Tag Archives: Cardigan

Sydney jacket

20/08/2017 11:52 pm \ 57 Comments \

have you guys seen COLOSSAL… ?

Bet you can’t guess where I am here…   Yeah, I know, it’s a tough one.   Some locations are just so obscure and far off the beaten track, but I do like to seek out these especially quiet and sleepy, tucked-away little spots to highlight here on ye olde blog…  GO me.

Yeah, so I’ve made a Sydney jacket… I bought the pattern from Tessuti’s in Melbourne back during my March trip away there with Mum, Cassie and my niece Tiffany; and have finally got around to giving it a whirl…  I think I first saw this design on Sue, at one of our meet ups and was instantly interested.  It’s a pretty nice design with a true shawl collar and not just your usual body with two set in sleeves.  This is like my wearable muslin, if you like.

I used a very blankety-like wool-mix from Spotlight, which I think is definitely a lot more “mix” than “wool”, haha! but that’s fine by me!  I tossed it in the machine when I got home and it washed up beautifully, absolutely zero shrinkage and just a bit of light “fluffing”, which was equally ok with me; in fact any and all fluffing is totally welcome in all my winter clothing, thanks.

I agonised for ages over which side to use; one side was more vibrant but “flatter” with a more pronounced twill to its appearance; the other side is fluffier, and with more muted colours.  I loved both sides equally! and couldn’t decide… finally I asked Craig and Cassie to choose for me.  They both voted vibrant OUT, fluffy IN.  Hurdle number one; cleared!

It’s a lovely fabric really, warm and cosy and with that richly colourful blocky weave, the perfect drape;  and I loved the idea it for this particular jacket pattern… however! the Sydney instructions have a big bolded announcement on the first page… IMPORTANT: Not suitable for woven fabrics that fray when cut  What is my chosen fabric? only like the most fray-able of fraying fabrics ever invented by mankind. Typical of me, so stubborn.  I’m like… Oh, I’m not supposed to use a fray able fabric?  JUST WATCH ME THEN mwahahahaha.

Solution; I edged the visible raw edges with bias binding… oh I’d bought a mid blue poplin for my bias binding, but it was a bit bright.. so I sludged * it up nicely with a bit of iDye in Brown, to make a nice deeper dirty blue; a much better colour for my fabric.  I think it turned out a rather nice match!

Hurdles two and three; cleared!

new colour, with scrap of the original colour on top…

*”sludged” as a verb. along with the associated adjective “sludgy”, are technical terms used a lot around here… where Brown dye is employed liberally and frequently to tone down the overly bright colours beloved by commercial fabric designers and that form about 99.99% of commercially available fabric, so they better suit those of us who look hideous in said brights.

What else is there to say?  I lengthened the sleeves to bracelet length… I really like them at this length, and even though I wasn’t very serious about it at first I absolutely love my jacket now it’s finished.  It’s rather Lagenlook, yes?  I’ve worn it two days in a row since I finished it… and that’s just about unheard of for me! who pretty much has to mix it up some every day… There’s just something about this rather simple yet inherently dramatic style that prompts the adoption of random flamboyant poses.  My enthusiasm for photoshop going only so far, you’ll just have to imagine the appropriate backdrop in each case…

exhibit A, supersleuthy spy… the scene: nighttime; the main gallery of the Louvre in Paris, a dim light glistening off the polished parquet floorboards, while painted masterpieces look on silently

exhibit B: busy woman-about-town hailing a taxi on the streets of some mega-metropolis no, not in her garage, oh no not at all) the scene; outside the New York stock exchange, close of business, important business-y types milling about on peak- hour sidewalks

exhibit C: Victoria’s Secret model strutting down the runway.. except she forgot her wings and is instead clad in rather unsexy but warm, warm winter woollies in lieu of the cute little bejewelled bikini.  Or alternatively; Rio de Janeiro’s Jesus… or a tightrope walker…

Because the wrong side/underneath of the fabric shows around the neckline I applied the bias binding on the inside of this centre back seam here instead… it’s not super visible, under my hair and all, but you know… I made a little hanging loop too…

So that’s it!… oh wait, one last thing to add; and that’s my method for dealing with a frayable fabric in a pattern that calls for un-frayable fabric.  In this pattern the seaming is the simplest method possible; seams are formed by overlapping the raw edges and simply topstitching in place… and using my method you first bind the upper raw edges with bias tape, so you end up with all the seams thus highlighted throughout.

