Lucy – Page 23 – Hopefully Creative

New Shirt Pattern

I found another shirt pattern in one of my pattern magazines: Simplicity Naaimode nr 4. This one has a center back seam and either a boat or a v neck. With some fairly badly recovering red/off-white striped jersey I decided to try it out.

I managed to match the stripes along the seams pretty well, and I quite like that it manages to be straight-ish at the back, as bottoms generally stick out more than backs do. The back seam is very curved, to accommodate the sway back. This is why it looks so much longer at the center back on the hanger, see below. It’s currently still on that hanger, so I should stick it in the closet soon.

I have already cut the remainder of the striped leggings fabric (piecing significant bits), to this pattern, with some modifications. So hopefully, I’ll be able to show that soon too, although it’s very hot, and sewing in hot conditions isn’t always very nice.. We’ll see when super summer ends again!

Knitting Tiger, Hidden Dinosaur

Some people experience the growing up stages in a different manner than would seem regular. I have not yet exited the ‘why’-phase that toddlers usually go through. I also entered the dinosaurs phase a lot later in life that one would deem appropriate, i.e. last year or so. It all started with that ‘knitting dinosaurs’ book. I knit a dinosaur, knit another dinosaur, and another, and some more.. I took some courses on dinosaurs on Coursera (an online platform with Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) on different topics). Collected the local supermarket ‘dinosaur stickers’ (still missing 89 by the way) and browsed ravelry on ‘dinosaur’.

Now, I never figured I would be able to wear something with a dinosaur to the office. So when I found the Dinosaur Illusion Sweater, I was both ecstatic and scared. Ecstatic because I’d found a way to wear a dinosaur, legitimately! Scared because it’s for kids age or sized 4 (I’m not sure), now, I can wear children’s sizes sometimes, but even I’m not that small. I’d have to resize it and since it is knitted from side to side you have to do it right immediately. Moreover, sticking to gauge seems to be difficult for me. However, I knit a test swatch and got to work with the calculator. This was my pattern eventually.

The technique is called illusion knitting. What this means, is that ridges and troughs are knit in the main and contrast colour. To create the picture, the main colour ridge becomes a trough and the contrast colour trough becomes a ridge, such that from the side, the picture appears. From the front it just looks like strips, but from the side, the above dinosaur appears.

The original sweater has sleeves with footprints on it, but after finishing the body, I wasn’t interested in sleeves anymore. After a couple of weeks of resting, I decided that it would be a spencer. I three needle bound of the sleeves on the outside with blue yarn. I quite like that detail. It was knit from one ball of blue and one ball of grey yarn, below you can see what was left over.

Above is the side view too. What you may notice is that under certain angles you can see the dinosaur in the stripes, if you look at the back picture, you can see that the tail appears more clearly when it curves around my body. The same in the side view and when you look at the front view, you can sort of see the outline of the dinosaur. It’s impossible to take pictures of this by yourself, so this is what you get.

I’ve worn it twice now, and it’s been enjoyable. Up to many more wears!

Stripes Everywhere

To combat underwear views in the last graduation dress, I made some shorts. I found this leggings pattern on the internet (Into the woods from Grosgrain Fab.com, here) and cut out the shorts from some striped stretch fabric I still had available. I wanted to have the shorts end on a blue stripe as that would match the dress better. However, when I put on the finished product, it was too long, and was clearly visible when wearing the skirt. Oh noes!

Front long Front short

So… I made another one that was shorter. Why not cut of some length of the first one? Well two reasons, 1. I didn’t want a green stripe at the bottom and 2. I needed some short leggings to wear under my butt-protector shorts during roller derby, and the first pair were just long enough to serve that purpose. I still managed to get the blue stripe at the bottom in the second version, so that was nice. You can see the difference in length between these two. There are a couple of extra stripes on the right one.

