Seed Stitch

Super simple (if you knit) seed stitch dish towel. I started a few rows yesterday morning, and then finished it later in the day while spending several hours hanging out at Sound Ghost Studios. It's pretty small, only 7x6 inches. Good for a wash cloth, or more likely for scrubbing dishes. I love the cotton yarn. I used size 4 needles.

I've started a second one in a ribbed pattern, but I will show pictures when I am done with it.

Dotted Sorbetto

 Finally I have finished a project! My first top project...yay! I guess these aren't the most flattering photos. oh well. The pattern is Sorbetto, a free download pattern from Colette Patterns. I got the fabric from (i think) a bunch of yard sale fabric from my boyfriend's mom. There were two matching fabrics, one with the polka-dots, one just plain teal. It seems a little bright to me, but I'm excited about embracing new colors and patterns. I had barely enough of the dots to cut the pattern out! I used the plain to make my very own bias tape following this awesome tutorial from Colette Patterns for the neck and armhole edges. The hardest part was trying to sew the bias tape on with a sort-of-straight line. I somehow chose to use pastel pink as my top stitching thread, which means it shows up a little more. But, this is my very first time, I'm sure the next time i'll be better at it.

My mom says when she was a (missionary) kid coming back to the USA from Africa with her sisters, they all had dresses made out of a similar color and print. I will try to find some photos. Apparently there may also be a matching purse at one of my aunt's houses?

I'm looking forward to cutting out a black and white small-ish gingham print for another sorbetto. I have some vintage bias tape in hot  pink that seems fun! I was so happy to learn how to make my own, I think it will be great for many future projects. The best part is using up scraps, and also being able to have stuff that matches perfectly rather than the 20+ colors at the store.

A project update.

I'm so close to being finished with a certain project that I'm excited about. I can't talk too much about it as it is a surprise. Let's just say that I'm learning more about altering clothes. It has been a fun project because I'm working on it with my friend, so we're trying to figure it out together. Anyway, I think I will be done soon. I spent a lot of today hand sewing on it.

I finally finished hemming and altering a shirt for Mike, which is great, but I have three more to work on. It is going sort of slowly, as I'm used to working on stuff for myself, and he is taller and bigger than me, and guys clothes definitely fit differently. The first shirt turned out pretty good, and I learned a lot, and I think the next ones will be better.

I started on a top project, but I'm already worried that it will look like a maternity top. ha. It's probably just not a good style for my body shape, and mainly, like most commercially made patterns, I'm making my size, but it's probably two sizes too big. here's some photos of other ones people have made. I think if I can just take it down several sizes it will look better, but right now I'm a little worried. Most of what I read about it is that other sewers altered it. Anyway, I am making a test one first to try to get the fit right, before I try different fabric.

Today I also printed out (Finally!) the Colette Sorbetto free pattern. I'm really excited about that one. It seems simple, but there are so many different options with fabric. I love seeing other people's designs, and I really really wish there was a ravelry-like site for sewing clothes.

So, I should get back to sewing... and when I finally finish something I will take some photos!

Knitting Dishcloths

 Here's a dishcloth that I made! Yay! This is actually the 2nd one and it turned out way better than the first on. I think mainly due to the yarn (Peaches and Cream) being thicker, so it is not too floppy. I also prefer the colors I guess.

Here's the first one:

Cotton from my stash. The pattern is free and is Here

this week

My plan of finishing a garment in the last week of February did not happen. I managed to get sick, just when I thought I was getting better from my cold, I got a sinus infection with a horrible sore throat. I'm finally feeling better after a couple days, which is so awesome!  I will just have to work on sewing things soon when I have time. I'm also meeting with a friend next week, on an ongoing project. I honestly haven't worked on it much since our last fitting, so it's good to have a fitting scheduled to encourage me to work on it.
Yep. Not a whole lot has been happening, just resting. I confess that I found out that Youtube has whole episodes of What Not To Wear on it.I've watched a few episodes the last few days.  I don't think i dress that badly,  but I am hoping (as i feel like i mention every post) to find tops that aren't T-shirts that I will like, or just have more varied options than my high school T-shirts.

Recycling paper

Making valentines is a great way to recycle. I have too much paper, and have saved odd things for years... sigh. This year I made an attempt in a few short weeks to sort through some things and recycle. I didn't quite get as far through things as I had wanted, but going through it a few times was a good thing, it became easier to just recycle things.

Here's some valentines

Here's some stuff I recycled without having to save them for valentines: from a project i did for school several years ago, probably black and white basic design...

Baby Blanket

a little elephant (i wish i had a finished photo when he's stuffed!)

 

 

 

 

 

Sorry about the crazy photos, the editor on blogger seems to not want to let me rotate them, which seems like it should be the simplest thing, especially if you rotate them, and save them, and then it still doesn't work.

