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That is to say, it's raining in Seattle. It does this a lot. Coming from a water-starved nation like Australia it's quite a welcome change. And just in time I finished the little red raincoat.
Just a quick recap - this is made from an Old Navy raincoat that I bought at Value Village using a Golden Hands pattern. It was my first attempt to incorporate the already existing features of a full-size adult garment into a children's garment.
So, clockwise from top left:
- The finished product: I put in a zip, added a pocket and decorated it using some cutouts from my pvc tablecloth.
- Underarm eyelets because, I don't know, that's what other raincoats have.
- The hood with some pvc appliqué decoration. This one is so placed because there was actually a bit of damage to the fabric where I removed the buttons. I also had to sew two pieces of fabric together to have enough fabric for the hood and I managed to not get that seam to meet - design feature.
- Decorative appliqué on the front of the raincoat and the cord threaded through the hood. I put ... what would you call them? ... the bits on the ends of the cords to prevent it from getting lost through the eyelets and stuffed them with a bit of cotton flannel to give some body.
I haven't actually got baby bear to try it on yet but am delighted to have finished it. Last quick note on the eyelets. Again, here is something that I was at first totally resistant to, did not believe that you could get a good professional-looking eyelet at home, and lo and behold - I'm a convert. This Dritz large eyelet kit is great. Don't be put off by the seeming simplicity of it - it gives terrific results. The black disk acts as an anvil, you place the eyelet halves into the fabric (through a little hole that you cut), position them over the anvil, insert the tool and give a good whack with a hammer. Highly recommended.
Ok, here's where the whole raincoat thing becomes a saga. Monday just gone I decided to try again with a tried and tested pattern - the hooded beach coat from The Golden Hands Book of Sixty Things to Sew for Children that I had previously used to make James.
I have long pondered the idea of recycling clothing not just for the fabric, but also to take advantage of he existing structural features - the hems, buttonholes, pockets. Hence this purchase from Value Village, a tomato red Old Navy raincoat, 100% cotton but certainly treated with something as water just beads on it.
So anyway, on Monday - thud. That was me coming down to Earth. All those pre-existing structural features - the binding, the facings, the interfacing, the pockets - all of it actually makes cutting out the pattern pieces and sewing them together very difficult. Thankfully I had bought jeans/denim sewing machine needles to cope with the pvc because that treated cotton was tough (see, silver lining to the first raincoat debacle - new type of sewing machine needle, new thread colour, an eyelet kit and a snap fastener kit).
And again, disappointment - I swear the armscye is too shallow, again. I'm not sure because I can't actually get baby bear to try the bloody thing on. She seems to have developed an instant aversion to it. More lessons learned though - what works in a knit fabric may not necessarily work in cotton canvas, that I must take my time sewing and must plan more carefully (yep, there are muck-ups because I was just in such a rush). I also altered the pattern a bit, adding a details from the previous raincoat pattern which was a facing around the hood through which you could thread a cord - hence the need for an eyelet making kit which I used very successfully.
I am going to finish this one off, possibly by appliquéing some cut-outs from the leftover tablecloth pvc as decoration, adding the cord to the hood and a zip to the front. Which means I have to go shopping for sewing notions. More silver lining.
James is a lovely little boy who lives across the road from our old house in Melbourne. He is one of baby bear's very first friends. His equally lovely mother is one of my very dear friends. James and baby bear were born twelve days apart and as they grew up, so did Leah and I as mums. Boy, did she see me through some tough times. Thank you Leah!
And so this little jacket is for James.
Again, it's a 100 per cent natural fibres, 100 per cent recycled materials project.
The woollen outer is refashioned from a MaxMara knitted skirt (75 per cent wool, 25 per cent angora, chosen for its delicious softness and warmth), the body lining is from a Princess Tina t-shirt (100 per cent cotton, chosen for its great graphic) and a random dark green t-shirt to line the sleeves (100 per cent cotton, chosen because it toned in). All were purchased at the St Kilda Salvation Army, the first two during one of the designer sales.
The pattern that I used is from The Golden Hands Book of 60 Things to Sew for Children, which incidentally is one of the second-hand craft titles that I reviewed in mixtape #5 (no, not incidental at all really - editorial honesty gets the better of me, I've been saving this post for until the 'zine came out). Have you got a copy yet?
