Weekend Sewing - Knit Tops

The arrival of a long-awaited top pattern put me in the mood to sew some knit tops again. That's what I ended up doing the entire weekend! I am so pleased with the results though that I do not mind not touching other WIP's. For several months now I have been disgruntled because I love the cross-over style type top, but after sewing several patterns, were very disappointed with the results. (These are the ones I sew but do not post on my blog!) Recently I found a website of a UK designer and bought several pdf patterns from her website. At last, a pattern that FITS! Go to http://www.lauramarshdesigns.co.uk/ to see her marvelous patterns.

I am so delighted with the results! A perfect fit. I even played around with my own additions to the pattern and made the sleeves different.

I followed a great tutorial to make your own flounce sleeves here http://off-the-cuff-style.blogspot.com/2010/01/draft-fast-and-easy-flounce.html. I made a longer flounce in black and then a shorter one on top in the same fabric as the top. I made the sleeve length to just below my elbow as I hate flouncy sleeves at my wrists. It always gets in the way when I work on my computer or around the house. It came out perfect! This black and white stretch knit fabric is the last bit left from my visit to Hobby Lobby in Chicago this year.

You all know me already. If I find a great pattern, I make many! So I did. Here is another plain version of this pattern - Wrap Style Top - in bright pink and green. Looks more like pajamas, but never mind. This fabric is also from Hobby Lobby.

And another one in the same style, but once again I played around a bit with the sleeves. I added white ruffles to the sleeves. Again, I made the sleeves shorter so the ruffle does not irritate me.

A close-up of the simple ruffle sleeves. I did not even bother to hem the ends of the sleeves as I just knew it might change the shape. This white fabric is very stretchy, so it might not look so good. Fortunately you can do this with knit fabric. I like the look!

I also made this lilac top. Love the style of this pattern! It has a V shape in the back and front. Finally I have a lilac top to wear. This is one of the patterns I bought from http://www.sewingpatterns.com. Will update this blog entry with pattern details soon.

I cut out a few more tops and a few corduroy skirts, but ran out of time. Today sees the first day of the big annual Arthur Bales July Sale! I am real excited as there are always amazing bargains on both yarn and fabric and I am off to Linden in the next 30 minutes! I will share my new loot later this week. Hope you all have a great Monday!

New tops and WIP's

There has been tremedous activity in my Craft room the last week! I wanted to share a few things I have completed and some WIP's. First, I have decided to enter the Spring Top competition hosted by Rae (madebyrae) this year. This top will be my first entry. Just love the colors. I will share more detail on this top soon as part of my entry.

Another top in lilac and black, based on the same pattern. Lilac and purple are my favorite colors at the moment. Does it show?

Yes it does! Another lilac top I made this past weekend.

I also cut out another 5 tops this past weekend, ready to be sewn if I feel the urge one night during the week. Last night I whipped up two tops from this pile. No pics at this stage as they are in the wash.

Another project waiting! I found this fabulous crochet coat pattern on Ravelry. It is by designer Vickie Howell and is not as complicated as it looks - I hope! I bought my yarn and hope to start soon. I can just see myself in this fabulous coat! I think the orange looks great, so decided on orange as well.

This Rowan 100% cotton was on sale at Arthur Bales recently. Only two balls left in this awesome pink. I took it thinking I will use it for crochet flowers, but then I bought a lovely bead book and found a simple granny square bag pattern inside. I will have more than enough yarn for this bag. Bummer working with such a thin crochet hook and even thinner yarn! Each granny square takes forever to finish! I need to crochet 29 of these granny squares and I have only managed to complete 8 so far.

My completed lilac bag with crochet flowers sewn on. I plan to make a few more in different colours and slight variations. Another crafty weekend ahead! Hope you all enjoy your weekend!

Crocheted Bag

It is very seldom that I suffer from jetlag, but this last trip did catch me a bit. Actually, quite a bit. It is only this past weekend that I started feeling human again and I immediately took advantage of this fact! I have done a little "straightening up" in my Craft Room, changed my storage and pattern filing system, etc. This is an on-going project. Whilst browsing the stores for new storage ideas, I found this gorgeous pair of shoes. Now I am not a "shoe fanatic" like my friend, and purple has never been my color (until recently), but this is a work of art!

