FO: Klimt Skirt

I could get addicted to making my own clothes. This green corduroy skirt is ridiculously Just What I Like & Cannot Find in Stores, that I cannot believe I did not do this dress-making lark years ago.

One pattern from a Danish sewing magazine One and a half yards of green corduroy One yard of green poly lining One invisible zip One spool of green poly thread Selection of Liberty fabric scraps & vintage buttons

One happy seamstress & wearer.

I altered the pattern (of course I did). The appliqué was done different to the pattern suggestion, I added lining and did away with the slightly clumsy bias binding around the waist.

Klimt? Why not. In fact, look at Gustav Klimt's "The Kiss" and tell me that you cannot see it. Just me? Okay then..

And I'm wearing my own handmade St. James sweater with this skirt. Oh, wardrobe love.

In other crafty news, I spent the morning trying to decipher a crochet pattern written in Afrikaans using a Dutch crochet glossary, Google Translate and reverse engineering from photo. Adventurous! After an hour and six rounds, friends kindly pointed me to an online English translation of the pattern.. and I felt a bit silly.

Finally, a big HAPPY BIRTHDAY to one of the loveliest people I have ever met, Paula. This little video is for you..

Of Petals and Parcelforce

I spent the evening sewing again. I'm making a much needed lined corduroy skirt and I had this idea in my head. I am using remnants of Liberty fabric swatches for the embellishment. Let's see how my idea looks when the skirt is properly assembled, though. The pattern is from a Danish sewing magazine my mum sent me earlier this year. I love receiving parcels from my family. Tiny presents and unexpected treats. My partner gets his beloved Danish marzipan, I get craft magazines and licorice. Win-win .. except when Parcelforce messes up and they do mess up quite frequently.

Add another Parcelforce failure to my bunch of stories - this time my story guest-stars my gran who sent me a lovely surprise parcel in July. Of course the parcel just happened to be picked up by a driver who 'forgets' about collection cards and just dumps parcels in the local post office rather than try to deliver them. And of course the post office gets tired of undelivered parcels taking up space and returns them to the Parcelforce depot where they disappear.

I have never lied this much to Gran over so short a timespan. Of course I knew where the parcel was! Unfortunately the post office was closed just as I made it there. Oh, I am just waiting for the delivery man to confirm when he's going to pop by.. If you have ever had a gran whose worried silence speaks volumes, you will know how I have felt these past two days.

Thankfully, Parcelforce does have nice people working for them. Steve found my parcel tonight after trawling the depot. And he is going to make sure that the parcel is being delivered tomorrow.

It better be. I cannot deal with Day Three of Gran being worried.

In other news, I was rather underwhelmed by BBC4's Elegance & Decadence: The Age of Regency. The subject matter is so interesting - the early parts of the 19th century were filled with radical ideas, grand geopolitical events, and amazing cultural upheaval - but despite an enthusiastic presenter, the while thing got mired down in cumbersome details about marble tables and gilded tableware. At least Beau Brummell was briefly mentioned (to my great geeky delight) but why he was to be singled out among the rarified set was never really fully explained beyond a brief dressing-up session. I shall keep watching but my hopes are slightly dampened.

Off to read some Russian literature. As you do.

Sewing FO: The Art Teacher Outfit

It's blustery and windy outside. I think autumn has just hit Glasgow in a big way. We never really had a summer this year - just a few sunny days and temperatures around 21C interspersed with torrential rain. The past two years we have had very hard winters. I hope winter will be milder this year, but with autumn arriving early .. who knows? I finished my dress - cue awkward posing in our stairwell (it's too windy to take reasonable photos outside).

I had my Other Half help me with the hemline - which is why I shall no longer refer to it as a dress. This is henceforth a tunic which irritates me greatly. I had made it to wear to work but it is definitely too short for that purpose. To hell with "but it shows off your legs!" - I needed a practical dress and this is not it. I'll try wearing it with work trousers, but I do not have great hopes for that.

The pattern was very easy to use and easy to adjust. I'll definitely use it again (and maybe even try making the trousers).

I like the raglan sleeve construction which is done with several pieces and results in a very flattering sleeve. I note that several people on PatternReview said that they felt the sleeves were too tight. I have Big Girl arms and the sleeves fit just fine - they are maybe even a smidgen too loose.

I altered the yoke slightly and sewed down the gathers about 2 inches below the neckline as I felt the dre tunic would benefit from a bit more structure. I understitched the facings too in order to combat the floppiness reported on Pattern Review. I did away with the ruffles on the sleeves (just not my thing) and simplified the pockets.

The pockets are super-cute, if slightly impractical.

I will probably do the same mods next time I sew this - but I'll add an extra 3 inches to the length. As it is not a hugely flattering shape for my body type, I might try and draft a slightly more A-line body next time. Or possibly do a couple of pleats empire-style underneath my bust. I do have a waist, you see, and while I'm a big fan of comfy dre tunics, they can be comfy and show off that waist at the same time. So there.

Did I mention I had an ironing accident with this fabric? Cunningly I fixed things so you cannot tell. Despite its tendency to fray (and melt), I do love the fabric. It works with everything in my wardrobe and is really nice to wear.

New things learned: making ironing accidents disappear, adding extra length to whatever hemline length my partner suggests, sewing patch pockets (super-easy) and dealing with flimsy and slippery material.

