Try Again!

 Ah, Simplicity 3506. I'm still uncertain if I like you, or just tolerate you. I thought the first one I made was the white one (seen in the last part of the second post (now third, since this post will be part of that chain). It was the the second? The blue and white one was the first? I don't even know where the white one is now.  It was a little stiff. The blue and white one I do like (I have a pair of earrings that match perfect) but it's a little small now. When I got the pattern out, I thought the blue and white one was the last one I made so I did some enlarging of the pattern. Then I remembered about the dress, which does fit me (I think--I don't reach for it a lot and I made it during the summer I was training for a vacation that was going to include a lot of hiking).  

The fabric is some OLD cotton I bought when I was still pretty new to sewing. I made Megan a dress, summer of 2010. She picked out the fabric. Then I made myself a top, in 2015. I don't know where that top is now either. It is a very light cotton, but not flowy drapey like rayon or polyester. I knew I was pushing my luck by doing Simplicity 3506--it really should be fluid fabric so the shoulder gathers will drape nicely. 

It stands out a bit due to the cotton.

I made bias binding, double fold, I think I cut it 2" wide. I shortened the V neck because the blue one had issues, but  I don't think I needed to with this one. The ties kind of sit weird, but look at that cute bow! 

I did a nice job with the armholes, even though they're just turned under 5/8". 

Still had troubles with getting the gathers in the exact right spot. I don't think that's the issue with the fold of fabric inside of the armhole. I think it's just because the design is meant to sit over the shoulder edge. 

I think it'll be cute with the one pair of white shorts I have, and the bright green pants I have that I don't wear because I'm afraid they are going to fall apart because I've worn them so much. Other than the shorts, I'm not sure if I have anything to wear with it!

One thing I did this time, after learning my lesson on the blue shorts, is I serged all the pieces before starting assembly. It didn't take too long! It'll mean I can easily take in seams (because I'm definitely NOT letting seams out). I'm making this a new habit now. 

Red Scarf number 3, 456...

 Probably not that high, but it feels like all I knit is red scarves. Well, that's pretty much all I do knit, with the exception of the white cardigan. I was looking at a crochet dress pattern but I don't seem to have appropriate yarn (unbelievable but true). 

Here's another scarf, inspired by the thick and thin ribbed one from the last red scarf post.  

It's a really basic ribbing, 1x1, but with a little twist!

It's a little hard to see, but it's one row of each of the two yarns. One row thick, slide back to the start. One row thin. Turn. One row thick, slide back, one row thin. Super easy!!

When I hung it up for the photos, it seemed to have a hole, but it's just where the thin yarn had been pulled tight across a few stitches.

The texture is really cool. When it's relaxed, it almost has a crocheted feel because the thin yarn retreats an the thick yarn doesn't have anything to hold the stitches tight and in their proper shape. Add some tension, and you can see the stitch definition better.  This scarf took 89 grams.

Yarn In:  0 grams

Yarn Out: 89gr + 1756gr = 

Balance:  1845 gr more OUT than in

Costs:  $0

Harper Cardigan #2

 Earlier this year I posted about my sewing spree which included a grey Harper cardigan which I absolutely love. So I made a second one, which I also love but isn't as practical. 

Looks practical, sort of dressier, good for work, right? Well...I wear too many patterned tops!!

On both cardigans I followed an idea I saw in a FB group, to lower the pockets and sew into the bottom and front bands. I love it! No worrying about lining it up straight and the band helps somewhat to prevent saggy pocket syndrome. More so on this one than the grey one, which stretches out if you even just look at it.

The fabric is a stable knit, with an interesting texture on the front and has a built in lining which is stitched to the outer fabric where the three little holes are, to create the texture. I used it years ago for a dress for Megan and she really liked it. 

I really like this cardigan, but it's not getting worn much! Why can't I wear solids?!