First step; overlock the raw edges of the underneath edge…  the bias binding will be applied to the upper edge only.

Cut bias binding strips 2.6mm (1″) wide… this allows for a seam overlap of 1cm (3/8″) For patterns calling for a wider overlap, the same method applies, just cut the bias binding strips correspondingly wider i.e., for a 1.5cm (5/8″) overlap, cut bias binding strips to be 3mm (1 1/4″) wide.. etc.

Stitch bias binding to the upper side raw edge in a 6mm (1/4″) wide seam.

Press over and around to enclose the raw edge.

Position the upper side edge over the underside raw edge, with the overlocked edge even with the bias binding edge.  This corresponds to a 1cm (3/8″) overlap, as required by the pattern.

Topstitch the two pieces together by stitching in the ditch, or if preferred, just inside the bias edge.

Topstitch a second time, with a second pass of stitching a scant 3mm (1/8″) just inside the folded bias edge of the upperside.

For the opening edges, lower edge and sleeve edges; I simply applied the same bias binding and slip-stitched it down inside just like a regular bias-bound edge…

Voila!  Jacket made the same way you’re supposed to, and using the forbidden fabric to boot!  Ha!

Details:

Jacket; the Sydney jacket by tessuti patterns, wool-mix blanket fabric from Spotlight
Top; twist top from Pattern Magic by Tomoko Nakamichi, green stretch, details here
Skirt; Jade skirt by Paprika patterns, in red stretch knit, details here
Tights; self-drafted, details here and my tutorial for making your own custom-fit tights pattern here
Boots; Roberto del Carlo, from Zomp shoes

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scarlet Miette

01/02/2016 6:31 pm \ 33 Comments \

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My newest knitted creation is a cardigan; in a toasty, tomato-y, fiery, hot-chilli scarlet.  Photographed most attractively against the snowy drifts of Hokkaido in Japan where it looks rather stunning, I think!  I should come to Japan more often, so photogenic for photography.  I’ve styled it tres fashion-y with my KMart snow boots, bought circa 2001, and my hired ski pants.  O yea, rockin it fashioneestas!

Sorry to be repeating myself, but yes it is yet another Miette, a free downloadable pattern by Andi Satterlund… my fourth!  Knitted up in Debbie Bliss Donegal Luxury Tweed Aran, again!… and this wool is so divine I just can’t stand it eeeeeeeee!  The last time I was in Calico and Ivy I couldn’t help going over and fondling the new colours, and it took every bit of self restraint I possessed, which is a pretty pathetic supply in the first place I must admit, NOT to buy another new colour for yet another little cardigan.   Honestly, I could easily have something in every colour way.   Just adore each and every one, and can’t help thinking they’ll seem to be so very very me!   This colour way is 360033, Scarlet.

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The buttons are also from Calico and Ivy, and I sewed them on upside down, because the upper side was a little shiny for my taste.  The underside has the perfect level of non-shiny matte-ness to suit the slightly lumpy, comfortable, homely look that this yarn has.

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Everything else I’m wearing here is made by me, including as hinted on instagram, all the underthingies 🙂  In fact, my skiing holiday is an almost exclusively handmade affair… I knew I was taking a bit of a risk in packing nearly all me-made clothes, and most fortunately it has all worked out quite successfully, if I say so myself.  The one non me-made thing I packed was a ski jacket.  Actually, I’ve been having some thoughts on snow gear and how I reckon a person can make it fit into a handmade ethos…  I think it is entirely possible! not that I’m an expert, haha.  No West Australian can actually ever lay claim to knowing the ins and outs of snow gear, really!  In spite of my snow-noobiness, I’m thinking of writing my thoughts here on the ol’ bloggeroonie soon…

Some knitterly notes mostly for my own alteration purposes…

3 1/4mm needles, size 42, 6 balls of the Donegal Luxury Tweed Aran.  Switched the bust dart shaping to the underarm using the same little fix as described here for my previous, navy-blue Miette.  Added two pattern repeats to the bottom edge; same as I have done for every one of my four versions of this same pattern.  I just like that little bit of extra length, I think this suits me and my figure better than the original design, which is very cropped.  This means picking up 78 stitches along each front edge.  And 9 buttons too, natch.

