OAL 2015: Don't Let The Bird Do The Dishes Dress and White Sunshower Cardigan

*Warning - I fully believe that the size of the post/number of pictures included should be proportional to the size of the project. This is two projects in one. You have been warned.*

I almost can't believe it myself, but it is true ... I managed to finish my entry for the Outfit Along by the deadline! Sure, I posted my pictures on the final day, but hey that still counts, lol. So... this is my outfit.

Obligatory front and back shots.

The Outfit Along was hosted by Andi Satterlund and Lauren of Lladybird, and it involved making a dress and a sweater to be worn together (an "outfit" if you will) over a 2 month period. You could choose any patterns, you just had to make an "outfit" that involved knitting and sewing and have it submitted by July 31st. I ran into a few snags with my first choice, causing me to find myself a month into the challenge with no sweater started. I raided my stash, and picked a newly released pattern by Andi for my sweater and got to work. This means I managed to finish this whole outfit in less than 1 month!

Realistically I will wear this sweater open most of the time.

My timeline was pretty tight for a person who works full time and has lots of other obligations that take her time. Mostly I was only able to knit on the weekends, with a few weeknights in the beginning. Happily, this pattern is deceptively simple and I've already made several of Andi's patterns (meaning I know how to make them fit me), so I was able to knit it quickly with no fuss.

So, let's talk about the dress first :)

This dress has been floating in my brain for quite a while. I picked up 3 yards of this ridiculous...ly awesome fabric at The Sewing Studio's mega sale in July of 2014. The fabric was a bit of a splurge for me, but it was just so ludicrous I had to get some. I was really inspired by the dress that Sewing Pies made out of this fabric for the first year of Sew Dolly Clackett, and I had to be part of the club. The Birds Doing Dishes Club. This fabric is called Don't Let The Bird Do The Dishes and is by Michael Miller Fabrics. It's a quilting cotton, but it's worth using solely for its print.

To make my crazy bird dress dreams a reality, I reached for what has become a tried and true pattern of mine - Simplicity 1419. The entire dress is from this pattern, but I decided to switch things up this time (this is my 3rd iteration) and use the scoop neckline from Simplicity 1873 in hopes that it would make the dress a bit cooler for the insane Florida summer I'm currently living through. Ugh.

There's a bird nesting on my boob!

I'm honestly thrilled by how this dress turned out - certainly my best version so far from this pattern in regard to both fit and attention to detail. I did make one hiccup though ... I made the pleats go the wrong direction, which means that center box pleat section above my torso hugs my tummy a bit more in the front than I would like. I didn't realize this until everything was sewn together and the seams finished, so I was not about to rip it out. It's still a full skirt, so it doesn't really bother me.

I did my usual construction with this dress - finished the insides with pinking sheers, top stitched hem, side seam pockets, etc. I did take quite a bit of care with the pattern placement and lining up on this dress. I didn't have enough fabric to match such a large scale print completely, but I made sure that the purple swagged dish drying lines were lined up at the side seams as well as across the sleeves. I also took care not to have a "bird headlights situation" across the front bodice - instead I just picked a bird that I liked that was usable given my fabric constraints and made him a bit off center. Due to the scale of the print, he's kind of the main bird you see at first.

To a more experienced seamstress, this will sound silly, but it makes me feel so accomplished - ALL my seams and darts line up perfectly. I had to make a lot of changes to the pattern to get it fitting me, which left me with side seems and darts that did not line up with each other. Each dress I've made has been out of a crazy novelty print, so no one has ever noticed but it really bugs me every time I think about it. This time I was determined to lined everything up, and I am so happy that it worked out. I had to document this achievement by taking pictures of each seam, lol. The photo on the bottom left is my waist seam at the zipper - oh yeah!

Speaking of the zipper, it took a few tries this time with get thing things lined up properly, but all that ripping out paid off in the end. I used a 22" invisible zipper with a white pull and it really is invisible :) Funny how that's always thrilling, huh? I finished the top with a hook and eye as per usual.

I love how clean my insides turned out even though I only finished things off with pinking sheers.

