Monday, November 21, 2011

Finished: Kaide





I finally finished Kaide

Sunday, November 13, 2011

WIP: Anhinga

As soon as I finished knitting Kaide (It's blocking and taking FOREVER to dry. I've even used a blow-dryer.) I cast on for Anhinga.


I'm using Lana Grossa Carezza. It is gorgeous, shimmery and glides right through my fingers. The endless stockinette is a welcome reprieve from the constant cabling I've been doing.

You know what I should be working on? These:

Tangled Yoke Pullover - in need of buttons since '08!
Brocade Socks - single since '07

My Ravelry projects page was looking pretty sparse, so I decided to dig through boxes and drawers to find all of my knitting works-in-progress. There are quite a few things that have been wrongfully abandoned - including single socks. I LOVE handknit socks. Anyway, I'll be finishing up a variety of knits and featuring them here. 

Yeah, yeah. I'm working on my Clovers. I fixed one thing and made another much worse. My latest round of alterations resulted in a huge back dart. I'm figuring it out. Slowly.


Friday, November 11, 2011

Clover: Rounds 2 & 3

I'm just about done posting pictures of my bottom half in tight pants. Don't worry!

This isn't my first time sewing pants. I've made jeans. But non-stretch jeans are significantly different than stretchy cigarette pants. These have been really tough to fit mainly because of my muslin fabric choices.


Round 2 was sewn up in mystery material from Joann's that I swear had something about "reversible jeggings" on the fabric bolt. It's the stretchiest of stretchy material and so incredible comfortable. I have enough left over to make these leggings once this Clover business is over with.

Anyway, I altered the pattern by doing a full butt adjustment and took out 1" horizontally from the front and back pieces. I also brought the legs in quite a bit. When I first tried these on they barely fit, but by the end of the day - yes, I wore them all day - they were perfect! But I still let the legs back out a bit for the final pair. The sides were really bunchy and weird, so I straightened the hip curve just a touch on both pieces.


Oh boy. Round 3 is in periwinkle corduroy with no stretch. I'm not entirely sure why I thought that would be a good idea, but here we are. I'm not even going to show you the back because it reminds me of sausage casings. For this muslin I slashed and spread [more] the back crotch area thinking that I would have some more room for my tush. Not the case! I still have diagonal wrinkles and tightness. Obviously it will look different and better in a stretch fabric, but the extra room is definitely needed. I did another FBA and am hoping for the best. The front crotch is still kind of weird too, but I think if I take in a bit more at the center front seam it will be fixed.

At this point I'm just going to go for it. No more muslins. I've enjoyed the process because I LOVE messing around with fit and patterns, but it's time to move on. I'm still using mustard corduroy, but I also found some cute, stretchy lightweight denim in my stash that I might use up as well.

I've been knitting my little heart out and Kaide is almost finished! The front pieces need to be blocked and then it's just seaming and the collar that's left. Hooray! So expect to see some exciting stuff here in the next week.

Wednesday, November 09, 2011

Miss Scarlet

Today I shipped off a couple of dresses that I made for my niece. 


Pattern: OOP New Look - size 4
Mods: I think I just shortened it a bit.
Fabric: suuuper cute quilting cotton; muslin bodice lining



Pattern: Simplicity 2460 - size 4
Mods: None.
Fabric: I have no idea what this is, but I love it. Maybe a cotton/metallic mix? I was able to iron it on warm with a pressing cloth. I bought it a few years ago when I worked at Nuttall's.

 Here are a few other pieces that I've made for her.
Kwik Sew 3665 - Showing off her bloomers!
Simplicity 2684
Kwik Sew 3664

Tuesday, November 08, 2011

Clover: Round 1

I completely missed the sewalong, but now I'm ready to go!




In order to use Colette's fit guide correctly, I needed to figure out my problem areas. The diagonal lines across my butt and pooling underneath indicates that a full butt adjustment is needed. The waist and hips fit great, but the legs are suuuper baggy. I like my pants tight! There were frown lines by my crotch, so I pinched out an inch at the center front seam.


That looks better, right? I'll also do a slight adjustment for my knock knees. I'm still undecided on the length. I think these will be relatively high-waisted and if that's the case then I can wear them with flats. But I mostly think they should be worn with heels. I lengthened the pattern by 2 7/8" and have taken up a 5/8" hem. I think they need to be a touch shorter.

Any thoughts or suggestions?

Wednesday, November 02, 2011

Versatile Blogger!



Lavender of threadsquare kindly tagged me with the Versatile Blogger Award. I've been racking my brain trying to come up with seven things. Here we go:

1. I met my husband when I was 19. I worked at a fishing tackle shop and he needed an ice auger. It was love at first sight.

2. My blog name is misleading. I am a much better knitter than seamstress, but I think it has something to do with the risk factor. In knitting, you can unravel a whole sweater and get that yarn back if things go awry. With sewing there is no looking back and sometimes that scares me.

3. My cat Binks, the Binxiest of all the Binkertons, is one of the great loves of my life.

4. I was born and raised in Utah and almost 30 years later I still haven't made it out. Sure, we go on vacation, but I haven't lived anywhere else. This used to bother me, but I'm proud to say that I've been to all of the state's National Parks multiple times, hiked the Boulder Mountains, fished Causey Reservoir, rock-hounded Topaz Mountain, tagged along on a crane hunt in Vernal and have been everywhere else in between. It's a beautiful state and I'm grateful my husband's hobbies have taken me places I wouldn't have ventured on my own.


5. I love bright colors. Like, I've really had to restrain myself when it comes to home decor, but our house is still pretty saturated. For example, my sewing room is chartreuse. I also love buying loud yarn and fabric, but I mostly wear natural, muted colors. Funny, huh?

6. I have a pretty sick sense of humor and love to laugh. I read web comics daily, have been obsessed with Dibert since I was 12, love funny movies and [good] stand-up comedy.


7. I love to cook! I'm not amazing by any means, but I'll tackle any recipe and love trying new things. Lately we've been eating a lot of carnitas because I've been trying out different variations.

Thanks Lavender! That was really fun. Here are my picks (not new bloggers necessarily, just some of my favorites):

sallieoh
A Good Wardrobe
Grainline
All Dressed Up and Nowhere to Go
Garment House
the wardrobe, reimagined
Ginger Makes...
Sew Well