boston and big islands

She’s baaacccckkkkkk!!!!

Sooo… Hi! It’s been awhile since I made an appearance on this blog! Talk about stating the obvious! Let’s just say that a lot of life has happened in the last few months! In the span of about a month in a half, I got a new job and moved to a new city in a new country. I’ve been focused on settling in since then so needless to say, there hasn’t been much time for knitting and sewing! Fortunately, I had TONS of time to knit and sew in the months leading up to this big change! The sweater featured here? Knit and photographed in May but as this is only now getting some wear, waiting to post it was a good choice, nee? That’s my story and I’m sticking to it!

So where am I now? Boston! Out of the lab and into a brand new career that I friggin’ love! However, while Boston is geographically close to Toronto, it’s been an adjustment! But did I mention that I love my new job?!  The downside, of course, is all of the friends I left behind. For the most part, my science friends had already moved on from their postdocs (though there are still a few that I already miss terribly) but the awesome sewing and knitting community I was part of in Toronto? Kristin, Andrea, Gillian, Catja? The awesome ladies of Eweknit? The list goes on really and they are all now too far away! So if you know of any sewing and knitting peeps in the greater Boston area, direct me to them or direct them here!

So let’s talk about the sweater. Another Jared Flood design! Shocking, I know! This one is called Oshima and I was kicking myself for not getting to it sooner last year. How handy would that cowl have been in the Great Deep Freeze of 2014? 

What I feel like doing every time I put this one on!

I made this one out of the Berroco Ultra Alpaca (one of my go to yarns) that I picked up at the EweKnit boxing day sale. It’s a pretty straightforward knit with some slick finishes (tubular cast on and bind off) and a ton of squishy brioche stitch. And the cowl? Seemed endless but every time I put this thing on I just want to burrow down! Not a bad inclination for a winter sweater!

I could go on and on about Brooklyn Tweed patterns and my Jared Flood knitting crush but I think we can skip that this time around. Probably best to hit publish before I walk away for another 4 months! In the meantime, can’t wait to catch up!

Enjoying a sleepy cat as I write this. Focus on the cat, people and ignore the tired face!

Sara

Ravelry notes can be found here.

 

My Very First Quilt

Hello!  It has been a long while since either Sara or I posted.  No real reason on my part other than the fact that it was nice to just sew and create without having to take pictures and sit down and write about it, but I have finally taken some photos of a few of my projects from the last few months and decided it was time to share.  My big project this summer was to sew my very first quilt.  When my friend Manpreet told me she was expecting her first baby I knew that I wanted to make her something special.  I had been thinking quilt and decided that is would be a good idea when she sent me a pin on pinterest linking to a pillow and quilt combo that she liked.  I think she was specifically asking if I could make her the pillow cover, but I ended up going for a quilt.  She didn’t know what she was having (she has since had an adorable little girl) so the nursery was going to be gender neutral with yellow, gray, and elephants.  We decided on this elephant print and then I just picked fabrics that were yellow and gray to work with her theme.

I used the baby lattice quilt tutorial that I found on Moda Bakeshop.  It seemed like a good beginner quilt to me.  The squares and sashing pieces were easy to cut out and piecing it together was super straight forward.  It took me forever, but that was my own fault.  I found the process of piecing the quilt top to be super tedious and pretty boring so I never got very much done at each sitting and I would often find something else to work on when I knew I should be working on the quilt.  In fact I procrastinated it so much that I was finishing the quilting the night before the baby shower.

All my rows don’t line up quite as perfectly as I would like, but for the my first attempt I am super happy with how the quilt turned out.  Initially I had some trouble with basting the quilt and on my first attempt at sewing a few of the quilting rows I ended up with some pretty big puckers.  That was extremely annoying to take out, but my second attempt worked out much better.

I didn’t take a good picture of the back, but you can see the yellow polka dots peaking out.  I used this Riley Blake flannel for the back which adds a nice layer for coziness for a baby quilt.  I went with a natural batting so that it has that nice crinkly look now that it has been washed.

