BWOF 10-2007-115

I'm still planning on making the BWOF dress I mentioned in my last post (BWOF 09-2007-117), but I decided to get my feet wet with some other patterns first. This jersey top from the 10-2007 issue of BWOF seemed like the perfect pattern to start with. It turned out really well!

I did a little research on what to use for tracing paper. There are lots of different options out there. Ideally I would have liked tracing material that could be sewn, for test fitting purposes. But ultimately I ended up going with the cheapest and most easily accessible option: wax paper. It's mostly transparent and permanent marker doesn't leak through it, so it's great for tracing. Plus it's super cheap and easy to find at most stores, so . . . I figure once I'm out of school and have a real job, I can buy the more expensive stuff :p

Anyway, tracing was a lot easier than I anticipated. I actually liked it so much I think I'm going to start tracing all of my patterns, not just the BWOF ones. It makes so much more sense to be able to keep intact patterns in case you shrink or grow in size - after all, it happens all the time!

Some comments on the pattern:

Pattern Description: This jersey top is easy to make, very versatile and looks great! Fine tucks on the plunging v-neckline add a witty detail.

Pattern Sizing: 38-46 (European sizing). I graded the pattern down to a 34.

Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it? Yep!

Were the instructions easy to follow? This is a pretty easy pattern. The instructions for creating the gathers in the front can be a little confusing. I used the great pictures Christina posted on her review as a guide. Apart from the instructions for the front piece, I actually didn't look the rest of the instructions.

What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern? It's a very simple and quick pattern with elegant results.

Fabric Used: Wonderful (and inexpensive!) jersey remnant I picked up at Sew-Lo fabrics. I would guess it's a polyester/rayon/spandex blend. It's so soft - it feels like a thin suede.

Pattern Alterations or any design changes you made:
- Graded the pattern down to a size 34. I was really nervous about how this would turn out; I've never graded a pattern before and I couldn't find any instructions online as to how to do it. I was particularly worried that the sleeve cap wouldn't fit properly in the armhole. I found that I got a better fit with the sleeve (no tucks or gathers on the seam line) if I stretched the sleeve as I set it into the armhole, rather than ease stitching and gathering to fit the sleeve cap to the armhole.
- I raised the neckline by an inch. I like a little more coverage, and I wanted to wear this top in casual work settings.
- I raised the waistline by an inch since I'm petite.
- I didn't interface the neckline and armhole edges as the pattern instructed. It didn't seem necessary.
- I did add a seam binding at the shoulders to prevent stretching and added 1/8" elastic just inside the neckline seam allowance so that the top wouldn't gap.
- I don't have a serger, so I hand-stitched an invisible hem instead. I fused a 1" wide strip of fusible knit interfacing on top of the stitching line and then used a catch stitch to hem the sleeves and bottom edge.

Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others? I would definitely sew this again and recommend this pattern. It's quick and easy.

Conclusion This was my first BWOF pattern, and my first time grading down a pattern. I'm pleased with the results and rather proud of myself!

I'm going to try to update the blog a little more frequently. I'm in school and have a lot of stuff on my plate, so we'll see how that goes. Once a month may be all I can manage for now.

It's MINE, all mine!

I've seen a lot of Burda World of Fashion (BWOF) patterns floating around on Pattern Review, but I never put much thought actually buying one of the magazines . . . that is, until I saw BWOF 09-2007-117 made up by these very talented ladies:

Cidell

Christina

NiceGirl512, aka The Slapdash Sewist

They're all stunning, yes? So then I got to thinking, maybe I should look into this Burda business after all. Yes, I'm still a beginner and the whole idea of tracing patterns sounds awfully scary to me, but for a dress that cute I think I might take the plunge. Anyway, I found a copy for sale on eBay, but hesitated over the price ($22 or $24 with shipping, I can't remember exactly). By the time I finally decided the price was worth it, someone else had snapped it up.

Cue sadness, despair, wailing and gnashing of teeth. I've been looking for the magazine for the past couple days now, without much luck. But thanks to this thread on Pattern Review, I found a company that sells Burda magazines directly, and, luckily, they had a copy of the September issue. Best of all, it was only $9 with shipping. Can't beat that!

The issue should be in my hot little hands sometime this weekend or next Monday. I'm so excited! I'm considering a few different options for which fabric I'll use, but right now this chocolate wool crepe from Fabric Mark is leading the pack. Isn't it lovely?