I also decided to leave off the facing (again) and use bias tape on the neckline. I really just hate facings in clothing - they itch and never want to stay where they should on me. The bias tape gives me a clean finish with nothing tickling my chest as I wear the finished product. The bias tape was a pre-made pack I picked up at a thrift store for 25 cents who knows when.

I love so much about how this dress turned out - definitely a winner for me. I know this will be another great conversation starter piece ... once the weather cools down enough to not want to rip it off after an hour. We are heading into the "ugly hot" time of year here, and it is so muggy and humid that I don't even want to think about it. Anyway, this dress will get a lot of wear in the fall and winter.

Now onto the sweater :) I went with Andi's new pattern, Sunshower from her Quiet Days collection for Knit Picks. It's designed with negative ease to give a fitted look, and it has an all-over lace body. I did my usual fitting equation for this sweater (Large bust and sleeves, XLarge waist) and it worked a treat. I love that her patterns are so easy to meld sizes with - I just did fewer decreases at the waist so that I ended up with the number of stitches for the XL size. No fancy math required :)

I think my favorite part of this sweater is the lacy detail along the bottom hem - sometimes it looks like hearts, other times it looks like leaves - either way it't really pretty :) The all over lace design is incredibly easy to do and was quick to memorize. I ended up using 3.3 skeins (685 yards) of Lion Brand Cotton-Ease in Marshmallow from my stash for this sweater that I've had in my stash since January (and I got a sweet deal on it, which is even better). I'm hoping that the cotton yarn and lacy design will help this sweater not be too warm for Florida. We shall see :)

The side of the body and underside of the sleeve have 4 rows of straight stitches that hold the decreases, and I love how pretty and uniform this makes the whole side look. I also made the sweater several repeats longer in the waist since I have a long torso and I wanted it to hit at my actual waist.

I chose some pretty white plastic rose-shaped buttons from my stash because I thought they went well with the overall girly theme of the lace and possibly leaf design along the bottom. The button band was the only section of the pattern that had any issues - I had to change the spacing of the button holes to get the top button at the V point in the knitting. This wasn't a difficult change, but it's worth noting if anyone else runs into the same issue. I put 12 stitches between each button hole, just for the record.

And now onto one of my favorite parts of this sweater ... the button bands! These came out so pretty that I seriously want to rip this baby open and show them off to everyone. Or wear the sweater inside out just so they can be fully appreciated, lol.

I followed Lauren's tutorial on how to back the bands with Petersham ribbon. I've used this method once before (on my Minty Miette cardigan), but my efforts were foiled by crappy ribbon. I had no idea that there were different qualities of ribbon back then, but it makes sense now - ribbon is just like fabric in that it's made of natural and synthetic materials. This time around, I hunted high and low locally for real rayon Petersham ribbon, but no one had any that I could find. I turned to the internet and was rescued by Britex Fabrics of all places. There prices seemed just like buying the cheapy ribbon at Joann's to be honest, and this was the real deal. I was ecstatic! To make the most of the shipping cost, I bought enough ribbon for all the cardi's I've previously made as well as this one. My non-gaping button dreams can now be realized! Anyway, if you have ever wondered about trying out this technique, DO IT! I'm really amazed at how pretty this looks inside, and the rayon is nice and smooth to the touch. I machines stitched my button holes (without interfacing the ribbon), secured all the holes and the ribbon ends with fray check, and hand sewed the ribbons in place. This took a few hours to accomplish completely, but it's so worth the time to not look like I'm busting out of my sweater since it's a fitted style. Petersham button bands forever!

So, if you can't tell yet, I am totally thrilled that not only I was able to finish such a large project by the deadline in spite of various difficulties and time-sucking real life duties, but also that I have such a cute outfit added to my closet! Let's just be real - a white cardigan goes with everything, so I know I will get a ton of use out of this piece, and the dress is a long time plan come to fruition. Thanks so much to Andi and Lauren for hosting this knit/sew along. I tried to participate the first time, but life got in the way, so I'm really proud I was able to get it all done. I can't wait to make another awesome outfit next year!

