Frilly Shirts Ahoy!

I made a shirt and it is frilly!

 This is again Butterick B4486 (I do like this pattern)  The fabric is cotton, not sure what sort exactly as the model provided it herself.

 It's got lacy cuffs and lace down the front placket. It's done up with an organza ribbon and the cuffs have plain silver buttons.

Other than that, not a lot to say about it, aside from the fact it as a fun sew and I look forward to seeing it in use!  Next week I shall hopefully be showing off my knitted gloves, a cravat and a smoking jacket!

A Knitted Thing!

Going slightly of the topic of kit sewing again.  As I'm sure it's been previously mentioned on this blog I'm not a very good knitter.  That said, I do dearly love hand knitted things (one of my many life goals is to own a pair of hand knit socks) so I keep trying knitting to improve my skills. 

At the moment I am involved in a 'knit-a-long'  it's a very small knit-a-long as it's just me and the lovely Amydextrous who also gets frustrated with knitting and like me, is often happy to discard a knitting project half way through.  So we decided that we would have a little knit-a-long of our own and see if we could encourage each other to finish a few things.  We picked 3 patterns that we loved the look off, were slightly challenging, but not too scary and went in search of yarn.

You've seen my yarn as it was part of my haul from the knitting and stitching show.  We cast on last week and we have both really enjoyed ourselves!  We have actually finished two of our items and tonight we will be casting on for a third, but as we agreed I'd only show them off when we have pics of us in them together today you only get to see the first thing we made.

Without further blathering here are our cowls!

Taa-dah!

 The pattern is Leaving on the Edge and was a very fun knit.  Also, I am still in love with the soft snuggliness of my Eden Cottage yarn!

And the back view!

I think, if I were going to make this again, I'd find out how to make button holes and make it button up rather than sewing it up.  However, at the moment I'm not good enough at knitting to know how to change patterns around!

Unflattering mugshot!

Amy looking way better than me!

That said, it's very pretty, I can only spot one mistake in it (and I only saw that after I'd knitted another 10 rows and I didn't have the heart to rip back and fix it) and most importantly, it's lovely and warm!

Next week I shall show you our fingerless gloves and let you know how the hats are coming along!  On Thursday though, I have a very frilly shirt to show off.

Oh yes, and if you want to see my other knitting projects my Ravelry name is Luthaisea, possibly unsurprisingly...

A Quartered Ghillie Shirt

One of the more interesting things I have been asked to make.  In game our soldiers uniform is described as quartered green and black.  Normally people go for a tabbard over the top of their shirt, but Tirithon Dhospar is apparently a character to cut out uneccesary fabric layers!

The shirt is made of cotton, has brass cuff buttons and black eyelets (It was run up in something of a rush otherwise it'd have black buttons as well).  The lace is cotton tape.

I used Butterick B4486 as my pattern, having first made a quartered panel for the front and backs to be cut from.

I was having a lot of fun with the quartered idea, so I made the rest of the shirt on that them, hence th different coloured sleeves and plackets.





Have a great weekend!  Next week I am hoping to show off some knitting I've done!

A Coat For a GM!

As I might have mentioned, I'm half of the GM team for our local larps campaign this year.  My co-GM decided he needed a new coat to wear whilst GMing.

I'm very proud of this, mostly because just about everyone has assumed he bought it from a shop, so clearly it looks professional!

 The pattern is Folkwear's Australian Drovers Coat.  Can I just say how nice Folkwear patterns are?  Good, clear instructions, lovely pattern pieces and they are lovely sews with enough to keep them interesting without being frustrating.

The fabric was sourced by my co-GM and is waterproof, as is the reflective tape.  The tape was the trickiest bit of the whole project  and is placed in order to conform to some industry standard in case he also wants to wear his coat on site for his job.

 It's lined with a quilted lining fabric and has 17 poppers (stitched on by hand and good grief that was not fun!).

Over all though, it was a really good sew and I have enough left over fabric to make a jacket for me so watch this space!

Ally Pally: THe Knitting and Stitching Show!

Going slightly off topic here, but I wanted to tell you about the fabulous day out I had on Saturday.  And apologise as I was a rubbish blogger and failed to take any pictures! I might have been to busy going 'Ooooh!' at every thing....

So, we left the South West at 9am (quick note, if you have small children and you take them on the train, please, for the love of all that's holy do NOT let them play on the edge of the platform. I was having kittens!) and caught a train up to Waterloo, hopped on a tube (just) and travelled round to Finnsbury Park.  There we had a small blip as the 12:17 was seriously delayed and the 12:36 didn't turn up, so we ended up on the 12.47, nevertheless we eventually made it to Alexandra Palace Station and walked the last half mile up hill (I may have been a fetching shade of puce by that point).