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Booyeah! done!

Details:

Cardigan; Miette, in Debbie Bliss Donegal Luxury Tweed Aran, colour scarlet 360033
Striped Tshirt; self-drafted, grey and ivory striped cotton jersey, details here
Cowl; own pattern, mustard 8ply merino, details and my pattern for this cowl is here
Armwarmers; own pattern, green 4ply 100% merino, details here and my pattern here
Gloves; from a 1963 Patons pamphlet, charcoal 4ply 100% merino, details here
Beanie; own pattern, cream Patons pure new wool, details here

also wearing socks and leggings made by me
Ski pants; hired
Snow boots; Kmart, circa 2001

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tie-dye cardigan

03/12/2015 1:50 pm \ 28 Comments \

I’ve made another little cardigan… the last, I promise! for at least a little while! 
I didn’t really need another one but I said I’d thought of yet another little way the construction of this design could be improved? naturally I just had to try it out…
Fabric; a toss-out from Mum, a cotton or something or another jersey, original provenance unknown.  I barely had enough for the cardigan but just managed to squeak out the pieces; the tie is a little on the short side and is pieced in several places but no biggie, I still got it out! and the joins are lost in the print.  I rather like the tie-dye print and my only concern was to avoid situating a bulls-eye in the boob-al region when cutting out.  Mission accomplished!

Pattern; the Nettie, by Closet Case patterns, modified to be a cardigan with a loose extended neckband that hangs down in a shawl-y type of a way.  The neck band on this, third, version of the design is a little short to be tied in the front like the last two iterations, so I’m planning to only wear them hanging loose like this.

My desire for a super-clean finish is finally satisfied with the insides on this last version… they are super neat and tidy! with no exposed seams or stitching, barring inside the sleeve/armhole.  *happy sigh*

I’ve written my order of construction to illustrate how it all went together…  it’s a little more fiddly than the previous methods but perfectly doable.

Cutting; cut the fronts on a centre fold so they are double layered.  Same picture as the previous cardigan because it’s identical.  I sized up a couple of sizes to get that looser cardigan fit, rather than the tight bodysuit-fit that the pattern is designed for.
NOW; the first step is to sew fronts to the back at the side seams, right sides together.

Now, fold the fronts in half, right sides together, and stitch the front facing to the back at the side seam over the previous stitching, enclosing the seam allowances within the front and front facing.  You will need to pull the pieces inside out a little to make this step possible, basically you are sewing the front piece in a tube with the back piece encased between the two side edges.  Grade seam allowances, turn out and press.

Cut the lower band to fit and stitch to the lower edge, keeping front facings free.  You will need to stitch each front section and the back section of this seam separately to each other, stopping and starting at the side seams; fiddly? yes, but worth it in the end.  Press open then down onto band.

Fold the band in half lengthwise and stitch the short edges, right sides together; trim and grade seam allowances, turn right sides out.

Snip all layers of the band seam allowances at the side seams, and also the lower band facing seam allowance at the same point.

Now, from the shoulders/top; reach inside the front/front facing “tube” and pull the lower edge where it’s stitched to the lower band through along with the loose facing edge and band facing edges.  Align all raw edges, taking care to make sure corners are sitting tight and accurately together because with a stretchy fabric it can be all too easy to stretch them out of place! and stitch the whole shebang together in one seam.  Trim corners, grade seam allowances, pull it all right sides out and press.

Voila!  yes it is a fiddly business but it look at that lovely absence of exposed seams on the fronts!

That last remainder of the lower band facing is turned under, pinned and hand-slipstitched in place.  Hiding those seam allowances, too  🙂

Now stitch the shoulder seams, front to back, enclosing the back between the two fronts as for the previous version of this cardigan, here, in fact the remainder of construction is exactly the same… stitch sleeve seams, finish; set in sleeves, finish likewise; sleeve cuffs, as per this method; neckband, as per this method described for my previous cardigan.