To go along with the quilt I made a couple of elephant stuffies using this pattern and tutorial.  I was able to use my scraps to make them and I absolutely love how they turned out.  I especially love the little tail!  Plus the pattern was free so total winner in my books.

Couldn’t be happier with how this whole project turned out.  Although I didn’t necessarily love the whole process of quilting I really loved the final result and would really like to make some quilts for my own kids at some point.  Plus now that I made baby 1 a quilt all future babies will also need their own quilt made with love from their Auntie Bitty!

Elizabeth

Pattern Testing: Raindrop Tee

I have been busy with a bunch of pattern testing recently, but as usual have not been sharing any of my finished projects so when the designer from my most recent test asked if any of us wanted to take part in a pattern tour I signed up knowing it would give me a deadline and make me actually complete a post.  I love sewing t-shirts for my kids and would probably say that I make more of them than anything else.  They are so quick to make and get a ton of wear so when I saw the pattern call for the Raindrop tee I couldn’t resist applying.

The Raindrop tee by Gracious Threads is a slim fitting t-shirt with a high-low hem and two different sleeve options.  It also includes a pocket which can be made with either knit or woven fabric for a fun pop of colour or pattern, but obviously I skipped it for my version.

The top comes together really quickly and Jess’s instructions are clear and easy to follow.  The 3/4 sleeves are perfect for the fall weather that will be coming our way soon and the slim fit should make it easy to layer with a sweater which should give us some good use from the top.

This striped version was actually my second top and I changed up how I put in my neck binding and didn’t really think it through completely which means the neckline is a bit wider than I would like for this one.  Totally my error and the neckline is not wide on my first version when I followed the direction exactly.

See, much nicer neckline on this one!

This pattern is a winner and if you want to purchase it for yourself you can do so here or here.  Or you can enter the giveway to win your own copy!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Delicious Liberty Myrtle!

Hello! It’s been awhile and let’s just say that a lot has been happening!  I’ll share my life news at a later date when everything is sorted out and I have time to breathe. For now I’m going to quickly share a dress that I made for a local shop I have been working at this summer. .. The Colette Myrtle!

Apologies for the headless photos…  was trying something new (*ahem* hiding a terrible hair day!)

As many of your already know, I have been working as a postdoc in an Immunology lab in Toronto for the last five a half years. An amazing time was had, lots was learned and all that jazz! I officially finished in June (yay! I am now “fully” trained!) but have more or less been working from home since March.  Applying for jobs, doing contract work for local biotech start-ups, etc. Basically, I have been sitting on my ass, all alone in my apartment. I was starting to talk to my cats waaaaay too often! So I approached my friend Claudia (well, with a lot of help from Angela!) and asked if she needed help over the summer in her seriously amazing store Eweknit. It was a great way to take a day away from my home and start to interact with people again!

Eweknit has been my go-to yarn store since it opened two years ago.  Seriously, for those of you that knit, check out their wares as this is one well curated and well stocked shop! Last fall, the shop started catering to the sewing addicted amongst us and now boasts one of the most impressive Liberty of London Tana Lawn collections I’ve seen! And recently, a few bolts of Liberty rayon jersey were brought in (details on these fabric lovelies can be found here). New pattern I was itching to try, new fabric that I could not wait to get my hands on…  it was a go!

Patience might have been a good thing here as I am not sure that one should ever muslin a pattern using Liberty! Nonetheless, despite some fitting flaws that could easily have been avoided with a little forethought and prep work, I am in love with this dress! I made the size medium based on my bust measurements (I would normally grade to a large at the hips but didn’t think it would be a problem here with the full, gathered skirt). Really, I should have automatically sized down to account for the drape of this fabric but I’m still happy with the result. Some would say droopy but I say bugger off to that!

I would even go so far as to say that I could have gone down to an x-small in the bodice.  The shoulders on this are a little wide, but this is not an unusual problem for me. My sister Kelley got all the shoulders in this family. But I like to remind myself that she’s old and then I feel better! Kel, I do hope you are reading this!

