i did it!

it's been such a crazy busy spring & summer that i am miles behind on everything i want to get done, but i finally ordered a bunch of patterns from eva dress for sewing through the decades! the katharine hepburn frock was first on my list (inspired by this post and the quote "If you ever wanted to dress like Ms. Hepburn did in what was essentially her first starring film role, this is your chance!"), this dress which i can see wearing a lot (either version), this ensemble (cape!!), and a blouse which i already have fabric in mind for (cranberry silk charmeuse i got at the textile museum sale).

and, i snuck in a little 1929 because i love this coat so much.

i'm assuming/hoping that all of these lovelies will be waiting for me when we return from our week at the cottage. and then i will need to get to work right away as we've a party to attend on the 10 september, and then it's time for the toronto tweed ride!

whee!

finally finished my vest (again) in a new improved length, and finished putting the lining in my tweed jacket (someone asked if the harris tweed had ever got back to my enquiry - they haven't), and made some nice soup and bread and dinner for six last night, which always feels pleasantly sophisticated compared to the usual domestic business. the kiddo let us sleep in this morning because he was busy looking for chocolate (which he kindly offered to share), thank goodness. i was so tired last night i barely made it to doctor who, but after seeing the latest batch of creepy beasties i'm amazed i slept at all! there are things i should be doing now, but i am feeling so very unmotivated (read: tired). and the week ahead will be brutal. sigh.

eek

i'm just about finished a lovely sweater vest in a tweedy aubergine alpaca with a twist highlander in "dark thistle." i am veryclose to done. and ververyclose to running out of yarn. and i suspect i would really like it to be a couple of inches longer. but, i'm not sure if i could be bothered to buy more when i just want it to be over with now.



argh!

(that little lump in my hand is the remaining yarn.)

it's a top-down seamless v-neck vest knitted all in one, so i've been trying on as i go. the basic recipe is this:

1. measure yourself across the back from shoulder to shoulder (so that's about 15" for me).

2. divide by 3 (for me that's 5")

3. add 2" (so that's about 7")

4. cast on enough stitches to make that many inches with whatever yarn you're using (7" x 4 sts/inch = 28 sts). that's the back of the neck.

5. for the shoulder width: 1/3 (5" in my example) -2" (that leaves 3" for me) times gauge (3" x 4 sts/inch = 14 sts)

6. knit back and forth, increasing at each end of each row until you have added that many stitches on each side (hint: adding 12 sts at each end will mean knitting 12 rows - now you have 12+28+12= 52 sts)

7. once you've reached that width, keep going until you've reached your desired armhole depth -1" (for me it was 6" - unsure how deep your armholes should be? measure a shirt or sweater you like, or check the charts at the craft yarn council).

8. increase one st at each end of every right-side row for 2". put these sts on a holder or scrap yarn.

9. go back to the shoulders. starting with one shoulder, pick up and knit the sts (12 in my case) along the sloping/increase edge.

10. knit straight for 2"

11. continue on increasing 1 st at the neck edge every 4th row. take the number of sts across the back (from step 6 - for me, it was 12+28+12=52 sts) and divide by 2 (26 sts). once you have that many sts on your needle, move the sts to a holder or scrap yarn, and repeat for the other shoulder.

12. now you have the two halves of the front "v" - put them both on your needle and knit across, joining.

13. once you've reached your desired armhole depth -1" (same measurement as in step 7), increase one st at each end of every right-side row for 2".

14. you're ready to join in the round! measure the width of your work so far. how many more inches will you need for it to fit around the bust? your bust-(front+back)/2 = how many inches you need to cast on under each arm (i needed another 4" total; divided by 2 that was 2" or 8 sts cast on under each arm)

15. so: knit across the front, co underarm sts (8 in my case), join and knit across the back, co remaining underarm sts (should be the same number as the first lot), join to the front, and voila! you are ready to knit in the round.

16. work straight for a couple of inches. then, if you feel like it, shape by doing paired decreases down the sides (i did decreases every 6 rows for a bit). try it on. looks good?

17. continue knitting straight until it reaches your waist when you try it on. then, you might want to do a few paired increases along the sides (i would have done more, but yarn is sadly scarce). when it's a good length, rib for an inch and bind off stretchy.

