Kennedy

Another day, another Dottie Angel frock *yawn*.  I know.  I'm kind of bored too.  That said, I really like this dress--I like the fabric and the colors, and I'm eager for it to get colder so I can layer it up with a red sweater and tall boots and tights.

The fabric was in a remainder bin at Joann's this summer, and it was $5/yard, so a good bargain!  I had some vintage cotton bias in my stash that was a good color match (it is kind of mustard-gold), but thread matching was a pain. 

 I was glad I bought this fabric in the store and could match thread in person, because I'm not sure how I would have managed it otherwise.  I'm usually matching with a computer screen, which is less than accurate, and the color that ended up working best with this fabric was a dark green one with a faint blueish undertone.  It was not the thread I expected would work.

I really don't have anything else to add about this dress.  Nothing new on fitting, no pocket experiments or length differences.  Just a straight up TNT pattern.

Went with the kanga pocket because I thought it worked best with the fabric pattern and I was feeling lazy.

I took these at the bus stop while waiting with the kids to take them to school.  Nothing awkward about setting up a camera with a self-timer on the corner of a busy city street, nosir.  The kids were kind of funny about the whole thing, which I think helped to detract attention from me.  

I started potty training Ponchik yesterday.  It wasn't awful but it wasn't great either.  She spent the morning crying and asking for lunch every 15 minutes, and only went on the potty with a lot of cajoling and bribery on my part.  Not my finest hours.  She's the most biddable of all my kids, but is still pretty strong-willed, so I'm sure this will be an uphill battle.  After the trauma of potty training the other three, I'm just dreading the whole thing.

In more ridiculous news, I've settled on my network shows for the year: I'm sticking with Blindspot from last year, and am giving Designated Survivor a shot.  I watched season one of Quantico on netflix in the last week, while working on Boo's vest, and am curious to see where season 2 goes, so I guess I'll watch that one too.  With Droughtlander in full swing, it is nice to have a few things to look forward too each week.

Moneta

I promised myself I would try some new things with my sewing this fall.  One was to try some new patterns and the other was to experiment with knits.  My first run out of the gate with a new pattern (the Ginger skirt from Colette) I can safely count as a fail.  So much so, I'm not even going to show it on the blog.  It doesn't fit me properly, and I'm sort of thinking it is the style and that tweaking the fit isn't going to help.  

Which brings me to knits.  I bought Colette's Moneta dress pattern as an easy way to get into sewing knits.  The style is one that I like to wear (and buy frequently from eshakti), and I thought if I could get it right, it would be a great staple dress pattern for me.  

I decided to start with interlock knit, because it is a bit more stable as knits go, and I wanted to start with a solid color that was 100% cotton.  I found this organic cotton navy interlock at fabric.com (it is from Cloud 9).  I bought my jersey needles, ball point pins, tex 30 thread, and even tried to find a walking foot for my Bernina (that alas, was a fail).  I did discover, however, that the vari-overlock stitch foot works best with knits on my machine anyway.  I pulled it out on Saturday, intending just to play with scraps to get a feel for it, but ended up sewing the whole dress in a couple hours' time!  I probably get it done it faster with more experience under my belt, as I had to take time to learn how to do some steps, and because I wasted some time trying to figure out my twin needle (and then decided to chuck it because I couldn't get the tension right).

But it was a satisfying sew, and I think I'm going to try again!  I have a knit dress cut out for one of the girls, and I have some more interlock waiting to try a Coco dress.  I added length to the skirt pattern (I forget how much, but enough to make the skirt at least 25" long) and cut a straight up large size.  My main complaints about this dress are in the shoulders and sleeves.  I added length to the sleeves to make them true 3/4 sleeves (the pattern is written for half sleeves) and the cuffs are just slightly snug.  I would just decrease the seam allowance below the elbow next time.  

The neckline is also too wide, both in the front and the back.  My bra straps keep wanting to show; it will be fine once it is cold enough to wear a scarf or shawl around my neck. Next time, I'll use another pattern neckline that I already like the fit of and go from there.  The nice thing about knits is that they don't have to be so perfectly fitted.  And the finishing goes so quickly!  

I will admit that wearing this dress feels a bit like wearing pajamas, which I think I can say is a good thing.  The interlock is very soft and light.  If I can fix the neckline issue, I'll be totally happy with this dress pattern.