Proof that I haven't been slacking . . .

Both of these projects are now (more or less) complete, but I don't have pictures of them as FOs yet.
Pattern: Hiker's Waistcoat, by The Fibre Company
Size: Small
Yarn: Highlander from Alpaca With a Twist, Blackthorn colorway, 4 skeins
Gauge: 4 st./in in stockinette
Needles: Sz. 6 and 7, 24" bamboo circulars

Both the pattern and the yarn are great. More detailed reviews to come later.




Pattern: Estonian Garden Scarf/Wrap
Size: Scarf
Yarn: Frog Tree Alpaca Fingering, red, 3 skeins
I can't remember what needle size I used :p

I'm alive!

Between going on yet another trip, getting ready for school to start, and the first couple weeks of school, I've been swamped!

There's not much sewing to report. I've been "almost done" with Simplicity 3678 for weeks now, but it's just not getting done. Oh well.

However, what I haven't done in sewing I have made up for in knitting. I don't have any FO pictures at the moment, but I've been working on a lace shawl and I just finished a vest. I will try to get pictures up soon.

New Look 6674

This is my most recently completed dress. It's New Look pattern 6674. My review of the pattern can be found here.

I've made two New Look patterns so far, and I think I like them. They're fairly straightforward, and they are very inexpensive. I particularly like that last part. I don't quite understand why sewing patterns are so expensive nowadays.

Inspiration

Whew. It's good to be back home! I've been out of town for most of the past couple weeks. Most of that was relaxing vacation time, but there was also a lot of traveling on buses and planes, and much running around.

One thing I'm really enjoying about sewing is that I can make clothes that would ordinarily be outside of my budget. It's not an inexpensive hobby, but it's less expensive than buying the equivalent at the store. As a result I've found myself much more interested in seasonal clothing trends than I have been in the past. Now that I can make trendy clothing for myself without going into debt, fashion is a lot more interesting than it used to be :p

Lately I've been purchasing one fashion magazine a week - Vogue, Elle, Glamour, InStyle, etc. I browse through them for outfits that catch my eye or for inspiration for which pattern to plan for next. I'm also finding a lot of inspiration online. The pictures above are the outfits that are rattling around in my brain right now. I *love* Dita Von Teese's dress. I've been eyeing some
orange gingham at the local fabric store and wondering what I can make with it. I already have a pattern in mind to make a similar dress: McCall 5094 (View F, probably).

I'll have to look around a bit more for a jacket pattern similar to Ali Larter's. Please let me know if you have any suggestions!

McCall 5317

I finished a dress! This is McCall 5317, View A. I cut a size 8 for the bodice and band and a size 10 for the skirt. The bodice runs a little big in the top, so I think it was a good idea to go with a smaller size in the top.

I really like the results of this pattern. The dress is very comfortable, and the fabric is so soft! I have a feeling this is going to be a favorite dress for the rest of the summer and the fall.

And as a bonus, the pattern is very easy, and there is *no hemming* (yay for bubble skirts). Gotta love that!

More in my review on Pattern Review.

Rehash

So obviously I haven't found/made time to maintain this blog regularly yet. We're going on vacation next week, and I'm fairly certain we won't have any internet access, so it's going to be some time before it is updated regularly. I do have a few things to post in the next few days, though.

The following is a post about budgeting for knitting I wrote for my old knitting blog. I think it has some good information in it, so it's worth a repost. The funny thing is, I have so much yarn now I don't actually *buy* any more - or at least very seldom. I think I've purchased yarn once in the past six months. Now I'm mostly spending money (monthly budget, of course) on fabric and other sewing accoutrements. If anyone has tips on how to sew on a budget - please share!

Also, if anyone can tell me how to put a jump/cut into blogger posts so peopled don't have to scroll past really long posts like this one, I would be grateful ;)

A few people have asked me how I fund my knitting habit, so I thought I'd write a post on knitting with nice yarns without going broke.

I'm not a fan of synthetic yarns, especially acrylic. There are few synthetic fibers that compare to wool and other natural fibers in warmth, practicality, durability, texture, or attractiveness (did you know that wool can absorb up to ten times its weight in water before it starts to feel wet? that's my favorite natural fiber fact). Personally, if I'm going to put lots of effort and time into knitting something, I like to end up with something that lasts - and also something that looks and feels good. Acrylic generally doesn't satisfy those criteria, so I rarely knit with it (there are a few exceptions; more on that later).

