Yarn Along: Magic Tulips & All The Green Things

Linking with Ginny for Yarn Along!  This is a longish post so grab a cuppa and settle in.  

The knitting is just below the sewing if you are just here for fiber craft!

~sewing~

I have had an epic number of sewing fails lately.  My Carson dress turned out so badly I didn't even want to show it to you.  (And so you get bathroom mirror pics).  The things I do for sewing science.  

 I didn't even bother hemming it, it was just that bad.   I could carry a child to term in this dress.  The skirt just has so.much.volume!  And the pockets are absurdly tiny.  (And yes, I know the pockets were recently redrafted, but I was working off the original dress pattern and didn't realize how very tiny the originals were until I'd finished).  

The bodice is a bit snug, and the arms are pretty fitted for a woven garment, but I was between sizes and went down a size, based on what others had written about the pattern.  I still think it was the right call, as the next size (a medium) is 3" larger in the bodice and a huge amount bigger in the skirt.  I also didn't like that there were no finished length measurements, so I had to do a bit of sewing math as I was cutting out to figure out how long to make the skirt.  (It is too long).  

I can cut it down for a dress for one of the girls, so at least it isn't a total waste.  But still.  I hate waste.  Especially when it costs money.  

I had another not-quite success of an Everyday skirt from a gifted fabric remnant.  The fabric was so pretty--it looks like gzhel pottery on a linen substrate--but I didn't really have enough for an Everyday skirt and tried to make it work anyway.  The result isn't quite...right.  I'm frustrated with the project so I don't want to fiddle with it right now, and it is a warm weather garment, so I put it in the bin to deal with another time.  

I also remade the stripey shirt into a dress for Birdie, and while it technically turned out wearable, it isn't the best looking thing I ever made.  It is just okay.  Not a stunning success.  

I'm unhappy with my Menagerie rayon dress and my painted roses dress hack just didn't work.  The painted roses dress fits really oddly now and is pretty uncomfortable.  I think taking up the hem on the Menagerie was a mistake (I can let it out easily enough) and I'm not sure I love the shape of the overall dress on me even though I love the print.  The pockets are seriously wonky and I wish I had done inseam pockets (I could fix this, but I'm not sure I have enough fabric). 

I also wrote that rayon makes me cold-sweat in cooler weather.  Since it has been quite cold until the last two days (when it suddenly jumped to 80 degrees!) I've not wanted to wear any rayon.  I had a revelation this week, however, (a real "duh" moment), which was: stop wearing rayon in cold weather, you dummy!  Rayon is quite lovely in hot weather, as it skims the body and stays cool to the touch.  Wrinkles fall out of it, and it feels really nice against the skin in heat.  I think I was just stuck on how I wore my rayons last spring, and for whatever reason, I am feeling the cold much more this year.  My husband keeps calling me a human popsicle.  It is ridiculous.  It is like my core is cold or something.

In the meantime, I have been stalking Instagram for the Carson Dress (to figure out if it was going to work for me as a pattern or if I should try the Fen or Fringe dress instead as they are all similar) and noticed the Art Gallery Kermes rayon challis.  I instantly fell in love with this fabric (and several of the garments that were made from it), but at the price point, I wanted to make sure I had a pattern I loved to pair it with.  My rayon adventures this spring have been...not great.

But I suddenly had a thought--and here's the part where I love a pattern to pieces and start to make it in all kinds of unsuitable fabric in an attempt to make it work for everything. *snort* 

I wondered if my McCall's 7353 would work in rayon.  I knew Colette had made a Myrtle out of rayon, and I also knew that if the pattern had positive ease, it was a good candidate for making in woven.  Rayon has a fair bit of mechanical stretch, which helps too.  Based on my experience with the spruce knit dress (a regular closet favorite at the moment), I knew the pattern did work in a fabric with less than ideal stretch.

I had some unloved rayon in my stash from last summer.  It is from Cotton+Steel's Magic Forest collection, and I had bought it thinking I would love it, and then kind of fell out of love with it.  I had four yards and was flummoxed how best to use it.  I wanted to give it away, but had no takers.  So there it sat.  I thought it would be perfect for a test garment, as I had enough to recut things if I needed to.

And...success!  I did have to recut the entire bodice once, but that was it (and used up almost the entire four yards on this dress because of it), but I'm pretty happy with the result both in looks and fit.  I've been wanting more 3/4 sleeve options in my warm weather closet, since I burn so badly (even through clothing sometimes!) and I'm at high risk for skin cancer.  But it is hard to find the right fabric for such a venture since we don't have central AC.  Rayon is just right because it is light, airy, and doesn't cling. 

I made the following alterations to make the pattern work for a woven:

1. I added 1/2" to all seam allowances on the front bodice pattern (the arms are much narrower on the front than the back).  This includes the bottom bodice, as I wanted to lower the bust line a tad.

