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:: February 2, 2008 Squarey
Finished this week. I love him! I used Cascade 220. Started knitting when I was pregnant, lost (to my great distress) the Jess Hutch pattern book, then finally found it in one of those horrible clutter piles that have a few bills, a bunch of receipts, a few articles-we-mean-to-read, a few drawings, etc. etc. etc., then gets swept into a box rather than sorted through. Stuffing knitted items is difficult. I think I prefer fabric toys. Wouldn't a fabric version of Squarey be cute and easy? posted by in Finished Projects , Knitting :: Comments (8) :: link :: November 14, 2007 Convert
A couple years ago Hillary and I had a swap, and when she asked what I was interested in and wasn't interested in. I told her that I wasn't in the softie/stuffie/soft toy/whateveryoucallthem market. That I thought they were cute and that I appreciated the creativity that goes into them but please, in case it was the remotest possibility, not to put in the work in on one for my sake. I know! I can't imagine a world now in which that is not ass-y. Then I got this in a swap with Stephanie and my cold, stupid heart melted a little. A lot. Maybe I just needed to see one in person? Then you might recall that when I got pregnant, my attitude turned around. This week, I have finished my first softie/stuffie/soft toy/whateveryoucallthem. And who better to lead me gently into the world of softies/stuffies/soft toys/whateveryoucallthem than Miss Hillary?
Presenting Wee Wonderfuls' Hand Sewing for Fun Birdie. Making this was a lot of fun, and I'm pretty proud of how it turned out. I didn't think I could hand-stitch so neatly, but I can! (Except the eyes. And since I couldn't embroider satisfactory eyes, I used buttons, rendering him non-childproof.) Since I had no ideological imperative to do ALL the parts by hand, I added a seam allowance to the apron, gave it a backside, and machine-sewed it. I also used a button instead of tying the vest. Now I want to finish my Jess Hutch squarey, and make the Hand Sewing for Fun Turtle, Butterfly, and Snail, and everything in the Softies posted by in Finished Projects :: Comments (13) :: link :: September 30, 2007 Finished!: Child's Placket Neck Sweater
I finished something!
I started Otto's placket-neck sweater last winter, before he was born, and it was all finished except for that pesky end-weaving. I made the 6-9 month size thinking it would fit him this winter. Last week realized I better finish it and at least get a picture before he grows out of it.
I like how it turned out -- he looks professorial in it. Like he frequents the library and smokes pipes in front of the fireplace. There is still room to grow into it so it may be used in cool weather after all. For now he only wants to suck on the sleeves.
Pattern: Child's Placket Neck Sweater from Last-Minute Knitted Gifts (corrected pattern pdf here) posted by in Baby , Finished Projects , Knitting :: Comments (17) :: link :: December 31, 2006 Grocery Bag Dispenser Tutorial
I made and gifted a handful of these grocery bag dispenser-things to go with some more hot mitts I made from the Denyse Schmidt book. They are VERY easy and quick -- and so close in spirit to the toilet paper cozy-type grandma crafts that I hesitated drawing up a tutorial for them, but what the hey.
Prepare a rectangle of fabric, approximately 18" by 30". Mine is pieced. The measurements do NOT have to be exact by any means! You can also use dishtowels, embellish the right side as you wish with embroidery, ribbon, buttons, etc.
Fold in top edge, so that wrong sides are together, approximately 1/4" and iron. Again, measurements do not matter as long as it is even all the way across.
Fold over again to encase raw edge and iron down again. Do not sew top edge at this point. This will just make it easier to sew once it's in tube form.
Bust out some elastic. I do not measure the exact amount but you will need a length that measures at least the width of the body fabric to make things easy on you. This elastic is 1/2" wide, so I will need to fold the fabric in (wrong sides together) and press a little more than 3/4" to allow for a 1/4" seam plus room for the elastic. Again, you can eyeball this.
Sew in 1/4" from raw edge.
Attach a safety pin to end of elastic and feed through the tube you just made.
Sew the elastic in where it comes out the other end a little more than 1/4" from the edge, then trim the excess elastic off.
