Nine non-functional kiwi buttons on a fun yellow and white gingham top.
After working on the Ochre Overalls and using the yellow and white gingham fabric as a lining for the straps, it seemed like a great idea to make a coordinating top. So I looked around and found the Kleinia Blouse by Mood Fabrics. As usual with Mood patterns, there are some sparse instructions and the decisions that are made are very strange.
In this one for example, they want you to sew the yoke and bottom together but there is no shaping whatsoever along that seam, so I just cut it in one piece and sewed a fake seam. It was ridiculously big too. I worn it for an afternoon and then cut it down by several centimeters on each side. It was also extremely long.
I do not understand how they wanted me to add buttons along the back when they barely included enough space to do so. Since the top neckline is very wide, I luckily didn’t need a working button placket. So I sewed it all down and added the buttons. There are little kiwi birds on them, and I love them very much. Even if they dig in to my back if I wear a backpack for a full day. I might make it again, but then reduce the height of the yoke and make it a lot smaller from the get go.
After making three kinds of earrings, I figured I needed a better display structure. I can’t wear regular earrings, so I didn’t really know how to model them. Then I thought, if I can make a fairly sturdy paper penguin, there must be paper head models available too. So google, pinterest and etsy to the rescue!
For my purposes this head needed to be head shaped, not too difficult to complete and have ears (relevant for modeling earrings). In the end, I had to decide between three models that seemed decently feasible: OrigamiTemplates (cheap, has ears), Lordpoly (has ears, fewer parts), PolygonalModels (has ears, high complexity). I chose the OrigamiTemplates one, mainly because it was the cheapest.
After coaxing my printer to actually accept the paper I wanted to print it on (220 grams), the eight pages of shapes were printed. There were 48 pieces to cut and score, so I did that in stages. Around 10 or so were cut at a time because I know my hands find it difficult to hold those knives and apply pressure for a long time. I used an awl to score, which was very effective.
The written instructions were very clear and there was also a video showing how it was put together in case you get stuck. It came together fantastically, all the pieces fit together and I only struggled with the ears because those have some really tiny folds to contend with. Once those ears were on, it came together really quickly and I finished it in one afternoon.
The head was pasted on to the base and it seems quite stable. If it will tip over in the future, I’ll probably add some curtain weights in the bottom of the base. I like that it’s still open on the bottom for modifications like this. The last thing I did was punch a hole in the ear for earrings. You’ll probably see this head from time to time to model things like earrings and hats. I do like to do paper projects every now and again, and combining the useful with the fun is always great.
As mentioned in the Whale Bag post, I also purchased the Penguin – Pinguïn pattern from Waffle Patterns. Since it’s of course imperative to make that penguin bag as soon as possible, I set out to gather my materials. I wanted the bag to look like a real-life penguin, so I bought a white felt-backed curtain fabric for the belly. For the body, I used the same kind of fabric as for the whale, just in black. While the penguin closest in markings might be an Adélie penguin, I didn’t have appropriate orange fabric for the feet, so I chose the whale grey curtain again.
I looked over the instructions and the pattern pieces and decided that I did want to make one major change to the pattern. To increase the size of the inner pocket, I wanted to use all available space to store stuff in. So I measured the body pieces and made an estimation of how big I thought the inside could be. To make the biggest possible pocket, I added circular end sections so that the inside pocket would be shaped like a cylinder. The other addition is to add a zipper to the bottom seam, so I could stuff it after finishing all the sewing.
As usual, the instructions for a Waffle Patterns pattern are very thorough and clearly laid out. In the end, I did almost all the steps but in a very different order. I added some extra d-rings, one to the belly pocket as an embellishment, similar to the snap in one of the original examples. All the way at the end, I undid a little bit of the tail seam to add the other extra d-ring as an attachment point. I had just recalled this pin and this pin and thought I could combine the animal fanny pack and thigh bag thing together.
It all came down to the straps to get those ideas working. So I set out to build the those straps. I wanted two separate ones with side release buckles for easy on-off. A long one that could transform from waist to cross body/over the shoulder strap and a shorter one for thigh or hand strap. I didn’t have enough of the webbing to make the shorter one, so I used the same strap that I used to attach the d-rings for that one.
The long straps comes in two parts, a short part that just has the swivel clip and one side of the side release buckle. The long section has a swivel clip, a slide buckle and the other side release buckle. The length is such that when it’s fully doubled, it fits my waist, but it’s also extendable enough that it fits as cross body. The thigh strap measured to be somewhat too long for my leg, so I could also wear it with wide pants and stuff. I added a snap to the end so that the excess length could be doubled up and snapped away when it was used as a hand strap. I think this will work really well. I can use any of the three top d-rings for whatever configuration of strap I want.
Camouflage thigh strapWaist strap onlyCross body option
I really like this penguin too. I’ve found that I’ve taken the whale bag out a few times the last couple of weeks. It’s really fun and super nice to pet. I hope that will be the same for the penguin. I cut him in such a way that the nap would run down his body, and forward on his beak, so he would be super pettable too.
