To sew

So, it's been a while, I know. I suppose I'm posting about once a month now - not quite enough to be able to rope in the readers. =]

I've been in a transitional period (is all life now transitional periods?) and I'm finally starting what will most likely be my new schedule for a few months, at the least. I haven't been crafting as much. I haven't sewn anything of note since I finished my new blue purse and my evangeline apron. (Or was it Emiline? Either way...) The Big Blue Purse is a tricky purse; some of the details are very 'professional', and I love how I was able to do some of the things (like the external pocket), but, because of the problems with how I sewed in the lining, the bag is not useable on an every day basis yet: the lining currently makes it difficult to fully zip the bag. Also somewhat problematic is that the ends of the straps weren't properly turned under before they were sewn. They've started to fray, which makes the bag look sloppier. The lining issues are my top priority now, but I think once I get that all settled, I might take off the straps and try and rework them. Luckily, because of the metal rings that the straps are attached to, that's not as difficult as it could be.

So, my goals for the big blue purse:
1. remove lining
2. re-add lining, preferably by hand sewing. Sew the following lines: sew lining to zipper end, sew the line between the top and sides of the bag, sew four bullets from the lining to the bottom of the bag, to help keep lining in place.
3. remove straps.
4. Fix straps.
*re-sew the end of the straps - if fabric needs to be cut to make this practical, do that. If interfacing needs to be removed, do that.
* sew an additional line below the metal ring on the fabric connecting the ring to the bag; that loop does not need to be as 'loopy' as it is now, and an additional line of stitching could help hide the interfacing that's peaking out.

Also in the to-sew pile, of course, is the rest of my Weekender bag. I've become a bit disenchanted with that pattern now that I'm at the step where I'm sewing approximately eleventy thousand layers of interfacing together. Once I get past that, I'm sure I'll like the bag again. It *is* a nice finished product, it's just somewhat shittily designed.

I want to sew myself a version of the clutch from In Stitches. Technically, I have a little black clutch already - which I need to remember to use when appropriate, like, say, last night. It'll really save shoulder pain! I'd like something a little more 'funky,' but my color preferences make that difficult. I could do something in a fun black and white damask print; that'd be au courant as well as matching with stuff. I could probably also do a brown and white print, or maybe something from the current Joel Dewberry collection, he has some nice patterns. I'm so picky with patterns, though! Since I'm not naturally a pattern person, I have a tough time justifying adding a patterned accessory to my collection - it needs to be a perfect fit with at least one thing I own, and a pretty good fit with at least a few others. I figure something brown based would be nice, because it could match my new sandals if nothing else. Oh I love my new sandals! They make me feel far more "grown up" than I think I actually am.

I suppose that's all the writing for now. I need to go get ready for my callbacks. Yay directing again!

Long time no see

So...um...hi! ::waves::

It's been quite a while, I know. Largely I haven't been updating since I haven't been crafting, but that's not completely true. Since my last post, I finished my monkey socks and my fire fetchings, and I started sewing an apron. Oh, and I finished the first heart on my Be Mine socks. Partly I've been going slowly because I've never really gotten momentum on my Be Mines, but since they were my project spectrum feb/march socks, I didn't feel comfortable starting a new project until they were done. Now, though, now it's april. This means "earth" is officially in swing, and I can start my next pair of socks, which I've admitedly been getting more and more excited about. Even better, I can sew the project bag whose fabric has been sitting stacked next to my computer!

For my earth one-person-KAL with already purchased yarn, I'm going to be knitting the Embossed Leaves socks from the Interweave Favorite Socks book, in Knit Picks Risata in Grass. I think the 'leaves' aspect of Embossed Leaves makes this a good thematic choice, as well as the fact I think I'm just in love with the pattern. I can usually recognize it right away if done in most solid colored yarns, but there are some times when I'll see a pair on flickr or something and think "wow, those socks look awesome! I want to knit those!" Another thing I'm liking about this pattern is that it's all friendly stitches: mostly knits with a few purls, k2togs, ssks and yos thrown in there. As much as I think the Be Mines are maybe the cutest socks in the world, their pattern is too thought intensive for me. These should, hopefully, be a little easier.