With autumn here already, I think it's time to address my urgent need for skirts.

I Didn't Know That You Cared

Casa Bookish was hit by runny noses and sore throats this week. The affliction resulted in two things: a lot of books being read and some impromptu dress-making. The dress in question is still a work in progress. It's based upon Simplicity 2925, view A but I cannot be trusted to do anything by the book - not even sewing. I did away with some ruffles, altered the yoke/neckline and I'm adding buttons where there are no buttons. Rebel.

The fabric is a very light polycotton from Mandors. I fell in love with the subtle geometric print and the black/dark green/cream colours. It won't keep me warm, but it will be a great layering piece (once I finish it - the basic construction is done, but the small bits are not).

I have become aware that I'm increasingly dressing like an art teacher. A very Danish art teacher with restrained colour schemes and attention to details - but an art teacher nonetheless. Making more of my own clothes will not - will not - curb that tendency.

Meanwhile, as some of you may know, The Huffington Post published a blog post about knitting and baking betraying the feminist movement. The post itself read like someone had taken a Feminism 101 class and just scraping home a pass (because the teacher was in a good mood having devoured a home-baked cup cake). The responses to the post were far more interesting. This one is one of my favourites so far: succinct, humorous, and blunt. Any recommendations for more smart, funny, self-aware responses?

On the agenda: getting better, saving Other Half from the plague, choosing non-functioning buttons for the dress, cooking dinner (soup?) and reading my book. It's a hard life.

Monday Making

As a freelancer, I occasionally have to take time to assess where I am and where I am going. I think of these assessments as incredibly fruitful and certainly a lot more thought-provoking than when I used to get assessments in my pre-freelance working days! As a result of this past week's re-assessment, Fourth Edition is now part of my on-going thought process, so you will begin to see new content creeping into the corners over the next few weeks. Don't worry - I will still be waffling on about knitting, sewing, making, and books on my blog. The new content will be straightforward things such as a list of the craft classes and courses I'm teaching etc. I might even add a diary of said courses some time this decade! Steady on! Mondays tend to be my weekly day of relaxation - funnily enough I am often at my most productive on Mondays too. It is almost like I relax by making things!

I just cut out the pieces for my Crepe dress. I'm using Nigerian wax-print cotton. It is going to be quite .. loud, I think, but also rather funky. There are some very cool Crepe dresses in the Flickr photo pool. I hope to make a second, dressier version of this dress for a summer wedding next year, so I am essentially treating this version as a fancy toile/muslin version.

Note to self: next time make sure the fabric is wide enough for the skirt pieces. The cotton is relatively narrow and I had to be rather clever about how to cut out the pieces along the grain line.

My autumn knitting project, Norn, is knitting up quite quickly. I have been taking a couple of days off from knitting due to my on-going wrist problems, but up until Friday I had managed to get a couple of rows done here and there.

I am absolutely loving this: the yarn is soft and fascinatingly heathered; the pattern is easy and intuitive; the result is just beautiful. All projects should be like this. I've used 3 balls of the main colour so far and I'm halfway up the body. I should be fine with the amount of yarn I have, then. Phew. Incidentally, I'm knitting this using my usual two-hand colour knitting method. I get stared at a lot (yes, I'm back knitting in public).

Finally, I cannot show you pictures of a design-in-progress but here is a photo which may (or may not) provide you with a clue.

I am in two minds about using myself as a model in my patterns. At my last knitting group session I was sitting next to my friend KOS who is currently working on Karise. It was rather unnerving to have my own face stare back at me throughout the knitting group.

So, if you are an aspiring model/actor/musician living in Glasgow and you need something to pad out the old portfolio or CV, I'm your lady. No money involved, just the chance to impress the knitting community. Or maybe I'll just need to come to terms with the entire staring-at-myself deal.

Swatching for the Future

Do you swatch? To tell you the truth, I rarely swatch except when I suspect that either my tension will be off-kilter or when I'm unsure about colour combinations. It is a terrible thing to admit to (not) doing and it is definitely a case of do-as-I-tell-you, not do-as-I-do. I'd be a nightmare parent. But I am swatching now, except I am swatching with Rowan Fine Tweed (4ply) rather than Rowan Tweed (DK). I wanted to make sure that my chosen colour combination for Finna will work - and since my local Rowan stockist did not have the full range of the DK weight colours (any day now, though, any day), I took the opportunity to sample the fine gauge instead. The combination is a thing of beauty and I am marvellously excited about getting started.

I'm tentatively starting to think about my autumn wardrobe. Apart from Finna (and another jumper or cardigan I'm yet to decide upon), I want to make a couple of go-to skirts. I have some beautiful green corduroy stashed away which is crying out to be a 1970s-style A-line skirt with pockets (must.have.pockets) but I cannot find the right pattern. Then there is the green-cream-orange apple-print cotton which is just on the right side of 1970s retro kitsch, but which could be ruined by pairing up with the wrong pattern. I've looked at Burda and Simplicity, but pattern suggestions are very welcome.

Even more excitement: the Crocheted Jewellery group on Ravelry is hosting a CAL (a crochet-along) of my Kaldred bracelet all August long! I love seeing what people do with my patterns and I'm having so much fun looking through people's projects.

So jumpers and skirts and a few patterns to write-up .. phew, it is going to be a very busy autumn in Casa Bookish craft-wise. How is your craft basket looking?