What a lucky guy: Knitted men's vest

This will be a knitting post. So if you are not really interested,  just scroll down to the New Year Resolutions and there will be some more general thoughts about sewing ;)

Yep, I am still knitting! And this time not for me, but for Lescha. I am not sure how he convinced me to knit a vest for him, but I guess I felt bad that I still haven't sewn him his shirt. But it is so much more fun to make stuff for myself! He was not jumping happily around when I gave him the vest (maybe because he had to go outside in the garden, so that I could take pictures, hehe). So let's talk about the vest! I am not going to bore you with the detailed knitting, but if you are interested have a look on my Ravelry notes.

Thread: It had to be cotton, as Lescha doesn't like wool. So I used Rowan Handknit cotton in chocolate.

Pattern: None :P Lescha wanted to have a vest similar to one he saw at Ted Bakers. So, I had a look a Ravelry, but couldn't find one that I really liked. Thus I made up my own pattern.

Ted Baker vest, image source

Leschas vest

Construction: I measured Lescha (hips, waist, chest, shoulders...) and then calculated the number of stitches I needed corresponding to my gauze swatch. I knitted the vest bottom up and knitted fronts and back together, so that the vest does not have any side seams. Then I split fronts and back at the armholes and grafted them together at the shoulder seams. Finally I added a button band and buttons. But I have to admit, I got some ideas about the armhole and shoulder shaping from looking at other knitting patterns.

Next time: sway back adjustment

How long did it take? It took me only 3 weeks to knit the vest, including blocking, because I had loads of time over Christmas and even more on the airplane and train. I am not bothered anymore by people looking at me :P

See how that pulls? Makes me cringe. 

Does he like it? Yes he does! Not in the jumpy, happy, screamy way (my way, hihi), but he is wearing it.

Am I happy with it? I think it is a bit tight (he wanted it to have some negative ease and he also gained some weight over Christmas, buh) and tries to pull apart at the center front. It is an annoying sight, but hopefully with some time, everything will get a bit loose and fit better.

Side increases.

I know the vest does look different then the one from Ted Baker. I could have probably added the pockets and used different colored yarn, but honestly I just wanted to finish it so that I could start knitting a sweater for myself :) (Good that he is NOT reading my blog.)


New Year resolutions?
One thing that I noticed is that I am knitting more than sewing at the moment and that is not only because I like to snuggle on the couch. I think that is because I have so many sewing projects in my queue and so much fabric in my stash that I don't know where to start. But for the knitting, I am only having one project at the time at home and thus I don't have to decide with which one I should start next.

So, one of my New Year resolutions is to use up some more fabric from my stash and then try to keep it small, before buying new ones. Also, I will try not to buy any new patterns, before I have made the ones in my pattern box, ha! Have you seen Gails post (from today's agenda)? She and many other bloggers are currently on a stash diet and have set themselves some rules about using mostly stash fabrics and not (rarely) buying new fabrics. I really like that idea and will participate in the stash diet. What about you? Do you feel like you stash is crushing you?

Christmas pressies!

Now that Christmas is over, I can finally reveal the gifts I made! And yes, I made most of them. That's a first for me, because usually I would buy most presents and make only a handful. So, yeah!

Kindle cover: My sister and my mum both got a kindle after having finally gotten over there fear of not holding a proper book (3 years ago, when the kindle was hardly known in Germany, they just couldn't understand why I loved it so much)! So, I made a kindle cover for both. I used this amazing tutorial by Ashley from Mommy by Day and Crafter by Night.

left: for my sis and right: for my mum :)

The corners of the kindle are just covered.

I had only one problem: I was not sure at which position I should put the elastic so that it does not cover the screen. I looked up the dimensions of the kindle (mine is an old version, so a giant in comparison to the new ones) and made the cover the right size, but unluckily and very frustrating the elastic is too far out and only touches the edges of the kindle. Nonetheless, my mum and sister loved it. And as they both are not travelling much, the fit shouldn't be a big problem. As you might have guessed the one with the matrioskas is for my sis and the one with the roses for my mum :)

Table cloth: Then I made a quilted table cloth for my mum. I used the butterfly blocks I had left over from her birthday quilt. As I was in a hurry to finish the table cloth, I only free motion quilted it with stippling.

That't the quilt I gave my mum for her Birthday!

Knitting bags: For my sister I also made a little bag from the leftover matrioska fabric. I have made the same bag for myself to store my knitting in. I even added 2 small pockets for my sisters version. I sewed a similar bag for a friend, who told me she would like to start knitting as well. (I forgot to take a pic, buh). And to really encourage her, I gave her some pink wool, knitting needles and the wheat scarf pattern from tin can knits. I haven't heard back from her yet, but hopefully she liked it :)

Pockets inside

Cushions: My grandparents loved their cushions and couldn't believe that I made them myself :) You can have a look here, if you want to know more about the cushions. And these were actually the presents that took me longest!