18. armholes: pickup and knit in rib for a half inch, bind off stretchy.

19. neckhole: pickup and knit in rib for a half inch, doing paired decreases every second row at the point of the "v." bind off stretchy.

(a good rule of thum for picking up stitches: if you're picking up horizontally, like at the back of the neck, pick them up 1 for 1. if you're picking up vertically, like most of the armhole, pick up 3 sts for every 5 rows.)

ta-dah! a simple knitted sweater vest, and no seams.

finished? of course not!

but after some time at the machine and a few hours with mildred pierce, i have the new lining tacked into the anything else-inspired tweed coat and the inner pocket is done - with the label returned to its rightful place!




and while looking up the link to mildred pierce, i discovered that it's been made into a tv series to air at the end of march! horrifying. except that it is directed by todd "superstar" haynes, and starring kate winslet, so might be actually good. important to note: it seems to be a series in the uk sense, what might be called a mini-series in the us. so, no dragging the story into 26-eps-a-year for five years in hopes on syndication. thank goodness.

tweed

i've decided to dive into a project that's been on the backburner for an age: relining my beloved anything else-inspired tweed coat (the recon project was one of my first ever posts here - five years ago). tweed is always perfect when there's a chill in the air, so i have worn this thing to bits over the years. the outside is perfectly fine - harris tweed will wear forever. but the lining is kaput. so, i've ripped it out, to replace with some kaffe fassett for rowan i bought on sale at macfab a while ago (one of the things stopping me from getting to work on the coat is that i keep looking at the fabric and thinking, maybe a skirt or shift instead?).

i've trimmed out the lining (i love looking at the innards of a well-tailored garment!), preserving the inner pocket and of course the harris tweed label. wondering about the number stamped on, i did a little googling and found this interesting note on the vintage fashion guild website:

The Harris Tweed Authority is a great aid in dating Harris Tweed labels. You can contact them with the number that is stamped on the label and from that they can supply you with the maker and approximate date of the cloth.

well! you can rest assured that i contacted the harris tweed authority right away. i hope they have some information for me! based on the pictures from the vfg post, i would guess that my coat is from the 1960s.

holy slacking off!

with the sweater for tg proving endless (and so boring at this point! i have one sleeve to go and i just... can't... do... it...) i've been avoiding updating the ravelry projects page. maybe will fix that tonight.

but i have started a couple of new projects... just so i can say "yay, i finished something" and feel a little more productive! one is a vest in eggplant alpaca with a twist highlander (soft and tweedy), one is a hat inspired by a couple of threads about a promo for the show fairly legal - i haven't seen the show (or the promo) but i like the hat, and i need a hat, and it looks like i will have loads of briggs & little tuffy leftover from tg's sweater, so i decided to whip up a slouchier
version of it. i should have it finished tonight, and will post the pattern then!

jackety

i'm done the back of the "in the mood for love" sweater, but that's pretty boring, so instead i've got pictures of a re-con jacket inspired by woody allen's film anything else.

here are a couple of pics from the film - i couldn't find one that shows the jacket very well, but you can see that it's tweed, fitted, with slightly puffed sleeves (just typing the words "puffed sleeves" gives me hives):







so that's the original. here's my version:



i started with a man's tweed jacket in size huge - i think it was a 46 or something - which i bought for $5 at a thrift shop. here's a before and after shot:



big change, huh? what i did was remove the sleeves, shift the shoulder seams, re-cut the armscyes, re-cut the princess seams front and back, add another seam to the back on each side, re-cut the front lapels, take in the sleeves, gather the sleeve caps, and re-attach them.

you follow? i did a few sketches to illustrate what i'm talking about, but we're having scanner issues at the moment, so they'll have to wait.

here's a close-up of the back showing the seaming detail:



here's a shot of the front, so you can see how much more pronounced the princess seams are around the bust:



i think the smartest thing i did was to farm out the button holes. there's a shop on queen at spadina called simply "buttons" i think, and they will do your button holes for you with their lovely industrial machine. it used to be a dollar each, but i think it's gone up to $1.50 (that may be my fault - when i brought this jacket in, the guy said, "wow, that's thick fabric, tough to work with." i said, "that's why i bring it to you!")

eta: tutorial here