This shirt is HUUUUGE!

I recently bought the pattern for the Phen Shirt, after seeing versions I loved on Instagram. 

Behold:

How could I resist this crazy silhouette? The beautiful deep back yoke? The stitched down box pleat? The big, fat hanging loop? So fun!

The shirt is basically a big flat circle. The side seams slant from way out, below the extremely low armscye, and end up forming part of a big continuous curve to the hem. 

This means you have a big amount of shirt up top and a little amount below. If you tuck it in to create that fun back view, there is relatively little bulk to deal with. This seems clever. 

The sleeves are ridiculous too, starting way down on the arm and going from extremely wide to a quite narrow, curved cuff. They are (in theory) the perfect length for me, and the cuff is the perfect width for me. Which should be a warning to you, because I have short arms and am very small boned.

However, in the wearing, the Phen Shirt is not so beautiful.

Here it is tucked in, from the front.

That is a lot of fabric falling off my shoulders. The big pockets are sagging. And I made the smallest size (6) when my measurements put me in size 8. 

Maybe my fabric is a tiny bit heavier than the pattern can bear. It was a mystery fabric from stash which a burn test tells me is 100% cotton, but it's got a slightly sanded soft hand, and is the weight of silk noile. Handkerchief linen might have been a better choice.

But meh.

The back view is slightly better, but still more saggy than I would have liked.

All the photos I liked on Instagram (including the one up above) showed wearers with their arms out, but not too out.

So the shirt doesn't sag too much, but the shirt's other limitations are not evident either. 

Are there full length arms
in there somewhere?

See what happens when you really put your arms out in this shirt?

For all that ease, there's not a ton of room to actually move in this.

Also, can I talk about the collar?

There are 3 views - collarless (stand only), tie collar and the more standard shirt collar I made.

The stand is extremely curved, so much so that it actually doesn't stand up. It would lie quite flat around the neck, if left to its own devices. 

But it isn't left to its own devices if you want to make the little shirt collar.

Have a look at how curved the stand is, by comparison with the collar. 

The lower edge of the collar piece in this photo attaches to the upper edge of the stand. 

While the two pieces fit together, in the sense that the edges are the same length, the combination of curves makes for a collar that really does not ever want to be buttoned up. 

As you can see, the collar piece is straining. It is too short around the lower edge and too flat. But I'm never going to wear this shirt buttoned up anyway, so it doesn't matter.

This is a big shirt that can only be worn open, with the cuffs rolled up (if you want to be able to move in it). 

That's OK, but I'm saving my linen blend jacquard fabric for another pattern. 

It looks fine as an open over-shirt
That's the way I will always wear it!

Cielo - finally!

How many years ago did this pattern come out? At least a few. And I've owned it for a while. But this is the first time I've tackled it. 

This version is made from a mid-weight woven embroidered blend (maybe viscose and something) from stash. I had more than enough to cut the extravagant sleeves and the pockets.

I predict more.

Not that this pattern is perfect. I had to tweak it to get it to a state I was prepared to live with.

This dress has 2 bust darts but otherwise no shaping at all. The side seams are dead straight - no flare, no curve in at the waist. This makes it challenging for a person whose hips (10) are typically 2 sizes bigger than her bust (6) to pick a size. 

I did some flat pattern measuring and decided I should just cut the size indicated for my measurements. 6 for the bodice, grading out to 10 at the hips. 

Readers, it hung off me. The finished dress is more like a 6 overall and if doing it again I think I would go for 4 in the bodice and sleeves.  

Another few tweaks were needed for the sleeves. These are kind of big. I shortened the upper sleeve by a full 6 cm because they hung down to an unattractive point on my arm. I like this length a lot better on me. 

Unlike similar dresses from the 80s and 90s, this pattern doesn't call for shoulder pads to support the sleeves, but they needed support of some kind. 

A roll of soft tulle to the rescue. I cut a strip approximately 11cm by 50cm, folded it lengthwise in 3 and gathered it. Then I inserted the gathered strip in the upper sleeve. 

My sleeves went from sad to statement in a flash. 

What's the point of big puffed sleeves that don't actually puff?

Someone asked if I can feel the tulle - I can't. It's soft stuff that I acquired in stash from a wedding dress maker, if memory serves. You never know when things like that will come in handy. 

