Rediscovering the mojo.

More than two months. Man, really? Has it been that long?
Unfortunately my sewing time has been cut rather short (read: to nil) by a combination of DIY (husband building shed = me having to watch the kids so they don't play with the power tools = no sewing time); house-hunting (open homes all weekend + stressing about putting in offers = no sewing time, nor sewing mojo); and one half-finished Burda jacket sitting on the dressform awaiting a collar and a lining (= complete and utter sewing intertia.) I don't want to do the jacket, cos it's wool and we're now well and truly heading towards summer, and I don't want to start anything else, cos the jacket is sitting there staring at me saying "finish me...finish me....get me off the dressform and into the wardrobe before a small child spreads yoghurt or weetbix or kiwifruit over my woolly self."

Sigh. I really should suck it up and just sew a little A-line skirt or something, to break the drought, but I've got myself well and truly into a rut.

Anyhoo...enough complaints. I do have something to show; this is a top I made a couple of months ago using New Look 6648 and some very lightweight, floaty rayon (I think) knit from stash. The colour is a bit dark for this time of year, but in the interests of using up stash, it's fine, and the hand of the fabric is right for the style of top. I'm mostly happy with it; the kimono sleeves are really comfortable and breezy; and I'd probably make it again in a more summery fabric, as it sews up really quickly. My only complaint is that the gathering of the band is a bit of a pain; next time I might just gather it onto clear elastic rather than faffing around with gathering threads.

So...now I've broken the blogging drought, I'm all set to break the sewing one. What do you do when you hit the wall? I'm open to any and all suggestions :-)

Milo for pudding

The other day, I counted all my knitting UFOs. Well, I started to, and then I was so mortified I stopped, shoved them all in back in their various bags and boxes and went off to partake of that age-old art of procrastination, the Cup of Tea.
Me and casting on new projects: great buddies. Me and finishing things off, sewing in ends, or doing-the-boring-bits: not so much. So, when I came across this groovy little pattern on Ravelry, I had to (of course) abandon whatever was on my needles and cast on.
The pattern is "Milo", available from Ravelry as a downloadable .pdf (how good is that for an instant-gratification-monster like myself? Not even any waiting for the post...just exercise the credit card and wham! new stuff. Cool indeed.) If you haven't already, check out the pattern designer's blog at tikkifabricaddict.blogspot.com for more knitty goodness. (the link is in my sidebar, too.)
The pattern is clear, comprehensive, and beautifully presented, and I really enjoyed knitting this vest - it's the perfect combination of meditative stocking stitch, with the added piquancy of a funky little cable, and the bonus at the end of not having to sew anything other than a few ends.
I knit the 2 y.o. size, and it fits - just - my exceptionally rotund 2-and-a-bit year old. Entirely my own fault, though - the pattern instructions are very clear about using chest measurements rather than age to determine the right size... I'm just a lazy knitter. Ahem. Gauge? Measurements? yeah...nah. I'm more of a "cast on and hope for the best and if it doesn't fit then ah well...it's a good thing knitting's stretchy, aye?" kinda knitter. That, and my two year old is a wee bit of a pudding. Hence the post title ;-) (I mean that in the nicest possible way. As far as puddings go, he's pretty darn cute ;-) )

The yarn is Twilley's Freedom Spirit, bought a year or so ago in an earthquake sale (there are still a few bits of wall and dust in the bag with the wool), and I used two and a bit balls.

Sewing-wise, I'm itching to finish the jacket that I started with Maryanna at the PP tailoring course we both attended. Progress has been slightly thwarted on that, however, by the aforementioned, delightful child traipsing through the house, across the carpet, and across part of my cut out and stitched jacket lining, pouring enthusiastically from a can of olive oil from the kitchen. Right. Through. The. House. Yeah. Not impressed. Luckily, the most excellent people at Smart Dress Fabrics in Mt Albert still had more lining on the bolt, so a complete disaster on the fabric front was averted. The carpet, I fear, is a different story.

Simplicity 3692

I recently discovered a new (to me, at any rate) fabric shop, only about 10 minutes drive from where I live. They mostly specialise in hand-painted silks and velvets, which are of course wildly inappropriate for standard mum-wear. Anyway, I decided to pay them a visit one day since they had a 50% off pattern sale, and was pleasantly surprised to discover that as well as the silks (which are beautiful, if perhaps a little bright for my personal taste) they are also starting to stock a variety of other natural fibre and organic fabrics. The colour range isn't huge at this stage, but I ended up buying some beautiful avocado-green bamboo knit. The fabric has a lovely drape, feels amazingly soft against the skin, has a four-way stretch so has really good recovery, and is just generally pretty darn cool. The sustainability factor of bamboo fits well with my inner Green Party voter, too ;-)
It sat on my shelf for ages waiting for the right pattern, one that wasn't fitted but would show of the drape of the fabric. I ended up deciding on Simplicity 3692, and I'm really pleased I did. The gathers and the sleeve shape really show off the fabric, and it's immensely comfortable to wear.
I toyed with the idea of elasticating the bottom edge, like in the sleeveless version, but in the end, laziness and the desire to be finished won, so I just hemmed it instead. I like it tucked in, and left out, and also worn with a belt (which I didn't get a picture of.)

All in all, a success, I think....so long as I don't wear it with a brown belt or brown boots...cos then I end up looking like a wood elf, according to my Lord of the Rings-obsessed four year old.

Pants, pants, pants.

