A bit of crafting

Although I don't have much to show for it on the blog lately, I actually have been spending a fair amount of time on creative projects. Perhaps not as much as I would like--between my return to the working world, and my frequent weekend trips out of town--but I'm still plugging away.

I've been knitting a placket neck pullover from a 1950s pattern, that just so happens to match my couch. Never mind putting away my knitting, I've now trained it to camouflage into its surroundings.


I've also been sewing. Having unpacked my fabric stash, I'm a bit unhappy with how large it has become--the same goes with my pattern stash. So I'm weeding things out, and have come up with a plan to sew through several things in the upcoming months. I tried out the following two patterns this week, but both ended up as failures-- for the time being.

I started to make this Cynthia Rowley top out of some gingham I bought for super cheap in Thailand. When I bought it, I was pretty sure it was 100% cotton, but now that I looked at it again, it was clearly a synthetic blend--probably like the poly/cotton gingham they sell at Joann. I'm terrible at working with synthetics at this point (and knits, too, for that matter). I just don't have the skill or patience to deal with things that unravel or change shape. So, this top didn't work out this time, but I still plan on making it again in a natural fiber.

I then finally broke out the famous 'walkaway' Butterick dress. I had 5+ yards of uninspiring quilting fabric that I bought for about a $1 at an estate sale. I remembered that I don't like Butterick since they don't print any of the finished garment measurements on the package. And, because of the unique construction of this dress, I found it difficult to determine exactly how I could cut/alter it to get the best fit. After making up most of the dress (which was super easy), I determined that I wasn't going to get a great fit without a lot of tinkering, and quickly decided that I wasn't excited enough about the dress or the fabric to continue.

While it might sound disappointing, this is all progress! I was able to say goodbye to two stash fabrics, and one pattern. On to the next!