Details:
Cardigan; the Nettie by Closet Case Patterns, modified as stated
Tshirt under; another Nettie, white jersey, details here
Shorts; Burda 7723, details here
Location; Bunker Bay, Dunsborough… we had it completely to ourselves!  so lucky

photos courtesy of Craig
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tie-front cardigan from a Tshirt pattern; a brief tutorial

18/11/2015 6:09 am \ 30 Comments \

Remember recently I made a little paprika cardigan? and I wasn’t super happy with my construction technique of the fronts and could visualise a far better method of getting that front edge nice and neat … well, of course I could not rest until I had seen it through.
Voila; new, stormy-grey-blue cardigan
Essentially, the gist is to cut each front piece on the fold through the centre front; meaning the fronts are double thickness, with one half acting as a facing.  The fold at centre front is its own neat finish with no further need to do anything at all to it.  Also, the front plus facing enclose the lower band between their two layers.  For this reason, this technique works very well with very thin knits.
Fabric; thin blue/grey marl cotton jersey, leftover from Sam’s hoodie and originally a remnant bought from the Morrison sale, although when I say remnant there was at least 5m of it!  Morrison is tres generous with their “remnants”, to say the least!   I still have quite a lot left.  
Pattern; I used the Nettie from Closet Case patterns, which is my go-to basic now for form-fitting Tshirts/bodysuits, however any tried and true Tshirt pattern could be used for this same modification.

I cut my pieces like so: top parts; fabric folded along the right hand side; with the top two horizontal bands being the “rough cut” lower edge band and the sleeve cuff bands respectively; underneath are the back cut on the fold, the sleeves and at the left is the long neckband.  This last is joined right sides together along one short edge to make a double length band on the grain.
After cutting these: the fabric is then re-folded in from each edge so as to cut those two fronts (below) on a fold, with the centre front laid on each fold.  Cut from the inside shoulder edge out to the CF fold at bustline level on a straight diagonal line, to create the V-neck opening edge.

front piece at left is folded in half, front piece at right opened out along CF fold

Construction details:
first, stitch fronts to back at shoulders.  Sandwich the back between the two fronts so that the seam allowances get tucked away between the layers.  You have to twist it around it in a weird funny-looking way but it does work out.

Stitch front to back at side seams, keeping the front facing free.
Then trim the cardigan to the length you want it to be, taking into account the width of the lower band.  Measure the around the lower edge to determine the length of the lower band and cut it to fit; allowing for a 1cm seam allowance at each end.
Pin the band to the lower edge of the cardigan, again keeping the front facings free.  Stitch, between the seam allowances, right sides together.

 front facing free

Turn the band up in half, lengthwise, right sides together, and stitch the short edges closed, ceasing stitching at the end of the previous stitching.  Turn bands right side out and press.

Now fold the facing to the outside, laying it over the lower bands and keeping raw edges even, and stitch lower edge seam through all layers, keeping the stitching just a whiskers’  width outside the previous stitching.  The reason for keeping it just outside is so that the previous stitching does not show through on the right side of the band.
Now when you pull the band out and turn it all back right side out, the seam allowances are nice and neatly hidden away out of sight.  Yay!

outside of cardigan? inside? impossible to tell which is which!

To anchor the front facing to the side seams, I opted to simply lay the front facing down to the side seam allowances, aligning raw edges, and top-stitch from the right side, 6mm away from the seam.  The raw edge won’t fray, and it looks reasonably neat stitched down, also the top-stitching also accomplishes a sort of faux-felling of the seam allowances too.  However this is definitely not ideal and I have to admit I have since thought of a different and better way of doing this bit too! so there may well have to be yet another little cardi in my near future… to see that thought through too… eeek! am I getting a bit obsessive or what? hmmm could be could be…  😉

Sleeves; same technique as for every other Tshirt/cardigan ever invented.  Namely, stitch the sleeve seams, set sleeves in the armhole and stitch.  The raw edges can be finished with overlocking if desired.  
Attach sleeve cuffs, for this I nearly always employ this method, which gives a nice neat finish I think.
Last step; the neckband: pin the long neckband to the raw edges of the neck edge, including the facing, keeping raw edges even, right sides together and stitch.  

Fold the ties in half along the length, right sides together and stitch the long tie ends together, starting at the endpoints of the previous stitching.  Stitch the short ends in a diagonal point, if desired.