Bad hair? Check! Awkward pose? Sigh, check…

Words can hardly describe how amazing this fabric is. It felt more like cotton interlock than rayon jersey on the bolt but after being washed..? Silky, dreamy goodness! I have been living in this dress as though it were a nightgown! Who say your shouldn’t be fancy for your cats?!

I was sewing this for the shop so I didn’t make any modifications and while I find some of the steps in the Colette’s knit patterns unnecessarily complicated (the elastic gathering on the Moneta, anyone?!?), it went together with no problems. Some steps that I found a little fiddly with the slinky fabric were the hemming on the back bodice piece (the neck and the sleeves) and this could easily be overcome by doing a full bodice lining. The insertion of the elastic at the waist was also needlessly long and can be adapted in whatever way you prefer. Gillian skipped the gathered skirt on her version and instead just stabilized the waist in the usual way and it works beautifully! Overall though, I find this a clever little dress that appears to flatter most people. Case in point, see it on Angela!

Let’s just say that our measurements are not the same and leave it at that! But it looks fantastic on her!

So who else is making this dress and what are you thoughts on the new knit-inspired patterns by Colette? Anyone going to give a woven Myrtle a try?

You can see and read more about this dress, the fabric and the pattern (shortly!)  here!

Sara

Refashion Month: Toddler Dress

It is refashion month over at House of Estrela and I am super excited to be taking part!

Refashioning is not something that I do often but since I have a steadily growing pile of discarded clothing from both my husband and my own closet, it is something that I need to start doing more of.  For this project I started with an old dress shirt of mine that shrunk the first time I washed it, making it just a tad too tight.

Since I still really loved the fabric, I opted to turn this into a dress for my daughter.

To do this refashion, I started with the front bodice piece from the geranium dress.  I lengthened it by a few inches so that it would hit my daughter at her waist and lowered the neckline to give it more of a scoop neck.  I used the same bodice for both the front and the back of the dress and I kept the button placket from the original shirt and used that as the front of the dress.

I used the back of the shirt for the back of the dress.

To make the skirt I used the rest of the shirt and turned it into a simple gathered skirt.

To make it even easier, I kept the existing shirt tail hem.

To finish the neck and arms I made bias tape from some pink cotton I had in my stash.  I love the pop of colour that it adds!

The final product is a simple and quick summer dress!

Make sure to check out the rest of the line up and don’t forget to enter the giveaway!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Elizabeth

Julia Cardigan x 2

So as mentioned on my last post, I have been sewing up a ton of stuff for myself.  I wear cardigans to work almost everyday so when Welcome to the Mouse House had a sale a few months ago I snapped up the Julia Cardigan.  All of the cardigans that I have seen popping up on blog reader recently have looked cute so I finally decided to make one.  I had 2m of black interlock in my stash so I started with that and made a size M with the 3/4 sleeves.

I also used the no hem option for the collar and the sleeves are finished with a cuff which meant I was able to construct the whole thing on my serger.  I love when I don’t have to pull out my regular machine!  Hemming knits has got to be one of my least favourite things to do.

My measurements technically meant I should have made large, but I find that the medium fits really well.  Since I knew I wanted to wear it to work I didn’t want it to be too slouchy and I think this size worked out well.

I found myself getting quite a bit of use out of my first Julia so I decided to make up a second.  When looking for fabric I had originally wanted a charcoal gray, but when I couldn’t find any at my local fabric store I decided to go with some colour and used some hot pink interlock.  Not a neutral like the gray would have been, but more fun!  I would still like to make up the gray one though.

For this one I decided to try making the long sleeved version.  My one complaint about the pattern would be that she has you use the same cuff that you used for the 3/4 sleeve version which means the arms are really wide.  I did end up cutting off my original cuff and taking the sleeves in a bit.  I then added a slightly smaller cuff.  Could have been a bit smaller yet, but is much better than the first.

Overall I am really happy with how these turned out and based on how much use they have gotten already I would call them a complete success.