If I end up finishing these, or if I end up devoting a lot more time to knitting these months than I previously have, I might work on finishing up my Branching Out, in it's beautiful and thematically appropriate yarn choice. The trouble with the Branching Out is that I don't like the needles it's currently on. It's on some of my grandmother's old aluminum straight needles. They're too long, overly heavy, and they make a sound when knitting that reminds me of nails on a chalkboard. After the major crush I've developed on the Knit Picks long circular sock needles I bought, I've been heavily debating getting a set of their Options, once I've saved up the money. I know there have been some complaints about the cables breaking or the needles coming undone from the cables, but I think I'm willing to risk it. For things like the branching out that I'm currently doing on old-but-annoying straights, I suspect options would be prefereable. As it is, I think I prefer circular to straight simply for the portability factor, and the nice smooth cables of the Options add to that.

As far as my sewing goes, I've been working on a skirt from Sew What Skirts, but it's been frustrating me. I'm looking forward to a nice break with my pattern bag. Though I have a decent amount of fat quarters to choose from (I stocked up when JoAnn's was having a 1 for $1 sale) I ended up chosing two that aren't my favorite pattern or color, but which go very well together. Both are from a fat quarter package I purchased at PurlSoho back in NYC. The outside is an asian inspired brown fabric with orange, pink, yellow, and green flowers and leaves. The lining will be a lime green that matches the green on the outside pretty well. Unfortunately, the only zipper I have that'd work size wise for the project is dark green, and I'm not much in the mood to go out and buy a new one. I'm trying to convince myself it'll look kicky, not tacky.

Oh well, off to work! I'll try and post more pictures once I've started knitting/sewing.

The front of a weekend

Hello!
Since we last met our hero, she has been crafting up a storm!
We'll start with my weekender-in-progress:

There's a picture of the front and back 'main panels'. As you can see, I attempted to match up the pattern on the pocket and, for my first time, I think I did pretty well!
Here's a closer photo:

So far, I'm very pleased with my bag. I think my first attempt at piping went well, as did my first attempt at using heavy duty interfacing for anything but the bottom of the bag. I'm happy to report that so far, I've had no needle breakages or other major sewing disasters. Sewing a consistent distance from the piping is difficult and my seams aren't perfect, but I'm okay with that. In the end, my goal is to make a pretty bag that I'll be able to use, and I think I'm well on my way toward doing that.

One modification I've made already: Instead of sewing the handles onto the bag just by horizontal stitching, I made two little "x"s between two horizontal lines on each handle. I think they are quite stable, so I'm hoping I won't have the handle-falling-off problem some bloggers have reported.


Also in the sewing world, I finally have pictures of the 'project bag' I made for project spectrum 08, fire.
The open bag:

A side view:

The filled bag:

I made that losely based on the Drago[knit]fly box bag tutorial, but I'm planning on writing up a tutorial of my own that will explain how you can start with the size of finished bag you want, and work your way backwards to figure out how to cut your fabric.
My bag was made from two fat quarters from JoAnn Fabrics, a 12" red zipper, and some flannel lining. The bag itself has two layers of flannel, and the handle has four, so the handle is more sturdy than the bag, but as you can see, the bag is capable of maintaining its shape while empty.

Tune in again to hear the story of what you see IN the bag, my new favorite sock knitting book, and the story of the fastest sock I've knit yet!

Just checking in...

Sorry it's been so long since I last blogged. I was hoping to get a nice post in once I got my knitpicks order, but sadly it has yet to arrive. I have to say, the tracking portion of their website is incredibly confusing: it suggests my package arrived already, when I know for a fact it did not!

Although I have yet to start my official project spectrum socks, I do have one knitting FO and one sewing FO to take pictures of and post about, but those will have to wait.

