Month: July 2011

T-shirt shrug

T-shirt shrug

I was supposed to be at a barbeque on this gloriously sunny Sunday afternoon, celebrating the success of the Witt Studio Chorus Summer Showcase. Unfortunately my kind husband decided to share his filthy germs with me, and now we’re both too ill to go. Bah.

I’ve spent most of the day sitting on the sofa feeling sorry for myself, watching Torchwood and Doctor Who, and looking at the internet in the name of research for a new range of clothing that I have in mind. While I was wandering about on Pinterest, I stumbled across this tutorial for turning a t-shirt into a shrug.

Deciding that I couldn’t go a whole day without making something (not even a poorly Sunday), I dragged an old organic t-shirt out of the languishing stash, set about it with scissors, the sewing machine and a bit of ribbon. The whole thing took less than an hour – including taking photos and writing this.

The only thing I did that wasn’t specified in the pattern was to stitch the ribbons into position at the end of the casing. This means that the gathering is no longer adjustable, but it stops the ribbons from disappearing inside the t-shirt.

I have a giant pile of old t-shirts in the Shed, just waiting to transformed into something new. I can feel a few more of these little shrugs coming on, I think.

Nimby and Mer…


Photos © Fairysteps

Oopsie, I might have had a little PayPal accident over at Fairysteps. Ren was making some pretty things from the same leather as my lovely handbag, so it would have been rude not to buy the matching purse, surely? No sooner had I popped it into my shopping cart than there was a post on Facebook to say that some pink chokers were on their way, so as soon as they appeared on the website I had to grab one of those as well.

They arrived this afternoon, having been somewhat ruthlessly shoved through the letterbox by the postman while I was out. The purse is nice and big, so I’m just deciding whether I’m going to use it for money or whether it’ll be a comfy new home for my ipod. The choker is absolutely gorgeous, so soft and lovely to wear. (I think I’m allergic to the popper, but that can be easily fixed with a little dot of fabric on the inside.) It’s just the right size, and I love the way that the pointy bit can sit happily either in the centre or off to one side. I put it on straight away, and it’s already moulding to the shape of my neck. Just gorgeous.

I’m trying to save up for a pair of boots or shoes (somebody bought the pair I was coveting), but I’m not going to get very far with that if I keep buying all these pretty little accessories in the meantime! Maybe I’ll find a pair in my Christmas stocking… *fingers crossed*

More skull shoes…

Lisa's Skulls & Roses shoes

This is the second pair of skulls & roses shoes – this time with an organza ribbon for a little bit of variety.

Pink Suede Brogues

Pink Suede Doc Marten Brogues

It’s been just over two years since I wrote about looking for a pair of pink suede brogues.

I’ve had these for a little while now, and suddenly realised that I’d completely forgotten to mention them. They’re Dr Martens, obviously, the 3989 shoe, in hot pink suede. This colour seems to be sold out now, but they are still available in pale pink. (There are other colours, but they only seem to come in men’s sizes.)

Thanks to the nice soft suede they’re lovely and comfortable, although I think it’s likely that I’m going to have to dye them black eventually. The seams at the back of the heels have already turned blue, where my jeans rub against them. I haven’t worn them much yet, mostly because it won’t stop raining and I don’t want to ruin the suede. I’m really pleased with them though, and I’m really looking forward to wearing them more often.

smocks galore!

Smocking

How exciting – I’m in a magazine!

The magazine in question is a brand-new digital publication by Kate Davies, whose blog I’ve been following and whose knitting patterns I’ve been queueing for some time. So you can imagine how excited I was when she asked me whether I’d be willing to talk about smocking, and what I learned from the collection at the Museum of English Rural Life.

Issue 1 of Textisles is available as a Ravelry download, as it also includes Kate’s Warriston sweater pattern. It talks about the etymology of the word “frock” and the gender of a garment, and there’s a really interesting article about the English Smock. Then there’s a “Meet the Maker” section… which is me!

The next issue is due out in August, and will have a nautical theme featuring Kate’s Betty Mouat design. Whether you’re more interested in the textile history or the knitting patterns, Textisles is a fabulously well-researched and thoroughly interesting magazine. I can’t wait to read the next one – and I’m not even in it!

Long-Sleeved Eve

Colinette Eve Cardigan

This is Eve, in Colinette Giotto.

I finished knitting it about six weeks ago, it’s just taken me that long to get around to sewing all the bits together. For those of you on Ravelry, you can see the details here.

It’s a mash-up of two versions of the Eve pattern – the short body from one, and the long sleeves from the other. The short sleeved version took 3 skeins, and this only took one extra. If you were making anything above a 36″ chest you’d definitely need five skeins. I find this ribbon style yarn quite easy to knit with, and the cardigan’s very light and pleasantly drapey. It does tend to go a bit baggy when you wash it, so I knitted a smaller size than I would normally.

