WIP Wednesday: Piles of Knits!

Woke up this morning to a miserable, rainy day, which means I just want to cuddle under a blanket and knit some fuzzy wool, but sewing is my goal for the day! 

This is not the stack of fabric I should be working on, even though I really want to.  I've been wanting to make a Ruby top with the Catnap as yoke, and the white knit as the body.  I've been putting it off because I'd have to wash the Catnap, and I want to be really sure before I take that step (I don't prewash my quilting fabric).

And the bottom two are fabrics that I found over the weekend... in my house... can't remember buying them...

Anyway, the plaid is just a yard, and while I'd love to make it into a summer top, I'm not sure it'll be enough.  I might make it into something for the little girl.  And the bottom is 5 (5!) yards of a really great jersey.  It's so soft, a little stiff, but not heavy, and has stretch in just one direction, so it'll hold whatever shape I impose on it better.  I'm wondering if a knit Washi Dress is possible.  Seems like that would be a thing, but I haven't seen any on the internets.  I might have to just take the plunge and do it.

But this is what I'm going to be doing first.  It will be a nursing dress for a wedding a friend is attending.  I've already made the top, but it needs some reworking to fit properly.  And the actual dress part is going to be the grey print.  It's easy enough to do, but there's just a lot of moving parts, so I've been putting it off for probably a month.  Due in three days, should work out fine!

Linking up with Lee for WIP Wednesday!

Kids Clothes Week: A Sally Dress for Easter!

My big goal for Kids Clothes Week was to make Dell this little Easter dress.  Everything else was just gravy, but this had to be cute since her brother has already gotten a little suit from his Nona.  And she definitely needed something with big pockets to hide Easter treasures.

Luckily, I had everything on hand and ready to go once I realized that this was the thing to do.  The fabric was bought, washed and pressed for last summer's Kids Clothes Week, but then found it's way to the back of the drawer once I failed at time management.  And the pattern is the Sally Dress by Very Shannon, another from Pattern Anthology, bought and printed ages ago.

I made the 4t size based on her chest measurement which ended up fitting her perfectly without changing anything, though it's a bit tight getting on and off.  I'll just pray that she makes it through the Easter festivities without spilling anything on herself and maybe see about adding a button placket to the back to make it last a little longer.

I also went with the longer sleeve, since we've still got snow hanging around.  And I added some bright yellow piping along the collar and waist.  I'm pretty excited to add piping to everything, especially since I've bought all the colors on super discount at Marden's.

The neckline was a bit tough to pipe, because you have to pipe the front and back pieces separately, then line them, then sew them together at the shoulders.  It worked, but the seams are a little bulky.  Good thing she's got plenty of hair to distract!

But the whole thing was super easy to make.  I think she'll need a couple more of these big pocket dresses for twirling and stashing this summer.

Linking up with Kids Clothes Week and Crazy Mom Quilts!

Kids Clothes Week: Purple People Eater Sweater Dress

I try to keep things even among the kids.  So after I made Isaac his green sweater, I bought some more yarn and decided to make the same sweater for Dell.  I was only going to change the front panel, but then I got a bit carried away.

The pattern is a top down raglan, so I started with the neck collar.  I didn't like how the first sweater had a K1P1 rib, so I switched that out for a K2P2 rib and twisted my stitches so that the rib would look neater.   Now it pulls together much nicer and sits right up against her neck.

The next bit to knit is the chest, arms, and back.  I've been wanting to play with more textures, so I just started scrolling through stitch libraries until I found on that would work well with my increases.  This honeycomb pattern is worked over four stitches, so I was able to just add half and full honeycombs when I had enough new stitches on the sides.

Then I put the arm stitches on to waste yarn and had to decide how much of the honeycomb I wanted.  I thought of just continuing the pattern to the hem, and finishing it like a regular sweater, but I got a lot of votes for a sweater dress from friends.  So I continued the pattern to just above the waist and then increased every few stitches so that it would flair out a bit.  I have no clue how many I eventually added, but it was enough.

Then I realized that I only had one ball of yarn to finish the sleeves (still on the waste yarn) and the bottom of the dress.  I'd already cleaned out the store and had to buy a different dye lot, so I didn't want to have to go back and add a third dye lot to the pile.  The solution was short sleeves!  Which is perfect since the weather turned warm, and long sleeves would have been too hot to wear in the spring.

