FINISHED KNIT No. 2 + Giveaway WINNERS!!

 

I might be now 100 years old, but I've finally finished my second knitted garment.

Let me introduce to you the 'It cannot fail to please' sweater/jumper by Susan Crawford. It's a reproduction of a stunning original knit pattern from 1938.

I'll always be a sewing girl at heart, but goodness gracious I am loving this knitting thing! There is something truly harmonious about wearing something where you have actually made the fabric, and it has taken you more than 80 hours!

It's not something that you just chuck on over your head when you want to wear it, you almost need a freaking ceremony. Or at least someone to throw rose petals at you while you get dressed.

My poor husband.

Pattern Details

It cannot fail to please by Susan Crawford.

Originally from 1938.

This bad boy is sewn with with U.S. size 1 and 3 needles so it takes a loooooooong time, but small stitches just look so neat and pretty don't you think?

Yarn

4 ply Rowan wool in Raspberry (8 skeins).

Size and Fit

I made this in the medium size and dang it, it's a little bit too big! Not noticeably, but enough to annoy me. Since knitting my first ever cardigan the Miette, I've come to realise that I'm a loose knitter. That and I really need to swatch better.

I used slightly more yarn than the pattern said I would need and after I wet blocked I realised that the sweater is just a bit too big. The shoulders are too long, and it's a little bit boxier than I would have liked around the midriff. This pattern would look better on a smaller bust (not much I can do there) but overall I still think it looks pretty great!

Changes

The only change I made was to make the sleeves in a small size as I have pretty thin arms and the sleeves are quite full.

Wet-blocking

This was my first time wet-blocking and I can now completely understand why people were harping on about it's merits! It completely relaxes the seams, sets the stitches and makes your knitting look so much better! Check out this before and after:

You can see this pic and more on my Instagram

See how much flatter and even the pattern is? Genius!

Ravelry

If you are on Ravelry, you can check out more details about my sweater here.

Love

I am in love with the beautiful leaf pattern of this garment. I finished making this top a few months ago and at the time I was so glad to be done with it. Now I miss knitting the repetitive leaf pattern. It's just so pretty and classic looking don't you think? I'm also a lover of all things vintage so I was naturally drawn to this pattern from 1938.

I love the the puffy sleeves and the square shape of the neckline. Looks so pretty with a brooch or a flower!

Styling

I teamed the sweater with my black pencil skirt, a gold brooch and raspberry heels. Oh and red lipstick too of course!

Even though the fit isn't 100% I'm really proud of how it turned out and I'm in love with the style! Susan Crawford has quite a few patterns from this era and I already have about ten that I want to make! Though it's from a different era, I feel like it's the type of sweater that Joan from Mad Men would appreciate, don't you think?

GIVEAWAY WINNERS:

Thanks to everyone who commented on my Billie Jean Dress post. These three lucky winners were randomly selected and have each won a fabulous vintage brooch curtesy of Ruemiraldi!

SewDiane from Sew Far Sew Good
Nat from Sew Outnumbered
Debra from The Vintage Counterfeiter

Congratulations ladies! I'll be in touch with you shortly via email to organise delivery.

Here's a little cuteness for you on your weekend; a dress I made for a dear friend's beautiful 4year old daughter. A self drafted, fully lined dress with a tule underskirt for a perfect little Snow White. Is she not the loveliest thing you've ever seen?

Happy sewing everyone, and May the Fourth be with you :)

Spring Dress - Project Sewn FINAL Week

It's the final week of Project Sewn! Wah!

I feel so honoured to have made it to the final round. Thank you guys so much for following along and voting for me. Please accept one million dollars* as a token of my appreciation.
*invisible money and not actual money.

Project Sewn has gotten me back into the thick of my sewing passion and for that I am so grateful. It has also taken me away from housework. Lets just say that my son Harry is not the only thing growing in my house at the moment. At least now I can take a breather and restore order to our abode. I'm sure my husband would be happy to hear this, if I hadn't lost him a few weeks ago in one of the laundry piles. I'm going to miss that guy.

So for the last time this season, click here to check out the fabulous creations and VOTE for your favourite!

This week the theme was to create something of our own style.
When it comes to looks that define us, I have a bit of a split personality. The great part about being able to sew is that you get to experiment with all different types of looks, and I love many! I lean towards vintage, the 60's in particular with it's feminine silhouettes, but I'm also drawn to modern fashion with architectural shapes and lines. So which one do I choose?

I decided on this little number which is feminine, soft and vintage but yet wouldn't be out of place at a spring event today . The moment I put this dress on I feel like me.

Details

The dress is made using beautiful ivory lace and underlined with satin. Underlining gives the lace structure and stops it from being see through! I took extra time to make sure that the lace patterns lined up and matched on all the pieces. Check out my tutorial here on underlining lace.

I featured the scalloped edge on the skirt hem of the dress and by making little cap sleeves for the bodice.

I made a scoop neck on the front and back of the bodice,  and added soft pleats on the bodice front neckline. The dress is closed down the centre back with an invisible zipper.

I wanted a big full skirt to go with the fitted bodice. I shaped the skirt waist by making small even knife pleats along the waist. This takes longer than gathering the skirt, but it creates an even shape and makes the skirt sit a bit flatter to the stomach instead of foofing out where you don't need foofing.

