10 posts tagged “sewing”
Been a few months, hasn't it? I'd love to say that I've been doing a ton of knitting and sewing, but well, I just haven't. Those who are on my LJ friendslist know why... I've been working on a rather important and time-consuming WIP that I anticipate having done in early September. (The 6th, to be precise.)
In the last few months, I've been making my way back to sewing, though, and more recently to knitting. I've made a few sets of footed pajamas for Little R using this pattern and some boxers for Mr. Wee and Mr. G using this one (well, for Mr. G I used the adult pattern, but it's the same as the kids' pattern save for the sizing.) I'm making a pair of socks for Mr. G to replace the last pair, which he wore straight through, and a sweater for the baby (ok, to be fair, I haven't actually started the baby's sweater, but I have the pattern, the yarn, and the needles, so I have done everything but start!)
I've also joined Ravelry in the last couple of days and am mrsg there just as I am here. I'm about the least interesting knit/craft blogger out there and I don't have nearly half the output of most people on there, but it seems like a fun toy at the very least. And that's about it here (though I think it's probably enough...)
The problem with having a knitting/sewing/crafting blog when you're a full-time working mom of two kids is that it moves slower than molasses -- I so rarely get time to finish anything worth posting about!
Like these pajamas. They're the most basic of basic - made from poly fleece (the green is just regular fleece like you'd find in JoAnn's or wherever; the red is 100wt microfleece that I actually do think I got at JoAnn's a year or two ago but that my local locations at least have stopped stocking) and poly-cotton ribbing, they're not super exciting. The sets took me about 3 hours apiece start to finish, and had to be made urgently this weekend since Mr. Wee (the taller of the two) has a "Valentine's Day Pajama Party" to go to at preschool this coming week.
You can tell my son is in a class of mostly girls when he comes home squeeing about a pajama party and insisting he MUST have a new set of pajamas for this exciting event. :)
The next thing I've been working on has been this Domokun sweater that is taking me for-ev-er to knit. I have learned that intarsia and I don't get along (well, truly I have learned that it is more effort than I am willing to put into it and therefore that my intarsia comes out looking sloppy.) This is the second time I've used this chart (which I cribbed from Brennx0r's Domokun DS Case pattern) and the second time I've had tension issues and holes. Honestly, colorwork is not my thing to begin with (I'm a big fan of solid color items and using texture for interest rather than color,) so I'm about ready to abandon it. Not the sweater but rather the technique -- Mr. Wee would be super disappointed if I abandoned the sweater, since he's been looking forward to it for some time now. :)
That's all the news that's fit to print right now, I suppose. Hoping to have the sweater done within the next week or so, as I've promised Little R his own top-down raglan (for which he has chosen a particularly retina-searing colorway of Lion Brand Landscapes yarn along with some sort-of-matching Fun Fur... never let the 3-year-old choose yarn is the moral of this story) and then I have other projects planned as well.
I think I should be probably more ashamed than I am that all of my Christmas sewing has been done post-Christmas. Ah, well - at least I'm getting it done before 2007. ;)
I just finished this tote bag, made using SewBaby's Double Duty Bag pattern with some modifications -- I eliminated the row of pockets and used the pattern for the outside of the bag for both outside and inside so it would be truly reversible.
My one regret about these prints is that they don't photograph as well as they look in person -- they really do look wonderful together in real life, but the camera washed out the flowers on the red and made the yellow more yellow-seeming. In reality, both the yellow and the flowers on the red have the same tone, which is much more beige-y gold than bam!yellow or washed out as pictured. I chose these prints because my mother-in-law apparently loves red as much as I do. :)
All in all, this is a good pattern -- well-written, simple, easy to follow. I was finished within four hours of tracing the pattern onto Pattern-Ease, and that's including a break for lunch and several breaks for separating bickering kids/giving hugs/going to the bathroom, etc. Not too bad.
I've bought her some Burt's Bees shower gel for MIL as well (she's very hippie-crunchy) and am about halfway done knitting her a washcloth (red cotton, double seed stitch, certainly nothing fancy or worth its own post) and that will all be her gift. Am making coq au vin, fresh bread, and some kind of cake or quick bread for our belated Christmas with the in-laws tomorrow. Should be fun. :)
This guy is another Wee Wonderfuls toy, from Put-Together Book #2. Fabrics used ran the gamut, including fleece, corduroy home dec fabric, green metallic lame, and silver metallic brocade -- the lame and brocade were purchased at the Denver Fabrics store in Littleton, CO, and the others were from stash. Buttons also from Denver Fabrics.