In the end, I love how it turned out.  It's so different from the first sweater, but I love that I'm getting comfortable enough with my knitting to start doing crazy things like this.

Linking up with Kids Clothes Week!

Working on My Closet of Washis

I'm clearly a convert to the Washi Dress.  I love how it fits without fiddling, and I can make it in just one morning.  I keep meaning to try the three-quarter sleeves, but then I chicken out.  And I really need to get the Washi expansion pack that Rae just put out, the Peter Pan collar kills me!

I've had this pile of fabric for quite a while ($4/yard from my last Marden's trip), and I've just been waiting for the time to make the dress.  It's really a chrysanthemum print, but it looks really odd and geometric from far away.  So it's fun but respectable.

She had to get in on the fun.

I ditched the interfacing on this version.  I figured the scoop neck would be fine without it, and I didn't have any.  Instead, I just sewed the facing around the neck and then sewed the bottom edge of the facing down.  Super easy, and seems to hold up well.

We had to take a break suddenly for a Popsicle stick sword fight.  And now I can say that this dress has been "battle-tested" and aced it with flying colors, even though the sword fight ended in a draw.

Linking up with Amanda Jean for Finish it Up Friday!

WIP Wednesday!

It's WIP Wednesday!  Time for me to get out all my projects, realize that there's way too many of them, only photograph a few, then go procrastinate and work on none of them!  I'm only half joking since I don't actually pull them all out.  I probably couldn't fit everything into one picture.

But anyway....  I am actually working on the #Catventquiltalong.  I love that it just takes about 15 minutes to finish a cat.  I've gotten one of every rainbow color done, the whole Roy G. Biv is there, so now I just have to fill in spots with more hues.

I'm finally digging into that stack of rayon that my mother picked out.  She asked for a couple copies of her favorite dress for Christmas, and naturally I said yes, even though I'd never worked with the fabric before.  After completing a dress for myself to practice, drafting a pattern, making the first dress and having my mom try it on, I'm ready to just bust out the rest of these dresses.

And I've finished the sleeves to this little commissioned sweater and I'm on to the body.  I got this far before deciding to check my gauge, and I'm concerned.  The gauge is correct, but I'm trying to replicate a sweater that I've already made, and that sweater's gauge is too big.  I'm taking a break from the knitting until I can try it on the little girl that it's for, but I have a feeling that it's going to be ripped and more stitches added to the front and back.  Still better than finding out when I got all the way up to the armpits!

Linking up with Lee for WIP Wednesday!

WIP Wednesday!

After all the rush leading up to Thanksgiving, I've tried to lay low this week.  So my projects are actually fun and for me!  (Not that I don't have fun, but sometimes you stare at something so long you want to just chuck it out a window.  That's how UFOs are made)

Anyway, yesterday I decided to just buy the Staple Dress pattern and whip up a dress for the upcoming holiday parties.  I had that big chunk of rayon from Joann's and figured that it would be the perfect flowy fabric for the high/low hem.  I just have to adjust the fit on the top (it's a bit too big); sew in the facings, hem, and elastic waist; and I'm done!

And, as a side bonus, it was a great test run since I've never sewn with such slippery fabrics and I promised to make my mom a bunch of dresses from similar fabric for Christmas.  Turns out it's not so bad as long as you go slow.  I'm doing all French seams since I'm nervous about fray, but that's pretty easy too.

This lovely pile of yarn is a sweater I'm making for a friend's daughter.  She picked out this yarn and a pattern and said go!  I love knitting with it.  It's a merino, cashmere, microfiber blend that's braided not twisted, so it's super soft and easy to knit.  Also, it hides a Russian join like nobody's business, which I love. 

Arms are done, so I'm onto the body.  That's my favorite part, because there's a nice cable that takes just the right amount of brain power to do, but I don't have to constantly consult the chart, so I can just zone out in a comfy spot and knit. 



My super fun project is the Catvent Quilt-a-long that Elizabeth Hartmann is doing.  I love these little cats, and they're super easy to do.  I can't wait to see them all together!  I've already picked out the spot where this wall hanging will go and warned the husband that he has little choice. 

Linking up with Freshly Pieced for WIP Wednesday!

Happy Halloween!

It's Halloween, so here's my Sinister Swarm Washi.  I was just going to wear black, but then realized this was actually clean!  How could you pass up that?

