Where I'm at

Real life intervened in the sewing of the V8804 Chanel jacket, as driving 1,000 KM and helping no. 1 son get settled into his first apartment robbed The Sewing Lawyer of a valuable weekend for stitching activities.  (The payoff will come in future months as said son's childhood bedroom is taken over to be mine, mine, MINE! minimally redecorated to be suitable for use as a sewing studio.)

As well, interference came in the form of a couple of knitting projects ... small ones.  I'm trying to make knitting a way to occupy breaks from sewing, rather than the alternative.  I think it's going to take some time.  

So, how are those socks going anyway?

Here's the one complete one for my MIL, otherwise known as the sock from hell.  This because it insisted on being started three times, if memory serves (though I'm trying to forget) because each time it was too large.  And at least once because I messed up the heel (though I only frogged back to the beginning of the heel, not to the bitter beginning).  I'm almost to the heel (starting toe up) on sock #2, and so far it is much more cooperative than its sibling.  I'm quite smitten with the eye of partridge stitch for the heel.  Very cushy.

Yes, it's an unusual shape.  She is plagued with swollen feet and ankles.

And here's the first one of my own pair.

Both are based on the "upstream architecture" from Cat Bordhi's brilliant exposé on how to knit socks, New Pathways for Sock Knitters, Book 1.  Curiously, despite the fact that the main goal of this book is to reduce your dependence on actual patterns, my sock is presented as a complete pattern, which seems divorced from the underlying logic of the upstream model.  I almost got sucked into following it blindly which would have resulted in my making a sock that would have been too big for me.  Then I got over it, started thinking for myself, and saved it.  No frogging required! (Except when I made the exact same mistake on the heel that caused the frogging of the heel on the sock from hell...)

But now I'm back at it.  Back at the sewing, that is.  Knitting is for my breaks.

And I've started attaching the lining fabric to the front and back pieces, and even did all the afterthought darts in the fronts, shrinking the fashion fabric on the outside to match.

Afterthought bust dart

For those of you contemplating this pattern:  You do not need to treat the bust darts in the lining as afterthought darts (pinched in and sewn by hand as shown in steps 34 and 35 of the pattern instructions).  In fact you can't really treat them this way.  And it makes no sense.  You need those darts no matter what, and you will have had to figure out whether an adjustment is needed for fitting long before you get to this point.  Do yourself a favour.  Just sew them by machine while you are assembling the front lining pieces.

The vertical darts, however, have to be sewn as afterthought darts after you have machine-quilted the lining to the fashion fabric.  The pattern tissue has four of these in the back and one in each front, and you can make as many or as few of these as you need for fitting and as can be accommodated by shrinking your fashion fabric with steam.

Before - lining fabric is darted

After permanently attaching the lining fabric to the fashion fabric with machine stitching you pinch out a dart of the desired width in the lining only.  This is hand sewn with tiny fell stitches.  It makes a bubble in the fashion fabric, as at left.

Then you get the fabric all nice and hot and steamy, and pat, beg, and cajole it until its fibres shrink into the available space.

The flat plain at right is indeed the same piece (showing the same seam) as in the bubbly picture at left, but after I had whispered to it, begged it, steamed the heck out of it, patted it gently into place and finally gave it a good pressing.  In the distance you see the differently-shaped bust area.

The other progress made this weekend (so far) was to make Spanish snap buttonholes in the lining.  It's a marvelous thing to be able to make an elegant, functioning and reasonably sturdy buttonhole in a single non-reinforced layer of thin China silk lining.  If you haven't tried this yet, I recommend my copiously illustrated tutorial for the technique.

I finished the lining at the buttonholes WAY ahead of when Claire Shaeffer and Vogue thought I should tackle it (the very last think before sewing on the buttons), but these buttonholes could not be done after the jacket is finished.  And I think the Spanish snap buttonhole is a vast improvement on cutting a hole in your lining and then turning the edges under, finishing by a double round of slip stitches (steps 90-92).

