How to Combine Knitting and Sewing

Well this Bank Holiday got well and truly rained off. What to do with a wet Monday? Get the sewing machine out of course!

 

You might remember my shopping trip to Plush Addict the other week, and the extra purchases I made apart from the foxy cotton for my Margot PJ's (I haven't done anything with the rainbow stripes yet). Well, it begins as a slightly long story, but I acquired all my Nan's knitting needles a few weeks ago, and then Mum and I decided to pool our resources too, in an effort to see which sizes (if any) we were missing. This then led to the dilemma of how to store all the needles without getting them all completely muddled up and having to rummage through the whole lot when you needed a different pair. So I thought I'd better have a go at making a storage roll for them.

As well as the tortoise fabric and gingham (half a metre of each), I liberated an old bed sheet from my stash, and bought some wadding to give it a bit of padding. I'm actually quite proud that I made this up as I went along, no pattern to refer to, just repeated measuring and checking that nothing was being sewn together inside out!

I've not really done any quilting before but have read enough tutorials in various places to figure out how I needed to layer my fabric sandwich, and to work from the outside in when sewing the quilting lines, and I think it turned out OK, I didn't end up with a big wodge of wadding in one end anyway!

 

Working out the spacing for the pockets took a little while and some very careful pinning - fortunately the gingham pattern gave me a hand with straight lines to stitch along, and I didn't go too wonky on the plain bits I don't think...

The only slight mishap was that I started by placing the ribbons at each end of the roll, then realising after I'd sewed them in that one would get rolled up into the middle and be no use at all, so I had to unpick a bit and move the two ribbons together to one end. Disaster averted!

In the end the final piece was a bit tall once the knitting needles were in the pockets, but actually that gave me a bit of spare to play with so I sewed a line across so that the top would fold down, and added a couple of little poppers. Now the knitting needles won't all fall out if I pick the roll up the wrong way!

The poor old sewing machine struggled a bit with this one, I think there were a few too many layers to go through at a couple of places, and the tension went all wonky again. Really might be time to go and try out a few new machines with a view to upgrading...

Oh, we did manage a BBQ on Sunday afternoon, during a break in the weather for some sunshine, and Mum and I pulled up our first crop of potatoes. They are Duke of York first earlies and were planted in the middle of March. There were a few tiddlers and they could have probably gone another week or two, but I get impatient to pull them up and see how they're growing! Anyway, they were delicious, gently steamed and with a bit of butter melted on top. Mmmmmm...

I am still knitting too, I'm working on a jumper from a pattern in Knitting magazine, and have nearly finished the sleeves. I've been working them two at a time on a circular needle, the first time I've tried it, and I've managed not to get in too much of a muddle. I've saved the front to do last, as it's got a slightly complicated cable and lace panel up the middle - I probably should have done it first and got the hard bit out of the way! Never mind, it hopefully shouldn't take me more than a week to do and then I can show you how it turns out. I really must try and remember to take more 'work in progress' photos of my projects too.

Oh, one more thing, I went fabric shopping again (sorry bank balance...) and got this GORGEOUS Liberty print cotton drill that I'm planning to make a Delphine skirt (from Love at First Stitch) with, in fact I might sort out the pattern pieces this afternoon...

Margot Pyjama Trousers

After my trip to Plush Addict last weekend, I couldn't wait to get started on some sewing, so the fabric went straight in the washing machine and then hung out to dry. The foxy print makes me smile every time I look at it.

I decided I had better follow the pattern to the letter, and as Tilly's instructions in Love at First Stitch are really clear, so the first thing to do was sort out my pattern pieces. I picked the size 6 based on the finished garment measurements, erring on the side of slightly generous, after all, a bit of 'wiggle room' isn't a bad thing in pyjamas! I wanted to keep all the pattern pieces provided with the book as master copies, so I used kitchen baking paper to trace the pieces off. I found it worked pretty well as the paper is quite translucent so you can see all the markings clearly.

With my fabric pressed and folded, next I used a tracing wheel and carbon paper to copy the pattern onto the fabric. I was quite impressed with this method having not tried it before, there was something quite satisfying about the rolling wheel tracking little holes into the paper and a nice neat line of colour coming out underneath!