I also try to be realistic about the costs of knitting. The bottom line is that it's not a cheap habit. The only way I would be able to make sweaters for cheaper than retail prices would be if I knit exclusively with the most inexpensive yarns, which tend to be synthetic fibers. For me, the higher quality of the finished product is worth shelling out more money for good materials. I would never pay $60 for a store-bought sweater (probably made out of acrylic anyway), but I would by $60 worth of wool or alpaca to make a sweater pattern I really loved, custom-made to my measurements. I'm unlikely to find that exact finished product in a store, and even if I did it would cost far more than $60.

Anyway. The internet is a great resource for good deals on yarn. There are online stores that sell brand name yarns at lower than retail prices, online companies that manufacture their own line of yarns, and online companies that do both. Swapping yarn with people online is another a good way to get your hands on yarn that you might ordinarily be too frugal to buy in a yarn store. Finally, it's a good idea to keep an eye out for 'destashing' sales by other knitters. The prices are often much lower than store prices. I've included a bunch of links to internet retailers and swapping/destashing blogs at the end of the post.

I used to buy a lot of yarn online, but lately I prefer to support my local yarn store (LYS) - all the more since I now work there! I think it's entirely possible to be a regular patron of an LYS and still keep the costs of knitting at an affordable level. You just have to be selective about what - and how much - you buy. A few guidelines:
- Budget how much you can spend on knitting supplies in a month, or in a year. I try to keep it down to $30-40 a month (which historically I've been able to afford since I almost never buy new clothes. Whoops). If I want to spend more than my monthly budget on a particular project, then I compensate by not buying any yarn in the next month or two.
- Don't be afraid to substitute a more affordable option if a pattern calls for a yarn beyond your budget. Look for yarn that knits up to the same gauge, has a similar composition, appearance and texture to the original yarn, and behaves similarly to the original yarn. Don't substitute cotton for wool or boucle for tweed; you'll end up with something entirely other than the original pattern (which can be fine if that's what you're going for). As long as you choose a substitute yarn carefully, you should be able to find something that works with both the pattern and your wallet. I've been able to cut down the costs of my knitting by a lot by substituting yarns. For example, I made a sweater out of Rowan's Vintage Knits that called for 6 balls of Rowan Felted Tweed - a $60 investment. Instead I used Grignasco Tango, a yarn with an identical fiber composition and tweedy appearance that cost only $36 total. I could also have used Elsbeth Lavold's Silky Wool ($42) or Kathmandu DK ($36). Most LYS's carry a number of good, basic yarns that are very affordable, have great yardage per skein (Silky Wool is a great example, also Cascade 220) and are easily substituted into a wide range of patterns.
- Look past high prices. Some yarns seem much more expensive than they really are. Be sure to check the yardage per skein before you decide if you can afford a particular yarn. Example - our store had a sale a couple months ago, and everything in the store was (at least) 25% off. People made a beeline for all the cheapest stuff, while overlooking a number of higher-priced yarns that would have been great sale deals - e.g. Alchemy Promise, a hand-dyed 85% mohair/15% nylon blend that's $32/skein. It seems like a high price until you realize that there are over 400 yards in each skein, and the gauge is huge - 3 sts/in. With that kind of yardage most people would no more than 3 skeins, more likely 2, to make a sweater. I was kind of surprised at the fact that not a single person besides myself took advantage of the reduced price. Anyway, the point is, a high price per skein is only half of the story.
- Knit small projects for yarns that you absolutely love but can't afford in large amounts. We just got some handspun cashmere in the store which is sooooo soft I can hardly even describe it - it's like feeling a cloud. Unfortunately it's almost $40 a skein. I'm planning on buying a couple skeins to make some super soft and warm fingerless gloves for the winter. I'm never going to be able to afford to knit a large project out of cashmere or silk, but I can afford to knit hats, gloves, scarves, etc out of luxury fibers.
- Knit lots of lace. This is my favorite strategy! Seriously, lace is probably the most affordable type of knitting out there. Lace shawls and sweaters take much, much less yarn to make than plain stockinette or textured knits. For the lace shawl I posted most recently, I used a Cashmere/silk blend that costs $31 per skein - but since the shawl is pretty small, and it's lace, it took only one skein. Two skeins would get most women a decent sized shawl. I'm highly skeptical that anyone could buy a handmade cashmere and silk shawl in a store for $62, much less half that. Also, lace shawls take some time to knit, so you're using less yarn for about the amount of time as it takes to knit a sweater (or longer). So lace knitters get more knitting enjoyment out of less yarn - more bang per buck. There are also a lot of very affordable lace and fingering weight luxury yarns on the market. Zephyr Wool-Silk (50-50%) is $7 a ball, and 2 balls are enough for a very large shawl. Misti Alpaca Lace (100% alpaca) is about $6 a ball, and 3 balls are enough for a large shawl. This means that you can make an intricate lace shawl (or sweater, or christening robe) that might someday be a family heirloom for less than $20. So yeah. Lace.

