Green Vintage Buttons In the Wild

I was really pleased with this "Vogue 8598" blouse with shoulder-princess seams when I altered it and tested it in blue rayon last winter. I made a simple full-bust adjustment, and liked the pattern very much. Last month, I tried it in a crisp cotton print, keeping the fitting alterations and replacing the pattern's collar and cuffs with those from Kwik-Sew 2777, the standard men's pattern that I usually use for shirts. The crisp fabric stands away from the body, and shows that my alterations have left the pattern slightly over-sized, something I didn't notice with the drapey rayon. I'll wear this shirt and wash it a few times before I decide whether to go for a closer fit. In the meantime, I'm going to sew this pattern in the relatively stiff cotton-linen blend I dyed last summer, and style it as a lightweight jacket. I'm considering a different collar treatment.

This tropical bird print is something I bought 20 years ago for a summer skirt, but mice chewed holes in it, and there was barely enough left for this shirt. I had to piece one of the sleeves, but the wild print obscures that.

I don't wear much green, but it was my mother's favorite, and her button collection reflects this. I spent an evening sorting the green buttons, and selected these interesting flat buttons for the center front. I didn't have quite enough to finish the project, but there were three of these big, gold-framed green cat's eyes, so I used these for the collar stand and cuffs, where they remind me of a cuff links/collar stud set.

Authentic Period Doll Clothes

A year ago, I unboxed my grandmother's doll, cleaned her up, and determined to make a period dress for her. She's still sitting on a bookshelf, in her underwear, like many of us who work from home. The rules I found on period costume for antique dolls seemed to kill the fun of making doll clothes. This fabric was inappropriate, that trim was a synthetic fiber, any style ideas I had were not authentic. It was as if I had invited a really pedantic Civil War reenactor to live in my head.

My own dolly (from Christmas, 1962) was also inadequately attired. This year, when I dragged out the Christmas decorations, I was inspired to dress her up. She's a "Tiny Tears" doll, one of the types that you could "feed" water with a scale model baby bottle, and then you'd have to change her diaper. She has "tear ducts" that would also leak water. The little pink and white dress she came in has long since vanished, but it occured to me that the pastel baby yarn I had recently used for socks would be adequate to knit a dolly layette. I looked at a vintage knitting book from my mom's 1950's collection, and just made up a pattern for the "soaker" and the knit lace jacket. It entertained me greatly for a couple of evenings, and I feel confident it's "authentic" in style and materials.

Sewing Without Shopping

I'm caught up with posting about 2011 fiber activities. These patchwork pieces are my current project--a double four-patch wool coverlet. So far, I have 72 eight-inch blocks, sewn together into two four-by-nine block chunks.

I'm holding back on sewing the two big chunks together until I'm ready to finish the thing, as it's easier to handle this way. After auditioning the coverlet on the bed, I've decided that it needs more blocks: two additional rows and two columns more should do it. That's why I'm making 34 more double four-patch blocks. I have several polar fleece remnants that I'm planning to sew together to back this patchwork project, so it will be totally made of scraps, leftovers, and old clothing. I believe it will empty at least two large storage tubs of fabric scraps. It's a tightwad bonanza--hours of sewing pleasure without shopping, and decluttering/reorganizing to boot.

I took these photos last week, and yes, I was also drying clothes on the clothes line. I did so again today--we haven't had to use the dryer yet this winter. Very strange.

Silk Purses from Fabric Scraps (No Sows Were Harmed....)

I have trouble throwing out tiny fabric scraps. I found this sort of small drawstring bag lets me use some of my less practical velvets and velours. The drawstrings here are of ribbon left over from a long-ago Christmas project.

Scraps Into Yardage Into Hand-bags

2011 was my year of sewing with fabric scraps. It wasn't really a resolution, but I had eight big plastic tubs of fabric scraps, and only four tubs of fabric yardage. I ended the year with five tubs of scraps, partly because it's trimmed up and better organized, and partly because I decided to turn scraps into yardage using my serger. The serger's great feature for this purpose is the way trims and finishes the raw edges, so I don't need to cut the scraps to fit one another. I just place two pieces right-sides together, eyeball a straight stitching line, and sew. After I turned some of my denim bits into crazy patchwork hunks of fabric--incorporating a few other heavy-weight scraps for contrast--I cut the "new" fabric into hand-bag pattern pieces.