I desperately had a need for a plain white t-shirt so I made up a quick t-shirt using some white jersey and Doe and Deer’s Plantain pattern.  I have made one other version previously that I never blogged about (fabric colour is not so flattering so it doesn’t get worn very often) so I knew that the size M fits well.  From my previous make I knew that I found the neckline to be a bit low cut so for this one I used a smaller seam allowance when attaching the neckband (3/8 instead of 5/8) which made the band wider and made everything sit a bit higher.  Much happier with this neckline.

I really love this pattern!  The fit seems to flatter everyone and I see many more in my future.  I don’t have a ton of basic t-shirts so there is a definite gap in my wardrobe that this pattern could easily fill.

Elizabeth

Pattern Testing: Pleated Pencil Skirt

I love pattern testing and have been fortunate to do a bunch of it for my kiddos and occasionally for myself, but I am horrible at actually sharing what I make remotely close to the release date, if at all.  Well not this time!  I was lucky enough to get to test Delia from Delia Creates very first women’s pattern, the Pleated Pencil Skirt, and it turned out great which meant I couldn’t wait to share it!

I am a huge fan of pencil skirts and often wear them to work, but this was my first time making one.  This skirt fit me great without having to make any modifications which is extremely rare.  This was thanks to the slightly more relaxed waist!

The skirt does a great job at hugging me where it should without restricting my movements or make it uncomfortable to sit in all day at work.

The skirt features a side invisible zipper and I think I did a pretty good job for only my second invisible zipper ever!

It also has a closed kick pleat.  A first for me, but a detail that I love because this combined with the relaxed waist makes your fabric choices quite open because you don’t need a ton of stretch.  For this one I used a sateen with a tiny bit of stretch and it worked perfectly!

I am so happy with the finished product and love that it looks so great with my Belcarra blouse!  This skirt was actually such a huge success that it can be credited for kicking off a ton of selfish sewing which means my face should be back on here sooner rather than later!

Elizabeth

 

Black Belcarra Blouse

Hey look!  My face is actually on the blog instead of my kiddos for the first time in months!  It isn’t that I haven’t been sewing for myself (although there hasn’t been a ton), but rather that I have not been loving pictures of myself and have not wanted to share for everyone to see.  Time to get over that and I will start by sharing my first Belcarra blouse from Sewaholic.  Sorry for the second Belcarra post in as many days, but figured since I participated in the sew along that I should get my version up now rather than later.

This version was meant to be my wearable muslin and thankfully it is extremely wearable!  I made it out of some black viscose that I got from my local fabric store.  It was my first time working with a somewhat slippery material and to say that it frustrated me would be an understatement.  I didn’t think it had shifted that much when cutting, but when I tried to line up the sleeves with the bias cut edge on the body they were off by a ton.  It took quite a bit of stretching to get the sleeve to fit, but I managed to make it mostly work.  The rest of the shirt lined up with no problems so it was just the bias cut edge that gave me trouble.

I do feel like there is some extra material where the sleeves and body meet, but feel like that might be because of my cutting issues.  For this version I made a straight size 10 which fits, but is a bit looser than I wanted.  I have already traced and cut out the size 8 pattern pieces for my next version so will give that a try soon!  The only change I made to this version was to bring the neckline in a bit.  I am very glad I did because even after bringing it in it still slides and shows my bra straps.  I plan on bringing it in even more for my next version.

I love the waist shaping that the pattern has.  I think it does a great job at keeping the shirt from looking like a tent.

Cutting issues aside, I am really happy with how my first version turned out.  This pattern fits perfectly with my style and I can see many more version in the future.  In fact I bought some lovely floral rayon for my next, but need to figure out a better way to stabilize my fabric before I cut it out.  Thinking I might give some spray starch a try and see if that works.

Elizabeth

a Graphic Belcarra

Some slightly unfortunate pattern placement…!

What’s this? A sewing post? I will say that after the Albion, my sewing machine and I needed a bit of a break from each other. Or a longish one as it turns out. Nevertheless, I have been dipping back in of late and have a few simple projects to share. Up first is my inaugural Belcarra blouse from Sewaholic.

