Warm wrists!

While waiting for the new year to happen I decided to do tackle some knitting. I always wanted some fingerless mitts and I always wanted to try cable knitting, but was too afraid. I recently joined Ravelry.com and I found a GREAT pattern! And it is free!
The cables are very easy to do and the result is quite classy and elegant. I used a cheap acrylic yarn for the first try-out, but I will surely make many more versions in the near future.
The pattern is called "irish hiking wristwarmers" by Delia and can be found here:

http://wineandneedles.blogspot.com/2004/12/wrist-warmer-pattern.html

Thank you Delia for your great pattern.

Busy with gifts

Long time since I posted.

I have had a lot of dress-orders and had nearly no time to sew anything for myself. I did not really need a lot (except pants/jeans) so I was ok. I got some clothing from friends to replace old and worn out items. I brought some too goodwill because I simply could not fit into it anymore, and.....I bought some.

Yes I am very ashamed, I bought 2 pairs of jeans. I really was going to make some, but time was running out and I spotted a great sale of 2 pair for 55 euro. So I got 2 pair. Needless to say I am very happy with them :-)

Now the gift season is upon me and I need to get some birthday and Christmas gifts going. I already got some books and stuff for my family and this weekend I will attend a housewarming a.k.a. birthdayparty of a friend. She only wanted oven mitts. So I got her oven mitts. But instead of buying, I made some!

The pattern is from Burdastyle #8125 B. Really easy to make and don't they look great! The fabric is a great find I got from the USA (contemporaryfabric.com I believe ). I already used part of it in a dress and what I had left was perfect for these babies :-) They turned out so well that I am thinking of making a few more to give away during Christmas season. It's the perfect gift for encouraging your friends to bake more of those lovely cookies!

Continuing the wardrobe plan...with pants.

Recently I killed yet another pair of jeans and I really need to start replacing my old pants with new ones. Pants are tricky to do, however... I was pretty happy with the lilac pair in linnen fabric, but I need something more sturdy that will keep out the oncoming chill of autumn. This is a more fitted model in a denim-like fabric. It is not cotton, however and has a lovely no-crease quality to it. I picked up this fabric for 4 euro from a stall and thought it perfect for a try-out! The model is ok. I had to really, really shave off from the sides of the legs as it was WAY too wide for me, eventhough the pattern was for a size 36. I have a problem with getting the crotch right on the front and this time I was able to get it really nicely done. I tried my hand at an invisible zipper, but it is not really invisible....Still happy with it though.




I do like the back, the fake-welted pocket shamelessly gives away my inexperience, but again, I am happy with the result. I am sure I will do better next time. It really is a "you-have-to-do-it-a few-times-to-get-it-right" thing.

The only thing that bugs me is the diagonal lines in the back when standing still. I looked it up in my sewing book and I cannot find the cause of the problem. I can see there is tension and too much fabric under the bum (ooo I wish I had a bum!). I will really need to correct the pattern for this next time, but I have no idea where!?!?!? If any of you might have an idea or answer, please let me know....I still need to make jeans and another pair for winter!

******Update*****
I thank all the readers that posted comments on how to fix my pants! You were all very helpful and I have a good idea of how to fix the pattern now before I start in true jeans fabric. I had alread sewn this pair and am not willing to do major reconstruction on it, but I have opted for deepening out the crotch curve. As you can see, it does not fix all of the roominess in the back, but it does get rid of those sharp diagonal lines! Thank you so much all!