I know someone who really loves skulls and because I wanted to make her a gift, I looked for a plushie that had something skeletal on it. I settled on Choly Knight’s Sugar Skull Kitty Plush, a free pattern from 2016. As usual, the instructions and the pattern were great and I quickly got going with embroidering the face and stitching down the felt pieces. I just needed to put the pieces under the sewing machine to finish it, but for some reason I couldn’t get myself to do it, so it stayed in bits for several weeks.
Once I finally got going again, it was very quick to finish. Just stitch the body/head piece together, fill it and then stuff the little arms, legs and tail. The tail is attached in the one place and cannot move. The fun thing about this pattern, though, is that it calls for decorative buttons to attach the legs and arms. I wanted to make those movable, so I used some instructions from another pattern to make sure that the limbs weren’t solidly attached. I think it gives the thing some extra charm.
Now it gets to live in a house filled with other skulls. I’m sure it’ll appreciate that!
Blank canvas allows for letter options on this sweater.
A few years ago, we got a Christmas card at my work that was a white background, with black letters: kerstkaart. (translates as: Christmas card.)
The most minimalistic Christmas card I’ve ever seen. I love it so much. That caused this idea to float in my head about getting a sweater with ‘trui.’ (sweater.) on it, and adding interchangeable letters to the front. That would allow for the outfit to match my mood/the circumstances.
I finally decided to take some action. I didn’t feel like making a super simple blank canvas sweater, so I bought one. Then I found a font I liked on the internet and settled on ‘Simply Mono‘. It looked nice, and the < part of the k was attached firmly and not just stuck on. I liked the shape of the i too. So I decided on the font size (130), printed it out and cut the letters out of a felt placemat.
I attached the pointy parts of snaps to the front of the sweater and the flatter bits to the back of the letters. Since the letters didn’t all have the same amount of ‘letter’ in the same space, some letters are spaced closer together when they are snapped to the sweater. But I’m embracing that imperfection and actually think it looks more fun.
The trui. letters were sewn down, so they are not interchangeable. For now, I’ve made the letters that you see above and the 5 dots. I might decide to make more if I feel like it or find another brilliant idea that has 5 or fewer letters. Leave your suggestions!
Finally a place to store my double pointed knitting needles.
So, at some point in the distant past, I got hold of some DPNs, double pointed knitting needles. DPNs are needles that are used for knitting small things, or things in the round, or i-cord. I used them for the dragon, for example. As I am wont to do, this meant the start of a DPN collection. I never set about to find storage for them though, and that was a problem. They’ve been left in plastic bags, pen-things, stabbed into a cardboard box and I’ve found them in all kinds of places. But no more!
I set out to create a storage for them that was similar to my interchangeable knitting needle storage. Found some fabric in the hoard that had cute dogs on it, some semi-coordinating fabric for the needle pockets and got to work. I first had to sort all the DPNs into size and length to figure out how many and how big the pockets would be. I ended up with 19 different needle size/shape/length combinations from <2.0 mm to 9.0 mm in diameter.
Since the doggy fabric was a specific width, the case would be a maximum of that wide. The height was determined by the longest DPNs I had, so it turned out around 37 cm. I cut out the front and back from the doggies and some batting for the middle. Then cut a long strip of coordinating dotty fabric to into the pockets. Sewed down one end and just started putting the DPNs in and sewed the pocket down so they fit somewhat snuggly.
The interchangeable needle storage has a plastic flap over the top to stop the needles falling out. This works really well, so I decided to implement it in the Doggy case too. Since there is such variation in length, and I didn’t think to split first by length then by width, there are actually two plastic covers, one for the shortish needles and one for the longer ones. To combat the ones on the end falling out, so I made a tiny flap on the side too. I sewed down all the flaps, and bound the edges of the whole thing. Made some spaghetti straps from a coordinating fabric, wrote the sizes with a textile marker and called it a day.
I love this thing and it has already brought so much joy!
Silver snap detailed mash-up overalls with grey stripes
I got some interesting grey striped stretchy fabric from one of the fabric markets this summer. It seemed really fun to make overalls/dungarees with it. I’ve been dreaming of having some overalls that have the same top details as the Cat Dungaree Dress. Since that dress was supposed to be dungaree pants before I made terrible fabric choices…
I tweaked the pants pattern I used for the previous corduroy dungarees and pants to make this thing. The main changes were to add some length to the bottom again, and to eliminate the dart in the front. So I redrew the pocket pieces to take those in by a few centimeters. I added pockets to the back, and made the back darts work, in contrast to the Dark pants. I grabbed the cat dress pattern and just directly copied the top onto the fabric.
I made some stupid mistakes that meant that a waistband wouldn’t work, so I just slapped the front and back bib straight on. I don’t trust zippers 100%, so I added an additional closure with a snap to the side seams. It also looks fun, so I’m happy with this choice. With the cat dress, I’ve found that the top strap is helpful to hang things on, like a bag with my yarn if I’m knitting. So it’s both another design detail and useful. I still have some of the fabric remaining and the plan is to make a blouse, similar to some I purchased eons ago from H&M.
