will work on a string bag next as the co-op i was supposed to be in has melted away and i have so much yarn knocking about it would be criminal to pay for one. having ventured into freeform for my last bag (just for something to store yarn in so i could free up my nice stripey bag for toting current projects about) i’ve realised the value of working to a pattern…

i made a replacement for the multi-purpose dressing gown/beach dress/after swim wrap as the old one was getting a real struggle to squeeze her into. i used 2 beach towels (cheapy and fun from peacocks) this time which gave me more freedom in how i designed it, though it did mean it cost a little more (though still miles cheaper than anything rtw of a similar design/quality).

since i now know a little more about clothing design i was able to give it more room where needed, while still keeping the design easy to sew. i used kimono sleeves, but wider than before, as the old one was always a bit tricky to get her arms/shoulders into. i angled the armscyes downwards to give shoulder shaping in the body section and to decrease bulk under the arms. i put a facing onto the neck opening as i knew from the start i’d need one.

i repeated the trick of re-using the hem and selvage in the finished dress (hem, sleeve and hood edges) and at least this time the sewing machine was working so i could machine the seams. i decided to hand finish all the seams again as it gives a lovely smooth finish to the inside of the dress, perfect for bare skin. it didn’t take very long and it’s definitely worth it.

it fits just about right, sleeves are a good length and it hangs about a cm clear of the floor. i’m hoping there’s enough room in the body for it to fit for a long time, 3/4 length sleeves being no problem.

pics links take you to flickr as it’s playing up at the minute so i can’t add them to my sets.

i’ve just found out that you’re supposed to turn your work each time you start a new row. oops. i just carried on merrily around, but i’ll bet it counts as some kind of special technique with its own proper name

think i’ve also worked out why the line where i joined rows was staggered diagonally instead of straight up. i was skipping the first stitch and going into the second instead. presumably i also made an extra stitch at the end of the row so i didn’t actually decrease at all.

starting crochet in the round
recycled yarn tutorial
stargazer crochet links
crochet cabana tutorials

well the crochet went pretty well, all finished last night. the pattern was very very simple, i had to adjust it for a finer guage yarn/smaller hook and basically kept going until it looked the right kind of size. i also lengthened the handles so they’d go happily over my shoulder, which took more adjusting to get the curve right. they look a little ungainly at the inbetween length they turned out, but they’re supremely practical.

the stripes are because i wasn’t sure i’d have enough of the blue so i went back to the pdsa shop and got a couple of balls of ecru stuff that seemed a good co-ordinate. i had to double up the yarn as it was a far bit finer than the blue. i lined it with a piece of cotton kimono i got off ebay a while back. it was supposed to become a dress for madam, but i was supposed to win another co-ordinating piece to go with and i didn’t. so i was left with a piece that was too small to be much use for anything else. i was a bit worried that the indigo blue/white wouldn’t be a close enough match for the navy blue/ecru (pix brightened due to flash) but i think it works fine. the kimono fabric was a dream to work with, very tightly woven and non-ravelly. it was slightly trickier to busk the lining than i’d expected, and i only remembered half way through that i’d wanted to add a couple of pockets. they should prolly have a bit of velcro to hold them shut, but if i’m using the bag it’s so stuffed with stuff that gaping isn’t too much of a problem.

i was a bit nervous about how much weight the bag would take and whether the handles would stretch but it’s survived its first day loaded with typical toddler baggage entirely unscathed. i love the style, it’s much more practical than i expected, i’m sedate enough on the move that it doesn’t need any fastening (the top of the bag closes together when it’s carried) and then when you stop it opens right out so you can find and get to everything really easily. and i just love the feel of a wool (well, ish) bag tucked under my arm, it’s all cwtshi and cosy.

this worked out as a super mega bargain if you don’t count the cost of the hook (£1) or the lining (which was essentially free as i bought it long enough ago that i don’t remember what it cost :P). it was £1.20 in total for the yarn and i still have nearly all the ecru and half a ball of the blue left. not sure how it works out in hours but it was all done and dusted in under a day and a half.