New Life

 Many years ago I made a beautiful brown lace tank top. It was such an indulgence for me, but it just didn't work out for me. At some point I gave it to Lucy, because she had a pair of brown pants. Recently, she actually wore it to work! I was so happy!

She didn't really want to pose and be on the blog, but how could I not?

I now the pictures are a little fuzzy, but she wasn't as excited as she was when she was 8. The most interesting thing I noticed though, is that she had it on inside out! I looked for the shoulder seams, and there were none. I'm not surprised I grafted the shoulders, but it still looked good around the armholes and neckline. She really thought this was the right side.

It looks so good on her! I'm so thrilled she's wearing it, even if it's inside out!

Sequoia Shorts

 I don't wear shorts a lot but I like having a few basic pairs.  I know I need to sew some Sequoia pants (by Itch to Stitch) soon, but the ones I currently have are a bit snug. The paper pattern has been adjusted here and there, and my initial print job was terrible (accidentally printing on paper that I had printed another pattern on the other side). I thought it was time to re-print and start fresh. Shorts would be a great way to refine the pattern without the fabric commitment of pants (I mean, I'm pretty short, so it's not THAT much of a fabric commitment but you know what I mean). 

These are made of the same fabric as the Sequoia pants I made. I love those pants, but they're a smidge tight and I think there's a stain on one thigh. I wear them a lot. 

When I make the pants, I don't do the back pocket. I do the cargo pockets on pants but since the shorts don't have those, I thought I should add the back pocket. I narrowed it in a bit. I believe the pattern uses the same size pocket for all sizes and I just thought I could do with a bit narrower of a pocket.

I made the inside of the self-drafted yoga band waist with power mesh. However, the band is a little too big for it to have any actual effect. I had done this on the skirts I made last year and liked it, but those were not self drafted, and they were much more snug. The power mesh is also very slippery!  I added a narrow elastic which I sewed to the seam allowance of the top of the waistband. 

I love these shorts, though I felt they could be a little bit longer--just an inch or two. Mainly because in my truck, I have leather seats and no air conditioning. I decided to make a blue pair. I do have a pair of blue linen shorts but they're cute and shorter. I think I used the same fabric as the blue Sequoia pants that I made, but I'm not sure because as I was putting away the left over, I found even more blue cotton-ish fabric and these actually feel a bit more crisp.

I laid them out and it seemed like I had enough. I cut the fronts, not on the fold, but with the fabric folded. I had folded it only enough for the fronts so then I opened it for the backs and cut the first back. And then went to cut the second back and uh...it wasn't long enough!

My first thought was I could draft a back yoke. Then I came to my senses, and carefully laid the pattern piece down, trying to get as much length as I could. It ended up being only 1/4" too short. I had made the other pieces about 1.25" longer than the pattern, so I was still going to have a pair slightly longer than the grey ones.

It was all going really well, until I tried them on, before adding the waist. I had some doubts about what size I had made for the grey pair as I could see marks from the tracing wheel on the smaller size in some places. When I tried them on, I decided the back thighs needed to lose about 1/2" from the hip down as they were pushing the seam outwards. Because there's the pockets on the front and I didn't want to lose any pocket width, I started to take apart the side seam. Then I realized I had serged the seam allowances together! I was not about to take out the serging, so I opted to just re-stitch the seam about 1/4" smaller from near the bottom of the pocket and be done with it.

I put together the waistband (taking off about 1/2" from each end of each piece) and went to sew it on. I got about 3" serged to the shorts and I realized I hadn't added the elastic! I unpicked what I had sewn. Of course, I had none, other than narrow elastic and I prefer something wider. I also realized I hadn't done the drawstring holes! Then I realized that I had actually been sewing the waistband to the shorts upside down! I had serged the inside and the outside bands together along the top. Previously, I had also serged, or basted the bottom, to make it easier to catch all edges when adding to the body. I just wasn't paying attention!

