Sewing: McCall's M7385 Revisited

I liked my first rendition of McCall's M7385 so much that I thought I would do a lather, rinse, repeat. This time, I used a cotton sateen with a tiny bit of stretch. I bought this fabric a year or two ago from JoAnn because I really liked the feel and drape and its slight stretchiness. I could never figure out what to with it until this pattern came along. The stretch is not needed for this pattern as it has a nice easy fit. This dress is a bit softer and heavier than the first version but it's still a garment for warmer weather. It's been 90 degrees recently in the SF bay area so I could wear it. I used the same modifications that I made for the first version except that I made the lapel facings in contrasting black cotton. I used contrasting white buttons on top of the black.

I added a link to this post on the Gray All Day blog.

Crossroads sweater

I finished knitting Crossroads by Yumiko Alexander. The pattern is published in her "Modern by Choice" book, which I purchased early this year at Stitches West. I was attracted to thsi pattern because of the asymmetrical hemline,which occurs naturally because of the different gauge and drape of the bottom lace pattern. The pattern calls for a fingering weight yarn, but I didn't want it that light and airy. I wanted something a little more substantial that I could wear without a second layer underneath. Wearing a second layer with a cotton/silk knit defeats the purpose of a warm weather knit. I used the DK weight Rowan Purelife Revive yarn so the sweater doesn't have an open weave. I knit the smallest size at a slightly smaller gauge. Here's a list of the other mods:

• I knitted shorter sleeves by casting on 8, then 6 stitches at the underarms.
• I added some shaping to the neckline since I don't love boat neck sweaters. For some reason, I don't like how they feel against my throat.
• I used short rows to shape the shoulders and 3-needle bind-off to join them.
• For the neckline and sleeve trims, I used a row of single crochet followed by a row of reverse single crochet.
• I reduced my needle size by 1 (from 5 to 4) starting at the upper midriff area because I wanted it a bit smaller on top.