Dress Summary:
Fabric: 3 yards of Don't Let the Bird Do the Dishes quilting cotton by Michael Miller Fabrics - $18.50
Pattern: Simplicity 1419 with Simplicity 1873 neckline
Notions: 22" white invisible zipper - $1.50, light blue bias tape - thrifted $0.25, hook and eye - stash (free)
Hours: 10
Total Cost: $20.25

Sweater Summary:
Yarn: 4.31 skeins of Lion Brand Cotton-Ease in Marshmallow - $16.00
Pattern: Sunshower Cardigan by Andi Satterlund, $2.00
Notions: 4 Buttons from Joann's - $2.20, Rayon Petersham Ribbon from Britex Fabrics - $2.25
Time to Make: 1 month
Total Cost: $22.45

WIP Wednesday: The Light At The End ...

You guys! I am going to finish my cardigan in time! It's a small miracle, sure, but I am thrilled :) I really buckled down this weekend - Saturday night I did the short row shaping on my second sleeve, then Sunday I knitted the entire sleeve AND the button band. This is crazy speedy for me - just shows you what true desire and dedication can accomplish :) So, on Monday morning, my sweater looked like this:

 Sorry for the crappy photo, but you get the idea - lots of tails to weave in, blocking to be done. You know, the usual "after work" of sweater making. I also had quite a few nasty spots in my yarn that had to be deep cleaned out. The yarn just came that way, but I figured it would wash out when I went to block it - nope, I had to pull every trick I could think of and after 2 days of soaking with various cleaners, tide stain remover powder + dawn dish soap paste won the day. The glory of this yarn is that it's machine washable, so after soaking out the stains I just put it in the washer for a white load and let the washer spin out the excess water. This was SO MUCH EASIER than squeezing the sweater in a towel before blocking and it left the sweater much drier than any previous sweaters I've made. So it doesn't take 3 years to dry due to the lovely Florida humidity. Hooray!

I laid the sweater out last night and I actually didn't even have to pin it in place! Man, I love cotton yarn :) I was weary of getting rust spots from the blocking pins like I have in the past, so I just stretched it to the size I needed and let it lay there. This morning, it was drier, but not totally dry so I decided to go rogue and set it up like this:

Since the cotton was already stretched, I figured it couldn't hurt to dry it on my drying rack so it gets good air flow. Hopefully this does the job and I have no problem backing the button bands tonight after work - after that this baby will be FINISHED! Huzzah! Also, I have my dress done as of Saturday night, so I will get pics of this tomorrow, then post them on Friday, the 31st - just under the deadline! Yay!

Since my sweater is done, I decided I'd earned a cutesy palette cleanser last night. Last week, I went thrifting in Melbourne and hit a major yarn score - 36 skeins of brand new (with the bands and in factory bags) yarn ... and they were only 25¢ each! I couldn't throw those babies in my cart fast enough, let me tell you. I even got 6 skeins of Bernat Dippity Dots in the white colorway, which is a yarn I've always wanted to try but always talked myself out of buying at $3.99 a skein when I have such a crazy stash already. But for 25¢ ... I think I can justify that, don't you? I was itching to try this yarn out, so I brainstormed in my pattern stash and decided to make something ridiculously adorable.

I will confess, this is not my favorite yarn to crochet with - those dots make things pretty complicated. Most of the dots end up on the wrong side of the work just due to how crochet stitches are formed, so I just turned each piece inside out :) It sounds strange, but it actually feels the same - the biggest difference is that normally I would be looking at the stitch from the outside of the animal, but this time I'm forming the stitches from the inside of the tummy (hopefully that makes sense). I haven't managed to get all of the dots on one side of the work, but there are definitely more on the side you can see here. I love the effect, so I'm willing to put up with the perschnickity yarn. The yarn is also a weird gauge - it's listed and sold as Worsted weight, but the yarn itself is more like a sport weight, so I'm using a size F hook and I had to pick a very light worsted weight for the contrasting color. Anyway, this is going to be my entry for the Ami-Along (I may make more entries, but this is it so far). I'm not sure if it will get finished tonight, but it certainly will be in the next few days. I can't wait! 

So, that's it around here this week :) I feel like I can breathe a bit, and now I can focus on my other long standing WIPs. Of course this hasn't stopped me from planning another new project, but I'll say more about that soon. For now, head over to Gracey's Goodies to see what others have going on :)

WIP Wednesday: Crunch Time!