My friend Joanna from definitelyMaybe Knits has the following suggestions:

It's really helpful to get a sense of how much yarn is required for certain projects. There's that card by Ann Budd, or you can just look at a lot of sweater/shawl/scarf/hat/etc. patterns to get estimates. That way, if you see a fabulous yarn on sale and you think, "that would make a great sweater," you can buy a sweater's-worth even if you don't have a specific pattern in mind. With that said, I also think it helps a lot if you only buy yarn that you have a general project in mind for. It doesn't have to be any more specific than "that would make a great sweater," but it's so easy to waste money on a skein of yarn here, 2 skeins of yarn there that you buy just because they're pretty.

Also, an obvious one that a lot of people seem to miss - use up your stash! Whenever I finish a big project, my first instinct is to go online and look at patterns and yarn sales to figure out what I want to do next. But most of the time, there are plenty of projects already waiting for me in my stash. Sometimes these seem less exciting, because they aren't new, but I must have wanted to make them at some point... and often all it takes is a swatch to get me excited about a project all over again. Don't run out and spend money just because you can, before you make the most of the money you've spent in the past!

Um, that's all I got. Any other suggestions?

Links:
Woolcott - my favorite LYS!
Knitpicks - sell their own line
Elann - own line and brand names
Handpainted yarn - own line of really lovely hand-dyed, often hand-spun yarns from Uruguay.
Discountyarn Sale - brand names, mostly sold by the bag. Good resource if you need a large amount (around 8-10 skeins or more) of yarn in one color.
Webs - (own line and brand names)
The Lorien Store - great deals on Brown Sheep, Louet
Knit Swap
Destash for Cash
Destash and Restash

Butterick Pattern Sale

Butterick is having a pattern sale from today to midnight Tuesday. Patterns are $5 each - stock up!

Lesson learned!

I've been working on Vogue 8229 - slowly, but surely. I'm very close to putting in the invisible zipper (my first!), which will basically be the final step before hemming it. I'm fairly pleased with how the dress is shaping up, but there are a few things that I would do differently if I were to make this pattern again.

The main issue is, I think, that I used an interfacing that is too heavy/stiff for my fabric. This is not entirely my fault. I asked the fellow at the fabric store for lightweight fusible interfacing, which is what the pattern calls for. He showed me some interfacing that looked lightweight enough to me and asked, "will this work?" Uhhh, like I know. I just started sewing three months ago. This is why I asked you for help. Whatever.

Anyway, next time I use a fabric like this (it's either a polyester satin or a cotton sateen), I will probably use the fabric itself or some other lightweight fabric. The armholes on this dress stick out like tent poles - it's ridiculous! I think I can fix it by clipping the facings around the curves, but I don't think that will completely resolve the issue. Ah well, live and learn :)

I think I should be done with this dress - or at least be ready to hem it - in a couple days. Pictures soon!

Fabric on the Brain

I'm totally swamped with work right now, so I've had little time to do any sewing. But, I have been thinking a lot about fabric and patterns. The little beauty at the beginning of the post is uppermost in my mind right now. It's sitting in the corner of our apartment, all ready to cut, taunting me. I think I'll finally get around to cutting out the pattern pieces for it this afternoon, when my sewing pal Mimi comes over.

The fabric is destined to become Vogue 8229:



Sleeveless version, sans ruffle. I'm so excited about this pattern . . . now I just need to find the time to make it up!

First

This is my second attempt at maintaining a crafting blog (my knitting blog went to seed months ago, thanks to school). Hopefully I'll be able to keep it up this time. I'm still wrapping up work for the semester, so I won't have a substantial post up until next week.