Trim, turn the ties right sides out and press.
Turn under the seam allowances of the remaining raw edge of the neckband, press, pin and slip-stitch closed by hand.

Finito!

Details:
Cardigan, the Nettie, by Closet Case patterns with my own design modifications
Tshirt (under); another Nettie, white jersey, details here
Shorts; Burda 7723, pinstripe linen, details here
Thongs: Havaianas
Location; Coode St jetty, South Perth

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paprika cardigan

04/11/2015 4:09 am \ 35 Comments \

I took some time out from making something far more time-consuming and complicated, ahem Alabama Chanin, cough cough…. ooo did I once say I would never get addicted to Alabama Chanin??? yaas, going back on my word, guilty as charged!!  Anyway, I took a day to put together this simple little cardigan from some scraps.  It’s a light and nothingy-to-it sort of a thing with no closure except for a necktie at the bust level.  A little something to throw over a summery ensemble on cooler summer evenings, or to cope with air conditioning.  
It’s mostly made from scraps; a piece of paprika stretch knit from Fabulous Fabrics, leftover from my paprika Nettie bodysuit and I bought a little extra to get out the pieces for this cardigan.  Once again I used the fabric wrong side out, because I prefer the duller, deeper, richer colour of it.  
Speaking of Nettie, I actually made this using the Nettie pattern too! just with a touch of ad-libbing.   Such a good basic pattern and a fantabulous springboard to a lot of other variations.  I can honestly see myself making like a tonne of these over my lifetime, with slightly different additions, subtractions and/or bits and bobs going on.

Changes to the pattern:
I cut size 18 which is a coupla sizes bigger than my usual, so as to get a looser “cardigan” fit rather than the skin-tight bodysuit fit; cut it to hip level with a wider shoulder, a low V-neck, and split the front up the middle.  I added a wide band all along the bottom edges and wide cuffs to the edges of the sleeves, a long wide necktie, which is basically a very long skinny rectangle sewn along the top edge and with the “tie” edges sewn right side together, with pointy points on the ends of the ties, then turned right side out.  The remaining gap of the necktie is slip-stitched closed to the cardigan on the inside. 

 The front edges I finished with strips of red crepe, itself leftover from my infinity dress here.  This was sewn on to the front edges, turned inside and topstitched down along the outside.  It’s a nice stable edge and the crepe takes away any tendency to stretch out, but I’m not wowed by my efforts here and in the making of this thing I conceived a much better way of doing the cardigan fronts.  I’ll probably make another one of these pretty soon, incorporating my imagined improved way of finishing the edge, but I’ll need a lot more fabric than the scraps I used for this one.
Hmmm, that’s all I need; an excuse to go fabric shopping! 

Project happiness factor; front edge satisfactory but I’m a bit meh about it and I’ve thought of a better way of doing it… otherwise it’s not too bad and I’m happy.  9/10

Details:
Cardigan; my own design modifications to the Nettie bodysuit, by Closet Case patterns, paprika stretch
Dress; Vogue 1194, floral stretch, details and my review of this pattern here
Thongs; Rusty
Sunnies; RayBan

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all Aussie adventures

16/09/2015 12:54 pm \ 68 Comments \

MY OUTFIT IS FINISHED!!!
And I am showing it all together here for the first time.  Can I just say right here; wooooohooooot!
The challenge, as laid out by Nicki of this is moonlight, should you choose to accept it, and I did! was to make for yourself an entire outfit using ONLY locally sourced materials.  Sounds simple, right?  It has been anything but!
I’m very grateful to Nicki for conceiving this brilliant and very thought-provoking challenge, and for inviting me to take part.  This has been one exceedingly amazing ride, has blown my mind more than any other dressmaking challenge I’ve ever done, and really pushed my creativity to the limit.  At the beginning of the year I seriously did not think I would be taking my outfit to the levels I did…. I thought for sure I would be giving myself a pass on some things, for example;  thread, and allowing myself to use regular Gutermann’s thread.  As time went on though I toughened up, embraced the idea of going the whole hog; and I’m very pleased that I did manage to rise to the challenge and make the maximum possible from locally sourced products!
In fact, I’m quite proud and extremely happy! :))
For the challenge, I made:
a knitted alpaca cardigan/jacket
a merino felt dress
merino felt and pine shoes
a merino fleece bag
merino fleece undies and bra
In a nutshell, every single blinking thing I have on here is made by myself, using pretty close to 100% south-west Australian sourced materials