The other thing I changed while sewing this pattern is the order of construction. The instructions say to sew the dress at shoulder seams, finish the neck, then install the upper sleeves. The underarm seam is then sewn in one pass. After that, you add the lower sleeve. 

I prefer sewing anything even slightly structured in the round, setting the sleeve into the armscye. Sewing the underarm/side seam in one pass flattens the seam joining the sleeve and body under the arm. Unless you're making a T-shirt, this risks distorting the garment. 

(The same goes for the crotch seam in pants. Sew it last if humanly possible.)

I should have ignored the instructions from the start for this reason. I could have checked the fit of the dress before having to deal with the fit of the sleeves. Having attached sleeve 1 to the body before checking fit made it a lot harder to adjust things on the fly. 

So it was a bit of a pain but in the end I have a dress that's quite wearable (at least if I don't need a sweater or coat...).

This is not a sweater, or "that's so meta"

 Rarely do I find fabric that I Must.Sew.Right.Now! This was one such piece. 

Why? A print that looks like bulky stockinette!

The fabric is my nemesis; a soft rayon/lycra jersey. But who can resist an irresistible print? I had to have it even though it will stretch and become less lovely over time. 

I bought it on Saturday, and a few days later, it has become a completed top. I had enough fabric to cut out a tank top too, but it's still unassembled.

The pattern is one I mentioned a few posts ago - Jalie 2449, but altered to be less figure hugging. It's still plenty fitted. 

It should be useful and comfy for a trip I'm taking this month. 

Still on the theme of casual clothes

 Jalie 2679 has been around for a while - since before Jalie started giving name identifiers to its patterns. (I don't know about you, but I find "Stretch Softshell Jacket" a more useful moniker than ... say ... Monika.) It was in my pattern stash for years before I got around to making it.

Why did I wait? This is such a comfortable and useful jacket!

I made it up with zero adjustments, out of some inexpensive softshell purchased at the local Fabricland. The fabric is naturally water-resistant rather than waterproof, but it is serviceable both in wet snow conditions and in rain. 

And in cold. I wore it cross-country skiing - a lot - this winter. 

Here I am after a strenuous outing at -30 something C in January. I was toasty warm!

Yes I realize that you can't really see the jacket. 

For some reason I didn't take modeled photos. 

Here's another action shot - a photo taken on a hike in March, after most of the snow was gone. Again, this jacket performed like a champ in much less frigid conditions. 

The zipped pockets are very big - the size of the entire front below the yoke and above the lower band. I used some miscellaneous mesh fabric from stash for the backing of the pockets. 

The sleeves are nice and long so the jacket is great for biking. 

The shape of the collar is perfect. I often find that stand collars jab me in the chin, but this one starts with a low enough scoop to be truly comfortable even when the jacket is zipped up to the top. 

Almost as good as a modeled photo, no?

I'm going to try to figure out a good fabric combo for a windproof/water-resistant running jacket. 
 

More pandemic comfy clothes - workout edition

 All my posts these last 2 years start by apologetically noticing how neglected my blog is. So I won't do that again. 

I realized though that my blog is completely useful - to me at least. I bought some fun jersey yesterday and want to make a top I've made a few times before. The pattern is Jalie 2449, which is not in the catalogue any more (but is similar to 2910). I looked at the traced pattern and the top I last made from this pattern (in 2017) and thought hmmm it looks like I adjusted it to be less fitted. Sure enough, my blog entry mentions this. Stupidly, I didn't adjust the pattern though. This time, I retraced it so I can faithfully reproduce it the next time (maybe 2028 or so) I make this versatile top. Thanks to former me for mentioning it, thanks to present me for thinking to look it up. 

And for a report on recent (ish) projects...

My garment sewing has been sadly neglected except for a few tester patterns for Jalie. Stay tuned to Jalie's web site to see what the new patterns will look like. They should be released soon. 

Sewing has not been happening much, largely because the opportunities for wearing nice clothes are still evaporated. My work wardrobe has hung in my closet for 2 years, sadly neglected. Mostly I wear jeans and sweaters (winter) and am about to graduate to jeans and knit tops for spring and maybe to loose cotton dresses for summer. 

