The Woodland Stroll Cape.... for Loch Erne

I have had a weekend away booked for ages, but of course left the wardrobe planning to the last minute. It was to be a hotel break for myself and 6 female friends, the main aims to obviously have a lot of laughs, relax in the hot tub, eat and generally be merry. We all dressed up on the Friday evening  - for this I made the +Maria Denmark Day to night top into a dress. I love this pattern as it is quick and easy to make and has a lovely flattering cowl-type neckline.  Incredibly I have no decent photos of it so I will put it on the blog later.

I was tired of my winter 'dressy' coats, so I thought I would make a cape.  The Liesl & Co Woodland Stroll Cape seemed perfect and turned out to be perfect for my weekend.  I used a black cashmere coating fabric which I had purchased last January from Dragonflyfabrics in their sale.  I had thought of making a dress with it, but then thought it was too thick, so it seemed right for this project.

The lining is a multi-coloured polyester blend spotty fabric, which is lovely and bright and I do like it, but in retrospect I wish I had used a flannel fabric for extra warmth, as the coating is surprisingly light.

So, the pattern itself? Well it really couldn't be better.  I cut it out last Saturday and it was sitting ready on Monday afternoon waiting for the closures to arrive in the post.

So, the pattern consists of 1 back piece, 2 front pieces and a simple facing and the same for the lining.  I didn't use any interfacing mainly because I didn't have any and I was in a rush.  Tut, tut. But I thought my fabric was sturdy enough without it.

Probably the only potentially tricky bit might be keeping your lining nice and smooth when you are attaching to main fabric.  It is worth taking your time over this as there is nothing worse than a hanging down lining.   Other than that it is a simple make and I am delighted with the result.

  As I haven't done that many buttonholes yet, I decided to get these closures from Minerva Crafts.  They have a great range of metal, wooden and plastic closures and toggles, which I think work quite well on this cape.  Where the buttons were meant to be on the underarm I used the Prym sport and camping  stud fasteners which work fine too.

Another good think about this cape is that it only uses 1.5 yards of the main fabric so even if you use a wool fabric, it's not going to break the bank.  Black probably wouldn't have been my first choice, it would look great in tweed, tartan or a lovely bright coloured boiled wool. You could even use a water repellent cotton. It looks great with trousers, jeans, dresses and a straight pencil skirt and, of course, very 'in' right now.  Can you tell I like it?  I think there will definitely be more!  Perfect for the weekend away.

Sorry, the photos don't really do it justice between dark days and dark fabric and I look like I've seen a ghost in some of them.

I'll leave you with a wee photo of the marina at the +Manor House Hotel and view from my room.  The colours of the trees were lovely.

Cosy red jersey dress.

The past week has been a pretty busy one, but I did find time for another quick knit dress, as it is getting a bit nippy now. This one is mad from this lovely ponte jersey from Trurofabrics.  It is a mix of polyester, rayon and spandex.  I'm not normally into polyester but these ponte jerseys are probably the exception as they are so easy to work with and very easy care. Also they are great for winter as they are cosy.

I used one of the 'Onion' patterns on the Maria Denmark website.  This one is the Knit Dress (2007) which is a simple knit dress with raglan sleeves and a crew neck.  It's great doing this blog and taking photos as it highlights the good and the bad.  Above is obviously the back view which highlights both a wrinkly waist area (hadn't noticed that - oops) and also slight points on my shoulder darts. (and I thought they were so smooth too) It does give you an idea of the style with the raglan sleeves, highlighted even more by my rather broad shoulders.  It was the first time I had done shoulder darts, not sure I even knew there was such a thing, if I'm honest, but they were very easy.

As well as the shoulder darts (which I think just need another press) there are front bust darts which gives a bit more shape.  The neckline (sorry I forgot to take a non-scarf photo) is a simple bound crew neck.

The other little detail of this pattern is a lovely shapely narrow sleeve with a slit on the inside sleeve.  All simple details and yet they just add that little bit extra to the overall style.

As I am broad in the shoulder/chest area I cut a 44 in the bodice, but graduated down to a about a 41 in the skirt part.  With these patterns this is easy to do and you also have to allow for seam allowances as they are not included in the pattern.  I have a few of these patterns and they are great, they seem to suit my shape, I think.  The pattern is sent in the post and you receive an email with the instructions translated in English.  Maria Denmark also has her own patterns which are pdf download patterns.  I particularly like the day to night drape top and the Birgitte top.

Also still working on my winthrop cardigan, so near the finish line. Have also made a start on the woodland stroll cape in black coating which I hope to have finished for a weekend away this coming weekend.  Seems appropriate .... here's hoping.

Getting the foundations right.

This week I returned to one of the first patterns I ever used, which is great for basic tops.  It seems to be a very popular pattern for obvious reasons and there are numerous versions on the blogs.  It is the Renfrew top from Sewaholic. Up to now I have made both the round and v-neck versions in all different sleeve lengths, but I decided to give the cowl neck a go this time.

