WIP Wednesday!

The whole place is trashed!  I normally try to keep my sewing stuff to the left side of the dining room table, but I just have so many things going that I've migrated to the right.  Family may not get a decent meal here until I leave for QuiltCon.

I've been sewing up some new clothes.  I know I don't really need any more, but it's kind of fun to make clothes where you'll be around people that will really get it.  And any excuse to buy fabric is a good excuse.

So far I've done one horrible muslin and scrapped that entire pattern.  Then I went back to the old standby, the Washi Dress.  One needs a hem, and one is finished.  I just have that Brambleberry Ridge fabric in the back there to go.  I'm thinking of adding some short sleeves to it, just so they aren't all complete duplicates.

And, I've thrown together a lanyard and a new business card holder.  I'm debating whether I should make a new bag for Con, or just reuse one of the many I've already made.  For now, I'll wait, but if I get the itch, I may end up elbows deep in interfacing in the middle of the night.

And when I'm not sewing these days, I've been working on this Corvallis Cardigan for my son.  He's pretty excited about it and keeps checking in on my progress, but I'm so BORED of it!  He just wanted a green sweater, so there's no stripes or color-changing yarn to keep me interested.  And I realized too late that I should have put something in, a cable or an interesting stitch, but I didn't.

I think at this point, I'm so close I just have to finish and remember for the next time.  I'm so close to the bottom ribbing and then it's just sleeves.  (Thank goodness this pattern has you knit the button band as you go, so that's one less step between me and finished!)

Linking up with Lee for WIP Wednesday and Lorna for Let's Bee Social!

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!

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!

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!

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!

Washi Dress

Image from Made By Rae

So this is the second Washi Dress from Made By Rae that I made.  I'm kind of in love with the first one and wear it so often that it's always either wrinkled from wear or in the wash.  Oh well.\

And this is the one I made right after the first.  That pattern is so perfect, and I didn't have to make any alterations to make it fit.  Which is shocking, because I'm carrying a lot up front and in back. I actually double-checked the muslin of the top because I didn't believe it.

Love this fabric, it's from Benartex

For this version, I did lengthen it about ten inches so that I don't have to wear leggings with it.  (The first covers everything, but it's more leg than I'd rather show.  I swear I'll get a picture of it someday.)

And I lowered the section of shirring on the back.  For some reason, the first dress had the shirring across the middle of my back.  This version I made the bottom two rows my top two rows and just measured out four new rows a half inch apart.

Up next, I have this Anna Maria Horner Field Study Coordinates fabric that is begging to be a Washi Tunic.  Maybe with a navy collar?

WIP Wednesday

Pulled a bunch of fabric from the scrap bin to work on blocks for the Sew Pieceful Block swap.  Almost finished, just have to do the last couple and decide if they're good to send or if I want to redo the colors.  (It's so hard to pick colors for other people!)

Trying to figure out the layout for my flying geese.  Drew this up, did some geometry, realized that I forgot how geometry worked after my half curve up at the top left turned out wrong.  I did salvage it and managed to get both half curves done, but now I'm a bit sewing machine shy.  So I'm putting off the two full curves.  

Hemmed the second Washi Dress in the car. Yeah, that's right, I got some coffee and hemmed in the parking lot.  I have a problem. 

Finally got past the ribbing!  I'm redoing my Sweatshirt Sweater and practicing my Continental Style knitting.  It's pretty slow-going since I'm still trying to form the muscle memory, and because ribbing is sometimes evil, but now that I'm past it, we'll see how just straight up knitting goes. 

Linking up with Freshly Pieced for WIP Wednesday!

WIP Wednesday

I may have enough geese to make a quilt.  Should probably do more, just in case.  Still have to decide if I want to go with my plan for a layout.  And if I do, I'll need a nice quiet evening to do math and whatnot to get it all together.  Quilters definitely use their geometry!

Restarted the Sweatshirt Sweater after frogging the entire torso.  Now I'm working the next size down and knitting in the continental style of knitting because I'm new to it and I knit tighter.  I just hope that it comes out in a size that I can wear!

And here are some shots of the Washi Dress in progress.  I may have had a friend bring over some Sangria, because nothing makes cutting pattern pieces better than drinks!

And some shots of it in the machine.  The pattern came together pretty quick, even though I was new to shirring and elastic thread.  Just a few more finishing touches and I can wear it!

Linking up with Freshly Pieced!