During the end of the summer/early fall I started making a baby blanket for a coworker. It was before she knew if it would be a boy or girl. I used cottons I have had in my stash forever, and also batting that I had. The only thing I bought was red binding. It was really fun to piece together, and since I had started the blanket so early I decided to try hand quilting. I ended up doing just a basic sort of loose stitch. We had a large hoop, but the quilt wasn't really fitting in it, so it was easier to just wing it. I'm pleased with the result, even though it is definitely not perfect. For the back of the quilt I had a weird piece of printed fabric from a kids blanket I had gotten for free (from a neighbor) years ago. It has a boat with some cute animals in it. It was the perfect size for the project, and I hand embroidered a little on that, just to make it more personal. To cover the whole back of the blanket I added two other panels.

Anyway, It was really great to work with my stash and not have to buy any fabric for it, plus i'm very happy with the end result, and so is my friend! and her baby will be arriving soon, so i hope he likes it too!

a little update.

Some links to share:
today i bought the pdf for this bag pattern, the Two Zip Hipster. my daily purse is sort of reaching the end of its days. it's a black hemp purse that i'm tired of, plus it is showing wear. I made an awesome purse, but it is sort of big and maybe more for dressing up. I've really been looking at stores and sometimes online for a little while for a purse that would be similar but better to my black purse. TaaDaaa.... I'm so excited about this. It will be a few inches bigger, but i think it will be great, and I'm happy to find a pattern with a long strap. Anyway, I'm not sure what fabric to use, I may have enough of my own or I may purchase some. I think it would be good to make it in a dark color, but we'll see, and if it works out, I may make a few colors.

I also bought a pattern for a top. I've been meaning to make some tops that aren't t-shirts. so... i saw this one and thought maybe it would work for me. It's the second one (red and blue) on this site. I really like her site, and it makes such a difference seeing something sewn by someone... So, same thing, I'm not sure if i have enough fabric of my own but i may end up buying some.

Today I spent most of the day cleaning. I have a little table in my room, which was covered in sewing stuff. Today I changed it into a music table, with my awesome new recorder from my awesome boyfriend. I will try my hardest to keep this table only for music making. I was able to condense some things, and also recycle a LOT of paper. so, I'm glad I spent the day on it, though i feel like i have so much sorting to do. I'm hoping depending on my tax return (like if i get one or not) of possibly buying a scanner/printer, and possibly an ipod, so that i can store my CDs instead of have them take space in my room.

In my sorting I also cut up some rag rug and quilt squares out of fabric i had designated for scraps, but hadn't had the time to cut up yet.
Of course I have been planning to put photos on the blog, but i feel like i don't have time to stop to organize all that.

This evening I worked on two little projects to felt. While cleaning today, I found a cat toy, one of those plastic balls with a jingle bell inside. I had heard a while ago of knitting or crocheting around the toy and then felting it into a soft ball that jingles. I have not felted it yet, and it may be too big, but i will try it. I also used some of the same yarn to make sort of a pot holder, or rather maybe something to put on the table, is trivet the right word?

I sorted my yarn last week, and found that most of it is 1 or 2 balls - left over from projects, mainly in different weights, which makes it hard to find projects. anyway, I've tried before to find projects for certain yarns, and now after going through my stash I am more inspired about it.

That being said, my fabric stash is probably 10 times larger than my yarn stash, so that is partially why the name of the blog has gone from Pretend Like You're Knitting to ...Sewing.

Survey time!!!

If you're interested in taking a survey about you and your clothes... that i just made up this morning sort of randomly... here it is..

I'm super excited some people have taken it already. i hope it wasn't too long winded or weird.
anyway... I will look at results later today i guess.


Right now i need to get back to a sewing project for work. Draft (you know, like wind) blockers for under our garage door. I made the first one a few months ago for a regular door. Today i'm making 3 to cover the length of our garage door. I have two done, except for handsewing some velcro, and then I just took a lunch break, and I have 1 left to make!!! Thank goodness for podcasts and that the sewing is going well!


I have photos to post about several projects, hopefully in the next few days I'll get something more fun up here!

Statistics

Wow. I once had a clothing excel spreadsheet. and I've just now found Dixie DIY's clothing spreadsheet. It is inspiring to see someone else working on the same thing. (Though my wardrobe organizing/reinventing has sort of been on the back burner.) I'm pretty sure my clothing spreadsheet went away when my computer died a while back. So, I will plan on making a new one! I also made a hand bound book cataloging my clothes in spring 2009- wow I guess I should finish it (I never quite finished the notes about the clothes) As I have had some turnover, perhaps I should make a new one, or give an update of some sort! Without counting, I know I need more skirts, since I only have a few (and fewer still that I wear), and I need more shirts that are not T-shirts. I also have several sweaters with boat-necks, which is great, except they're hard to layer... I guess I need boatneck tops to go along with them. Or just get better sweaters?

I will need to think more about this... :)

PS: I have been catching up on blog reading while I wait for my song tracks to upload to CD baby, which will then be available on iTunes, etc in the next few days. Hooray!