Sewing FOs: more dresses

I've been busying sewing spring and summer dresses. This first one is V8724 and it's the second time I've used the pattern. I liked the first one enough to make another one. This one is also in a cotton interlock knit. I really like these knits because they feel as comfy as wearing sleepwear. These dresses wear like long t-shirts with some shaping. For this second dress, I used bias tape on the neckline and arm openings instead of cutting out facings. I also lengthened the front top section by about 1/2 inch. I'm very happy that I now own something like the bright orange and pink things I see in the stores.

The second dress is McCall's M6554, a pattern from the Fashion Star series. I don't love the show, but I like it enough to watch it. The fabric is an embroidered linen blend that I got last year an JoAnn's. I didn't want to use a tie, so I added some white piping. I sewed the pleat center for the first few inches because I didn't want so much flaring right at my stomach. I also widened the straps by about 1/2 inch towards the arms. The pattern fits well, but it is cut almost too high on the armholes -- it feels like the armholes are too confining.

On the matter of clothing, I'm challenging myself to see if I can refrain from buying any new clothes for six months or so, starting from April. I can knit and sew new clothing, and I can buy used items from consignment, thrift, and used clothing shops -- I just can't buy new stuff. I don't include shoes and accessories in this challenge -- I can only go so far!

FO: Fingerless mittens

The weather is a bit too warm for wool fingerless mittens, but I guess I'll be ready when winter comes. These are very basic fingerless mittens knit with Malabrigo worsted. I did not use a pattern for this. I have figured out the stitch counts that I need for this basic style where you have a ribbed cuff and some sort of simple stitch pattern on the back of the hand. In this case, the pattern is just simple ribbing. I did the ribbing as K tbl and P tbl to make the stitches pop more.

Random wardrobe thoughts

• Since when did sewing patterns become so expensive?
• I freed up a foot of closet space just by removing unused hangers. woohoo
• What's up with all these dresses in the shops having exposed back zippers? I liked the invisible zipper look.
• I see a lot of brightly colored jeans and printed jeans in the shops but I don't see many people wearing them on the streets. Are they being purchased?

FO: Cardi for spring and summer

This might just be my perfect spring and summer all-purpose cardigan. It's the Textured Cardigan from Vogue Knitting spring 2011. The yarn is the discontinued Plymouth Yarn Fantasy Linen, which is mainly cotton with some linen and rayon thrown in. It is rather heavy in weight but drapes very nicely and it's not too warm. I really love the pockets, even though I never put anything in my pockets.

As usual, I made some mods to the pattern. I did not do exposed side seams, and I added a bit of waist shaping. My bottom and cuff and pocket ribbing is knit with Ktbl and Ptbl on one half of the stitches, so the knit stitches pop more on the right side. My sleeves are almost 2 inches narrower at the top because I like narrow sleeves.
I did a bit of fussing with the technique and shaping of the front neckline band, which is documented on my ravelry page. I really love the end result, but this pattern had errors in it, and it was not that well written.

FO: Briar Rose Sweater

This sweater is pretty much a basic fitted short sleeve pullover with most of the interesting details around the neckline. The pattern is the Briar Rose Tunic from Interweave Knits Winter 2011. I chose to go with a shorter length for a spring sweater. My sleeves are shorter also. The yarn is Knit One Crochet Too 2nd Time cotton, which is a nice yarn weight for spring. My color is a bit dark for spring though, considering that everything in the shops seems to be neon pink, yellow, or orange.

I had to fuss a bit with the neckline stitch pattern. I ended up splitting for the V neckline one repeat later so the pattern is a bit wider on the sides of the V. I also increased my decrease rate because my row gauge is different. For the sleeves, I added the 7 stitches of K1 P2 ribbing in the middle just for ducks.

I converted the pattern to knit it in flat pieces because that's just how I roll. Also, there was no way I was going to purl most of a sweater on a circular needle.
I'm happy with how this turned out, although I could have gone with one more inch in length. The 2nd Time Cotton feels like hard string as a skein but it drapes nicely as a garment.

FO: Summer dress V8724

It's once again time for a sewing interlude. We are finally getting winter rains in the SF bay area, but I'm ready for summer with this dress. My fabric is a very comfy mid-weight cotton knit that has a faint ribbed texture, and it drapes wonderfully. The pattern is Very Easy Vogue V8724, and it was indeed very easy to make. My only change in technique was to use facings for the armholes and neckline because I didn't think there was any chance I could make narrow hems and not have it look like a child's first sewing project. I'm looking forward to wearing this as soon as the weather warms up a bit.

Snowboarding opossum video

I'm not sure if it's the snowboarding that makes this cute or the fact that it's wearing a sweater. I think it may be the latter.