Basically a sweatshirt...but call it fashun

It seems like every spring I make a number of sewing mistakes, or have a string of outright fails.  Happily, today's makes are not fails, but they both emerged from mistakes.  (Incidentally, this outfit came together exactly how I saw it in my head, so I'm pretty pleased with that).

I found some beautiful sage-green cotton terry from Birch Organics and thought to make another Toaster, since my chili one is a nice spring piece, and we're having quite a few days lately where a wool sweater is not the thing. When the fabric arrived and I realized it was 70" wide (70! inches! wide!), I knew I could make a Toaster dress if I wanted to. I used the Coco dress as a guide for the bottom piece and blended the top and bottom together. I figured if it looked terrible, I could always cut it off at the waist and add the bottom band back in for my original plan.

After wearing the chili Toaster a handful of times, I thought it felt a bit too roomy--I think the Tencel content gives it more stretch than the wool-cotton blend on my first one, and I wanted to experiment with a slightly smaller fit without printing a new pattern size.  I sewed the seam allowances on the top portion at 1/2" (the pattern calls for 3/8") and graded out to 3/8" below the waist, then to 1/4" on the skirt portion.  

Well friends, the Toaster dress looked terrible. I don't know if it was the fabric, or the color, or the fit or what, but it was not happiness. The fit on the top was fine--just the right amount of ease and fit, but the skirt part looked off. So I didn't even hem the thing and just measured and cut to length, and then cut the bottom band out of the top of the skirt portion. For visual interest, I used the wrong side of the fabric on the collar, cuffs, and bottom band, which I like very much.

And the skirt.  My original plan was to make a black version of my quilted sage knit skirt, but the company sent the wrong fabric--a heavy black cotton sweater knit.  After I contacted them about the mix up, the owner offered me several options to fix it, and I decided to keep the sweater knit at a discount and see how it worked instead--variety is the spice of life and all that.  

I thought it would work well with the Elemental Skirt, and so set to it.  I shortened it to the length I was using in the summer, and also straightened some of the pegging near the knees to give myself a bigger walking stride.  It's still pegged, but not as severely.  I added 3/4" to the front and back of the skirt (essentially grading it up a size and a half instead of my usual 1/2" grade) because my Elemental skirts from last spring are slightly snug right now and I thought this fabric would be unforgiving.  I used a 27" Ban-Rol elastic, which is perfect right now.

My only complaint is that the fabric sheds a TON because of the machine knitting.  I finished the edges more than I usually do on a knit for that reason.  The waistband was also slightly tricky as a result.  But the result is comfortable, smooth, and seems to have good recovery for an all-cotton knit.   In any case, I'm totally happy with this fun spring addition.  

Inside Out

 This make was an exercise in piecing.  I'm not sure it is an entirely successful make (not because of the piecing), but I mostly like wearing it, so I guess it is okay?  

I found some heavy cotton sweatshirt type material in what I thought was going to be a dusty pink color but turned out to be sort of a clayish pink. The reverse side, however, was a nice saturated sienna, so I decided to go with it, as the saturated side looked much better next to my face.

My original intention was a Toaster, but I changed plans after receiving the fabric and decided to try for a Coco instead, since husband really likes my blue wool Coco dress and I thought it would be nice to have another in a brighter color.  

That meant I was a bit short on the yardage, but I figured if I'd made it with the same short yardage in the wool version, I could do it with this.

I'm not really sure why it was harder to make the pieces fit on the yardage, but I had to piece the sleeves to even get to 3/4 length, and at that point, I figured I might as well piece all the way to long sleeved cuffs.  I ended up taking off the last piece to turn inside out for a contrast cuff, which I like better than my original iteration.  

I also pieced a reverse border to get the extra length I lacked.  I thought about turning the neckline to the outside for the same contrast there, but decided against it since that clay color really isn't great next to my face.  

I do kind of like the texture of the fleecy outside and smooth knit inside (which admittedly is less warm than I anticipated, but will make for a decent shoulder season piece). 

Given the hot flash issues, it was probably the right call.  I recently thrifted an oversize sweater that I think will look good with it and warm it up more.  

Legacy Stash

My husband's seamstress aunt died a few years ago, leaving behind a fair stash of fabric and notions.  (Funny story: the first time she met me, my husband and I had been dating only a few months and she immediately proclaimed that she would make my wedding dress.  It was one of those classic My Big Fat Greek Wedding moments.  In the end, however, my mother made my dress).

Anyway, when we visited one of the cousins last summer, she asked me to look through the stash and take what I wanted. A lot of it was fibers or colors that I knew I'd never use, but there was a generous yard of wool Glen plaid that I took, along with some black velvet that had been sewn into the beginnings of a teeny tiny pencil skirt. 

