Last day of school.

That's her finished for 8 weeks summer holiday.  EIGHT WEEKS! Oaft. 

I might be jealous a little. But I've had a lovely spot of lunch with her and Mum so it's hard to be grumpy. Even if she did get to wear jeans to school. 

One in ten

When I made my very first socks 2 years ago I was utterly captivated by self-striping yarn and the very first ball I bought was Adriafil Knitcol DK in the Beethoven colourway. They now live with a friend as do all these other 9 pairs of Knitcol cosies. Two of these pairs I have knitted for myself and at the last stitch they have been perfect for someone else. 

(clockwise from top left, Degas, Kandinsky, Dali, Chopin, Chopin (again!) and Renoir, Leonardo and Michaelangelo, Beethoven and Warhol)

I'm not good at keeping socks - they make such great gifts I am forever giving them away. I've finished 14 pairs and only have 2 pairs myself. And none of my fave Knitcol yarn. Well, no more! These are mine. Mineminemine. My tenth pair.

Ha! Even better, the brand new colourway (bought because it had black in it) is named Chagall - who is a favourite artist of mine. Aren't they great? And they're a quarter 2 Finish-along finish as well!

I think I might make one more pair for me and then start trying "proper" 4-ply socks. I do love DK ones but they're not so great for going inside shoes. But they are so soft and cosy for round the house.

Yarny Deets:

pattern: Beginners toe up socks by Knit Freedom - adapted for dpns, knitted up the leg til there was none left!

Yarn: Adriafil Knitcol  Chagall, 2 x 50g

Needles: 3.5mm dpns

finding the perfect tee

I've discovered Fabworks.co.uk have a great selection of cotton knits for a fiver a metre. And they are great for trying out tee patterns to match my jeans. Awesome! 

I had to have the skulls, right? And this pattern is a new (to me) free one from Sewing Cake - The Tee, no 2224. 

I wasn't sure about the smaller neck hole but it works nicely, actually! And I like the cuff at the bottom. This pattern is half self-drafting. You join the dots to your measurements and decide your length yourself so its very customisable. I kept it short to sit on my jeans - it's a wee bit too short but I can fix that next time! It's a dolman sleeve, too (like a kimono) so no sleeve pieces. Yays! 

Speaking of kimonos, this one is a remake of my favourite Maria Denmark Kirtsen kimono. No changes, just right out the packet. The fabric is a viscose knit from the Village haberdashery.

I'm now wondering what it would be like with a hem band like the skulls. I have a length of swallow print cotton, that might be what happens with that. 

I also made this chap which is a MiY Brightside Shrug. I absolutely love it - it's such a handy piece to own.

Here it is worn at the weekend with my Morgan jeans and that striped tee above.

Yes, that is very much my style! So I think I'm pretty good for holiday clothes now. I might have found the perfect hoodie pattern after much searching and a grey and green striped fleece sweatshirt knit but that has to wait til next week for payday. I can sew one piece in ten days, right? Right. *nods* And my search for the perfect tee continues.

Garment deets:

skulls tee

Pattern: Sewing Cake The Tee no.2224 

Fabric: cotton knit from Fabworks, 1m

Size and changes made: size 36, 25 hem, no changes apart from construction - I added the neckband in the round because I like the finish better 

striped tee

Pattern: Maria Denmark Kirsten kimono tee

Fabric: viscose stripes from the Village Haberdashery, 1m

Size and changes made: size small, no changes

grey shrug

Pattern: MiY Brightside Shrug

Fabric: grey mark interlock knit from Ebay, 1m

Size and changes made: size , no changes

Sixty

My wee Mum turned 60 a few weeks ago and I wanted to give her a framed momento like I gave my dad on his big six-oh. This is his - sixty badges all relevant to his life so far.

   

I wanted to do the same but different for Mum and since she is such a lover of books and the written word I reckoned word art might be the way to go. So after an abortive effort at making one myself (the making was easy - the getting a high enough resolution file to print it at 12 inches square? Not so much) I found a company on Etsy that would make up a heart full of sixty things about her life and print a canvas. I originally didn't intend to include the entire canvas in the frame (it's the same one as Dad's) but really liked the 3D effect it produced.

The wee cluster at the bottom is more of her favourite things - tea and birds and gardening featured heavily when I was canvassing other people's ideas on her! The two quotes are what she always told me when I was going out and her first words to my Dad. I was really pleased how it turned out.

There was no party or meal out; Mum decided she just wanted the family at her home for a meal so everyone could relax and just be together. We are obviously a super sympathetic pair of kids - I quoted my brother on the cake. *g* She was lucky though, that was originally a 9 candle! Good job I've an engineer's brain and an artists hands!

It was really lovely but still gave an excuse to get a wee bit dressed up. 

Mum's not the only one growing older!!

Jeans!!

I think these may take first place from my Abbey coat as the thing I am most proud of sewing. They are the Morgan boyfriend jeans by Closet Case Files and I love them to bits.

There's a lot of making in jeans. I spent all of "Marilyn and Me" on Friday night just topstitching pockets and inserting that coin pocket. And then maybe...I dunno, maybe 10 hours sewing to make them up. You're going over some seams 4 times! Seam, finishing and two rows of topstitching. My weekend was confined to my wee room! The waistband facing is leftover pony cotton from my Tova, as are the pocket linings. 

