Holding Pattern literally : )

This blog will be in a temporary chevron/zig zag holding pattern until further notice  :  ).  Here's a sample of knitting I've been working on using up leftover yarns.  I've been wanting to knit a zig zag pattern for awhile now and just haven't found a pattern for it that I was happy with until now.  I found the directions for this pattern stitch in one of Barbara G. Walkers books - A Second Treasury of Knitting Patterns.  It's called the Scrap-Yarn Afghan Stitch.

Here you have the beginning of the swatch and the book open to the page with the pattern.  It's an easy stitch to do and great for using up scraps.  In this picture the blue showed up more like a gray colour but it is more of a blue like in the top swatch photo.  So that is it for now.
  With the holidays approaching there has been a reshuffle of the things to get done before the end of the year.  Where did the time go. Once I figure out what will be worked on and HAS to be done before the holidays then I'll start posting again.  So until then TTFN and have a great weekend! everyone!

Mod fashions of the 60's.  Here are some "sassy fashions" as published in a vintage McCalls May 1968 magazine I found for .99 cents at a local thrift. The cover of the magazine has a close up shot of Raquel Welch with a caption that reads "Beauty secrets of Raquel Welch".   How fun are those.  These reminded me of a dress Lisa had made at MPB day 2014 in New York.  It was a black and white modern version of these type of dresses.  Very cute and still stylish today.

Here is the sort of thing I remember wearing as a kid.  Mod looking bell bottoms.  I even had the elephant type bell bottoms with cuffs on them, LOL.  Then there were the paisley shirts.  I remember one in particular that was different shades of green.  As far as I was concerned it went with everything because I wore it all the time, Ha.  Clothing seemed to be more fun back then.  I don't think it was taken too seriously and we just wore what made us feel good.  Or thats the way I felt about it.

Call me crazy but I like these shirts the guys are wearing.  Very hippy dippy looking.  It kinda says, Hey, Hey were the Flower Children, LOL.  Which brings me to the pattern making I've been working on.  I'm working with a book by Cal Patch.  I'm a big fan of hers.  The book is called Design-It-Yourself Clothes. The book is for womans garments but with the informaiton inside you can make garments for anyone.  You can also see some of her instuctional videos on www.creativebug.com.  More on those later.  Here is one of the patterns I've been working on.  Using the information in Cals book I've manned it up and I'm working on making a dashiki type top sorta similar to the one the guys are wearing in the photo above. 

 .Here are the first fitting patterns.  I altered it 2 times till I think I've got it where I like the fit.  This is some gingham fabric I bought at the thrift and it was just enough to make 2 test fittings.  Once I tore thru the gingham I needed more fabric.  So I decided to cut up the cotton beadspread on my bed, LOL.  It's got an ethnic print on it and what better fabric to play around with than that.  So here is the first fitting of that. 

I've altered the pattern twice with this fabric and think I finally got it the way I like it.  I was so excited when I got the sleeve to fit.  Unless you like doing this sort of thing you won't get it but it was like, WOO HOO!  I didn't use the darts in this top that Cal shows you how to add to the pattern.  But they are there if for some reason I want to use them at some other time.  As like in for shaping for another garment, etc.  I think this fabric is cool.  I wish I would have payed more attention to the pattern at the edge of the fabric (border print) since the first time I cut it out I didn't match that up very well.  Anyway, there was enough of  the bedspread/table cloth fabric to get two fittings out of it.  On the second one I matched the border pattern of  fabric up correctly so it looks like it matches.  There you see it folded with the final pattern (Shell).  For the test garment fittings I just pin them together with LOTS of pins and then slip it on without trying to stick myself with the pins.  I got smart this time and bought a bunch of safety pins and use those and it make it so much less ouchless when trying on the garment.  

So there you have the basic pattern and at some point I will need to decided on a neck line.  Do I want a collar or not what type of neck opening etc.  How will I finish the sleeve etc.  Much to consider but life has gotten in the way and that will all have to wait for now.

I did manage to complete a t-shirt.  Following a www.creativebug.com class by Cal Patch on how to draft a t-shirt pattern and sew it up.  Here it is : 

Again, this was made out of vintage fabric from the bullet proof polyester era that I picked up at the local thrift.  It's a smooth stockingnet knit on one side and a terry type of loopy texture on the other.  It has very little stretch so not very well suited for a t-shirt but enough give for me to get my big ole head thru the neck, LOL.  And yes you can sew an entire t-shirt with by hand with a thread and needle.  I never thought I'd get it done.  This pattern fits nice and I think it will be so much nicer in a more appropriate fabric but this fabric worked out for a fitting.

