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an Icelandic hoodie for Tim

15/08/2014 2:37 pm \ 27 Comments \ Carolyn

*another week of furious knitting later* and I’ve made an Icelandic hoodie for Tim, my birthday present to him. He chose the Grein design on p108 of Knitting with Icelandic Wool, the knitting book I bought while in Iceland, but wanted it to be a zip-up hoodie.
I guess I should have seen that coming; a hoodie is far more his thing, and since obviously you want them to want to wear it, I complied. It’s not hard to convert the jumper to a hoodie, but it’s a little bit more work and takes about one extra ball. The hoodie is still knitted in one piece like Sam’s jumper with two short grafted seams underneath each armhole. However, instead of knitting in the round I just split the front in two, continued knitting on for the hood, and afterwards neatened up the opening front edges with one row of single crochet. Finally I sewed in an open ended zip (Spotlight) by machine. Which means yes, unlike Sam’s jumper which was mostly a blissfully heavenly affair of mindless non-stop knitting, in this case I had to turn around and do purl rows as well. Not quite as quick and mindless as knitting in the round, something I find to be an enjoyably zen-like meditative exercise. I had to actually think about it, harrumph…
The book doesn’t have any adult sized hoodies that I could use the pattern for – and can I just say, what were they thinking?! – so in consultation with Craig’s Icelandic hoodie that we bought over there I knitted Tim’s the following way:

After finishing the yoke pattern and before knitting the neck hole ribbing, you have 72 st on the needle and wrong side facing…
change to 4.5mm needle, P one row, inc 1 st in centre of row (73 st)
(K1 P1) repeat until last st, K1
(P1 K1) repeat until last st, P1
rep last 2 rows once (4 rows of ribbing)
change to 6mm needle;
(P1 K1) twice, P1, K to last 5 st, (P1 K1) twice, P1
(P1 K1) twice, P1, P to last 5 st, (P1 K1) twice, P1
rep last 2 rows until work measures 35cm from last rib row
divide row in half, fold halves wrong sides together, and graft stitches together.
This gives you a plain stocking stitch hood with a wide moss stitch border.

I used Alafoss Lopi, in the colours, from left:
indigo (9959), light indigo (9958), light denim heather (0008), ecru heather (9972) and black heather (0005).

Actually, using that ecru heather, a leftover from Sam’s jumper, was a punt. The white-ish parts of this jumper were supposed to be ash heather, a pale grey, however I ended up having to use most of the that ball for Sam’s jumper. And since I ended up with more of the ecru heather leftover than I did of the ash heather, I used that, hoping that there might be enough to do the pattern in this jumper. The gods were smiling upon me, because there was, just enough!
~~Funny~~ barely amusing story; the night I was getting close to the end of the ecru heather strip I stayed up til, like 12.30 or 1am or something crazy like that, knitting like a mad thing, because I just could not stand the suspense; would I have enough of the ecru heather, or would I not?? I HAD to know!!
The relief when I did was, er, palpable.
Yeah, my life is filled with gripping moments like that 😉
And now, well! I only finished the hoodie today and I’m actually dying to leap straight into a new knitting project, like, right now! start a rather special new design that I came across recently.
But my wrists are aching. 🙁
Maybe a little break is in order .

Posted in: Uncategorized \ Tagged: Alafoss, hoodie, Knitted, Knitting with Icelandic Wool, Tim

burnt brown bootlegs

10/08/2014 12:30 pm \ 38 Comments \ Carolyn

I’ve made some jeans/pants/jeggings type of things… hmmm, I’m still not sure what to call these!
My oldest jeans, my olive/greys, are holding up so well, the best out of all my jeans! and I think it’s due to the fabric. They are made of a very stretchy and thin synthetic bengaline stuff from Fabulous Fabrics, and I’ve been keeping a look out for fabric like this in colours that would fit in with my wardrobe. Last week at Spotlight I got lucky at last. It’s not identical to the olive/grey fabric, but pretty darn close; and the colour! Dark mustard, burnt toffee, desert, tobacco, dirt, tawny brown, however you’d describe it; it’s perfect for me. I also bought some of the same fabric in a very pale coffee colour, so if I get enthusiastic I’ll make that up soon too.
I used my old favourite Burda 7863. This is my eighth? version of this pattern I think… man I’m so boring. Oh well, at least I know it works!