My recent makes are comfy clothes (several pairs of pants - see above mention of Jalie testing - which I cannot show you) and a sort of a hoodie dress (ditto). I also made an Anne-Marie top out of some wonderful fabric (merino wool with some kind of high tech wicking backing) I bought in Sydney, Australia in 2018. It's hot pink and I love it. I seem to have failed utterly to take any photos. 

Then there's workout wear. Who else is doing Zoom pilates? It keeps me sane.

I made two pairs of the GreenStyle Spark tights - one pair for myself and one (fleecy winter running tights) for my son's partner. This is a great pattern for two reasons: pockets (at the side) and multiple waistband choices. I made myself the "ultra contoured" high waist because I love tights that feel secure at the actual waist, and these really do. My son's partner requested mid-rise. Reportedly they are very comfy and warm. 

At left, my ultra high waist tights are modeled with the Audrey crop top, another Jalie pattern. 

I love Jalie but Audrey is not my favourite pattern. I find it too small in the neck and a bit too cut-in at the arm in front, and cropped is not my favourite length. I tried to make this one longer but it is still a bit on the too-short side. 

It is very secure once you wriggle into it though.

I have a sports bra (Pika) that matches the tights and a coordinating tank top (Jalie Béatrice, but a racerback version that unfortunately did not make it into the final version of the pattern so I will be making this tester pattern forever). 

The detail in these patterns is great - you can confidently make perfect looking binding that is just the right length to finish off a simple top so it looks perfect. 

I've actually just cut out another, because there was just enough fabric left from my 1.something metres of jersey print that I bought yesterday at the spring fabric flea market after I cut out the latest version of Jalie 2449. I only have to piece a bit of the binding. 

I promise to post about them once done. 

Installment 3 - machine knitting from 2021

I believe I promised you information on how I hope to be free from laborious calculations for my machine knitting projects.

I bought software! Behold, at left, a top I made using it. (More details on the project below.)

Some machine knitters use a program called Design-A-Knit (DAK) but I couldn't warm to it. For one thing, the price is rumored to be many hundreds of US dollars (the website for the US distributor is remarkably bad, it's impossible to even find purchase details like cost). Also, I had looked at the demo and it didn't make a lot of sense to me. Plus, maybe it's more than I need. 

So instead, I purchased Garment Designer, a program for creating patterns for sewing and knitting. Like DAK (currently on version 9), GD has been around for many years. I had heard of it way back in the day when I was working with PatternMaster Boutique (PMB).  

My impression at the time was that GD was a less powerful program than PMB. I think I was right - while you can alter the basic shapes provided by GD to a point, it is not a full CAD type program. However, the positive side of that is that it does a lot of the hard work for you in providing those basic shapes. (As I recall, PMB was moving in that direction but I don't know how far it went down that road. You had to understand a lot about ease and pattern drafting to make it really work.)

Anyhow, I was seeing that some machine knitters (especially Miss Celie's Pants) were using GD with great success. So I forked out my $200 (US) and waited for the disk to arrive in the mail (I am convinced that people who sell pattern drafting software are still living in the 1990s.) 

Right away, with no training, it was easy to adjust the pattern shapes to get the kind of fit I was looking for. I did what they always say you should - measure a garment you already have that fits you the way you want your new thing to fit. Once I did that I could tweak my pattern shapes in GD until I had exactly those dimensions.

At right is a screenshot of my pattern. GD allows you to input your knitting gauge and then it calculates how many stitches and rows you need, and where all your shaping needs to happen. You can print out the shaping instructions and follow them while knitting. OK, so it's not interactive knitting like DAK offers, but it is a step up from a hand-drawn graph and it has worked quite well for me so far. 

So this top. I adapted the pattern from a hand knitting pattern called Sommerloch. The designer is one of my favourites, and the details on this top were instantly very appealing to me. I had this black silk yarn purchased from ColourMart and even though I had to use my garter bar on the standard gauge machine (a first) and make rows of garter stitch using black yarn that has 24 tiny strands in it, it was worth it. 

The chain stitch attachment at the shoulder is gorgeous and was quite easy to do (compared to garter stitch on a standard bed knitting machine). 

Then I made a matching cardigan, also using GD to develop the pattern. I adapted the stitch detail from Sommerloch so it coordinates in style as well as yarn (more garter bar in black 24/100 NM yarn). 