Well, progress has been made...

Yes, that is a sleeve :) I'm glad I have noticeable progress to show, but I'm definitely worried about finishing this baby in time to get pictures of it next Thursday so I can meet the OAL deadline. And I still have to make my dress ... which I haven't started ... lol. You can't rush, you know. I'm happy to report that the fit is really nice on this cardi - I'm just hoping that it doesn't stretch out too bad being made of cotton. We shall see.

I also managed to do a little home improvement last night by hanging a bathroom cabinet that I've had for over a year. Again, you can't rush. In my defense it was a much more complicated job than I would have been able to do on my own, so my dad came and hung it for me while I assisted. Now I have a cabinet! And more importantly the built cabinet is no longer getting in the way and being moved around everywhere. Hooray!

On the reading front, I am almost finished with The Astronaut Wives Club. Being from the Space Coast, I am always interested in stories like this. I only just found out that they have made a TV series of this book and I am actually pretty bummed about that. Just the girls that they cast as these women made me a bit upset - all the actresses are a good 10 years younger than the women in this picture and they all are done up like Don Draper's girlfriends. It's sad that they had to deem these ladies in need of being sexed up for TV. Anyway, all the more reason I'm not a big TV watcher. *End Rant*

So that's what I'm up to - frantic knitting! Head over to Gracey's Goodies to see what others are making :)

WIP Wednesday: Oh, It's Just A Body Body Body ...

Does anyone else know that song? I thought I was pretty clever with my title today, lol. Random indie music for the win! Anyway, I've made some noticable progress on my OAL sweater ...

 I finished the body last night! Woo hoo! I find this stage as the deceptively encouraging stage in sweater making - it feels like you should be mostly finished, but in reality it takes just as long as making the body to make the sleeves and button bands. Oh well, I still can't help but feel excited :)

I particularly love how the lace bottom has that scallop going on and hat the ribbing extends into those scallops. Isn't it pretty? This is the Sunshower Cardigan by Andi Satterlund, and I'm really loving it so far :)

I've also been on a t-shirt sewing kick lately. I've sewn 3 shirts this week and made an alteration to one. Sadly, I will only wear one of the me-made shirts and the altered one, but two out of three ain't bad either! The two "unwearable" ones were experiments with new patterns and self-drafted pieces, so I wasn't too hear broken about them. One is just too crazy plus the fit is off and I just don't like it enough to mess with it more, the other came out really well but I didn't account for the fabric having less stretch than normal so it's more snug than I would like. Anyway, I'm hoping to photograph these soon so I can put them up here - stay tuned for t-shirt time!

I've been zipping right through books lately, and now I"m onto The Woman In White by Wilkie Collins. The audiobook I have is read by several actors, one of whom is Roger Rees, oddly enough. He just passed away last week, so I'm going with it that I'm listening to this book in homage :) It's been interesting so far.

That's it on the making front this week :) Head over to Gracey's Goodies to see what others are making up!

WIP Wednesday: Here's Hoping For A Quick Project ...

In true Megan fashion, I have been very absent on my blog again as far as my crafting goes. It seems that I finish things in groups and then run out of things to blog about while I make more, you know? Well, this week I have actual progress to show :)

Last time I reported on the Outfit Along, I was telling my plans and how excited I was about new yarn for the project. When the yarn arrived, I excitedly started swatching thinking all would be fine ... only to discover that this yarn that was sold as a sport weight is actually much closer to fingering weight. It did not seem to matter what I did, my gauge was WAY smaller than the pattern called for. I was so busy with my birthday and other goings on that I just set the project aside, feeling guilty that I hadn't started yet when I only had 2 months to finish this sweater. I was bummed to say the least. Last weekend though, Andi Satterlund released a new collection, Quiet Days, through Knit Picks and I knew exactly what I wanted to do :)

This past Sunday, I cast on the Sunshower cardigan, a cute lacy number with 3/4 sleeves. I'm knitting it up with some Lion Brand Cotton-Ease in Marshmallow from my stash and it's moving along quite nicely - as much as I know I need thinner sweaters, I love how fast things make up in worsted weight yarn. I've really only worked on this for a few hours and I already have the body joined and going :) The glory of making up (yet another) Andi Satterlund pattern is that I know exactly what I need to do to her patterns to get them fitting me (large bust and sleeves with extra large waist), so I don't have to hassle with swatching, plus I already had the yarn in my stash that had no definite project lined up for it yet - it was just meant to be! 