Pattern alterations; a sway back adjustment, rtw jeans order of construction and a zip placket, all these modifications described here. and a couple of decorative part-circles top-stitched onto each pocket,using a dinner plate and tailor’s chalk to mark. The designs are mirror image of each other on the two butt pockets.
This fabric has the stretch going parallel to the selvedge; so you have to remember to lay your pieces crosswise to the grain. And note to self, lay the waistband with the length crosswise too! otherwise you will have to rip it off and cut a new one. And replace it. Grrr.

Details:
Jeans; Burda 7863, burnt brown bengaline, my review of this pattern here
Blouse; Burdastyle magazine 10-2010/102, ivory brushed cotton, details and my review of this pattern here
Socks; knitted by me, here
Shoes, Francesco Morichetti, from Zomp shoes

Posted in: Uncategorized \ Tagged: Burda 7863, jeans

an Icelandic jumper for Sam

07/08/2014 11:20 am \ 39 Comments \ Carolyn

This is my first project from Knitting with Icelandic Wool, a knitting book I bought as a souvenir from Iceland on our recent trip away. The jumper is my birthday present to Sam and it’s um, only two months late… yikes! but here’s the thing… while we were travelling in Iceland and I was admiring all the gorgeous Icelandic jumpers on everyone there, I hit upon the bright idea of knitting one for each of my boys for their birthdays. And so it seemed only fair to let them choose the style and the colours that they wanted. And I thought at first that I would use Australian merino. I’m very loyal to Australian wool, you see 🙂 so I took quite a bit of time searching for something of a suitable gauge here but sadly I actually couldn’t find anything. So decided I would go completely authentically Icelandic and use Alafoss Lopi. And so of course I had to order the wool from Iceland, and then wait for it to arrive and then knit the thing… so two months late is not too bad all these things considered! I’ve been knitting like an absolute maniac since the wool arrived! I started it last Wednesday, and finished it exactly a week later, which is not too bad if I say so myself! and fortunately Sam doesn’t mind that it’s a bit late. We still have a few months of cold weather ahead so he can wear it for a bit longer this year. And there’s next year too. I’m hoping it will be lifelong classic for him 🙂
Sam chose the Alafoss jumper on p38 of the book, incidentally also featured at top left on the cover of the book, above. According to the blurb the colour pattern on the yoke is the first ever pattern published by the Alafoss wool factory in the 1960’s.

The colours I used are, from left: ash heather (0054), ecru heather (9972), grey heather (0057), dark grey heather (0058) and black heather (0005). I changed the design just a little bit on the strip second from the top but otherwise stuck exactly to the pattern. The design is knitted in the fair isle style, and completely in the round with no joining seams, aside from two short grafting rows under the arms. Grafted seams really do look so much nicer than sewn seams imo, so I think that’s a nice feature.

I do have one, well I have to say it’s a fairly major gripe wrt the pattern; for Sam’s size S the pattern stipulated 5 balls of the main colour. Well, it’s extremely fortunate that I had bought another, 6th ball of this colour for Tim’s jumper, since you actually need well into that ball to make this size. And it’s not even a close call, I used about half of that sixth ball. Now I’m sweating a bit, planning the re-jig of the colours in Tim’s design so I can actually finish his jumper with the remaining wool that I have. I’ll have to incorporate some of the leftovers from Sam’s jumper otherwise I simply will not have enough! Not happy, Jan…
As a last resort, yes, I could order more wool, but the postage from Iceland was so astronomical I’m really hoping I can successfully work something out with what I’ve got.
Anyhow, that’s the fault of the pattern; I am glad I did use the Alafoss Lopi! Icelandic wool is renowned for being thick and lofty and at the same time very lightweight. This jumper looks as thick as and it is amazingly warm, but surprisingly it is as light as a cloud!

Posted in: Uncategorized \ Tagged: Alafoss, jumper, Knitted, Knitting with Icelandic Wool, Sam

a split-backed top

06/08/2014 6:23 am \ 34 Comments \ Carolyn

Once upon a time there was a shirt, a man’s shirt. This shirt was superficially unremarkable, but was made out of a wonderful microfibre that had extraordinarily silk-like properties. Soft, ripply, with a quietly glossy sheen, it felt wonderfully cool and smooth against the skin just like silk; but unlike silk it was as tough as guts. It barely ever needed ironing, thus earning the everlasting approval of the laundry maid of the house.
After a few years of regular wear it was designated “old”, signalling the end of any special care in its laundering, from then on it just got tossed in the machine with jeans, whatever, no special cycle. It soldiered on, looking just exactly as lusciously silky as it always had.
The Indestructible Shirt. Winning further admiration from the laundry maid, who alone in the household truly appreciated such a magical fabric … all the benefits of silk but without the maintenance… ! o-kaaaay!
After twenty years of use, its owner carelessly tossed it in the Salvoes bag, whereupon the laundry maid astutely retrieved it and planned a feminine new life for it, hehehehehe.