Back long Back short

I have no idea why the left one pulls more than the right one in the back, especially since they are the same pattern. I’ve still got to try the full length version at some point. Not in summer though. First I need to finish a shirt from the remainders of this fabric…

Twirly Graduation

A couple of Fridays ago, it was again time for the most important work event of the year. The Summer Graduation, 150 students came to pick up their diploma in caps and gowns during a splendidly sunny ceremony. This of course warranted a new dress.

I had found the pattern months before on Papavero, the Polish site that also gave me my January Graduation pattern. They call it the Sukienka na poprawiny and you can find it here. This pattern features an asymmetric full skirt and asymmetric top, it’s sleeveless and doesn’t have too many pattern pieces. Two skirt parts, one bodice front, two bodice back, a strap and three facing pieces. The skirt pieces are enormous and are not really suitable for a lining. This meant some special fabric restrictions as I didn’t want a see through dress. Luckily I found some blue and white fabric that was really opaque, it was a very long piece which I still got for about 10 euros, it was apparently just too short to cut in two (lucky me!).

Dress Back

All the bits were cut out and sewed the thing together. The front of the skirt turned out shorter that I would have figured so I decided to do a bias tape hem to restrict length loss as much as possible. This would also mean a nice decorative feature. I also covered some of the seams in the same bias tape for cleaner insides. I made a few changes, namely: increasing the depth of the neckline at the front, subsequently changing the strap piece so it would still fit, shortened the bodice at the shoulders quite drastically, inserted plastic boning in the back darts and I added pockets.

Pocket Binding

The pockets were fantastic. I could put so much stuff in but due to the nature of the skirt it was invisible. It helped me out a lot during the day. The other fun thing is the mega swirl factor of the skirt. To combat the dreaded underwear showing during mega twirl, I also created some shorts to wear underneath, but more on those next time.

Inside Inside

The invisible zip worked out pretty well and it’s nice to wear. It’s airy but still *in my opinion* formal enough to serve well during events like this. People also made a lot of positive comments about it, which is always nice. I think I may make the dress (or just the skirt) again, but then I’m going to lengthen the front of the skirt a bit so that I feel ‘safer’ when I wear it. All in all, it was a success!

MMM ’16 Week 5

Week five had a crafty start and will not be seven days long. Lets see what that brings…

Blue striped shirt and leaves sweater
Comfort level: No pockets, but I made an external pocket for my mp3-player to listen to audiobooks all day while sewing.
Wear again: Only in the house.

Duck skirt and new blazer
Comfort level: Fine, the blazer is a little itchy but maybe some washing will help.
Wear again: Yes, maybe not together though.

Harry Potter and stripes
Comfort level: Easy.
Wear again: Yes.

Challenge:

Two days of non-pants? Since this week was only three days instead of seven and I still wore a non-pants outfit I’m calling this: Achieved
Five days of at least two me-mades? Since the week wasn’t five days, I am also calling this: Achieved

Week five has been survive(d)!

Conclusions

If I want my me-mades to be worn, I have to make sure that they have pockets. No pockets is severely limiting apparently. I also really like the variety that the different sweaters bring to me. This year was fairly easy because it was cold for most of the month and I had a number of sweaters to combine with different shirts and bottoms. I can definitely see that I prefer to wear pants & sweater combinations over non-pants. I’m guessing that that is because it feels colder with leggings than pants. I have, however, also found out that quite a few of the dresses I have made are comfortable and that I should re-start wearing those. There are some others that are better off in the attic or as a donation somewhere, since I don’t really enjoy wearing them.

Replacing my entire stash of bought t-shirts seems like a very feasible option currently and I see no qualms in also replacing the bought sweaters with home knits. I may still want to wear some bought jeans every now and again, although the made ones are also comfortable. I will see myself also continuing in making something new for graduation events. The one for June this year could theoretically already be worn, although the insides need some finishing and I need to find a way to incorporate pockets in some way, see above comments..

This Me-Made-May was very enjoyable and I liked participating. I also got to spread the word about sewing and people were regularly somewhat surprised about all the things I’ve made. This talking aspect was somewhat unexpected but still a pleasant side effect. Overall conclusion: Me-Made-May 2016, Challenge Achieved and Successful!