Chanel, the quick and dirty version

Confessing that this is probably a wearable muslin.  I am using fusible instead of sew-in interfacing.  I serged the edges of all my pieces, because my fabric is very ravelly.  I am also not thread-tracing anything.

Don't tell anyone.


I have some much nicer wool for my next version of this jacket.  As for this fabric, well, let's just say that a crochet hook to pull the most egregious of the nubs and loose threads through to the side I've deemed to be the wrong side is The Sewing Lawyer's best friend.

That said, I am liking the look of my bound buttonholes.  See if you can spot them.  Hint:  There are 5, in a row down the middle.

Murphy was in the sewing room, however.  I did 3 perfect practice buttonholes yesterday, and 3 perfect ones today.  Guess which ones were not perfect?  That's right, the last 2 I tackled, the ones closest to the top, and therefore the most visible.

Fixed the top buttonhole

However, they are really invisible, aren't they?  I fixed the messy ones with some hand-stitches.

See?

I thought not.

A few more bits of information about V8804.

If you are worried about the printing error in the undersleeve, I don't think it's necessary.  Apparently the piece was supposed to be graded for the different sizes, but in the first printing the piece is a straight one-size (14, I believe).  The differences must be very minor because I have had no problem with the ungraded piece.

The back neck interfacing is marked with a bias grain line but in the printed instructions, it says that this piece (unlike the sleeve and body hem interfacing pieces) should be cut on the same grain as the main piece, i.e. not on the bias.  Claire Shaeffer herself (via FaceBook) says it doesn't really matter.  Really?  Then why so specific in the instructions?  I cut it on the straight grain.

The shaping in the fashion fabric is done by steam so that the outer layer mimics the inner one, in which darts are actually sewn.  By hand.  After the two layers are attached with the lines of machine quilting.  I haven't done this step yet.  I'll let you know if it's physically possible.

The only shaping done before the quilting step is the side seam bust darts, which are not actually darts, in the fashion fabric.  You do a dart stay in interfacing, and then ease the fabric to conform to it.

I secured the dart stay with machine stitching along the grain of the fashion fabric, figuring that it would be invisible.  It is.







Finally, please admire the constructed sleeve.  See the crazy grain placement?

Bound buttonholes

I bought some different trim and buttons, but on getting my purchases home I'm not so taken with them, and I cannot convince anyone who has seen them on the fabric in real life (except the probably slightly biased owner of the shop in which I bought them).  So I took some time off my search for the perfect trim, and actually sewed instead - what a concept!

Let's play "spot the buttonholes"!

Since the placement of the buttonholes and CF on this pattern are dictated by the size of the buttons and trim intended, and since I intend to buy the right size, I figured I could go ahead and make the buttonholes.

Now this pattern calls for hand-worked buttonholes and The Sewing Lawyer has a confession to make. I have NEVER made a hand-worked buttonhole.  And from the start, a decision had been made that this jacket wasn't going to involve my first attempt.  However, I have made quite a few bound buttonholes and, despite departing from the Chanel path as taught in the extensive instructions in V8804, bound buttonholes will have to do, and in fact they will do just fine.

In fact, I just made three (practice) buttonholes, and took pictures.  Exhibit A, to the right.  What do you think?

So, my super-duper no-windows never-fail patch buttonhole tutorial follows.  (NB:  these instructions are slightly simpler than the tutorial I previously posted on Flickr.)

Step 1 - Marking

Carefully mark your buttonholes.  This involves several steps.  First, determine exactly how far from the edge of the piece each buttonhole should start, and exactly how long they will be, and exactly how far apart from each other they will be.  Mark these dimensions with pins.

Then, with a stitch length of 3 or 3.5 mm, mark the dimensions with thread.  I used a contrasting thread (black) which will be visible on both sides.  I stitched the practice buttonholes in black because I forgot to rethread my machine so you can see my stitching easier in this tutorial.  To sew the actual buttonholes, I'll switch to the right colour.

Double-check that your thread lines are in the right places!