I had to do this part on our dining room table, so was very careful to make sure I'd got a mat under my fabric so I didn't end up marking the table! Pattern transferred, cutting out was quite quick and easy, I just had to remember to snip the notches to match front and back pieces, and mark the waistband fold line on all the pieces.

Now to brave the sewing machine! Knowing that the poor old thing can be a bit temperamental, I made sure to put in a nice new needle, and had a good practice on some offcuts to get the stitch tension right - took a bit of fiddling, but got there eventually!

The leg seams were nice and quick to sew up, and I finished the seams with a zigzag stitch and a bit of a trim. I tried to use Mum's pinking shears to really try and avoid any fraying, but they are quite old and extremely blunt so that only succeeded in chewing up the fabric - switched to ordinary fabric scissors and hoping that the zigzag will stop the worst of any fraying.

Sewing the two legs together was actually simpler than I thought it would be, and with a bit of finessing round the curves I had an almost-pair of trousers! I've never normally bothered before (being a bit lazy and just wanting to finish...) but I did make sure to press the seams at every stage while making my Margots, it definitely made a difference, especially in the waistband and hems which are remarkably straight and level! I cheated a little bit and used ready-made bias binding for the waist tie, just topstitching it in half, but I quite like it plain against the busy pattern.

So there they are, my complete Margot PJ's, and I'm really pleased with them! The pattern and instructions were easy to follow, I love the fabric, they fit well (although next time I might grade to a smaller size on the waist), and are very comfy to wear. I can definitely see myself making more pairs of these in different variations - shorter, with pockets, light cotton voile, warm winter flannel... - and then hunting down a pattern to make easy tops to go with them.

I'm off on a shopping expedition later this week and hoping to get some fabric to make the Delphine skirt next, maybe in some cotton drill for a summer wardrobe staple. I'll let you know how I get on!

Teddy Bear's Picnic

Well it definitely felt like summer hit this weekend! The weather has been glorious, we had a BBQ at home last night, and were still sitting outside chatting at nearly 10pm in the not-quite-dark! I've also changed over to the summer duvet on my bed, put my boots away and got my sandals out, and painted my toenails. I think it's just wrong to be wearing sandals without pretty coloured toes! The only slight downer on my weekend is that I got ever so slightly sunburnt shoulders yesterday, even though I can't have been out in the direct sun for more than half an hour - I should have learnt by now really, I know I burn quickly but I just didn't put any sun cream on - oops!

Anyway, it's another lovely hot and sunny day today and I'm hoping to enjoy some of it before we are apparently forecast some rain for the rest of the week - how accurate this is remains to be seen!

I'm going to post later in the week about the Margot pyjama trousers I made from the pattern in Love at First Stitch, but today I wanted to share a couple of knitted lovelies.

My cousin had a baby a couple of weeks ago, and as I had a while to prepare, I decided to look for a teddy bear pattern to knit for the little one when she arrived. I found this pattern by Debbie Bliss on Ravelry and thought it was a very good looking bear (some I've seen can look decidedly deformed...)

I made up one first in some leftover double knitting yarn that I had from my Christmas jumper to see how the pattern worked and if I could manage to stuff it to look right. Except for the fact that I think my tension is a bit loose so some of the stuffing is starting to poke through, I think he turned out OK.

For the baby, I actually ended up co-ordinating with Mum, who knitted a blanket in some pretty 4 ply colours, and there was enough left for a little matching teddy. I knitted the body and head pieces in the multi-coloured yarn, and the arms and legs in pale purple. This one definitely turned out better I think, I stuffed it a bit more firmly and the tension in the 4 ply seems to be tighter, I also used quite tiny needles. I did have to finish all the sewing up and stuffing in one go and a half formed teddy just looked wrong! A finishing touch of a smart purple ribbon and little teddy was ready to go. I've since been informed that she has been named Violet and sits watch in the baby's moses basket, so that's a lovely compliment.

My Nan has just commissioned me to make two more teddy bears for the boys in the family next door to her, so I'll have a proper teddy bear's picnic going before too long!  In other knitting news, I finished the back of the newest jumper I'm working on, and have started on the sleeves. I'm having a go and knitting two sleeves at the time on a circular needle, and haven't got in too much of a tangle yet!