Bunch the fabric toward the edge you just sewed. Again, no measurements -- maybe down to about half of the unstretched width? Then sew in the other side of the elastic and trim.
Turn the fabric right sides together, pin (matching seams), then sew a 1/4" or so seam. Make sure top edge is unfolded.
Turn inside out (so the right side is now on the outside). Fold in along those creases you pressed in steps 2-3. Topstitch around the outside so that it catches the edge around the inside.
Make a handle for the top. For mine I cut a 2 1/2" by 17" piece of fabric, folded in half right sides together, turned inside out with a loop turner, then pressed again. You can also use ribbon for your handle to make things easier. Another option: Forget steps 2-3 & 10, leave top edge raw and bind with some bias binding, creating a loop on one side for hanging.
Pin one side of handle to inside top edge, turn to right side, and sew in. Repeat with other side. Finished! Now stuff the top with all those stray grocery bags and pull them out the bottom when you need one. This tutorial is also on Flickr. posted by in Finished Projects , Patterns , Sewing :: Comments (12) :: link :: October 1, 2006 Austin Area Quilt Guild Show 2006
Damn it's been a while since I posted. Mostly because finishing the Pie in the Sky quilt has taken up most of my time an energy for the last few weeks. But now it's finished and being displayed to thousands of people at the AAQG biennial show!
It took me forever to decide how to quilt it. I made some attempts at the Orla-Kiely inspired design but it was NOT going to look good with my free-motion skills, and of course I didn't feel comfortable with, well, ripping of that leaf pattern (even though, as you might see from browsing through the print + pattern archives, I think a lot of designers do it. Maybe O.K.'s not even the one who came up with it?). I needed something that I could do with a walking foot, and came up with these randomly-sized, randomly-placed starbursts. It contradicts the nice symmetry of the quilt, so I ended up not liking that aspect, but once it was all said and done, it looked OK. Still, it did not turn out with ribbon-winning quality. It was hard to keep a nice consistent stich length and tension, the lines converging in the middle of the stars didn't always meet up perfectly, there was some ugly backstiching to secure the ends, and yellow Chaco Liner I used to mark the top ended up STAINING THE THREAD in places. Bummer! Still, I was proud of the piecing and was not at all embarassed to have it hanging in the show. What more could a first-timer ask for? I have to run because I'm volunteering at the show all day today. More pictures on Flickr. I will post more about the show later then take some detail shots of my quilt once it's home so you can see some close-ups in better lighting. posted by in Austin , Finished Projects , Quilting , Textile Arts , _____-Alongs :: Comments (18) :: link :: June 10, 2006 Oilcloth Bag
I made this bag yesterday to take to the pool -- it's perfect for toting your damp things post-swimming. I also made the same bag, smaller and without a handle, to use as a car trash receptacle. Hooray for function! And hooray for quick and satisfying projects. I'd forgotten what it's like to start and finish something in the same day. posted by in Finished Projects , Purses and Bags , Sewing :: Comments (3) :: link :: April 24, 2006 Finished Project: Day at the Beach Quilt
The Day at the Beach quilt, re-created almost exactly in queen size from the original in the Denyse Schmidt Quilts book, is finished! This one was so easy there's not even much to say. Except that I really love how it turned out. Oh, and two other things: 1. It was shockingly expensive to get quilted -- 3x the cost of the Plain Spoken job and about twice what I was expecting. I've tried to think of it this way: It was kind of like how car repairs go, and at least I have something tangible and nice to show for it. 2. I think I've got this hand-finishing the binding figured out. I've always gone diagonal, which has never been very invisible or looked all that great in general. This time I tried straight up-and-down stiches, as in the diagram at the bottom of this page. It (gasp) lays flat and was a zillion times faster. Hooray! More photos here.
posted by in Finished Projects , Quilting , _____-Alongs :: Comments (23) :: link :: April 11, 2006 Look Ma, I'm Improvising
Here are my contributions to Jessica's Block Swap. The I-guess-you'd-call-them string blocks are by far my favorites. I wanted to do something like this Denyse Schmidt quilt. Interesting -- as I made them, I only remembered the look, not the colorway, and the colorways are nearly the same! So much for improv!
