2014-10-15

Finally.

I cut the last loose ends on this sweater today. I'd started it in, I don't know, maybe May, as a project I'd still be working on while all my other yarn was crossing an ocean and a continent. That worked.

The pattern is (at time of writing) top left here, meant for Cascade Heritage 150, and called "Pretty Mallory". I used Spinning Flock Farm 100% Wensleydale Wool, which I don't think is made anymore, and of which I had about 1440 yards, limiting my options. I'm not sure what I originally meant to make with it; before this one, I started, was not happy with, and frogged two other projects. I'm not terribly excited about this one either, but some of that is just how long it dragged on, so we'll see if it turns out to be useful long-term.

I wanted to make the sleeves on this as long as I possibly could, so that meant shortening the body some, though I think I could've saved more yardage by making it more fitted. The pattern does have waist shaping, but it really doesn't amount to much. I also had some trouble with the neckline rib flipping, though that doesn't happen when it's actually worn. Anyway, it turned out high-hip length, with 3/4 sleeves.

2014-10-14

Fabrics Etc.

The other place I went a couple of weekends ago was this new store, which also has (at this point more complete) Facebook and Google+ pages. It turned out there was a meetup right about the time I got there, so I stayed for that. The location seems a bit far for me to get to often — I wish it were closer, but it's probably quite reasonable for the sorts of customers they mostly want to attract. It's not as much of a special-occasion store as Gala. The focus is still garment sewing, but it might cater more to less-experienced sewers, and anyone who would like to rent time on some (nice-looking) machines they've got; I don't really need to do that, but they do have a nice iron.... There will be another meetup next month (see the Facebook page for that).

They've got a big space with lots of well-organized bolts of fabric, as well-labeled as at Gala. My impression of the selection was: a fair amount of quilting cotton, knits (cotton, wool, synthetic), denim, rainwear, linings, interfacings, home dec fabrics, special-occasion fabrics, and a very good selection of notions, Sewaholic Patterns, and some older sale patterns from the Big 4. I bought a lovely linen remnant to make some trousers I've been meaning to copy, and there were some water-resistant fabrics I'd consider, next time I'm there.

2014-10-10

Our Social Fabric

... had a fabric sale this past Sunday. I got there probably an hour and a half after it started; I gather it's a lot less mellow for the first hour or so, when people are trying to get the "best" fabric first.

Anyway, it was in an average-sized storefront, long and narrow; they had large bolts all around the sides, long tables in the middle with cut pieces of fabric in boxes organized by color, and patterns and a few other things mostly in one area near the front. The cut pieces were generally $2/meter unless very small or irregular; I ignored the bolts because I'm not looking for that much of any one thing at this point. I got a jacquard I'll probably use for lining, a bit of navy blue silk, and a moleskin-like print that I may use for a skirt. I'll post photos of those later, once I have time to get them into inventory.

The point of the organization is to keep fabrics out of the landfill by selling them to people who may use them. Depending on what the selection happens to be, the prices can be very good deals.

2014-10-09

Knit City

I went to a few different things last weekend and have been meaning to comment on them.

I'll start last first: Knit City at the PNE. (It looks like some of the 2014 content is now gone, so I'm just linking to the floor plan). I could've signed up for some classes, but forgot about it until it was too late. I can't say I was really in the best frame of mind for this either; I'd been shopping two other places beforehand and wasn't enthusiastic about buying more. Anyway, as someone who didn't know much of anything about the local knitting scene, here's what I noticed:
  • There were a lot of handpaint/hand-dyed/semisolid yarns. Nice. I'm not particularly interested in doing that myself (no good place to make a mess) but I'm happy to have others do it for me.
  • There seems to be lots of hand-spinning going on. I'm not interested in that either, but people seem to have fun with it.
  • Thick yarn was far less well-represented than I remember it being in Philadelphia several years ago. I don't know if that's a trend over time or a difference between the two locations. (Or maybe there was some secret huge amount of thick yarn that all sold out before I got there.) While there were a few thicker yarns, I would say almost everything was aran or thinner. That takes more of a time commitment, but OTOH I think anything other than accessories risks becoming too heavy in a thick yarn anyway. Especially in this climate.
I looked around at all the vendors for quite a while, but didn't end up buying anything. I was specifically looking for thicker wool/nylon blend sock yarns. I didn't find any, although there were many nice, usual-weight (say, 7.5 stitches or more per inch) wool/nylon sock yarns, and lots of all-wool yarns in sportweight and thicker. In the end, I ordered what I was looking for from Wool-Tyme instead. When I'm less on-a-mission I will certainly be happy to take another look at what's local.

2014-10-07

Schnittquelle Oslo preliminary fit

I compared this pattern to my block today.

It should be noted that I bought a size smaller than some of my measurements would have called for. To the best of my recollection there used to be a more detailed measurement chart on their site, and my decision was based in some way on that.

