Report from the sewing doldrums

Breaking your right thumb is pretty bad for the sewing output. I wasn't able to trace for a few weeks, or cut with scissors, which has been rather annoying. However, I could knit with a broken thumb, phew! See my luxurious new mitred square blanket

 I could also bake - not so good for the waistline......
Here is my broken garment sewing to go with the last dregs of my broken thumb.

Once upon a time, these were last years' most favoured winter pyjamas (cotton flannel, RTW), that had mysteriously shortened in all lengths over the summer . However, due to the peculiarities of growth, they were still exactly the same relative dimension to the wearer in girth.

I added them to a nearly unworn windcheater, suffering from the same relative dimension changes, but fortunately having started out as a rather long-in-the-body style, and have made this year's most favoured winter pyjamas with very little effort, and a side benefit of a glow of thrift!


The original sleeves were slashed to made the new sleeve insert - added to the windcheater at a similar section of the sleeve, and the appliqued motifs on the front.The original pyjama shirt back and fronts turned into double folded cuffs for the pyjama trousers.

There was also some rotary cutter friendly + already traced pattern sewing.
Here are multiple pairs of yoga pants for different members of the household? 

 

Jalie 2215 in wicking polartech 100 ? powderdry with fold over waistbands from wardrobe culled t shirts and/or cotton lycra. I have sewn these so the waistband seam has enclosed edges on both sides to minimize chafing. The district rep. cross country runner in the family was not available for modelling, but she wants another few pairs. Dull, dull, dull, but terribly Useful and Practical.

I know, doldrum sewing - yawn.
Quick, I will show you some more knitting.

Lovely warm socks. I have not been completely craftless.



Very soon, there will be dozens of finished objects bursting from the backlog of projects this hiatus has caused. Naturally, being limited in sewing, I have been buying sewing things instead.

This removed the thrift glow fairly quickly and has completely undone my stashbusting streak, but I have decided that guilt has no place in my sewing life. Wait until I show you my Chanel knit boucle! It will make a lovely contrast to boy's pjs.

Emergency hobby progress report

Sometimes getting sewing time is not very easy.
In these circumstances other hobbies come to the fore. Particularly portable hobbies that will  fit in the handbag whilst a work in progress.









 
I am missing sewing

Deadline December: The seaweed scarf

This is the scarf of doom. I have been knitting it on and off, mostly off, since March.

It looks rather innocent and easy here, doesn't it?
That would be deceptive.
This scarf started out as a strip of stocking stitch, straight from a pattern for a tube like scarf that my mother admired, and had asked me to make for her from this rather slippery yarn,(it has attached sequins) (jo Sharp Lumina - viscose and cotton strands loosely plied).
Unfortunately, she did not like the scarf once I had finished it, due to the curling edges inevitable with a stocking stitch scarf. Being a kind mother, she placed the scarf around her neck and pretended that she would wear it, but I could tell it was destined for the bottom drawer.
I ripped it from her neck and sat her in front of a knitting magazine or two.
She found a scarf that she liked, but it was in an advertisement, not a pattern.
Airily, I said "oh, I'm sure I can work that out" and started ravelling the first scarf.
The yarn did not like being ravelled. It formed a kinky tangled mess. After some fiddling, I worked out that if I knit straight from the unravelling scarf, rather than trying to form a ball with the yarn, knitting was easier - if rather bulky to transport.
I made up my own pattern.
Here it is

Cast on 25 stitches using cable cast on.
First row: Knit
Second row: Cast on 4 stitches, cable cast on, turn work, cast off 4 stitches, knit to end.
Repeat second row to lenght of scarf desired. Occasionally cast on 5 stitches, cast off 4, or cast on 3, cast off 4, to make the edges a little wavy. Every so often, return to the 25 stitch row count, and have the last 3 rows at 25 stitches to balance the scarf.
Cast off last row.
2 and 1/2 balls of Lumina, 4.0mm needles

Caution: There are 9 swimming lessons, 2 Miss Marple Movies and 1 Terry Pratchet movie in the making of this scarf - I suppose multi-tasking is the advantage of knitting over sewing.

Burda Style 04-2010-117, Merino rib knit cardigan

I am patting myself on the back about the thriftiness of this cardigan. Other aspects of the cardigan are not quite up to patting status.
It is made from merino rib knit left over from making a man's long sleeve t shirt - one arm is pieced but this does not seem terribly noticable.
The pattern is from Burda Style 04-2010-117.
There is an excellent review of this pattern here, and another one about how to draft a knit binding for the cardigan here, both by Mary Nanna (I am not really stalking you, it is just a coincidence that I am mentioning you in every post)
Unfortunately, I did not follow the excellent advice in these reviews, and in Burda's sewing lesson, to stabilize the seams. I was feeling far too lazy to cut bias strips of interfacing, and gambling that rib knit would be more stable at the armholes that a jersey. This gamble has almost paid off - I did stabilize the shoulder seams, and the armscye seams and side seams are not too stretchy. However,you may notice that I have changed the neckline and front binding from a woven, as shown in the magazine, to a coverstitch applied knit binding - and did not stabilize before application. This was not successful. The rib knit is extremely stretchy, and although I took pains to avoid any tension on the binding as it was applied, the binding attachment had other ideas - see that curling edge at the front?
I waved this at my daughter, complaining loudly about the perfidy of the coverstitch machine and how I hated unpicking the darstardly multi thread stitching, and was instantly relieved of the cardigan. No, she did not want a new binding, No, she did not want heavy buttons on one side and a weight in the hem on the other. No one, she said, would notice the curling edge - except for those who read sewing blogs. Hmmm.





I have made the sleeve a little wider on the right, to accomodate the cast, but this will be easily adjusted to fit once the cast comes off.
I actually made the cardigan to co-ordinate with a scarf I knit for her. I like the scarf more than the cardigan, but the cardigan will be very useful.


I have written more about the infinity scarf here.

June Capsule, Vogue 8305 top and scarf

Elizabeth (ejvc) of Stitcher's Guild fame has put up the website for the June Capsule contest , and I am so slow, that I have not yet posted about the other 2 items in my entry. I promise this is the last gasp about my June Capsule. This top is Vogue 8305, made with a fabulously cosy wool jersey knit from Gorgeous Fabrics. It is slubby on the outside, and has a very soft hand. For the top, I have lowered the neck slightly, and made some fitting changes, including eliminating the back zip. I have reviewed this top at patternreview, when I made a rayon jersey version.
I am really pleased with my accessory, I originally made this wrap/scarf to wear with a silk jersey dress that I made in May, and was very pleased to find that it co-ordinated with my capsule fabrics. I had 3 balls of "velvet ribbon" yarn that I bought because I loved the texture and colour. I have lightened the colour of this photograph in the hope that you can see the texture, the real shade is a deep purplish burgundy that I think looks good with the more red tones of the knit tops, and perfectly matches one of the colours in the wrap top. I used 12mm needles and cast on around 40 stitches, and knit in garter stitch until I ran out of yarn. This scarf is light and warm to wear and very soft. My daughters keep stealing it.
My photographer was also acting as my stylist. She really likes this shot, and kindly lent me her glasses! Apologies to 60's style icons.