Spindlitis

I haven’t been spinning much. I’m on a knitting kick right now.  I’ve done two Modern Wrappers and will likely do more. They are very simple to knit and comfortable to wear. They use a fingering weight yarn and a fine mohair, which makes a lightweight fabric. It’s especially nice if it’s a mohair/silk strand. I don’t have pictures of me wearing one yet, but will post what I do have.

My other project is a sweater for Lon. It’s coming along nicely. This is a wool blend and actually nice stuff. I wanted a sweater he could knock around in.

Here’s another picture of this project:

The yarn is Sidar Harrap Tweed and is primarily synthetic. I will make Lon a nice wool sweater, but wanted the first one to be easy care. I like this yarn. I’ve been trying to buy extra, so I can make the Kerry Blue shawl out of the leftovers.

And this guy has now been with us for a year:

He’s frustrating and crazy. He barks too much. Loretta hates him and the cats don’t like him. But we are very happy that he lives with us.

I took a break over the holidays and did a little sewing. I badly needed some skirts. I love my Walking Skirts, but I like a narrower silhouette in the winter. And that led me back to Christine Jonson patterns. I have a lot of her patterns. One of my favorite skirts was the Slit Skirt. I made that in stretch velvet and wore it to death.  So I ordered some stretchy medium weight stuff from Fabric.com.

I made three skirts. Two turned out perfect. One is a ribbed cotton lycra in black. The other is in ITY. First time I’ve worked with ITY and I like it. It’s very comfortable. I thought at first it looked a bit shiny, but it’s okay. The third skirt turned out to be much too lightweight and extremely stretchy. I have to redo the waistband and am considering turning it into a slip. I’ll revisit that, once the waistband is redone. I like the fabric a lot, but just not as heavy as I’d liked.

I bought some waffle knit, like thermal knit, in a dark navy. It doesn’t look blue at all. I made the Straight Skirt as a slip. I’ve found that a slip makes a big difference in keeping you warm. This hits at the knees and works fine with the long skirt. I ordered more of the fabric as it was about gone. Should get here tomorrow. I’d planned to make another slip and a shell to go under my tops. I may rethink that and turn it into a shirt. I really wanted to buy tops, but made myself only get stuff for skirts.

I’ll try and post pictures, if I can get Lon to take some. But this turned out well. I used the Singer 401a and it did a nice job on the knits. I could have even done a double needle hem, but went with a zigzag. I’ve run into problems using a double needle and just am not comfortable enough with this machine to mess with it. But that leads me to my challenge to myself for this new year. I’m going to make up at least one garment from each of these patterns this year. And if I do that, I think I’ll get rid of most of my unused patterns. Mostly, I like the way I can easily alter Christine’s patterns. And I have always liked her philosophy of having a “uniform” that fits and you enjoy wearing. I will try a few more of the stretch fabrics I’m unfamiliar with, like Ponte de Roma, and will stay away from the ones that I had problems with, like Slinky. I wish I could get some of that wonderful cotton/lycra she used to sell, but it seems to be off the market. Time for a new look and comfortable clothes.

Let me just put in some project pictures.

The green gansey sweater has been nice. We had a cold spell and I had to break out my old handspun cold weather sweater. We are back to rain. And I have got to get back into a sewing groove. I need new skirts badly.

Thought it might be nice to post my sewing experiments from this weekend. I am doing the Gibson Girl Blouse by Folkwear. And I will be using some lightweight linen. I am also going with the pin tucks and lace insertion for the front yoke, but am not going to mess with the lace on the blouse. So this is my attempt at using the tucker and inserting lace.

With the tucker attachment, I could set the tuck on the sheet showing the spacing and make the next tuck in th right place. I like tucks, and wasn’t sure if I’d want pin tucks here. They have grown on me. I did not iron this as I worked, so they meander a bit.  I tried doing the lace insert two ways. The outside ones were stitched to fabric that was cut and had a narrow hem sewn first. The middle one was sewn, then fabric cut on the back. I didn’t want to use that technique, as it calls for using a narrow zigzag to bind the edges. I am trying to do this on my treadles. I could hand stitch those raw edges but will likely zigzag them. You can see what they look like from the back in the image below.

I am having some fun with this project. I’ve never sewn anything like this. I may not get as many things sewn in time for the wedding as I’d like, but the skirt just needs to be hemmed and the blouse done.

Lon and I are getting married on June 20th! Now, I made my own wedding clothes when I married Jeffrey. I made the mistake of setting the wedding for December 11th, which was at the end of winter quarter. I did not think about how much finals would cut into my sewing time. I’d planned to make clothes for him, but didn’t have time.

This time, I told Lon I will not be making anything for him. I did not make a corset, although I really want to make one some time. I bought a cheapie one from China that is actually okay. I already own the Gibson Girl Blouse, Walking Skirt and Edwardian Underthings patterns from Folkwear. I have a couple of pieces cut out that I never got around to sewing. And I’ve made the blouse and skirt, so know how to make them and how they fit. While waiting for a fabric order, I sewed up some medium weight linen that I’ve had for years. The skirt turned out just wonderful and I’m going to use it. Pictures over on the notsothoreau.com blog. Still need to hem and put on hooks and eyes. I think I may add some tucks across the bottom.

Got blouse fabric today and it’s already washed. Will be cutting out more pieces and doing some sewing this weekend.. All knitting/spinning projects are pretty much on hold until July. Back when I was in college, and marrying the first time, I was a drama major and wanted to work in costuming. The desire to do that is still there. I think, when I get past this, I will be tackling some other historical patterns and making a few things for Lon. He loves to play dress up too!

So, the Lillian Fay needs work. I am not sure what to do about the neckline but will figure something out. I have been working a bit on all my spinning projects. There is a new fiber store just down the street from me, called Urban Wolves. It’s a good shop, lots of nice yarn and fiber!

And, I’ve posted about this over at my other site, but here’s what is taking up most of my time:

Rosebud, a 1891 Singer VS2

Cleo, a 1910 Singer VS2

Cleo is a perfect cat bed!

Still working on the same group of projects. The Eileen Mary sweater is done. I think I am going to get either horsehair braid or ribbon with wired edges for that collar. I’ve considered taking the collar off and putting in a ribbing. I’d like to see what it looks like with a stiffer collar first.

The spinning projects just seem to go on forever. I suppose I might start finishing them, if I’d stop adding new projects! And I’m working on the Lillian Fay cardigan, so I trade off between that and spinning. I really am going to have to start sewing. I have patterns and fabric, but have not had time to cut any of it out.