FO: Myrna Blue

When I was almost finished with my Endearment cardigan, I needed a project to take with me on a trip to North Carolina. I'm always nervous about flying with knitting - technically it's allowed, but you never know when you're going to get that one TSA with a power trip and they make you toss your needles of something awful like that. So the Endearment was out of the question - it had been such a long and ongoing project I didn't want to risk losing it. That meant I needed to cast on something new. I had recently thrifted this lovely yarn and really wanted to knit it up, so this sweater was born.

This is the Myrna pattern by Andi Satterlund (sadly, no longer available to buy). I made this once before back in 2014 when it was first released and Andi hosted a knit along. It became quite the turning point in my knitting even though I don't love the finished sweater because I knit almost the whole thing and realized it was entirely too big, so I ripped it all out and knit it smaller. Once you're willing to pull out an entire sweater as a newer knitter, you've turned a corner in your knitting. Anyway, that time I omitted the keyhole in the upper back, but this time I figured "Why not?" and just knit it as written. Does my hair always cover the hole? Yes, but oh well. Since I was knitting this on a plane, I cast on using my cheapest set of interchangeable needles - I had picked up a set of Knitter's Pride Acrylics. I had grabbed these over a year before in the clearance at Hobby Lobby for like $7.50 and never used them because I preferred my wood set of Dreamz. Not wanting to lose my nicer needles, I figured this was the perfect chance to try these needles, and I have to say they were much better than I would have thought. I normally avoid using plastic, but they really behaved similar to the other Knitter's Pride needles, just a bit more grippy, but with this yarn that was fine. I'm pretty happy to have this set for these types of travelling situations.

The yarn is really where this project began. This is Juniper Moon Farms Moonshine - a 40% wool, 40% alpaca, and 20% silk blend. I found 3.5 skeins in a thrift store ... for $2.00!!! I couldn't believe it. I live in Florida, so I rarely find good wool in a thrift store since it's so hot here. I snatched it up as fast as possible and set to finding a pattern. The yarn is soft with a slight halo from the alpaca, which does rub off on black clothing, but that's ok. The Myrna is a short sleeved sweater, and going off the yardage it took the first time I knew I could make this up with the amount I had. I got a lot of knitting done on my trip and managed to cast on and then already have it joined for the body and a few inches knit on the plane ride home.

I had a bit more yarn than I used previously, so I knew I wanted to extend the sleeves. I just knit the entire body like I normally would, then added the neckband, then divided the remaining yarn in half and knit the sleeves as long as possible. I used another one of Andi's patterns with 3/4 sleeves - Vianne - to get the decreasing right. I was able to squeak out the perfect 3/4 sleeve length, so I was really happy with that.

As always, I backed the button band with rayon petersham ribbon - ALSO from a thrift store for so cheap I can't even believe it. I never find actual rayon ribbon locally - I'se always have to order mine from Britex in California - but the same thrift store that had this yarn also had 3 whole spools of the light blue rayon petersham ribbon for $1 each on a different visit. Major score. I happened to be the perfect color and width for this project, so this was really all just meant to be.

The buttons were from my stash and are one of those buttons that has come in handy many times. They tend to match everything really well, so they have been used in many projects. Also they were dirt cheap, so it contributes to the incredibly low cost of this whole project, lol.

 

So that's my Myrna Blue cardigan :) It's turned out to be a great souvenir from my trip, being Carolina blue and all. I wear this a lot more than I anticipated when I made it up, which is always nice. I really enjoyed this whole project, and the price and how quickly it knit up makes it even more fun.