I made it in a fuchsia jersey, another from Tessuti fabrics with a bit if stretch in it.  At first I couldn't figure out the cowl, but after a bit of puzzling I realised that there was a little error in my pattern. On the sixth point it says to 'Sew collar pieces wrong sides together' instead of right sides, kind of obvious I suppose.  Once I realised what was wrong it was, of course, very easy and I really like the cowl neck.  It is not a high cowl, it comes to about normal tee shirt neckline, so today (as it is getting cold) I wore a merino tee under it.

I have some lovely merino from New Zealand Merino which I will be using to make another cowl top.  It's a fuchsia and navy diamond pattern so will probably be a bit similar but hopefully warmer.  I recently got my first order from the company.  The one mentioned here is quite light weight, I also have a green one which is slightly heavier and they have coat weight too.  I wear a lot of merino base layers for outdoor activities in the winter, so I thought I would give it a go.  Whenever you order you are charged a basic postage and then you receive another email with the actual postage.  (It tells you this on the website) Mine worked out to be about £14 for 6 metres fabric and my fabrics were on offer, so I thought it wasn't too bad.

Overall a great basic pattern with cosy cuffs and a cosy neckline, a good pattern for beginners starting to sew with stretch fabrics, one that I will always return too.

This week I have been continuing with my Winthrop cardigan from Kelbourne Woolens and learned a new technique, thanks to a great tutorial (more on that later).  This was 'wrap and turn', very pleased that I got it sorted, so should be finished it soon.

On a completely different note, I tried an idea I saw in +Country Living magazine, using dried bunches of herbs as kindling.  We had a glut of sage, thyme and a few others, so last Saturday I picked a load and tied them into kindling bunches, then hung them on the stair railings all week. They have dried out well.

Having now lit the fire and thrown a couple of bunches on, I am sorry to report that I smell nothing. Boo hoo.  I presume that was the idea - however the whole house did smell herby all week so I guess we had that benefit and it did look kind of Halloweeny and autumnal.  Got to try these things. I can use them in cooking anyway.

Also after much soul searching and deliberation (I right) I have succumbed to ordering the Camber set dress pattern from Merchant and Mills. Having seen lovely versions on roobeedoo's blog of both the dress and the top, I was hooked.  Well I have mad 2 versions each of the Dress shirt and the Panel dress, so I think I will get my money's worth.  Can't wait.

Trying out some free pdf jersey patterns.

I have been sewing up some comfy makes last week with the onset of cooler, wilder weather.  The first one was the Mandy boat tee from Tessuti.  I have been wanting to do this one for a while as I really liked the Fave Top that I had made back in the summer.  It is a simple design of front, back and sleeves, the upper part of the sleeve being part of the body and a slash neckline.  I used this bright blue jersey which is really beautiful with 8% elastane so lovely and stretchy. Any of the fabrics I have purchased from Tessuti have been really lovely quality and wash well and keep a good shape.

It's a lovely pattern and I particularly like the slash neckline which is finished with a nice stitch detail at either side of the neck.

A bit of a batwing effect going on there.

The other pattern I tried was the Hemlock tee by Jen at Grainline which is actually very similar, just a couple of differences. The neckline is a bound crew neck and the sleeve joins further up the arm to the front and back pieces.

I was inspired by this lovely version by Miss P which was featured on the Grainline website and decided to do the dress version. (Miss P used the back pieces for both the back and front and achieved more of a slash neckline)

This lovely jersey is from +Minerva crafts and was in their clearance at £5.99 per metre and as it took less than 2 metres to make, I would call that a bargain.  It is also a good weight, very soft and looks more expensive than it cost. (I think) I added 10 inches on to the front and back pieces to make the dress. I used an enclosed binding on the neckline and just hemmed the cuffs and hem using a twin needle.  I took the sides in about 1 cm each side. Overall it was a very quick make taking a couple of hours on Saturday afternoon. I wore it yesterday and it was very comfy and cosy.  I will definitely be making a couple more of these.

Jen's versions were made with beautiful tissue weight jerseys but I am pleased to say that this thicker type jersey worked fine too.

So overall I am very pleased with these two free patterns and will definitely be using both again.  With so many different types of jersey and knit fabrics out there it would be easy to get quite different looks from them. They are both pretty casual, but I think they can be dressed up a bit too.

I see Tessuti has just released a new pattern the Lola Tee. (not a freebie) Will have to remember that one for next summer.

Purplish.

Just to continue on my autumn of berry shades, I have now finished my little waistcoat.

This was the project I had bought in July as a possible 'en vacance' project.  Thankfully the weather was way too hot to even think about knitting, so it only got started in September.  As it was meant for a 'knit on holiday' it was a very simple knit.  There was no shaping, no cables or other fancy stitches, all knit in stocking stitch.  I chose to knit the cropped version and it is quite a good length for cropped. (I have a long back).  The thing I like most is, of course, the pockets .... highly useful.

Overall I am pretty pleased and I think it will get some wear on those 'at home' kind of days, very cosy and will go with quite a few of my tops.

Pattern : Sirdar cropped cardigan 9662
Yarn : Sirdar Folksong Chunky shade 384 Paisley.