2. I added 1/2" to the bottom of the back bodice to match the front.  When I put these together, I ended up with a triangle on each corner that was an inch longer than the front, and my brain can't figure out why.  I trimmed the excess and it worked out, but I'm still puzzling that one.

3.  I added 2.5" to the skirt length (my usual addition)

4. I turned the waist casing down toward the skirt because of a sewing error.  It worked largely because this is rayon.  In a bulkier fabric, I would have had to unpick a bunch of stitches and turn it up.  I used seam binding to finish the edge neatly since rayon frays.  I also used the 5/8" fold over elastic in the casing since I like the way it feels around my middle.

5. This rayon is only 45" wide (unlike most, which are 54-57" wide) so I had to piece the sleeves.  I cut to the elbow sleeve length, and then cut out the pattern piece from the elbow line to the cuff.  I sewed them with 1/4" seam allowance and zig-zagged the edges (I zig-zagged all the seam allowances).

6. I sewed the dress seams at 3/8" (the pattern calls for 5/8") and graded out to 5/8" at the waist on the bodice to make the skirt match up with the bodice.

I'm going to try this with the Kermes.  I may even remake the painted roses or menagerie dresses next year.  Watch this space!

~knitting~

I realized I'm knitting all green things!

I started the Rivel cardigan in Lost Lake Heather Swish (that gorgeous complex olive color I wrote about in my Sherwood Cowl).  I am finding it to be a pretty satisfying knit.  I've been wanting to move away from raglan sleeves, since I'm not super happy with how they fit me, so I specifically looked for a pattern with set in sleeves.  

At least one knitter made this by knitting the sleeves down from the cap in short rows, and I have a book on how to do it, so I'll probably try it.  I was worried about keeping up with the cables, but it is a four row cable pattern and pretty easy to read as I go along.

I'm also working on another simple cowl to go with the Triangle dress.  It is a single skein of Rowan wool I had in my bin from a clearance sale somewhere.  The color is actually quite variegated, but it is hard to see unless you look closely.

This is my Jade Calligraphy cardigan, but I'm seriously considering frogging it for a Rivel if that cardigan turns out well.  So I'm not working on this much right now while I consider options.  

~reading~

I just started Marilynne Robinson's Lila at the good advice of a friend familiar with my novel.  My friend suggested it might prove useful.  So far it is a great read, and almost makes me despair at ever attaining Robinson's craft mastery.  Almost.

I'm also still reading Rodney Stark's Rise of Christianity and highly recommend it.  

~watching~

I have a draft post going on what I've watched in the past five months or so, but for now, I'll just say I'm watching McMafia with the always wonderful James Norton.  There are some issues with the production, but overall, I'm engaged and interested in the story.  I do think it is trying just a leetle bit too hard to be The Night Manager, though.

~listening~

I've been listening to Home Free's Timeless album all week--so good!  Can't stop, won't stop.  I also listened to the Vocapeople's Life is Music when I wanted some variety.  Their album is a hilarious musical odyssey through a bunch of different eras.  Oh, and a bit of Cowboy Junkies and Wailin' Jennys.  But you already knew that.  Fretless is good too.

That's all for me!  Whew!  You made it all the way through.  Go have a chocolate and a nap. 😂

Holy Week & Pascha 2018

Christ is Risen!  Truly He is Risen!

I didn't actually take many photos during Holy Week because I was directing the choir at one of the local parishes here for most of the services.  I had a bit of extra time before the Holy Saturday Vesperal Liturgy to snap a couple of photos of the tomb, which was beautiful.  The liturgy was also beautiful and has really grown on me as I've directed it two years in a row now.  I especially love the Magnificat of that service: Do Not Lament Me O Mother.  (It is also sung on Friday night at the Lamentations).

The Holy Saturday Liturgy just says: "Get ready!  Pascha is coming!" to me in a way that the other services of Holy Week don't (and shouldn't, as the focus of the services in the early part of the week is on the coming Passion on Friday).  

I also watched The Passion on Friday night, as has become my Holy Week tradition since my girls are still too young and squirrelly to make it through the long Thursday and Friday night services.  (We go to the first 20-30 minutes and then head home so they can go to bed.  I also take them to the Vespers on Friday afternoon, which lasts an hour).  The movie always puts me in the right headspace for those days. (And yes, I want to see the new Paul movie!)

Our home parish leaves the shroud (called the plashinitsa in Russian, epitaphios in Greek) in the middle of the church until the start of Midnight Office at 11:15 p.m.  (There are differing cultural practices about when the shroud goes into the altar; some parishes bring it into the altar earlier in the evening).  Since I attended the Holy Week services at local parishes, it was nice to venerate the shroud at our home parish just before the Paschal celebration.

