Handmade Christmas

Now that Christmas is over I can share a few of the gifts I made.

I made an Orenburg lace shawl for my mom. The yarn is Fino by Alpaca with a Twist, and I knit it on size 3 needles. The pattern is by Galina  Khmeleva from the Interweave Knits Summer 2000 issue.

This was a challenging project that kept my fingers occupied on many long airline flights and in hotel rooms. I started (and restarted and restarted) the border during a trip to Annapolis, Maryland. In April it flew with me to Buenos Aires and the Iguazu Falls in Argentina. I worked on it during the long flight to Berlin, while visiting friends in Le Mans, France (and while Aaron was at the track for the 24 Hours of Le Mans - I didn't go to the track but maybe next year we'll have grandstand seats and then I'll go and knit and watch the race). The shawl then traveled to Paris, then Dunkirk and finally London before coming home with me. Since I can't sleep on airplanes, a lot of knitting was accomplished on those long flights!

Here are some more photos:

I knit this black, white and gray scarf for my sister.

 I used three different yarns: Boing and Arabesque, both by Trendsetter Yarns, and Paton's Silk Bamboo. I used size 11 needles and simply knit each row using a different yarn, leaving enough for a fringe. I alternated the bamboo with the Trendsetter Yarns to give the scarf some drape because the Trendsetter Yarns had a lot of texture.

I made a similar scarf for me using Arabesque (in pink) and another Trendsetter Yarn called "Skye" combined with the Paton's Silk Bamboo.

My brother-in-law received these handmade luggage handle wraps and tags from me. I patterned the handle wraps after some I have from my work (which are adorned with my company's logo). They're handy for spotting your luggage in baggage claim. I used nylon so that they would be more resistant to weather and dirt. Maybe I'll write up a tutorial on how to make these.


I made my husband some felted clogs, except they're not felted yet and I don't have a picture. I also knit him some socks, which I just finished and haven't photographed yet.
 
I'm looking forward to 2012 and more projects. I just photographed the rest of my yarn stash and loaded the photos on Ravelry.com. So much yarn...so many projects! It's exciting and a bit overwhelming to decide what to do first. Not to mention that I have a few projects that are not quite finished.

Living room = fiber room

Until now our "formal" living room was largely unused, except by the cats, because we hang out where the TV is located, which is in the family room (or den). But now the cats will have to share space with my new Christmas present: a 4-shaft Schacht Wolf Pup loom:

I already had a few of my fiber things in this room: the basket on the coffee table holds my handspun - there's a niddynoddy sticking out of it with some handspun on it. My Schacht Flip rigid heddle loom had been semi-folded up in the corner but I got it out and set it up so I could alternate between the new Wolf Pup and the rigid heddle to compare weaving styles. Not quite visible is my spinning wheel. It's a Louet Victoria, which is a small, portable wheel. It's folded up and in its bag in front of the bookcase. And while not a knitting, spinning or weaving tool, but still related to fiber - my grandmother's 1919 treadle sewing machine is in the back corner. So now this sunny room will be the fiber room, but since it's the first room you see when you walk in, I won't be moving my stash into it, and I do need to tidy it up. 

I've been praciticing a bit on the new loom and am really liking the pattern combinations you get with a 4-shaft.

I wasn't using my rigid heddle, I think it was because I knew the weaving patterns were limited to pretty much a plain weave, which just didn't excite me. I also made the mistake of warping the rigid heddle fairly wide and with rather thin cotton yarn. We bought the Wolf Pup from a local yarn store and it was already set up and warped, and I have a lesson next week. I've been having fun trying out patterns, and it even inspired me to do some plain weaving on the rigid heddle.

Christmas party dress

Every year I make my "Christmas party dress." This year my husband's company party had a 1920's Prohibition theme. I thought Folkwear pattern #264, Monte Carlo Dress would be perfect because I don't think it's too costume-like to wear to other parties. I also wore it to my company holiday party.