Those of us in Western Australia; Sue, Megan, Nicki and myself, have had to be quite innovative in our approach, I think.  I mean, forget zips, thread, elastic… there is not even any freaking fabric made in WA!  This was our single biggest hurdle, I think!
However, we are extremely fortunate in that we have wool available to us; lots and lots of wool!   Australia has the world’s biggest wool economy… did you know that 80% of the world’s apparel wool is from Australia? and Australian merino is the world’s best quality woollen fibre.  22% of the country’s wool production is here in Western Australia (source)

Hardly surprising then that all four of us have used wool as the majority component in our outfits.
My dress, bag, underwear and shoe tops are made from Western Australian merino fleece.  I made my wool felt fabric from the fleece as outlined in this post.  My dress is made from natural undyed merino fleece felt, and I hand-embroidered the fleece all over with locally handspun, undyed merino yarn.

Anigozanthos manglesii

The embroidery design is my own; a random arrangement of of kangaroo paw motif, for our Western Australian state floral emblem.

My underwear features the only “colour” in my entire outfit; I dyed the decorative yellow edging and ties using sour grass picked from my own garden, as posted here.
All the other fleece, yarn and wood in my outfit I left in its naturally coloured state.

My cardigan is alpaca yarn, from the Fibre of the Gods, a tiny mill operating on a farm in Toodyay.  This establishment produces alpaca yarn on their own property, from the fleece of their very own alpaca herd.  I bought some of their yarn directly from off the farm and knitted my cardigan, as posted here.

My wooden shoe soles are hand carved by me, using Western Australian pine.  The pine is grown by Bunnings on their own pine plantations down south and milled by Bunnings in Manjimup.  I made my shoes and my bag from my merino fleece as outlined here My bag and shoe tops are also merino fleece, with a grid pattern made of naturally black sheep yarn.

And that’s it, in a nutshell!
Well, typing it all out like this has kinda brought it home to me for the first time; I am wearing a pretty-close-to 100% homegrown outfit, top to toe, for maybe the first time in my life!  I’m kinda amazed, even at myself.  It’s a little mind-blowing to me.
Final thoughts: I’ve learnt a tonne doing this challenge.  Firstly, our local industries are precious and need our support.  That goes for everywhere, not just here in WA!  I personally am going to put more effort into supporting our local products regularly.  I mean, I’m definitely not giving up my more “regular” sewing, but I am going to do this challenge again.
Secondly, that if you really put your mind towards doing something, keep yourself focused on getting a project done, to overcoming obstacles, then you probably can do it.  Sometimes you need to sleep on it, think outside the box a bit.  I learnt a lot as I was going along, and several times had to improvise a solution to a problem.  There were moments when I questioned my sanity in doing this, when I wondered if my ideas were even going to work… a felt dress? unlined? felt underwear? sounds like the vision of a lunatic, or at least a recipe for disaster, for sure… well OK even I can admit that felt underwear is not really a practical nor a workable thing!  … do NOT recommend.  😉
Also, I had lots of fun!! I LOVE a challenge and this challenge really stretched my capabilities; which is the very best sort of challenge, in my opinion!   I thought hard and long about each aspect of my outfut and tried very hard to honour the materials, to minimise my waste and to make something truly Western Australian in feel and flavour as well as provenance.
There were also moments when I realised I had to accept a small defeat; in the case of this outfit; the glue holding pieces of wood together in my shoes (from NSW, Australia), the nails holding the felt to the soles of my shoes (China) and the cotton jersey liner for my undies (China).  They are very tiny elements so I’m not going to beat myself up over them too much.
I guess the important thing is that I gave everything careful consideration,  and really thought about provenance and the possibility of substituting local products in as many instances as I was able.  As well, I wanted to produce something stylish and lovely, that I knew I would love wearing and feel proud and happy in.  I genuinely love my outfit, and feel pretty pleased with my efforts!
Lastly; maybe I’m on a bit of a post-challenge high, but I’m quite excited about attempting this again next year… in fact I already have ideas and plans!
Mad? maybe, but quite happy to be so!