I've been carrying this bag around with me for a few months. I didn't line it, because it seemed stiff enough as is, and the serged seams inside have not frayed or become untidy. That bit of red on the outside pocket is a remnant of a Guatemalan hand-woven shirt I bought in Costa Rica.

I sewed these bags in the spring, but they seem a little plain and lack-luster. I'm waiting for embellishment inspiration.

Closet Sachets--Upcycled and Emblematic

Sometimes I don't know what my New Year's resolutions are until the year is over. 2011 was a year of going through my old stuff, sorting, deciding what to discard and what to work with going forward. That was most obvious in my fiber activities, but I think my sorting, sewing, spinning and knitting projects symbolized some internal housekeeping processes best left unblogged. Perhaps Pincushion of My Ancestors, Slipcovered and Starched was a foreshadowing of my 2011 theme.

Whether or not they are emblematic of my soul, here are some sachet bags I made out of stained or unusable kitchen towels my grandmother and her friend embroidered back in the early 1950's. To pretty for rags, too damaged to display, I inherited a substantial collection of such linens.

I finished and photographed these in the early spring. Then I stuffed them with dried lavender flowers and stuffed them into my dresser drawers, where I see them whenever I change my socks.

The black-eyed-Susan-embroidered bags represent my first attempt at crocheting lace borders onto a sewing project. I'm not ready for delicate hankie crochet, but I'm moving toward that goal. The pale green and yellow crochet threads are leftovers given me from a friend's attic stash, so these represent totally upcycled projects.

Overlocking Lingerie Elastic--A Tip to Remember

Sometimes, when I can't think of anything to write, it's time to do something less verbally demanding, like sewing. I've been practicing my serger skills, and went out in the snow this weekend to photograph some recent projects. Overlocking small pieces of fabric together creates enough yardage to make these underbritches out of small jersey scraps and old tee-shirts with cool graphics. (That's a big green praying mantis on the far right.)

Overlocking jersey knit seams is fairly straightforward, but I've had some trouble attaching lingerie elastic using the serger. The overlock stitches stretched out the elastic and it didn't snap back, producing sadly drooping drawers. Serger books I've seen suggest flatlock stitch for elastic, and this looks alright, but it doesn't seem very durable.

This time, I used an overlock stitch and played around with the stitch length adjustment. A long stitch length means fewer stitches per inch, and less damage to the elastic. Sure enough, overlock at maximum stitch length gave a tidy finish, and allowed the elastic to retain its snap.

Overlocking alone attached the elastic adequately, but I've noticed that ready-to-wear lingerie often has the elastic turned under and stitched down with a multi-stitch zig-zag, for a more delicate look, so that's what I did here.

Knitting Meets Patchwork!

Last summer, I had no time for fiber fun, but with too many jobs came enough cash to hit a half-price book sale at Interweave, which I think of as "Eye-Candy Central" for fiber arts. One of the gems I'd been wishing for was Domino Knitting by Vivian Hoxbro. The patchwork appearance of her knitted fabric really appealed to me, but I was mystified by the technique. I assumed it would be something simple, that the rest of the book would be pretty pictures of knitted things, and I would regret spending money on a whole book of eye-candy. (It's happened before.) Finding it on sale after eight or nine years of wishing for it, I finally bought it.

I was delighted to find that it was more than a pretty book and a simple technique. I was inspired by the different ways projects can develop, and I had to try her "Learn While You Knit" projects. My cotton yarn odds and ends didn't knit up nicely, so I used acrylic yarn scraps to make this "pot-holder." Because acrylic yarn can melt, I decided to transform the 16-square fabric into a vest for my teddy bear. With a few extra squares knitted on for the front, it seems to fit him perfectly.

Here are some Web-based inspirations for modular or "domino" knitting.

