UFO #4 - the check mate skirt

FINALLY ... my last UFO, my very last, whoooohoooo.

I had been thinking about this skirt for a long time. It's is what would happen if Tilly's Picnic Blanket skirt would have a baby with Julia's elastic fantastic skirt :-) I would have done Tilly's skirt just as is, but it is a gathered skirt and I don't think this particularly suits me. Gathered skirts make my bottom look HUGE and cause disproportionate envy at Tilly's lithe body. I do love the idea of using belt elastic as a waist band, just to have that extra stretch, and it was very easy to do.

The fabric was a birthday present from my sister and it's a loosely woven cotton with quite a bit of drape. So when Sewaholic's Hollyburn skirt came out I thought I would be able to make something. That something turned out to be slightly more involved then I had originally thought.

This skirt put me into check a couple of time, in fact, at some point I thought I was in check mate and put it to the side for maybe 9 months (invisible zipper into the bias cut back with the matching of the chevrons). It was started for the Hollyburn Sew-along in Jan/Feb last year ... sigh.

I cut the skirt in a size 10 rather then a size 6-8 for me and then stretched the shorter elastic slightly as I attached it. It just gives it that extra bit of space as the elastic stretches to adjust to my waist. Time will tell whether it is as good as I imagine, but so far I have been quite happy. It does give the skirt a distinctly vintage look :-)

It's cut on the bias for the chevron effect with plenty of hand-basting to make sure it all lines up correctly ... all seams where basted at least twice, because I kept stretching it accidentally.

I even matched the sides ... mostly

The back was the hardest to get to match up with the zipper and everything, and it is where I stopped back in February last year out of fear for doing it wrong. In the end I just told myself that having it slightly mismatched is better then no skirt at all and you know, it is not too bad actually. I interfaced the area where the zipper is to stop it from stretching, but the insertion was still nerve wrecking.

I can tell that it is not perfect where the zipper is, but overall it is not that noticeable.

I left it to hang for 4 weeks and it relaxed quite a bit (2 inches in some places). I evened it all out and  finished it off by hand-stitching the hem with a little bit of purple lace I had laying around.

I am a little scared to wash it now, what if the relaxed hem shrinks back and leaves the hem really uneven ... ahhhhh :-)

Blanket 2012

I make exactly one blanket per year. No more. Regardless of how much I might like another throw then and there or how it would be a great present for xyz. It just takes up too much time and space and I lose interest halfway through and I don't like having lots of unfinished WIPs around the place. Last year it was a blanket for my son. It took months and months, but he loved it.

This year is my Dad's 60th, so I thought it would be nice to make him one for the cold winters in Germany. When I told him about my son's blanket his reply was along the lines of 'well, are you sure you want to do that for the rest of your life' (yes Dad, that is what I like to do when I am not doing my main job i.e looking after your grandchildren and no, I don't feel like I am wasting my life), but I am hoping that he might be more positive towards his own.

It's crochet in a shell stitch, lots and lots of little shells. In the colours that remind me of his home. The ivory for the snow, the brown for the house, the blue for the lake, the green for the forest, it all reminds me of home.

For some reason, when I looked at the finished shell stitch portion, I thought it was too small (to fit a single bed) and it needed a border. It now measures 145cm (57in) x 210cm (83in) (and weight more then 3.5 kg) and is perhaps a little larger then anticipated :-)

I have sent it off today and hopefully it'll arrive before Sept. 9th. I am somewhat glad it is finished.

Off to fabric-a-brac tomorrow though and I am super excited :-)

last post about MMM

To finish the Me-Made-May with the difference I made myself (nothing earth-shattering I know) a cushion. It's cuddly and lovely, and stripey :-)

It made from the quilting cotton 'A Stitch in Color' by Moda. It is very vibrant and the collection has some really nice bold colour choices in it. It's designed by Malka Dubrawsky (Blog here ) and I really had to hold myself back and only buy enough for a pillow. A big 'thank you' to Lori of Girls in the Garden who found out the name of the collection for me.

It's the first time I attempted anything resembling patchwork and I am not sure I am suited for it. I don't think I am precise enough in the cutting and sewing process :-) The back illustrates it very well.

It was meant to be an envelope style, but I didn't have enough stripes cut for the back. Somehow the swirly fabric was shorter then the rest and the pillow I had was larger, so I inserted an invisible zipper instead. Of course the stripes then didn't match up, but I had to call off my inner perfectionist and tell myself 'It's a cushion, nobody will care about a mismatched stripe'

now it is definitely time for the pyjama pants :-)

Boy Shorts or Stripes Aplenty

It's a bit late but last week I worked on some shorts for my (not-so little anymore) son. It is a self-drafted pattern made with the help of a pair of exiting shorts and Dana's wonderful tutorial over at Dana Made It. The white and beige stripey ones were a trial version and I had just had enough fabric (so matching stripes or anything like that possible). Still, my son was very excited and whilst I wanted to give them to charity, he was visibly shocked by that idea :-)

For the final version I straightened out the pattern a little and made the legs slightly narrower, but overall it was perfect as it was. Now my little daughter wants some too :-)

other projects (with stripes and without)

I have to finish the stripey blanket for my Dad's 60th in September. The body is done in this lovely shell stitch, but the sides still need finishing. It is a really thick and soft acrylic yarn, perfect for the cold German winters.

Out of the leftovers I want to knit a green and dark blue stripey Jumper for my son. There is also the crochet Japanese flower scarf for my daughter and a crochet cardigan.

So, I hope to finish the blanket in April and then start of the Japanese flowers. I usually have a one project at the time policy (I am a terrible procrastinator and whilst I love starting things I just won't finish otherwise), but the blanket is really too heavy to take with me to the various activities of my children so perhaps I will get started on the Japanese flowers this month as well.