Details:
Cardigan; the Caramel cardigan, in Fibre of the Gods natural alpaca, grown, shorn, washed, carded and spun in Toodyay, Western Australia and hand-knitted by me, details here
Dress; my own design based upon Burda 8511, made from merino felt made by me and hand embroidered with locally handspun merino yarn from Bilby Yarns, details here
Shoes; my own design, pine soles from Bunnings hand carved by me, felt tops made by me from merino fleece bought at Bilby Yarns, details here
Bag; my own design, in felt made by me from merino fleece bought at Bilby Yarns, details here
Underwear; my own design, knickers derived from the Tried & True knickers pattern by the Makers Journal, in felt made from merino fleece bought at Bilby Yarns, details here

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Midnight Miette

12/09/2015 7:16 am \ 31 Comments \

What: I’ve finished knitting a new cardigan; another Miette, yes, that fantastically popular cardigan design and it’s super easy to see why, too.  Such a quick and easy thing to make, top-down, seamless, cute with nicely subtle zig-zag lace design at all borders, free to download here.  LOVE THIS SO MUCH!   I’m just stuck on it and maybe I can never move on.   A bad case of “fools never differ” happening here  😉
This is my third Miette, my previous two are dark green and mustard, all of them in Debbie Bliss Donegal Luxury Tweed Aran.  Green, yellow and now blue.  Slightly embarrassing fact; I already have red wool purchased and earmarked for this design!  The same yarn too …  I could happily have the full colour range because they’re all pretty yummy  🙂

Why: Well, I have felt like a navy blue cardigan would be a very handy little colour to have on hand for aaaaaaages, and this is just me finally making it happen.  Navy blue is a great neutral, I reckon it looks fab with everything, and even though it’s not officially one of “my” colours I think it’s rather lovely against the browns, yellows, oranges and reds that I tend to favour.  I have a nice navy blue silk blazer which was/is terrific but I wanted a woolly cardigan.   I think I’m more of a cardigan person than a blazer person.
Problemmos: Actually I anticipated a quick project out of this one since it is super easy and not my first go at it, but I had surprising rough trot this time.  Mostly because this yarn is so dark dark dark navy, and I usually knit in front of the telly in terrible low light; and so half the time I literally could not tell whether a stitch was a knit or a purl.  Seriously!  Several times I had to frustratingly pull out a whole bunch of rows and re-do it because one wrong stitch had gone unnoticed…  I ended up having a torch on standby to illuminate and assess the situ-bar as required.  grrrrrr!  This cardigan has taken me nearly all winter to finish!
Changeroonies: I made a small but vital change to the design this time; I transferred the bust dart shaping to the underarm side seam each side.  I think this is a much better shaping pozzie for a small busted person like myself.

later edit; as requested, the details of moving the bust dart shaping to the underarms goes as follows:

To move the bust dart shaping to the underarm… row 56 is where the bust dart shaping starts; you follow the same shaping (reducing two stitches on each of the “fronts”) EXCEPT you are moving that shaping to the underarm stitch marker, instead of in the middle of the “fronts” of the cardigan.
So, instead of doing the ssk, k1, k2 tog in the middle of each front section of the cardigan, instead do this same shaping at the underarm marker. Do the same for rows 58,60,62,64,66

Details:
Cardigan; the Miette by Andi Satterlund, in Debbie Bliss Donegal Luxury Tween Aran, col. 360039 (Midnight) from Calico and Ivy (6 balls)
Jeans; the Ginger jeans by Closet Case patterns, navy blue cotton denim, details here
Tshirt; Vogue 8879, ivory cotton jersey, details here

The following is some technical blahdy-blah notes to myself, ‘cos I always forget this and have to re-knit tension squares, which I do not enjoy:
I’ve knitted the main using three different needle sizes for the three cardigans, because the tension of the design does not match the tension of my chosen yarn exactly.  The Miette recommends 16st x 22rows per 10cm square, while the DBliss Aran tension is 18st x 24rows per 10cm square.  So, my first, green Miette was knitted on size 9 (UK) or 3 3/4mm needles, giving a tension midway between that recommended  for the yarn and the design and is a slightly relaxed fit.  The second, mustard Miette was knitted on size 10 or 3 1/2mm needles, giving the correct tension for the yarn but a tighter tension than the design; and was a closer fit.  This cardigan is knitted on size 8 or 4mm needles, giving me the correct tension for the design and a slightly loose tension for the yarn, and is a more relaxed fit.  I like all of them, the differences do not feel massive.
I definitely prefer moving the bust shaping to the underarm.