This dress would be perfect for an afternoon tea party, a garden wedding or the Melbourne Spring Races which is in a few weeks time!

Styling

Earrings: Swarovski (I wore these on my wedding day!)

Brooch: Myers

Belt: Alannah Hill

Shoes: Burgundy sandals from Zara

Thank you again to everyone for your kind words of encouragement and support throughout this competition! It has kept me going on those days when I never thought I would finish in time!

Don't forget to check out the entries and VOTE for the winner! 

Project Sewn Week 2 - The Era Challenge - Butterick 5747

Thank you so so much to everyone who voted for me last week on Project Sewn. I made it through the first round (hooray!!) and now here is my entry for week two's 'Fashion Era Challenge'.

Once again 50% of the vote is up to the public. So check out the other gorgeous outfits and if mine is your favourite I would be TICKLED PINK if you voted for me. Voting closes Thursday 8pm MDT.

For this weeks challenge we had to make a dress from an era of our choice and I chose the 60s. Surprised much?

The 60s is one of my favourite eras for fashion. The range of styles that were introduced in one decade it incredible. In particular I love the fashion at the beginning of this decade. It still had influences from the 50s but with the attitude and boldness of the new time.

The Pattern

To create my look I used Butterick Pattern B5747 which was originally released in the year 1960.

Image on far right from the Butterick Patterns website

I made version A of the pattern and cut it in a straight size 14.

The instructions were pretty straight forward, though they did jump around a bit.

There is a step missing in the instructions! Watch out when you're about to attach the skirt to the bodice/waist band. It skips the step that has you turn in the waist band at the centre front. This will make sense to you if you are making this dress.

Features of the dress

The dress is closed down the centre front with four buttons.

Like a lot of vintage patterns, the dress isn't lined but uses facings.

The dress has a full pleated skirt, a waist band and a gorgeous boxy collar. I made my dress using a thick quilting cotton and added white trim for contrast. I love how it gives the dress a bit more playfulness.

The dress also features a detachable dickey. I've seen some other bloggers wear this dress without the dickey and it looks gorgeous. Unfortunately my dress doesn't look very 'family friendly' when I wear it without!

The beautiful Anna Neah made a similar dress recently but with a different pattern. I'm bananas about her version. It's like we're sewing twins. It freaks me out how much I love everything she makes. If you don't follow her yet you are CRAY CRAY! Check her out!

Changes I made

I'm actually wearing the dickey slightly lower than the pattern design as it overwhelmed my short torso when I was wearing it the original height. It sort of looked like it was choking me!

I also omitted the belt and used one that I already had. I raised the hem slightly to a length that flattered my shape and height better. No other alterations were made to the pattern which is such a nice change!

Styling

I teamed my dress with red lipstick (of course) a beautiful vintage brooch curtesy of the Ruemiraldi store, a red belt and a big bouncy petticoat that I'm a little bit in love with. I love the fullness it adds! I also tucked my hair under to create a sort of faux bob. My hair is a bit long for this era!

Conclusion

That's it, I'm wearing full skirts every day. Just try and change my mind.

Ok so maybe I'm prone to the obsessive, but I feel like a freaking princess in this dress. And the skirt has excellent twirling capabilities. I'm actually a little bit nervous to go out past midnight incase my dress turns to rags and I lose a shoe. It happens.

A special thanks to my parents Beverley and Michelangelo (who totally has The Kinks stuck in his head now) and my sister Angeline who looked after Harry while I sewed like a maniac to get this finished for the deadline. And of course to my wonderful husband/photographer who patiently photographs me even though I inevitably turn into a diva during the process.

Thanks again for all your support! You can vote for me and my dress here.

Rooibos like a BOSS

It felt for a while there that I was the only person in the blogosphere who hadn't sewn the 'Rooibos' pattern by Colette Patterns.

It had been in my stash since I was basically a foetus, but I just kept putting it to the side. Every time I'd go to pull it out all I would hear is 'These aren't the droids you're looking for'. My stash is a Jedi apparently.

Now that I've made it I can't believe that I waited so long; I love it!

I love how flattering this dress is. It's a great transition dress for me as I slooooowly creep back to my old size before I got pregnant.

It has a flirty, feminine shape that doesn't flash too much fleshola. I dare you to say that sentence 10 times fast. Go on ... I'll wait.

I used navy and white cotton drill for my dress with red and white striped piping. I was inspired by the original Rooiboss dress on the Colette site with the white piping. I like how the red and white stripe makes it a tad more nautical!

I tried out a few new swear words trying to get the piping to sit right around the sharp corners of the collar. In the end I just made the corners curved and it worked. Yay! You can of course make the pattern without piping and then there's no problems. I do love though how the piping really adds to the playfulness of the dress.

The dress has a raised waistline which hugs the body. It has a beautiful curved back neckline and gorgeous flattering pockets that sit on a gored skirt.

The only change I made to this dress was to do a (massive) full bust adjustment (FBA) which in my case could be called a full breastfeeding adjustment. The irony is I can't really wear this dress until I stop breastfeeding as there's no real access to the bobby-ta-tas.

I styled the dress with a red belt to break up the solid colour, a cute vintage brooch and some fabulous Melissa shoes

If you're curious about how I did my hair, I was inspired by this mini tutorial on one of my Pinterest boards.

So what do you think?
Have you got a pattern you put off making and then fell in love with once you finally made it? I'd love to hear about it!