Spooooooky black knitting on my needles.  Not really spooky, but black and gray, and I think that counts.  It's a Chunky Dean Street hat for my little dude out of some Wool-ease I found in my stash.  I love this fast knitting with chunky yarn and giant needles.  

And here's that Bimaa I miffed the cutting on earlier in the week.  All finished, with a little bit of breakfast already on the tummy.  That's how you can tell a good piece of clothing, when it gets dirty fast.  

Here's the back.  I'd cut two fronts and sewn it all up, only realizing the mistake when the collar didn't go on right.  Duh!  So I took the two pattern pieces, traced the difference, and added some seam allowance.  The result is that little semi-circle seam at the top of her back.  Easy, and I only had to pull a few stitches out of the shoulders to sew in my patch.

Here's her scary face.  It's actually really scary.  How does a two-year-old know the Children of the Corn look?

Happy Halloween!!!

Linking up with Live a Colorful Life for Really Random Thursday!

Kids Clothes Week: Crazy Stripey Jumper!!

Another finish for Kids Clothes Week.  I struggled with what to do with this fabric.  It's a random remnant that I found at Joann's that happened to find it's way into my cart.  I loved the pattern but it was kind of busy, so I thought I'd make a small library bag for her, but when I washed it, it turned into the softest corduroy I've ever felt.  So clothes it was.

I was thinking at first to make a simple skirt, but that would leave me with more scrap than I'd like, but not enough to do anything with.  So I found this top from Prudent Baby and thought it would be a good challenge to upsize it.  

I didn't print it out (because that seemed like more work), instead I pulled up the pattern pages full screen and sketched out a copy freehand. I double checked my pattern against her measurements, then had her try it on again before cutting out the neck pieces.  

It went pretty well.  I only altered the armpits, because they ended up being more of a "V" instead of a "U".

I may have bribed her with promises of cookies and fake mustaches.  Whatever works!

Linking up with My Quilt Infatuation for Needle and Thread Thursday!

WIP Wednesday: KCW Edition!

Kids Clothes week is in full swing!  I set myself up for a couple quick finishes on Monday, which just got me all excited to make more.  Apparently, accomplishing stuff is addictive.

This is the stack that I'm planning on cutting into next.  The top two are flannels that will either become more tunics from a self-drafted pattern or button up flannels a la the Ethan Shirt that was in the SewFab bundle.  (They seriously planned that well!)

The middle two are quilters't cotton for dresses or skirts, and the bottom is a corduroy that I'll either make into Parsley pants, a dress, or both.

These jumpers are just waiting on hems and buttons.  Both are drawn myself, but the purple is based on the Olivia top from Craftiness is Not Optional.  And the stripes is based on the Snappy Toddler top from Prudent Baby, but I had to upsize it a lot, so I basically just winged it.

I feel bad about leaving the little dude out of most of my sewing, but he has so many hand-me-downs still to go through, that it's just silly to make him clothes.  I did find this t-shirt at the thrift store and had to re-cut it for him.  I love how it fits (tees are so hard to get right when you don't have a huge size to start with), and he won't stop wearing it.  I haven't been able to hem it because he wants to wear it all the time, so it might just go unhemmed.  

Linking up with Lee for WIP Wednesday!

WIP Wednesday

So at last week's WIP update, I had the torso and a sleeve up to the arm, but I decided that the arm was coming out too big.  So I frogged all the way down to the ribbing and started again with smaller needles.  

Luckily, a week in bed sick meant that I had plenty of time to knit, so I'm almost ready to join this sleeve.  Of course, I could have knitted two sweaters by now if I didn't have to keep frogging. 

And I'm pretty keen on finishing up the sweater because I have these pretties waiting for me.  I think the kids need winter hats and mittens.  And I need some soft fuzzy wristlets out of the white alpaca in the middle. 

I almost have this Washi tunic finished. I had plans on trying to add the three-quarter sleeves from Rae's tutorial, but then it got really hot again.  So now it's waiting downstairs for me to make up my mind. 

And my big accomplishment of the week so far is adding some quilts to my Etsy shop.  I'm figuring this is step one on my way to fame, fortune, and rooms full of fabric and glitter, and I'm giving it a big ole checked off!

Linking up with Freshly Pieced for WIP Wednesday!