Here is the screen shot of the pattern pieces I created.

I nudged the neckline edges away from the original positions so I could attach a neck band which I didn't bother trying to draft using the program. 

I also guessed at the cuffs, which are a bit looser than ideal, but very acceptable. I had to guess a bit at how deep they would be, and subtract that length from my overall sleeve piece.

Here I am wearing the pieces together. It's a very classic twinset, if I do say so myself. 

2021 Knitting, part 2

Wow, talk about fits and starts. Part 1 was published August 1 and here it is the end of September already! Well, there has been more machine knitting. Quite a lot, actually.

In April, I joined the Machine Knit Community or MKC for short. It is a paid subscription, and it's open for new members only during 4 months of the year. Starting Oct. 1, it'll be accepting new members again for that month. 

I had read somewhere that the site was a good boot in the rear for machine knitters and that it had really helped people keep knitting, and keep improving. 

Having been on the site now for 6 months, I'd agree that this was a good move for me. The MKC is run by Nic Corrigan of Whitehall Studio in Yorkshire. Pre-pandemic, she had a shop/studio in her town where she designed patterns, made stuff and sold it, and also taught MK classes in person. Like everyone, in early 2020 she had to quickly readjust - she gave up the space in town and moved her workshop into her house. Then she set up the MKC. It will be one year old in October. 

Here's what you get if you join:

• As you would expect, you can participate in an online forum with like-minded people. I'm not sure how many members there are but it is very international. 
• Better yet, you can attend (live, online) regular hour-long seminars about machine knitting. Every month there is a theme, and the seminars typically relate to the theme. We did lace during the summer, now we're on to intarsia. We've talked about the design process. For me, one of the best themes was improving your knitting space. 
• The seminars feature people who are working in the field of knitting. We've had Bill King (at least 4 times since I joined), Elena Berenghean, Olgalyn Jolly, Juan Alcantar from Juan's knitting garage and many others. They don't just talk - typically they also demo the techniques they are talking about. If you can join live, you can ask them questions. It's a great way to pick up tips from the pros. 
• The seminars are recorded and you can watch them again (and again and again). You can also watch all the videos from seminars that were held before you joined. In January, I paid to take some classes at a virtual Vogue Knitting Live from Bill King and Olgalyn Jolly. They were fantastic, but once over, they were gone. It costs about as much to join the MKC as it did to sign up for 3 classes at VKL.
• You can also sign up for specific classes, connected with a pattern that Nic or someone else designed. This costs extra but gives you access to help with the pattern and techniques, lots of video content, and weekly sessions with the designer. 

Every week, you're asked if you want to set a goal for the week. Just one thing. Some people find this really motivates them to get at the machine and knit. 

So what have I knitted?

First up - this top from the Circle of Lace pattern. Following a MK pattern is mostly a departure for me but I loved the details on this top. The pattern is only available on Facebook (search for MallyKnits). It's made sideways and uses a lace pattern from Stitchworld but you can substitute any lace pattern that looks good sideways. 

I made this on my Brother 910/950 which has the Stitchworld patterns programmed into its original electronics. I had taken the AYAB board out (it stopped working, I reinstalled the original board, took it to Peter Smith in Toronto, it was blown fuses, cost $3 or so to fix) so just used the lace that the pattern called for. Easy peasy (once I got a new sponge bar and figured out the tricks of the 910/950 and its lace carriage). 

This top is made with lace weight yarn at a big stitch size so it is very light. I used some superwash wool from my stash. 

There's plenty of short rowing in this pattern (gives the flared shape) and while the pattern is all text, I didn't find it too hard to follow. I did adjust the rate of short rowing to make it slightly less flared and if making it again, would reduce the flare even more.

I love the neck finish (though if making it again would ignore the instruction to double up the yarn for the final rows; it is a bit too heavy).

I also think the little row of purl bumps at the join with the sleeves is very attractive. The top is all seamed on the machine, and tells you how to get this effect.

Finally, I think the side seams are beautiful. 

The details in this pattern are worth the price. 

There is a lot more info on my project page on Ravelry. 

Next I'll show you a cardigan I made from another MK pattern. This one is the Gorple cardigan by Nic Corrigan. I splashed out for the course as an extra on the MKC. 

