Rain boot socks

Not that there's been all that much need for them this year, but I've continued knitting some heavier socks. These, of course, go quicker than the usual fingering weight. They also help make my boots, which are too loose in the ankle and foot, fit better. The ones below are in Briggs & Little Tuffy, which I like for the mottled and not-too-saturated colors. They are rather short, as the bobbles take up a lot of yarn, but one skein was enough (they were knit toe-up).

The sock shape is the Riverbed master pattern from Cat Bordhi's New Pathways for Sock Knitters, and the bobble stitch pattern is from Lesley Stanfield's New Knitting Stitch Library. The Riverbed's a very versatile pattern in that all sorts of stitch patterns can be applied to the top of the foot. It needs no grafting or picking up of stitches, things I like to avoid. Stanfield's book is very useful and nicely organized as well; all the stitch patterns are charted, which I think makes them much simpler to mirror and to use on anything knit in the round.

I hope I'll get back to some more sewing soon, but knitting projects are good when I don't have a solid block of time to really think things through.

Facing refinements and edge corrections

A lot of times, commercial patterns' facing pieces seem narrow and skimpy. It saves fabric, I guess, but it doesn't look as nice in my opinion. On a skirt, it also doesn't give as firm-feeling an upper edge. Unless there's any reason I can't, I tend to make facings 2" wide at a minimum, often more, depending on the situation. 

You might find that when you seam facing pieces together and press the seams open, the edges of the seam allowance stick out below the edge of the facing. This isn't necessarily a huge tragedy if you are sewing a facing in the usual way, since the edge can just be trimmed off evenly—automatically, even, if you serge it. If you are sewing the side seams last, though, as in the previous post, it could be more of an issue. So here's a check and correction. Please excuse the slight paper curl and the rather embarrassing sketchy lines.

This is on pattern pieces to which I added my own seam allowance, plus some extra width to the bottom, but I find this sometimes happens even on commercial patterns. Fold under the seam allowances, butt the pattern pieces together, and trim off any protruding excess bits (red). The blue areas are where there is some seam allowance missing; this could be added on in theory, though it might get graded right back off later since it's on the upper seam edge. Any stitching lines, as well as the cut edge, should form a nice continuous curve (I marked the top sewing line and the original cutting line in yellow).

Changing construction order of a faced-waist skirt for easy pin-fitting and alteration

A skirt with a faced/contour waist and a center back zipper is probably about the easiest to alter at the side seams. The zipper isn't in the way, and there isn't a one-piece waistband that might have to be taken partway off. It can be made even easier if you sew the facings to each piece first, do all the clipping, grading, and understitching, and only then sew the side seams of the skirt and facings. You do have to be careful to match the facing seamlines at the top of the skirt, and there may be a slight bit less ability to trim and reduce bulk at the tops of the side seams. On the other hand, the facing/skirt seams won't need to come partially undone if you ever have to rip the side seams to take them in or let them out.

This is what I did for the Neue Mode skirt I'm working on, since I wasn't quite sure of my current size. (Turns out my guess was correct.) It made pin-fitting very easy, and because the facings are already sewn to the waist, there isn't the risk of stretching an unfinished waistline out as you try the thing on.