I'm not sure what I'll use the velvet for, but I decided to make up the Glen plaid into a simple skirt (simple being my one-trick pony).  Given that the limited yardage+plaid, it seemed best to limit seam lines for optimum pattern matching.

I used my trusty Anne Adams 9481 and left off all the waist darts and band, as well as adding back in the center back seam allowance that I had taken out the last time I graded it down.  The pockets are done in a two-part construction that I thought would look bulky in this fabric, so I took a page from the Free Range slacks and used just the back piece and stitched it to the skirt.  I hand stitched some linen bias on the pocket edge to finish it.  In retrospect, I should have extended the top edge of the pocket at least as deep as the facing, but live and learn.  

There was a bit of bemberg left from my wool skirt so I lined this one.  I faced the waistband with bemberg using the Free Range Slacks facing pattern piece.  

The elastic waistband construction uses that of the Elemental skirt.  

It looked weird to top stitch the facing, so I hand stitched it as well as the hem.  I need to steam the front again a few more times, as the fold lines have proved tricky to get out, but hopefully I'll get there in the end.

The top is another 1 yard Coco top with extended cuffs in Marsala cotton jersey knit.  I added an inch of length to the body, just to see if I'd like that better, and I'm not sure--Goldilocks again. 

It feels like it might be on the edge of hitting in an unflattering spot and perhaps my original length would have been better.  Maybe I should split the difference?  I dunno.  I realized that I need to be making a forward shoulder adjustment on tops and dresses, so will try that on future makes for a better fit.

And in the land of Penelope, I finished this sweater after knitting the yoke three times (I know, I know...) but...the sleeves fit like sausage casings and came out much too long.  I knew it was a mistake not to go up a needle size, so I'm reknitting both sleeves.  The neckline is also a bit higher and tighter than I prefer, so I'm also going to tink that back and decrease fewer stitches.  I've pretty much given up hopes of wearing it this season.  Oh well. 

This Present Moment

It's hard to know what to write these days.  I'm deeply grieved by the war (for many different reasons) and find I cannot write about it now, if ever.  The situation is highly complex and I dislike the way that the Narrative About What Is Happening is being twisted to suit simple explanations.  I feel my general lack of agency keenly.

It does feel frivolous to share my sewing and knitting in the present moment, but I like to have a record of it here to refer back to later.  (Sometimes I wonder why I do, since it really serves no one but myself, and I weary of adding my poor voice to the chattering classes, but I find I do not want to quit this space just yet).

A couple of weeks ago, I decided to make another Toaster sweater out of some cotton-tencel French terry from Telio. The price per yard was more than I usually spend, but the Kaufman French terry line has a fair amount of spandex in it, and I didn't think I'd like it in a Toaster sweater.  

I made the same size 10 as before, but shortened the body so I could put the bottom band on it.  The arm-to-hem length is about 11", which I think is a good length.  I'm starting to feel like Goldilocks with my sweater lengths, as I can't quite figure out what I like best.  10.5" is right at my waist, but can pull up the back, and 12" is bordering on frump-town, so 11" feels like a happy medium.  

And on that note, I recently reknit the bottom of my Cypress sweater to add some short rows to the back hem and slightly lengthen the body as well as make it long-sleeved.  Now I'm all: Add All The Short Rows! to my previous knits.

But I digress.  This Toaster is a nice weight, and more sweatshirt-like than my first one, but I've worn it several times since I made it.  It feels like a good transition piece on its own and a decently warm piece with a long-sleeve layer underneath.  

The color is more complex than it photographed--it has an undertone of berry in it that gives the rust a great rich color in person.  Imagine dipping rust in red wine and that will get you close.  I really like it. 

 

The silhouette is perhaps a bit more casual than my usual semi-fitted, but my clothes are all over the place right now with my body shape in flux.  

Talking Tuesday: Theotokos Covers the World

I don't have anything profound to say today, but I do want to share an icon by Ivanka Demchuk.  She is an Eastern Rite Catholic artist in Ukraine, and her work is startlingly beautiful and profound.  Her etsy shop has many different and wonderful prints of her work, and while the post office in her part of the country is closed, she has said she will ship out as soon as possible.

I find her iconography incredibly moving.  I can't stop thinking about the image above in particular, as it seems to me that the Theotokos is absorbing all the chaos of the world below.  In traditional iconography, the first layer of the icon is done in what is called "roskrysh" or chaos.  The egg tempera pigment is left deliberately rustic and mottled, so that when it is applied, there is a grainy character to it, similar to the pigmentation in the circle around the Theotokos.  As the various layers of light are applied on top of that, the roskrysh is absorbed into the higher lights, but still shows through a bit, symbolizing the chaos that underlies all creation.  

Ms. Demchuk's Transfiguration and Appearance of Christ are similarly profound.