I thought the zig-zag finishing would look shoddy to me, but actually, I hardly notice.  I did two lines of zig-zag around the sleeve cuffs and I really can't tell that it isn't twin-needled.  

So a good start to knit-sewing.

~wiws~ Liberty #2

I fell in love with this fabric the minute I saw it in the spring.  It was sold out at my usual fabric haunt, so I ended up buying it elsewhere.  I decided to save it for the fall, as the palette seemed to work well with my fall rotation.  I made the Liberty #3 dress for the spring instead--it is a different colorway of this print.

After making several lawn dresses for my spring and summer rotations, I had a fair idea of what I wanted to tweak for this iteration.  Mostly, I wanted sturdier pockets.  Lawn is a fairly thin fabric, and I noticed that my pockets on the earlier dresses were not able to stand up to the weight of my car keys.  We use a Club on our cars for security, and the key for that is rather robust.  

So I decided to make these pockets with double fabric to make them hardier, and I think it worked well!  I just cut the fabric double and treated it as one layer when sewing.  I probably could have got away with a single layer on the facing, but at that point, I was all in, so I just kept the facing double as well.  

Oddly, the thread color that ended up looking best with this fabric was a dark brown.  The navy I expected to use just didn't look right.  

I made sure to include a couple of lawn dresses for my fall rotation because I know there are always a few weeks in September that are nasty hot.  It has been in the upper 90s with high humidity this past week, so I think it was a good call.  I wore one of my Cotton + Steel dresses on Friday and felt like I was going to suffocate when I went to get the kids from school in the afternoon.  The public and archdiocesan schools all let out at noon on Friday because of the heat.  

It does seem like this week will be better--highs are expected in the low 80s, with overnight lows in the 60s, so perhaps the worst is over.  I've been re-watching Outlander and am craving wools and layers.

Yarn Along: School Days

The kids are back to school today!  I almost didn't know what to do with myself after drop off this morning.  Ponchik was with a sitter this morning, and after I got home on the bus, I decided to tackle one of the woven projects in my sewing queue.  I finished that up a little while ago, and now am settling in for an afternoon of knitting.  I've been enjoying Inspector Lewis (my mom got me hooked this summer, so I went back and started at the beginning of the series; I'm debating whether to pay for the final season or just wait until it goes Prime on amazon).  I also found out Laurence Fox sings!  (He plays Inspector Hathaway)  I bought his album last week and have been enjoying it immensely.  The man has chops.

On my kindle, I'm reading The Theory of Death by Faye Kellerman--I've been reading the Decker/Lazarus mystery series for a long time now, but I got behind a few books, so I've been catching up the last few weeks.  I read Gun Games, Murder 101, and The Beast (I got slightly out of order, but so it goes).  I just needed something light these last weeks.

I started working on Boo's sweater vest this week, after doing a swatch.  It is coming out pretty dense, but he struggles with being cold more than my other kids, so I think it will be fine for him. I'm using Swish superwash wool because that kid is a mess.  He's like Pig Pen--put something on him and it immediately looks disheveled.  He loves red, though, so I hope he likes it.

My dad's birthday was Friday, and he was pleased to receive his sweater vest!  I'm just glad it fits!!

Meanwhile, this is the view out of my front door today.  They do seem to be moving down the block at a good clip--they started at one end last Monday (29th) and we are about a third of the way down.  They are replacing the sewer main, and it smells a little...interesting outside.  Oh, and the water is off.  Again.

Linking with Ginny for Yarn Along!

Rennie

I'm don't pay a lot of attention to brands, or put much stock in labels, so when Joann held a sale on all Alexander Henry prints, I didn't really pay attention.  I just buy what I like, and try to get stuff that will hold up to heavy wash and wear.  

But this print jumped out at me, and I really liked it, so I bought it while it was on sale.  There was another colorway of the same print that I liked a lot too, but it was on a black background, and I knew it wouldn't suit my coloring as well as this one.  

I thought the palette would best with my fall rotation, so I put it aside until late summer when I could make it up into a Dottie Angel frock.  The scale of this print is a little larger than what I usually gravitate toward, but I think it is a nice change of pace.  

I went for a lazy kanga pocket--I like the clean lines of it, and I thought it suited the print well (in addition to being very fast to make up)

Nothing really to note about construction or anything.  It's a good dress.  I have a rust-colored cardigan that will match it perfectly when the weather cools a bit more (although it is very pleasant today), and a burgundy wool cardigan for when it gets cold.  So far, I'm loving my fall rotation!