• Domino knit slippers from Ulla, an online Finnish magazine.
• modular slippers It's in Finnish (I think) and I have no clue, but there are wonderful photos of adorable knit items, so if you knit from pictures (which is what I usually do) it's a great resource.
• Slippers Into Socks is where I found the links to the Finnish sites. Melody at Fibermania is responsible for the modular socks, and her blog is amazing, whether you like quilting, knitting, painting, or just love pretty colors.
• Woolly Thoughts: In Pursuit of Crafty Mathematics is a wonderful site I'd forgotten about, and it includes some modular knitting.
• The Ultimate Stash-Buster: Modular Knitting!--Modular shells!

Domino Knitting (Knitting Technique series)

Mandolin Cases from Denim Scraps

After making the denim patchwork coverlet, I decided I liked working with these denim strips so much that I cut up my entire collection of recycled denim. Of course, I ended up with a small grocery bag of leftovers that were too good to throw away, but the final result was a more compact pile of scraps, some of which were ready to sew.

A few months ago, when I got a request for a mandolin case, I turned to this scrap collection (which had expanded, as scrap collections always do). It didn't take long to overlock the seams on this project once I'd located a zipper and figured out how to construct the bag. I've lined it with a sweatshirt fleece scrap. The pocket on the side of the case was once the bib from a pair of overalls. It's big enough to hold a tuner and some extra stings and picks.

Soon, another mandolin case was requested, and, once I'd found a zipper (from a discarded notebook), I sewed this one up the same way. Unfortunately, I didn't have any more denim overall bibs, so I made a small zippered pocket out of short denim strips.

The serger makes this sort of patchwork go really fast, and the overlock seam finish looks interesting all on its own. I'm thinking about making the seamy side the right side on some project.

New Yardage from Old Fabric Scraps

Last fall, I discovered I had more fabric scraps by volume than I had uncut, garment ready fabric yardage. (Seven large plastic bins of scraps, but only six tubs of yardage.) After my frenzy of garment construction as I got to know my new serger, I realized that if I was going to keep sewing at that rate, I needed to either use my scraps or win the lottery.

Sewing with a serger can go pretty quickly, and the tidy seam finish gives a wrong side that looks much neater than this.

I've been experimenting with sewing small bits of fabric together to "create new yardage." With my collection of tee-shirt knits, I've cut odd-shaped scraps into wide strips straight on the fabric grain and then overlocked the strips together to produce bigger pieces. Then I cut garments from them. So far, I've just pieced together bits of the same fabric, and cut out my favorite underbritches patterns from them. However, I'm toying with the idea of a harlequin-patterned tee-shirt or cardigan.

I've also dipped into my collection of odd-shaped denim scraps that are too big to throw away and too small for anything useful, to see if I could make "new fabric" without following the grain line. The smaller the scraps, the more tedious the piecing process, and when your new seams have to cross the seams you've sewn previously, a trip to the ironing board is necessary. Still, it's much faster than the foundation piecing technique I used for my crazy-patchwork window quilts.

Here are a couple of old potholders I've re-upholstered with denim scraps. They're a little rough around the edges, but I won't burn my hands or the counter top with these.

There are so many ideas for fabric scraps floating around the Web--here are some I've looked at recently.

• Serious Sewing has reviews of her favorite sewing machines, and I found her discussion of shopping for a serger very helpful. (I eventually went with her recommendation, vendor and all.) Her blog features a discussion of a favorite topic of mine: How to Get Rid of Large Amounts of Fabric Scraps.
• This sent me to Scrap Happy--More Than 50 Fabric Scraps & Remnant Ideas Plus Free Patterns. I found inspiration for several small projects from this list, and a bunch of interesting blogs to peruse.
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• One of those interesting blogs sent me to Scrap User's System!, a great article about a serious quilter's approach to organizing and managing her extensive collection of small "samples" of quilting cottons. She cuts her scraps into ready-to-use bits whenever feasible.

Crochet Ye Roses While Ye May

I knit to create clothing, but the thing I admire about crochet is the variety of pure embellishment you can produce. I especially enjoy crochet floral motifs, like this cabbage rose, a standard feature in Irish crochet. I wanted to make some Irish crochet-style leaves to go with it, but I couldn't find a pattern in my collection.