Summary:

Yarn: 3.5 skeins of Juniper Moon Farms Moonshine in the Cotton Candy Blue colorway - $2.00

Pattern: Myrna by Andi Satterlund - $6.50 (but this is the second time making it)

Notions: Rayon Petersham Ribbon - $0.25, 5 iridescent white buttons - $0.25

Time: 2 months

Total Cost: $9.00

FO: Burgundy Melissa Skirt

It feels like this project has been a long time coming, but technically speaking it was only waiting for a few months. I am always on the look out for "Melissa Skirt Fabric" everywhere I shop. My brown version is still a beloved item in spite of its fading and tattered condition (I will be dying is soon just because I love it so much). I made that out of some brown mystery fabric I got from a thrift store and it turned out to be the best possible fabric for this skirt. The fabric feels like a cotton but it doesn't wrinkle much at all, plus it is heavy enough to not show every bump on my body, plus the fit is great and doesn't bag out throughout the day. I've made many other versions trying to replicate the love I have for that brown skirt, all to have them be disappointing due to the fabric. A couple months ago - in another thrift store - I found some fabric that was the closest I've seen. I actually bought an entire comforter bag full of fabric just to get this one piece and I donated the rest immediately back to the store, lol. I knew it was going to be a Melissa skirt, but I just had to wait until I had the time to get it sewn up.

I seriously love this pattern. It's the Melissa Dress and Skirt by Muse Patterns. I really should make up the dress version sometime since that is really the main attraction of the pattern, but I just love this skirt so darn much, guys. It's a lovely gored skirt with a flared shape and awesome pockets. All the skirts I've made with this pattern have been solid colors, so the neat shaped pockets really stand out (and I get compliments on just the pockets all the time). I do have to widen the pocket panel pieces by a 1/2" on each side to get my hands in them comfortably, but with these straight panels it's a super simple adjustment to make. They are even wide enough to fit my very large new phone, which is wonderful. My buttons had to be purchased just for this skirt - it is crazy that with as many buttons as I own tha tI didn't have anything suitable, but in the end I just bit the bullet and bought some new from Hobby Lobby and I'm very happy with them. They are metal and have a filigree design so the burgundy of the fabric shows through them.

I've also perfected the fit of the pack over all my versions - I do an on-the-fly sway back adjustment by angling 1" out at the upper center back seam. This version is the best fit I've ever achieved on the back. This is the first time I've made this pattern up since I got my serger going and oh man, did that make it go faster! Normally I overcast all the seam allowances with my sewing machine and then top stitch them down, which is super time consuming when you take into account how slow overcasting is with a regular machine. This time I just zipped it through the serger and then top stitched without having to change everything on my machine each time. So quick.

And now onto the disappointment of this version :/ I guess it was a trade off since the back fits so nicely - I'm sure you've noticed that the front does not. I technically know why this happened - my waist angles down from my hip over a very short span, not a nice gentle line like most patterns are designed for. This time that meant that my waist turned out a little too big but it's a bit tight over my high hip, causing a rather unattractive dent in my abdomen at the second button. I know how to fix this in theory, but it would take a ton of unpicking and redoing, which I flat out do not have the time to do right now. Maybe sometime in the future I will remove the waistband, increase the curve to the waistband at the sides and on the front gores, then reattach the waistband. Ugh, I am sick of it just typing that up, lol. So we shall see.

Overall, I still enjoy this skirt :) It may not be perfect, but I rarely wear my shirts tucked in so the issues are mainly covered throughout the day meaning I can wear it in spite of its issues. And what a great thing it is to have this skirt! It goes with a surprising amount of tops in my wardrobe, and this fabric is fantastic. It doesn't wrinkle, it drapes away from the body, it's hefty enough to withstand a strong breeze without exposure, and it's still soft and breathable. I have more of this fabric, so maybe down the road I can address all my fit issues and make this again - or maybe just suck it up and fix this one so I can make something else with the excess, lol. Anyway, I'm glad I have another Melissa in my closet and in the perfect color for fall :)

Summary:
Fabric: 1.5 yards mystery cotton blend twill - $1.50 (thrifted)
Pattern: Melissa Skirt by Muse Patterns
Notions: Pellon SF101 fusible interfacing - $1.50, 8 metal shank buttons - $4.27, thread - $3.00
Time:
Total Cost: $ 10.27