I love how simple the lace pattern is on this - I mean, it's just evenly spaced holes. I know things will seem to go slower from this point on, but I am very enthused with the progress I've made in just 3 days. Hopefully I am able to whip this one out by the end of the month to be part of the OAL. As a side note, I seriously want to make everything in that Quiet Days collection. Check it out if you haven't yet!

I'm also planning on contributing a project to Mandalas for Marinke. I was so taken aback when I scrolled through my blog reel Monday morning and read Wink's sister's sad announcement on her blog. I've always loved seeing the pretty things that Marinke (Wink) crochets, and I even won an awesome giveaway from Wink last year ... meaning that I talked to her myself. She seemed like such a fun and lovely person, and the world is a sadder place without her. Mandalas for Wink is a project arranged to promote awareness of depression, and we are all going to make up a mandala using one of the patterns that Wink herself designed. I'm sure she would be thrilled to see her work used for such a good cause. I just have to choose which pattern to make up :)

On the literary front, I have been absolutely sailing through books lately. I've finished 4 this past week and will probably finish this latest one today. I even sound crazy to myself. Today's read is a quick one I've wanted to get for quite a while, Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris. I just love him, seriously, his books are just so dang funny. This is the 4th book of his that I've read, and it is certainly not a disappointment - I can't believe I haven't picked this up before now. I've been laughing most of the day reading it :)

I've also sewed a failed muslin this week for a dress I planned ages ago - the muslin was seriously so big that it wasn't even an option to just take things in a bit. I have to start completely from scratch in a smaller size. Ugh. I've decided to wait and clean up my sewing room first though. It's gotten pretty junky in there, especially when you add my epic birthday gifts (which I can't wait to show off) - all the more reason to clean things up, so I can brag, lol.

So that's everything this week :) Head over to Gracey's Goodies and see what others have in the works.

Big Craftsy Memorial Day Sale (Just In Time For the Outfit Along!)

So, my favorite yarn supply store is having a sweet sale, and I just had to post about it.

Craftsy is not only a great place for online classes on different crafts - it's also a fantastic place to get good deals on yarn, fabric, and art supplies. They get new items all the time, and always put them up at much less than their retail elsewhere - going even lower during special holiday sales like this weekend. I had to take a look around, and I got a sweet deal on the perfect yarn for an upcoming project:

I will be participating in the Outfit Along 2015 hosted by Andi of Untangling Knots and Lauren of Lladybird. I tried to participate last year, and I halfway did, life and gauge problems just got in the way and I did not finish in time. This year, I feel much more able to actually meet the deadline since I have a few dress patterns already fitted to me and ready to go. The OAL does have some "official" patterns (McCall's 6887 and Vianne), but those are just the ones that will be shown on either of their blogs and you are welcome to use other patterns - the only requirement is that you finish a dress and a cardigan from June 1st to July 31st. This option of choosing something else works great for me since I have such a crazy time making multiple muslins to get things to fit me. 

So, I will be knitting a Briar Cardigan (shown above) in white and sewing a novelty print Simplicity 1419 with an altered neckline. The 1419 pattern is my go-to at the moment since I've already fitted the daylights out of it, and the Briar may seem really boring but I am SO in need of a plain short sleeve white cardigan in my wardrobe. I have literally dozens of things to wear such a simple sweater with and I am constantly wishing I had one, so now I will :)

This weekend's Craftsy sale is really what made this sweater a possibility because I was able to grab the perfect yarn - FibraNatura Cotton True Sport in Marshmallow - for only $2.75 per skein! I was able to get all the yarn I needed for less than $18 including the shipping. Awesome! I love a good deal. I've read really good things about this yarn, and since it is Pima Cotton I know it will be nice and soft - also the sport weight will be a nice thickness for Florida weather. I'm really excited to get this in my hands :)

So, this is me officially joining in the throng for the Outfit Along. I hope that if you decide to join in that the Craftsy sale helps you on your way as well!