I found this bias tape that I had made for a pair of shorts for Lucy or Megan, and just stitched it closed to make a drawstring. I'm not sure I'm all that keen on it, though I think it's actually the waistband colour I'm not fond of. I went to Wal-Mart and got some wide, non roll elastic, and got these finished last night.

Ohhhh, the snaps. The snaps that made me get a new iron LOL. I had my big bag of snaps on my ironing board. I don't have any dark blue ones, just royal blue which had the Captain America (I think) symbol on them. I knew these were not a match (and are actually more teal that I realized), but they have a My Little Pony on them, so I had to. I rarely tuck my shirts in and probably won't because the waistband doesn't match all that well, so it's just a little secret I'll have.

I'm debating adding a loop for clipping keys to, or a small snap pocket on the front. Also, I now have 2 different puffers, and I think I need a little pouch with a clip for the "rescue" inhaler. 

I LOVE these shorts too. A bit more body than the grey ones, they fit amazing. They do however, attract lint! They also remind me a little of a Girl Guides uniform, but that's fine. Classic and long lasting!

Updated with another photo! 

This is the striped T-shirt I made back in my spring sewing spree. (Itch to Stitch "Kashi"). I quite like it, though the blue did bleed in the armpits!

All You Need is.....Red

 Red, red, red.  I don't know what I'm going to do when I run out of red yarn. Yes, there's other charities to knit for, though one local just posted that some items aren't required for awhile. 

This one I worked on while taking Megan to Thunder Bay; 2 day road trip and a flight home.  96gr

Above--two basic rib stitch scarves, 125gr and 110gr.

Below:  This one is the most recent, it went to Calgary/Banff with me. It's a two yarn brioche/slip rib. It was kind of tricky to set up since it's done flat, on one circular needle. 85gr

One side has the thin yarn as the knit stitches, and you can see the thick yarn being carried

The other side, you basically see only the thick yarn's knit stitches.

Makes for an interesting reversible fabric. You're basically knitting a 4 row pattern:

Row 1--thick yarn, knit every other stitch, slip the purl stitches

Row 2--slide stitches back to tip, use thin yarn and work the purl stitches, slip the thick knits

Row 3--Turn, work the purl stitches with thick yarn and slip the thin knits

Row 4--slide back to tip, use thin yarn to knit the thin knits and slip the thick purls.

It took awhile to post these because I washed the ribbed ones, and there was something in the load that left fuzz all over them. I finally got a sweater shaver and now they look okay.

Currently working on a ribbed one that one row thick yarn, one row thin yarn--again, on circular needles so I can slide the work back as needed. It has a very interesting texture! Almost a crocheted look.

Still haven't bought yarn. Thought I might on our family trip but I was out voted when it came time to choose free time LOL

Yarn In:  0 grams

Yarn Out: 416gr + 1340gr =1756gr

Balance:  1756 gr more OUT than in

Costs:  $0

Crochet Mesh Beachside Cardigan

 I like cardigans. You might have noticed if you've read this blog before. Long, short, knit, sewn, crocheted...doesn't matter. My big trouble is that I tend to go with patterned fabric, or multi coloured yarns and then struggle with creating outfits because I also have a lot of patterned tops. And even some bottoms.

I need a white cardigan. Years ago I made a "white" Bill King cardigan on the standard gauge knitting machine. It's nice--boxy, unusual, very light. However, I'm not fond of the back, and, it's not white. It's a lovely soft white. I need crisp, cold white.

I looked in my stash and debated between an unknown high twist smooth white yarn and a slubby coned yarn. I went with the slubby yarn. I've used it for a few small things, but there is a LOT of this yarn.

I was debating between two different mesh crochet patterns from Inspirations. I went with the Crochet Mesh Beachside Cardigan. Yarnspirations Link  and Ravelry Link. I liked how it looks like the cane mesh material used in the backs of old chairs. 

I swatched quite a bit, using two strands and different hook sizes to get gauge. I used 4.00mm and 4.5mm. The first swatch was too small so I tried again and could not get the second row to line up right. Kept at it and it finally clicked. Use the video linked in the pattern.

