Faux cable cap

What a treat to knit something quick and lovely for a friend.  This chemo cap comes from this pattern, which I found on Ravelry (do you know Ravelry?  It's like Facebook for knitting geeks.  I wish they had one for sewers).  It's knit from Classic Elite's Inca Alpaca in blue dusk and I'm hoping it will be absorbent and itch-free for its wearer.  I made the whole thing en route to my parents' last weekend and while lounging during the kids' naptime - maybe 5 hours on the needles.  The faux cable is satisfying and easy.  I added 10 stitches to my cast-on to accommodate the thinner yarn I chose, and knit until I was out of yarn so that I'd have the tallest cap possible to cover the whole hairline.

The Elegance of the Hedgehog

It's been so long since I knit something for myself that I can't actually recall what my last project was...something that predates both my Ravelry site and our computer's digital photo library, apparently.   Last winter, I was lucky to receive some Rowan felted tweed DK yarn for the purpose of making my own Paper Dolls sweater.  The pattern's author is from Edinburgh and blogs widely on the history of textiles, British wool production, knitting over the ages, and more.  Definitely a more intellectual read than most knitting blogs.

I love Kate Davies' writing but I did not love knitting up her pattern.  Everything took a terribly long time (casting on alone exceeded a two-hour car drive, which is pretty much a month's worth of knitting by my current standards).  I made matters far too complicated by trying to use a different yoke color pattern (hedgehogs) than her original pattern (paper dolls).  This meant adding lots of stitches in order to do the hedgehog repeats, and then having to fudge all of the yoke decreases to get back down again.  I guess I was just mad with desire over the versions I'd seen on Ravelry.

The sweater features two of my favorite colors (apple green and purple) and fits like a glove.  I stretched it a bit while blocking to try and give myself some more breathing room.  The patterning above the hedgehogs is very warped-looking, which I can't explain.  Rowan's yarn left fibers everywhere I knit but was very forgiving when it came time to block and dry.

While hedgehogs are a bit childlike for someone heading precipitously towards 40, I think they're sweet.  Since my classroom is uncontrollably overheated, I'm hoping that a short sleeved sweater will be a wearable garment as winter approaches.  When the temperatures dip below the mid-80's here, I will include a picture of me wearing my hedgehogs.

P.S. Have you read The Elegance of the Hedgehog?  I read it in French but didn't love it.  Maybe that should have told me something about knitting this sweater!

Big robe-y + blouse for me

My husband agreed to buy this vintage-y cotton floral lawn for my birthday, even though I'm pretty sure he thinks it's hideous.  I was able to squeeze a blouse for myself and a dress for Miss L out of two yards.  I know that some sewists consider that ridiculous ("I always chuckle inwardly a bit at the people who walk up to the cutting table with a pattern envelope in hand and ask for 2 3/8 yards of something. Newsflash, Everyone: It’s not going to kill you to pony up and buy that extra 1/8 of a yard and call it an even 2.5 so you have a little room for shrinkage/error!!!" from Rae's blog post, for example...) but I love using up every last scrap of something.  Probably because my children's closet is bursting with dozens of fabric scraps already, leaving little room for their toys.  The fabric (Robert Kaufman's London Calling 2 in vintage) is something I saw and loved in this post.  I thought the fabric would be a good match for the Lisette market blouse, which I made last year and wear all the time.  The best compliment I've received on that blouse, or on anything I've sewn for myself: "Is that Boden?  What a cute top!"  Personally I don't love hearing, "Did you make that?"

The original market blouse from last summer

Market blouse 2

This time I cut the blouse 2" longer (faithful readers know that I feel that all tops are too short these days, even though I have the World's Shortest Torso) and lengthened the armbands by an 1" to stop them from cutting into my upper arms.  The crowning achievement here is that the center front button band matches the pattern exactly, and is thus invisible.  

Having used up all my precision and fussiness on the blouse, the dress was in for a bit of a rougher ride.  It's the Oliver + S birthday party dress pattern in a 3T to maximize wear.  The dress is too long but otherwise just fine for a two year old.  Here she is modeling it at 6 a.m. this morning:

This pattern is ranked as rather difficult, and there are lots of fancy details: front box pleats, rear buttons, faced hem.  I used a different fabric for the hem since I was cutting it so close with my yardage, and had a very hard time getting the hem to lay flat - essentially, I ended up gathering it in places and just stuffing it in.  Here's a peek at the contrast hem and box pleats, which you sew inside to keep in place after washing (really hoping that works or this dress is not going to get much wear!).

The button tab is in beige linen (left over from big brother's pants) and the buttons are pale pink.  Don't ask about the seam running down the middle of the center pleat, okay?

Now I just need to remember never to wear my blouse on the day she's in her dress!

