knitty gritty

How many times does one start a scarf? Way to many. But I finally officially started my mock scarf for my sister started. Actually I started yesterday, I just now got far enough to say it's time for a picture.

The Knitty Gritty

My sister e-mailed me asking if I knit. My answer: sort of. I taught myself to knit in high school, I stopped when i developed tennis elbow. I can do it as long as i remember to take a break after each row, so it becomes rather time consuming.

The item she'd like to have recreated she found on etsy. I wont post a link because if it gets sold then the link wont work. But she likes a scarf called Monterey and I must say i like it as well.

It's a nice chunky little thing. I had some chunky yarn on hand, but no big needles.

I went to Joanns on the way to Costco yesterday. I thought I got a pair of 25 but I read them wrong, they were size 50 I had read the 25mm opps. Anyways I fiddled with the needles and yarn some yesterday and the results weren't quite there. I never stitched more than 4 rows so not the best of samples.

I went hunting through my stash and found size 11 needles. I decided to work on pattern and not tension/spacing.

At first I thought it was just a simple k2, p2. But nope. tried k1,p1. Then I realized I might not have cast on properly, It helped knitting the knit column and purling the purling but didn't look right. I finally realized it's a fisherman's rib knit.

So now to go pick out some yarn for myself and get a better sized set of needles. Everything I stitched I pulled out so no pictures.

Nearly there.... maybe....

Two days ago I traced off the moulage pattern on to some muslin. Which was interesting with SqueekMoo getting under foot.

Yesterday I sewed up all the darts and side seams and got the back zipper on. I was so excited. I went to try it on and then i realized I forgot to sew the shoulders. Alas I messed up the shoulder measurements.

I was so annoyed because I figured to fix it I would have to redraft the entire front bodice again. BLAH! so I grumbled and tossed it to the side.

This morning I rethought it an decided i could get the shoulder length right by tapping into the shoulder darts. what little fabric was added to the shoulder was needed to make the shoulder the right width, but wouldn't do anything to the bust measurement.

I tried it on and fit fit darn well. Since the measurements were taken in July, I think the reason why it's a little  loose in the waist/belly. I think I lost some baby weight since then. A good thing right?

Anyways I'm debating if I should take new measurements so it's prefect.

The flip side to all this is the actually form. Poor Cassie is  Uniquely You dress form. MacMac gave the final say on which size to get. I was right on the cusp between a size small and a size medium... he decided to go with the medium. my fingers are cursing him since I can't get the mock up onto the form. There is just so much foam! I'll punish him by making him zip them on.

Out of my closet and into theirs

All the stillbirth Gowns and blankets have been turned it. She (the bereavement nurse) was delighted by what I gave her. From the sounds of it, they will take a long lengthy time to get used up. which is good, cause I honestly hope they never have to be used.

On top of the ones i got pictures of, I did make two more in the medium size that in a white tone on tone fabric. Those ended up looking slightly more boyish. I'm going to look into getting a Big 3 pattern on sale and see if I can scale down one of the boyish baptismal outfits down to size.

I also gave her the heirloom sacque I made since I really have no other use for it.

We have great plans on what we'd like the bereavement support to look like. Our goal is to make sure everyone has all the attention they want so we might "offend" some who wish we would bother them as much. But at least we catch all the people who want the attention.

A few more Gowns

I finished sewing the gowns that I cut out yesterday. Making a total of five gowns. Not really in love with the pattern, but the choices are few and far between. Here's what they look like none the less:

I can't see any differences in the three sizes except for the fact the length varies. The slight increase in the yoke is so minimal I'm weary that they will fit the spectrum of sizes they are suppose to. Also not very boyish.

I picked up some white fabric today, I'll try to fiddle with another pattern, hopefully those will look more boyish to me.

Reminder links

More for me to remind myself, but I figure while I'm at it you'd might enjoy my findings as well.

Romantic History's free patterns - the link for the brim B for the regency bonnet if broken, but the pattern can be found here.

The 19th US regiment of Infantry has some neat scaled diagrams of a couple extant garments.

V and E historic costuming has a nice free patterns as well. The toddler boy set may be helpful if I can convince people SqueekMoo as a boy can wear a dress.

And how good is you Danish? on of the museums has their collection on-line and some of them has gridded sketches (aka patterns). skeleton suit here and here.

The Fit of Me?