FO: Acid Agnes Top Refashion

This feels like a miracle, but I actually have a finished object to post! lol I've missed having something to share, so it's nice to have something to talk about on the ole blog. First up is the first finished - my new Acid Green Agnes Top. Believe it or not, this came to me looking quite different originally:

Yep - this is a refashion, and one I'm pretty proud of. I bought this New York & Co size XS cotton/modal dress at a thrift store well over a year ago (maybe a few years now, to be honest). I bought it for the express purpose of refashioning since it had a lot of fabric to work with (thank you full length) and it was an interesting color. Honestly I think I bought this thinking I would dye it, lol. But time changes our minds on certain things. I had recently finished my Quill Peggy Skirt and I've worn my Lotta Sailor Top with it out of sheer stubbornness. I really don't care for the two items together (though I've worn the Lotta top loads with other skirts). This means my lovely skirt has hung up unworn. Imagine my thrill when I came across this thrifted dress again and discovered it was the exact color of the acid green accents on the Quill print linen :) I immediately set to work to make this into a top specifically for this skirt.

The only interesting aspect of the original dress was the pull string ruching on the sides. There were channels stitched almost the entire length of the dress, so technically you could pull this up to be knee length if you wanted to. The original owner had the ties knotted at a certain length (as you can see). Seeing this ruching ignited my love of a good puffed sleeve. I wanted to make this as part of the The Refashioners 2018 and the prompt this year is just that it needs to be inspired by an image - this is a bit of a different method for me with refashions since I usually just let the available fabric tell me what it needs to be. But since I knew I wanted to use the pull ties on the sleeves and that I wanted a puffed sleeve look, I started searching for inspiration photos and I came away with this top:

photo c/o Miss Selfridge

I love the sleeves on this top - they are puffed and near elbow length, but the rest of the top is very simple and a solid color. Perfect! The only real change I wanted to make was the neckline -  I just don't care for V necks on me - just personal preference. I decided to use the Agnes Top pattern by Tilly and the Buttons to recreate this look but with my preferred scoop neck. Since I was limited on fabric, I just had the little added suspense to find out if I could make the pattern pieces fit. It took some serious pattern Tetris, but I managed to just squeeze out the pieces.

To maximize my fabric, I cut the front and back pattern pieces from the upper front and back of the dress - since the dress was an XS, there wasn't enough width for my body to complete these pieces though. I just cut as wide as possible and then set them aside. Next I decided to cut my sleeves using the ruched side sections instead of adding the elastic ruching of the pattern. I used the existing skirt hem and lined the ruching up with the center of the sleeve the whole way down.

I seriously love these sleeves and I'm pretty smug about it, lol. I still gathered the top of the sleeve like usual because I love me a puffed sleeve. After cutting those out, I chopped the ties much shorter. I used the original sleeve bands to cut my neckband piece. That is all the pattern pieces, so once I had everything cut out, I laid out all my remaining bits. I had just enough width to make 2 triangular gusset-like pieces to make up the difference on the body pieces.

I sewed the extra piece to the front and back, spanning the area that would usually have a side seam. This was a total gamble - meaning I suspected I would have enough but it might be a bit snug - and it totally paid off. The shirt fits just fine :) Things were a little complicated under the arms when it came time to set in the sleeves, but I got there in the end.

And here's a blurry view of the back - whoops. Confession - there was a small spot on the front of the dress that I could not get completely out (and believe me, I tried - it must have been very old). So I decided to cut the back piece on the front of the dress, making that spot somewhere on my upper back. It's very faint and now it's on my back so I doubt anyone will notice.

So after I assembled the whole shirt, I had to decide on a sleeve ruching length. I pulled the sleeve ties up to how I liked it, then tied a double knot and a bow, cutting off the excess of the ties. I hand sewed the bow and knots down to avoid any issues. This left me with several decent sized tie pieces left over. Earlier in the project,  I decided to try sewing this entire shirt with my serger (aside from the hemming and whatnot), and while I was setting in my neckband I didn't notice that the body of the shirt had wrinkled under my foot and I sewed in a pucker :/ Luckily it didn't reach the knife so I was able to unpick the serging, but this fabric is a bit temperamental with unpicking and I accidentally pulled a small hole just off center on the front. Ugh. I had originally planned to leave the front of the shirt plain like the inspiration photo, but now I had a small hole that I repaired but would drive me crazy to see every time I wore this top. So I started playing with the scrap ties. I rolled them into rosettes and tried out some placement, asking opinions on Instagram. In the end I decided to use all the tie pieces to make the rosettes as big as possible and to go with a configuration of three.