Suzanne Thompson's Curious and Crafty Readers blog came to my rescue, with her Corrugated Leaf Tutorial. It was exactly the way to make the leaves I knew from my grandma's collection of doilies and do-dads. Poking around on Suzanne's blog, I found lots of wonderful crochet flower designs and directions. Some of them are the usual fanciful geometric shapes, but many have details that make them look like real, specific flowers--pansies, poppies, daffodils, primroses. And the leaves--ferns, palms, pine boughs. It's too cool.

She has some of these in a book: Crochet Bouquet: Easy Designs for Dozens of Flowers. It's so moderately priced at Amazon that I put it right on my wishlist. Suzanne's blog even gives you instructions for converting your copy to spiral-bound format.

Pincushion of My Ancestors, Slipcovered and Starched

This pincushion has been on my to-repair list for years. In fact, I believe it was on my mother's to-repair list throughout my childhood, and may have been on my grandma's to-repair list before that.

Although my mom kept it with her sewing gear, it's not that sort of pincushion. It was made to sit on a lady's dresser, and to be stuck full of hatpins and the sorts of pins they used to fasten their apron tops to their dress bodice-fronts.

This particular pincushion was handmade at home, most likely as a gift. I believe it dates from my grandma's post-card collecting days, from around 1900 to 1915. (After she was grown up, but before she was married with kids.) The body of the cushion was machine- and hand-sewn of pink cotton sateen, and stuffed full of sawdust. The decorative cover is crocheted of very fine cotton thread. I washed it and starched it with spray starch, but I'll probably look for some stiffer starch to make the ruffles stand up better.

I had originally planned to make a new cushion to display the crocheted cover, but I had this pretty blue silk left over from re-covering a lamp shade. (The silk was salvaged from a favorite shirt.) It's a match for my bedroom walls, and it was a quick project to simply "slip-cover" the original cushion and pull the crocheted cover over the top.

Do you suppose crossing something off my late mother's "to-do" list has some sort of karmic significance beyond just finishing a sewing project?

Finishing (and Refinishing) Projects at Year's End

I'm not sure what spurred my current obsession with finishing, repairing, sorting, and putting away. Maybe it's been concern to finish things "before the snow flies." Maybe it's wrapping up projects before the year's end. Maybe the new house has inspired my inner "Becky HomeEcky." I hope it's not a sign I'm fixin' to die!

Whatever the explanation, I've been working on projects I've been meaning to get to for years. Here's a piece of furniture I found in the trash in Manhattan during the first Reagan administration. Although it wasn't damaged, its varnish was crazed and blackened, and its drawer pulls had been removed. I had some wooden drawer pulls I'd collected at my local landfill, and it went straight to my bedroom.

I salvaged quite a bit of furniture over the years, repaired and refinished most of it, but this item languished. It just didn't look that bad. About 10 years ago, I bought fancy brass drawer pulls for it, but postponed refinishing indefinitely.

During that last unexpected spell of warm weather in November, I hauled it out in the yard and stripped off the old varnish. I was really surprised by what was underneath! A bit of walnut colored stain and some tung oil, and it's quite pretty.

The Year in Socks--Pink Mohair Pizazz

I bought this partial skein of variegated pink mohair yarn in the 1980's, long before the development of commercial self-striping yarns that are so popular now. It was on sale, and I was sure I would blend it with some other yarns for a lovely sweater. Unfortunately, the shades of pink never matched anything else (except this old quilt of mine).

Spring cleaning and organization inspired me to pair it with a partial skein of white to knit these striped socks. Of course, they're not simply striped--they're dappled, pink, "plotted and pieced—fold, fallow, and plough." They have pizazz.

New Crochet from Old Thread

Rather than posting yet another "tinkering with computers and software" saga, I'll show you some more of my crochet projects. Like the wobbly potholder, the goal here is to improve skills, while making a potentially useful object.