Have a great week everyone!

Here are some of the items I purchased during the MPB Day 2014 in New York.  What a great time it all was.  I had been following Peters blog for about 2 or 3 years now and when this MPB Day2014 came up I just had to go. I wish I had been more camera savy and taken more pictures. I'll post some of the few pics I took later and share more info when I can get more organized. You can go visit Peter at malepatternboldness and check out his post for it.  What a swell host he was and Michael too!  Peter maintained his freshness and vim and vigor thru out the whole event in white linen pants and a handsome red shirt with white polka dots all over it.  I'm sure his linen pants helped.  Also the lovely weather we had for it was something to be thankful for as well.  I was sooo exhausted afterwards that I slipped away and made my way to the Fareway grocery for some vittles and back the my hotel room with its big fluffy white bed that was soooo comfortable, Ahhhh.
  Above are some of the fabrics I got when I followed some of the gang to what I think was Paron's.  I was inspired by Peter's pants so I decided to try out some linen.  So there is some brownish khaki sorta linen and then the sales man gave me a sample of what is supposed to be a yellow/limey green vibrant coloured linen.  but the camera isn't quite catching the colours of either of these linen fabrics very well.  I've never worn or sewn with linen before.  I've knit with it before.  After seeing how nice Peter's pants were I just had to give it a try.  At first when I got home with the fabric I wasn't sure if I liked it after all since it was kinda stiff.  So I gave it a wash and then it got much softer and had more drape but still with some body so now I like it better now.  Some how I'll incorporate the limey green fabric but that will have to be seen.  Hmmmm, maybe a stripe down each leg or just one.
  The blue ethnic fabric and beads came from this fellow who had all sorts of African fabrics and beads.  I really dig that sort of thing.  So after looking at it all on the first day I decided to check it out again on the second day.  That blue fabric is really a large piece of fabric and I don't know why i was looking at it.  I kept touching it, eyeing it and had already checked out of my room by then. I still had quite some time to wonder around with everything I had brought with me and purchase in tow before I had to be at the bus pick up point at 4pm. So just as I had talked myself out of getting it in my mind the booth owner came over and said what will you give me for it.  I said, well I've got to carry it back with me and its such a large piece of fabric and I just don't think I can carry it around all day, ya know.  He said, No no no, its not that big, as he took his long arms and proceeded to fold it all up into the smallest bundle he could possibly fold into and handed it to me.  I was like, well, I guess its not that big so I just took it and he did give me a bargain on it.  So I stuffed it in my bag and went back to the coffee shop.  Then I decided to lighten my load by ditching most of the clothes I brought with me in a trash bin. They were older clothes anyway and I wasn't that attatched to them.  Anyway, I've been tinkering around with pattern making and I'll probably use the blue fabric for samples.  For the pattern making I've been watching Cal Patch's pattern drafting class on creativebug and using her book,  Design-It-Yourself  Clothes Pattern making Simplified.  I really like this book.  I'll share more about that later and how the pattern making process has been going.

 Have a great week!

New sewing/craft space : )

I'm so excited about finally getting this sewing area set up.  With limited space in the living quarters I just never really set up an area that I could work in.  So with moocho inspiration after returning from MPB Day in New York I switched into git-er-done mode and managed to carve out this sweet corner of the room.  What made it all really fall into place was while at the local thrift I saw the sewing table in the picture.  It was in great condition and only $15.00 dollars.  Not really knowing that my sewing machine would fit in it I was taking a chance.  One I was willing to take at that price and if it didn't work I could use it as a desk or give it to a friend. When I got it home it fit like Cinderellas slipper.  Happy moment :  ).  The sewing machine in the picture is one I had gotten for a mere $8.00 dollars way back when at an auction.  It was stuck to just the top of a wooden panel that had once been the top of one of the treadle bases but the treadle part was long gone probably turned into a table and the head was laying on its side waiting for someone to claim/love it.  No one wanted it and at that price I was willing to tinker with it to get it working.  I got it working and it sews like a dream (even though ist only straight stitch) and found a treadle bottom for it that I used for awhile.  Due to all the upstairs downstairs moving that was going on in my young life it got to be cumbersome lugging the heavy thing around (nor did I have the heart to ask some of my strong friends to help me move the thing yet again) so I donated the base (sadly) and kept the head since I could still sew with that. I have other electric machines but this is my favorite of all.  It can sew the finest sheers to dog food bags.  So now I should have no excuses to keep me from whipping up some crafty creations right.  Well, the whole point of  this blog is to see if I can organize myself and be disapplined enough to post regularly and actually finish some projects.  Wish me luck :  )