On to craftiness! It took me two nights to make this beauty. It is losely based on a pattern I found on the Internet, based on a designer bag that Angelina Jolie was seen wearing on her fashionable shoulder. The handles are my own that I made from faux leather and I still need to add the lining, but I am already using it today.

I used two strings of Elle Wool Boutique (my favorite felting yarn) to make this sturdy bag. My poor hands and arm is aware of this project! The pattern requires many more bobbles, but after the first round of the pattern stitch, I decided to make less. The yarn was far too thick and difficult to work with to do too many of those. But I love the result! And it is a perfect match with one of my tops I recently made, see purple top below.

I forgot to share the rest of the 5 tops I made before my trip. Here are 3 of them. All made from the same pattern in the Bernina Inspiration magazine. Love this style. It is close-fitting but not tight and suitable for both summer and winter with three quarter sleeves.

I am almost done with a lilac crochet bag I am really excited about. The bag is finished, I just need to add the bamboo handles and crochet flower embellishments. I also have lilac fabric I want to make a matching top with. Yesterday I was back on www.sewingpatterns.com looking for new patterns for tops and I found a lovely pattern. Some skirts, tops and more bags are in the pipeline! Hope you all have a great week and I am looking forward to 4 days off work this coming Easter Weekend!

Burda WOF - Charm tunic 113

I finally took some pics of the lovely jersey knit tops I made a few weeks ago. The pattern is called Charm Tunic # 113 in the June 2009 issue of Burda WOF magazine. I just love this magazine. It is such good value for money and I seldom find that there is nothing in the magazine I do not like. This specific issue has several lovely jersey top patterns in.

This is a pretty crappy pic of the Charm Tunic top I made. It was rather hot here in Joburg a few weeks ago, so I decided to make this top to keep cool. It is a strapless jersey tunic with a tight bust, front darts, covered with two wrap-over pieces of fabric in the front and one in the back and finished off with an elastic casing at the top.

I made three of these tops, each one different. You know me, I cannot stick to any pattern! This pink and black tunic is my favorite, and third attempt. I decided to leave the cross-over pieces out, added wide straps to hide the bra-strap, and added an extra piece of fabric to the neck edge for the elastic casing. I found the bust piece to be a little on the short side.

This was my second attempt at this pattern using some of my stunning silk knit fabric. With this top I just left the cross-over pieces out and also added the extra piece of fabric for the elastic casing. These tops are so easy to wear and cool!

This was my first attempt at this pattern. (Another crap pic. Sorry.) The top is actually made from a bright yellow jersey knit fabric and I stuck to the original pattern, with the cross-over pieces in. Not easy to see on the pic though. A really nice pattern and as always with Burda, the fit is perfect! My favorite patterns. I think I might make a few more of this one sometime. As you know, if I like a pattern, I make a few!

And as promised, here is a pic of the felted little green bag with the interesting handle. As you can see, the bag is very small and the beautiful big green beads did not survive the hot water in the washing machine. The small polka-dot beads are fine. Not sure why the difference, I am not a bead expert. Must be the painting method. I still need to put in a magnetic snap closure. I really like this bag, I'm just miffed because it shrunk so much!

Finally - a sewing weekend!

My moyo was truly back this weekend! Lots of productiveness coming from my sewing room, although not that many projects were actually finished.

First up, my first attempt at a pattern from the lovely http://artsycraftybabe.typepad.com/. This is the Phoebe Bag and what a lovely pattern it is! I bought this fabric on Saturday at Arthur Bales in Linden after coveting it for a while. It is 100% cotton produced locally by The Gama and I believe it is some kind of African traditional fabric. I thought it was so funky, and pink of course!

Can you see all the African people dancing on it? The lining is a pink polka dot from the same line of fabric. The fabric is really thick, even after pre-washing so my poor sewing machine really worked. LOVE the pattern. I have never put darts in my bags before, so this was a nice new thing. I really like the shape. She has just finished designing a new bag I want to try, so hopefully that one will be available soon.

More bag goodness coming soon! I cut out a Hobo Bag that is available free on http://www.jcarolinecreative.com/. I have made some of her bags before and loved all of them. This one I cut from the blue flower fabric and used the blue polka dot on the top of the pile for lining. It is a large bag with a gusset and the large blue flower print fits perfectly.