A couple of other things to note about preparation.  The pattern calls for non-fusible interfacing for this piece and I am using a rather stiff silk organza rather than hair canvas or some other interfacing.  It's gray.  However, Claire Shaeffer suggests fusing a patch of interfacing at each buttonhole site.  Given the loose weave of my fabric, this was a must.  These patches are fused directly to the fashion fabric, so lie under the organza.

Then mark the long sides of the buttonhole.  On my sewing machine, I can move the needle R and L by 0.5mm increments.  This is an extremely useful feature for this part of the job.  I was able to align the presser foot so it was accurately centred on the originally-marked CL of the buttonhole, and sew a parallel line on each side, at the chosen distance away.

(NB my finger is there to highlight the needle position only!)

A word on buttonhole dimensions:  In The Sewing Lawyer's not-so-humble opinion, thick/fat bound buttonhole lips, especially if they are lumpy and/or uneven, scream "happy hands at home".  (A recent Threads article on bound buttonholes therefore made me wince - it's in #140 at p. 16, if you want to see what I mean.  I simply cannot believe that "industry" uses the method the author proposes, or would put up with the results pictured there...)  [Rant over]  The Sewing Lawyer says:  make your buttonholes as thin as possible given the characteristics of your fabric.  The thinner the fabric, the thinner you want the lips to be.  I moved my needle 5 clicks away from the CL, and the finished dimension of my buttonholes is 5mm or about 3/16".

After completing this step you can remove the basting marking the CL of the buttonhole; you don't need it anymore.


Step 2 - The patches

Cut bias patches that are bigger than the finished dimensions of the buttonhole - you will need approximately 1" (2.5cm) on either side and a bit more at the top and bottom.  Don't skimp.  The patches can be trimmed down to size after the buttonholes are sewn.  Centre the patches over the markings for the buttonholes, right sides together, and pin in place.

For my practice buttonholes, I decided to try using two different fusibles and to sew one buttonhole without any interfacing.  Don't ask me to tell you exactly what kind of interfacing they are - all I know is that the one with lines (on left) probably came from Fabricland.  I have no idea if they still sell it.  I fused so that the interfacing was most stable along the length of the buttonhole.

Step 3 - Sewing the patches

Working from the wrong side so you can see your thread markings, and using a small (2mm or so) stitch length, sew along the outer marked lines, backstitching as precisely as possible at the lines marking the end of the buttonholes.

I find it useful to stitch a hairs-width beside the basting rather than trying to sew directly on top of it.  This makes it SO much easier to remove the basting afterwards.

Speaking of which, you can now remove the lines of basting along the top and bottom edges of your buttonhole, and the CL basting too (if, like me, you didn't do so already).


Step 4 - Cutting etc.

Simple:  cut down the middle of the buttonhole, through all layers, but stopping short of the ends.  Then cut at an angle exactly into each corner, as close as you can without cutting through the stitching.  You should have little triangles at each end of the buttonhole.  You need these.

Then carefully pull the patch through the hole.  This is where I started to get a sense for whether I wanted interfacing (I do) and which one (the softest).

After you do this the buttonhole will look all weird and hopeless (from both sides).  It isn't.

Step 5 - Whispering to the buttonhole (with heat and steam)


The next step is to fold the patch back and press open the teensy little seam allowances in the seam along each edge of your buttonhole.  Finding them and holding them open for the iron may not be easy, but it can and must be done.  Use an awl if you have one.  Press FIRMLY, but just the sewn part of the patch.  Do the other side too.

The Sewing Lawyer's humble opinion:  This is the step that makes these buttonholes non-bulky and flat, and therefore what marks this method as superior.  When the lips (the patch) are folded back, one side of the open seam allowance is inside the buttonhole and the other is outside it.  Other methods open a window and leave ALL the SAs outside the actual buttonhole.  This means that the actual buttonhole is 2 layers of fabric but the surrounding area has 5 layers (jacket front, 2 layers of window SAs, 2 layers of lip fabric).  Lumpy!  Hard to press evenly!  Harder to avoid "happy hands at home" look!