Anyway, here's what I'm noticing about this pattern so far.
  • It seems pretty close-fitting, at least in the upper torso and the sleeves. Since I'm using a relatively thin boiled wool with a fair amount of stretch, this may not be a bad thing, but if I'd used something heavier I'd probably have wanted to start with a bigger size. (The site does say it's fitted.)
  • It seems like the side seams are placed fairly far forward. I get the impression this is more typical for German patterns than American ones. In any event, I did a fairly substantial FBA to add a lot of width to the front, and I added the same width to the upper part of the skirt to match (and to shift its decorative dart toward the side to match the shifted dart in the bodice). I rotated the FBA dart into the shoulder dart. I hope it doesn't end up too pointy, but the give of the wool should help.
  • There's a lot of flare in the hips. You can see some of this in the back photo on the website.
  • The shoulders are kind of sloped compared to my block, which probably means they're about average. I squared off (raised) the back shoulder tip quite a bit.
  • The sleeves seem kinda narrow at the biceps for an overcoat, but I guess YMMV depending on your arm size. The overarm seam would make minor alterations easier. For my wide biceps, I did two separate Nancy-Zieman-style alterations to add width to the front and back sleeve. On the back sleeve I allowed that extra width to impinge up into the cap, to match my squared back shoulder seam.
  • The sleeves also don't seem all that long. I would definitely recommend double-checking the length. You don't have a hem allowance to play with if they're too short.
  • The waist length is not that long either, nor is the armhole depth. I'm thinking this pattern is actually rather like a Kwik-Sew, but with a neater fit than those usually have.
  • I made Jacke Malmedy some time ago, and for me, the upper back seemed pretty far off: a little too wide and a lot too long. I actually ended up recutting the upper part of it by shifting the pattern down to take the extra length out. It remains to be seen how this pattern will behave in actual fabric, but so far I don't see the same problem here.
  • I think it will be substantially longer than knee length, but I wasn't paying a lot of attention to that, so more on that later.

2014-10-05

October plans

Here's what I'm hoping gets done this month:
  • Ideally Kwik-Sew 3473, but this should be allowed a lot of time for the hem to drop. Even afterward, it will still need quite a bit of work, since it's only basted together at this point. I don't think it can be rushed.
  • A cardigan I'm knitting in Lion Brand Homespun. That isn't my favorite to knit, but it goes quickly, is lightweight (in spite of the thickness) because of the synthetic content, and is washable. I found a useful colorway on sale.
  • A boiled wool jacket or coat (Schnittquelle Oslo or Garçonne J-034 are possibilities).
In addition to that, I could probably use more skirts and trousers, cardigans in other colors, knit tops that are neither too thin nor too warm, etc., but I don't seem to have quite the right fabrics in stash, and some of what I'd like seems very hard to find these days. We'll see what happens.

2014-10-03

Kwik-Sew 3473, all tacked together and ready to hibernate

It feels like I've been dragging my feet on this project. Partly it's that what I've been doing on it just takes a long time (single layer cutting, lots of basting) but I also dithered on what sorts of finishes to use. The shell fabric probably has a lot more shear than the lining (we'll see in the next several days) so I didn't think I wanted to flatline the bias-cut skirt. I could have done so with the bodice, but what would have complicated things is the CB zipper that the pattern would have you use.

But. It turns out the zipper might not be needed. The bodice isn't that fitted; the waistline seam angles up in front, so it's on the bias there; and the entire skirt, again, is bias and flared. So it seems there's enough give in the waist to possibly make a pullover work. At least, it seems to so far, without the sleeves; if those cause a problem I think it would work to have the zipper in the bodice only.

I should mention that I'm somewhat used to struggling into vintage dresses with side zippers, so this may not work for everyone, but I had no trouble getting it onto my non-collapsible dress form. Apologies for the dizzying combination of print, mirror, and background stuff. The skirt may look crooked, but really, it isn't. I'm a little disappointed in some of the motif repeats, but there isn't a whole lot I could have done without running out of fabric.

And... this is about as far as it's going to go for the next week, at the very least. I want to give the skirt ample time to drop. The whole thing is hand-basted together, with machine staystitching at the appropriate edges. Both lining and shell fabrics are in there; the bodice layers are tacked together and the waist seam sewn through all layers, but the skirt layers are independent of each other. The skirt seams are basted with long single threads knotted only at the top. I hope this will let both fabrics drop freely in the skirt, without weighing down the bodice excessively.

There are a couple of reviews of 3473 on Patternreview already; I think at least one of them mentioned that the skirt came out far longer than it looked on the pattern envelope. I agree; this should have been a bit more than knee length judging from stated measurements alone, but that's bias for you. I think the results could be very different with, say, handkerchief linen.