Just in time for the last day of Build Your Wardrobe, I finally made my grey jersey dress! Just love the way it came out. I had some trouble with the neckline though. The pattern has a strip that gets worked on to the neckline but made it pucker up in the front and hang losely at the back. I had to undo and eventually I decided to go without it. I often battle with necklines on jersey clothing. Any advice will be welcome!

I also finally made this pink jersey top. This lovely fabric I bought at Hobby Lobby in Chicago earlier this year and have been saving it for I don't know what. I was loathe to cut it! Excuse the rumpled look, I actually wore it yesterday and forgot to take a picture. This neckline also gave problems but I managed to fix it. The fabric only stretches one way and is lovely and thick.

A sneek peek at what I am busy with at the moment, apart from lots of fabric bags and skirts cut out and ready to sew, that is! More about this later this week. Hope you all had a great weekend and have a lovely week ahead.

Oh, before I forget again, the pattern I used for the bright blue and red top from my previous post is New Look 6901.

Build Your Wardrobe sewing

I had another weekend of just pottering around doing this and that, but nothing creative really. On Sunday afternoon I realized the weekend is almost finished again and I NEED to make something. Now.

The question was: do I make a bag, or clothing? I decided to sew something from the pile I cut out the previous weekend. Love this jersey fabric and might still have enough left for a skirt. I now forget the pattern name. I will update this post soon with that detail.

What a lovely pattern! Recently, I made a similar cross-over dress from another pattern and at the first fitting, I was horrified! It was HUGE! This pattern is stunning. The top fits perfectly.

I bribed my son to take the picture, so it is obvious there was no interest really...I used a plain black jersey for the neck trim and normally I suck at the neck trim. It always come out too lose or puckered. This time it worked perfectly. I think you have guessed it! More of this style to come! If I find a nice pattern that fits me well, I make several!

I also received several parcels last Monday. All stuff I ordered a while back. It felt like Xmas will all three parcels arriving on the same day!

First up, two parcels with yummy new yarn, all for felting bags! I ordered some from http://www.littleknits.com/ and some from http://yarn.com/. Little knits had great prices on Cascade 220, although limited colours and also the book I have been wanting for ages! Yarn.com had a great price on the Shepherd wool in delicious colours.

This book. You might remember a few posts back this book was on my wishlist? The bags are all knitted, then felted, and all awesome. I cannot decide which one to make first. Littleknits also has Book 11 with more felted bags on sale now, so I might order that soon.

I also received the three books I ordered from http://www.kalahari.net, our local "Amazon". I'll share more on these books in my next post. Hope you all have a great Friday!

Sewing weekend...

I am rather mad at myself because my progress was so slow this weekend! Why do weekends go so fast? Saturday I went out to meet my friend for tea and then, totally unplanned and not wise, decided to visit Arthur Bales, my favorite local fabric and yarn store.

I found this lovely Rowan booklet with 17 felted accessory patterns in and a copy of Designer Knitting. The Rowan book has some amazing knitted, felted bags in it!

Like this one...

And this one. But the bag on the cover of the book remains my favorite. Of course, I spent hours poring over the new books..Back to my sewing weekend then...

Did I leave the LYS empty-handed? Of course not. What a silly question. I bought this lovely light grey jersey fabric for a dress I want to make. The pink polka-dot fabric (a great weakness of mine, I cannot walk away from pink polka-dot fabric!) is for some fabric bags I want to make. I also bought 2 balls of creme coloured Peruvian wool yarn (very expensive yarn!) as I want to make a felted bag in brown and creme to go with a new skirt I want to make.

So what did I accomplish this weekend? Not much! I never even opened my sewing machine! I spent HOURS poring over patterns, doing more tracing and cutting out of patterns, and finally did some cutting of fabric. On Sunday afternoon! Above is a picture that shows my (un)productive weekend! I have cut out 2 jersey tops (on the right) and two skirts. The one consolation is that I am ready to sew at any time. Should I have time this week, I can just whip the machine open and start sewing!