Then flip your piece over and start manipulating the lips with both hands until they are evenly filling the rectangle.  Keep the little triangles folded back so the buttonhole retains its rectangular shape.  Once you have it how you like it, press it into position.  Be firm!  (I find it easiest to do this job on a sleeve roll or other pressing aid rather than on the flat ironing board.)

Step 6 - The pesky triangles



You have already pressed them into place.  The very last step is to secure the little triangles at each end of the buttonhole with stitching. To the left, you can see what they look like after being flattened.  Notice that the patch is pleated where it forms the lips.  VERY CAREFULLY transfer your pressed buttonhole over to the sewing machine.  Take care to preserve the pressed shape of the lips. With the right side up, fold the fashion fabric back, exposing the triangle and the patch.

Using a short stitch length, sew through all layers, as close as possible to the basting which marks the end of the buttonhole, and forms the base of the triangle. Sew back and forth to anchor all layers of the triangle to the patch.

After stitching, your patches look kind of strange from the back.  The only visible stitching relates to the triangles.  This will be covered up (and would in any case be practically invisible if I'd used the right colour of thread) by the facing.

At left you can see what the interfacing did.  The top patch (uninterfaced) is very soft and draws in.  The middle one (firmest interfacing) is almost square.  The lowest retains the softness of the fabric, but is more stable.  I like it best.


That's all there is to it.  Now, I have to replicate these excellent results five more times...  Wish me luck!

Trim????

The colours are slightly cooler in real life than this photo, at least on my monitor.  But it's close to accurate.  I can't remember if I said earlier - this fabric is a rather artisanal (i.e. highly irregular and lumpy) 100% silk.

Problems:

- the Petersham is made of 100% poly.
- it is also too wide at 1".  I sliced this lengthwise and overlapped so it is about the right width - using this particular ribbon would therefore require a few extra steps to prevent it from fraying into oblivion.  But I am pretty sure I could secure it invisibly under the beaded trim, probably with a 3 step zig-zag stitch.

What I like:

- I love the shape and texture of these buttons.  Bought enough for the jacket (9) even though I'm not 100% sure they are right.
- strangely I like the beads and sequins on the narrow ribbon trim.  Usually I remove such frippery.  But these are shiny in a dull kind of way.
- the browny-grey of the Petersham and the dull silver buttons emphasize the neutrals in the fabric.  Maybe this would make the jacket more wearable.

I would like to avoid the problems with the Petersham so I shall venture forth yet again today in search of the perfect trim.  In the meantime, I am soliciting opinions.  Comments, please!

The sleeve saga goes on ... and on and on

Having just returned from a visit with my husband's relatives, during which the sum total of my creative output was that I started the same sock three times, I'm all charged up to get something done in the sewing room.  So it's back to the Vogue 8804 muslin, and the puzzle of those sleeves.

The real problem is the sleeve front, starting with the sleeve cap which has too much fabric in it, and continuing down towards the elbow, which also has too much fabric.  See how baggy they look in the photo at left?

Here is the sleeve cap shape, when the two pieces are aligned.





And here it is compared with the cap of another Claire Shaeffer sleeve (V7908).

So I thought ... what if I rotated the sleeve front clockwise, until the cap shape is about the same as the other sleeve?  And pinched out width from the cap down in the front sleeve only?  So I tried it.

To my considerable surprise, pinching out the fullness from the front sleeve at the over-arm seam takes care of the weirdness at the hem.  Don't ask me why, but it worked.

I transferred the change to the tissue, using purple pen (original seam lines in orange).



If you click on this, it enlarges somewhat and you may be able to see the purple dots that represent the location of the pins in my muslin.  I connected them roughly with my french curve and found that to get a line that made any sense, I had to take a sliver of width out of the back too.  The corrected curve flows nicely into the existing curve at the vent.  I made an executive decision to the effect that even though my alteration takes slightly less width out of the upper sleeve than I pinned out, it will probably be OK.