Badminton Dress: a new 'robe-y'

Having slogged through the patching of many pairs of jeans, and having sewn up all my remaining Liloup summer sets (that I cut out two months ago, ahem...), I treated myself to sewing a dress for my two year-old today!  Over the past few months she's become very opinionated about her clothing and will reject the outfits that my husband or I pick out for her in the morning.  Over the past week or so she's become very interested in wearing "robe-ys," her take on the French word for dress (robe).  As in, "You have a big robe-y, Maman!"  or "You have robe-y, I have robe-y.  Same, same!"  I guess this is part of her developing gender identification.  Her favorite morning activity involves putting on a robe-y (usually over a teeshirt and pants, at our insistence) and listening to her new, favorite musician Vanessa Trien.  Then she'll swish the hem of her dress around while dancing to any number of songs about barn animals and driving cars.

Enter the Oliver + S Badminton Dress.  I love these patterns.  They are just classy, in this way that makes regular patterns look downright tawdry, and fun for sewists like me who get into geeky details.  While I could never pay $16 for a pattern, certain generous family members indulged me for my birthday (thanks, Dad!) and paired with some new Denyse Schmidt fabrics from JoAnn (Meadowlark, cream circles on orange; and Aunt Edna, multicolored circles on burgundy), I was ready to go.


I do have a few criticisms of Oliver + S patterns, which surely reflect my familiarity with mainsteam patterns' conventions.  Seam allowances are 1/2" not 5/8", which matters because my presser foot doesn't have a mark at 1/2".  Cutting layout is buried in the tissue pattern instead of printed on the directions sheets.

These problems were trifles compared to the serious errors I made from not reading the directions carefully, though.  Suffice to say that I had the opportunity to redo the entire ribbon casing right before attaching the neck binding.  And that I did the neck binding twice.

But wasn't it all worth it for THIS?




And this!  I don't love how the darker color shows through the hem but the scalloping is a pretty grand effect for little effort.  I made a stitching guide out of a cereal box which helped me mark where to stitch and which I used to press the hem when it was done.

Refashioning my tees into toddler tunics

Read all the way to end to uncover this tee's life story!

Upcycling knitwear is a very satisfying way to recover some wear from your old grown-up teeshirts.  I've already turned grown-up tees into baby pants (see here).  Now I'm looking into transforming tees into toddler tops.  Ever since I had kids, all my tops are too short.  I cannot figure this out (I mean, I know why they're too tight, but why too short?).  In any case, I have a bin of old teeshirts with cool logos and interesting prints that's sitting in the basement.  Upcycling knitwear saves you having to find and buy cotton knit fabric, which is not so easy and rather pricey.

Inspired by a knit series on Rae's great blog, I've been thinking more about the benefits of sewing knits for my children.  After all, most of our favorite store-bought kids' clothes are knits.  I love dressing my daughter in Tea tunics like these, when we're lucky enough to get them as hand-me-downs:

 

Down to the basement I went.  I pulled out the current best-fitting Tea tunic before naptime, so here's what I had to work with:

Left: pricey, cute toddler tunic. Right: grown-up tee that's seen better days on mama.  As in, a decade ago.

Then, I needed to cut down the big tee.  I followed the tunic's width for cutting the sides and I cut the sleeve as you see here:

From top: original sleeve, new sleeve, model sleeve

Here are the steps for sewing the new tunic:

1. Poke a hole in the neckline (do this wherever it's seamed - usually at one shoulder, which I noticed too late).  Thread some very thin elastic through with a safety pin and cinch it to match the neckline of your model shirt.  Stitch down the elastic on either side of the poked hole.  Not elegant, but totally functional and really not something anyone but you will notice.

Don't poke in the middle of the back like I did - you'll run into a shoulder seam almost immediately!

Gathered neckline fits a little kid easily.

2. Sew the side seams up to where you plan to add the sleeves.

3. Sew your sleeves into the sleeve holes.  This involves some stretching and pinning and is the most time-consuming step.  Hang in there.  You're almost done.

4. Try the shirt on your kiddo and adjust hem accordingly.  Warning to the uninitiated: hemming knits is hell.  Read Rae (see above) for tips or get ready for a wavy, wavy ride (as I did).  

A bit too long, I'd say.  Must wait 'til next nap to hem.  And it's Sunday.  Ah well.  See you next week.

One week later, the hem is done.  As a French teacher (reason why I can't sew 5 days of the week!), I must inform you that this shirt reads: Perfect!  With plenty of small faults.  Bought in Strasbourg in 2006.

5. You can do this with short-sleeve tees, too.  However, the sleeve will be too wide at the hem (with long sleeves, the width is close enough to begin with).  You'll need to seam the sleeve to make it narrower before Step 3.