I did manage to finish my sister's Pinktulip Puff Bag last night! Just because I HAD to. The parcel is ready to go off today. I ran out of the lovely denim blue yarn and had to find yarn that sort of matched to sew on the handles. I decided not to add lining to the bag as it came out lovely and thick. Hope she likes it!

Hope you all have a wonderful week!

Weekend projects and WIP's

Although I rate this past weekend as really productive, having finished several items on my LIST of things I need to sew, knit or crochet, my list is not getting shorter! Maybe I should stay away from blogging and surfing for a while...I just keep seeing more things I want to make!

The first item I ticked off my LIST this weekend. Another cute Japanese crochet bag pattern. I love this green yarn. I am ashamed to admit that I had to undo the edge and handles several times because I just kept on misreading the pattern! Despite that, I finished the bag in one night!

This is the second item. I have had this idea in my head for quite a while. It is a plain black dress with a round neck and a zip in the back. I wanted to crochet a pretty collar for the neck. I ended up spending more than an hour doing a blanket stitch around the neck and arms and then just did a single crochet into it with a lovely creme yarn.

It came out really nice. I cannot decide if I should add the full crochet collar or just leave it plain and simple like it is right now. What do you think? I still need to sew in a little hook and eye above the zipper, and I need to change the bust darts. This pattern is obviously made for someone with a much bigger bust than I have! At the moment it sits below my chest!

I thought I will also share a few of my WIP's with you. Actually, this is a new project I started on Saturday. I bought this lovely polka dot felted bag pattern on the Vogue Knitting website Friday night and decided it is perfect to match my lovely purple dress I am making, see below. This will be my first attempt at attaching a felted bag to steel purse frames. The pattern is a bit disappointing in the sense that it does not give any help in this area! Isn't this purple felting yarn just fabulous? The bright green is for the dots on the bag.

This is the Purple Dress! Ever since I saw this pattern on BurdaStyle's website, I was in love. I am making a slightly different, but it will be a smart dress with some bling. Once I have made it, I just need to get myself invited to a fancy cocktail party so I can wear it!

This is my first project from Linda's book, Crochet Adorned. I finished the crochet yoke 2 weekends ago, but sadly I made it too big, so I will have to see if I can fix it. If not, I need to make another one. Urgh!

Another new addition to my LIST. Last week I purchased the 2007 edition of a felt e-book from Interweave Press. Inside was a feature on designer Marta McCall. This lady designs the most fabulous felted bags, like the one above. The pattern for the bag above is in the e-book and I plan to make a smaller version of this bag soon.

The basket with WIP's is much bigger than this, but it will take me all day to blog about all of them. Hope you have a great week!

Japanese crochet

I am in love with Japanese crochet patterns at the moment! I think everyone has seen this link to some fabulous free Japanese crochet patterns by now, but in case you have not, here it is: http://www.rakuten.ne.jp/gold/gosyo/new/bag.htm. Use the Google translator to find even more treasures on this site!

I have been intrigued by this bag pattern since the first time I saw it! I had to try it and I loved the colours. So in between cooking and e-mails, I have been working on it every night this week.

Last night I was determined to finish it. What I love most about the Japanese patterns is the simplicity of it and the amazing shapes! Of course, mine came out a lot bigger than the one in the pattern so I spent quite a bit of time trying to correct it. I had such difficulties reading the pattern as it refused to print larger.

Ta-da! I am really pleased with the final result though! I had a hard time deciding on handles. The original pattern has thin leather handles, but it just did not look right on mine. I even considered bamboo handles, but in the end opted for crocheted handles. I like it. I love using a slip stitch method to attached bag parts rather than needle and yarn. Looks so much better and is easier to do.

As part of the Build Your Wardrobe challenge of Kate , earlier this week I also made this pink gingham peasant blouse. This fabric has lovely embroidery on it. I bought it at Hobby Lobby in Chicago this year. I am a bit miffed because my DH commented that it looks like a "picnic tablecloth"!

A close-up picture of this lovely fabric. I must make a bag as well! I also finally finished sewing the black dress I have had in my mind for ages. I plan to add a white crocheted collar to the dress, so I will post next week when I have done this. My crocheted fabric top from Crochet Adorned is also on the table for this weekend. Hope you all have a great crafty weekend!