By Brienne

No Apologies Quilt

I have some sewing-for-work to do. My shop is desperate need of an update and I have a couple of on the road sales coming this spring. I need to get to work! Naturally, this tends to lead to a lot of shuffling around in the sewing room, re-arranging fabrics and teeth grinding. 

We've been sick, I've been feeling anxious and powerless and overwhelmed. I needed a clear the cobwebs project. Then, I caught this beautiful post last week. She never fails to inspire, oh how I love to linger over in her space, looking at the photos and plotting my next project. 

I've always wanted to make a patchwork quilt, I think that I even put together a top out of vintage sheets when I was younger. I have improvised another top and even backed it AND cut out the binding but have yet to bind it. 

And the kids actually use it anyway - which is the point, right? To USE it? That's why I loved Alicia's post. It was all about just going for it so the thing can get put to use and don't think about it too hard! 

The problem is, there isn't a fabric shop within two hours of me. And even that one, sweet as it is, does not carry any linen, knits or gray or brown. It's a quilt shop - the best quilt shop, with excellent service, BUT I'm mostly a garment maker.  And I'm not a stasher. I tend to thrift or buy fabric to use and get on with it. I don't have the space or capital to keep a bunch of extra hanging around. But, in the spirit of experimentation and spurred on by Alicia's post, on Saturday, when my parents offered to take a shift tending the little sick ones, we jumped at the chance. We needed pellets for the stove (also a two hour drive away) and I needed to clear my head. 

After a couple of noontime glasses of Rose (head cold be damned), I leapt into the little quilt shop, thinking spring and just went for it. We were home before dark and the fabric was washed and dried in time for me to chop into it Sunday morning. 

And it was liberating, friends! I almost stopped after the first square - the color scheme? Spring, yes but maybe a little to literal... But I just kept going. When I got bogged down, I set the timer. 30 minutes per square roughly and I shot for making squares that were about 16" or 32" x16" for the big ones.  

Okay, I'm tempted now to go on and on about the relative garishness of the thing - boy, this is not a combination that I would normally choose. But that wasn't the point!! I just wanted to try something with no expectation except that I would sew and mix things up a bit and that, in the end, I would have something useful. And a blanket around here is a total necessity (says she who is typing in her living room with a down coat on). 

What do you do when the sewer in you is blocked?

Joining Frontier Dreams readers today. 

Figgy's Heavenly Tour: Celestial Duds

It's happening, it's happening! I'm the next stop on the Figgy's Tour today in tandem with Frances of  Miss Matabi.

I'm so excited to be included in the tour and I'm really excited to share some samples of these great patterns with you. It turns out, that I've actually made several items from the collection already but let's start with the garments that I made for the tour. First up, a Celestial Maxi Skirt for Hiver.

 Shelly's patterns are carefully drafted, exampled and well detailed. The garments are simply yet distinctively shaped. I was drawn to the maxi skirt because of it's potential for embellishment. The contours of the skirt make it fun for swishing but the curve in the front and back leave the legs free for climbing. I've been saving up this pink Nani Iro for some time - love, love!! I'd like to make it a staple... And this skirt seemed like the perfect use for it. The fabric was a little bit coarse-feeling and sheer, so I decided to line the skirt with a really soft white baby rib and to let the layer hang out underneath. I wanted the skirt to look easy and not too formal. And as you know, I'm a sucker for layers. Somebody stop me.

I chose to add a wide waistband, instead of attaching decorative elastic. I didn't have access to any and I really liked the gold polka dot paired with the pink. Because of the waistband, I ended up shearing off quite a bit from the bottom to get the right length. Shelly advises taking careful measurements to decide where on your skirt-wearer you want the skirt to fall and I should have. I wasted a bit of fabric here because I didn't think it through, um measure... So much for my resolutions....

I added buttonholes and a drawstring too. I wrapped the string with embroidery floss using this tutorial. 

Next I stitched up the Celestial Pullover in a soft lavender fleece. I wasn't sure that the fleece would work, it's not very stretchy - but it passed the 20% stretch test, which is what the pattern calls for. It's so super cozy and the short sleeves are a smart complement to the cowl neck. She had it on outside today and with hands in the pockets and the temperature stretching into the teens, it was just the perfect thing.