So I cut it out.

And then I started thinking about the trim.  This trim business is not The Sewing Lawyer's forté.  It requires hours in fabric stores but not looking at fabric.  So far I have chosen thread which I hope will blend into the base fabric and become invisible, and buttons which I really like but which may not be exactly right (depending on the trim).  I also found some narrow ribbon trim embellished with sequins and beads (!!!!) which is surprisingly tasteful, but also rather expensive.  I bought 10cm so I could think about it in more detail.  It needs a base.  So far the local stores have not produced a likely candidate.

More about those sleeves

I've spent two evenings drawing lines and measuring them, and comparing the V8804 sleeve to the pattern for a jacket sleeve I like.  It's the one from V2770.  You'll have to believe me that it has a really nice curved shape.  I thought it was possibly too narrow when I first made it, but it's perfectly comfortable.


So here are some pictures.  First up, to the right, is the pattern for the V8804 sleeve.  I've drawn the seam lines on the pattern (in orange) and pinned the pieces so they are oriented correctly at the biceps level.  I also shortened the sleeve because I have short arms.  I haven't tried to true it up afterwards.  

The weirdness of the sleeve is caused by the exaggerated curve of the front sleeve piece no. 12, and both pieces along the centre seam.  When these seams are sewn the sleeve does not follow the shape of a person's arm when it is at rest.  Look at your arm when it's at rest and your hands are at your side.  The profile when seen from the front is more or less straight, or curves away from the hip.

Source

Have a look at this croquis.  It's exaggerated but makes my point.  Your arm only curves inward toward your hip if you're posing with your elbow out.  This sleeve wants to curve that way all the time.

Incidentally, I realized that I have the incorrect piece no. 14 which has apparently been corrected by Vogue in later printings. My piece is not graded for the  different sizes and I gather it's the size 14.  It's longer by about .5cm than it should be.  No big deal, in the greater scheme of things.

The sleeve from V2770 can be seen to the right, and to the left I've put V8804 on top, more or less matching it at the underarm point.

The 8804 sleeve is approximately 4cm wider at the bicep.

The sleeve caps measure almost exactly the same along the seam line.  The 8804 sleeve is designed with slightly less ease (4cm) as compared to the 2770 sleeve (5cm).  However, the 8804 sleeve seems to me to need less ease because it also incorporates that curved seam down the middle.  This makes room for the shoulder and arm.  I think the 8804 sleeve cap could be improved by being narrower.

I was surprised that the two sleeves are more or less the same height at the cap.  Based on how they look and feel I expected the 2770 to be higher and a lot narrower than it is.

I'm not a pattern maker and will be feeling my way towards redrafting the sleeve.  I foresee lots more boring muslin sewing in my future.  Any ideas you have will be appreciated!

Breaking news on the jacket front

True to my word, I have put together the size 8 muslin of Vogue 8804 including sleeves.

Let me tell you, those sleeves are just weird.  The under-sleeve is very narrow but instead of curving with the wearer's arm, it fights that curve at the hem.  This may be because of the very strange pitch of the inner seam of the front sleeve.  This explains the odd grain angle at the lower end of the sleeve, visible on Vogue's website pictures of the jacket.

If the strange biasing made the sleeve feel great on, you would not get any complaints about it from me.  But it doesn't feel right.  The combination of the seam angles under my arm feels like the fabric is pulling the whole front of the sleeve straight down, instead of letting it curve with my arm.  If I hold my arms naturally, the lower sleeve hangs up on my lower arm at the front (you can see there is no forward shaping in Ann Rowley's sleeve).  And if I hold my arm straight, the sleeve wings  strangely toward my hips.

And as you can see in the dreadful photo at right, there is some unattractive excess fabric in the upper arm as well.  I expected slender, elegant and anatomically correct.  Instead ... well, an inmate has escaped wearing baggy prison clothing.