 

 

Here is it without the tunic:

Here it is with the tunic closed.

Here's a closeup of the beading I did on the front:

And finally, here's my pattern review:

Pattern Description:
Sleeveless, drop waist 1920's style dress with a handkerchief skirt. The dress pulls on over your head. There are two styles of over-tunics: one that is a simple pullover and one that crosses in the front that can be worn open or closed.

Pattern Sizing:
XS (30 1/2 - 31 1/2" bust) to XL (44-46" bust)

Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it?
Yes, I think it did, however I initially misunderstood how the skirt is constructed. The pattern comes with a lot of instruction and information about making the dress and mentions that layering fabrics for the skirt is a nice effect. When I saw that you cut out two large square pieces for the skirt I assumed those two pieces would be layered, but this is not the case. The two pieces are sewn together so that each square is one side of the skirt. I chose a thin skirt fabric, thinking it was going to be layered, but it was ok with one layer because the upper dress part does cover enough, and I wore black tights underneath.

Were the instructions easy to follow?
The dress is simple in style - there is only a facing for the top neck and sleeve edge and no zipper. The instructions are fairly easy to follow but don't include any seam finishing instructions. My polyester fabrics unraveled easily so I used the serger to finish the seam edges of the upper dress part and French seams for the lightweight tunic fabric.

The instructions say to press the dress hem at 1/4 inch, then turn up and sew close to the fold. It's difficult to iron such a small hem on polyester and there's quite a bit of dress hem, so I first sewed a 1/4 inch hem then folded it and sewed it again.

Other reviewers mention difficulty with the shoulder straps - I also had a bit of a struggle with them. The instructions are ok, it's just that the front strap is gathered a bit and there's more fabric to get in place. It took a few tries and some hand sewing to get the straps looking ok.

What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern?
I really liked the fit and because of the style there was no need to wear body-shaping undergarments.

Fabric Used:
The top of the dress is a sueded polyester, and the dress skirt is a lightweight polyester crepe. Both the tunic outside and the lining are lightweight polyester fabrics as well.

Pattern alterations or any design changes you made:
I graded the pattern for the dress from a L for the top to an XL from the waist down. I sewed ribbons with snaps attached to them to the straps so that I could keep my bra straps hidden under the dress straps. I added beading to the front after the dress was made instead of before, as the instructions say to do. I wasn't sure what beading I wanted to do and wanted to wait to see the dress completed to get some inspiration. I didn't find it difficult to bead it afterwards.

Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others?
I probably won't make it again because I don't need more than one 20's style dress.
I gave this pattern a "Highly Recommend" because of the nice fit of the dress for many body types.

Conclusion:
The most difficult part of making this dress is cutting it out. The tunic and dress skirt have large pattern pieces, and the tunic is cut on the bias. I traced off an extra tunic front so that I could ensure I had the layout correct and had enough fabric for all 3 pieces. Take note of any directional fabric. The motifs on my fabric were already on the diagonal so on the bias they either ran vertically or horizontally. I chose to have them run vertically but had I not noticed this I could easily have made a mistake and mixed them, which would have been disastrous!

Completing the tunic was also a bit more work than I figured it would be. The sewing wasn't so hard because it's just straight lines, and even doing French seams wasn't difficult, just time consuming. But once the tunic was finished, it needed to be pressed. Even though a sample showed I wouldn't melt the fabric with the iron, at least right away, I was still fearful of ruining it, so I used a presscloth. But trying to get a slippery seam to behave under a presscloth is really hard! So I first pinned the seam allowance in place around the entire perimeter of the tunic. Then I held the iron about an inch above and let it get a good dose of steam. Then I removed the pins, put down the presscloth and pressed with the iron. Then I removed the presscloth and used a clapper. Tedious, but worth it to get a nicely pressed edge.

Oh happy day!

I am able to use my VIP Customizer embroidery software on our Windows 7, 64-bit machine and send designs to my Pfaff 7570! Woohoo! Happy dance!