I topstitched the pockets too, to keep them from shifting below the hem and to give the top some detail. 

Below are the other things that I've made so far from the collection.  

 

1. Ambulance Pants 2. Ethereal Dress w/ Exposed Zipper 3. Valentines Day Duds

Now! A couple more things - I know you're already stuffed. After you've gone on ahead and picked up the new Figgy's Collection (it's on sale!) Head right on over to check out Frances's post. And then, head to her shop and get some fabric - it is so, so gorgeous. And her customer service is dynamite. Seriously. Plus, she's got fabric on sale right now too. Woot!

And be sure to check out what these fine sewists are stitching up. Don't foget to enter the giveaway at the end of this post! 

P.S. I am not in any way affiliated with well, anybody. I just think that Shelly is the bees knees and her patterns would make you happy. Regarding Miss Matabi, I just love her selection and have had excellent sales experiences with her in the past. 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Earflap Hat and Girls in the Woods

When I was a wee girl, I was shy. And I liked to spend all of my time reading. I remember reading everything and all of the time. My son is doing it now. Every new sound he can see let's him into a world that he was excluded from previously. Shampoo bottles, road signs, tags in clothing all have new and curious meanings. 

For me, with adolescese came impatience and a creeping sense that reading and pretending just for the fun of it were not the normal things to do. I was self-consious and nervous. Around this time, I met a once-in-a-lifetime friend whose family raised sled dogs and lived primitively in the woods without indoor plumbing or television. Her name was the same as a slain lover in a Johnny Cash tune and was therefore much weirder than mine and hard to pronounce too. We were natural allies. I escaped with her as often as I could. 

We were brave while we drug buckets of water and food through the snow toward the howling, wriggling dogs. We slept in down sleeping bags that kept out the subzero temperatures. We woke with frost on our noses and dressed by the woodstove. And it couldn't have been more perfect. Adolescent superficiality was meaningless there, where there were real-life adventures to be found in the snow-covered pines and on the back of a sled pulled by dogs. 

Knitting, sewing, sketching - handmaking of any kind is connecting me again to the kind of quiet work that I did when I was a little kid. Eowyn Ivey's novel reminded me of who I was as a young woman in the woods. 

I will not spoil it for you here because if you haven't read it, I think that you should. If you're curious about its content, I shared an excerpt from the book  here. And if you do decide to read it, I hope that you'll share it with your nieces and daughters. There are some fierce women in this tale. I think you'll agree that they deserve a spot in your imagination. 

This is my son in the photos. His hat is the Garter Ear Flap Hat from the Purl Bee. Full Ravelry notes are here. I'm joining the Small Things readers and knitters today. Head on over there for some very inspiring knitting and book recommendations galore:)

Leather Feathered Vest

One last post today over at the Kids Clothes Week Space. 

Here's a sneak peek, head on over to read the rest. 

Joining Frontier Dreams today too - head over there for even more inspiration! Nicole recently posted there about another Owlet - so lovely! New knitters, this one wouldn't be bad for learning to knit top-down and what a sweet result...

Shades of Me: Project Pink

I did it. I made something for myself in pink. Honestly, this project was so quick to sew - I don't know what took me so long. I have spent a fortune this week on patterns and have spent hours in the sewing room after bedtime staring at fabric and taping together patterns (and maybe watching the Twilight movies again shh - seriously). Why is sewing for us so hard? Part of it, I know is that I don't have too many fabrics in more than one yard cuts (except for a lot of blue and black and gray) and although I love to mix it up and colorblock on the kids, I know I won't wear things that are too busy.

It's another Briar. My all-time favorite sewing pattern. I used leftovers from both the dancy duds and from the Goat Hoodie. I used Megan's tutorial for sewing in shoulder patches. 

Well! Now that that's out of my system, I think I'll go back to gray, and black and blue...

