I’ve been meaning to learn how to knit a top and, with summer coming on, I’ve been looking at beautiful cotton and linen sleeveless tops posted to Ravelry. I’ve been daunted by the idea of using up a lot of beautiful yarn and ending up with something wonky and shonky but it was high time to give it a go. Continue reading
Spring is heating up in Sydney (we’ve just had two days in a row that hit 32C/90F!) and I’ve finally caved in and tried to take photos of my granny triangle shawl.
I first mentioned this granny triangle shawl in January, but among travels and distractions it was a project that I would pack away for weeks and then return to for a few evenings before packing away again. While it was easy to work on (a perfect companion to watching films on TV) I was also keen to spend time experimenting with other yarn projects. Continue reading
After writing my holiday-time sewing catch-up, I was inspired to give the Newlook 6872 skirt pattern another try, this time in a fox-patterned Japanese Lawn that I had also bought from Spotlight. When I began the project I realised I was working with a large pattern that would need some planning so I wanted to share a few things I learned along the way.
1. Use a visual cue from the pattern to ensure a straight cut.
I used the tops of the foxes ears at the top of my skirt piece to make sure my fabric and pattern were straight. If you’re cutting pieces on a fold, make sure that you’ve aligned the back and front of the fabric and pinned it before you lay down your pattern to avoid any slips on the back.
Make sure the visual cue you use has enough room for the seam allowance. You’ll see at the end of this post that when I’ve attached the waistband I’ve chopped off the heads from this top row of foxes (oops!). It doesn’t look too obvious due to the gathering in the waist but ideally I should have cut the fabric a little higher.
Over the past few months I’ve tried sewing some clothes from patterns. I’ve done this a few times before with okay results but I want to get better and do this more regularly. These particular patterns aren’t very difficult but I’ve found that it helps to read through all the instructions before beginning and to measure well.
Continue reading