1930s Sewing and Knitting

 

 
I've been wanting to add some 30s style to my wardrobe for so long and I finally did it!

The Facts
⁃ Fabric: rust and cream herringbone wool (free) plus lining from stash
⁃ Pattern: Eva Dress SE30-1399
⁃ Year: 1934
⁃ Notions: snaps ($2.50), buttons ($1.50)
⁃ Time to complete: 5 hours
⁃ First worn: March 2012
⁃ Wear again? Yes! I'm so in love with this matching set! And it's so much warmer and less itchy than I thought it would be.
⁃ Total price: $4

It started out as this huge cape that I got for free in my friend's destash. All I had to do was deconstruct it and voila! yards of free wool! When I saw this piece at the destash, I just knew it was destined for this pattern which was already in my stash. I've been wanting to make it up since I saw This Old Life's version last year. I put it off because I could never afford the large amounts of wool fabric this pattern called for.

I paired it with my 1930s sweater that I finally got finished! I'm so glad that I decided to reknit the back. It fits so much nicer now.

Look! No awkward bulges of fabric!

The most disappointing part of this pattern is in the scarf. It calls for a bound button hole that you are supposed to slide the other end of the scarf through but my fabric is so thick, it won't go through! Oh, well. I just put that side on the back and it's mostly covered.

Adjustments to the pattern:

• I made the cape shorter because I didn't have enough fabric and also left off the arm holes as they weren't necessary for the shorter length.
• I added extra width to the hips because I, ah, .... don't have the ideal 30s figure.
• I made the opening on the side of the skirt much lower. On my wearable muslin, I have to pull it over my head instead of stepping into it. Oh, hips!
• I also shortened it to midcalf as it was a bit long on me.
• And the pleats came out one way on my muslin and another way on the skirt. Not sure which way is right but that's ok.

And I got to wear my 30s style suede gloves from Target! Super cute!

I decided to enter this in the Eva Dress competition so I'll give a shout out when it's time to vote. Hopefully, I'll be able to make the matching blouse next fall/winter!

Knitting help!

 I've been knitting away and finished a sweater. It's a 1930s sweater pattern from A Stitch in Time Volume 2.

It fits pretty well in the front. It's supposed to be a bit blousey and there's not shaping between the arm hole and the ribbing on the bottom.

But just like my last sweater, the back (and neckline) mysteriously grew when I blocked it. So I reblocked it and the back was smaller for about 5 secs then it stretched out again. This sweater is knit in three pieces and then sewn together so I'm seriously tempted to unsew it and unravel the back and knit it up in a smaller size. I really can't see myself wearing it as is. The neckline is huge and my bra straps keep peaking out. Plus if you look closely at my right shoulder, it's a slightly different color. I ran out of yarn had to go get more, but they were out of my dye lot and this was the closest match I could find. So if I reknit the back, I'd probably have enough leftover yarn to reknit that part of the sleeve too. And I could knit the neckline in a smaller needle to make it tighter.

*sigh* But that'd be a lot of work. Advice would be appreciated.

In other news, I have a Dressing Downton piece almost done and I'm itching to size up a pattern from The Edwardian Modiste (probably a chemise or slip to start with). And tomorrow is set aside for party dress sewing!

Have a lovely weekend!

Knitting vs. Sewing

I've been sewing for about a year and a half but recently picked up knitting. As I'm looking ahead to planning my winter/spring sewing, the question is to knit or to sew. Realistically, both will occur but it has really gotten me thinking about what I like/dislike about sewing and knitting.

I'm much better and more experienced at sewing. I have a good feel for what fabrics and patterns go together and what kinds of adjustments to make. I'm experienced enough that I know things will usually come out correctly and if it's not working I know how to fix it. Sewing is also fast. I can get going and moving especially on some of my tried and true patterns if I need a quick FO fix.