After completing the potholder, my next thought was to crochet some slippers from my cheap acrylic yarn collection. Acrylic yarn has gone steadily downhill in quality in the years I've been knitting, but this yarn was given to me during someone's spring cleaning, and had been purchased new in 1970--in other words, a blast from the past. I actually crocheted three different slipper patterns, found them unsatisfactory, and unraveled them. At this point, I decided that the best slippers are the garter-stitch rectangles that you sew up and adorn with pompoms, so I put aside my crochet hook and knitted the black acrylic yarn, sewed them into slippers decorated with two-tone pink crocheted "roses." They're washable house slippers, and the "roses" don't look so oversized when the slippers are stretched over my feet.

Having practiced a bit with stretchy yarns, I believed I was ready to move on to crochet thread, which is reputedly more difficult to work with. I pulled out my Quick Crochet thread, purchased at American Thread's "Yarn Barn" in Willimantic, CT around 1980. (For me, fiber crafts are always a walk down memory lane.) I'm really pleased to finally use this stuff, after hauling it up and down the Eastern Seaboard over all these years.

First, I made a simple pinwheel motif out of white thread. This stuff is a little coarser than the thread sold as "Bedspread Cotton," it's polyester, and it came from the factory seconds bin at American Thread. I was pleased to have it turn out relatively pinwheel-shaped, although there are a number of mistakes. Washed and starched, it doesn't look too bad, and it is currently sitting on the kitchen table under the sugar bowl.

I've been intrigued by two-color crochet, so my next move was to mix the red and the white thread in a project. I just followed the instructions I found on Carol Ventura's web pages (see links below), and made up the pattern as I went along. It's crocheted very tightly, and because the unworked thread is carried along in the pattern, it's quite thick, and works as a potholder.

Some of Carol Ventura's Tapestry Crochet links:

• Tapestry Crochet, a website by Carol Ventura, features her own approach to colorwork and beading in crochet. She has text instruction, free video tutorials, links to her books for sale, and examples of her own work. The work in her Gallery is just amazing.
• Tapestry Crochet...the rest of the story is Carol Ventura's blog where she profiles tapestry crochet artists. More examples of beautiful colorwork crochet.

The Wonderful World of Plarn

Periodically, I run across ideas for recycling plastic bags into craft materials. I get all excited, try the suggestions, and then go back to stashing bunches of plastic bags inside a plastic bag in the pantry.

Here I go again. In my search for crochet tips and patterns, I've been seeing quite a few items crocheted from plastic bag yarn, or "plarn." Tote bags, "rag rugs," pot scrubbers, many of these look perfectly functional. I'm going to have to try again. Here are some links.

• Plastic Bag Crochet from needlepointers.com is a link list of plarn-making directions and instructions for various crochet items.
• All you need is plastic bag and a crochet hook.... via Whipup--Handcraft in a Hectic World. Actually, you need quite a few plastic bags, but that doesn't make such a good slogan....
• My Recycled Bags, where Cindy shows us all sorts of things she's crocheted from plarn. She also recycles old clothes into crafting materials. Myself, I make cleaning rags from worn-out tee-shirts and I cut up newish but damaged tees to make cotton underbritches, but Cindy cuts tee-shirt fabric into strips for knitting, crochet or weaving, and displays some very cute projects.

Red Mohair Cap and the Ghosts of Knits Past

Add this little hat to my minimal knitting projects for 2009. The scarlet mohair came from my Regan administration yarn purchases, while the hat pattern is a recreation of the first wearable knitting project I ever completed. All in all, it was a walk down Knitting Memories Lane.

Wobbly Pot Holders--Pleasures of a New Skill

After moving to the new house this past fall, I noticed my entire collection of potholders was pretty shabby. (I still have them--my Mom and I made them together, and I just can't seem to toss them....) However, Golden Apples has posted dozens of double knitting projects, including some truly inspiring double-knit cotton yarn potholders. I've been meaning to master double knitting, and in November, I hauled out some left-over cotton-wool blend yarn that I thought would have good insulating properties, and I turned to the Golden Apples' double knitting tutorial index to get going.