Neged ayin ha-ra (Hebrew) means: Against the evil eye. I bought this tee in Jerusalem in 2001, when taking the bus to the mall felt like a death-defying act because of the second Intifada.

Happy sewing!

Not to be outfoxed this time

Another reversible version of Ottobre 1/2012's issue Home Sweet Home apron dress.  Sewn in 100% cotton: Outfoxed by Lizzy House, corduroy, and gingham seam binding.

Happy things:

This was a much smoother operation the second time around.  Using very soft, loosely woven fabric for the binding and stretching it a bit while sewing made a huge difference.  I also sewed the straight part of the perimeter separately from the tricky straps, and gave those straps lots of TLC via many pins and sloooow sewing.  Strategically, I topstitched the binding tape on the corduroy side so that any craziness on the underside would be partially disguised by the busy print of Outfoxed.

Less-Happy things:
I feel deep regret for not having cut the appliqué gingham on the bias, which may make the corduroy side resemble the latest collection from Kountry Korner.  And I still can't figure out how to add buttons on both sides to create a truly reversible garment, since that would be very bumpy for the wearer's shoulders.

Ottobre Home Sweet Home apron dress (1/2012, No 4)

This project started out very tidy and with lots of promise: just the way I like things.  I was using up a bit of my Ikea stash from a few years ago, having found the right venue for lightweight cottons with a lot of white in them.  I had found an excuse to buy a new, narrower bias tape maker and had made up gobs of this yummy stuff:

Making your own bias tape is incredibly satisfying.  Iff you own a rotary cutter and Clover tape-maker.

Best of all, I'd found the perfect Ottobre pattern - something with only one piece!  If you're familiar with Ottobre patterns, you know that the worst part is cutting out the pattern pieces.  There's following a million crazy lines, tracing, adding seam allowances...enough to turn me off before I even get started, most of the time.

But this gem had only one piece.  And only one measly seam allowance to be added - on a straight line, at that.  How wrong could things go?

The catch was, this one's a bit of a bear (as my polite, midwestern mother would say) to put together.  The dress has a 3.5 yard perimeter that needs bias tape made, then basting, and then two more go-arounds to attach the tape.  Including four hairpin turns for the buttoned straps.  

So, you save time on the cutting but you pay in other ways.  Namely, when you try to go back over those hairpin turns the second time, to catch all the bunchy bias tape on the wrong side.  Yowzahs.  While this killed any hopes of having created a reversible garment (probably only I will regret not dressing my daughter in hippos, but still!), the outside is okay:

You think I look mad?  You should have seen my mom finishing the edges on this thing!

The criss-cross back is cute and leaves lots of room to move.

Appliqué provides a preview of the lining fabric.

The tape and lining fabrics are cottons from Ikea's kid fabrics.  The denim is from JoAnn.  The chic buttons which you can't really see (but trust me, they're awesome!) are from my local button shop.

For the shoemaker's children

Since starting to sew more seriously for other people, I have sewn very little for my own children.  Which is to say, I've hemmed one pair of pants in 7 months and that's about it.

Over February vacation week, however, I got my act together and sewed a few spring items.  Dress your children in lawn and linen this spring, I say!  They'll look beautiful and you can pat them to cheer yourself up (if, that is, you're the kind of person who perks up by handling nice fabric).

I haven't made this pattern since Jonah was a little one, and I like it better now.  This is a 2T of the Oliver and S sailboat top in Lisette cotton lawn.  I love the Indian print of the fabric and its unbelievably soft hand (did I really find this at JoAnn?!) but the lines of flowers were printed significantly off-grain which rendered it impossible to have straight rows of flowers while cutting the pieces on grain (proof that oh yes, I did find it there...).  Regardless, I love long-sleeve lightweight tops for spring and summer and this is a great one.  For reasons I cannot fathom, this chunky child slipped into the shirt much more easily that my skinny boy did.

"I want to see Ye-oh-ya!"

 Here you can see the four buttons at the neckline.  Some trouble, but classy.  Don't mind the four extra buttonholes I accidentally sewed on the front of the shirt (now hidden by the buttons).

As for Jonah, he's getting his first pair of linen pants for dress occasions this spring and summer (maybe someone will invite us to an elegant party?  Anything is possible).  Again, this is still the Oliver and S sailboat pattern but in a 4T with the hem modified to be full-length.  I'm trying to extend the pants' life by adding elastic in the waist that I can let out when needed and by adding cuffs, which could open to lengthen the pants down the road.  Linen is a very sophisticated fabric for children's clothing and I like it for that reason.

See how happy my children are that I sew for them?  They just love it.

See that extra elastic?  Only a few more sticks of butter in that boy and we might get there.