This is also partly knit sideways - the sleeves extend to form a yoke at the back. The pattern calls for both sleeves to be knit in one piece from cuff to cuff.

This project illustrated for me the value (and non-value) of MK patterns. 

I could not get the row gauge called for by this pattern although I was able to match the stitch gauge with no problem. Because the pieces are knitted both up and down and sideways, this meant that the numbers in the pattern would be completely wrong. I ended up drawing the pieces out on paper (per my usual technique) using the numbers and gauge in the pattern to get the shape and dimensions called for by the pattern, and then re-drawing at those dimensions, using my actual gauge. It was a complete pain! 

I also made the cardigan longer than the pattern (which is quite cropped). If making it again, I would re-draft it to be narrower in both body and sleeve as well . The front is OK but when I look at the back view, I can see it is just too big for me!

Again I used pure wool yarn from deep stash and though I figured it would be a really boring cardigan, and it is, it is also strangely useful, and fall hasn't even really started yet.  

Again, there are more details on my Ravelry project page.

Also - warning, COVID hair! 

In my next post, I'll talk about my new way of largely avoiding the laborious task of drawing my pattern shapes on graph paper for machine knitting. 

Will I ever use another MK pattern? Stay tuned. 

And of course, there has been knitting (part 1)

This year I have zero hand knit projects and nine completed machine knit projects. Last year I had one hand knit project and eight machine knitted finished objects.

I gave these socks to my son for his birthday. They were a tour de force of short-rowing and I am pretty sure I decided I had to make them only because I had the exact yarn and colourway that illustrated the pattern in my stash (and couldn't quite imagine wearing it myself).

These are Broken Jack (free pattern on Ravelry) done in Biscotte Yarns Felix self-striping yarn, colourway "Go Habs Go", a name that could be impossible to understand if you have no ties to Canada. 

Here's a hint. I like these stripes broken up into short row diamonds better than the straight striping pattern, but didn't see the benefit of continuing the diamonds into the foot area - where they would be mostly hidden and possibly lumpy.

After that it was all machine knitting, all the time.

In two years, I made three baby blankets.

This is a Diana Sullivan pattern - Seashell Child's Blanket.

It's knitted in a self-striping yarn on my mid-gauge and, like the socks, the shells are made by short-rowing which completely breaks up the repeating stripes and makes them look a lot more interesting. 

I made it for my nephew and his partner and apparently the baby really likes her blankie, which makes me happy. 

I made the baby's big sister a matching poncho. 

On the poncho, I did a wide i-cord edging - another Diana Sullivan technique. 

At right is the front side showing 5 stitches ...

Below is the back side also showing 5 stitches. 

This is knit on in one pass using the i-cord technique (knit in one direction, slip in the other) but over 8 needles. The slip pass makes a long float, which is then latched up for the missing 2 stitches. It's a neat technique.

I hate that Blogger now refuses to let me have two photos on the same line. Sorry for the spread-out read. 

Then I made this crazy intarsia animal faces blanket for a friend's first grandchild. 

It's an adaptation of a free hand-knitting pattern available on Ravelry. Warning: the pattern is written in Finnish. But what do you really need other than the charts and some good photos of the embellishments? 

Knitted on my bulky KH-260 in surprisingly nice aran-weight acrylic from Michael's. 

The finishing took fooooorevvvvver.

The final blankie was my fourth Amazababy blanket. This soft (but bumpy!) blankie never fails to please. 

Knitted in Woolike, budget yarn but so soft and so nice on the machine! 

I mixed up the colours by using dark navy and orange instead of black and red. You noticed right away, right?

Phew! That's enough blogging for today. Stay tuned for part 2 in which I will show you some other MK projects. 

What else have I made? Bras!

If I was blogging more regularly it would provide me with an accurate account of what I've made in the past months. Oops, now I have to wrack my brains to try and remember.

I went on a bit of a bra-making tear in about February, which is the time of year that tends to happen, if past years are any guide. I made two sports bras and three for everyday wear. 

The first sports bra was the Jalie Coco, which I made with a few amusing sort-of-coordinating stretch fabrics that I bought at Ann's Fabric in Hamilton when I was there last year. 