Reading the Gospel outside the church doors at 11:50 p.m. or so.  Father David bangs on the door shortly after that to say: "Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in!" and then someone inside says: "Who is this King of Glory?"  and Father David says: "He is the King of Glory!" They do this exchange three times (because we never do anything just once in the Orthodox Church!) and then Father says: "The LORD of hosts, He is the King of Glory!" and the doors spring open, and we go inside.  All the lights are on and we sing "Christ is Risen from the dead, trampling down death by death, and upon those in the tombs bestowing life!"

It is wonderful.  (It was also very cold outside this year--below freezing!  I was wearing a heavy sweater, woolen scarf and a down coat with tall boots and I was still cold)  Ponchik was heavily wrapped as well but was still shivering inside my coat.

The church is so so bright after the darkness of the Midnight Office and the dark colors of Holy Week.

The Gospel reading of the Liturgy:

Red eggs for Pascha! (I bought The Miracle of the Red Egg for our burgeoning Pascha book basket this year).

I set up a little Paschal season tableaux on my living room cabinet.  Some of the eggs are from Russia, others I've just collected here and there.

Someone sent us that card a few years ago so I framed it and put it out each year.  I really love those folk art prints.  I have a bunch of the Christmas ones that I put up for Nativity.

Eggs!

These are wooden, by the way, not proper pysanky.  I'd love to make some real ones some day.

I also put up my Paschal greeting window clings.  The right windows are in English, Russian, Greek, and Arabic.

The left windows are in Latin, Dutch, Georgian, and Romanian.  There is an Orthodox etsy seller who makes them.

And I'm sure you are all dying to see my Pascha dress. *snort*  I did get it done in time, but I had to wait until Holy Monday to actually sew it together because spring break (which fell during the 6th week of Lent) was abso-freakin-lutely nuts.

So another M7353 (are you surprised?) in Robert Kaufman Laguna Jersey.  I really like this jersey, because it is a nice weight, has the right amount of stretch, isn't see-through, and handles quite well.  It comes in a bunch of colors and I'd like to make a navy one later this year to replace a navy knit eshakti dress that doesn't suit my style any more.

I went with the Ladybug colorway, but I do wish I had gone with the regular red, as this was a bit more to the orangey-red than I really wanted.  I love a true blue-red but I didn't have time to swatch it.  But it was still good.  When this dress bites the dust, I'll get the regular red colorway to replace it.

The upside of this particular shade was that it coordinated very well with my Pavlovo-Posad woolen scarf from Russia that I bought years ago.  (It has a few moth munches on one corner now, but I keep wearing it anyway).  Because it was freezing!

I had on peacock-teal tights, which matched the blue in the scarf too.  Because I'm matchy-matchy like that.  😂

As has become my Paschal tradition, I put Home Free in the CD player on my way home from church yesterday, and listened to their new Timeless album (It is GREAT!)  The kids and I got donuts on the way to school this morning, and I had my first hot coffee in a while.  

It is a good Bright Monday.

Christus is opgestaan!

Hij is waarlijk opgestaan!

(Dutch)

Palm Sunday Jumpers

Last year, I made the girls green dresses for Palm Sunday (and another set for Pentecost).  Apparently, Birdie liked that a lot, and two weeks ago, asked me what the Palm Sunday dresses were going to be for this year.  I said I hadn't made anything and she responded definitively: "I want a green dress with ferns on it."  I told her that it was a bit late for ordering new fabric, and besides, I didn't think I would have time.  She was so disappointed that I put my thinking cap on and remembered a short length of bull denim in my stash.  

I bought it a few years ago for a fitted skirt and then didn't end up liking the color.  The fabric has been sitting ever since.  I've taken it out to donate more than once, but it always ended up going back in the bin.  There was *just* enough to squeak out two jumpers.  (I had to cut Ponchik's on the cross-grain, but it didn't seem to matter with this fabric).  I omitted the facings and just bound all the edges with bias.  Worked a charm and the girls were super happy with them.  

The pocket was a last minute addition, as both girls wanted pockets, but I couldn't get the scale right to put two functional pockets in the front and I was in a rush and didn't want to dig out the kanga pocket from their S8101 summer dress pattern, so they had to make do with one.  Turned out pretty well!  I will say, this fabric handled very well, but it frayed like nobody's business.  I'm still finding little green threads all over the place!

We are in Holy Week now, and it is a busy time for us.  I'm hoping to sing the Hymn of Kassiani tonight, Byzantine style, so I need to practice that, as it has been some years since I last sang it. (Pray for me!  It is a difficult piece of music to do well).  

Good strength to everyone running this last leg of the race!  It's Friday, but Sunday's coming!