I deliberately made the center one a little bigger just because it looked a bit off when they were the same size. My hole is up by the stitching line under the left rosette in this photo - totally covered :) These rosettes were a pain in the butt - not gonna lie. I just rolled them as I went, hand stitching them to the previous row to secure it neatly the whole way around. Once they were totally sewn as a rosette, then I secured them to the shirt with large stitches to keep them in place. I spent about as much time sewing them as I did on the entire rest of the shirt, but I like the added detail and I love that the hole is not visible. Project saved!

Here's a look at my crazy under arm area. Press as I might, I could not get the old stitching lines to disappear where the old channels were for the ties. I'm hoping this fades after a wash. It's not a huge deal in the meantime though since it's under my arms.

In the end, this was all that remained of the dress - talk about almost zero waste! I was pretty proud of this result, lol.

And I even saved the original tag, sewing it into the side seam - after I unpicked the XS and Made in Indonesia on the label, of course. Since those things weren't true anymore :)

And now I have a shirt to wear with my awesome skirt! I'm glad to finally have an outfit for this skirt - it's so cute and it deserves to be worn! Here's hoping my shirt holds out. I think the first washing will tell a great deal (I'm just concerned about those previous stitching lines). This turned out to be a super cheap make, but really I would've paid more to make this skirt more wearable :)

And in spite of my minor issues and on-the-fly changes I had to make, I think this is a pretty good representation of the inspiration top :) Yay for refashioning!

Summary:
Fabric: Size XS New York & Co acid green cotton/modal knit dress - $1.00 (thrifted)
Pattern: Agnes Top by Tilly and the Buttons
Notions: thread - $1.00, knit stay tape - $0.25
Time: 4 hours
Total Cost: $ 2.25

Christmas FO: Lukey's Lizard PJs

I've made my nephew all kinds of toys and whatnot over his 3 years, so I really had a hankering to make him something different. My sister used a PJ onesie that already fit him to make a pattern for his Halloween costume in October (he was Curious George), and I had picked up a large piece of this super cute lizard print knit at a thrift store this summer so I decided to make him some fun pjs :)

So the pattern my sister gave me was just for the body and sleeves and I had to make my own gusset - I've never sewn a true gusset before, but after a little internet learning I was good to go. It's not really that hard, you just need to take your time. The fabric is a knit, but it isn't incredibly stretchy. I believe it's a polyester blend French terry because it has a loopy texture on the wrong side. It makes it nice and snuggly though.

I was going full stash on this project, so I dug through my box of thrifted zippers and found a bright green one that matched the green lizards = perfect! Luke really likes doing zippers up himself, and I likes that this one is colorful.

Details! Here you can see the crotch gusset and the color of the zipper. I did stabilize the zipper opening with knit stay tape, but that was the only precaution I took. Everything else was just sewn with a lightning bolt stitch. The neckline was just turned over and stitched with a straight stitch, while the hems on the sleeves and legs were stitched with a twin needle.

All in all this was such a simple project and Luke really likes them :) As soon as he opened his present, he asked if he could put them on. I was worried I would be "that relative" who gave him clothes, but he was really excited about his lizard pjs. The only fit issue is at the sleeves - I may borrow these and add a gusset at the sleeve hem because they're just barely big enough, so they are a smidge tight when he tries to get them off. That didn't deter him though :)

So, I've officially made toddler pjs :) He was dancing around and spinning on the floor (they made for a great slick texture on the tile), and he loved that he could get in and out of it by himself (he's potty training so this is very important, lol). I'm so glad he liked them so much and now I have the confidence to make him more clothes in the future. Merry Christmas, Lukey!

