Week Sixty Two

I have a new dress to report.

I went back into the stash as I'm still trying to sew though my older fabrics and found this wool tweed, bought a year or more ago from Tessuti Fabrics. 

Its very loosely woven. Flushed with the success of last week's purple dress, I thought it would sew well.

I cut the same sleeveless shift. It came together really well, although it frayed if I so much as looked at it sideways. I overlocked every raw edge to stabilise it.

I had so much fabric.. but a jacket (assuming I was game to make something tailored with this fraying weave) seemed too much texture.

So I drew out threads and made a tie scarf with fringed edges.

Its not lined. I have to get a production line of linings going!


Then I completed a project that has been waiting a long time.
Back during summer holidays my young daughter did some tie-dyeing. We made a turquoise tee shirt which was only now assembled.

She would have preferred pink, of course. But added bling to the neckline courtesy of an iron on transfer bought at Lincraft is almost as good.

Finally some disappointing knitting news.
I made good progress on my Flo cardigan up until a few days ago. I wound my fifth skein ready to complete and found that the skein (Madelinetosh Pashmina in Ink) is significantly different from the previous Ink skeins.
So much darker as to be usable.

Here is the wound skein shown side by side with my remaining yarn.

I did two rows jut to see. Not that I needed convincing.

I am desperately looking for another skein in a lighter variation of Ink. I have a few leads but even assuming something comes up, it seems my project is going to be significantly delayed. And so close to the finish line!

Not sure what project to work on now. There are quite a few options in progress and for the last couple of days I've been doing a little on each to see which will 'take'.


Easter Weekend is almost upon us. We will be several days out of the city and I have hopes of crafting now power and water have resumed to the crafting house.

My posts have been a little later each week lately as I've been so busy. Next week's post will be delayed with the holiday excuse. I'll be back in town on Tuesday.

Week Sixty One

Unfortunately this week has a photograph-free post. 
I've been knitting on Flo, it still looks the same as previous weeks.... just more deep blue knitted fabric.

My craft room was closed up as we had some building repairs. No power meant no sewing machine. I'm looking forward to catching up next weekend.

Week Sixty

I am still knitting Flo and only about half way up the second sleeve. There is a long way still to go before I can start the the ruffles for the front.

But this weekend I sewed a dress.

This wool tweed has been in the stash for at least two years. In the spirit of stash-reduction I pulled it out and looked at what i could make.
I bought it originally from Tessuti for a skirt. I think might have been a remnant, because its longer than I would have bought for a skirt but not enough for a sleeved dress. Also I wouldn't normally buy purple for myself, I don't have shoes or much in the wardrobe to wear with it.

I was able to squeeze a sleeveless shift dress out with careful cutting using my current favourite, Vogue V8319.

Its not (yet) lined. I have some lightweight purple silk I can use.
It has turned out to be the nicest shift dress I've made. As i said, its just a pity its purple as there isn't anything in my wardrobe that could go as a cardigan coverup for cooler autumn days.

I suppose I could knit something.

This Swans Island Worsted merino is in the stash. Its a very pretty companion if I can find a pattern which works with my gauge and yarn quantity.

Whilst digging in the stash I got the last of the white cotton knit. I cut and broadly assembled one dress for my daughter. Its white today but over the next few days I'm going to use up the last of the dye in the tie-dye kit.

I also made myself a quick white t-shirt. Apologies for the picture.. a quick iphone snap as I didn't have my camera with me this weekend.

The next couple of weeks will have less opportunities for sewing. There is more building and maintenance works scheduled. So everything will be put away until Easter.

But less sewing means more knitting and I want to do a few embroidery trials for the Fendi bag too.

Week Fifty Nine

Knitting on Flo continues. I have finished the first sleeve, which looks like a longer piece of knitting to last week and I'm starting the second sleeve. It will be at least another couple of weeks before I have anything new to photograph on that project.

No sewing this weekend.


Yesterday I collected my two cross stitch projects from Morris & Sons.
They took my canvases and assembled them into cushions.

Love Tattoo is done!
And the red velvet piping (and backing) looks fantastic.

The zip closure is hidden in the lower edge.

Here is a close up of the edge.

The cross stitch kit came from Emily Peacock Designs and is called Love Tattoo. I can recommend it. The design is printed on a chart and is easy to follow. I prefer stitching on a blanck canvas using a separate chart over stitching on a printed canvas (as my butterfly framed project is). There is no need for judgement when print lines don't exactly line up with the canvas intersections.