The End.
Well maybe more like a brand new beginning!

Technical bizzo…
The pattern is Vogue 8879, view B. Funny thing; Spotlight had a $5 pattern sale last week, I bought um, 6 patterns *blush* call Patternaholics Anonymous; I need help!! anyway, I bought some of the more glamorous interesting and unusual designer Vogues that caught my eye, and then this funny unassuming little one too. Guess which one was the one I was most excited to try out first. Ha!
I love the split back; it’s quite elegant in my opinion, and just quietly sexy without being the least bit tarty.
The old shirt was completely cut it apart to make the new one, and I modified the existing button band and sewn-on buttons to accommodate the split back. The old front is now the back of the new shirt, and the old back is the new front. The sleeves! it often astounds me how difficult it can be to cut a new thing from an old thing even if you think the old thing has masses of fabric; the sleeve pattern pieces barely fitted on the old sleeves, taking up the full length of the sleeve from the cuff to the armscye! Amaaazing!
One new buttonhole was required at the very top, and the left breast pocket was picked off and repositioned it at a funky angle on the lower front of the top. All the seams are flat felled to honour the original beautifully flat felled seams in the original shirt: although obviously none of the original seams remain after it was hacked apart I still felt compelled to try and reproduce those immaculate finishes in its new incarnation too.

Rather than the quirky but fabric-hungry twisted sleeve bands of the pattern, I made hidden, shaped facings for the lower edge of the sleeves instead and I finished the neck edge with a narrow bias cut strip; these were cut from a scrap of deep blue real silk, the leftovers from this top, and stitched, under-stitched then top-stitched.

One thing: the pattern stipulates two way stretch fabrics only; but I found that this view B is so loose and easy fitting that my decidedly non-stretchy microfibre version is absolutely fine to slip on over my head. Don’t need to un-do even a single button.
So it’s got that going for it too!

Details:
Top; Vogue 8879 view B, blue microfibre, a refashioned mens’ shirt
Skirt; my own design based on Vogue 7303, white stretch lace, details here
Thongs; Havaianas

Posted in: Uncategorized \ Tagged: daily outfit, pattern review, Sienna, top, Vogue 8879, Wardrobe Refashion

Mum’s Alabama Chanin skirt

02/08/2014 1:38 pm \ 61 Comments \ Carolyn

I am so glad that Mum brought around her finished Alabama Chanin skirt for me to ooh and ah over; and has allowed me to photograph her wearing it and to show it here on my blog too… thank you so much, Mum!

This is the mid-length skirt from the book, Alabama Studio Sewing + Design, by Natalie Chanin. Mum used a deep blue upper layer over a black lower layer, both cotton jerseys bought in Tessuti’s in Melbourne during our truly fah-bulous Mum/daughter/grand-daughter trip over there together last November.

The upper layer is stencilled with the Anna’s Garden design from the same book, enlarged by 306%, then the two layers are embroidered together using Gutermann’s upholstery thread in a pale grey. The stencilled areas are then cut away in the “reverse appliqué” method to reveal the black under-layer. Mum used a doubled strand of upholstery thread as per the book’s instructions, but found the two strands a pain in the neck to work with; they constantly got twisted up awkwardly together and were subsequently difficult to pull through. Just for comparison sake, I used only a single strand in embroidering my own two pieces.
The surface embroidery is all done by hand of course, and Mum decided to sew the finished pieces together by machine. The waistband is pale grey fold over elastic, also from Tessuti’s.
The stencil was applied to the upper layer in watered-down acrylic house paint using a small foam roller as described here. Since I did the stencilling for Mum I know there is one more piece in the works! and now I’m roolly excited to see that one too! 🙂

Posted in: Uncategorized \ Tagged: alabama chanin, embroidery, handcrafts, Mum, skirt

“watercolour” floral lingerie set

27/07/2014 9:40 am \ 48 Comments \ Carolyn

Another lingerie set, and a new-to-me bra pattern. This is pattern 2610 for a balconette style bra by makeBra, a Finnish lingerie pattern company. The two pairs of matching knickers are my usual McCalls 2772.

