Painted desert lace shawl

I knit a shawl back in 2002 that had me swearing up and down the beaches of Block Island as I dropped numerous yarnovers and attempted to rip out rows that were 300+ stitches long. It was a beauty, though, and one I wore almost daily for many, many winters. As said shawl has become mangy in the intervening decade-plus, I wanted to make a new one that would preserve its best qualities - a dash of color in the winter, a flexible triangle shape for various drapings and knottings - but without all the vacation cussing. 

And so, here is the Painted Desert Lace Shawl!

I saw this on display at Webs and decided to have a go at it in a different colorway. It was easy to knit (although I thought I was knitting up and not down for most of the project! Luckily this did not matter...) and the yarn was a pleasure to work with. The yarn softened up nicely in the washing and straightened up well for the blocking. With my sole skein, I was able to knit the shawl exactly as described and pictured. My only concerns are that I have some curling at the edges where I cast off and I wish it were a bit bigger, since it's a tad bit short to knot it in the back after draping the point down my back and bringing it around the front. 

Ready for winter now but happy to wait several months for its arrival!

Pintucks, voile, et a whole lotta flowers

There was a time in the late 80s when I owned a LOT of floral clothing. I had a navy floral mini-skirt, a beige floral jumper (remember those?!), and a Liberty-type button-down floral shirt that I bought in France with my bourgeois host mother's approval. 

Now it's been awhile and I found myself gazing longingly at the floral-patterned view of Simplicity 2365. The sewists of Pattern Review rather liked this one, and it seemed promising to me for two reasons: pintucks in the front (modern! on trend!) and roll-up sleeves with tabs (practical! yet something new to sew!).

After my big birthday, I decided to treat myself to some delicious fabric. This here is Budquette in Nightfall voile from the Emmy Grace collection by Bari J Ackerman for Art Gallery Fabric. What a mouthful! Let's just call it yummy voile for short. The fabric is amazing - super-soft, completely forgiving to sew with with, intricately patterned. Enough to make a girl who hasn't worn florals in a long, long time stop and think...why not?

About the pintucks. If you've never sewn them before, you should! But you must practice first. I was so much better the second time that I had to go back and rip out all five pintucks from the first time...which I was only able to bring myself to do at the very end, when it was twice as hard. Here's what I learned: don't attempt to mark the full pintuck lines on the fabric because it's $%#@ impossible. You're better off making a little snip at the top where the line begins, and a chalk mark at the end. Then, if you're using a thin fabric like this one, you can just fold the fabric in place and sew. But here's where I messed up. You need to sew seriously near the fold - as close as you can get without going over the edge. I used the inside hole of my presser foot as the guide, keeping the edge of the fold at the other end of the view hole while I sewed. If you make your pintucks too deep as I did at first, you get a terrible pooch at the bottom by your tummy. Don't do it! Though I regret not having photographed my botched job for your amusement.

This top fits great in a size 6 (I'm back to making the smallest size I see after my last mishap), although the voile is a bit lightweight which discourages its flowing seamlessly over the bum.

My Turn: Schoolhouse Tunic

Everyone and her auntie has made the Schoolhouse Tunic, and now it's my turn. My sis got me the pattern a few years ago when I started to make tunics, leggings and boots my teaching uniform. While I've found a few good narrow-wale corduory tunics on sale at Boden, I really want to make my own great ones. How hard can it be, right? My standard favorite has been the Lisette Portfolio tunic but I still find it challenging to identify patterns that make this great garment the way it should be - close-fitting, flattering, long-sleeved, and tush-concealing. On the latter point, I want to be more specific: absolutely no visible derrière, but also no fabric bunched up above said location.

I chose some koi voile in plum by Rashida Coleman-Hale, which features many of my new and old favorite colors: navy (new to me this year), fuschia (beloved since second grade) and puce/chartreuse (wonderful but hard to purchase accurately since I mostly shop online). What a winning combo! The deep colors offset the sheer nature of the fabric in a great way. For some reason until now I've mostly purchased voile and lawn in very light shades.

Having just been burned by sewing a too-small sleeveless top, I tried to be unstinting with my true size and made the 6/8. It fits like a small pup tent. But doesn't it look great on the hanger?