This represents my first effort at drastically increasing the size of a stuffed toy pattern -- the pattern as written will yield an approx. 10 inch tall toy, and this guy is a good 30 inches tall, the size of a normal-sized pillow. It also represents one of my first efforts at mixing fabrics and colors; I'm not 100% in love with the corduroy (the grey,) but IMO the rest works quite well. All of the facial features are hand embroidered; the control panel was done using the chain stitch on my coverstitch machine. I wish the face photographed better (unfortunately, that brocade is a pain and a half to photograph!) since I'm quite proud of the embroidery. I don't consider hand embroidery to be my strong suit, but I did a good job with this one. :) (The game show host smile was Mr. G's idea, I swear! ;) )
This guy is for Mr. G, and he has been eagerly anticipated since I said I would make it. I finally finished tonight (one day late!) but Mr. G's happiness eclipses my chagrin at being late with his gift. The kids have each asked for their own, but I don't know... at the very least they won't be made of the same fabric. That was... not fun to work with. But at least the end result is cute.
So now I can post to Vox again from work. Hi, Vox! It's nice to be back!
The huge news here, crafty-wise, is that I splurged on a coverstitch machine for myself. I'm in love. More than love, whatever more than love would be when you're talking about sewing machines. It's fantastic, amazing, wonderful, and it has already tangibly improved the garments I make. I made a set of pajamas for each kid the weekend after I got the machine, and if it weren't for the fact that I was too lazy to change the bottom thread on both my serger and the coverstitch to black from white (the pajama tops are black,) they would look completely professional. (I won't be making that mistake again! That white thread disappoints me every time I see it.)
Not much knitting or sewing has gone on beyond that, though -- life got away from me for a bit. We took a family roadtrip to Maine to visit my paternal relatives for Thanksgiving, and then I was home about ten hours before I had to board a plane to Denver, Colorado for a business trip. I brought sock yarn and my Lantern Moon dpns, with the intention of using them to make a pair of socks for my four-year-old son (who is quickly outgrowing the socks I just made him a few months ago, ack!) but somehow never made the time.
I say "somehow" but really I mean I was having too much fun hanging out with someone I met up with there...
So now I am back and life is back to normal (whatever that is,) and I'm lining up projects for the weekend and my upcoming vacation. I've lined up fabric and pattern for a robot (from Put Together Book # 2) I'm planning to make for Mr. G for Christmas. I do have one or two other plans (knitting mostly,) but I'm not at liberty to share them here. I don't know who reads this, and I'd hate to spoil Christmas surprises. ;)
Spent the morning finishing the light blue sweatshirt, which I had actually started almost a year ago for my older son. The double needle was giving me fits with the hem, so I threw it in project limbo and then there was last Christmas and I forgot about it. Was digging through there wondering, "Is there anything I can get out of this bag, either by finishing or disposal?" and my hand hit this top. It was done save for the hem, and the neckline was flawlessly done if I do say so myself, so I hated to throw it out. I salvaged the hem eventually, though it's still not as neat and perfect as I would like. I figure, he's 2, neatness is not really a part of his image.
The Spongebob top was a result of a promise I made the other night that if the boys would clean off the dining room rable (which doubles as my cutting table, as well as being the staging area for the Thomas the Tank Engine universe chez G,) I would sew sweatshirts for them. The baby's was quite handily covered by the mostly-done exiled sweatshirt, but the older boy needed a new one. He chose some Spongebob soccer print fleece from my stash (very opportune, as he starts soccer next week and is thrilled about it) and I threw together a hoodie for him from that.
I've got one sleeve on Samantha about 20% done. The end is in sight!
Was thinking "Where in the world did my weekend go?" until I realized I got quite a bit done; aside from some food porn (Indian dinner of chicken in tomato curry, roti, and gulab jamun, and homemade sticky buns) I also got a fair bit of sewing and knitting done. First was Little R's kitty, also made from the Wee Wonderfuls Put-Together Book:
I really do love this pattern. And of course, since I can't do something the same way more than once (a constant frustration with Mr. G and my cooking -- I can't tell you how many times "what did you do different with this recipe this time?" is answered with "I don't know") I changed a few things about how I did this one from the last. First, I made the decision to omit the button placket from the kitty pattern since it would have obscured the rocket design in the fabric Little R chose for the kitty body. Second, I switched to using a rotary cutter to cut out the pieces, and ZOMG I wish someone had told me (OK, really I wish I had listened, as Mr. G DID tell me) how much easier and more even that would make my cutting. Now I want to just cut stuff out because I can. Cutting -- it's not just for emo kids any more! And last, I took a hint from my garment-making experience and clipped the mother-loving heck out of the seam allowances prior to turning the kitty right side out. I don't think I can overstate what a difference that made in terms of getting my corners sharp and curves smooth. All in all, a technical improvement, though I do prefer the retro-hip look of the kitty with the button placket. Oh, and I changed out the quilting fabric for some flannel, which made the whole thing easier to work with overall. Almost forgot that.
