Amy Appel from Poison Grrls does it again. Cute, effective, easy, top down, no seams perfection! This top is part of the retro Pink Ladies Collection. It can be knit in short sleeve, 3/4 sleeve and long sleeve options. This is the long sleeve version and knitted in a Medium size. Honestly, I could have knit the arms a smidge longer and a touch wider... but it's okay! The yarn is from an Etsy shop called Trichromat Yarns, local Aussie shop, hand dyed, in a colourway called 'Flying Nipples'. It was a gorgeous yarn to work with and excellently priced for something handmade. I absolutely would work with this yarn again. The colour is a stunning apricot/peach/pink that is a dream to wear in my mid century wardrobe! Sadly, the colourway is no longer available. But there are some other inspiration colours for sale. I had some issues with the needle cable size for the lower arm section. I'm not great with magic loop method and didn't have DPN's in the right size. Drat! I bought a really short cable needle in the 3.25mm and just struggled through - some of the most joyless knitting I've ever done. A change in tension can seen on my right forearm. This is due to that change in needles. The second sleeve was better at that change point as I purposefully knitted at a looser tension. As usual, I added an extra row in each decrease set of the body to spread them out a bit and extend the length. Good idea. It a comfortable tuck-in-or-out length. Check my Ravelry page if you want some more info about mods etc. This knit makes me happy. Top: Beauty School Top by Poison Grrls Pants: Simplicity 3688 in a chocolate brown mechanical drill Shoes: Wittner Hair flower: eBay trawling depths
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It's finished. It's worn. It's lovely! This project was finished a while ago, but this is only the second time it has seen daylight. My mum had to figure out the sleeves as I couldn't get them to be nice and puffy. She is a wizard. On a shoulder / sleeve cap related note, I am employing my own shoulders here again. The stitch of this jumper is squishy and cozy. It was really easy to memorise and knit mindlessly. The sleeves increase dramatically out of nothing and I found them an odd looking shape. It worked out in the end! It's a comfortable long length for my torso as I added an extra inch. Good decision. Much love. The yarn is a baby yarn I purchased from Lincraft. It was gorgeous and smooth to work with. No splitting. No weirdness. Only a few balls had knots in the yarn. Not too bad. There are a list of my mods on my Ravelry page. This is a great knit. If you're thinking about casting it on, go ahead! Jumper: Joan Crawford Jumper from Hollywood Knits
Shirt: Uni Qlo Pants: Hell Bunny Shoes: Windsor Smith circa 2010 Hat: Vintage Hello hello you beautiful 1940s reproduction pattern. What a delight you are! Welcome to my wardrobe, Simplicity 8736. It is a 1940s blouse with bishop sleeves into a cuff, button back, gathered front shoulders and gathered sleeve heads. I made self-covered buttons for the back and sleeves. They are small and flat so I cannot feel them when I am leaning against something. This pattern went together really easily, however there are quite a lot of fiddly steps. Gathering here, facings there, folding back facings and interfacing back there, cuffs, button holes, buttons, tucks, darts. You should have some skills up your (bishop) sleeve if you want to sew this one. Originally, the plan was to finish this on the June 2019 long weekend. I had cut it out, done the darts/tucks to start... and then my partner injured his knee on the Saturday (high grade ACL tear).... I became a full time care giver as he couldn't walk, bend, turn, step over high things, bend knees, reach up, reach low, carry things, pour things, balance. He could walk on crutches but that was about it. No more sewing for me! I also had to call my mum for her birthday while we were waiting in the medical centre! Not the best way to delay a birthday phone call! Most of my day was taken up by helping him hobble off the soccer field, up stairs, into the car, out of the car, into the medical centre, onto a chair, out of a chair. The whole lot. It was a busy weekend but not in the way I anticipated. Finally, a few weeks ago I stuck in and got it done. Then it sat on my dress form for a while to be admired. Next it moved to my wardrobe waiting for the perfect moment to come out and play. That day is today! It's a lot of fun to wear, it's pretty glamorous and enhances general swanning about. Which is what you do in bishop sleeves. Everyone knows that. If this pattern is languishing in your stash waiting for time to sew... then just do it! The time you invest is worth it. Notes: Made the straight size 16 - no alterations Fabric is a rust coloured rayon from Spotlight bought specifically for this project Self covered buttons from a Spotlight kit, 12mm Hand stitched down the back facings and neck facing to keep it flat No shoulder pads installed. I use my own shoulders. 1940s blouse: made by me - Simplicity 8736
Pants: Retrospec'd Shoes: Asos Simplicity 2154 has been in my pattern stash for ages but I always found an excuse to not make it. It's a mini capsule wardrobe pattern, 1960s reproduction. There is the bow blouse, a knit cardi, woven jacket and pencil skirt. While on a break from work for 2 weeks over Christmas/New Year, I was hit with some sewing inspiration. I didn't feel rushed or pressured, but interested. I ended up finishing three new items of clothing. Each one was cut out, sewn and finished in one day. Even though this blouse is small, it takes up a lot of fabric! The bow, knot, collar, neck binding and arm binding are all cut on the bias which eats up fabric. Not entirely ideal. The blouse itself can basically be made from remnants. But not all the little extra bits. If you were clever, you could use one fabric for the blouse and top collar, something else for the bow and knot, and then standard single fold bias tape for the arm and neck edges. It has the potential to be a stash-busting project. In my case, it was stash busting. I had an awkward amount of this pretty cheap and flimsy shirting poly left from a UFO project that is languishing in a box somewhere. It was meant to be. I have ordered some red poplin with which I plan to make another.... DETAILS:
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IT'S FINISHED! My first proper fair isle pattern has been cast off, blocked and worn. I absolutely love it. There will no doubt more fair isle knitting in my future. Mostly because there is a lot of yarn left over from this project... The pattern is knit in the round, bottom up until the shaping for the armsyce. The front neck/upper back are knitted straight in rows. Neck and armholes and picked up and knit afterwards in the roundy-round. Then time to weave in a buttload of ends. So many ends. All the ends! Took me two full nights of weaving to finish it. Purl-ing the fair isle was a bit of a pain to get used to, but I eventually found a rhythm. I cannot say how pleased I am with this project. It's the first thing I've completed in my knitting goals for 2018 and I'm glad that it's worked so darn well! Now, I can do plain knitting, cables, lace AND colourwork! Considering that 2019 will be my 10th year of knitting, I think I'm doing pretty well! Colourwork isn't scary, it just takes time, patience, a little more concentration... and natural light. P.S: Note how well the red in the vest matches the red of my existing pants! Match made in heaven. |
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April 2023
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