The watercolour fabric is from Fabulous Fabrics. When I made my floral birthday dress last year, I originally wanted to make a lingerie set from the fabric and was talked out of it. Obviously I do not regret making that dress instead; it’s one of my favourites! but that floral lingerie set was still in my head, crying out to be made. I really really wanted realise it, too. So recently I snuck out and sneakily bought 50cm of a different splashy floral stretch knit and quietly made it without showing the fabric to anyone who might talk me around hehehe… Note to self; 50cm is the perfect length to cut out a bra and two pairs of matching knickers.

The makeBra pattern; well, I LOVE it!! I’ve been hankering after a balconette style bra, one designed specifically for a foam lining. I really do prefer a foam lining. All my current bras are made using KwikSew 3300 which is an absolutely terrific little pattern, but it’s not specially designed for a foam lining. I usually forced a foam cup lining on it, found a way to make it happen, but it was always flying against the spirit of the pattern, if you know what I mean.
I bought a paper pattern in one size, which is a money saver. You can get it in a multisized pattern if you’re not sure of your exact size and that costs more. I’m familiar enough with my needed size that I decided to go with the single size and I’m happy to report that it does fit me beautifully and the sizing is spot on.
At the same time I bought two basic lingerie kits; black and ivory. THESE ARE FABULOUS!!!!!
It was a real pleasure, and so much easier, to sew a bra using such high quality materials and findings. Up until now I’d been making my own shoulder straps and underwire casings as per the KwikSew pattern instructions, and using rings, sliders and underwear elastic from Spotlight, which is meh, kinda-ok standard. Hey, absolutely nothing “wrong” with that of course, but now my eyes have been opened to how using proper underwire casings and really nice lingerie elastic is SO MUCH BETTER. I’m talking rtw quality here.

The makeBra website also has this absolutely brilliant video where you can watch someone making a bra. I was soooo impressed at how quickly and easily that girl whizzed up a beautiful bra in the video, I cannot tell you. Gobsmacked. It was a revelation! On viewing that video I realised how difficult I’d been making it for myself, by using less than good quality materials available and “making do”. She didn’t even pin her underwire casings anywhere to sew them on, compared to my homemade, bias-cut, double folded voile underwire casings requiring 7000 pins to hold it evenly in place…. man! Well, now; I know. I didn’t use pins either this time and I think the finish turned out pretty nice!

And her machine… *drool* My poor little old Janome is nowhere near that smooth. But I’m banishing any and all machine envy thoughts. I love my dear faithful little Janome.
I do have one tiny hmph with the makeBra pattern; you have to go to the website to get the full instructions, including elastic lengths etc. I mean, no real biggie, I’ve noted the relevant elastic lengths in with my pattern now, but would it have been really so hard to include that info in with the pattern? What if your internet was down when you wanted to use your new pattern? I would say that is my one pet peeve with modern-day online pattern services: I think when you buy a pattern, you should get with it everything you need by way of instructions, and you should not have to search through some website to find necessary information.
But small grumps aside; essentially a fantastic pattern, went together like an absolute dream. There will be lots more of these in my life 🙂

Posted in: Uncategorized \ Tagged: lingerie, makeBra 2610, McCalls 2772, pattern review

Cocoa silk georgette dress

25/07/2014 1:25 am \ 92 Comments \ Carolyn

Ok, so I’m on the fence… I’m not sure if my new dress is just an ultra feminine style that I’m not quite used to it yet, or um, sorta hideous. I hope it’s not hideous, that would be pretty tragic considering I’ve poured a massive amount of meticulous fiddling into this thing. And silk georgette too, grrr. Like, only the most difficult freakin’ fabric ever!
A recent Vogue magazine editorial informed all of us bright-eyed, eager and devoted little fashion mavenettes, aka their readers; that a longer, elegant tea- or midi-length was the Next Big Thing in dresses and skirts. An edict accompanied by loads of pictures of lovely young things striding the streets trailing beautiful long fluttery floaty tea dresses in their respective wakes. Well, I was inspired! aw hells yeah, I definitely need to get me one of those badass elegant tea dresses so I can look all freakin’ feminine and ladylike, yo!
Et voila. But hmmm. Technically speaking, this dress is rather lovely, if I say so myself; I put a lot of effort into finishing as well as I could; doubled-layered the bodice with all seams enclosed within the layers, French seams throughout and a hand-rolled and -stitched baby hem around that long looooong lower edge.