Book Review: Love at First Stitch

Who else has got their hands on Tilly's new book already? I literally jumped out of my chair when the postman rang the doorbell last Thursday lunchtime to deliver my copy, I couldn't get into that cardboard Amazon parcel fast enough...

And doesn't it look fab?! Clean, fresh, bright, bold and fun. Exactly what I've come to love about Tilly's blog and style. All the photos are really clear and bright, I love the way she uses plain backgrounds to make things really stand out (and co-ordinating nail polish!). The writing is exactly the same tone and style that Tilly uses in her blog, and the little touches of humour work perfectly, there's no talking down or dumbing down, definitely more of a good friend and great teacher leading you through, and depending on your confidence levels you can keep referring back to earlier tutorials, or move on more quickly to the next project.

I read through the whole thing cover to cover over the weekend and was really impressed with how the book has been put together. As other bloggers have mentioned (I followed the Love Sewing Blog Tour last week), the book is designed to get you stuck into sewing straight away with progressively more advanced techniques introduced as you move onto the next project. This makes such a refreshing change from a lot of other sewing books, which focus sometimes half the book on dealing with each technique separately and in isolation. I've been referring to my Mum's copy of the Reader's Digest Complete Book of Sewing (published 1978!) when I get stuck on how to do something, and it's fine for dipping into for a quick reminder, but not the kind of book I want to read from start to finish.

Love at First Stitch definitely makes me feel much more encouraged to just give it a go and learn while doing. I'm one of the world's worst procrastinators when it comes to trying new things - I have somewhat perfectionist tendencies, so if I don't think I'm going to be able to do something well, I worry about even trying and therefore put it off... Obviously I've managed to conquer this with regards to my knitting, so with Tilly's help I don't see why dressmaking should be any different.

The projects in the book are all lovely, really good classic shapes that will help form the basis of an everyday wardrobe, and with enough variations and suggestions made for individualising them to feel confident about making things work for me. For instance, the Megan dress is designed with a high waist, which I know won't suit my body shape, but there are instructions given for lengthening the pattern pieces and making adjustments to move darts. Not too scary.

The pattern pieces for most of the projects are included at full size on separate sheets in the back of the book - I haven't had a go at tracing these off yet, but I've got my tracing wheel and carbon paper ready to give it a whirl.

Having already made my Brigitte scarf for the online launch party last week, the next project in the book is a pair of pyjama trousers called Margot, finished with a drawstring waistband. So that's what I'm going to attempt next.

Coincidentally, it was Plush Addict's warehouse open day on Saturday, and as they are only a 45 minute drive away from me I went for a ride over there to have a look round and see what goodies I could find. Oh. My. Goodness. I could have been lost in there for days! Racks and racks of fabric gorgeousness in as many colours and prints as you can think of, and probably a few more after that! It was clearly a popular outing for lots of people from all over the place - I heard mention of trips from Ipswich and Cardiff! But I did have a lovely look round and eventually managed to make my mind up, coming away with this fabulous foxy print cotton to make my Margots.

I also got a couple of other bits, but I'll let you know what I make with them when I get round to figuring that out! I could have quite happily spent a small fortune on beautiful florals, bold polka dots and chevrons, cutesy animals and even Star Trek prints! But as my greatly suffering bank account would have likely had an aneurysm I managed to restrain myself.

Plush Addict had also got some sewing machines there for demonstrations and for sale and it made me think seriously about looking for a new machine to upgrade and give me some more useful capabilities. I'll keep you posted.

So, as per Tilly's instructions in Love at First Stitch, I've washed my fabric, and it's ready for a press before I get stuck into tracing the pattern pieces and actually cutting them out of the fabric! The foxy print is so much fun I don't really care how the trousers turn out, but obviously if (when...) they are perfect (ha!) I will be living in them permanently. Until I make my next beautiful garment from the book of course!

Congratulations and thank you Tilly for a wonderful book, I'm definitely going to be ordering the Coco pattern soon too, once I've got the hang of a few more basics. What do you all think of Love at First Stitch? Have you made any of the other projects yet? I'd love to see what you've been making, and I'll show you how I get on with the Margot trousers soon.

