Sticking with my current obsession with stripes and double pointed needles, I decided to work up some fingerless mittens. I didn’t put much planning in and unfortunately I paid the price.
I looked for a pattern online with roughly the same type of yarn and used their stitch counts and general approach but I didn’t check the hand size they were aiming for and I didn’t knit a gauge swatch (oops).
My own wrist is very thin and I have a long palm and hands. I tried the first mitten on as I was making it. I could see that it wasn’t looking quite right and I made a few adjustment because I was keen on the stripes and trying out the yarn. When the first mitten was done it floated around on my hand! I tried it on a friend’s hand and she also found it awkwardly proportioned. Oh dear. Perhaps I could shrink and felt them, I thought, so I made the second one anyway.
The pair of freshly knit mittensThe pair of mittens after attempted felting.
I’ve never felted anything before so after some googling for instructions I gave it a try and, while it might not appear so from the photos above, the mittens have shrunk a touch so they’re not as large as they were but they are still roomy. The wrist area above the ribbing is still too wide. The shape of the mitten between the wrist and the thumb does not follow the shape of a human hand. The thumb hole feels slightly tight and awkward. And they don’t even look felted! Continue reading →
I have a big stash of small fabric pieces that I’ve generated and that my mum has kindly donated to me from her sewing projects and I decided that it’s time to reduce the stash and put the pieces to use. I sorted some of the stash in to separate ziplock bags based on their main colour and I started experimenting. Continue reading →
Time for a new bag, I decided to try out Morning by Morning’s Sling Bag Tutorial.
It was an afternoon project and I found the instructions easy to follow. A few tips from my attempt:
Three pockets instead of four – I decided to only have one pocket on the outside (or what I expect to be the outside most often because the bag is reversible).
Casing for the elastic – The first pocket I made up was one for the inside just in case it didn’t work out very well, and, to be honest, I wasn’t happy with the approach of stitching the hem to the elastic because the white elastic was a little visible. If the pocket hung open then the elastic might be seen. I decided to create a casing for the elastic on the other pockets and I think they look better.
Length of the elastic – My pockets look more slack than the ones in the tutorial. Perhaps my elastic was not strong enough or I didn’t attach the pockets correctly. If I try this tutorial again, I’ll use shorter elastics and try to position the top corners of the pocket better so it creates more a secure, puckered pouch.
No handle tube – I only folded one of the strap ends inside itself to create a kind of hem, then slid the other one inside and sewed a few stripes on top as decoration.
Top-stitch after the joining the handle – Because I didn’t have the handle tube, I top-stitched around both sides of the handle after the handle was joined.
I wish I’d used a magnet clasp – It’s a sizable bag and if it’s full then it will need to swing behind me to rest against my back. I might add a decorative closure of some sort to keep the bag from gaping open.
I found a free bag tutorial from Free Time Frolics for a Tag Along Tote. I’m quite happy with the end result but a few things I learned along the way:
Paper pattern size – when I printed the pattern, I had some doubts about whether my printer had changed the size of it because it may have been created in letter size rather than A4 size paper. I decided not to worry about altering it and went ahead anyway. Continue reading →
I had a slightly failed attempt at sewing a mobile phone pouch. I took a little inspiration from Quiltish’s Phone Case Design Process and Katie’s Quilting Corner’s Easy Lined Pouch Tutorial. A few things I learned:
Measuring is important. My pouch is too large. I was being overly generous with my seam allowances and didn’t check it enough as I went along to reduce it to a reasonable size.
Think about how it will be used. The flap isn’t functioning well – it has a tendency to pop out from underneath the elastic that’s intended to hold it in place. A tighter fitting pouch or a longer flap might have solved this problem. Continue reading →
Adventures while trying to make random things for fun by Niina (aka Give Me A Crown).
