Sewing - Simplicity 1418 - Dress

Simplicity 1418 Dress with bodice options

I sewed this dress as part of an outfit-along. It goes with the Saffire shrug I knitted. However, I didn't take any decent photos when I wore it, and so I had to wait until the next opportunity to wear it and take photos!

The pattern is a nice one, where you can mix-and-match to get the bodice that you want. I'd never made anything with pleats in the skirt either, so that was a nice new challenge for me.



Modifications:
I didn't use bias binding on the edges, I faced them instead. A bit of a pain, but it looks good. I did this because I couldn't find a binding to match the dress fabric and I didn't want to make my own.
I also fitted the zip a bit differently and put a hook-and-eye at the top.

Things I'd change:
I would do the zip as written! I find it uncomfortable under my arm there. I'd also do an actual concealed zip, which I didn't know how to do at the time.
I'd love to try this in a knit fabric, I think it could be lovely. Then I would omit the zip entirely.
Also, I've lost weight since I wore this first time around, so I might have to take it in a little around the bust. I think it still looks pretty nice though.

Now I've got it out and tried it on again, I plan to both wear this one again, and hopefully make another, maybe even in a smaller size! 

Knitting - Yoga Socks

Pattern: Made up as I went
Yarn: Noro Kureyon Sock; S184
Needle: 2.5mm

What I did:
Instead of knitting a heel, I put some stitches onto waste yarn and then continued in pattern down the foot.
I picked up around the heel and worked eight rounds of ribbing.

I measured my foot, the length of the cuff and leg should be the same as the length of the foot and toe cuff, for these socks. I wound the Noro into four small balls. I cast on my usual amount of stitches (64) and worked a ribbed cuff, two at a time from two of the balls, changing colour every four rows, for twelve rows.

Once the foot was long enough, I went back to just one ball of yarn and worked twelve rounds of ribbing, then cast-off loosely.

Verdict: I'm pretty pleased with them. I'll be wearing them to my yoga retreat, so I may update with how they fared in the wild.

Update: 
If I were to make these again, I'd add a toe-tab to keep them in the right place, I also think I could have made the foot/cuff a little longer.

Sewing - Overnight Duffel

I little while ago I signed up to go on a yoga retreat, and I've been looking forward to it. But, looking at my various luggage options there wasn't anything which made me think "yoga retreat" or that would be the sort of size/style I wanted.
I browsed Pinterest (here's my yoga retreat pinterest board) for some ideas, and I thought that the Overnight Duffel from The Stitching Scientist was a good fit.

Once I had decided that this was the bag for me, I had to find some appropriate fabric. I wanted something hardwearing, but also attractive. After a brief search I found this lovely Rose and Hubble Paris inspired fabric at my favourite online fabric store, Remnant House. I also picked up a nice cotton for the contrast and lining.



I then began my search for all the other bits I needed. I knew I wanted a zip which would open in the middle, a must for a bag like this if you ask me. I also wanted to add a shoulder strap to the bag as I'm often carrying or holding hands with a toddler and cross-body bags rock for that. This meant that I needed some extra hardwear, specifically a strap adjuster, D-rings, and clip ends for the strap. On the advice of my knitting/sewing online friends on Ravelry, I also got some fuseable fleece for the main bag, and some medium-weight fuseable interfacing.

I printed out the pattern, but I ended up with pieces which just didn't look big enough. So, instead of trying to re-print them (given the difference could be US Letter paper vs A4, or my printer, or the PDF scaling, or a number of other issues) I decided I would simply create my own pieces, but then follow the instructions. The main difference in doing this is that I have redrawn the ends as rectangles with semi-circles on top (for ease of maths) rather than ovals. This also means that the pockets are square. I did a bit of maths to ensure that all my pieces would fit on the fabric, and worked out a layout to cut the pieces.

The two-ended zip that I bought was an X zip - so when you open it the sliders come from either end.



However, I wanted them to come from the middle, so I followed Thread Riding Hood's tutorial to do just that.



The other main thing I did differently was when inserting the zip. As written, the pattern suggests sewing the main body inside and outside pieces together, then turning them, then inserting the zip between them. However, this would still leave the bare edge of the zip visible inside the bag.
I simply sewed the zip in at the same time as making the top seam of the pieces. This was a little tricky because it meant that when sewing the other side seams of these pieces, I had to fold and pin the other half of the bag sides out of the way. I think it was worth it though.



Making the shoulder strap has been quite a learning experience. It's important to attach the hardware in the right order. As the swivel-clips don't have a gap to thread the strap through, these have to be inserted and sewn on. The strap adjuster also needs to be sewn on, with the end of the strap looping around the middle bar of the adjuster. I think it works well, but in future I will consider webbing for the straps.