These I made first, just by stacking 13" squares of my fabrics and rotary cutting them without a ruler. I've been checking out other contributors' blocks on Flickr and found myself most attracted to the simpler ones, so I just went with that.
Stack and whack, but WITH a ruler. OK, these were made AFTER the string blocks when I just wanted my 10 blocks finished! Also I thought I should use some of the mint green. I like them alright. From afar. posted by in Finished Projects , Quilting , _____-Alongs :: Comments (25) :: link :: March 15, 2006 Too Late
A couple weeks ago I finished with my winter set. It's the sum total of my seasonal knitting accomplishments and it's too late to use it ... in fact there wasn't really a winter at all in Austin this year. (Not that I'm complaining about the spectacular spring weather we have right now.) The yarn is chunky Misti Alpaca in "chartreuse melange." Susan said it well, the yarn is lofty and squishy like a down comforter. Mittens: Super Mittens from Weekend Knitting -- I thought I knew how to make a proper M1, but I didn't know about that stich-twisting part, so they have nice lacy holes up the thumb. Kinda defeats the purpose, but so do mittens in Texas to begin with. Scarf: Lopi Lace Scarf also from Weekend Knitting. This is a fun pattern to knit and the yarn became really lovely and drapey after blocking. The hat: My old standby, the Monmouth Cap (free pattern). This one turned out too big but amazingly my attempt to "felt it just a little bit" turned out perfectly. I decreased every few rows along the body and it turned out very 30s cloche. Another reminder: If you knit this hat, don't finish with the few-rows-of-icord, because your hat will look like a condom tip. Now I know ideally I'd have a set using the same stitch pattern, but that is asking too much from my knitting skillz. Baby steps. -- P.S. Modern Quilt Along member Pixie just started a knitting podcast. It's really good and I hope there are lots more! We seem to have very similar tastes, which makes this podcast extra welcome for me. posted by in Finished Projects , Knitting :: Comments (3) :: link :: March 1, 2006 iPod Cozies
iPod cozies/skins/cases are stupidly expensive. I refuse to drop $30+ on an industrial strength case, and I have some lovely scratches on the screen to prove it. Naturally I have tried to make my own. The one above is a top-loader. Not ideal, because you have to slide the iPod out to see the screen and get to the controls. If you listen to your iPod while driving, you have to minimize the fuss for safety's sake. However, it affords the most screen protection. Below is a solution I hit upon by accident -- I was over my cold, was out of tissues in my tissue cozy, and couldn't find the top-loader. Ta-da, tissue holder/iPod cozy.
Just pull the sides apart for quick access.
Again, not the perfect solution, but not bad in a pinch. You can even attach the earbuds (uhg - hate that word) with it still in the case. The screen is a little more vulnerable to scratches this way, especially if you let the thing roll around in your purse or man-bag, but you have faster access to the controls. I used Bella Dia's travel tissue holder tutorial but used measurements to fit Kleenex and Target generic brand travel tissue packs (they are nearly the same size) rather than Puffs, on which her tutorial is based. My iPod is, I'm pretty sure, the 4th generation full-size deal. I need to make an Ideal Homemade iPod Cozy, one with a transparent screen protector and openings for all the controls. If you have seen something handmade that meets all those criteria, please let me know -- it seems like everything I've run across online is some variation of the top-loader, or leaves the screen completely bare. posted by in Finished Projects :: Comments (16) :: link :: February 21, 2006 Oven Mitts II
Hello, two more oven mitts! I tried the ball fringe binding in the pattern but I got the tiny little baby kind and it didn't work. Regular old binding just isn't as jaunty. posted by in Finished Projects , Quilting :: Comments (4) :: link :: February 13, 2006 It's Finished!
Now this is why I've been so eager for my camera battery charger to get here. My plain spoken quilt, code-named "paletas," is finally finished! I picked it up from the machine quilters a few weeks ago.
