress to sew, I’m also longing to knit myself a sweater.

I knit up my first one last October/November, and have been in love with it ever since. Except for the part where the yarn I used is so increadibly itchy. (That’s what I get for buying yarn online and for not knowing what I was getting into, having made the purchase only a few months into my knitting life.)

So, I’m dreaming of a sweater. And while I know I probably won’t start on it until the middle of summer—having to save up for whichever sweater I choose—I can’t help but want to start planning ahead of time.

Right now, I have my eye on three patterns, all of which I have the patterns lying around for. Which only makes me want to knit them even more.

Rogue sweater Rogue by Jenna Wilson

To be perfectly honest, this is the sweater I’ve been coveting the longest, and the sweater I had originally bought the itchy yarn for. I bought the pattern over five years ago, and pull out my copy once and awhile to look at it in all it’s lovely glory. I love the cables. I adore the kangaroo pocket. The hood is just brilliant. I know I will knit the sweater; it’s really all just a matter of when. Do I want to knit it first, and know it will take me the longest to do, not because it’s hard, but because cables require attention to be paid.

Owls Closeup2 Owls by Kate Davies

This sweater just calls to me. I love the owl detail along the yolk. I love the added detail of the little button eyes. It seems like everyone and their sister knit this sweater up this winter, and that doesn’t dissuade one little bit.  It’s a bit more plain than the other two sweaters, but that’s part of it’s appeal. Until I reached the yolk, I could knit it while watching TV with the mister. I would probably buy the updated pattern, even though it was originally free, because I think that people should be rewarded for things I find awesome. And this sweater really tops the awesome scale. I also really like the variations I’ve seen with shorter sleeves.

market5 Farmer’s Market Cardigan by Connie Chang Chinchio

From the Fall ’09 Interweave Knits, I fell in love with this sweater immediately after I finished my itch-fest. I adore cardigans, since I’m often pulling sweatshirts on and off when it’s not ridiculously cold out, and I love the cable details at the pockets that flow up and around for the shawl collar. Every time I pull on Girl Friday I wish it had pockets even though I know pockets would never ever work with that pattern.

I’d like to think that over the course of the year I might be able to knit all three of these sweaters. First I’d have to be able to purchase yarn for them, but then I’d need to not procrastinate enough to get it done. If you had a vote, though, which would you most like to see me tackle on this here blog?

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