since i obviously have nothing better to do i was wondering about picking up some crochet. i’ve done a little before and it strikes me as slightly easier to (re-)learn than knitting. this was sparked by a fab crochet bag on picture sunday. that will be way out of my league to start, but i wondered whether this might be easy enough.

related links:
how to read a pattern
crochet lessons
crochet stitches with videos
basic crochet instructions

for chosing yarn, here are us/uk equivalents:

UK v US
4-ply = Sportweight
Doubleknitting = Worsted
Aran = Fisherman or Medium weight
Chunky = Bulky

and for hook sizes conversion chart

i can’t believe how tiny my latest jumper came out. i can’t look at it without laughing. it was cheaper than my usual charity shop finds, nicole farhi, dry clean only, size L. so i bunged it on my usual 90 wash and hey presto, it’s stiff as a board and too small for my toddler it’s so cute i’m not sure i’ll be able to bring myself to cut it up. don’t know whether a pic will really convey it, but i’ll get one in the morning.

i was dead good today, i resisted a really tasty moss green textured jumper in the same shop. it was thick enough to work great without any fulling which is handy since it’s acrylic. lol i haven’t quite let go of this one have i? a phrase i just read is resonating at the moment “snag it while you can for tomorrow it may be gone”. ahhhh i might have to go back. i resisted cos it’s a colour i’m inextricably drawn to and much too similar to bag 2 (only better), i was trying to be disciplined. but it would set off those buttons a treat… maybe i should set myself a challenge - see how different a bag i can turn out with near-identical materials. and see if i can steer clear of the too-obvious flowers/grass kind of vibe.

i’m getting better at picking out the bargains though - i got a grey cardi that i wasn’t over-keen on for the blanket but i was swayed by a nice metal zip and detatchable fake fur cuffs and collars plus a bonus handful of tiny buttons that can all be reused. dd was running round the garden being a “scarecrow” with the cuffs on her arms and a beard/scarf to keep her warm.

i am really pleased with this. it’s a bit bulgy towards the bottom corners, with slightly concave sides, i think mostly that’s down to not trimming enough from the seams at those corners, and possibly something to do with the knit fabric? a couple of stitches that hold the handles on have snuck through to the underside of the fashion fabric i.e. you can’t see a stitch but you can see a dimple where the stitch has caught inside. oh and one of the handles is fractionally longer than the other. but apart from that it’s perfect

the inspiration came from a pair of jamas i picked up in a charity shop. they looked dreadful on but i thought they’d make the ideal lining for a green felt bag. the jumper came from ebay, super cheap as the seller said it had shrunk in the wash. unfortunately for me that was about as much as it wanted to shrink, it thickened a little and lost about 1-2″ over the whole jumper, but you can still clearly see the stitches, though it is fairly ravel-free.

the pink felt is much better, scraps left over from the interminable blanket project. given the roses on the lining i couldn’t come up with a better plan than to make roses for the outside. i started off thinking of flat applique but i liked the idea of using the 3 dimensional possibilities of felt. i used these instructions and was more than happy with the result, although the whole thing is maybe a bit traditional for my taste.

the button is made of tagua nut (aka vegetable ivory), from near sea naturals from a set that i’d indulgently stashed without any plan beyond to own them the button works really well with the other materials, better than a magnetic snap i reckon. oh and now i’m getting random thoughts about making a bag from a button front cardigan, keeping the buttons and buttonholes in situ for fastening…

i used the same construction technique as bag 1, just omitting the piping as a) it had given me so much trouble the first time, b) it’s quicker to leave it off and c) i didn’t think it would work well with the felt. i used nymo b thread for all of the construction as i’d bought a variety of colours along with my curved beading needles. the thread is reasuringly sturdy and nice and smooth to work with.