Granny shawl

I used to have a triangle shawl from my granny. I loved it very much as it could be used as a shawl and a wrap. ....it disappeared when I moved in with my boyfriend 3 years ago. Since then I forgot about it as crochet items were not in fashion anymore and hey, one oughtta keep up with fashion right? Wrong. I loved that shawl dearly and when I noticed these triangle wraps were coming into fashion again and crochet is now the *hot* thing to do apparently, my thoughts dwindled on my old black wrap and it's comfort. So, nothing to do about it: I had to learn to crochet and make myself one. I had already started knitting simple scarves and I figured crochet was not that different from it. I bumped into this pattern for a triangle shawl in one of those shops where they sell all kinds of wool and knick-knacks for knitting and sewing. It was hanging on a dressform and I just loved it soooooo much! The kind lady of the shop saw me gazing at it and told me: "You know, if you know how to crochet, single crochet and double crochet, it is really easy to make. And if you don't know how to, I'll show you -no problem". And I did. It was really easy to follow the pattern, it only took me a week doing a few rows every evening sitting in front of the telly with my boyfriend. AND I LOVE IT!!! 6 euro worth of skins and I am sooooo much happier now :-) I can't wait to show my Grandma!

Sleeves all set in :-)

I told you about this dress before. I have made this design together with my friend Jiska. I did change it a bit after seeing it on her. I shortened the sleeves and the hemline to give it a bit 'younger' look. I was thinking of adding some lace or ruffles around the neckline, but I'm not completely sure. Maybe I'll ponder on it for a while longer...

Coming up: this same dress in a gorgeous sequinned white linnen. Perhaps I'll leave that one sleeveless....hmmmm.

Finally something finished!

It has been a while since I was able to post. Too busy, you ask? Well, yes and no. I just did not seem to get anything finished lately, but I do have a lot of projects *nearly* finished :-)

This dress was made for an irish dance recital. It is not really a re-fashion, but it is all handmade. We have several of these red dresses for our group. The girls of this group are in their teens and have been growing a lot since we first made these. So, we had to make some new ones and re-fit some older ones. This made me try out a new concept: a two piece ensemble. The skirt and top are separate, so that with future growthspurts, we can more easily adjust skirts that are too short and tops that need more room. It will also be possible to swap skirts and tops more easily within the group.
The sleeves were cut from an older dress that was too small. They are not perfect, but they did the job.
The underskirt is also separate and simply lining fabric with a ruffle of tulle attached. I think it enhances the "fairy-like" quality these dresses have. It also helps hide the fact that some skirts are too short :-D.

I also have 2 wrap dresses that I need to finish off. They only need...sleeves. (I do hate setting in sleeves....)

Sewing together is so much more fun!

My friend Jiska and I decided we needed to start sewing together. This was quite a lot of fun as Jiska had almost never sewn before. We had bought this flowery fabric at the latest fabric market and really wanted to make a wrap dress from it. After searching a few pattern magazines we found the right (simple enough) model and went for it! It was really nice going step by step and explaining why you do something a certain way. I had almost forgotten how much I have already learnt in all those sewing years!
We started in the afternoon and after much talking, chatting, some tea, more chatting and finally some sewing we got the dress finished 'round eleven at night. And doesn't it look cute!
My boyfriend commented it looked like a "granny dress" (don't you just love guys?) and we think it might be the effect of the color of the flowery fabric. We're thinking about spicing it up a bit by adding some colorful ribbon around the collar/neckline and around the hemline and/or shortening the sleeves into cap-sleeves to make it look 'younger'. Please leave your thoughts about these ideas!

Oh, and I will make myself an exact copy of this one, as we bought 6 meters of the fabric! :-D

Lovely lilac top

I had a yard of fabric left from the pants and really wanted to do something with it. I have been wanting a wrap shirt for ages. I have been looking at all the women wearing them and they always look so nice, romantic and cute! I don't know why I never made one...(ow yeah, that is right...I did make one a while ago but it kinda sucked...that's why). I guess practice makes perfect :-)
I might make something like this again, but then a real full wrap. Perhaps also with a blouse collar on it. But that is a whole new project...

Pants!

Well, the title says it all...I made pants! I am really happy with the way they turned out. I made, or to be more precise, *tried* to make pants before and they never quite worked for me. I needed more pants for summer and I chose a lilac linnen for this model. It closes at the side with a zip. No pockets, just darts in front and back. So, a really, really easy model to try out the pattern. I did have to change the crotch a bit. Apparently I have no bum, or not the size of bum that comes with this size of pattern. I have finally figured out how to adapt for that and I think I will now try another pattern soon. I still have loads of jeans and other fabrics left....

