Things I made (1/52)

Late last year I challenged myself to spin some thick/chunky yarn. Each skein I've spun since I started learning to spin has become more fine and even, to the point I'm left with extremely thin yarn that I end up doubling when I crochet with it, it seems a little absurd, all those spinning hours wasted. As it turns out however it's extremely hard to return to spinning a thick yarn (I was warned of this when I first started), my fingers just didn't want to co-operate. In the end after much frustration I spun one thick and one thin and plied them together to create quite a bumpy yarn.

By chance I stumbled across a knitting pattern for a shawl that I loved, I haven't knitted in a very long time. I also only know one stitch, but luckily that is all the shawl pattern required! Unfortunately the yarn doesn't show the stripes of the pattern made by changing needle sizes and I also ran out of yarn! So it's ended up quite a bit different to the pattern and the image I had in my head. I also crocheted a small border along one side to cover up the fact I ran out of yarn half way through the last row and I had no idea how to rip back the stitches, hmm I don't think I can claim it's from any pattern really.

It is however super soft and snugly organic merino, all ready for those cooler months coming soon I hope! Anyone else melting just a wee bit? Summer is not my season.

for me

The times that I sew clothes for myself are few and very far between. It seems one bad, ill fitting sewing experience is enough to put me off sewing for myself for quite some time. But ever the optimist I try my hand at it again and again.

I've been searching for a pattern for a top for a long time, searching in vain. It's pictured in my mind clearly but no pattern designers seem to have the ability to read my mind! Then, quite by chance while waiting for some fish and chips at a sea side town over the holidays, I popped my head in a little store. It was one of those little poky stores that have way too much stock for the size of their footprint and items seemed to be falling out the door. It just so happened that I found the perfect top amongst all the bric-a-brac.

Perfect pattern yes, but not the perfect top for wearing. The fabric wasn't soft and comfy, more itchy and sticky, and not to mention the colour wasn't really me. I spent an evening carefully unpicking ALL the seams, trying to carefully maintain the pattern shapes without the fabric fraying away to nothing.

The effort paid off! I made this top up quite quickly using some fabric that I dyed with Inko Dye using a doily. The rest of the fabric came from an over-sized thrifted cotton top, that I had tried to "refashion" and re-size. But although Refanshionista seems to do it with ease, it just wasn't the case for me! I was very pleased to find it was an almost perfect match for my dyed fabric.

I fixed that little bump on the bodice once I spotted it in these pics.

I'm so pleased to have finally found an easy to sew pattern that I love! I just had to go the long way around to get it!

banded

 Remember these? Well we decided to try another (tried and tested this time!) dying technique over the holidays. Miss E loved tying rubber bands all over her shirt, I helped mr A and we concertina folded his one securing with rubber bands. I mixed up the dyes, I used ones from this lovely local online shop!(A little goes a long way) The kids did all the stirring and the great thing about this sort of dying is - there is no right or wrong way. A perfect activity for kids to get involved in. They were really pleased with the results and have been wearing them proudly!