My daughter now has another cushion for her room too.

I chose a powder pink velvet piping and backing for her cushion.

I bought this cross stitch kid from a wide selection at Morris & Sons. It was a preprinted canvas, although in this case it wasn't inconvenient to stitch as the stitch gauge was quite large. Overall this was a quick project.

Week Fifty Eight

Crafting progress this week!

I finished the back piece of my Flo cardigan and started a sleeve. I started with the cuff and then knit up the sleeve. The pattern proposes that the cuff is picked up from the cast on edge and knit at the end.

I decided on the blue kidsilk haze to go with the ink pashmina.
Here is how it looks. I am very happy with the yarn combination.

I also knit a little more on my son's sweater. I finished the body and picked up and knit the raglan button band. Then sewed on the buttons. I just have to knit the sleeves down to the cuffs now.

I made a dress. This is a length of Ponti knit fabric. I bought it from Tessuti sometime last year. I'm trying hard to make 2013 be the year I shrink both my fabric and yarn stash. 

(And resist online shopping!)

I'm not completely happy with this dress. It looks great on the dress form, but the print hits my hips at the wrong height. I don't think its as flattering as it could be. 

I cut this dress slimmer than my previous versions because the fabric is so stretchy. That was a successful modification, so I will be using it as a guide for more dresses in future.

And even though this is a sleeveless dress, the style works well with a cardigan over the top when Autumn starts in earnest. Today (with cold airconditioning) I wore it with a fine knit black cardigan and black ballet flats.

The pattern is Vogue V8319, (out of print).

This is unlined and all the seams and hems are topstitched.

Finally in the spirit of stash clearing. I used this short length of fabric (synthetic?) to make up an extra cushion for the family room.

Its not particularly distinctive. Just a basic greyish brown but practical for the kids.

Week Fifty Seven

I have finished Annabelle.
The yarn, Sundara Aran Silky Merino in the limited edition colour "Somewhere Out There" is magnificent. I am sorely tempted to knit all my stashed Sundara ASM into simple garter stitch cardigans like this. The raised stitch texture is perfect for showing the yarn to its advantage.

No modifications other than increasing the length of both the body and sleeves .

The buttons are enamelled coconut shell bought from All Buttons Great and Small (sidebar link)

I made a dress next.
This is linen in a design from Nani Iro called "Winter Wonderland".
I bought this fabric length from Duckcloth a long time ago. When I received it I realised it  was a heavier linen than would suit my initial idea. Plus the placement of the design made cutting a challenge.

The fabric is mostly white with random shapes. It is not particularly wide. So my dress length could not be cut accross the width. It has two bands of colour striping on each selvedge.

I had a sudden inspiration to cut my most recent favourite dress out.
Firstly I removed the selvedge so that I could reattach it at 90 degrees to form a hem.

Then I cut the dress and assembled it. I top stitched every sewn edge and seam.

The linen creases very badly. I think it will be a useful summer dress, but perhaps not a favourite one.
I am very happy I found a use for this long time stashed fabric.

I picked up a knitting project and hope to work on it and have it finished in a few weeks.
It is Flo by Kim Hargreaves. I am about 75% of the way up the back. The yarn is Madelinetosh Pashmina in Ink

I have still to decide the colour of the decorative frills. I have Rowan Kidsilk haze in Pearl or Heavenly to choose from.

Week Fifty Six

Annabelle Cardigan
I am almost finished Annabelle. Just yarn ends to weave in.
It is a dull and rainy day,  not good for a photo-shoot so I will post photographs tomorrow or Thursday.


Finished Cross Stitch Projects
I took both the Love Tattoo and the Bird and Flower cross stitch projects to be made up as cushions. I chose a velvet fabric and piping colours for each of them. They are due for collection in a week or so. I hope to show finished photographs then.


A New Cross Stitch Project
I started another cross stitch project. It is called In The Frame by Felicity Hall. I'm planning to work on this progressively doing one small framed motif at a time. It will become a cushion.

Here is a picture as I unpacked the box.

I've set it up on my frame, organised and separated the threads. Made a 'shade card' by tying a small amount of thread along the colour key. Then I started with the butterfly in the yellow frame at the bottom right hand corner.