The dress looks charming on the model on the envelope but not as tea-length as I was envisioning, so I lengthened all the skirt pieces by 15cm. Maybe that was a mistake, although I still think the length looks quite lovely on Bessie. Maybe a little Pride and Prejudice, or 70’s Faye Dunaway or something. I should get one of those wide brimmed felt hats maybe…
The front skirt panel is supposed to be cut wider and heavily gathered into the front of the bodice, and if you think it looks a bit fluffy in this version you should have seen it with those gathers!! I painstakingly unpicked that middle panel and re-cut it narrower at the top to fit the bodice portion assigned to it, eliminating all the gathering. The skirt is a LOT more sleek now, believe it or not!

The sleeves at their intended length were a bit puffy and perky and juvenile for my tastes, so I carefully picked those off too and re-drafted and re-cut new ones. My re-drafted sleeves are 16cm longer than the pattern and have had the sleeve cap flattened a little AND reduced in length to eliminate nearly all gathering to fit it to the arm scye. I do like my modified sleeves a lot, actually one of the few things about the dress with which I’m unequivocally happy. I LOVE the interesting cross-over sleeve cuffs. In fact these, along with the petticoat pattern are what seduced me to buy the pattern in the first place.
So maybe it’s the empire waistline? I think maybe empire waistlines are not for me… But you know, a lot of work went into it so I’ll wear it. It actually looks quite nice if I throw a coat over it, haha; like how I’m wearing it today! The hemline is quite pretty, I think, and looks quite satisfyingly fluttery around your legs as you walk. And it looks rather gorgeous while twirling too, although sadly my days generally involve very little girly twirling.

Obviously I reserve all rights to suddenly decide I love it sometime down the track. I do that sometimes because I’m, like, capricious and flighty. When it suits me. And if feminine floaty, twirlicious tea dresses do become the dernier cri then I’m well prepared!

Oh, one more thing; I have another copy of this pattern to give away to a reader. When I ordered the pattern from Club BMV, for some weird reason I ordered two patterns exactly the same. When they arrived I thought Club BMV had made a mistake, but then I checked my own record and oh deary me, it was all me. I had clicked “2” in what I hope was late night fuzziness and not early dementia.
Anyway if you would like a pristine brand new copy of Vogue 1160, sizes 6-8-10-12 and still in factory folds, then please leave a comment on this post stating so, and next Tuesday 29th July I will randomly select a winner.

LATER EDIT: thank you all very much for the kind comments and the great styling suggestions and I will be sure to try wearing the dress with different shoes in the future 🙂 I drew a winner the old fashioned way…

Details:
Dress; Vogue 1160, pale cocoa brown silk georgette
Petticoat (under) ; Vogue 1160, dark chocolate brown silk charmeuse, seen here
Tights; Kolotex
Boots; Sempre di, from Zomp shoes

Posted in: Uncategorized \ Tagged: dress, giveaway, pattern review, Vogue 1160

Chocolate…

17/07/2014 11:00 pm \ 48 Comments \ Carolyn

… mm mmmmm, it looks just exactly like Bessie has had a giant big vat of melted chocolate poured all over her, yes?
So, after I cut the pockets out of this delicious chocolate brown silk charmeuse for my suede jacket I wondered if I still had enough of it to make up what I had originally earmarked it to be. Which was a petticoat. So I just went ahead with it, whimsically; since I actually have no designated thing to wear it under yet and now it’s hanging all alone on its hanger in the wardrobe. An orphan, a sad and lonely little thing, the petticoat with no dress. And it’s such gorgeous fabric too. Shimmery soft and delightfully whispery against the skin. I’m going to looooove wearing it, one day.
Maybe I’ll be totally, wickedly, gloriously self-indulgent and give it to myself for a summer nightie this year. Maybe. If I’m good 😉
The fabric was from Fabulous Fabrics and the pattern is Vogue 1160, which is really a dress pattern. This is the accompanying petticoat, which is a very nice, quick and simple little pattern. The pieces are all cut on the bias which makes for a beautiful drape. I looked at the underbust darts on each bodice piece; two of them, both quite wide, and just had to laugh. Not with my bust! I eliminated some bodice width by folding the pattern piece a little between the 2 dart markings and in lieu of darts gathered excess width into the relevant area of the skirt front. Silk charmeuse gathers just beautifully and imo the soft gathers are prettier and look much nicer than a dart.

The side seams are sewn in French seams and the shoulder straps are tiny spaghetti straps. Turning out skinny straps is usually a pain in the neck, but not with this slippery stuff which turns out like a absolute dream. A dream, I tell you!!
I almost feel like making another one straight away just so I can turn out more spaghetti straps. 🙂