In other news, I am going to pinch out some fabric along the princess line above the bust, and I think the waist is too low on me.  I'll take 1cm out above the waist.  Otherwise, the bodice seems fine to me.

I am going to have to think about this.

Strange knitting competition

For the past two weeks (well, 16 days actually) I've dedicated my free time to a project entered in the Ravellenic Games over on Ravelry.  For the uninitiated, Ravelry  is a fabulous site for people who make things out of yarn.  Mostly, I pay attention to the knitting since I cannot get over my general impression that crocheting always results in an item that appears to be made out of granny squares, whether it was or not.*

The Ravellenics are inspired by the Olympics.  Sort of.  The idea is that you declare you are entering a fibre-related "event", start your project during or after the Olympics opening ceremonies (July 27), and finish up before the end of the closing ceremonies which take place later today.  Depending on the nature of the chosen project, this is a daunting schedule.  Just over two weeks to complete a shawl or a sweater is pretty impressive, IMO.  Especially if you knit madly for five days (9") before realizing that if you keep on, the thing is going to be ginormous, and that you really must rip back to nothing and start over.  (Ask me how I know.)

Which is why I'm totally chuffed to say that I finished my project, (yet another) knitted top, ahead of schedule.

This colourful little number is vaguely based on a pattern in the spring/summer 2012 edition of Vogue Knitting.  Only vaguely because again, I chose yarn that knitted up quite differently from the intended sport-weight cotton Vogue favoured.  Mine is 50-50 cotton and cashmere (yummy), DK weight, from ColourMart.

I call it my Ravellenics Missoni Gelato top (if you are on Ravelry you can read more here). I cannot take credit for selecting the fruit-flavoured coordinating colours - CM put together Ravellenics "scrap sets" for anyone who wanted to buy one (5 50g skeins - I have a total of 76g left).

Take a look at my garter stitch neck and arm edge bands.  I am proud of them because I totally winged the shaping and stitch count, and because I managed to turn off the pointiness of the knitted chevrons below the neck edges (it worked in the back too, but you'll just have to believe me).

I know I keep saying I'm back to sewing now, but really, this afternoon I intend to not start another knitting project, but instead to devote myself to the 2nd iteration of my Chanel-ish jacket pattern.  Since my first attempt was clearly too big, I've trimmed all the pieces down to a straight size 8 and will put the sleeves in this time.   Stay tuned.  

Fun fact:  There was much to-do on Ravelry and elsewhere after the games, originally dubbed the "Ravelympics" had to be renamed.  A somewhat offensive-to-knitters cease-and-desist letter was received by the owners of the site from a law firm retained by the US Olympics Committee.  The story even made the New York Times.  The USOC was forced by the resulting outrage to apologize publicly (twice actually) for offending knitters.


*  Well, except when its an amigurumi.  I'm ready for the cries of rage from all you dedicated crocheters who believe otherwise, and actually I'm anxious to be proven wrong with links to beautiful crocheted items that do NOT appear to be made from granny squares.  Especially nice garments, please.  Seriously.  I might be persuaded to take it up.

Jacket prep

Vogue 8804 - I won't be wearing mine on a motorbike!

In the second-last round of new Vogues, I was immediately drawn to V8804, Claire Shaeffer's latest jacket pattern.  It's an obvious riff on the classic Chanel jacket - tweedy, boxy, little inner structure and quilted lining.  The instructions are, as usual for CS's patterns, long and detailed.  Handsewn buttonholes.  Oy!  Assuming I intend to try them,  these instructions would be a great starting place.  (Along with 10,000 hours, far more than I have, to practice.)

Needless to say, I have suitable fabric in stash.  It has been sitting on my cutting table, mocking me, since around the time I started on my turquoise dress.  It's a rather roughly-woven silk tweed.  It is so old (acquired from the stash of a lovely lady in her late 70s, who probably bought it in the 1960s) that it seemed a little limp.  So I threw caution to the winds and the fabric into the washing machine.  The bath and a line dry seems to have made the fabric tense up - it feels more beefy than previously and though it lost a little red into the wash water it has the same colourful intensity as before.  I think it will soften again with handling and wearing, but I like the result.