I made this one using a graphic silk/cotton blend that I bought at a fabricland sale long, long ago.  It is fairly delicious against the skin! Light and airy and positively perfect for the humid heat to come! I opted to mix and match the versions to get the details that I love. I’ve used the pleated sleeves from view B and the wider cuffs from view c.

I realize that the print is busy and that the pintucks get a bit lost amid it all but this is the detail that sold me on this pattern so I couldn’t skip them! And you would be surprised at how often people comment on this feature so apparently they are not lost at all.

I was worried about the wide neck on this from the very beginning and have no idea why I didn’t take it in… especially given my narrow shoulders! Indeed, the neck is wide.  Almost unwearably so.  Oh well…  a little slippage is not going to stop me. However, I will be bringing the neck in substantially on the next version and to make that nice and easy, this little alteration was covered in their recent sewalong.

“Maybe if I stand really still, the neckline will stay put!”

My only pattern alteration this time around was to add a curved hem. I’m a fan of this finish as it allows me to accomodate my generous hips without wearing a tent! I made the shirt according to my measurement but I do find it a little too large so next time around I will be going down a size in addition to taking in the neck. Maybe in a solid so that those pintucks can really shine! And I should have shortened by bias tape for the neckline a bit as that would have helped it lay flat. As it is now, it tends to flip up a little. What can I say…  it was late and I was lazy!

And that about covers it. A quick and extremely wearable make! Another pattern win by Sewaholic! Any of you interested in giving this pattern a try?

Sara

Knitting with friends.

 

Soooo…  this post was supposed to be up on Saturday! That was the deal I made with my fellow knitters, Andrea and Kristin.  They posted (found here and here) but six days later (I keep having to up that number as more days pass!) and here we are.  My bad! Apologies, Ladies! No excuses! Though honestly, I’m not sure that I have anything worthy to add after their thorough and thought-provoking tales!

 

A couple of months ago, in a fit of pique over the crap weather that Toronto kept delivering, Kristin, Andrea and I decided that we might be able to pretend it was Spring if we started knitting for Spring. Bright colours, fun patterns and all that jazz. The Mizutama pattern from Olga Buraya-Kefelian was one that Kristin had been eyeing for some time so after a trip to our favourite LYS EweKnit, we were off!

I’m not sure that I have much to add about the actual knitting of this pattern that Kristin and Andrea have not already covered in their posts. Suffice it to say that this was not necessarily the most enjoyable knit except that we were in it together so could complain and bitch to each other! Picking the yarn made for an eventful evening! We had trouble settling on a base and picking colours that were bright and flattering but were not already overrepresented in our Ravelry project page. The yarn selection at EweKnit is large so narrowing it down was no small feat! I kind of feel like I failed on all fronts but live and learn! I opted for a yarn that I had not worked with before; Raventwist Torc. This name is no joke, my friends! This yarn has some serious twist to it, which made it interesting to work with. I had high hopes that it would bloom a little when blocked but I didn’t find that to be the case at all. The result is that it feels a bit like I am wearing string around my neck, which is an overall fail in my opinion. The twisty nature of the yarn did endow the shawl with a slightly architectural look to it though, which is rather lovely. And the mix of red-orange, a colour that can be seen time and again on my Ravelry page, is awesome!

Lined up (Kristin, Andrea and Sara)

Kristin and Andrea both went with Madeline Tosh Merino Light, which I have worked with often and continue to love. You can check out their posts to see what they thought of it but having fondled all three shawls, I much prefer the texture of theirs! So lovely to wear! And is probably obvious, the photoshoot was a blast! All is all, a successful knitalong! We’re currently repeating the fun with the Aisance cardigan but likely won’t have a group post until the Fall as wool sweaters are not high on the priority list as the weather heats up in Toronto.

So. Now that we have saturated the interwebs with photos of our shawls, are you tempted by the pattern? Or to have a good KAL with friends? What colours most remind you of spring? Do you have a favourite yarn or fibre for shawls, scarves, cowls or anything else worn up around your neck? In the words of Kristin, let’s talk!

An illuminated Hamilton fivehead for you all to enjoy!

My project notes can be found here.

Sara