It was a convoluted, ridiculously long process during which I had not one, but TWO blue screens on the computer. But I did it! It is sad (and frustrating) that it was such an ordeal, and crazy that I am so happy about accomplishing it that I will blog about it. But it works and I can continue to use the machine and software I've already invested in and hold off purchasing a standalone embroidery machine. Yes, there could be benefits to having a second machine to do embroidery, and it would be nice at times to have a 5x7 field, but there are drawbacks too. The biggest reason for not buying a second machine is that I don't need more stuff. Plus I don't have the room for it.

So for anyone who comes here in search of a solution, I will tell you what I did (and this will also document it for me in case I have to do it again.)

First, VIP Customizer will not run on a Windows 7 64-bit machine. I know I said I got it to work, but it's because I'm running it in XP mode. See, Microsoft realizes that although most software will run fine in Windows 7, some does not, so they have (thankfully) provided a way to run XP in a virtual mode and let you keep using your (old) software.

1. Make sure you're running Windows 7 Professional or Ultimate. You cannot run XP Mode in Home Premium. Sorry.
2. Go here and follow the directions to download and install XP Mode
3. Now normally you'd be able to open VIP from your Windows 7 desktop but, there's this little purple thingy in the way. Yes, the dreaded dongle. The dongle is not recognized on 64-bit machines, so I found I have to run VIP from within XP Mode.
4. Within XP Mode you just have to make sure you "attach" the USB token before you start the program. It's a drop down menu at the top of the XP Mode window. So that's all fine and dandy. I can run VIP and even navigate to the drives living in Windows 7 world where I stored all my embroidery designs. But the designs are no good if I can't get them to the machine.
5. I can't remember which upgrade it was, 98-XP or XP-Vista, where the cable that came with my Pfaff quit working. Or maybe it was the hardware that excluded serial connectors. Anyway, the solution is the Keyspan USA 19H adapter. It's the only one that works to convert the Pfaff cable to USB. And you probably need another little adapter for the pin-pin connection between the Keyspan and the Pfaff cable.
6. The next hurdle is drivers. I went here to download the drivers. I downloaded the W7 drivers just fine and W7 recognized the Keyspan cable but it didn't do me any good because the VIP software is running in XP world and it couldn't see the cable. I downloaded the XP drivers and the machine blue-screened. Not good. The cable came with a disc containing a Keyspan Serial Adapter Assistant program and drivers. However, when I plugged in the cable from within XP Mode and let the device wizards do their thing to search for drivers, it ultimately didn't work. There was a message that there was a problem and the USB cable could not be "attached" like the purple dongle could. So the solution was to download the XP drivers from the tripplite.com site but save them to a folder instead of just choosing run. Then, unplug the cable and from within XP Mode, go to the folder and click it and expand it and run the install.
7. So now the cable was finally recognized (attached) and I could go embroider, right? No. Wrong COM port. The cable installs on COM3 and it needs to be either COM1 or COM2 for the VIP software. From within the Keyspan Serial Adapter Assistant program, go to Port Mapping and change it to COM1 or COM2. It said COM2 was already in use but it let me pick that one anyway. All is good now, right? No.
8. Still couldn't communicate. Back to the Keyspan Serial Adapter Assistant program to see what I can change. I changed the Endpoints from "Compatible (Interrupt)" to "High Performance (Bulk)" and that worked. I have no idea why, I don't know what the two choices even mean, all I know is that I jumped for joy and let out a whoop when I saw this:

More pajama-sewing

I made more pajamas. Boring? Yes, but a good way to get back into the sewing "groove." However just because they're pajamas doesn't mean that I am sewing any faster or cutting corners.

So here is my lastest creation, using Kwik Sew 2444 (out of print).