For now, I'm going to write about my most scary exciting sewing project ever: tackling Amy Butler's Weekend Travel Bag! I've admired this pattern ever since I saw it, and when I was in New York at the end of January, I bought the pattern from Purl. A few weeks ago I bought fabric (well, my first round...I'll explain THAT in a bit) from JoAnn's and I've just been waiting for some inspiration to start cutting. Last night I found the inspiration! I was looking through the Flickr group for UHandbag blog's Amy Butler patterns and I found some *beautiful* weekenders I'd like to share with you:



1. Weekender, 2. Weekender Bag, 3. Weekender Bag, 4. Melissa's Weekender Bag, 5. sew11, 6. Weekender Bag front view, 7. weekender1, 8. Amy Butler Weekender Bag, 9. Amy Butler Weekender Bag, 10. amy butler weekender bag, 11. DSC_0302a, 12. Amy Butler Weekender bag.

Simply beautiful!
So, last night I started cutting my fabric. I decided I was going to approach this project slowly so I wouldn't get too frustrated or intimidated by it, so my goal for last night was just to cut out the exterior fabric. All went well, and I even managed to (somewhat) match up the patterns for my front pockets! I tried matching the side pockets, but that didn't go quite as well. Oh well!

This morning I started cutting out the lining fabric. The way the pattern is written, you're supposed to be able to cut out both the handles and the main panels on the same side of the fabric. (If you have the pattern you'll know what I mean.) Like the instructions said, I started by cutting out the handles, but once it came time to cut out the main panel, there simply wasn't enough fabric left. I'm usually overly conservative when cutting fabric, but this just turned into more and more of a disaster. I've cut out all the pattern pieces for the actual lining, but I need to go out and buy more fabric for the piping. I'm sure this is my fault, but I'm not pleased.

The other thing I'm frustrated about has nothing to do with the pattern exactly, but has to do with the help at my local JoAnn's. (Yes, I know large chain stores aren't as nice as smaller local stores, and if I *knew* of any small local stores I'd be there in a heartbeat, but we work with what we've got!) I'd brought the pattern with me when I was buying all the fabric in hopes of getting some help with the Timtex and the interfacing. The woman at the cutting counter very nicely helped me select something for each of them, but somehow I didn't notice until today what she gave me for the interfacing was actually tear away stabilizer. Argh! Maybe I am a little bit frustrated at the pattern for this...so far as I can tell, Timtex is out of business. The replacement is, inevitably, Pellon, however I haven't found information *anywhere* about how to know *which* Pellon I want to replace Timtex, or what I should buy when a pattern just says "heavy weight sew in interfacing." That's my rant number two.

My rant number three is completely the pattern's fault. In the materials list it telsl you you need 1 sheet of Dritz 12"x18 heavy duty template plastic, which I happily found and purchased. However, once you cut the plastic, you are supposed to be able to cut *two* pieces of 7"x16.5". I realize I wasn't a math major, but I'm pretty good at basic arithmetic, and there's no way you can cut two pieces that size out of the sheet of plastic I bought. 7+7 is not <= 12! I'm going to make do by just using one piece of plastic for the bottom, but I'm a little frustrated about that problem with the pattern. Though my other issues with the pattern are at least partly my fault, that one is not. (And yes, I did read through the entire pattern before purchasing materials, but I hadn't caught that because when the pattern said "cut two pieces of this size from that plastic" I trusted I could do it. So much for trust!)

Well, enough writing about the problems - I'm going to go to the fabric store and get all the extra stuff I need. I hope they have the fabric I want in stock still! I'll try and have some photos of my own stuff in the next post. Later!

Project Spectrum "Knitting club"

For at least the past year, if not the past two years (it's so hard to keep track of these things) I've been reading and loving Lolly's blog. Last year I admired all the Project Spectrum posts and I realized that sort of a project is exactly why I wanted my own blog.

Well, now I have a blog, so I can join Project Spectrum!
If I was as wonderful a blogger as Lolly or some other people I could mention, I'd bring my camera with me everywhere and have pictures of everything in every color. Unfortunately, I have yet to get into that habit, and even when I've remembered to take my camera with me, I've forgotten to take pictures! I decided that for my own personal way of celebrating/experiencing project spectrum, I was going to make up a knitting club.

When I say knitting club I don't mean a "lets get together and knit" stitch and bitch type club, I mean like the Rockin' Socks club. I'm going to assign myself to knit (or at least start) at least one project spectrum project for each of the four elements. I purchased yarn for the first three on Knitpicks: red sock yarn for fire, green sock yarn for earth, and grey lace weight for air. I'm going to pack up the earth and air yarn and force myself to wait until the appropriate months before taking it out and knitting.

