Day: 21 April 2012

adult's clothing, sewing

New Look 6648 view B

When you’re on a good thing, stick to it they say.  I’ve enjoyed New Look 6648 – only a couple of days after finishing view A, I’m done with view B!

new look 6648 view B

This version has a v-neckline and 3/4 length sleeves with elastic zig-zagged along the seamlines to gather them. I’m not sold on the elastic for gathering technique, and will probably unpick this and gather them differently – possibly just with a couple of rows of straight stitching pulled up by hand.

new look 6648 view B - sleeve gathering detail

The v-neckline is not all that low, but it is quite wide. Feels rather flashdance, really! I attached the neck binding slightly differently to the instructions, sewing it into a loop and then mitring at the centre front of the V. The resulting binding is a little wavy, especially at the back. It should probably have been shortened a couple of inches. Once again, I may unpick it and shorten it and reattach. Or I may not.

new look 6648 neck detail

I didn’t have thread that matched exactly for this project. It’s a funny colour, that mustardy yellowish-green, and so I went with a yellow that was in stash that sort of coordinated. I didn’t want a trip to the shops just for one spool of thread! The bottom band is the same for all the views in this pattern. The front and the back pieces are each gathered at the sides, then sewn together into a tube and folded in half wrong sides together before attaching to the top. I did the gathering with straight stitches that I then pulled up to size by hand. You could use elastic instead if you wanted to, I suppose.

new look 6648 waistband ruching

I made this in size 12, but possibly could have sized down to a 10. Anyway, I really enjoyed wearing it! I styled it with a tank underneath the next day to better deal with the wide neckline. The batwing sleeves are comfortable to wear, and the fitted ruched waistband seems to hide my pot belly and thick waist while still giving me shape.

what I wore - 20/04/2012

crochet, tunisian

tunisian sampler scarf

Last Christmas my presents included a set of tunisian crochet hooks.  I am aiming to learn a few new crochet techniques this year (broomstick and hairpin crochet are also on my list).  After watching Karen – an avowed non-crocheter – enthusiastically embracing tunisan, I decided that it was time.  I grabbed a hook and some yarn and started experimenting, then came across Ambassador Crochet‘s Tunisian Sampler Scarf crochetalong.  So I pulled out everything I’d already done (which was very dodgy, let me tell you) and made a start on a scarf!

tunisian sampler scarf CAL (ambassador crochet)

Tunisian has similarities to knitting in that you “cast on” a whole lot of loops onto the hook, but then you cast them off again. It is worked facing you the whole time, and each row consists of two passes, one to cast on the loops and another to cast them off. It’s sort of like weaving as well. You use a long crochet hook with a stopper on the end, in a size much larger than you would normally use for the thickness of the yarn. The stitches vary depending on where you place the hook – there are lots of options – and whether you wrap the yarn around the hook or not.

tunisian simple stitch

This is tunisian simple stitch. I’m finding it very challenging going back to being a beginner all over again. I thought that I was very familiar with crochet – and I am with regular crochet! But this is new, although it involves many similar techniques.

tunisian knit stitch

Tunisian knit stich – which looks a lot like regular knitted stocking stitch. But it’s much thicker. Tunisian makes quite a warm and sturdy fabric. However, while surfing Ravelry I’ve come across some beautiful tunisian lace shawls. I am planning for these to be in my future! I’ve also signed up with an online “learn tunisian” course via Craftsy. Although I am pretty good at learning from written instructions, it’s also great to be able to watch and listen. I’m looking forward to some time with the hook, the yarn and the laptop to work my way through the class.

tunisian purl stitch

So once I get over being a beginner, and the frustrations that entails, I am anticipating that my crochet world is going to expand exponentially!