I have a beef with over-the-head sports bras which is that they are hard to deal with when you've been sweating (which you probably will do while wearing a sports bra, right?). One of the things I thought I would be able to do with this pattern is to insert hooks at the CB of the band. The pattern isn't written that way, and so far I haven't had the energy to figure out how to modify it. But that would make it a lot easier to get on and off, I think. 

Something I realized after wearing this a few times (which I should have realized a lot earlier, since I tend to be short through the armscye area) is that I should have shortened the straps. They look OK but I feel like the bra is sitting too far down on my body. 

The Coco bra has minimal if any shaping and relies on compression to hold everything together. It is fully lined. I used some power mesh from stash in the front and side, and the straps are self-lined. With this type of lining and the firm lower band, the bra is very supportive. The front lining is designed with the option of inserting bra cups between two lining layers, and as a result the front lining is a little complicated. I did not even consider making this option and dumbed the pattern down by combining the CF lining piece with the "cup" lining piece. In this way I got rid of two seams that had no shaping built into them and seemed to have the potential for show-through bumpiness.

By contrast, the next sports bra that I made has fully shaped cups with plenty of seams. This is the Greenstyle Endurance sports bra. It has a front zipper for easy on-and-offing, no matter how sweaty you are. I went ahead and shortened the straps by about 2.5 cm based on my Coco experience, even though I had never made anything like it before. I love the fit and feel of this bra and the shortened straps are perfect for me. 

The Endurance is sewn with a seamed bra foam inner layer in front, a lined back and all edges are encased in wide fold-over elastic. Surprise! I had bra foam and wide FOE in stash, along with a remnant of colourful nylon lycra and a shortish coil separating zipper. I even had a little scrap of scuba knit for the top and bottom zipper shield. 

I found the bra foam super easy to sew. The edges are butted together and sewn with a 3 step zig-zag - no bulky seam allowances. It's very comfortable against the skin too. 

I skipped the step of stitching down all the seam allowances in the outer fabric, which wasn't the smartest thing since quite predictably, once I washed the bra the seam allowances all did that little rolling thing that jersey knits always do. Luckily this is not noticeable in my busy print, and I can't feel it. Next time.

The bra has a nice racer back and the FOE finishing makes it look very snappy. It is easy to get on and off, although I sometimes find it hard to get the zipper connected at the lower edge when putting it on (negative ease). Maybe a molded plastic zipper would be easier. 

If you are still with me, the other new bra pattern I tried out is the Atelier AFI Exquisite bra. This is a very lovely "balconette" bra with seamed cups. The cups are supposed to be made from non-stretch fabric and decorated with lace. 

I used a stretch fabric but lined it to reduce the stretch factor. And I made a slightly smaller size than recommended. I adjusted the bridge to be narrower than the pattern based on my earlier bra experiments. It turned out perfectly. I'm actually amazed at the fit, especially given that I had previously tried the free Maya pattern and didn't care for it. 

You'll just have to believe me when I say it fits me better than my plastic display form.

I also made 2 versions of my self-drafted bra pattern, including one that is a complete clone of this one and I finally made up the full band version of the same pattern. I had previously made the pattern using the information in Beverly Johnson's Bra Maker's Manual (vol. 1). It worked out fine, although my elastic application left a bit to be desired. 

Another new dress

I've had more wear from this dress which is a fantastic summer outfit that requires no fussing. Shaping? What shaping? Very cool on a hot day.

It's the Kalle Dress from Closet Core Patterns. 

I am still sewing entirely from stash. The fabric is a batik print I got at the Fabric Flea Market a few years back. I wonder if there will be any FFMs in the post-pandemic future? That was a lot of people in a room.

It was a bit of a struggle to get all the pieces out of my fabric as the piece was only 2 metres and I was making view C (full length button band) which calls for 2.5 metres. If I had had more fabric I would also have lengthened the back. 

I had to cut out the bias for the hem finish from some black shirting that was on hand. The buttons are vintage black glass, another past FFM find. I had two fewer than the pattern called for but you know what? I was never going to do up the one on the collar band, and a little judicious re-spacing of the rest was never going to be noticed. Problem solved. 

I made the front longer and adjusted the curve of the shirttail hems to be a squarer sort of curve for more coverage, as they looked a little skimpy and I had noted comments to the same effect in reviews of this pattern. The side view copied from the CC website shows what needed to be fixed.