I did the binding the old-school way, by machine sewing to the front than hand-sewing it to the back, a process that has also grown on me. It took a week with lots of time in front of the TV. I had a little scare when I put it through the wash the first time and found that the water-soluble marker that I used to number the blocks had not come out of the cheaper (non-Robert Kaufman Kona cotton) light orange fabric that I had used. I just put on some stain remover and put it through the wash a second time, and it was all gone, crisis averted.
The best part has to be taking it out of the dryer and seeing it in its textured, crinkled glory. All the pictures, from start to finish, are in one place now.
Elizabeth of e cubed arts has joined and has Karen whipped out a second MQA entry (making her a gold star member of the MQA), an awesome Once Upon a Time. Samantha has finished a Zipper quilt top in sultry purples. Blair has a finished quilt: Once Upon a Time. So cute. Read her humorous account of a harrowing moment there toward the end! Angela finished her Eclipse! The batiks look so warm and fantabulous with the quilted texture. Mel is headed toward the finish line with her sunny Zipper quilt top. Rose finished her beautiful Love-Beads-Turned-Christmas-Ornaments, which is her second MQA entry. The quilting sounds awesome. And will you get a load of the back? Hmmm ... I need to be in the gold star club too. Just kidding, there is no gold star club. Currently I'm getting Denyse Schmidt out of my system, but I'd also like to make another MQA entry. But which one? posted by in Finished Projects , Modern Quilt-Along :: Comments (37) :: link :: November 1, 2005 Scooped!
Thanks to a speedy delivery by our friends at the U.S. Post Office, my Back-Tack II partner, Bertha, scooped me! Despite my best efforts, it even got to her by the deadline. Well, here are some pictures taken at my house anyway.
(You can see why I had polka dots on the brain earlier.) Bertha's new craft was knitting so I made a bag and needle roll. The bag is fastener-free to prevent yarn snags, wooden handles for fast picking up and going, big enough for an average project but not too swimmingly big. The needle roll fits unless you're going for vertical. The apple print is vintage -- the apples are almost like iron-ons, they have a velvet-poster texture compared to the lineny background. The polka dots and lining is new.
I put thick interfacing in the needle roll because I wanted the option to fold it in three or roll it up. Given that, I was kind of confused about how to make a closure (any ideas?) so I just sewed a ribbon into one side. I sent along a small sample of needles in different sizes and materials, and some smaller accessories. Bertha has more comprehensive pictures of those things.
This kind of pocket is so easy to make, I don't know where it's been all my life. My pattern (Simplicity 5541) showed me how ...
And what is an intro to knitting package without yarn? Bertha is allergic to hardcore wool so these guys have little to no wool content. She already had a good start on knitting and didn't seem to need instruction books, and I couldn't bring myself to get a pattern book because that's such a personal thing, so I picked the new Yarn Harlot book. It turns out she was close to getting it for herself, so, yay! posted by in Finished Projects , _____-Alongs :: Comments (10) :: link :: September 10, 2005 Finished Top
The quilt top is finished! Unfortunately, I am feeling kind of neutral toward the results so far. I've spent a lot of time with this very loud color combination! Maybe I just need some distance from it. The plan from here is to find somewhere to rent a quilting machine, and if that's not possible, I'm going to send it off to be professionally quilted. (I hope that as the hostess of the Modern Quilt-Along I am not held to some higher DIY standard of quilt-finishing.) I want it quilted just like they have it in the book. I have a question: How do you square up the top and backing when they're so big? I learned a clever way once from a quilting show, but quickly forgot. posted by in Finished Projects , Modern Quilt-Along :: Comments (29) :: link :: July 31, 2005 Pink Lemonade in Oilcloth
In just under the deadline, this month's Pink Lemonade-themed submission for Tie One On. I've wanted to make an apron in oilcloth, so when the theme was announced I wished very hard that there was a pink print with lemons. And I was so right. Since sewing oilcloth is such a challenge, this apron is totally no-frills. This one's like body armour, good for washing the dog and other tasks in which you typically end up soaked down to your unmentionables. I think I need to shorten the thing by about a foot, as it's the opposite of "drapey." Here is the back view (caught right in the middle of tank-top adjusting). The ties are made from old curtains my mother-in-law gave me, made of good ol' poly-blend swiss dot:
And here it is away from the harsh afternoon light. Click on the photo to get to bigger sizes, there you can see the lemons better.