Verdict

The pattern is nicely written, and if I'd followed it exactly I would still have got a great bag. My modifications just personalise it a little bit.

Adding fuseable fleece was a great idea, it makes the bag seem quite luxurious! I did fleece and medium interfacing on the bottom piece for extra strength, and I'm pleased I did that too.

I might make another of these bags, though if I do I'd consider making it a bit bigger to hold a weekend worth of clothes for everyone. It's been a nice introduction to making bags though, with no interior zips to worry about or strange fastenings.

I especially like the interior finishing, achieved effectively by sewing all the lining pieces to their outers before construction of the bag. I think if one wanted to add more pockets this method of construction would lend itself to doing so quite efficiently. I liked the canvas, but I found it quite hard to sew. Even with my walking foot it wasn't always feeding through evenly with the cotton. This would probably be less of a problem if both fabrics had been craft cotton.


Fitting the ends into the tube made by the bottom and sides wasn't easy either, partly due to some fit issues I had (the base wasn't quite wide enough, I think because of the conversion from oval to D shaped end.

I also had to think about placement of the tabs for the D-rings, Attaching these had to be done after the end pieces had been assembled, which was made harder by the fact that I wanted to sew them below the top of the pockets.

I'm looking forward to giving this bag its first outing at the Yoga retreat. I just wish I'd made it big enough to hold my Yoga mat too! Oh well. Maybe next time...

Spinning - Willo Fibers kid mohair

So, I spun this a while ago during the TdF, but I've only just got round to uploading the photos for it. I bought the fibre from a festival because I liked the colours.



When it came to spinning it, I thought it might be nice if I split it up and spun it as a gradient, from yellow through pink/orange to black (well, deep purple)



Details:
Length: approx 125 yards
Type/weight: 3ply DK (ish) yarn
Spin/ply direction: Z spun and S plied on an Ashford Traveller, standard maiden, middle whorl.
Verdict: I like how the colours have come out. The darker colours are much more purple than they seemed in the fibre, but it still works. I think this may be destined to be a hat.

Knitting - Bosc Pear

Pattern:  Bosc Pear (Ravelry Link)
Yarn: My hand-dyed gradient 4ply
Needle: 5mm
Mods: I knitted 6 repeats of the pattern - not enough yarn for the 7 as written. I stopped at the end of the stst section and did a row of 2yo, s2kpsso before picot bindoff, to make the bindoff edge look a bit more like the side picots.



Verdict: I like it. I'm pleased I used quite a big needle, and the colours work better than I expected.
I had hoped that the colours would fade into one another more than they do, but the striped effect is pretty too, and it looks nice when worn with the two different coloured ends.

Spinning - Threshing Barn merino/silk

Threshing Barn are often present at the various wool shows I like to go to. The colours of this roving called to me when I saw them, and I had to have it.



Details:
Length: approx 260 yards
Type/weight: 2ply sport weight (ish) yarn
Spin/ply direction: Z spun and S plied on an Ashford Traveller, standard maiden, middle whorl.



Verdict

I like it, it's nice and springy. I have no idea what I'm going to make it into, there's probably enough for a scarf or something like that. I might spin something else to go with it, then I could make it into a garment of some sort.

Sewing - Simplicity 1716 knit mini-dress, tunic and top

Simplicity 1716 is described as:
Knit mini-dress, tunic and top can be made with a front twist or draped neckline with five different sleeve variations to choose from.

I thought it looked really wearable, so I went out and picked up two fabrics, with a view to making at least two of them! I got the bolt-end of some brown patterned knit fabric, and on measuring in the shop we thought I'd have enough for the tunic version, but probably nothing more.

I washed and dried the fabric, and then laid it out on my dining table. I was surprised and pleased to see that once I laid out the pieces for dress view A with sleeves E, I actually had enough in the knit for the full dress!

It was pretty quick to make, I spent a while cutting out and pinning because of the nature of knit fabric. It actually wasn't as scary to work with knit fabric as I'd expected, but I wish I'd had a walking foot (I have ordered one for next time!)



Modifications and Adjustments

I graded out the hips to a size larger than the rest of the dress. I made the 14, grading to a 16 at the hip. With hindsight this wasn't really necessary given the stretch of the dress fabric and the design ease it's written with. I tacked the inside of the front collar down in two places to ensure that it didn't flip over.

Verdict

I love it. I'm wearing it as I write this and it's comfy to wear. I feel pretty stylish in it too, which is great. If I were being very critical, I'd say that the dress feels like it rides up a bit at the back, but whether that's because of the size of my bottom or the fabric I am not sure.
I am going to make another one, I have the fabric already laundered! But I'll probably make the bag(s) and the simplicity sewing challenge dress and skirt first.