The patterned fabric at front is the same China silk I used to line the bodice of my dress.  I figure it will be seriously cheerful inside a Chanel knock-off jacket.

Anyhow, I made a muslin.  I cut the 10 and it is too big.  When I pinned it out at approximately the size 8 dimensions, it seems much better.  Still boxy, but not hanging off me.

Muslin - size 10 pinned to approximate size 8

The shoulders are still at the size 10, so will be somewhat less extended than you see here (pins at the shoulder seam raise the whole jacket approximately .25", which is a good thing).

The jacket has a very narrow side panel (it's about 4cm wide).  There are no darts designed to be sewn in the outer shell.  All the body shaping is supposed to be via shrinking the fabric with an iron, coupled with having darts sewn in the lining (to which the fashion fabric is attached permanently via machine-sewn vertical "quilting").  I'll have to test my fabric to see how well it shrinks in before committing to this technique.  In particular, the amount to be shrunk at bust level into the side panel is rather daunting.  In my muslin, it is somewhat gathered, and too low for my shape to boot.  I intend to raise the point of the gathering and may sew a narrow dart there too.

In the muslin version I've sewn the 4 narrow back waist darts which in the finished version would be in the lining only.  The jacket is, as advertised, boxy.

To finish, here's a side view of the muslin.  See that unattractive line from bust, angling downward?  The bust shaping comes from that general area.  Yeah, too low!

For sewing references, I will be referring regularly to the beautifully detailed in-progress photos of Ann Rowley and the discussion about this pattern at Artisan's Square.  Ann is wonderfully generous in documenting her impeccable sewing for our use.  She wrote, on the Artisan's Square thread:

The main reason that I make series of instructional photos like this is for educational  purposes - I am passionate about sharing skills between people who sew; this is my contribution.

I have absolutely no reservations about you downloading these photos and their captions for your own personal use.   However I would ask you not to post the actual photo, on a blog, or anywhere else, but just to provide a link. This can only be a request on my part as I don't want to stop personal downloads by altering the copyright.

And for when I'm at the point of deciding on trim, I'm going to refer to the instructions posted on another Artisan's Square thread for crocheting your own (hoping the link takes you directly to page 7 post #234 - if you are interested, scroll down through the next few pages).  I haven't been hanging around that site much recently, and don't know anything about Bonnie (btriola) who posted these instructions, except that she obviously knows what she's doing!  I am especially drawn to the trim which shows as #19 in this compilation of btriola's postings.

Yet another one

I knit another top.  Yes indeed.  Knitting something takes approximately 1,000 times longer than sewing something, but I'm finding it strangely soothing as an activity.  It's so portable.

This is a pattern on Ravelry known as the "Grown-Up Tee", because it was originally published as a kid's pattern.  There are only two other projects for the adult version of this pattern posted on Ravelry, which strikes me as strange since this is kind of cute, and not hard to knit.


One modification I made was to add shaping to the lace section by using smaller needles above the hip, and reducing one stitch per lace repeat at the waist level.  It is *extremely* subtle since the 100% silk yarn (ColourMart again) is very drapey and the ribbed lace pattern does not really draw in, but in my imagination the blockiness of the pattern as designed (no shaping whatsoever) is avoided.  (To be fair to the designer, if this was knitted in wool as intended, the ribbing would naturally pull in to create the illusion of shaping.)

It is an interesting exercise to apply my sewing and fitting knowledge to knitting patterns. The pattern as designed is the same front and back, which would make for a very wide open and low-feeling back neck.  I added some short rows which start along the top of the sleeve to add approximately 2.5cm (1") to the back neck.  At left is a photo of the sleeve, taken from above, showing where the short rows start.  The line is approximately where the neckline as designed would have fallen.

I am going to my sewing room now to contemplate Claire Shaeffer's latest Chanel jacket pattern...