My goals for creativity for project spectrum are as follows:
1. Knit (or at least start to knit) one theme project per element.
2. Sew one theme project per element.
3. Try and join all the ATC swaps.

When it comes to what I'm knitting and sewing, I'm giving myself some leeway as to how I interpret the theme: at the very least, the color must be one of the accepted colors. Ideally, the pattern will meaningfully relate to the theme as well, but especially as far as the sewing goes, I'm giving myself some options there.

I've already started my fire sewing project. I'm making a box bag (the likes of Dragon[knit]fly) for my fire knitting project. I've wanted a project bag, and this pattern keeps popping up on all the cool blogs, so I figure I'll start here. All I have left to do is make the handle and the lining, but it's too late now. I'll post more later. (And update this with links!)

A Fun Little Meme and some more Fos!

" You are breakfasty, like a pile of pancakes on a Sunday morning that have just the right amount of syrup, so every bite is sweet perfection and not a soppy mess. You are a glass of orange juice that's cool, refreshing, and not overly pulpy. You are the time of day that's just right for turning the pages of a newspaper, flipping through channels, or clicking around online to get a sense of how the world changed during the night. You don't want to stumble sleepily through life, so you make a real effort to wake your brain up and get it thinking. You feel inspired to accomplish things (whether it's checking something off your to-do list or changing the world), but there's plenty of time for making things happen later in the day. First, pancakes."


That just might be my favorite quiz I've ever taken! Breakfast, especially a breakfast at 10am, (which, to me, means a leisurely breakfast) is my favorite meal of the day, and reading the paper every morning has become an important part of my daily ritual. That time of morning always holds so much promise for things to be accomplished in the day!


I really haven't been doing a spectacular job at updating the blog. I blame this on the fact that I'm still not in the habit of unloading my camera each time I use it, and who wants a pictureless blog post?


Since finishing my Urchin, I have two more recent FOs, neither of which I've had a chance to photograph. A pair of Fetchings for me, and a watchcap for my stepbrother. Though I'm not officially trying to only knit from my stash in any real way, I *am* trying to keep it from getting much bigger, and both of these projects were good stash projects. The Cashmerino for the fetchings I bought back in December when I was making a pair for my friend, and the Cascade 220 was bought in Pittsburgh at the beginning of the year because it was on sale. Happily, its shade of blue works well for my stepbrother!


The other finished objects I'll have to share with you are two sewing projects I made - two purses which were belated Christmas presents for friends of mine. Those I can show you now! (The astute might've noticed the green tweed purse as having appeared on my giftmas wrap up page a while back.)

Erika's Tweed Pleated Beauty:

Pattern: Pleated Beauty Bag from Bend the Rules Sewing
Materials: Sparkly tweed "holiday" fabric, green "spring suiting" fabric, interfacing, flannel, magnetic snap
Purchased at: All materials are from JoAnn's Fabric.
Cost: I should pay more attention to this...

Started: 1/6
Finished: 1/12
Total time: 3+ hours, over a number of days





I like the way the green fabric sets off the gold sparkles in the tweed. Though this is definitely more of a fall/winter bag, hopefully the green can help it transition through spring.

Hannah's Clutch:

Pattern: Pleated Beauty Bag from InStitches
Materials: Brown cotton, Alexander Henry Loteria fabric, cotton batting, magnetic closure.
Purchased at: All materials are from JoAnn's Fabrics.
Cost: I should pay more attention to this...

Started: 1/12
Finished: 1/20
Total time: 4+ hours, over a number of days
Modifications: Due to a mistake on my part with the magnetic snap, I had to remake the closure tab, and make it longer than the one in the pattern. I also chose to line the tab with the lining fabric instead of with the exterior fabric.