I thought a button fly might be easier than a zip - I was totally right. Especially when your equally excited spouse does the hammering of the jean buttons! I was originally going to top stitch in purple but when I couldn't get the denim I wanted I plumped for this "Psycho" from the Village Haberdashery. I used it for my original Moss mini skirt last summer and it has a dark red backing. Which means red turn ups, aaw yeah! They call it black denim but it is really a dark blue/black.

Here ya go. Not too shabby, eh? It's raining here so photos are tricky in the house but you get the idea. These are straight out the packet with no alterations as an experiment and a baseline for future pairs. I would lift the back pockets next time - they make my bum a bit flat - and maybe nip in the yoke at the small of my back but they're actually a great fit. They'll be even better once the denim softens up a bit. I might wear them to death. *g*

So will I make another pair? Darn tootin' I will! In a nice pale denim, I think. The boyfriend style doesn't do well with my Tova tunics or the A line tees I've been making. Those tops need a slimmer thigh profile trouser to avoid looking frumpy but the Kirsten tee with the snug hem is perfect!  So I have a green and grey striped one planned and a grey shrug to wear over it. And there may be some skulls and tattoo style swallows knits on their way, too. Holiday sewing since we're booked for a week in the Yorkshire Dales next month!

Garment deets:

Pattern: Morgan boyfriend jeans by Closet Case Files.

Fabric: Psycho denim from the Village Haberdashery. I bought 1.75m (it is 59 inches wide) and have a 40cm left. A metre and a half would definitely do.

Size and changes made: A straight size 10 from the packet according to my waist/hip size. Cotton waistband lining and an interfaced denim waistband.

she's at it again

I made a very gushy post last year here about Chook receiving 4 awards at the junior prize giving at school. I'll keep it short this year.

I knew she would never receive four again - that's an incredible amount. But she did get three!! She won another gold personal commitment (NO demerits, 1 sick day, always punctual and a multitude of house points), a citizenship for performing Christmas Carols with the instrumental group in the local nursing homes and an endeavour award for the second year pupil who tries hardest in - wait for it - maths. I am absolutely bursting with pride for her. She hates maths but understands its importance so really sticks in at it. It is so lovely to see her hard work and perseverance recognised. And, perhaps selfishly, I am taking it as a small reward for myself for all those hours spent nagging, coaching and supporting the maths homework at the kitchen table.

I even took sneaky video of her third and last scoot across the stage - she was much more relaxed than the scuttling duck she was last year! She's the girl in the shirt.

So, second year? Definite success. She also has £15 in Amazon vouchers to spend - I suspect her burgeoning CD collection (yes, CD's!!) may have a wee addition soon.

hacking a tee

I love the free pattern from Maria Denmark Sewing for the Kirsten kimono tee. It only takes a metre of fabric and is a nice wee simple chap with minimal binding and you can get away without twin needling some bits. But it isn't very flowey round the hem - it's quite snug. Which is great for tucking in, not so great for wearing outside jeans. So, I decided to hack it.

This is it made with the bottom traced from the Tilly and the Buttons Coco top. The fabric is from the Village Haberdashery - a nice drapey viscose. 

Because of the drapey knit it doesn't hold its a line bottom but I kinda like it. 

One for the holiday wardrobe! We're off to Crakehall in the Yorkshire Dales next month so tees, jeans and jumpers may be the order of the day! *g*

Garment Deets:

Pattern: Top half of Kirsten, bottom half of Coco

Fabric: cotton/viscose knit 

Size and alterations made: A small grading to a 4.

Pony Tova

A few months ago I was pondering if I'd get away with wearing a Wiksten Tova tunic. I'm slim but busty and sometimes garments that fall from the bust aren't the most flattering. That's the trouble with handmade clothing, too, if you don't have a mate that's made one in your size you can't try it on! But then Emily was selling one of her Tovas for a song - so I had to buy it, right? So I did and it fitted perfectly and I loved how it looked!

So. I had to make my own. M is for Make were selling this horse fabric for an amazing £4 a metre (I wish I'd bought the other colourways) and had the pattern, too. Two evenings happy sewing and tah-daah! One Tova tunic.

My only change was to sew three buttons on the bottom of the placket to help it stay closed lower down. There's no button holes, just the buttons themselves stitched - they came off an old tee shirt of Chook's years ago.

And the only bit I'm not 100% happy with is my collar. It is fractionally uneven on one side.  Other than that it was a great wee make, though.

And it's lovely and cool for this warm spell we're having.

I would love one in Heather Ross Mendocino but my next I think will be in Tula Pink Fox Hollow that I just found in my stash. With short sleeves coz I've only a metre and a half - we'll see if that's enough!

Garment deets:

Pattern: Wiksten Tova

Fabric: Japanese Horse Play cotton, 2m

Size and changes made: medium, just 3 buttons added, placket and collar interfaced for stiffness.

Two a week?!

I made 8 things in May.  That's 2 a week! Woah.

And hopefully there will be no slowing this month. I won a voucher in the first quarter finish-along for Knotted Thread and bought this beautiful Bespoke double gauze. I plan a summery shirt dress. 

And I got the pattern from the Village Haberdashery today - a Grainline Alder.  Along with pattern and denim to make a pair of jeans!! And two lengths of cotton/viscose knit for 2 tees.

And the three fat quarters? The VHabDash were doing a deal where if you spent a tenner on fabric you received a free fq. So I got 3 and am now planning what to do with them, one is lovely double gauze! Like I said, a busy month again!