I never follow Colinette’s instructions to “stripe” their yarns to avoid pooling, partly because I don’t mind too much how the colours come out and partly because I’m too lazy to wrangle two balls of wool at once if I don’t have to. I’m not totally convinced by the resulting fabric here, which looks like a cross between a zebra and an untuned television. It’s an excellent summer cardigan though, and I’m sure I’ll get plenty of wear out of it. I wear my blue one quite a lot.

Giant Ridiculous Hat.

Vogue 8405

This is Vogue 8405, view A.

I was a bit worried that it might be hot while I was in London so, as I tend to fall over with sunstroke at the slightest provocation, I thought it would be a good idea to make a massive sunhat.

One side is the same purple linen as the Regency-ish dress. The other side is an offensively pink cotton that matches my hair. It’s fully reversible.

The pattern called for two layers of fabric and a layer of hair canvas. This still seemed a bit floppy for my liking, so I interfaced the pink layer. Still a bit floppy, so I quilted the entire brim in a spiral. Much better!

Purple linen Regency-ish dress

Simplicity 4055

This is Simplicity 4055 again, this time in a lovely deep purple linen. I did make a couple of amendments to the pattern, mostly to the fit of the bodice. I widened the sleeves by an inch, to allow room for my biceps and to make it easier to lift my arms. I also made a full bust adjustment (a novelty for me!) to allow me to wear a modern bra rather than Regency stays. Next time I need to bring the gathering a little more towards the middle, but the fit is still very much improved.

Simplicity 4055

I also altered the back of the bodice, to eliminate the buttons. Not having a maid to dress me, I couldn’t fasten the buttons between my shoulder-blades without some serious yoga practice, so I decided to get rid of them. Instead I added a rather anachronistic zip into the side seam, which was much easier to manage. I really like the back of the bodice without the buttons, it looks much neater.

I did have a brief look around the internet and in some of my costume books, to see whether there were any examples of Regency dresses that didn’t fasten at the back, and was very interested in this tutorial for making a bib-front style. The wraparound section at the front would eliminate the need for separate stays, and you could make lots of different detachable bibs with embroidery and smocking and all sorts of details. That idea is now looking very tempting for my next big dress project!

Butterfly Brocade Shoes

Rhona's Butterfly Brocade Shoes

Sorry about my little disappearance there – I’ve been so busy making things that I haven’t been making time to write about them. Please prepare yourself for a flurry of posts!

These are the sixth pair of prototype shoes, in black chinese brocade with multicoloured butterflies. They look a bit wrinkly because they’re a size bigger than my lasts – I promise they’re not wrinkly in real life. They’re finished off with a delicate organza ribbon because I thought it went well with the butterflies. These are definitely a pair of shoes fit for a faerie, so they’ve gone to a good home.

London Souvenirs

London Souvenirs

Everyone knows that yarn and fabric bought while you’re on holiday doesn’t count as stash, right…?

On the left is two balls of Schoppel Wolle’s “Flying Saucer” sock yarn. It’s dyed two strands at once, so that when you unwind it into two balls you can knit two identical socks. If you follow their pattern, it also creates a somewhat psychedelic flying saucer pattern on the legs of the socks. I probably won’t be following their pattern (because I’m awkward like that), so it’ll be interesting to see how it knits up.

The little burgundy stick is a shawl pin that exactly matches the never-ending stole that I’m currently knitting. I bought the stick and the yarn from Loop, which was just up the road from our hotel. We also had a nice little wander around the antiques shops and stalls around Camden Passage while we were waiting for Loop to open. (I’d accidentally dragged my friends there half an hour too early. Oops.)

The fabric, as you can see, is from the V&A. I was slightly disgruntled to look at the V&A online shop and discover that both of the fabrics I’ve chosen are on special offer, and therefore cheaper, but I guess the shipping would make up the difference, so never mind. The fabrics were produced to go with the 2010 exhibition Quilts 1700-2010, and are a limited edition featuring designs from prints in the V&A collection.

The top fabric is ‘Palm Tree’, and is taken from a patchwork coverlet pieced from various early 19th century printed cottons. It was possibly made in Wales, sometime around 1830-40. The bottom fabric is ‘India Flower’, taken from a patchwork coverlet composed of block-printed cottons of the 1780s and 1790s. It was made in Britain, and dated 1797.

Being tight of budget, I bought a half-metre of each print. It’s a metre and a half wide, so there should be enough to make three pairs of shoes from each design, if anybody might be interested in such a thing…? They had so many lovely prints, I wish I could have afforded to buy one of everything!