Tuesday, February 02, 2016

Lightening Strikes Twice

My deep apologies for the darkness of the photos of my shirt! I swear the details were visible on my iPad but on my big computer screen - not so much. They're somewhat blown out now but at least you should be able to see the shape better. My luck for sewing nearly-black garments in darkest January!

So, the front:


The back:


Detail of the buttons and collar front:


And the naughty ripply shoulder dart:


Is that better? Hope so. Yes, it's an oddly fitting shirt but it's just weird enough that it doesn't matter. At least that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it. I wear the heck out of my blue linen-blend vest version but then vests are more versatile anyway. I also wear the vest that I made out of the scraps of this fabric. I hope I can find enough occasions to wear this shirt too. The fine worsted wool fabric is just yummy! Did I mention it passed my machine wash and dry test with nary a wrinkle? I'll be more gentle in future but no damn dry cleaning for this baby!

Moving right along. This next FO should show up alright - it's definitely bright enough! I give you the finished Stripey Sweater:


I'm really pleased with how it turned out. I started with the Mon petit gilet raye'  by Isabelle Milleret, a free pattern on Ravelry. It's one size and needed quite a lot of modifying to fit me (as usual) so I booted up the old Knitware program and rejigged the yoke and body shaping. Of course the fact that I ended up with two different gauges, one in the striped area and a tighter gauge in the main yarn, kind of messed up my careful calculations but it came out all right in the end.

If you'll recall, the yarns are Plymouth Happy Feet Dye For Me (90% merino/10% nylon), dyed in my homegrown madder. And Plymouth Alpaca/Tencel/Bamboo, dyed and overdyed in seven different shades with natural dyes. I added a little Fair Isle pattern to the striped section for variety since I'm not that fond of plain stripes. The buttons, all 15 of them, are ceramic handmade years ago by Esther Grav (What's Weft, Belleville, Ontario).

I just had enough madder-dyed yarn left to complete the sleeves. It was rather a tight race! The sweater fits very nicely and now I have to find some other garments to style it with. Or maybe it's an excuse to sew more? It thrills me no end that I can make clothes that I love and that fit me so much better than anything in the shops. Maybe it's not always cheaper but most often it is, especially when I use materials already in the stash.
 
Speaking of using things up, I'm cruising right along on the Featherstonehaugh. Nearly half finished! The plan was to use up the rest of the contrast yarns that weren't used in the sweater. The little modular fans are rather addicting to knit though I have to be careful where I put the colours since they are knitted directly onto each other and can't be moved around once I'm done. I'm also finishing in the ends as I go so there won't be a big job waiting at the end. More on this soon.
 
 

5 comments:

Sharon in Surrey said...

It doesn't matter what a garment costs to make. If it fits properly, goes with your wardrobe, you love it & wear it often, it has paid for itself. Not much on the rack these days that can do that & too often we have to settle for what's there instead of what we want. Love the sweater. It's just so unusual for you!!!! It should go with some of your favorite khaki, grey & black.

Heather said...

Beautiful sweater and shirt! Both delightfully well made and just quirky enough to say "This is a interesting person."

pao said...

ah now I can see it better. The stripes are cool with matching buttons. Yeah, that's the best about sewing. You get what you want and how you want it. No depending on stupid stores and trends.

Louisa said...

Thanks for all the kind words, my friends. I'm having such a good time in the studio!

Gayle Ortiz said...

Oh, I love this shirt pattern so much. And in worsted wool, so beautiful!!