Leonora Jumper

I haven't really talked much about my knitting yet have I? Time to remedy that. The main reason I haven't posted about knitting yet is because I've been working on a jumper for a few weeks and have just finished it.

It is the Leonora jumper by Sarah Hatton, and I got the pattern from issue 44 of The Knitter magazine. I loved the simple shape with the lace panels on the front and back neck and the cuffs, it just looked like being the perfect spring/summer knit.

And, shock horror, I even knitted it in the recommended yarn. Bearing in mind that it is a Rowan yarn, and my budget never normally stretches to Rowan, however much I covet it, I was thrilled to be able to get this yarn.

It was actually a massive bargain courtesy of Black Sheep Wools at the Spring Knitting & Stitching Show at Olympia in March. If you've never been, book your tickets for the Autumn show at Alexandra Palace as soon as you can, it's BRILLIANT!!! So much yarn and fabric all in one place - kid in a candy store just doesn't cover it! Black Sheep's tactic is to just have a massive mountain of packs of yarn on the floor and then you just dive in and see what treasures you can find. I was nearly at the end of my afternoon looking round and was delighted when I plunged my arm elbow-deep into the pile and came back up with a pack of Rowan Purelife Revive. Yes, a pack, that's 10 whole balls of matching dye lot yarn. Even better was the 70% discount off the RRP, so really I just couldn't say no!

The pattern is actually pretty straightforward, mainly stocking stitch, which I like for knitting while I'm watching TV, but the lace panels just make it a bit more interesting. And I did have to concentrate on these, not having knitted much lace before, some serious counting was needed. I went wrong a couple of times and had to undo a couple of rows, but nothing disastrous. I still dislike picking up stitches for the neckband, and actually this one was a little awkward, I probably should have done it on a circular needle for the flexibility rather than straight needles. You live and learn.

Now it's finished and I'm really pleased with it. I think it's the best fitting thing I've knitted so far - I made sure I chose the size based on the 'actual measurements', and I suspect my tension is getting more even as I get more practice too. I love the colours in this yarn, it's called Loam, and has a mainly lilac-y base with lots of multicoloured flecks running through it. I've seen this kind of colour mix referred to as 'heathered' which I think is a pretty way of thinking of it, it certainly adds lots of texture and depth to the colour. The same yarn also comes in several other colourways, I particularly like the orange-y 'Silt', and there are a couple of pattern books recommended too with some simple, classic designs.

OK, don't shoot me, but I never block my knitting - I don't have a space big enough to lay things out - but I will be hand washing this one and drying it as flat as I can to make sure it keeps its shape.

So now I have the fun of deciding what to knit next. This is not as easy as it sounds as my yarn stash keeps growing (of its own accord I'm sure...) and I have a huge pile of patterns to choose from. But I think I'm narrowing it down, I'll keep you posted with what I decide.

Happy #LoveAtFirstStitch Day!

Yes, today is the day that Tilly's book, Love at First Stitch, is released! Congratulations Tilly! To celebrate the launch, Tilly is hosting an online party and I'm delighted to be joining in.

I might have mentioned before that I loved watching The Great British Sewing Bee, and this year's series was great - I'm really happy that Heather won - did you see her final couture dress?!?! But it's the first series from last year that really planted the sewing seed for me, and I think it's great that some of the contestants have gone on to grow their sewing careers. Lauren now owns and runs her own haberdashery shop in Birmingham, and has also written a book to be released later this year.

I've been reading Tilly's blog for a while, and I love her voice and her attitude to sewing, about making it fun and not scary, and I'm placing most of the credit for actually starting my blog on watching her Folksy talk.

Anyway, back to the party. The first project in Love at First Stitch is a simple scarf called Brigitte, and Tilly challenged us to make one to wear to the party today. So it would have been rude not to really.

After the success of my denim bag last week, I felt in a confident sewing mood and really quickly ran up a scarf made from part of an Indian cotton voile shirt that I haven't worn for years, but the fabric was too pretty to get rid of. (I'm trying to use up bits from my stash while I'm practising before I go splashing the cash on 'proper' fabrics - upcycling is still cool right?!)

I've also borrowed Rachel from House of Pinheiro's idea of adjusting the pattern size for the scarf. Tilly's version is quite wide and long, but I just felt for me with short hair and a smallish head, a big scarf looks a bit weird. So mine is narrow enough to tie comfortably round my head or use as a neck scarf, but not quite long enough to use as a belt - an oversight to be corrected next time!