Tips for sewing oilcloth! posted by in Finished Projects , _____-Alongs :: Comments (6) :: link :: July 10, 2005 Baby Quilts: Two Variations
Now that I've finally handed Flippy's quilt off to Melanie, I can show you the projects I've been working on the last couple of months. I made two baby quilts using the same fabrics and the same pattern (Yellow Brick Road by Atkinson Designs), but finished them differently. The first one I started was for my neighbors, who just adopted a baby. This one was freehand machine-quilted with an animal-print-looking design over the blocks:
And animal shapes around the border:
You can still see the chalk outlines because I'm STILL not finished hand-finishing the binding. Here it is with the backing, which I don't like very much. But you can concentrate on my excellent new bedspread underneath.
When I started quilt #2 for Melanie and Flippy, I wanted to try backing with Minkee (but ended up with bright red microfleece, which is really soft and holds up very well in the wash). Trying to machine-quilt with the fleece backing was a disaster, so I decided to tie it, which I've always wanted to try. I used embroidery thread in matching colors, and like the results very much. I thought tying was supposed to be faster than quilting, but I ended up spending probably an equal amount of time on both. Here's the whole shebang:
posted by in Finished Projects , Quilting :: Comments (5) :: link :: June 13, 2005 Peanuts Roundup Apron
Here is my submission for the Tie One On apron sew-along, theme "Home on the Range." It's on the dress form out of shame -- if I modeled it myself I'd need to pair it with a cowboy hat and boots, which I don't have. What kind of self-respecting Texan am I? As previously mentioned, I found the fabric in a thrift store in the form of drapes. The print was maybe a little too large-scale for an apron, but who cares? It's got Spike, Snoopy's weird desert-dwelling older brother! With all the rusty 60s-70s colors in it, it was hard to find something to use for the bias binding. I knew I wanted gingham, and of all the (prepackaged) choices, black seemed the best way to go. But I had to get over my thing against combining brown and black. Clinton and Stacey say it's OK, so. I wouldn't have been able to handle the miles of bias binding required by this pattern without my new walking foot. Can I just say? People, if you don't have a walking foot, get a walking foot. Do it!
I used a brown bandana for the pockets, which are open along the top edge. Here is the back view:
Yes, I hate the pukey burgundy color of my dress form too. posted by in Finished Projects , _____-Alongs :: Comments (16) :: link :: March 6, 2005 Finished Project: Clapotis
I finished Clapotis, and in record time (for me). I went against the advice of its designer (scroll to last post) and steam-blocked it. I wanted to even out the stitches but I was hoping it would still curl along the edges ... no such luck! I used three 220-yard skeins of Handpaintedyarn.com's merino worsted wool and had some left over, but I made it one repeat thinner because I'd heard of people running out when using this yarn. Like this person, I had a dye-continuity problem between skeins, but it's not that noticeable. Here's a mystery. No matter how soft a yarn is to my hands, it always feels itchy on my neck (including this yarn). Does this happen to anyone else? posted by in Finished Projects :: link :: March 3, 2005 Finished Project: Dog Playing Poker
Here is a little quilt I made for my dad's birthday. He loves dogs and he loves poker, but I'm not sure he likes kitsch or quilts! If he doesn't like it, his favorite dog will. It was made from a 1-yard panel, with a coordinating dogs-playing-poker print for the back:
I just used random swirls for the quilting. It won't win any prizes -- I'm not good at this yet *and* I get the feeling my machine isn't really suited for free-motion quilting, but I try not to care, because when you step back it all looks fine. And I know the edges of your quilt are supposed to lay flat and not be wavy, but both of my quilt projects have turned out wavy. Anyone know why this is, and what you can do to prevent it? Then again, I shouldn't care ... there is so much about the process that has the potential to turn you off quilting forever, the less you worry about, the more likely you are to keep doing it, and the technical stuff can fall into place over time. posted by in Finished Projects , Quilting :: Comments (2) :: link :: January 13, 2005 Finished Project: Workhorse Tote Bag in Gray and Orange
For this standard-issue tote bag (cf. Jordy Bag), I took a cue from the Amy Butler Nappy Bag pattern and used cotton canvas for the interfacing.