So, I finally finished Vogue 2907. They've been sitting in my WIP basket for a few weeks now, through a variety of sewing machine malfunctions (I still have my doubts about technician man. The machine's working ok, but still seems a bit temperamental at times.)
I used a biscuit coloured cotton sateen with a bit of stretch, and some quilting fabric for the piping. Overall, I'm pretty happy with them - the fit in some parts is good, in others it's not good, but it's a pretty good jumping off point for a first pair, I reckon.

I like the shape of the legs, and the fit in the front is ok, I think. Front thigh width is ok, too; but I'm wondering if I need to take a bit out of the back thigh area? I definitely need to alter the pattern at the waist - I took out four inches at the top of the CB seam (that's not a typo) and at least an inch on either side, tapering to nothing just above the hip. Without it you could have posted an encyclopaedia down the gap at the CB. The waistband is different to how the pattern looks, too, because I didn't take a seam in it at the sides to accomodate the excess I pinned out at the side seams - I decided to fudge it and let the band wrap further around the front. Next time I'll do it properly ;-)

The main problem, as I'm sure you can see, is the serious wedgie I've got going on. This is straight out of the wash - after wearing them for a couple of hours, it's not so bad, but it's certainly not a look I was going for. I've scanned through good old Pants for Real People, but I'm still not 100% sure on how to alter the crotch so this doesn't happen. Ideas? I'm pretty happy with the fit across the rest of the ...what's the polite word they use?...."derriere"...but it's just not cool having that kind of wedgie going on. Not cool at all. There's also a bit of pulling on the fronts of my thighs when I walk, and I wonder if this and the wedgie issue are connected?
The bubble in the middle of the CB seam, comes, I think, from where I tapered up to the waistband at quite a steep angle to accomodate my sway back. I could try to smooth that out a bit, I guess. Can I fix the wedgie at this stage of construction by sewing a deeper crotch curve? Or do I just have to live with it?

I'll definitely try another pair - I love the style and apart from the obvious issues they're really comfy. I'd love to hear any fit advice you might have, though.

Spring on the inside

It's been a pretty long and grim winter around here...well, probably not by the standards of any truly cold and grim place, but for a soft-bellied Aucklander, it's been freezing. Finally, though, a walk around the streets has yielded glimpses of stuff like this:



...and this....



...which led me to think that this:



...would be a nice lining for this jacket, BWOF 2008-08-115, made in black wool:



...which I am looking forward to making at the Palmer Pletsch tailoring workshop I'm attending at the end of the month.

So there you go. A woolly jacket with a little bit of spring on the inside. Just the thing to bring a bit of fabricy good cheer to a cold day.

Fun with dangerous tools

Before....


After...


One of the things I have learned as a mother of two boys is that when it comes to tools, the pointier and more dangerous, the better. Apparently. Oh...and "sewing's boring" (unless I'm making a Jedi robe, or a lurex suit of Mithril mail a la Bilbo Baggins, among other costumey things.) Anyway, today I felt the urge to get crafty and avoid the mountains of laundry that need to be folded, so I decided that rather than attempting to sew for myself, and gritting my teeth through the ensuing whingeing and mischief-making, I'd attempt a project that spoke the kids' language a bit more. One with pointy dangerous tools.

Our computer chair has been in a dire state for quite some years. In recent times, it's been covered with a crochet throw from the op shop, but I've become sick of putting it back on to the chair innumerable times each day. I'd bought this short length of upholstery fabric from the remnants bin at Nick's fabrics months ago for $3, and so armed with a serious industrial-style staple gun, we got stuck in. A variety of pointy tools were poked in a variety of holes in the chair by the four year old and the two year old; a fair amount of paint was worn off with a rasp while I was downstairs getting more staples; and an old oak cabinet I inherited from a great-uncle came within inches of being "distressed" with a few choice hammer blows. Ahem. There was a close call with a hacksaw, but no-one lost any fingers or eyes, and we now have a chair that isn't a complete embarrassment.

In sewing news, my machine came back from its second service and is, I think, sewing ok - I've lost my sewing mojo a bit in this cold and miserable weather, and am instead spending the evenings in front of the fire with my knitting and a glass of red wine. I'm also slightly embarrased to admit that I've developed an addiction to Pam's white chocolate buttons. Low-brow in the extreme, but so very delicious. I urge you to try them before you laugh too hard ;-)

For the canals of Venice and the streets of Paris.

I made this quick half circle wrap around skirt for my Mum, as a birthday present (somewhat belated...sorry Mum) and as something new and fresh to take away with her on a trip to Venice & Paris. Oh how I wish it were me...it seems like such a ridiculously long time ago, pre-children, when my husband and I were in those places. Ahhh.... I was 5 months pregnant travelling through Venice. Wow. Aeons ago.

Anyway. Less misty-eyed nostalgia; more sewing. Ahem. Not much to say, really - this was so quick and easy to sew up it's ridiculous, and the perfect sort of skirt to sew for someone else because it fits no matter what. Half circle, bit of a waistband, buttonhole (don't be a muppet like me and accidentally run the buttonhole off the waistband and into the unreinforced skirt bit, though, cos you'll have to do the old "patch it up with a bit of interfacing and hope for the best" trick.) Rolled hem on the overlocker (I found the manual, finally ;-) )

The fabric is some cotton voile stuff from the dreaded Spotlight and that's pretty much all there is to it.

In other news, my machine has just been taken back for its second visit to the technician. It unfortunately came back from a service with a whole lot of problems that it never had before the service (bobbin thread breaking; needle position out of whack) so I had to take it back. Fingers crossed it's all good when I get it back or I might be in the market for a new Mr. Fixit. I've got a nearly-finished pair of Vogue A&O pants that I really want to wear, so I'm hoping it's soon.