Posts Tagged ‘made by rae’

kcwc guest post: heather from well crafted

It’s hard to really get a sense of someone over the interwebs, but I think if Heather lived anywhere near me I would be on her doorstep quite often. She does so much, so well: mothering, cooking, sewing, knitting, dying, and a good deal more. All of it is done with a simple, “hey what if I did this” attitude.  Then whatever she ends up making is perfectly stunning. You can see all of her work on her blog, well-crafted.

heather from well-crafted

Hey there! I’m honored to be included as a guest here on elsiemarley and am really looking forward to KCWC next week. My plan is to stick with making things my girl will really need and wear this summer. Since she pretty much only lives in knit tops and leggings, it was perfect that I got to give the Flashback Skinny Tee pattern a whirl! Because the pattern only goes to size 5, I had originally thought I’d give away the finished tee but it ended up fitting L perfectly and so we are both happy about that!

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This pattern is an excellent basic. I stuck with a fairly straightforward version of it, with the only changes being the band at the bottom (really into that right now) and short sleeves. Oh the things you could do with this: asymmetrical hems, boat-neck, flared out and turned into a dress with elastic at the waist, shorten it and add a dirndle skirt (maybe using a woven). The possibilities are endless.

My big box of knits got dragged out from under the cutting table and despite it’s being full of beautiful col0rs, we went with this white one for two reasons: 1. It was the softest. 2. I had white thread in my serger. Three cheers for laziness!! To spice things up we did a little freezer paper stencil design on the front. I cut out tiny triangles in a grid pattern and we took turns painting each row to create a rainbow effect. We used this fabric ink instead of paints which turned out really nice.

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FBSKforKCWC

It was good to sew with a knit fabric again—it’s been a while for me.  Although I am still doing battle with the “ripple effect” around the sleeve holes, I refuse to let that get in my way of creating a summer wardrobe full of knits for my comfort-loving girl! Maybe I’ll even use this pattern as the basis for all the clothes I make next week. That might be cool…

Don’t forget to check back each day this week for more KCWC inspiration.

Thanks again for having me Meg!

undies

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When Rae asked me to talk a bit about sewing with knits, I thought it was odd, because I’m rather crap at sewing with knits. But then I looked back in my archives for pictures of things I’ve sewn and hey! it’s not that bad. My first experience with sewing with knits was pretty horrible.  Now it looks like I remember that failure more than any of the successful knit projects I’ve made, which is ridiculous. With that realization, I cut out a huge pile of knit fabric for this awesome undies pattern:

piles of fabric for undies

I didn’t finish them all, because my daughter is a little between sizes so I have to adjust the fit, but oof! the boy undies are pretty damn cute. The pattern is very clear and nicely laid out with plenty of pictures. I noticed she’s not selling it at the moment and I’m not sure why, because it’s a very popular pattern. It’s popular for a reason: you only need a little bit of fabric, old t-shirts are perfect, and if you screw up who’s going to see them anyway?

undies

I wouldn’t say this is a beginner, beginner project, but if you’ve sewn with knits a few times then these shouldn’t be a problem. They come together quickly, but the waistband and leg holes take a bit of time. And people will look at you funny when (or rather if) you tell them you’re making your children’s underwear.

lightening bolt undies!

But come on, lighting bolt undies?! What little boy wouldn’t be excited about that?

Want to see all the kniterviews? Look here! and mine is here.