the handles were supposed to be felted around a plastic clothes line (a bank holiday substitution for some kind of thick cord i’d have ideally used). unfortunately since there wasn’t much felting to be had out of the jumper they may as well just have been sewn and threaded, but i think it’s still a great idea for something that was inclined to felt. the button loop is made from a section of my first failed attempt at handles (that i’d used metal-cored line for but which had been shredded by the metal wires poking out the cut ends). i’ve been hanging the bag with weights in it to remove the kinks in the washing line from where it was coiled up and it’s straightening out nicely.

some random thoughts - bottom right is where i automatically put the roses, but when i wear the bag on my right shoulder, as i naturally do, that corner wants to tuck under my arm, so for best visibility and keeping out of the way they might have been better bottom left. the colours and fabrics make it a wintery kind of bag, but there isn’t an awful lot of spare room in the handles to allow for it to go on the shoulder over winter clothes/coat. a bag that has to be carried is completely out for me. we were recommended not to go smaller than 6″ for the opening, this one is 7″ and i certainly wouldn’t want any smaller than that. oh and also the colours are very washed out in the pix, which were the best i could do to show the details. the green is a much richer olivey colour.

i’ll have to work out a grand price total for the materials, it took 2 days working on and off. if i’d been child-free i might have managed it in 1.

not quite finished, still awaiting its intense purple lining. i really appreciated our teacher’s plea to let go of our perfectionism (and one glance will confirm that i did :D).

my first mistake was being so keen to get started i didn’t check my pattern pieces properly. i’d cut all the fashion fabric and interlining out from the wrong pattern piece before i noticed. so the finished bag is now the size that the lining should have been. it’s made the whole thing a little narrower and a fair bit shorter than intended.

the front and back of the bag are completed seperately before being hand stitched together. you can see how badly different my 2 pieces were…

still i thought i’d sew them together anyway to practise using a curved needle. you can see it’s given an ‘interesting’ ruffle to the bottom of the bag but it’s still usable and would almost pass the 3 foot test if held at a slight angle

kenneth’s given us a way to avoid the mismatch involving cunning use of a manila envelope, which i’ll definitely try next time. i’ll also thread trace the seam line onto the fashion fabric so i can be more accurate on the positioning of the piping.

the piping itself is baggy in places, especially round the corners, but not dreadfully so. because i used rounded corners i had to join the piping at the bottom. i wasn’t confident i’d get the length right if i joined by machine so i pinned the piping in place, then joined by hand in situ. the seam itself isn’t too bad, though not a patch on my joining seams in the piping which are near enough invisible. next time i’ll pin the cord before i trim it as there’s a gap between the ends now.

handbag history here

next up is a day bag for me out of my fabulous purple floral. must have room for all the toddler stuff plus at least one (zipped?) pocket for keys etc. i want compartments inside to keep stuff seperate and bottles upright. wider than high is more practical for carrying more stuff, even though i’m rather wedded to the a-line thing. this one will have a shoulder strap and a flap over the top.

some ideas for compartments here.

lack of recent blog activity recently doesn’t entirely reflect lack of sewing activity. my fulling frenzy has been ongoing but a decent size blanket will take many more jumpers than i expected. i have 6 jumpers fulled and cut, but i’m only about 2/3 of the way there. it’s the ones that just don’t felt that have slowed me down, i’ve had 4 failures so far, but i’m narrowing down the criteria for successful fulling: up to 20% nylon isn’t a problem, as long as the care label says to hand wash. hand wash gently in cold inside out is what i really like to see.

all isn’t lost for the non-felters though, i’m going to turn them into bags, as then they don’t need the tight structure to support a butted seam. the bag class is going great, i’m full of ideas and i actually got to do some sewing over the weekend (after being ambushed all week by things that had to be done first). the first one is done save the lining, it’s pretty wonky but should come in handy for keeping reels of thread in (i’ll add velcro closures). the second one has some obvious faults but i’m still delighted with it, it’s very very cute. will post pix and blow-by-blows hopefully tonight.