posted by in Finished Projects , Purses and Bags , Sewing :: link :: January 8, 2005 Muted Rainbow Socks
These socks are finally finished! I started them way back in May. Made from Trekking XXL color #34 with the beginner's lightweight sock pattern from Knitting Pure and Simple. For next time: how to avoid ladders (end of article). posted by in Finished Projects , Knitting :: link :: January 5, 2005 Finished Project: Corduroy Purse
Purse made from vintage corduroy. I didn't use a pattern, but the method came from the gusseted messenger bag tutorial on Craftster. The only thing that bothers me about it is that the strap length puts it in an uncomfortable limbo between a handbag and a shoulder bag. Here is a peek at the lining and pockets:
posted by in Finished Projects , Purses and Bags , Sewing :: link :: January 2, 2005 Hats
I'm on a mission to knit the perfect hat. These are my four attempts so far, and I'm not there yet. Upper left is a basic hat using the Kittyville pattern minus all the fun parts, and with 1x1 rib instead of seed stitch. I used Mission Falls 1824 just like the Stitch n' Bitch version calls for. But, it makes my head look funny (the hat is too oblong) and it does very little to keep out the cold. Lower left is the monmouth cap knitted in Rowan Polar. I love the yarn, but the hat turned out too short (next time, add another inch either to the band) and I messed up on the decreases. It is also suprisingly not-warm. And I can never use the two-row i-cord at the end again because, as Bryan pointed out, it looks like a condom tip. This one is getting ripped but I'm not sure the yarn will survive. Upper right is the Fun Flapper Hat by MLM inspirations. This one looks the best on, and I can't recommend So I tried the pattern again in Rowan Polar (lower right), adding an inch so it covered my ears all the way. I guess I shouldn't do that, because I don't like how it looks quite as much. I'm still plagued by the warmth issue. What gives? The hats are pretty loose despite being on gauge so maybe I should go down a needle size or two. That, or pick up the stitches along the rim and knit a second hat as lining. Oh yeah, each hat took only one skein, except for the Mission Falls 1824 wool hat, which took one plus a tiny bit of another. posted by in Finished Projects , Knitting :: link :: August 25, 2004 Finished Project: Pointless Wonder
The "Pointless Wonder" baby quilt was made from this pattern using these fabrics. posted by in Finished Projects , Quilting :: link :: February 22, 2004 Rock Star Scarf
Almost-finished project: A modified Rock Star Scarf out of grayish-purple GGH Apart and Noro Shinano. I'm not looking forward to weaving in all those yarn ends! Which I will be putting off until the weather allows me to think of wearing it. posted by in Finished Projects , Knitting :: link
Oilcloth Curtain
Ta-da: One bathroom curtain made from this oilcloth in pink. If you look too close, you will see it looks like an unskilled child sewed it. Sewing oilcloth is a bitch! Upped the stitch length, check. Went slow, check. Still the fabric wouldn't behave, the seams wandered all over the place and I almost murdered my poor machine. So I drove all the way up to Round Rock to buy a teflon foot, which did the trick! Kind of. The fabric still isn't very flexible, so if you're sewing large pieces, clear out a lot of space. posted by in Finished Projects :: link :: January 15, 2004 Fluffy Cuff Mittens
Fluffy Cuff mittens from Stitch & Bitch: The Knitter's Handbook I used GGH Esprit for the fluffy cuffs. It was a challenge to work with, especially on the dpns, but it is erotically soft. George Costanza would give up velvet for this. I substituted the Classic Elite Montera with something else, then went ahead and lost the label. I had problems with gaping holes at the base of the thumb, and got advice from the Craftster boards that you should pick up more than the required stitches then decrease them right away down to the required number. Instead of ripping I just sewed the holes up, which worked OK. posted by in Finished Projects , Knitting :: link
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