I think it also looks good tied round the handles of my bag...

Part of the handmade aesthetic that I love, and that Tilly and others promote, is about making something your own and not slavishly following patterns (although this is fine too, and I'll probably follow step by step whenever I make something for the first time), but having the courage to add your own spin to your makes. One of the suggestions for the Brigitte scarf is to add decorative topstitching, and it just seemed like a nice finishing touch. Now I'm a bit limited by my sewing machine only managing straight and zigzag stitching, but actually, with the pattern and colours on the fabric anyway, anything too fancy would have been OTT, so I just went for some fairly big zigzags in bright pink as a fun contrast to the blue/green/purple of the cotton.

I ordered my copy of the book from Amazon last week and am currently waiting for the postman to arrive. Very frustratingly, he sometimes doesn't deliver until really late in the afternoon, so I'm hoping that's not the case today! I'll be reviewing the book sometime next week probably...or maybe sooner, I don't have much planned for the weekend!

In the meantime, here's to Tilly and the massive success that Love at First Stitch is bound to be - enjoy the party everyone, and happy sewing! x

Bank Holiday Weekend Gardening

We've been incredibly lucky with some glorious weather this weekend (a rarity on a Bank Holiday), so it definitely needed taking advantage of in the garden. Mum and I have had various seeds starting off in the greenhouse for weeks, and they're now beginning to get strong enough to brave the outdoors. Yesterday afternoon was the turn of the broad beans and runner beans to go in the ground - these have really shot up this week with a bit of sunshine and warmth, and hopefully now we won't have any more frosts they should be safe in the veg patch (with a liberal sprinkling of slug pellets for protection...)

 

I also planted some sunflower seeds in pots yesterday, so they'll be a few more weeks before they're ready to go out. We've planted a variety called 'Teddy Bear' that are quite short but with amazingly fluffy flowers. The sweetcorn are taking a bit longer to get going this year, I think we ended up with a dodgy packet of seeds as about half of the first batch I sowed didn't germinate, so I've started a few more in the hope that we get a good crop in the end. I think sweetcorn are my favourite thing to grow, and definitely the most satisfying to eat straight from the plant via a quick flash on the BBQ - yum!

The potatoes are going great guns, and the first earlies will probably be ready in a couple of weeks, the plants have got flowers coming now, and the second and main crop varieties are rapidly catching up! We always grow potatoes in pots as you can keep topping them up with soil so that they have plenty of room to grow lovely big tubers.

This is the second year I've grown peas, and they are doing really well too. In tubs we can move them around as we fill up the veg patch, and make sure they stay well watered - they must have grown six inches this week! Oh, and mustn't forget the little strawberry plant that now has flowers too.

 

 

Away from the vegetables, we've got lots of flowers coming on really well, and other stuff just getting started. I've got a couple of dahlias that are on track to grow even bigger than last year, the roses are putting on buds, the peony is filling out by the minute, and the sweetpeas are in the ground and starting to get established.

I love having flowers indoors too and got very spoiled this week for my birthday with several beautiful bouquets, as well as cutting a few peony flowers from the bush at my grandparents house - it always flowers really early, but they are absolutely glorious.

The next things to go in are the packet of wildflower seeds that I got free from BBC Countryfile a couple of weeks ago, just need to find a convenient place for them where they won't swamp or get swamped by other things.

Mum and I went to the Weald of Kent Craft Fair at Penshurst Place yesterday, and apart from having a wonderful look round and a minor shopping spree, we also got some beautiful nemesia that I'm going to plant in the front garden later on. We've never had any of these before, but I just loved the colours and the pretty shape of the flowers.

 

After all that hard work, I think I deserve a sit down, and I shall enjoy relaxing in the garden later and watching all the local birds coming and going. I'm afraid my photography skills aren't up to capturing fast-moving wildlife, but I love to watch the sparrow colony from next door's hedge to-ing and fro-ing, the blackbird family digging up the biggest, fattest worms they can find from the lawn, and the pair of robins sitting the tree singing - I think they must have a nest somewhere nearby too. I love Spring!