Vest: For Lescha, I knitted a "self-drafted" vest! I just finished it in time for New Year, which is when Father Frost brings presents in Ukraine. I am still blocking the vest, so he has to wait until it is dry to wear it. As soon as this is done, I will take some photos and write a post about it. So, stay tuned!

Sewing box for me: I also got some sewing related presents, yeah. My little sis gave me a lovely sewing box, in which I can store my quilting threads and some bias tape. She got a wooden box, whose lid she covered with owl fabric (and there is plenty left, so I am playing with the thought to use it as a lining for a blazer I want to make) and then she painted it white and even added a little lock. So, much detail. Thanks so much, sis!!!

So cute!

The lock almost looks like a beak :)

Who is going to love ironing? The rest of my family contributed to my new ironing board and steam generator iron station! I only had a tiny Ikea ironing board, which is not very stable and starting to fall apart. As for my iron? I hated it, because after 10 years of use the water was constantly leaking out of it causing near misses like dropping from the ironing board into the floor socket. I also couldn't iron on my tailors hem as in a vertical position the water would immediately come out of the iron. So ironing was a real nightmare for me! My mum told me then about these steam generator iron stations and thus I decided to invest in one of these! I haven't gotten it yet, but will keep you posted about my experience :)

I hope you all had a lovely Christmas and had as much fun as I had when giving (and getting!) my presents! I wish you all a Happy New Year 2014!!!!

Just in time: Colette Beignet Skirt

I hope you all had a merry Christmas with loads of food, family time and gifts. I hope you didn't gain too much weight and your garments still fit! I finally convinced myself to step on the balance this morning and had a shock when realising I gained two kilogrammes over the holidays. I knew I couldn't believe that radio moderator who said you gain on average only 350 g over Christmas! So, no more chocolate, cake and loads of walking.

Also thanks so much for all your lovely comments about my Christmas owl sweater! I wore it a few times in Germany and it kept we warm and cosy when walking after all these massive meals :)

Excuse the wrinkles. I tried to iron them out... Pockets!

But now, let me finally introduce my Colette Beignet Skirt! I managed to sew it up before Christmas, although it took me some courage to get started!

Pattern: Colette Beignet, which is a high waisted skirt with lining, facing, pockets, belt loops and belt. That's why there are so many pattern pieces - A to O! - and as I always trace my patterns I couldn't convince myself for some time to get started. But I am glad I did! I didn't made any changes to the pattern but traced a straight size 4 according to my waist measurement.


Fabric: For the shell I used a brushed cotton from Goldhawk Road. I decided that the brushed side is the right side, as I just love how it looks and feels! For the lining I used a cotton-silk also from Goldhawk Road and for the facing/belt/belt loops some cotton with flowers on it.

Construction: The pattern is labelled intermediate and I suppose that is because you have to sew a curve when attaching the facing to the lining. I took my time when doing this step, so had no problems at all. The only other fiddly bit was the belt loops, which you have to sew right sides together and then turn the right side out. Turning them involved some (loads) of swearing and Internet searches, but finally I managed to do it by using this tutorial from Ashley from Make it & Love it.

The facing and lining.

Embellishments: I just love the buttons! I got them ages ago, when I was looking for buttons for my Picnic Blanket Skirt. When they arrived I just knew they would be perfect for the Beignet and so they were waiting for their time to come :) As I didn't had enough, I just added a different button at the top. I also love the flowers on the belt loops and belt. Before adding them my boyfriend commented that the skirt looks like a jute sack! But now he likes the skirt and he said, he only said it because he knew it would look great when finished, puh.

I know the seam on the left looks a bit weird here, but having worn the skirt a few times, its gone :)

Do I like it? I love it! I have worn it twice already and as it is a little bit loose at the waist, there was plenty of room for my "food baby", hihi. Now, I only have to make a few sweaters and shirts to go with it. The only drawback is that the fabric wrinkles super easily.

When looking at the photos, I realised that everything, including me and the wall paper, has a similar colour.

Will I make it again? I am sure I will! Now that the tracing it done, it should go much faster! 

Owl Christmas Jumper

Just in time for Christmas, I finished my knitted Owl Jumper. I am a little bit proud because it is my first knitted jumper (and my 2nd knitted garment) and I even made slight adjustments to the pattern.

Here come the owls!

Pattern: Owls by Kate Davies. When I saw it, I just fell in love with it because of the little owls at the neckline. Having been an owl fan even before the owl-trend started, I just couldn't resist!

