SWAP item #1

Here is my first SWAP piece, which I whipped up yesterday.  It feels good to have a start.  The pattern is my TNT knit top pattern, Butterick 3344, now out of print.  I just added a cozy shawl collar.  It was so easy, I can see myself doing this again.  If I find a soft sweatshirt fabric, I'm definitely using it for a shawl collar pullover.

The fabric is a lightweight rayon sweater knit from a local German fabric store.  This top is the perfect combination of lightweight and cozy all rolled into one.  The fabric is so light and airy, but the comfy collar and extra long sleeves scream "snuggle up by the fire with a cup of tea."  It'll be perfect when the weather starts to turn cool and fall is in the air but it's not quite cool enough for a warm sweater.  I love the rich orange color, too.

Tee shirt

Here's the shirt that I made with my stenciled fabric.

The pattern is my usual basic tee shirt pattern, now out of print.  I went with a V-neck and 3/4 sleeves for a casual look.  The fabric is cotton knit from Emma One Sock.  If I remember correctly, it's just another color of this hemp/organic cotton knit, actually.

Of course, I had been wearing this top for about 20 minutes this morning when I took pictures, and I already had baby spit up on the sleeve.

To finish the neck and sleeve edges, I tried something new.  I cut one inch strips (straight grain - didn't have enough fabric left to do bias-cut) and folded them wrong sides together.  Then, I sandwiched the shirt edges between and top stitched twice.  This leaves the raw edges showing, which makes the tee shirt really casual.  I stretched the binding just a little along the neckline to prevent gaping.  Next time, I'll stretch a little more.  I left the bottom hem raw and let it roll.  Here's a close-up of the neck edge.

Break from SWAP

Well, I've barely gotten started with my SWAP, but here's a little break from that anyway.

I received my fall Interweave Knits and Vogue Knitting magazines this week, and there's been a slight nip in the air.  I don't think I've knitted a stitch since I came home from the hospital with the littlest baby boy, but I had to cast on for this sweater:

My gauge is quite a bit smaller, but other than the corrections for that and making the body in stockinette stitch instead of reverse stockinette, I'm just going to knit this as the instructions state.  The yarn is a yummy alpaca tweed from Elann.com that I've had for a couple of years, waiting for the perfect project.

In other news, here's my progress on my little boy's quilt.  I have all the big blocks assembled and cut.  Now I just need to put them together.

Bouncing Back

Ok - this is what I came up with while I couldn't sleep last night, thinking about my jacket (can I just say, my husband is in Afghanistan, and this jacket is what I lose sleep over - what is wrong with me???):  

There are no jacket patterns that I can fit on that fabric that I will be really happy with, so a jacket from the herringbone is out.  (stop crying, Jenny, and move on!)  I have a roughly woven wool in a peachy color I don't really like for fall.  I love the fabric, just not the color.  I will dye that a rusty brown, and, assuming I'm happy with the color, I will use that with the original Marfy pattern.  I don't really want to buy more fabric for this SWAP, and a quick internet look last night didn't turn up anything I love for this anyway.  

Since the herringbone will never be a jacket (I was super cheap when buying that fabric, apparently), I will still use it in the SWAP.  First I thought of pants, but the fabric doesn't really scream "pants" to me.  Then I thought walking shorts.  I think they're coming "back in."  That could be cute.  Then I had an epiphany...  it will be a jumper.  Yes, a jumper.  I haven't worn one in years, but I think this will be cute, but not too cutesy.  

Deflated

I wanna cry.  I don't have anywhere near enough fabric to make my SWAP jacket... and I am an expert at squeezing on patterns.  Do I find a less interesting jacket pattern?  I love that pattern!  Do I find new jacket fabric?  I love that fabric!  I am feeling very deflated.  Guess I'll sleep on it.  

Fall 2009 SWAP

Pattern Review's SWAP contest runs September - November, so I'm excited to work the fall sewing I had planned into the contest.  Joining a sewalong or contest always keeps me motivated to get things done instead of jumping from one project to the next.

Here's my plan, kind of:

You can see I don't have a lot of patterns picked out yet.  I do have my fabrics, though, for the most part.  The whole thing centers around the jacket, which I'll make first and hopefully enter in the September jacket contest.  I've been pining over this jacket for a while.

In addition to the jacket, there are 5 tops, all knits, since I end up wearing those much more than woven tops.  Then, there are 4 bottom.  I'm not all sold on my bottoms fabrics, yet.  I think I have enough denim for pants (trouser-style... I'm not ready to sew real jeans yet) and a skirt.  I also have enough khaki.  That would make for a boring SWAP bottom collection, though, so I threw in the embroidered corduroy for fun.  I'm not sure of a good skirt pattern for that, though.  Simple A-line?

Cutting and sewing can start tomorrow, so I'm going to trace my jacket pattern and add seam allowances tonight after the boys are in bed.

Stenciling

I thought I'd try a little stenciling before making this green t shirt.  Tonight, I cut out the shirt and pinned some seams.  I'll probably get it sewn up during naptime or after the boys' bedtime tomorrow.  Here's a little recap of my first stenciling process:

I drew the bamboo picture freehand, based on some pictures I found online.  For the stencil, I used a file folder.  I taped it onto a cutting mat (a rotary cutter mat for quilting) and taped my drawing on top.  

I used a razor to cut through both layers of paper...

leaving me with my folder stencil.

I used a stiff, short paintbrush and regular fabric paint, being careful not to slant the brush and get paint underneath the stencil.

I also taped the stencil to the fabric to make sure it didn't shift.  Here is the stencil, painted over.

and, voila!  My painted fabric.

I think it turned out well for my first attempt.  It's a pretty subtle effect, which I was going for.  We'll see how it looks made up in the shirt tomorrow.