MMM ’16 Week 4

Week four started in the same outfit as the day before, at the larp event. When I got home on the Monday I changed into this:

I was cold, very cold and wet when I got home, so I wore the just in time sweater and striped shirt, with hood.
Comfort level: So warm!
Wear again: Yes.

A graduation dress.
Comfort level: Pockets! I wore it during roller derby practice, so it’s pretty good.
Wear again: Yes.

Green plaid pants and green sweater, apparently also the hood again.
Comfort level: Love this combination!
Wear again: Yes.

Not-me-made but new petticoat and test vintage pattern dress.
Comfort level: No pockets and the petticoat kept sagging a little.
Wear again: Maybe.

Kitty shirt and very old blazer thing.
Comfort level: Fine.
Wear again: Yes.

Ginny and blue shirt.
Comfort level: Warm.
Wear again: Yes.

Challenge:

Two days of non-pants? Achieved
Five days of at least two me-mades? Achieved

Week four is no more!

Blazer

I had a plan, ages ago, to make a suit from some grey fabric. Part of the plan got completed, in the form of Fancy Grey Pants. I have now finally completed the other part of the project, the Blazer part. I’ve been wanting a new blazer for ages now, but always was a little to scared to actually start it or was unable to find a nice pattern.

Eventually I found a nice pattern in a rather odd place. As you may know, Male Pattern Boldness is the blog of a guy who sews and he regularly writes about things he doesn’t get. One of the things was ‘Annie, too’ patterns. Somewhere halfway down the page, I found this fantastic pattern and I wanted to have it. I found a size 8 copy, but when I got it in the mail it looked like it would never ever fit. So I also bought a size 12 copy, which is pretty accurate and what I based this Blazer on.
Pattern

I made some changes, I changed out the sleeves for a two piece sleeve, reduced quite a lot in the bust area and in the back, added two non-functional buttons to the sleeves, worked two buttonholes by hand in the front, instead of one, added some piping to the neckline (below) and added a lining. The general shape still is similar to what it was supposed to be.

Lining Piping

It took time, a lot of time, especially to get the sleeves in right, about 2 days before those were fixed. When I came to the almost end, I couldn’t really decide on the buttonholes I would choose, bound would be nice, but the buttons I wanted to use are not so large, so that would be mega fiddly. Eventually I found I really nice tutorial on Williams Clothiers.com for hand worked button holes, so I tried it out, on the left my practices and on the right the final buttonholes. I’m quite happy with them.

Button hole practice Button holes

This is the final project!

Front Back

For the sleeves, I also added a little bit of piping and two non-functional buttons to the bottom. Getting the sleeves in was terrible. I chose the two piece sleeves from another pattern and it was fairly annoying to get those in. It took me over a day of constant fiddling, but right now, I’m really happy with the limited amount of pulling that I managed to achieve.

Side Sleeve detail

The pattern came with a front pocket which I made happen with a contrast welt in black. This way the blazer also sort of matches the pockets on the original pants. I don’t know if the pants and the blazer go together, and at this point I’m not interested enough to try it out. When putting on the front buttons and buttonholes, I figured it would be handy to also be able to close the front pocket, so I put a button on it too and this one is functional!

Buttons Front pocket

Last but not least, I added the lining because getting a thing on is easier when it’s slippery on the inside. The loop is for hanging it up which may be very handy in the future too.

Lusje Lining

I’m going to have to start wearing it to see if it works satisfactorily. Who knows, there may be a MMM update in the future.

MMM ’16 Week 3

Week three started of interestingly without me getting a shot of my outfit, I guess I forgot.

I’m the one in the yellow helmet with a striped shirt. These were my sporting clothes, since I managed to forget a picture. I did wear other me-mades that day.
Comfort level: That bum padding is pretty nice when you fall backwards…
Wear again: Yes.

Paint splatter shirt, Harry Potter sweater and reversible hood (now camel instead of brown on the outside). It was cold in my house today, so wore the hood for the majority of the time I was home.
Comfort level: Toasty!
Wear again: Yes.