I also did a little knitting exercise. Mr. G gave me this picture:
(By the way, does anyone else have the same gutter mind I do? I thought this was a very unfortunate picture. :) ) Anyway, Mr. G asked if I knew how to make this guy into a knitted object, so I grabbed my dpns and some two-stranded acrylic puke yarn I had lying around and went to town:
The third leg is obviously behind him; there's a 3/4 view in my photos that shows all three legs. Not too bad if I do say so myself, and Mr. G was very happy with the result. The top is a simple dome (think very small hat started from the top,) the arms are done using short rows, and the stitches are divided in thirds at the bottom and the legs are worked individually. I stuffed him as I went, and I'm glad I did; there was a tiny hole at the juncture of all three legs (watch Mrs. G try not to say "alien crotch") but no way could I have stuffed the whole thing through that. Am somewhat considering making a larger version out of some non-eyelash yarn so I can actually see what it looks like and tweak the idea somewhat, but that's in the "maybe someday" pile.
Am off work today so will be putting in some serious time on Samantha. Maybe more pictures later if I make enough progress that it looks like I've done something other than just watch Jerry Springer. :D
Mr. G remarked that since I started watching Project Runway again, I've been more into sewing - and more into finishing, specifically. Possibly true, though I think it's just too hot to knit right now for one thing, and I hadn't sewn for a while prior to starting the skirt I made recently, so I also think this is just part of the normal pendulum where I switch from one craft to another periodically. He is right that I'm more into finishing and making sure what I make comes out looking handmade as opposed to homemade. I iron the living heck out of everything these days, it seems.
So what did I do this weekend? These:
The kitty was put together using the Wee Wonderfuls Kitty-Bunny-Bear Put-Together Book. Not for abject beginners, as it doesn't include a lot of the details you'd need to know if you'd never sewn before; but it was easy enough for me to use and follow, so you don't need to be a super-professional, either. I liked this -- I like how it came out, I liked that it went together very quickly, and I have so many ideas now for what I'll do with the next one. (A little hint to anyone considering making one of these -- buy some Stitch Witchery and use it to tack on the pieces like the collar and the facial features which are sewn on, then do the stitching. They'll stay in place so much better!)
Here's Mr. Wee and his kitty:
The three boys were bickering over the kitty all evening. I see at least two more kitties in my future!
And I made this for Little R, since he specifically requested a brown shirt with a yellow pocket:
I used the Kwik Sew's Sewing for Children t-shirt pattern for this, since it hasn't failed me yet. I deliberately made it a little too big for him, in the hopes that he'd be able to wear it for a while -- he's been eating us out of house and home lately so I think he's getting ready to grow. And here it is on my darling boy himself:
I also got a bit of work done on Mr. G's squid hat, but not enough to really post a picture of. I finished the tentacle that was unfinished in the last picture I posted, and am ready to pick up stitches to start another. 3 tentacles down.... 7 to go. ugh. All this for a hat that is impractical at best! This is how you know I love Mr. G.
I was delayed 3 hours leaving St. Louis last week, and then the flight was a good 2 hours -- enough to let me get the heel turned on Mr. G's sock. I think it's a bit loud myself, but he assures me he likes the colors and is eager to wear the socks this autumn.
Here's a view of the sock-in-progress; there's a shot that's more true to color (but unfortunately darker -- my flash seems to wash out the colors somewhat) in my photos as well.
Other than this, I've been woefully neglecting my knitting. Seems that I've gotten into a habit of "warm weather is for sewing, cold weather is for knitting," which bodes ill for all of the holiday gifts I've set myself up to knit for people. (I do realize not everything needs to be knit, but I still haven't come off the high of how well my knitted gifts went over last Christmas...) I do have on my agenda for the day to see if I can secure another roll of Malden Mills Windpro fleece to make fall jackets for all of us. I see the boys in hoodies (Mr. G, too, probably) and myself in something a little more constructed. We'll see if I can pull that off. I still have a jacket that's all cut and ready to be sewn sitting around, too. Suppose I ought to work on that as well, though I think I may scrap the wide-wale cord I originally envisioned it in for something a little funkier. (Thankfully, I got the cord on clearance, so it's not a huge waste!)
I got this bright idea to use this account as a proto-crafting blog... kind of a crafting blog but without all that yucky blog design that I so completely suck at. Believe me, if I could make a blog out of string or fabric, it would be a very different story! (Also a very different world...)
On to the works-in-progress (WIPs):
This is a squid hat I started eons ago for Mr. G, as modeled by my lovely (but sadly headless) dressform, Mathilda. You would think with as reasonably simple as this is (it's a series of domes and tubes) it would be a quick knit. The problem is, with as reasonably simple as it is, it's also a boring knit. Which is why it is not done yet.
This is the first sock from the second pair of toe-up socks for Mr. G in Trekking XXL. This poor little guy has fallen victim to there being too many other whiz-bang cool knitting projects around right now. Like this one:
This is what I've spent the vast majority of my knitting time doing in the past... couple of months. It's way more work and way more time than I thought it would be, but it is really an enjoyable and rewarding knit, so I'm not complaining. If I had to complain, I would say the only disadvantage is that it's way less portable than socks...
And then I've also been sewing:
This is a poly-blend crepe tailored skirt I made for myself, also modeled by Mathilda. In the picture, the hem isn't finished, but I finished it this morning. The skirt is gorgeous. Bliss. Exactly what I wanted, perfect drape, perfect feel, perfect fit.