Knitting is a new and new things are fun. I also have this really fab book full of vintage knitting patterns that have been multisized and translated into modern knitting lingo. It's also winter and in my brain knit = warm. But knitting is sloooooooow and I knit really sloooooooow. That's partly because I like to knit and watch tv so I'm not exactly paying 100% attention like I do when I sew. Knitting also tends to be quieter, which my husband appreciates! (Although my new machine is much quieter than my old one.)

Lately, I've been noticing that I feel more motivated to sew during the day and knit at night. I think this has two causes. During the day, I'm in my get up and go mode. I'm up and down a lot during sewing, especially since my sewing space is kind of spread through all three rooms of my apartment. (Really, the only place there's not sewing stuff is the bathroom.) Knitting is much quieter and more relaxed which I like when I'm winding down in the evening. Also, the lighting in my apartment is really crappy so I like to sew during the day and take advantage of natural light. At night, I can sit under my lap and have plenty of light to knit by.

Do you have hobbies that you have to split your time between? How do you handle your divided loyalties?

Workin' On It

 Sarah is trying to show more works in progress this year and I thought that sounded like a great idea, especially since I plan on sewing slower over the next few months. (Also I have four projects I'm working on and another dozen or so that are in the active planning phase.) So here they go.

1. The not so much to look at yet jacket

Oh, I finally decided what to do with my blackberry cord. The Simplicity 3688 1940s retro jacket won out. Jackets are great wardrobe staples. I do already have a corduroy Beignet (which I actually wore today) and I think if I do want to make the cape, I'll go the whole nine yards and make the entire matching set.

I lined it with this lovely plaid quilting cotton from my stash. I was going really good on this project until I realized that I didn't have any good lining for the sleeves. Actual garment lining instead of the quilting cotton will make it much easier to take on and off. So I had to go to Jo-Ann's and get some lining. (I choose green to match the little green stripe and because I like green.) Hopefully, I can make another dent in this project tomorrow.

I did bound button holes. It's been a while since I've done them but they came out pretty good. I'm using some pretty silver buttons to go in the holes.

#2 The Ceylon Shirt Muslin

 

I have a particular version of Colette Pattern's Ceylon that I want to make but I was worried about the fit of the bodice as it's kind of complicated and it's an empire waist. (Empire waist + having a large chest = underbust seam not under the bust!) So I decided to whip up a blouse wearable (hopefully) muslin in some more quilting cotton from the sash. I picked up some nice red buttons to go with it. This will not be getting bound button holes if my new machine decides to play nice.

#3 A Stitch in Time 30s mustard sweater

I decided not to do the 3 hour sweater and to switch over to this lovely 30s sweater from A Stitch in Time Vol. 2. I did a lot of knitting during the holidays as you can see. I just hope I have enough yarn! I have exactly the number of balls as the pattern calls for so I should be ok, but I am a bit nervous as I would have picked up one more if I had purchased this yarn for this project from the get go.

 

I also picked up this book from a used book store after realizing that I'd spent two hours knitting part of this sweater (and my entire Cadence) wrong. Apparently, I've been knitting Ktbl instead of K. Whoops! I did rip out the part of this sweater, though I think my Cadence looks fine. So, I thought I could use a an actual knitting book. I'm not too thrilled about the B word on the cover but I have heard good things about this book and it was cheap.

#4 Gettin' Snoody

Almost all of the knitting projects in A Stitch in Time Vol 2 use tiny needle and tiny thread so I thought I could use a practice project (or two) to get used to them before I commit to a big project. The first of these practice projects is a lovely snood I'm making up in a red wool blend.

What have you been working on this new year?

P.S. Edith's black floral blouse should be coming your way tomorrow. Yay for nice weather for outside pictures!

Newbie and the Knitter Knit Along: Finished!

 Here is my finished Cadence sweater!

Tada!

And the back.

The lace came out really nice too.

I learned a lot knitting this sweater and it came out really nice! I love the color too. It's pretty baggy on me but still wearable. I know the pattern is meant to be loose but there's a bit much ease for me. Reblocking helped but it streatched out again after just a few wears. If I knitted this pattern again, I'd probably knit the ribbing on the collar on smaller needles to make it tighter. I'd also knit the back a size smaller. I've read that that's kind of how you do a knitting FBA and the back is pretty baggy.