The knitting bug bit me

Every knitter has to start with something simple like a scarf...and so I did. The first one in the previous post was easy enough and I thought I might want to try my hand at a more difficult yarn. I chose a really soft and fluffly yarn in blues, that is quite popular for scarves these days. I really love the way it turned out and it gave me a good idea on how to work this type of yarn. It is short, as I wanted it to be (I already have enough "winter" scarves) and this is perfect to keep the neckline warm in and around the house whilst not getting long, loose ends in the way when working.
I love the yarn so much I might try and make a sweater from it, but I am not sure if I am brave enough to try! :-D

Off the wagon...

Okayokay, I fell off the wagon:



I just had to buy some stuff at penneys in ireland. I mean, it doesn't get any cheaper than that!
To make up for it, I started knitting a nice shawl:

And that is three....

I forgot to post these. I was struck by flu last week and this top was made just before. I somehow thought I posted...anyhooo... As you can see, it's my favorite pattern again! This is the original neckline from the pattern, round with a slit. The pictures aren't that great but I guess you get the idea by now. Knit fabric, popular pattern top, rinse, repeat.

Popular pattern

Again, a little knit shirt from the pattern I used before. I mean, why change a good thing? I used a remnant of knit fabric I have lying round my stash. The pattern is really easy, just three parts. I cut out the parts, I do the necklines front and back, hemline if need be and then the sleeve hem. After that I just serge the sucker together! These knit fabrics have a nice edge that does not need hemming. So to make my life easier, I used it as a hemline on the body parts. I need to learn a thing or two about V-necks though. I keep fiddling with the point and I have to make a little dart at the point to keep it nice. I have seen many shirts in the shop use the same method, so I am not *that* worried about it. The pattern also has a rounded bottom edge. I do not care for this, so I straightened it out (just followed the fabric edge).
More to come from this pattern.....

Something for summer

I have had my eye on this fabric for a while... I liked it as it reminded me to the typical "Missoni" look. Of course, Missoni is not something I can afford :-)
This top is lovely and light and the pattern was just too easy: front, back and sleeves. Only works for stretchy knits, but I have a lot of those lying around. I also added my own label, just for fun.
I will be making more copies of this pattern in different materials!

Oh, just to be clear, the fabric came from my stash! (Bought for 4 euro per meter- so I guess that makes this top worth 4 euro)

Same idea, new material - decision made.

Thanks everyone who posted a comment to vote on the sleeves! Most of you voted for the patterned insert. However, one of you answered the following:

" [...] in a weird kind of way I thought of "vest" as "veste" in French which means jacket......and somehow I twisted the meaning in my mind so I thought you meant a sleeveless jacket.
I also thought that it looked great and I couldn't understand the problem since it looked finished... [...]
In my mind you have 3 solutions:
1. make it a sleeveless jacket; it already looks great
2. make 3/4 length sleeves (or whatever you can cover with your too short sleeves)
3. insert a really contrasting patch (colour/texture/pattern)to elongate the sleeve so it looks like it's done on purpose."

I really tried all options. The original patch-idea looked funny, the 3/4 sleeve only looks ok when wearing a long sleeve t-shirt but wasn't really doing anything for me. Inserting a completely new sleeve of a different material seemed to be the only option left. But then I figured: "why confine the vest to one sleeve option?" If I make it sleeveless I can wear it over any color I like! And Christina was right, it looked great already!
Thank you Christina, for your thoughts...

Same idea, new material

Today I was window-shopping and spotted this lovely knitted vest with a zipper in the front. You know, just your ordinary cable-knitted sweater, only more fitted and in the form of a vest. I have seen this before a few times and I really like the way it looks.
So what did I do? I found myself a huge sweater! This big white thing has been lying in my wardrobe for years and years. I get cold very easily and I guess this is the reason I have never thrown it out...too many memories of me sitting on the couch covered competely in this sweater :-)



I figured the same method as for the fleece sweater would work, so I measured it and put an item that that fits me nicely on top.
I did not want to take it out at the sides as those have the nice cablework. Instead, I decided to take out the center part as it wasn't as interesting as the rest of the pattern. The center part was just about the amount I would need to remove to make it fit. How lucky can you be! :-)



I cut off the neck part and saved it to re-attach it later on. I cut the bottom rim off to the correct length. (I figured I'd better save this too as I might re-attach it later on)
I then cut off the sleeve, corrected the sides and made the armhole a bit smaller. I roughly cut the sleeves to match the armhole again.