Also, each version, I’ve extended the length by 2 pattern repeats, this requires picking up 79 stitches for the front button bands.  Each version I’ve selected size 42, which is technically a size up for me, but I remember from my first go at this pattern that “my” size would be a tad too tight for my tastes… I had to unravel and start over!  It might work to go down a size in the looser tension; would be a risk but maaaaaybe? I might just try it for my red version…  we’ll see.
I need 6 balls of the Debbie Bliss Donegal Luxury Tween Aran, and with the two extra pattern repeats 10 buttons.  These 1.5cm, navy blue ones are from Fabulous Fabrics

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a bit of re-colouration

11/08/2015 7:20 am \ 27 Comments \

I’ve just been updating a few bits and bobs in my wardrobe…
when I get bored or dissatisfied with a particular item but it’s still in perfectly good nick or I still kinda like it because of a good shape/style or I put a dangload of effort into finishing it off particularly well or whatever; I will not toss it out.  Instead I ‘avvago at re-vamping it somehow. 
And this often includes dragging out ye olde dyepot and potions, aka dyes, eeeeeeeEEE heheheheheheheeeeee!!  That was an evil witch’s cackle there, just in case my written word did not adequately translate to the spoken word, ahem.

So, revamp-eroonie; DONE. 

Exhibit A; my little yellow cotton corduroy skirt.  Absolutely nothing wrong with it, but I was just getting meh about it.  Plus the clear yellow colour was a bit sharp and not one of “mine”.  Since my khaki dress I have been thinking more about “my” colours and having more of them in my wardrobe.  Sorta de-wintering my wardrobe and autumn-ifying it some more, if you will.
I used iDye in Brown and a tiny touch of the True Red, and got this rather wonderful deep caramel colour, in the top picture.  Hehe, it’s funny; because actually I was aiming for mustard! important moral of the story; you should never ever never dye something that you are so much in love with that you couldn’t bear an unexpected outcome.  Potential dyers, engrave that on your dye pots as it is one of the Commandments of Dyeing.
Anyway, I could not be happier with this super yummy, albeit unexpected, colour.  
Unsurprisingly, the poly satin I used for the lining and bias binding did not take up the dye one tiny little bit.

woa, crack out the sunnies!

Exhibit B; while in the mood for dyeing, I also got out my pale blue, supposedly silk shirt (all original construction details here) and gave it a facelift.  Supposedly? well it was sold as silk, but its mild lack of enthusiasm for taking up the dye speaks to some synthetic content, ahem.  Not that I mind! it’s been a wonderful blouse and I love the shape unconditionally.  Just that it has faded drastically and its colour was now palling on me; or should that more accurately read, appalling on me?  Yeah, probably.
Anyway, it got treated to iDye in True Red.  

Much better!
Now; compare the new colour of the previously same coloured cotton bias binding … that strong red was what I was aiming for, although I like this warm tangerine colour just fine.  I’m just going to enjoy it as this colour for a while; and if I still want the deep true red colour I’ll pick up some red dye suitable for synthetics and give another whirl.  See how we go.

Exhibit C; not a biggie, but I switched the yellow buttons on my forest green Miette cardigan for new deep green ones.  

I think it’s going to be a tonne more mix ‘n’ matchable like this, since previously it pretty much went ONLY with my mustard dress below, or with all-white ensembles.  The yellow buttons were a distraction, I can see that now.  My mistake.  Also, I think the lacework shines a little more than it did before.

So, that’s it!  
In my current sewing news; I’m still struggling away with embroidering my felted wool, for my 1 year 1 outfit ensemble.  Every now and again I have to lay it aside and do something else.  It’s wearing me down a bit but I am certain I am going to love the finished piece and am quite excited to see it all come together.  Ever onward and upwards!

my tutorial on basic dyeing here

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