Summer Knitting: Part 1

Please, hold it together, because I'm about to show you a gigantic doily.





I suppose it's not gigantic, like in the grand scheme of household objects, but it is a supersized version of this Danish knitted lace pattern.

We've been moving some stuff around in our little living room, and after buying a new chair that was probably too big for the space, we ended up losing the coffee table. So we were left with some open floor space upon which I could feature some kind of boss rug. Hello knitting project!

The yarn is actually stretched strips of a jersey sheet, like the t-shirt yarn everybody is making, knit on size 10 needles. Once the circumference was too big for my circulars, I had to switch to the weirdest combination of circular needles, using them like dpns. This knit was a total workout too. My gauge was pretty tight and that thing got heavy pretty fast. My arms are still sore. :(

I want to make another that's maybe twice the size, but I'm going to to have to come up with some kind of circular needle hack to go beyond a 48" circumference.





But before that, I definitely need to make one of these.

V1247

Like pretty much everyone else, I really needed to make this top. Because I love Rachel Comey. And I love those crazy $3 Vogue sales. Originally, I had intended for this to be a wearable muslin, but I like it just fine. You might recognize the fabric from this dress (which I also still wear a lot). The fabric I had slated for the pattern probably wouldn't have suited it anyway. You really need to work with something light here.



At so many points while putting this together, I was "whyyyyy" and "there doesn't need to be a seam here" and "this is taking so long for such a simple top." But I persisted despite my reservations, and it turns out I really do like this top.





And the moral of the story is... blah blah blah we all knew Rachel Comey is amazing.

New Additions

A few things we've put up around the apartment recently. Click for deets.

Hot Kitchen

I'm pretty sure this is what married life is supposed to be like. Flippin' through all those cookbooks Food and Wine will not stop sending you and making some good, good food. Summer time has certainly allowed for that.

 Click photos for deets.

Two-Tone for Joe

When I saw the Two-Tone Shirt project posted on Burdastyle, I knew I wanted to make a version for Joe. It seemed like something he might actually wear and like nothing he already had. (I don't need to attempt a copy of a button-down he can buy at Target for $15. My menswear does not equal commercial menswear.)

And what do you know, this thing hung in his closet for about a day before he pulled it out for work. He was practically out the door before I realized he had put it on, and I was like, "Wait! I made that! Pictures!" So these are the gems from that morning:



And here are some better photos I took when he got home:





Unlike the Burdastyle version, I based my shirt of the old Jakob shirt pattern that I'd purchased way back when it first came out. But I did have to grade it down quite a bit to get the fit we wanted. And since I wasn't using a double-faced material, I cut out all of the facings in another shirting. I also eschewed their added back pleat to keep the fit pretty slim.

I really like this shirt. It might be my favorite thing I've made for him. At least until this sweater is finally done.

THAT Dress

Mine and Joe's first wedding anniversary is in two weeks, as weird as that is to say. So, in honor of that milestone, I should probably post my wedding dress. There was a lot of blogging that happened during the making of said dress (I even documented it in my M.Arch portfolio), but after the wedding, our honeymoon took us right to the start of grad school for me, which just about shut down my life outside of studio until....May? So here it is. The grand reveal, unless you were there, or saw the many, many photos uploaded to my flickr.



Honestly, this was the most frightening thing I've made in my life. And the most expensive. It was my first time working with silk charmeuse and real silk chiffon. This lady, minus the invisible zipper and spiral steel boning (but including the thread!) is 100% silk. Charmeuse for the bodice and skirt, organza interlining, chiffon overskirt, and silk crepe lining. It felt ahhhh-mazing on my body.





Which brings us to the fit. Overall, I'm quite happy with the fit of the dress. But in the last couple months before the wedding, after this monster was finally under construction after over a year of muslins and small tweaks to my-drafted pattern, I had lost a tiny bit of weight. Mostly out of my waist and my boobs (which is bullshit, btw), so there is a bit of unplanned ease in the bodice. In some of the photos, you can see it rippling. I cannot even explain the emotional experience that was the final fitting. But this is a close approximation: a) "holy shit! This is my wedding dress!" b) "omg! I made this!" b) "wah! I can see EVERY SINGLE MISTAKE and it is NOT PERFECT!" But I'm pretty sure on the day of, I didn't care. I just wanted to get my nuptials on and go the hell on vacation. Also, it was totally gratifying to see everyone's brain explode when they found out I made my dress.



Oh, P.S. I made all those bridesmaid dresses too.

Best Laid Plans

At the beginning of the summer, I inDesign'd a Make List, inspired by many of those who had committed to the Handmade Spring Wardrobe project and the Colette Spring/Summer Palette Challenge. Here are some of my remaining intentions:

(click for larger images)

Not included in this spread is a shirt dress using some of the fabric I printed for this project, and a pair of blinding chartreuse shorts based on my much-used/altered Ruby pattern.

Also, I should probably photograph and post my completed projects: a shirt for Joe based on Burdastyle's Two-Tone Shirt, the ubiquitous Vogue 1247 Rachel Comey top, and some random things I can't even remember at this point.

Right now, I'm throwing together the Burda dress for a wedding we're going to in a couple weeks. I also hope to finish the aforementioned shirt dress for an anniversary trip to follow.

Because non-studio-related making is impossible during the semester, I realize the wardrobe window is going to be closing sooner than I realize. So I best get to work!

OH HI. I made these shirts.

I've decided that I miss populating the internet with things of my own making. And I have been sewing a lot again recently, so I might as well document it here.



This shirt is unremarkable and no longer has sleeves. I put it together from a vintage pattern in an afternoon while watching Walk the Line for the first time, somehow. I sorta-love/sorta-hate the vintage cotton print. It's so grandma-y in great/horrible way. I wore it once and now I think I'm going to mail it to my sister.





This other shirt is based on the same vintage pattern, but with a few self-drafted details: (1) back yoke, (2) circular cutout, and (3) curved hem. I also opted for the curved collar option included in the pattern, which needed to be a bit bigger, as it doesn't fully meet the placket at the center front. After sewing it up, I dyed the fabric this horrible light neon yellow, which was supposed to be more of a chartreuse-y green. I can decide if I totally hate it though. The best part is the vintage buttons that pick up on the cobalt blue in the flower print.

These are the terrible photos that Joe attempted. He's kind of the worst with a camera. ("I know that's on manual and I haven't seen you adjust the focus once, you loser.")







I think I decided just now that I'm not that into it.

OKAY BYE!

Oh, Right.

It appears that I still have a blog.