The pattern called for stretch lace, so this gave me an excuse to try and find some. The chain stores don't carry it and although I suppose I could have found some on-line, I'm fortunate to live near a discount fabric store, called "Fabrics R Us." It's one of those crowded, mish-mash fabric stores where you never know what you're going to find. Although they did have stretch lace, it was all too wide for this project. However they did had lots of fancy-edged elastic in many colors. I didn't have a swatch of my fabric with me but I think I did pretty good at guessing on the color.

And yes, I did buy more colors of elastic than I actually needed. But I was good and didn't even look at any fabrics - well, I couldn't help noticing the rolls of fake YSL vinyl. Name brand purses are not my thing, and it saddens me when women spend money they shouldn't on them...and counterfit is not a better choice. Ok, off my soapbox.

Here is my review, also posted on patternreview.com:

Pattern Description:

Out of print pattern. Two-piece pajamas. Pullover top with crew or v-neck, long or short sleeves. Elastic-waist shorts or long pants with cuffed legs. Generous ease.

Pattern Sizing:

XS-XL. I cut a large on top and an XL for the shorts. This is why I sew...custom-sized pjs!

Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it?

Yes, looks like the drawing. The top is very boxy - straight sides with no curve at the waist whatsover.

Were the instructions easy to follow?

The instructions were fine, but I didn't use them for applying the trim. I think the instructions would work fine for lace, but I couldn't find stretch lace that was narrow, in the right color, or that cost less than $4/yard.  I did find picot-edged elastic in a color that worked (BTW, you can find white at Joanns and Hancock Fabrics), but it's a little thicker than lace and only has one "fancy" edge.
 

I folded the edge of the neck, sleeves, and shorts hem under by 1/4 inch and basted them. Then I basted the picot-edged elastic to the wrong side with the picot showing. I don't know whether I used the right side or wrong side of the elastic - I chose the side I wanted. I basted rather than pinned because I find that pinning distorted things, and I was tired of getting pricked by the pins. I used a narrow zig-zag to top stitch so that it would be stretchy. Then I trimmed the excess fabric on the wrong side so it was even with the edge of the elastic.

The casing for the elastic on the shorts was sewn using the serger. I had never used this technique before and was a little apprehensive, but it worked. First you join your elastic so it's one big circle. Then you fold the waistband over 1", with the 3/4" elastic inside, then fold it back onto the rightside of the shorts/pants so the raw edge of the waistband is even with the fold. Then you serge along this edge, being careful not to catch the elastic. I put the knife down but it probably would be ok to leave it up. There should be about 1/4" of space to work with because the elastic is smaller than the casing. This technique worked great and I never caught the elastic once.

What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern?

I liked the simple cut of the pattern. The style was exactly what I was looking for.

Fabric Used:

A light weight thermal knit that was cheap...amost too cheap to bother with. The grain, especially towards the edges, was very wonky. Being that it was a thermal knit, I was able to cut a new straight edge and use the lines in the fabric to try to line up the grain. For some reason I didn't swatch this fabric and record any info about it. I don't even know where I bought the fabric but I hope I didn't pay more than a dollar or two a yard for it! I will be sad if these pajamas come out of the wash a total wreck. I did pre-wash the fabric though.

Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others?

I would sew this pattern again.

Conclusion:

I don't know why Kwik Sew discontinued this pattern. I was a bit fearful for this project because no one had reviewed this pattern, it was OOP, and I had bad fabric. But the pajamas turned out just fine. Crossing my fingers they stay this way after a few washings.

Ella is the queen cat

Ella prefers soft pillows...and thinks Felix is a pest and shouldn't be in her house.

Where does Felix sleep?

Anywhere he wants.

On a box. Note the nice, soft blanket on the bed (for the cats) complete with cat toys. But no, the box is more comfortable.

In the sink...with the faucet poking into his side. He was sound asleep and snoring. Oh, and he doesn't have a big white "skunk" stripe - that's light coming in from the skylight.

And finally, on the fall centerpiece I just put together a few hours ago. Who knew that pumpkins and gourds made nice pillows?