Summary:
Fabric: 1 odd cut yard of poly blend French terry lizard print knit - $0.25
Pattern: copied from rtw
Notions: 18" zipper - $0.10, knit stay tape - $0.15, thread - stash
Hours: 2
Total Cost: $0.50

FO: Brown Melissa Skirt

I finished a sew-jo improving project last weekend - and it's a total staple item! 

 This is my second time making the Melissa Skirt by Muse Patterns. I picked up this pattern in the Sewing Indie bundle this year and it has turned into a TNT for me. My first version was made of jean and in spite of the little fit issues I still wear it all the time. This skirt is basically my equivalent of jean pants. I even had to do a little repair on the skirt, but it was worth it to get it back in rotation. I knew I wanted to make another version in another basic fabric, so when I found this material at a
thrift store I knew that's what it would become.

The fabric is a bit of a mystery since it came from a thrift store, but I think it's some kind of stretch twill. It's definitely got a heavy polyester content to it because it doesn't wrinkle like other twills I've worked with. The stretch is pretty substantial, meaning it's a thick fabric with a slight give all over. The fabric is not quite as heavy as canvas. Anyway, it's a really nice fabric and I was thrilled to find it and for the ridiculously cheap price of $0.50 - I mean, really.

 I love this pattern so much. It's a gored skirt (which I love), button front (which I love), and has interesting pockets so it's not plain (which I love). The pockets are really the star of the show, and while it is a great opportunity for a pop of color I decided to go with all brown so that I could wear this with everything. I did have to make some little alterations this time around. On my jean skirt the pockets are too narrow to accommodate my hands. I do not have large hands, so I think this may be a slight pattern issue. To fix this, I just added 1/2" to each side of the pocket panel pieces. Since the skirt flares out, this extra 1" overall didn't effect the fit and now I can comfortably insert my hands to retrieve things in my pockets. Woo hoo! I also did an on-the-fly sway back adjustment. My previous version showed a lot of bunched up fabric at my center back below the waistband, so this time around I just changed my sewing angle at the top of the piece and came in 1" overall there. This fixed the bunching just fine.

 I'm particularly proud of the insides of my skirt. I faux-felled all the seams by overlocking them, then pressing to one side and top stitching them down. It makes the skirt feel much more professional. I still had issues easing the skirt into the waistband, so there are still a few puckers. It just seems like so much fabric to pull in! It's more like gathering, not easing. My puckers are small, so I don't really mind them on this dark color. I also love how nice the pocket bag looks inside the skirt - so neat!

I'm pretty proud of my details on this skirt. It's still not perfect by any means, but I can see a great improvement in my sewing. The top stitching is nice and straight - I had the idea to use the blind hem foot with the guide rolled all the way out and then the needle in the far left position - this left the stitching a nice distance from the seams and kept things nice and straight. I really love the buttons - they're hard to see but if you zoom in they are a coppery brown with a scroll design on the top. I overcast the hem, then folded up and top stitched. This fabric was so hard to gather up! That's what I get for favoring these heavy fabrics, I guess. It was worth the effort though :)

So, there you have it - another Melissa skirt :) I wore this on Thanksgiving as well as the next day and it is super comfy. This project ended up being a good sew-jo inducer. I wanted to get sewing again, but couldn't get motivated. I cut this skirt out, then didn't start sewing it for 2 weeks! It was a nice success though, so I'm back in the game. I also finished this in the month of November, so it was eligible for the Muse Loves Merino contest. I know it's probably boring to others, but I find it pretty exciting, so wish me luck :) Yay for cute and simple sewing projects!

Summary:
Fabric: 1.5 yards of heavy stretch twill - thrifted $0.50
Pattern: Melissa Dress/Blouse/Skirt by Muse Patterns
Notions: 7 buttons - $4.50 , fusible interfacing - $0.25, thread - $0.50
Hours: 6
Total Cost: $5.75