Pattern notes: This was the first Amy Butler pattern I'd sewn, and the book was from the library, so there was a bit of a time crunch. Though the pattern was not as simple and easy to understand as the patterns in Bend the Rules Sewing, it was more precise. Steps like basting all layers together, though a pain to do, helped to make the finished purse look professional. I definitely plan on purchasing the book for myself so I can make more of these, and so I can make some other patterns in the book. The pattern was quite frustrating at times, but this was also the first "real" pattern I've sewn anything from, so I'm pleased with the result.

As far as the fabrics go, I love the loteria fabric, and it reminds me of the style of jewelry my friend Hannah, the recipient, wears. I liked how I was able to center the magnetic closure on the center of the devil, and if I had enough of this fabric to work a pattern like this again, next time I'll pay more attention to matching up the pattern. Though the brown wasn't an obvious choice to match with the fabric, I think it works, and Hannah enjoys brown.

There, that's enough for now I think!

Knitting Needle Case Inspirations

As I'd said before, there are so many great knitting needle cases all around the blogosphere.

It was only after looking at all of these awesome tutorials and examples that I promptly forgot them and made my own case. =] I wanted to make sure to give credit where credit was due!

Knitting is a Gateway craft

Okay, so, between last post and this one...

I made a pleated beauty bag!


I am very proud of this. When I look at it, it looks more polished than anything else I've sewn, and I love the colors. I was originally planning on making this with the same brown and paisley as my needle case, but I was worried about messing it up, so I figured I'd do a 'test bag' in this blue (which lined my dpn case) and the brown, which was a fat quarter I got at JoAnn's. Well, technically, if I include the inner pocket I made, it was two fat quarters, but out of one I was able to make the pleats and the straps.

If I were making this again, which I plan on, I'd add a magnetic snap closure. I'd actually purchased some for this very bag, but by the end of the bag I was so tired of sewing and so anxious to have a finished project I forgot all about it. I think I'd like to make another one of these in the brown/paisley, but maybe do some embroidery on that one. I've been wanting an excuse to get Sublime Stitching patterns for a while, and the Craftopia set has some nice knitting images that could look good on the front of what would be my knitting bag.

One more picture...


I know the images aren't great. Sometime after I've *actually* finished it (I still have to sew the lining hole closed) I'll take better pictures. My photo set up is really only the right size for yarn. =]

More about that sewing...

So, here is a picture of the outside of my DPN case:



I love the combination of brown and blue, and I like the blue paisley with both the other lgither blue and the brown. I *love* the blue stitching on brown fabric. True, it's much easier to see my mistakes that way, but I like to think it adds to the handmade quality. =]

Here is a view of the inside:


You can see four of my five sets of DPNs in there. (My 7s are currently stuck in the still-in-progress not-touched-for-a-month second garter mug cozy.) I know I don't really have enough DPNs to warrant a case, but I somehow still manage to lose whichever one I need.

The case is almost but not quite done. I have two more seams to sew to connect the back paisley bit to the blue and brown pocket bit, and I have some iron ons to iron on. I hate wasting something as expensive as iron on material, so when I made my iron ons for my circular case, I made a bunch to use for these. For a while I debated not putting them on this case so I wouldn't feel bad if I end up with, say, two size seven needles, or the like, but I think I'd like the case better with them. I'll probably iron them on horizontally on the blue fabric.

Speaking of my circular case...here are two pictures of that!

And a close up...

I am so proud of myself for both of them.

Though the circular case was almost exactly based off of the one in the back of Stitch n Bitch, the DNP case is my own design.

I couldn't find any measurements for pocket width of dpn cases, so I'll share what I did for mine!

I'm assuming that I'm going to store needles sizes 0-10, and then there are three larger pockets, either for more large needles or for other accessories. The largest pocket holds my metal gauge ruler.