The directions were great, but the yarn was uncooperative. It had a history of unsatisfactory results, as the cardigans I made from it had all the droopy bagginess of cotton, coupled with wool's unfortunate tendency to pill. After a few false starts, I began to think of the true purpose of potholders--to give the novice fiber artist a vaguely useful first project. I thought of all the wobbly potholders knitted by little girls out of Grandma's yarn leftovers, and I realized I needed to be a novice at something once more.

I needed to crochet these potholders. My Great Aunt Cora taught me to crochet when I was 8, and in 1987, in a fit of February depression, I bought Maggie Righetti's Crocheting in Plain English and holed up in my Tacky Park garret until I'd used up all my leftover yarn on a cute hexagon motif afghan. (Easier on the liver than a drinking binge, and I used the afghan for years.) However, I had secret skill deficits--I couldn't crochet a plain square piece of fabric. I could crochet dandy button bands onto a knitted cardigan, and I could make motifs that started at the center, but I was helpless when a foundation chain was called for. What's more, my flat rectangles gained or lost stitches at the ends of rows, and I had no idea how it happened.

Clearly, I needed to take this obnoxious yarn and crochet square, flat potholders. I tried plain and fancy stitches, but I finally settled on single crochet, worked into the "back loop" only, which gives these cute little ridges, yet seems firm and thick enough to make a good potholder. With all the stitch testing, false starts, and lost stitches (Where did they go?) I began to wear out the yarn, so I just went ahead and finished the "rectangle," flawed though it was. Then I crocheted another rectangle, much like the first, perhaps a little less wobbly at the edges. I crocheted them together around the borders, which concealed some of the lost or gained stitches, and added a little shell border, which definitely looks better made in crochet thread than in this bulky pink yarn.

The next project will look better. I'm beginning to understand where to put the crochet hook at the beginnings and ends of rows. My place mats have the same number of stitches on every row, and their sides are almost parallel. It's really fun to explore something new. I love wobbly pot holders!

...Our Patchwork Heritage Is a Strength...

I was looking forward to watching the inauguration address on television today, seated comfortably by the wood stove, but there was a change of plans. Instead, I went out in the 6 degree (F) weather and reported to our local government the progress I've made on the local history project. I also got a quick tour of archival materials in the courthouse attic. (I've seen some really interesting attics in the last six months.)

The satellite news channels steadfastly refuse to replay President Obama's speech, but I have found it posted on the Web. (This is an unofficial version from Yahoo.com; the text as delivered may have been different.) Whatever else this administration brings, I am looking forward to some elegant oratory, and I was delighted to find a sewing metaphor--frugal, homey patchwork.

For we know that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness. We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus--and non-believers. We are shaped by every language and culture, drawn from every end of this Earth; and because we have tasted the bitter swill of civil war and segregation, and emerged from that dark chapter stronger and more united, we cannot help but believe that the old hatreds shall someday pass; that the lines of tribe shall soon dissolve; that as the world grows smaller, our common humanity shall reveal itself; and that America must play its role in ushering in a new era of peace.

Making Something Useful With Plastic bags

I was quite excited to find this tutorial: Fusing Plastic Bags with the Etsy Labs. I reuse my plastic carry bags, but they pile up faster than I use them, and none of the previous "crafts" I've tried on them has been fruitful. Knitting and crocheting with plastic bag strips works, after a fashion, but the result has no earthly use I could ever find. In contrast, this Etsy store tutorial includes some examples of products offered by Etsy sellers, including tote bags ans small purses. It appears that the fused plastic bags produce a "fabric" that can be cut and sewn and used as waterproof "fabric."

Do you have one zillion plastic drugstore and grocery bags under your sink, or perhaps smushed into a drawer? Ever wanted a cheap and easy use for them? One that leaves you with an intriguing and useful homemade craft supply? Do you have an iron? Why don't you fuse them together?

What you'll need:
Plastic bags (thin, flimsy ones work best)
Parchment paper, freezer paper or plain old copier paper
Iron (and your favorite ironing surface)
Scissors

I'll be trying this as soon as I can find a little time!