Now I can concentrate on finishing the Winthrop cardigan from Kelbourne Woolens that I started probably about March time and abandoned:
1.  Because spring came (it's a heavy yarn) and
2.  I had got to the 'yoke shaping' bit and as this was my first entire circular knit garment, I thought I would dwell on it a while.  Oops.
It is nearly finished so I should really just focus on it.

In the garden, still on the purplish theme, we now have these

I think most of what I grew this year was purple, so not only do they look pretty good, I think, but they have more nutrients. (All purple veg have anthocyanins and carotenoids to protect your cells and heal the body, sorry but I am a nutrional advisor)

These are 'Rubine' brussels sprouts, seed purchased from +Sarah Raven.

We are nearly at the end of autumn, so maybe a subtle change of colour scheme is in the offing.

Avocado Hoodie, boys have to get new stuff too!

So, having made the navy fleece for the husband and previously knit a hoodie for my youngest son, son number one was feeling rather deprived.  So, I thought I would make him a cosy hoodie for the winter months. This came in the form of the Avocado Hoodie from Disparate Disciplines..  This is a pdf pattern and although I have used quite a few of these now, I found the pages on this one a bit tricky to match up exactly... maybe it was the way it printed out on my printer, but I had to do a bit of freehand drawing to get the outlines to patch.  Not sure why this happened, but I got it sorted eventually.

The fabric I used was one from organiccotton.biz. As described it has a soft brushed back with a knitted front, quite substantial in weight and very cosy. Mine was the grey marl, but they also do a darker grey and a couple of natural colours.  It was a really lovely fabric to work with.

I chose to make the size 40 for him, with the crossover neckline, front pockets and the thumbholes in the cuffs.

Again on making this hoodie, it was very straightforward, with great instructions, the only thing was that some of the notches did not seem to be in quite the right place.  Not sure why, maybe my printer, just had to rely on some common sense.

The overall result is great and this a really good basic to have, especially if you have teenage offspring who seem to like this standard 'uniform'.  There is also a female version, which no doubt, I will be trying sometime.

My son hasn't really taken it off very much since I finished it last Friday, so it must be ok.

Now, I had better go and make a plan for my christmas knits, the rest of my own winter sewing (haven't really even got started properly yet) and those socks!  Maybe slightly optimistic.  Oh well.

These also arrived, Crazy Zauberball, beautifully soft.  One is planned for funky-grandpa cardigan as the contrast yarn, haven't decided on the main colours or yarns.  Think I might go down the pink colour scheme as probably by the time I get it knit it will be spring!  The other is for my first attempt at 'proper' socks.

I also see that Liesl Gibson has released four new patterns under Liesl & Co patterns seen here.. Her Lisette patterns were some of the first items I made and they were great patterns, namely the Portfolio and the Market dress, so I have great hopes for these new patterns too. Definitely, got to make that plan!

An Airelle blouse and other works in progress.

This week has been a week of dipping in and out of a few different projects.  I completed a DeerandDoe Airelle blouse.  The pattern was purchased ages ago, with a view to making it for the summer, but I am only getting round to it now.

I purchased the fabric at a local fabric shop, Craftswoman, and it is a cotton poplin.  It is lovely and crisp and sewed up easily.  The fabric I used for the collar and cuff is a cotton chambray, which in retrospect probably wasn't the best choice, as it is very soft and almost seemed to stretch slightly. Either that or my interfacing wasn't quite right, as there is a bit of bubbling.

I also had a bit of trouble with the neck facing, it just seemed too bulky and just wound not sit right, so I ended up taking it off and finishing it with bias binding which worked fine.  I also stitched the side seams as french seams, as I don't have a serger I thought it would give it a bit more longevity.

Overall I like it, I don't tend to wear a lot of blouses, but I think this one is good as it can be made in a more dressy fabric and also can look quite casual with jeans.  I would definitely make it again and add a little more length next time.

Pattern: http://boutique.deer-and-doe.fr/1-tops-airelle-blouse.html
Fabric:  Check Cotton poplin and cotton chambray.

Other works in progress this week have been the http://disparatedisciplines.com/product/avocado-mens-hoodie-6401/ which I am making for my eldest son.  It is basically a hoodie but has the option of back pockets for his and hers enveloped hand warming..... how cute.  However, as he is only 15 and not wanting to encourage such shenanigans, I am omitting this bit.  Haha.

My other project this week is a sleeveless cardigan for myself, namely http://www.sirdar.co.uk/designs/womens/cardigansWomens/9662.I usually bring a nice easy knitting project with me on holidays and this was it this year.  The weather where we were in France and travelling back through England was, of course, brilliant this year and way too hot for knitting, so it only got started in September.

My Addi circular needles just arrived today, so all I have to do is pick up the stitches around the sides and neckline and knit the border.... nearly there.

I have also received my first sock knitting book from englishyarns, and have a couple of skeins of sock yarns on order too, so I don't think I will be bored.

http://www.englishyarns.co.uk/rowan-rachel-coopey-a-knitted-sock-society.html

Anyone know how to turn a heel, don't you love a learning experience!