Time to put it back together!
Sewn the sides and center back. Pressed a new hemline and pinned in the zip, checked the length. Sewn the neck/collar back on and sewn the zip in. Sewn the hemline. Checked if everything was ok and it looked pretty good already!




Now the problem part: The sleeves.

The original sleeves were set very off-the-shoulder and because I fiddled with the placement of the armholes they are now too short. I have 2 strips of fabric I got from the center back and center front that I can use to lengthen them, and I decided to use the 'old' hemline to create a nice hemline for the sleeve - wrist piece? (or whatever you call that?!?!)

The only bummer is that these pieces don't match with the cable pattern on the sleeve. AND HERE IS WHERE YOU COME IN!
YES, your opinion matters to me as I cannot choose for myself :-)

Please, look at the pictures below and tell me which option you prefer, the insert with or without pattern? You can leave a comment on the wardrobe refashion post or at my own blog . I would really appreciate it!

Staying with fleece...

As I mentioned in the earlier post: I need more sportsclothes. Preferably something that comes close to my beloved green fleece vest. I spotted this DIY clothing magazine with a lovely hoodie on the front cover. I fell instantly in love and decided that I was gonna make it.





I did not want a two-way zip though, and I wanted fleece (for obvious reasons by now). It was gonna be easy just to cut the zip straight at the hemline, instead of the curve in the pattern. I thought the vest had a lot of seams, but it turned out they "cheated" and have sewn a lot on with a coverstitch. I do not own a coverstich machine, but my normal sewing machine can fake an overlockstitch and that would be good enough for me :-)

To get the nice 'coverstitch' hems I just used a fleece blanket that was already finished this way. The blanket has cost me 3 or 4 euro once, don't remember. I have a pile of fleece blankies, but this was the only one with the nicely finished edge.




So, I cut out the pattern pieces, made the hoodie and am very happy with it!
(sorry for the crappy pictures, but my digital camera is an 8-year-old-first-generation digital camera)

The first refashion from a new refashionista!

Next to making irish dancing dresses, I actually dance as well. I have so many classes during the week, that I am always behind doing the laundry. I need more sportsclothes! After dancing I need to keep myself warm and sweaters or fleece vests are perfect for that. I have one dark green fleece vest I absolutely love, and I have been walking around with a plan to make more fleece items for a long time now...

So, nothing better than the present! I found this huge fleece sweater from my boyfriend (I think). It is very big, he never wears it, and it's fleece....perfect! (I put my yardstick on that thing to show how big it actually is....that is over 55 cm you see there).
Anyway, I have been visiting the boards from craftster and I can show you how those refashionistas regularly tackle a project like this.


First: cut off the sleeves.
Second: put an item that fits you on top of your hugely oversized shirt/sweater and draw out the curves of your sleeve armholes and sides and/or hemline.







Third: cut new shape, overedge and sew all hemlines, sew sides.
Fourth: adjust sleeves to accomodate new armhole, sew sleeves, set in sleeves.

Last: make a nice piccy showing everyone your new and cute clothing item :-)

The machines that will make it happen

I make irish dance dresses...For those of you who know nothing about this: you will need a good machine. So, I am proud to announce I am the owner of a Janome 6500P.
Is it a good machine? YES! :-)
It was a huge investment for me and I want to use it for more than only irish dance dresses, which is also the reason I am taking the pledge.


To make my life in irish dance costuming easier, I recently bought a serger too.
Will it make my life easier? Again, YES!
I have only had it in the house one day and played with it, but I can see the enormous joy it will bring me. So, bring on the patterns I never used, crack open the boxes of fabric... I am ready to go!