I made size Large. It took so long to do one row of the X stitch. It did get a bit faster but each stitch just requires several steps. The height builds faster. It's hard to decide if a simple double crochet mesh wouldn't have been easier, but I do like how this pattern is just a bit more unique than a simple double crochet! 

When it came time to separate for the arms, I did not do as the pattern said. Instead of 11 X stitches for each front, I used 14 X stitches. This made the back smaller.  It wouldn't have worked easily to do a full bust adjustment with short rows, like you might with single crochet or a simple knit pattern, but at least my front pieces would fit better and the back wouldn't be too baggy. 

One thing to note--the diagram showing the front armhole and neck shpaing do NOT show the straight rows after finishing the neck shaping. I had to go back and add two rows to each front. I ended with 7 X stitches on each front.

I made the size L sleeves, with no adjustments. 

I think this is the most shaped crochet piece I've done! I'm really pleased with how it all went together!!

Hubby was starting to annoy me with the photos LOL.

I'm wearing it today, and Lucy (now 22), said it's a very trendy design! 

I really like this cardi, though the sleeves could be one or two rows longer. 

There's only one issue.

It's not WHITE-white. 

Yarn In:  0 grams

Yarn Out: 230gr + 1110gr = 1340gr

Balance:  1340 gr more OUT than in

Costs:  $0

Welding Cap Woes!

 My youngest went to college to study welding. When she wanted a fancy welding cap for her birthday in November, I realized this was a perfect sewing opportunity! I've made hats! Surely I could do this!

I started with a free tutorial with some badly sketched pattern pieces that you're supposed to print at different percentages based on how big you want it. I'm not even going to try to find the link for that one, but I think I did manage to make a Christmas cap. 

Her birthday cap did not get delivered in time, so this was a fun substitute for the last few weeks of classes before the winter break. In retrospect, it was probably the best fitting one, except she didn't like the bit of extra fabric at the top of the head. Apparently this is a common issue.

This one somehow ended up very small. Like, for a child. I messed up the band, but I don't know why the rest of it was too small.

I'm not sure what the issue was with this one! Yes, I could  have done better pattern matching at the front seam on the band, but I was dealing with scraps. 

 I think these ones were 4 panels, so I thought a pattern for six panels would have more contouring. I found one on Etsy that even said it wouldn't cause "dome head."

I was not thrilled with the pattern. Instead of separate pattern pieces for different sizes, you use different seam allowances. Megan's head did not really fit in the chart. It indicated she should have several inches of ease, which she thought was absurd. We also misinterpreted "high crown" vs "low crown". I also made some silly mistakes. Each version seemed to be getting worse.

This one ended up a bit too big.

I liked this one but it's a bit loose and comes up too high. She was confused about low vs high crown.

This is the winner cap!

I think that this is the inside of the teal/brown hat. 

There was a horse fabric hat too....and a blue and white damask that was way too shallow....

Here's the details, mainly so I can remember, but someone else might find it helpful.

Head=22 1/4"   Sew with a 5/8" seam allowance which means 23" finished size (supposedly).

Band cut 24" x 3.5".  This barely left any extra in the seam allowance to close the band--not the inch like that pattern says. Changed band so it's 2 1/4" at front, 2 3/4" at back" (is this the finished width?), sew on with 3/8" seam. This gave her more length at the back. Her head seems a little shallow. 

I really struggled with sewing the sides to the middle, and matching the top seam. I think I switched to sewing the top seam with 5/8" instead of 1/2".

Step 7 in the pattern doesn't mention turning the band right sides out, but do it.

Next time, taper the band seam so it's narrower at the bottom by 1/8". It was sticking out a bit but she says it's better after being washed again.

These were made with quilter's cotton and the special one we ordered was more like a twill. I'm going to try to find some twill, but what I've found is boring solids.