The kids go back to school tomorrow, and I'm planning to spend today switching their drawers to uniforms, getting backpacks ready, folding laundry, and so forth.

Meanwhile, this is happening on my street right now:

Oy.

Project 333: Fall

Fall is one of my favorite times of year (I think winter is my absolute favorite, but fall is a close second).  I enjoy cold weather, and the smells and colors of fall are so lovely.

I'm also a realist, and I know that cold weather is many many more weeks off, but I'm done wearing summer colors.  When I planned this rotation, I tried to include summer weight clothing that had some fall-ish colors, and also a few pieces that are too heavy for use right now.  I'm getting better at planning for these tricky transition seasons.

Far left: Rennie dress (unblogged), Liberty #2 dress (unblogged), chambray dress, Kennedy dress (unblogged)

Top left: Fat face pullover/cardigan, red merino cardigan, royal blue cotton cardigan, rust cotton cardigan

Middle left: LLBean denim skirt, vintage floral cotton skirt, rust corduroy skirt, me-made denim skirt

Bottom left: long-line cotton navy cardigan, burgundy wool cardigan, green Ramona cardigan

Middle: purple henley, red knit eshakti dress, purple knit eshakti dress

Top right: vintage autumn floral blouse, purple elbow sleeve tshirt, dusty rose elbow sleeve tshirt, burgundy floral rayon blouse

Bottom right: cashmere purple pullover sweater, vintage autumn floral button down blouse, rust henley

Far right: Boxcar dress, Liberty #1 dress, Green Cookie Book dress, feedsack dress

All my dresses can be layered with undershirts and cardigans as the weather cools, and some of the blouses as well.  I did put the Molly B dress (above) at the back of the rack to save for Thanksgiving, as it really is a perfect dress for that day, but I'm counting it as a "special occasion" dress since I only plan to wear it once or twice this season.  

I also included the button down version of the autumn florals blouse from two or three years ago.  I only wore it for one season before I put it away, but I'm trying out some things this year, and thought I'd try it again in this rotation.  I really love the fabric (I made a Portrait blouse last year from some more of the same vintage fabric!) and I just can't part with the button-down version, so I guess I might as well try to figure out how to wear it and love it.

I'm actually feeling quite good about this rotation--it has a nice selection of pieces that I love, and I love the palette of this season.  I'll blog the new stuff soon.  I have two or so projects still in the works for this rotation.  

The first is a linen-rayon Ginger skirt pattern.  I've had this rust colored fabric blend for a while and I've been wanting to try some new patterns, so I thought this was a good chance to try it out.  If it ends up being a good fit, I will probably swap out the heavy rust corduroy skirt for the lighter linen one, given how long it can stay warm into the fall.  

My other great project for this fall and winter is to conquer Knit Mountain!  I've long been intimidated by knits, and I decided this was the season I was gonna git 'er done.  My sewing machine can definitely handle knits, and I've been seeing so many great knit patterns turn up, I thought it was time to try one.  I'm starting easy with the Moneta by Colette.  I bought a little girl dress pattern that is almost identical to the Moneta to try and make a knit dress for the girls.  They wear that style all the time, and it would be helpful to be able to make some for them.  I'm also going to try a Coco by Tilly and the Buttons.  I'd like to make some boat neck shirts from the Coco, but I don't need shirts like that until spring, and I do need a nightgown and a winter dress. I think Coco would be perfect for that.  I'm starting with interlock knits and some French terry, which are a bit more stable.  Baby steps.  It feels like crossing the Rubicon.

I've got my sewing supplies together to start on the knits, have read the Colette Knits book, plus a ton of articles online.  I've got two projects cut out (plus the skirt and one other thing I just need to do right now), but I'm waiting to start until the kids get back to school next week and I have a bigger block of time in the morning to really concentrate and work on it.  I need to figure out what stitches work best on my machine, and to get used to a walking foot and all that jazz.  I'll get there!  It feels kind of good to have a creative project to work on that I can do at a leisurely pace rather than frantically trying to finish it just to make sure my closet isn't bare.  I also think knits are a skill that will have many uses and I don't want to be frustrated by the process because I rushed it.  I don't intend to make everything I (or my kids) wear but I like stretching myself to learn new things.