Knitted for Me: In Pink

 

I have a bit of sewing to share, in pink. But I wanted to get this out there too. This is the Ariosa Center Cable Dress. These grainy photos don't do it much justice but hopefully you will get the gist. I seem to pull this out around Valentine's Day every year. It's very warm and soft. 

It's a good reminder too, because as I consider my next selfish sewing move, I want to be realistic about what will get worn. I do love the idea of this tunic but I'm afraid it's both too bright and too bulky to make it into my regular wardrobe rotation. I'm finding that sport weight is the best sweater making fodder for me with an occasional well-behaved worsted weight thrown in. Both the yarn and pattern are beautiful, though, and it knitted up as written. 

Ravelry notes are here. What's in your color scheme this week?

Joining Frontier Dreams readers today. Thanks to Nicole for providing a space to share. 

February 7, 2014

Joining Soule Mama readers today for This Moment.

Sewing for Me

I am excited to do some sewing for myself. As much as possible, I wear handmade. But it's been awhile since I've made anything for myself - since last April, actually. And my closet is a bit bare. I was excited to read about the Shades of Me project and I'm eager to participate. 

It's hard, though, for me - to decide what to make. So I am preparing in just the same way that I did for the KCW. Pulling out a few items that I really like to wear and trying to figure out what I need and where to go next. Although I know that part of the plan is to stretch ones self, I really didn't expect to do that. I am a blue/black/grey girl. Sometimes all at the same time with very little variation in between. No jewelry, except my wedding ring (which is both very plain and very precious to me) and I buy these tiny black beach rock stud earrings locally and by the pound. I wear them all the time.  When I started poking around in the stacks, though, I noticed a theme that's been emerging  without my really knowing it. 

Um, pink? I'm not sure... yikes. But there it is, screaming out from among the greys and browns and blues. Will it work with some neutrals to anchor it?

Upon further investigation, I discovered that this was not my first love affair with pink. I found this old friend buried deep in my closet.  Perhaps I should take the hint - being that this hot number has barely been worn, in spite of the beautiful yarn (given to me by my Dad a couple of years ago). 

What do you think? Should I stretch? Should I give it a go? What will you be making for your sweet self?

Head over to Kristin's post for a little more selfish sewing inspiration. 

 

 

Kids Clothes Week In Review

I still have some kid things on the cutting table but I need to move on, for now, in order to focus on some other exciting projects. 

Somehow, though, my kids' closets went from bare to bursting. Between the sewing that I did in preparation for guest posting on the KCW blog and the sewing that I did for the challenge itself, last week, I really was able to crank out some duds. 

1. Ambulance Pants 2. How To Hack Your Flashback 3. Seraphic Dress 4. Reimagined Raglan

5. Dancy Duds 

1. Valentine's Day Duds 2. Riding Pants Plus Peplum 3. Boxy Whale Tee and Wool Skinnies

And here is my original list... Lists were made to be broken, apparently:)

How did your week finish up? Did you sew all that you wanted to? Did you hone your techniques for next time?

Knit Alchemy: The Bulle Dress in Gold

I've been itching to show you this tunic all knitted up. I started it on Christmas Day and could have finished it soon after - it's such a quick, satisfying knit. But I goofed up somewhere up on the back bodice and didn't notice that until the skirt portion was nearly complete. My over-active perfectionist side was eager to rip it out and start over, so I hid it from her for a couple of weeks and began something else instead as a distraction. 

I wanted to finish up some knitted things, though, during the Kids Clothes Week in order to clear out my knitting basket for some selfish knitting. 

I prefer to work with semi-solids when it comes to yarn colors. This one is mostly golden with some orchidish flecks. I can't find it anywhere online sadly :( But the yarn manufacturer is Mountain Colors and the color is called sand. I picked it up locally at That Little Red House. I think that the photos capture the color well, it was warm enough today (fist pump) to go out. 

Full Ravelry notes are here if you're interested. I talked about the hat she's wearing here and the clothes here. I'm looking forward to some selfish garment making coming up but I'll be back tomorrow with a round-up of the stuff that I made for KCW. 

Joining Frontier Dreams today.  And with the Small Things knitters.