Preview of Fall Projects

I've been living in Washington, DC for the summer--away from most of my belongings, including my sewing machine. However, this has not stopped me from planning all of the things I would like to make when I return to my apartment in a few weeks. At the beginning of my summer, I spent a couple of weeks in Chicago, where I picked up some of my stash of fabrics from Africa and Asia. Mostly they are clothes I purchased or had made for me while traveling that don't quite fit into my American wardrobe. I still love the fabrics though, and I'm hopeful that I will be able to use them in a more Western fashion so that they can become a part of my everyday wear.


Indian cottons--most purchased at FabIndia in Chennai. I love block printed Indian fabrics. Perhaps I'll teach myself how to make something similar.


Pagne purchased in Cameroon, Africa. The top and bottom are Dutch Wax prints--considered to be the highest quality available in Cameroon. The one in the middle is a Kaba (a very very large dress) sent to me as a gift from one of my host mothers. I love the little embracing people. There are large medallions featuring some building in Cameroon.

D.C. is also an excellent place to search through estate sales. They are often listed on Craigslist or the Washington Post classifieds. It can be hit or miss, but sometimes they tell you that the homeowner was a seamstress and has fabrics for sale. I've been to about a dozen estate sales this summer. I picked up a couple of pieces of fabric, as well as some curtains, pillow cases, a bed skirt, and a bed spread that I hope to refashion.

Estate purchases.


My current favorite estate find were a pair of pale yellow/gold curtains that will give me 2-3 yards of fabric for under $2. It's clearly a very synthetic material, but I like the color and feel of the fabric.


I'm thinking of making a dress inspired by this Milly dress, seen at Nordstrom's for $355. I like the simple lines and the pairing of a velvety toned black fabric with the lighter, textured creamy fabric. Now I just need to find the perfect pattern!

Chocolate Weekend

Here are some of the delicious results of Chocolate Weekend 2007. This was my second attempt at truffle making with friends, and I'm very pleased our efforts! We made a strawberry-balsamic-white chocolate ganache (topped with pine nuts, at left), an amaretti ganache, honey sponge candy (like Cadbury Crunchie bars or Violet Crumble), and chocolate dipped pretzels with crumbs of sponge candy (below). The process is somewhat tricky--tempering chocolate is not terribly intuitive--but I enjoyed it, and I think I'd like to give it a try on my own soon. I'm always up for a good challenge--especially when it ends in a pretty and tasty reward. For those of you interested in the recipes, they came from the best chocolate book I have come across, Chocolates & Confections.

Refashionista

I joined Wardrobe Refashion for the next four months. For those of you who haven't been introduced, Wardrobe Refashion is an excellent project started by an Australian woman. Every member pledges to abstain from purchasing new clothing during the time of their membership. Instead, they are encouraged to make, thrift, or buy handmade items. It's a great way to reduce waste and step outside of our consumer-driven culture for a moment. It fits very well with my ideals, so it is wonderful to find a community of like-minded people. Plus, it's really fun to see what everyone is making.

Here's my pledge:

I, Meghan, pledge that I shall abstain from the purchase of "new" manufactured items of clothing, for the period of 4 months. I pledge that I shall refashion, renovate, recycle preloved items for myself with my own hands in fabric, yarn or other medium for the term of my contract. I pledge that I will share the love and post a photo of my refashioned, renovoated, recylcled, crafted or created item of clothing on the Wardrobe Refashion blog, so that others may share the joy that thy thriftyness brings! Signed Meghan.

Two Strikes...

Before I started, I knew that knitting from vintage patterns would have its challenges. The instructions can be difficult to decipher, the yarn no longer exists and isn't described well, the sizes can be different. But, let me tell you, it's still very frustrating when something doesn't work out quite right. Rather than get too annoyed, I'm going to chalk it up to learning--and try to compile a list of tips for vintage knitting.

I just finished the front of my green 60s sweater--it looks much the same as the back. What it doesn't look like is the pattern photo. Sure, the fit is similar (but still baggier than I would like), and the pattern is the same. However, I'm now realizing that my yarn is too bulky. In the pattern photo, the sweater has a loose, open knit. In my sweater, the pattern is difficult to see because the yarn is thicker. I chose my yarn to match the gauge of the sweater--when really, I should have chosen a yarn with a finer gauge so that it knit up looser on such large needles. Grr!

Although I'd be really sad to not have a sweater to show for all this work, this sweater already has two strikes against it, so perhaps it's best to cut my losses and find a pattern better suited for this yarn. I'm thinking maybe this pattern from Rebecca Magazine that I have at home:
Any thoughts?

Work in Progress

The back of my 1960s sweater is complete, and I'm well into the front panel. I'm knitting on size 10.5 needles, and the pattern is pretty simple. I'm happy with it so far. The pattern features four little eyelets arranged in a square that alternate positions every two rows. I'm also happy that I chose the somewhat variegated Shamrock yarn from knitpicks. The flecks of different greens add a bit more interest to the design. If all goes well, this should be a nice, warm sweater in a few weeks.

Back panel--finished


Detail of eyelet pattern.

Knitting Math

I started a new vintage sweater right as I was finishing the Marriner. This time it's a chunky cowl necked sweater from Vogue Knitting Spring-Summer 1965. Again, take a look at the neckline on that one! I chose inexpensive wool from knitpicks with a few different shades of green. To choose my size, I took a look at the listed measurements, and at the pattern picture--in which the sweater looks a little baggy on the model. Preferring more fitted clothes, I chose the size just below my measurements.

I was about 9 inches into the front, when I finally took out my tape measure--it was looking rather large. And indeed, the sweater was about 20" across! This would make the sweater 40" at the bust for the 34" sized person. The image below illustrates just how much extra room this sweater would have had, as compared to one of my fitted t-shirts. Needless to say, those 9" of sweater are now rewound into 5" of yarn ball.

What did I learn from this lesson? Always do your knitting math before starting a pattern. Had I divided the 80 stitches by 4 (the stitches per inch), I would have immediately known this would be larger than I wanted. Knitting math (of a more complicated variety) would have probably helped me regauge the Marriner pattern to suit my modern yarn.

Marriner's Finessa Sweater--Finished!

I'm a sucker for great necklines. That's what drew me to this pattern from Yesterknits. I also love anything yellow. This sweater involved new challenges for me, like knitting with lace weight yarn on size 1 needles. I felt like an oaf for the first few rows, but soon enough I got used to it. I worked on it on and off for about 7 months, and finally finished this weekend. Here's the finished product (in purple).

Front view.

Back view.

Detail of dropped stitch pattern.

Overall, I'm pretty happy with the finished result. The gauge was apparently way off length-wise, which I didn't realize until I was nearly finished with the front. The pattern is not helpful at all when it comes to gauge. Under 'tension' it says: "Approximately 9 sts. to 1 inch when slightly stretched." I narrowly avoided making a mini dress with a deep v-neck. Instead, I had to stop the front early, so the v isn't as deep as I would like.

I used about 3 skeins of alpaca cloud yarn from knit picks. This was my first time ordering from them, and I was pleasantly surprised! Their prices can't be beat, and the alpaca is very soft.

This was also my first pattern order from Yesterknits. They have a great selection of vintage patterns to suit every style. My only disappointment was that I didn't realize that I would be getting a black and white copy of the pattern rather than the real thing. Even a copy in color would have been a bit more appealing. I'd still order again, though, if I found a tempting enough pattern.