Once inside we met my mum and my gran briefly, before agreeing to meet them again for afternoon tea at 3 (which we had tickets for).  My friend and I then went inside and met her mother in law (who's lovely and it was a real pleasure to meet her) and headed tot he main hall.  We spent a blissful hour wandering round and oohing and aahing over everything, then it was time for me to go and have tea so I headed to the tea room to meet my mum and gran.

Afternoon tea was wonderful!  There were delicious sandwiches (I was grownup and had egg mayo even though I don't usually like it, but I did draw the line at salmon - euw!), lovely fruit tarts, tiny, gorgeous macaroons and fruit scones to finish it off.  We had a good natter and I got to show mum and gran pictures of my latest makes and the small recipient of the baby clothes I made the other week.

Then, the three of us headed back to shop some more!  Shopping with my mum and gran is brilliant, as they both know loads about fabric and yarn.  Between us we found some wonderful things!

Then, after they went my friend and I had a last wander, before heading off to Waterloo, grabbing a quick dinner and hopping back on the train (where we statted an NPC.  I say we, I mean she did... :P).

Want to see what I bought?  I hope you do!

This is lovely, soft baby alpaca yarn from Eden Cottage Yarns who had a gorgeous stool covered in beautiful things!  I as hooked from the moment I saw this yarn and I've already cast on!

Yay, goldwork!  I've wanted to try this for a while and there were a fair few stalls with lovely examples to ooh over.  I struggled, but eventually decided on this kit as it's my fave flower (a rose) and looks like it should be simple enough to do, so good eyesight practice.  This kit is made by Carolyn Gayton who was so lovely (and seemed so very surprised to have her kits praised).  I'm very much looking forward to working on it.

These are from Oliver Twist and are so lovely to hold!  The three on the left are ribbon (for embroidery) and the one on the right is embroidery thread, which I got with a view to making Dorset buttons.  There were also all a gift from my mum.  Thanks Mum!

 These are gorgeous hair clips from Poppy Daisy.  I plan to use them for seasonal druid kit, though they are so very pretty that I may use them just for me.

And this is the entirety of my haul, the bit I haven't talked about (and is obscured) is going to be made into a present for someone!  So, that's the lot.  Next week I shall show you the large project I worked on!

Birthday Heart!

Gosh these things are fun to make!

 This is made of polyester wadding, drill cotton, poly cotton and quilting cotton with a little ribbon for extra prettiness.

Happy Birthday Trouble! 

Quick Crafting!

I finished a big project the other day (which I will show you soon, I promise) and had about two hours in which I could make something for myself.  I wasn't keen on the idea of getting a pattern out, but then I remembered I needed a new reusable shopping bag! 

It's made from left over baby cord in sea green and some poly cotton in a floral print.  I didn't use a pattern, I just made it up as I went along.

I really like how it's turned out and if I buy anything at the Knitting and Stitching Show on Saturday I'll be sure to use it there!

Baby Clothes!

So, a couple of weeks ago to of my friends welcomed a tiny wriggly bundle of a daughter into the world.  I was so pleased for them, mostly because she's a  beautiful  little one who I am looking forward to getting to know better and slightly because, well...  I've had this little outfit made for ages but I couldn't show it off until Little One had made her appearance and been presented with it!

Dinky dress!

Weeny shorts!

Tiny hat!

 I actually teamed up with a friend of mine for this outfit, but more on that in a minute.  For now, I used pale mint green cotton for the outfit, trimmed with a pale yellow slightly sparkly ribbon.  It's unlined and the elastic is encased with bias binding.   The Pattern is Simplicity 2375 and it was a joy to make!

I really enjoyed making everything, but what made this project just perfect is the fact that I was working with someone else.  And they added knitted adorableness to it!

Look at how sweet it is!  She's used a yellow suitable for babies wool and trimmed with the same ribbon and buttons as I did (we may have shopped for them together).

The idea is that the little shorts function as a nappy cover and can't actually be seen when the outfit is on, but I couldn't resist them peeking out in this photo!

 Look at that delicate lacy pattern!  One day, I will get good enough at knitting to produce things like that in a reasonable time scale.  One day...

Hand embroidered Bag

Yet another birthday gift!  Today I am showing you a small bag I made for my friend.  I used applique, hand embroidery and tried to not over embellish.

 The bag is made from and lined with cotton and the tree trunk is also cotton.  I made the dangling leaves by bondawebbing some of the red and brown cotton scraps together and machining veins on to it in leaf shapes.

 The leaves on the tree are lazy daisy stitches, one inside another in a variety of thread colours.

 The strap is adjustable (my first ever adjustable strap!) and the bag closes with a metal snap. 

Next week I hope to show off a collaborative project I worked on as a special welcome to a very young lady who has just made it into the world!