Jackets

For my birthday this year I was promised a Dressform (Tailors Dummy) on our return home.

My friend had done all the hard work and found that Hobkirks which is close-by had the best selection and keenest prices.  My only set back was that I forgot to buy one with a trouser separator.

I bought some really nice padded fabric in Gouda (Holland) and wanted to make a Gillet.  Not wanting to spoil nice fabric I bought some cheap fleece for a practice run and this is the result.

Not bad, but sadly I could not find any matching plain binding and it does have a touch of the ‘Von Trapps’ about it.  The Hills are alive…. with the sounds of sparking fleece.

Anyway it was worth the effort as the second version turned out pretty well.

The fabric was quilted to start with and the cloudy shading is the pattern.  Interestingly the inside seams, once sewn, showed the inner padded wadding and so I ended up hand sewing every inside seam under to give a quality finish.  All the binding around the edges was also hand finished on the inside.

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Spurred on I tackled by trickiest item to date.  I have worn and worn a grey light weight jacket I bought in a Kaliko sale and am still very fond of it.  But I have been looking to make its successor for several years.  The material has proved to be very elusive but this year, thanks to our Craft n Chat trip to ‘Abakhan’ head office in Mostyn, North Wales (well worth a trip and there’s an excellent cafe for the non-crafty friends) a suitable length of material was purchased.

I am told repeatedly that I don’t pick easy projects and this was a corker.  The material is very thick in comparison to normal fabrics and once cut, it curled up from every edge. Grrr.  So the over-locker was dusted off and deployed to edge every exposed seam edge in an effort to make life a bit easier.

The strangest thing was the collar which came out of the front of the jacket and around the back of the neck in two pieces joining in the centre.  There was also interfacing on the inside of the front of the jacket so the brain cells were doing summersaults trying to figure out what went where.

I also realised that the over-locker was the best way of piecing the whole thing together.  However, the armholes were a struggle and more hand sewing was required to make the bottom edges lie flat.

So I ended up with this.  Not too bad and very warm.

I am still undecided as to whether I should add a button or three buttons or leave it as an open jacket, as I never fasten buttons anyway.

I shall continue in my quest for the perfect fabric.  I did find some at the Harrogate Knit and Stitch show but the very obvious pattern would have been a mare to match up.  Need a bit more practice first.

I think it looks a bit camoflagey, so you might not see me coming.

Knitting 1 – Socks

Knitting is not my forte but encouraged by my Ninja Knitting sister-in-laws I thought I would have another try.

My previous experience consists of a hat, which my husband will not let me wear, must admit its pretty bad.

Jackie told me socks were easy, everyone else has chimed ‘Socks are difficult, and that wool is difficult and those needles are a bit small’.  Undeterred I continue to produce not one but two pairs.

First my rainbow socks. 

Wool : Rico Design, Superba Poems, Superwash No.383893

Michaels Blue Socks.  Spot the matching stripes!!

Wool : Woolcraft, Superwash Sock Yarn, Shade 985

I cannot yet profess to be a knitting convert as its pretty slow, but it is very portable and small and easy to pick up and put down so more items may appear.

They are also super toasty to wear.

Bears 11 – Summer 2015 Haul

 

Here are the bears I made this summer on the boat minus three who have found homes en-route.

I just thought it was nice to see them all together.

I found an egg cup in Brightlingsea which looks cute with a small bear sat inside.

Purse

We bought this purse many years ago and it has served as a holiday change purse ever since.  It finally fell apart this year and I decided to give it an over-haul/rebuild.

The fine front fabric had fallen off.

So I patched together a few pieces of nautical fabric and covered the whole thing with a new outer shell.

The finished result was very pleasing and we once again have a serviceable and easy to find change purse.