See the little black buttons? Love that detail :)

Wool: Cascade Yarns Eco + in Merlot. Because of the color, I think it is suitable as a Christmas jumper, hehe.

Pretty from the back as well.

Construction: It took me only one and a half month, so pretty quick and easy :) You can see my Ravelry notes here, if you are interested. It took me longest to knit the sleeves! They were so boring, but otherwise it was fun :) (It was no fun, however, to sew on 40 little 5mm buttons, buh, took me a while.)

Look me in the eyes, hehe.

Have I worn it yet? Nope, because the UK weather is quite warm at the moment. But I will wear it in cold Germany, where it will keep me warm and cosy.

Do I like the jumper? I love it! The color, the fit, the OWLS!

One more to go, just because :)

Last one!

Here come the Flamingos!

Finally, after hording this fabric for 6 month in my stash, I decided it is time to use it. It is not really the season for Flamingos now :) but I felt ready to tackle such a thin jersey.

Sorry for the wrinkles!

Pattern: Burda 0010 from Burda Style Special autumn/winter No5/2013. As I had used the pattern before to make my Burda raglan top, there was no need to trace the pattern - win. The dress has a keyhole opening at the back and a turtleneck!


Fabric: A thin jersey which I got from Goldhawk Road at the summers blogger meet-up. Several people bought the fabric and since then, I have seen some gorgeous projects popping up (Naturally, when trying to find them again, I couldn't). But somehow I was unlucky with my fabric, as one half of it was off grain. The flamingos were walking up :( But I managed to lay out my pattern on the half with the straight grain, yeah! (Anybody else ever had the problem?) Except for the turtleneck, which I had to cut out 4 times!

Turtleneck and Pleats.

Construction: Again I had problems with the shoulder pleats, but I think they are a bit better than last time. Otherwise, the dress came quite easily together up to the point where you have to attach the (naughty) turtleneck. I just couldn't get my head around the pattern notes and sewed the wrong seam twice. Then there was only one seam left, I hadn't sewn yet, which turned out to be the one meant. You actually have to sew a cylinder (with keyhole opening) before attaching it to the neckline and I somehow didn't expect that. Then there was a lot of hand stitching involved. Which kept me wondering, if there is a special stretchy handstitch? Because you stitch the turtleneck to the neckline on the inside and when you try to squeeze your head through, it will stretch! I couldn't find anything on the web, so just kept stitching little zigzags. And it stretches fine :) I also attached two buttons and loops to keep the keyhole opening closed.

You can just see the black button loops.

 Have I worn it yet? Yes, when going for some fabric shopping and tea with a friend. I still have to stabilize the shoulder seams with some cotton tape to prevent them from stretching. I just had to get some advice first, about how to do it :) Looking at the pictures now, I somehow think this blue is not a color that should go closely to my pale face, puh. I look a bit like a ninja in a pink flamingo dress :P

More detail pleats :)

 Will I make it again? Probably not, as there are more jersey patterns out there that I want to try! Lady skater dress, here I come!

At least the flamingos are straight :)

Its beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

Are you in Christmas mood yet? Are you decorating, baking, crafting gifts or are you hiding behind the couch, waiting until Christmas is over? I am one of those people, who start already at the end of November to listen to Christmas music - I mean I have to be in the right mood, right?

Christmas gifts :)

So, the last two weekends I was busy baking German Christmas cookies, Christmas Stollen (there were 2 kg, but it was already gone after one week), decorating my living room, sewing Christmas presents (two more to go!) and last weekend I made a Christmas wreath!

So, I thought I would share a few pics with you and also show you the pillow covers I made for my grandparents.

To make the pillows I used the bordered star tutorial by Deborah from whipstitch and the Liberty pillow tutorial by Rumi from 3patchcrafts. The patchworking took quite a while, as did the quilting, but as soon as this was done the pillow came together quickly. As the bordered star pillow is quite big, I added buttons at the back to close it and for the Liberty pillow I used the normal envelope closure.

Bordered Star

and its back.

The fabric I used was the Hand Drawn Garden bundle by Anna Maria Horner that I won back in August. I still have some left, so I will probably make a pillow for myself as well! The bordered star pillow is quite big and I am going to buy the pillows in Germany because I don't want to take them with me on the plane. I had only small cushions at home to take the photographs, that's why everything looks a bit loose.

Liberty Pillow...

...and its back

I even made a little label :)

And some detail shots: I free motioned quilted the star pillow and for the Liberty pillow I mainly used my walking foot.

Some free motion detail - I love clovers.

Just some stippling

I will leave you now with a final pic of my pretty Christmas wreath! Have a lovely Wednesday everyone :X