Forgot the picture, black sweater and paint splatter shirt,
Comfort level: Fine!
Wear again: Yes.

A graduation dress.
Comfort level: Pocketses, perfect.
Wear again: Yes.

Harry Potter sweater and double zipper skirt.
Comfort level: Pockets, nice!
Wear again: Yes.

Bicycle shirt and jeans.
Comfort level: Decent, the pockets in the non-me-made jacket are roomy.
Wear again: Yes.

Brown larp dress, grey larp shirt, larp apron and larp backpack
Comfort level: Getting better, I’m planning on a new, warmer dress.
Wear again: Yes.

Challenge:

Two days of non-pants? Achieved.
Five days of at least two me-mades? Achieved.

Week three has been set free!

MMM ’16 Week 2

The start of week two saw the whole quota of non-pants filled. I did have to do laundry to get some shirts back in rotation, but otherwise this week was fine too.

Duck skirt and knitted socks finished that morning.
Comfort level: Fine.
Wear again: Probably not like this to the outside world.

Some Winter Graduation dress and cover up.
Comfort level: No pockets.
Wear again: Not like this, I need pockets.

Eyelet sweater and bicycles shirt.
Comfort level: Good, not just a MMM pick.
Wear again: Yes, have worn it like this in the past and will continue to do so.

Jeans and Harry Potter sweater.
Comfort level: Very nice.
Wear again: Yes!

Jeans and bicycles shirt.
Comfort level: Very good.
Wear again: Yes! The bought sweater is a light weight cover for warmer days.

Dotted shirt and green sweater.
Comfort level: Fine.
Wear again: Yes, done so in the past too.

Otter

Today I visited Sea Life, there were otters, penguins and a multitude of fish. Life was good.

Penguins

Francis and a striped shirt.
Comfort level: Fine
Wear again: Yes.

Challenge:

Two days of non-pants? Achieved
Five days of at least two me-mades? Achieved

Week two is through!

MMM ’16 Week 1

Me-Made-May week one is over and done with. It’s wasn’t a struggle really, so that was good. There are some combinations that others may find questionable, but for me, it was fine.

Just blogged Gaia sweater and unblogged grey pants from .. forever ago. I think I may have also been wearing one of my woven t-shirts.
Comfort level: Fine.
Wear again: Yes.
Challenge: Achieved

Stripe clash to the max. It’s the Harry Potter sweater and the ducks skirts, I may have also been wearing one of my woven t-shirts.
Comfort level: Fine
Wear again: Yes

Warm weather sweater and grey pants, also added the pre-blog scarf because it was cold!
Comfort level: Toasty
Wear again: Yes

Plaid pants and leafy sweater. Combined with beige (?) plaid scarf. I like plaid.
Comfort level: Fine
Wear again: Yes, this is actually a staple.

Harry Potter sweater and dotted woven t-shirt. It was cold in the morning so I wore my pre-blog hood. Throughout the day it got warmer, so the hood and the sweater eventually had to go.
Comfort level: Fine
Wear again: Yes.

Spring 2016 graduation dress with me-made petticoat.
Comfort level: Really nice, the sleeves are good and I love the stretch
Wear again: Yes.

Cat woven t-shirt and grey un-blogged pants. It was hot out, and this combination was pretty cool-keeping
Comfort level: Nice!
Wear again: Yes.

Challenge:

Two days of non-pants? Achieved
Five days of at least two me-mades? Achieved
Note: I don’t count my watch as a me-made and I don’t count my winter coat, which I’m occasionally still wearing as a me-made either. If you would count those I would have been super successful.

Week one is done!

Category: Lucy

New Shirt Pattern

Knitting Tiger, Hidden Dinosaur

Stripes Everywhere

Twirly Graduation

MMM ’16 Week 5

MMM ’16 Week 4

Blazer

MMM ’16 Week 3

MMM ’16 Week 2

MMM ’16 Week 1

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