Finished projects

Yes, it's me. I'm back. Well, sort of. Working full time kinda makes it tough to do all my projects. I finished sewing a robe, which is what led me to decide to post today. 

Messy sewing space (aren't they all?). I need to find a better place for photos.

The fabric is a sweatshirt knit with a super-soft brushed side. I bought it in Germany.

I top-stitched nearly every seam and edge

I used the soft side for the cuffs and tie. 

The pattern is from Burda 12/2016:

I think my fabric is much heavier than what was intended for this pattern. I'd like to make it again in a thinner fabric but the robe I made five years ago is still holding up well, and I have a cotton fabric in mind for a kimono-type robe. I don't think I need that many robes. 

Sewing this robe was a bit challenging because I used a German issue of Burda. As you can see from the pictures, it has a shawl collar and dropped shoulders. I could have "winged" it, but decided to use the instructions from the previous robe I made (A Stretch and Sew pattern) to help with the shawl collar attachment. But I was perplexed about how to insert the back neck facing since I've never done one for a shawl collar before and the Stretch and Sew pattern didn't use one. Internet to the rescue - I found some instructions on line. The other problem was that the German instructions called for flat-felled seams. I tried but this fabric was just too thick. So I ended up serging the seams and then top stitching to hold the serged seam flat. The knit fabric wasn't going to ravel but the edges would get ratty after a lot of wear so I wanted some sort of neater finish inside. 

I do like the robe. If I get sick, I can see that this will be a nice robe to snuggle in on the couch. But it's too heavy and thick for wearing in the morning when I get ready for work. I bought the fabric in Germany with the intention of making this robe, and it would have been lovely to wear there on cold winter mornings had I not procrastinated so long to make it. Instead I may take it with me when we go to our place in France and leave it there to wear on cold winter mornings. Seems a shame to have spent so much time on sewing it to have it sit there for a once a year winter trip but eventually we intend for those once a year trips to be months long.  

Glad to mark this project done and move on to the backlog of things I want to sew - mostly tops for work. It's good to have my sewing mojo back, even if I can only sew a little on the weekend.

Since I'm trying to get a good night's sleep and not stay up late sewing (which I would do), I usually spend my weekday evenings knitting while my husband and I watch some TV. In the last year or so, I've knitted three pairs of socks, a hat, two pairs of wrist warmers (gifts I still haven't mailed!) and a stuffed monkey doll with clothes (dress, skirt, sweater, and top). Pictures? Well, I have some of the socks:

I'm currently working on a scarf/shawl in a lace pattern - it's almost done but I ran out of yarn so I have to figure out how I'm going to end the pattern early and whether I need to un-knit some of it to have enough yarn for the bind-off. Typical of me, I set it aside and started working on a new project - a hat for my husband.

I did finish one other sewing project: a snowman decoration for Christmas.

It was from a printed panel and I'd already cut out the pieces at some point so it was "easy" to sew up. It was a bit fiddly to sew all the little pieces. He's about a foot tall. 

Ciao!