Sunday, September 16, 2012

Sewing Badly and Knitting Quickly

People, I honestly tried to get back on the sewing machine; I really did. I read my Threads and Sew News this weekend and was getting back into the groove. I went upstairs and actually cut out the Silhouette Yoga Pant after holding the fabric around myself to find out what size to make (kind of awkward to do for a yoga pant).

I attempted to tissue fit to check out the crotch and waistline, but I don't think this works for garments with negative ease. I also realized I forgot how crotch seams go together - I was pinning the front crotch curve to the back crotch and thought the knit must stretch a whole lot! Then I realized I needed to pin the side seams and inner leg seams together - duh! Anyway, the confusion carried over to the serger, where I must've gotten mixed up taking the fronts and backs apart to sew them to each other. I painstakingly pinned, because the muslin knit rolls like crazy, then I proceeded to serge the front to front and the back to back at the side seams. Didn't realize my error till I went to serge the crotch seams and they were different shapes - doh! Back to knitting...

So I found this cardigan in the knitting magazine I bought last month - I bet my sister loves it too. It just looks like something we wore in high school, though not really reeking of 80's fashion...I don't know, I just love it. I think she's got a sweater like this now. Anyway, I wanted to copy this color scheme but couldn't find the right yarn, so I caved and bought black for the body. I'm still thinking about the trim. It needs to be brighter so you can see the stitching pattern, so (lacking imagination and vision) I thought about white, which might be weird...or might look like a Chanel jacket perhaps? Maybe just a little bit? Well, what other color could I trim a black jacket in?

Here's what I've got so far of the back. Need 18", so I'm halfway there - woohoo! And yet I've already been on the Lion Brand website (thanks, Mom!), Ravelry.com, and Coats and Clark's site looking for the next project - a plain pullover sweater with the beige yarn I used for the shrug. Now you knitting ladies, do you end up with a stash of unused yarn, or do you return it to the store?

Obsessed with making clothes in any possible way is an understatement. But hey, look how cute the turned up bottom edge is - knitting rocks!

4 comments:

Amy Bailes said...

That's how my sewing/knitting goes. Can't/Don't want to knit? Then I'm sewing like crazy. Have no desire for sewing? Then I'm knitting like crazy.

I'd really like to find a happy medium.

Junior said...

Oh yes! Reminds me of that bolero (sp?) Jacket I had....still have it but took the shoulder pads out. I like your version better!

Dr. Fun (AKA Sister) said...

Amy - I went back to your blog to check out your knitting - you're an expert!

Yes, Tracey, it's the bolero I was thinking of...

Amy Bailes said...

Thank you. I'm really far from an expert and I knit really slowly, but I truly enjoy working with my hands. Very relaxing.