Well we did it. Actually 'We' didn't, MacMac had a long day at work, and I was really tired when he got home. So I caught a nap after dinner and he played Katamari on the PS3 for SqueekMoo. MacMac went to bed, SqueekMoo eventually followed. I am now wide awake. Visions of sewing are swirling around my mind and the only way I'll make any progress is if Cassie the dress form looks like me. So I went ahead and drafted the front without the pestering help of MacMac.

And this is what was created:

Back is on the left and front on the right. Note how demented the armhole for the front is. I have really narrow shoulder, I can't keep a bag/purse strap on my shoulder to save my life. Everything just slips right off, granted I'm not sure if that is due to slope or to narrowness.

Now for some interest, let's compare to last years moulage. Last year moulage was deemed a failure because someone who wont be named, didn't do a good job measuring my shoulders and when I did the muslin fitting it was just way to wide for my wee shoulders. the moulage is pretty forgiving in redrawing certain seams, but the shoulder midpoint is rather important for the whole bust dart so i never went back to redraw the whole thing. other than that though I don't think there was anything majorly wrong with it. expect perhaps side seam placement. It assumes equal mass front and back, so a baby belly didn't really get accounted for. But that's solved with redrawing the side seams in the muslin draft anyways. 

So the comparision:

Back side: New moulage on left, last years on right.

And front, new on left last years on right.

Probably does not help that you are comparing drawn lines versus cut lines. You can tell that last years one is wider compared to this years. Not a great deal wider but definitely a baby belly wider.

I might make use of my notes and make a cover in pregnant form. I took measurements at 8 months pregnant but never got passed the measurement stage so i'm not sure how well they were measured. But it's worth having something to drape a baby belly with I suppose.

Another Attempt at fitting Cassie

If you recall I got a Uniquely You dress form for Christmas last year. I was six months pregnant at the time and just never got around to getting Cassie (the dress form) to look like me. In July I tried to make a sloper up, but got to frustrated(or was it bored?) to work on it. I once again used the information from Kenneth King's Moulage to make my sloper this time.

I should mention my disc is in pieces, and so I'm very thankful that I printed out most of the book when it was still in one piece. Anyways with the help of MacMac sitting next to me, we worked on it while SqueekMoo played at our feet. Now having MacMac help adds another dimension of frustration, but I think the frustration I have towards his lack of knowledge in what he's reading cancels out my frustration of making mistakes because I was rushing through things.

So I made up the back Moulage. Tomorrow we shall hopefully work on the front, which means Wednesday maybe news of a fabric fitting. I hope it turns out well. I really would like Cassie to be a use-able me.

This afternoon I made another mock up of the training pants. I'm still having a tough time. I think much of my problemw ill be fixed if I jsut give into pinning the PUL. I'm sure the holes will shrink in the dryer but I'm still weary to pin it. Also I think a non-stick pressure foot for the sewing machine would help. But the pin thing is a cheaper solution so that will probably be the solution. I tried the size large with size small bands. I cut out a medium with small bands, but I might have to cut a small with smalls just to see. very tricky this fitting diaper thing is.

Another month gone?

Another month has gone and past. Progress has been hit and miss. The house looks a lot better so atleast that. SqueekMoo stunned us at the library the other day. We pulled out and ABC book and "just for fun" try quizzing him on the letters. He was able to say all but 5, he may know the ones he missed but he may have be distracted not sure. but WOW.

So I ended up buying a pattern for the training pants. All the time I fiddled, I wasn't far off from how you construct it. Fit however I don't think I'd ever get right in a million years. So I think my $8 was well spent on the Tinkle Time Trainer pattern. I made mine with a welt pocket. i think I'll probably add another welt pocket to the front. Still need to figure out the best waistband and leg band size, but very happy. As far as materials bought. I did splurge and get some lovely PUL knit prints on-line. But am using polyester from my stash for the waist and leg bands. I have some cotton knit in my stash the i'm using for the lining. Nothing I had was working well as a stuffer, however getting materials on-line isn't in the budget so I picked up a bundle of microfiber towels from Wal-mart. They work like a charm. Wish it wasn't a weird synthetic, but for now it will do.

That time of year is creeping in. When my cross stitch finds its way back into my hands. I've been drooling over the needlework system 4 again. I made a deal with MacMac that if there is no baby insight by next summer then next Mother's day that's what I want. Because if I get any time soon, it would be as a Christmas gift and that would be past the stitching season. If I'm to get it I'd like to get it as the season is starting up.  I did get an hours worth of stitching into the Romantic Stitcher though.

Plan for the week is to work on Cassie, get her fitted. We shall see how far we get with that.