Ps. if your screen does weird things with the stripes, The whole thing looks like the side detail image, there are no psychedelic blobs.
Everyone needs a ceremony dress with happy ribbons.
I’d only vaguely been thinking about the Convocation ceremony this year when I ran into a fabric that would be perfect. The pattern is fun, but still appropriate for work things. It’s a dark blue with little white bars topped with red blocks. The contrast wide stripes on one end of the fabric would work really well as a hem, I thought. The fabric itself is a thick knit, so easy to work with.
I used a pattern from Simplicity Naaimode 41, model 4, also known as Simplicity 8751, version 2. I made some changes to the original though. I left off the sleeves, as the slight extension on the shoulders looked like it would be plenty. I don’t like drop sleeves. To make sure it would cover enough, I did raise the underarm edge a little. However, the neckline was quite wide so I added some afterthought strips to narrow the neckline. I moved the waistband from the inside to the outside and used the dark contrast stripe from the edge of the fabric. Finally, I had to include some decent pockets!
I finished this thing almost a month before the event actually happened! I don’t think I’ve ever been this in time. I didn’t even dally with the hem, which was done sooner than some of the other details. The dress doesn’t have closures, but you make it fit with ribbons in the waistband tunnel. Since I put the tunnel on the outside, I could use those functional ribbons for some extra pizzazz. It worked well and we had a great ceremony!
It is yet again almost time for the next event on my work calendar. This year, I started on time! The deadline for this was mid-June, but I managed to finish it before the end of May! It certainly felt like an accomplishment. The inspiration for this project came about from seeing this pin on Pinterest of a white dress with an overlay at the bodice and a blue edge around the overlay and the hem of the dress.
What I ended up with doesn’t look like the pin at all, but it was heavily inspired by it – don’t ask how my brain works. I found the pattern of a dress with a bodice overlay in Simplicity Sewing Pattern magazine nr. 42, model 18-20, also known as Simplicity 8047, and I really liked it. The pin came into play when I decided I could add a border to the overlay and the hem of the dress. So off to the hoard I went to find fabric. One of the boxes yielded this blue opaque fabric and some white and blue dotted stuff, neither of these I remember buying, so I assume they came from a friend’s de-stash.
I used the markings for the short length and made extra pattern pieces for the dotted band. I chose to cut the size 38 which was a mistake. I had to take the underdress in massively in the bodice, several centimeters at center front and added extra darts in the back neckline. This also lead to some real challenges with the overlay, where I had to take a bunch out at the side seams and wasn’t entirely sure how to even get the neckline and sleeves to behave. After having it sit on the mannequin in desperation for some weeks, I persevered and got something that looked pretty decent.
Of course, event outfits require pockets. While the skirt isn’t tight per se, there is not enough room for bulky items in the pockets to remain invisible. But alas, we carry on. The weather was still dreadful and so cold that I had to wear a layer extra over the dress in order to be warm enough to function. Nevertheless, it did behave well on the day so I’m pretty pleased.
Adding some details to stave off endless repetition.
To be honest, I don’t remember much about this shawl. I finished it a couple of months ago and from what I can recall, the knitting was very boring. However, it does have good colours, grey, white and black go with everything! And I have worn it out a few times since, so lets try to recap anyway.
My Ravelry notes indicate that I started this new shawl on July 1st, 2023 and finished it on 11 October 2023. Not too bad of a turn around. The pattern is Aranea by Erika Wine and I later incorporated Asscher by Christina Danaee into it because I was so bored. The yarn was the ‘grey-diation‘ yarn dyed in December 2022. The pattern is fairly simple, the only thing to remember is to make the ‘spokes’ by effectively knitting i-cord along the edges and three other spines. In the beginning, a stitch is increased on each side of each spoke every fourth row. Once you pass 40 stitches between two spokes, you start increasing every other row.
This is a lot of knitting stockinette and for some reason, my yarn didn’t want to run out. The shawl is supposed to end when there were 80 stitches between the spokes, but I still had a lot left when I hit those 80 stitches. So at some point, I wanted something, anything else to do but knit-stitches for an eternity. I found the Asscher pattern, which has a pretty cool eyelet pattern on the back and started incorporating those instructions in between the spokes. I deviated at some point and made an extra triangle. I also needed to keep in mind that the i-cord binding still needed to happen, so I kept weighing the yarn to make sure I had enough. Once I reached the end, I followed the bind off instructions and wet blocked it.
Since I wanted the lace design to stand out a little more, I blocked it with straight edges instead of the spiderweb intention from the original pattern. This was probably not the best idea because what I liked most about the Aranea pattern was the spiderweb effect. However, I’m definitely not making this by hand ever again. I had to force myself to finish it. It has turned out a pretty decent size and it’s definitely wearable. I now also know how that gradation effect in yarn will play out when knitting. I have learnt (again) that endless stockinette is not my forte and will try to keep this in mind with future projects.
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