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Category: Crafts

Craft projects of mine

  • Photo post

    Boring yet satisfying sewing project: modified this shirt to have short sleeves! (One of long sleeves tore near cuff over a year ago.)

    Boring yet satisfying sewing project: modified this shirt to have short sleeves! It had long sleeves when I bought it nearly two years ago from Sportscraft, and it was ridiculously expensive. Then one day I was putting it on before work and the damn sleeve just ripped straight across at the cuff. ARGH. I threw it over the bed post and literally left it there for a year. I thought about removing the sleeves entirely but wisely decided to start by shortening. The Snook said it looked good, so I just folded and hemmed them. Shirt rescued!

  • New dress: another Moneta!

    I made myself a new dress! Still getting the hang of knits.

    I made myself a new dress! Still getting the hang of knits.

    This is another Moneta made with a light jersey print I got at Fabric-a-brac earlier in the year. It was only a small off-cut and the print is directional, so I had to keep it simple. I didn’t put any collar on it, and I used some simple white cotton knit for the bodice lining and pockets. I still find the whole “shirring with clear elastic” thing really annoyingly difficult, so it’s a bit of a bodge. (Maybe the elastic I got at Spotlight isn’t the right stuff?) When I first attached the skirt and tried it on, the waist wasn’t hitting me in the right place. So I undid it and moved it up about 2 inches. The whole project took less than two days. It ended up being a nice little sundress!

  • Photo post

    Pumpkin. Pie. Pavlova. #epic #halloween

    Pumpkin. Pie. Pavlova. #epic #halloween

    Nothing like celebrating Halloween with an American icon...

    Nothing like celebrating Halloween with an American icon…

  • Photo post

    The true spirit of Halloween. (This pleases me immensely.)

    The true spirit of Halloween. (This pleases me immensely.)

  • Tsumugi Who and Moneta Dress

    Actual finished craft objects! I should probably blog these before I completely forget.

    Tsumugi WhoTsumugi Who
    Is this going to be my ONLY knitting finished this year? Only time will tell. At any rate, earlier this year I decided to splurge and buy myself the Tsumugi Who kit from Dairing that I admired at Camp last year. (Note: They have since changed the name to Seta Soie. I don’t know why. Supplier change? My kit did come with grey instead of the beige.) I cast on in the winter – probably at the Abernethy knitters retreat? – and I remember questioning the pattern. (Teresa Dair’s “patterns” are only patterns in the strictest sense of the word.) I decided to go with garter stitch so it wouldn’t curl. And I was off. I went through the entire pattern once and found myself with significant silk left over. So I kept going. Once it got to about 14 feet long, I figured Tom Baker would be happy so I cast off. Then it took me a few more months to finish weaving in the ends. And now it’s done. I even managed to wear it a few times before it got too warm. The colours are gorgeous and strangers have complimented me on it, even guessed the reference. That was nice.

    MonetaMoneta Dress
    I haven’t sewn much this year either. But at one point I ordered the Colette Guide to Sewing Knits along with the Moneta dress pattern. That was step one. The history of making this dress is one of diving in before my brain had a chance to object. Step two involved making an excursion to Tessuti’s during a sale with some of my (then) co-workers where I picked up a couple different knits to experiment with. This was a black merino double-knit. Step three was me cutting it out many, many weeks ago… and then packing it away in my office. Finally, this past weekend, it occurred to me that if I actually finished the damn thing, that would be one more unique dress for Frocktober. So on Sunday I pulled it out and finished it during a Gilmore Girls marathon on Netflix. I think my seam allowance was inadvertently too wide and my waistband elastic was HELLA WONKY, but to my delight I found that the knit fabric completely hides every flaw. It looks great. I’m very, very happy with this project.

  • Platypus on Collins Street

    Platypus on Collins Street – Oh nice! Cleckheaton reissued the Knitted Australian Animals book. Great one for tourists.

  • Coming Soon! The Colette Guide to Sewing Knits: Professional techniques for beautiful everyday garme

    Coming Soon! The Colette Guide to Sewing Knits: Professional techniques for beautiful everyday garments | Coletterie – YES PLEASE.

  • Made in K-town: African Flower Square Tutorial

    Made in K-town: African Flower Square Tutorial – These are beautiful. I wonder if I could talk RoseRed into showing me how to do it one of these days…

  • Hawaiian Negroni

    Hawaiian NegroniHipster alert! This is the second shirt I’ve made for the Snook using Colette Patterns’ Negroni. I actually modded the pattern a little bit based on some of his purchased Hawaiian shirts. I only put on one pocket, and I didn’t bother with the pocket flap. I also straightened the side seams and bottom hem for a boxier, more casual cut. I bought the fabric last year in Honolulu at Hawaii Fabric Mart (who I highly recommend!). The coconut buttons are from All Buttons Great and Small. I’m pretty happy with how this turned out!


    Some close-ups of details:

    Pocket

    Collar

    Yoke

  • Out-of-this-World Washi Dress

    Out-of-this-World Washi Dress

    Now for the big reveal: my finished Out-of-this-World Washi Dress! #partytime
    Now for the big reveal: my finished Out-of-this-World Washi Dress! #partytime

    Edited to add: The Snook’s company Christmas party is tonight and the theme is “GLOW”, so I had the idea a couple weeks ago to make a glow-in-the-dark dress. I found this cool fabric and realised it would make a great Washi Dress. (I’d used that pattern once before.) It came together really well! I especially like the little cap sleeves, which give it a very spacey, “Judy Jetson” feel to me. I was so excited to wear it to work today, and a random lady on the bus this morning evening complimented me on it! I’m very happy with this one.