Ok, so now on to the good bits of the sweater. I learned how to knit with circular needles, read a lace chart, use double pointed needles, modify a knitting pattern, blocking, starting a new skein of yarn mid-project, and finishing techniques. The body of the sweater is very even and pretty. I didn't have to rip out hardly any of the sweater and it didn't become a UFO. Yay!

Hopefully there will be more lovely knits in my future!

Merry Christmas to Me

I've been down visiting my folks for a few days so I'm a bit behind on the gift sharing post but here it is. I already spilled the beans about going to see Wicked and the hubby also got me tickets to see Tenderly (a Rosemary Clooney musical) and Jersey Boys.

My dad picked out this lovely book of Jane Austen's novels for me. I adore Jane Austen and pretty books!

This one wasn't technically a Christmas gift but I won it from Liz of Zilredloh in a giveaway and it arrived right before Christmas so it felt like a present.

And I've already started knitting up this 1930s sweater in some lovely mustard wool. I think mustard is my new favorite color.

Shoes! I love wedges. They've got all the comfort and practicality of flats but all the benefits of heels.

My mother-in-law gifted me with this Fossil wallet and key fob to go with my Fossil purse. And look, more mustard! My mother-in-law has excellent taste. :)

I've been looking for some good rain shoes for a while to wear to school when it rains. These red and navy loafers from shoebuy.com were just the ticket. And they have a super comfy insert.

The other big gift (after Wicked) was this lovely Brother sewing machine from my dad. (Model number: PC-420PRW in case anyone is wondering.) It's a lot more high tech than my old Kenmore. It also came with gobs of feet! I think I've got it mostly figured out, but we'll see. I know a lot of people name their sewing machines and I think this one deserves a name. Any ideas?

Hope you all had a lovely Christmas. I also was lucky enough to receive quite a bit of shopping money and gift cards so I'm off to decide just what other goodies are in my future. Decisions, decisions.

Black Friday Haul

Here's my very first haul video! I tried to keep it short for you all. Enjoy!

Sephora:
pink travel makeup brush kit $10
bare minerals makeup kit $10
Kat Von d lightening lip gloss in Marg $5
Kat Von D true romance eyeshadow palette $15

Charming Charlie:
grey belt $10*
pink and white scarf $15*

Kohl's:
Apt 9 tights lace pattern and argyle $6 each

Target:
Merona teal tights $8*
Merona green suede gloves $20*
Conair wave clips $5*

Jo-Ann Fabric:
Stitch Nation full o' sheep yarn in honeycomb (x4) $3.74 each
circular knitting needles size 11 and 15 $7* each
Singer shears $16*
plus 25% off total bill (yay coupons!)

*indicates no black friday promotion or sale (i.e. I was out and I wanted it.)

In which I knit and plot

So I finished my very first knitting project! Wrist warmers with cables!

I paired them with a nice pink t-shirt and I'm really loving the color combo!

The pattern I used was from Vampire Knits by Genevieve Miller. There's also a matching neck warmer but I haven't gotten that far.

They were pretty simple to knit up once I got the hang of the cable directions. The second one, however, ended up mysteriously larger than the other.....

I've also had a bit of an upset with my circle skirt embellishment for the sew along. The tutorial I used was for a skirt with a flat hem that was gathered at the top. I didn't think about how that would work with a circle skirt which has a round hem.

After freaking out a bit, I settled on embroidery and was inspired by the beautiful atomic designs from the 1950s. Here are some of my sketches of what I've been thinking about doing.

I was inspired by this fabric I stumbled upon at JoAnn's last night.


I am a bit nervous about this skirt being an orphan if I do go this route. I may go a bit simpler and do just little white "stars" like the ones on the fabric. It would go with a lot more things. I need to hem the skirt first anyways so I have some time to think about it.

I'm also a chemist so I love the idea of little embroidered atoms too.

Do you have a favorite atomic pattern? Any thoughts about how I could embellish this skirt?