To make the DPN case:

1. I cut two pieces of the light blue fabric 22" long (as long as half the width) and 9" wide (because the tallest dpns I saw were 8.") I did the whole sew right sides together / turn inside out / iron thing.
2. For the pockets, I cut four diagonal pieces of brown fabric. The diagonal goes from 2.5" on the short side to 4" on the taller side. I did the whole sew right sides together / turn inside out / iron thing for both of those, and I added a decorative zigzag stitch on the edge. Because I can.
3. I sewed the brown pocket on the light blue fabric with the following pocket divisions:
1. 1 small edge pocket, <1">
2. 5 pockets 1" wide (for needle sizes 1-5)
3. 4 pockets 1.5" wide (for needle sizes 6-9)
4. 3 pockets 2" wide (for needle sizes 10+)
5. 1 pocket ~2.5" wide (for accessories)
4. After sewing the brown pocket to the blue fabric, I sewed the brown top flap to the blue fabric. Since I was going to attatch all the brown/blue stuff to the blue paisley, I didn't worry about the 'back' of the blue looking neat. The flap was cut on the same diagonal as the pocket, and it was sewn in with the longer part of the flap covering the needles with the shortest pockets.
5. I cut out two pieces of blue paisley fabric and did the whole rs tog/stitch/flip/iron thing again. If I trusted my hemming abilities, I could've just cut this piece large and hemmed the sides. (Is that the right word?)
6. I cut out 1 piece of brown fabric 4" wide and 44" long (aka, 4" wide on the 22" bolt, not cutting at the fold). I pressed this piece so that both sides of the long part were folded under, and I sewed (with a decorative zig zag stitch) the sides of the brown fabric down. This means I now had one piece of 44" long ~2" wide 'belt'.
   
7. I sewed the belt to the back of the blue paisley. If I was a better sewer, I could've combined steps 6 & 7 to make the stitching nicer. As it is, I've decided it adds 'charm'.
8. Last but not least, sew the blue paisley bit to the blue/brown pocket bit. Poof, you're done!

I know that wasn't much of a tutorial, what with no pictures or technical information, but since this is the second thing I've ever sewn, I'm pretty okay with the fact. Next up is sewing a tote (or two or three...) from the back of S 'n B.

As an early christmas present to myself (or, more accurately, an 'I have a 25% off B&N coupon to use up today' purchase) I bought Bend the Rules Sewing. Though most people tend to gravitate toward the bag on the cover, I have a MAJOR crush on the 'pleated beauty bag', and I happen to think I might have just enough brown and paisley to make one. I hope so! I know it's kind of silly to be all matchy matchy about my fabrics, but I love this fabric and color combination so much I see no reason not to...for now at least. Besides, this way if the bag turns out not-fit-for-pursedom, it can be a knitting bag, and it can match my other knitting accessories!


Allright, that's enough for now. If you're still bored, I updated my Ravelry projects page, so if you're on Ravelry, you can poke around there. Tata!

New craft excitement!

Now, I'm sure you're all wondering why I haven't posted anything about my knitting lately. Although I've added new untouched yarn to my stash and a new set of DPNS, and even some point protectors (since my rubber bands kept breaking) I haven't been knitting. I don't know if I knit a stitch this weekend. This is because I've been.....sewing!

I've never really sewn (with a sewing machine) before. I think this is for two reasons: I've never owned one, and I've never had things I wanted to sew. Being at home for a while solves problem one; I can use my mom's sewing machine. Problem two was solved the other day when I tripped over the circular needles that were living on my floor for the fifth time in one day. I needed a way to hold them, and soon. I was looking around the blogosphere and I found some beautiful cases for sale and some very nice hand made ones. Ultimately, I decided to follow the pattern in the back of Stitch 'n Bitch and make myself a nice hanging holder. I headed out to JoAnn's and got three different kinds of fabric: one that was a dark brown, one that was a periwinkle blue, and one that was a blue and white paisley. I only needed two (the brown and the paisley) for my circular case, but the back of SnB also had patterns for a totebag and a straight needle case, so I thought extra fabric would be a good idea.

Last night I finished my circular needle case. It's far from perfect, but it does the job well, and I like it. When I was debating what my next project should be, I decided on a DPN case. I only have five sets of DPNs but I somehow always manage to have lost whichever set I need. I modified the SnB pattern for straight needles to accommodate my needs. I'm almost done - all I need to do now is sew the patterned bit to the pocket bit. I suspect hand sewing is the way to go here, for various reasons. I also need to hand sew over the velcro for my circular case. Once both are done, expect to see pictures.

I'll get back to my regularly scheduled knitting soon. I'll have to if I want to finish all my holiday gifts!