• Monday Treats

    I’m pretty deeply into a couple of deadline projects at the moment, but I was able to get out to the Spring Toronto Indie Arts Market at the Gladstone Hotel on Saturday, and I picked up a couple of cute treats! Lots of the vendors were knitting behind their tables.

    from the herd

    Sweet cards from Gotamago on Etsy.

    pretty buttons

    Very cute leaf buttons from giroofasaurus-vexed.com.

    you've changed

    It was really beautiful this weekend. We also did a little bit of garden prep: bought some compost and nutrients to mix into last year’s soils, emptied and threw out some cracked old pots, set up our deck table and chairs. I’m pretty excited for this year’s garden.

    sprouts - April 14

  • Make Do and Mend

    Here’s a short project I did this morning – Dale asked me to mend the sleeve of one of his spring jackets, so I thought I’d take a few photos to document it.

    jacket mending 1

    The seam on the outer part of the ribbed cuff had come open. I couldn’t sew it from the wrong side because the cuff is folded over and sewn down inside.

    jacket mending 2

    Mattress stitch to the rescue! I used doubled grey sewing thread and pretty big sewing needle.

    jacket mending 3

    Tighten up along the way.

    all done!

    All done! I sewed over the loose threads from the previous seam, knotted the end of my thread and pulled the needle through to the inside, securing the knot inside the two layers of the cuff. It took all of five minutes, and now it’s much neater. Of course, had this been one of my handknits, the ribbing would line up perfectly at the seam – but you get what you pay for with ready-to-wear.

    Now I can get back to some soothing stockinette, in Handmaiden Casbah.

    mmm, stockinette

    Hello to my first little tomato sprout of 2014!

    hello little sprout!

  • A Finished Skirt!

    I went on kind of a finishing spree this week and picked up a few things I haven’t worked on in ages. I actually really enjoy cleaning out the stash and WIP baskets…sometimes. It comes with the changing of the seasons, right?

    It’s not sunny or warm yet, but I’ll be ready for when it is with this skirt!

    finished gathered skirt

    finished gathered skirt

    I used quilting cotton and the Zinnia pattern pieces, but heavily modified for a gathered waistband – no pleats, shortened a bit, drafted my own waistband. I did the side seams on the serger, which was a bit complicated by the fact that I also did in-seam pockets. There were a few funny places that I had to fix up by hand, but it wasn’t too bad. I also attached the waistband piece with the serger before folding it over and finishing it by hand.

    finished gathered skirt

    Is it the most flattering skirt shape for me? Not really, but I dislike that “flattering” seems to mean “makes you look skinnier” these days. It fits, it’s comfy, and I like it. It’ll get lots of wear this summer, I think. I can’t for the life of me remember what fabric line this is, but I’m sure someone out there knows – can you tell me in the comments? It’s driving me nuts!

    hem detail

    I tried to really take my time with the hem, pressing it properly and stitching slowly. I’m pretty proud of it. As much as I like hand sewing though, I think it’s time for me to just buy a new regular sewing machine.

    adorable sheep pin

    New trinket from the One of a Kind Show – this adorable sheep pin from Mehoi. Knitters will buy anything with a sheep on it, eh?