Monthly Archives: February 2012

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An casual edging for knits

05/02/2012 3:29 am \ 32 Comments \ Carolyn

I used this great edging for some of my latest T-shirts. This is a nice casual look for thin floppy knits that don’t fray very much. It works really well on those fabrics that want to curl up spontaneously… and it’s always a good idea to listen to what the fabric wants to do and work with it rather than struggling to force it into submission…
Firstly, when you cut out the sleeves, cut them about 2.5cm longer than you want, and then slice off this extra length.
(Oh, for the neckline, you have to measure the finished length of the edge of your neckline, and cut out a 2.5cm width strip (with the length going the stretchy way, natch) the same length, plus 2cm for seaming. I didn’t take any photos of the neckline finishing, sorry…. maybe next time 🙂 but it’s essentially the same process from here on)

With right sides together, sew the sleeve seam, and the seam of the strip to form a ring.

Take your sleeve edge strip and fold it wrong sides together in half along its long length, over and enclosing the raw lower edge of the sleeve.

Pin in place.

Using a twin needle on your machine, stitch the strip down, keeping the stitching a perfectly even length from the folded edge.

So, you end up with this, which doesn’t look particularly… wow. In its ironed, just-been-neatly-sewn state. But wait…

…after washing, the raw edge of the knit will curl up nicely, creating a tight little ridge over the stitching.

Then I dyed the T-shirt using iDye in Crimson, which throws the blue stitching into focus. Of course, if you don’t want contrasting top-stitching to show up as a feature on your garment; you must choose a thread colour that is going to blend in with your final colour after dyeing, as I did for my “bat” shirt. In that case, I top-stitched with a black thread, since in that design I wanted the top-stitching to blend in, and the shirt was going to become a deep deep brown. But in this case I like the tiny accent of blue on an otherwise very plain shirt. And the way the raw edge of the edging has curled up and over the lower row of stitching is very pleasing. I think it looks a little bit like piping.

Posted in: Uncategorized \ Tagged: seams, tutorial

Some basics…

04/02/2012 1:35 am \ 30 Comments \ Carolyn

Nothing in this post is write-home-about exciting, but I have been laying down some handy layering basics for the cooler days that will be coming up …. sometime? … 🙂 I’m thinking ahead, to autumn. Planning, you know. Being organised hehehe 🙂

Remember this dress? I put it on recently and my husband announced kindly but firmly that he thought it was weird. His words sounded its death knell. I have put this on once or twice since I made it and each time felt sorta… well yes, now you mention it, weird is exactly the right word. I finally acknowledged that the fabric was wrong for the design, too thick and heavy and with too much body to drape gracefully enough.
My bad. I now know that with a lot of the Pattern Magic 3 designs you do need reeeeally drape-y fabric (hmmm, I think I’ve said that before; once or twice, or ten times…) On the plus side I still like the bodice part of the dress and I had also used the leftovers of the same fabric to make a successful little T-shirt sooooo;
bit of ~~butchery~~ re-fashioning later…

and now we have…
I added waist bands and armbands.

and…

not from the dress, but squeezed from the fabric leftovers …

T-shirt 1: I added waist bands and armbands to the bodice of the dress.

T-shirt 2: dyed with 1/4 tsp iDye in Crimson. I’m very happy with this Tshirt, both its shape and the lovely cranberry colour.

T-shirt 3: dyed along with the “bat” Tshirt in iDye in Brown, then in the leftovers of the iDye Crimson dye-bath of T-shirt 2. I love the tawny port colour it turned out, but there’s something “funny” about the proportions. I wish now I had scooped the neckline a little more than I did. Maybe this will just be an “underneath cardis and jumpers” kind of a Tshirt…

Tshirt 4: the first T-shirt made from the leftovers after the dress, using the same fabric and the same pattern as these other T-shirts, and it hasn’t been shown it here before…. It has a banded neckline and sleeve bands, and a turned up, hand-stitched hem.

I also made this using the last leftovers of bright cobalt blue fabric (same as the “bat” shirt) and it went into the iDye Crimson dye-bath simultaneously with the cranberry T-shirt 2 above. I love the deep royal purple colour that it is now; will layer well with the jewel tones of the other T-shirts for some groovy colourful winter layering, when the time comes 🙂 The texture of that cheap n’ cheerful fabric has to be one of my favourite knits ever. I just wish it had come in ivory, rather than that intense blue colour. Just think of the dyeing possibilities. They would have been infinite 😀

Apart from the first Tshirt pictured, which is the original bodice of the dress on p18 of Pattern Magic 3 by Tomoko Nakamichi, the others are made up using the pattern formerly known as Burdastyle 06/2011, 120 first written about here. In order to get a nice fit that pattern has been shaved and sliced and diced and completely and utterly altered until each and every seam-line is different from the original. As well, I don’t use the neckline facing pieces at all. As for the zip?? well forgetaboutit ….So I guess it can’t lay claim to being Burdastyle 06/2011, 120 anymore.
But my carved-up version is a great fitting T-shirt pattern now… 😀 Yay for that!

Posted in: Uncategorized \ Tagged: Burdastyle magazine 06-2011-120, dyeing, Pattern Magic 3, top, Wardrobe Refashion

Top; Gone a bit Batty

01/02/2012 7:04 am \ 23 Comments \ Carolyn

My latest project. Do you like the name? I know, right? I could get a job at Anthropologie, thinking up delightfully poetic tag-lines for the clothing, for sure. I am sometimes capable of romanticism, and dreaming up evocative monikers, conjuring up a magical wonderland way of thinking and engaging the senses in a positive way. I could have gone with something along the lines of Black Magic, or Chocolate Swirl or Liquorice Twist. Nicer, yes? But a twisted sense of humour prevents me from behaving all “delightful” all the time.
Besides, have a look at it, spread out on the lawn, recovering from its dye-job. Decidedly bat-like, I think.

So, this is one variant of the design from p47 of Pattern Magic 3, by Tomoko Nakamichi. Like much of Pattern Magic 3 so far, I thought this a very easy project. My thoughts with this one, a very drape-y knit is essential to allow the pointy bits to flop down into each other attractively; and when you put it on you have to pull and fold the layers to sit just so or it can look a bit weird.
Side views:

It started out its life this colour below, and then subjected to 1/4 tsp iDye, in Brown. I initially bought 2m of this brilliant blue fabric which as well as being very cheap had the added advantages of being very light, very drape-y and 100% cotton. However I only have room in my life for one bright blue top and so dyeing was always on the cards for anything made out of the leftovers.

And yes, I have been doing a lot of dyeing lately. Actually, to say I have run a dyeing marathon would be no exaggeration. I’ve been on a fair dinkum dyeing bender!!
But results of the exciting dye-fest will have to wait until pictorial evidence has been collected. You have been warned…
I finished the neckline and armholes by simple turning under the raw edge and topstitching with a twin needle. This is a great and very easy finish for knits, not as polished a finish as the banded edge, but the perfect choice for something like this top where bands would have visually been too much detail on a top that is already chocka with textural detail. Those little shark fins at the hips are as much detail as the eye can take in my opinion, and the plainer the rest of the garment the better.

Details:
Top; from Pattern Magic 3 by Tomoko Nakamichi, bright cobalt blue cotton jersey dyed with iDye in Brown
Shorts; modified Burda 7723, of yellow embroidered cotton, details here
Sandals; Misano, from MarieClaire shoes

Over-exposed and super highlight-ed to show up the folds better… and doesn’t this make the sky look amaaazing??