Alas, my series on Golden Hands: the complete knitting, dressmaking and needlecraft guide has been cut short by the fact that they are all buried away in a storage at present. I'm not sure but I think they were a British publication; if I do happen to see any over here I'll sneak in some shots (or something). In the meanwhile please do have a look back in the archives at the richness of volumes one to ten.
Happily, I have unearthed some craft projects which I have been working on. I had so intended to post more progress shots of my projects so here we are:
A child's tam from the basic pattern in The Knitter's Handy Book of Patterns: basic designs in multiple sizes and gauges by Ann Budd. Yes, work in progress - I still have the little crochet loop at the top to go. That would involve finding my crochet hooks so it could take a while longer.
There has also been considerable progress on Mavis but unfortunately the stitch count seems to be off. Yes, off by a couple of stitches. A couple of stitches out of 280 in 4 ply - practically invisible. Can I live with it? Unfortunately, I doubt it but I certainly can't face ripping it just yet so yes, that one might take a while longer too.
Yes, onto volume 10 already (you may recall that we started with volume 9). It's all about beginnings this time actually. I love to look back at the chain of events that leads me somewhere - that because I went to a particular high school which offered life drawing (which I didn't do at the time), because of that I did life drawing later when I was at uni in Amsterdam and because of that I met an Australian guy who had a nice flatmate and here I am, married with an almost two-year old! Yes, I met Tim through his friend Chris because of a life drawing class. rest assured, none of us were the model.
Anyway, volume 10 of Golden Hands: the complete knitting, dressmaking and needlecraft guide features Irish crochet lace which is where a lot of crafty things started for me. I became interested in lace, realised that you could knit lace, started to knit and here I am, knit/craft/life blogging. This volume also introduces a new craft - netting - which while it doesn't really appeal to me is where I think it all started (or at least a lot of it) craftwise.
Fisherman doing their netting way back when, netting became needlework, I discovered crochet and here I am, still haven't knitted any lace yet.
Oh, and the pattern library - well, red's my favourite colour.
A quick look at some of the forgotten arts in volume 8 of Golden Hands: the complete knitting, dressmaking and needlecraft guide. Macramé and needle-made lace are two occupations that haven't really experienced the recent craft boom. I have very vivid memories of macramé pot holders in my grandmother's house - vivid orange memories in fact. There are in fact some lovely examples of very fine macramé lace from the 15th century, some of which I saw at Museo Poldi Pezzoli in Milan (as well as lots of other wonderful lace - eccentric museum, eccentric collection, eccentric staff, loved it). Antique macramé lace must be an unusual thing though because I can't find any good references on the internet.
Needle-made lace is still practiced in Australia and around the world. I think that I have previously mentioned that I was a member for a couple of years of the Australian Lace Guild. 
They seem to be mostly into bobbin lace (or in Sydney at least they are) but there is some needle lace as well which is my preference.
Anyway, trusty Golden Hands being the complete guide that it is has chapters on both crafts.
My progress update - I have a finished object to show but alas, no camera at present. This was my reward project for having completed Tim's dad's socks and the tomten. I have decided that as a complement to general knitting it is necessary to always have a pair of socks on the go. They are very portable and great while travelling so in the past few weeks I have gotten most of the way through the first Gentleman's Fancy sock from Nancy Bush's Knitting Vintage Socks in a (discontinued) Patonyle variegated blue on my new bamboo dpns. It's going very well.
And as the cold weather is upon us I have also started on some headwear but it's to be a present so I won't elaborate more than to say that it's from Jo Sharp Silk Road Aran Tweed in a lovely mossy green (#126 Highland) which was a gift from a lovely friend. I want to include some more in-process photos instead of just out-of-the-blue "look what I made!" This is a scanner photo and doesn't show the colour at all well but just to show what I've achieved since 2:30 this morning. The white scrap is my make-do stitch marker.
I have also had a close look at the instructions for Mavis - "worked in one piece from the neck downwards, the only seaming required is an underarm seam". Can't wait.
I have made some reading progress too - about one hundred pages into The Poisonwood Bible. I'm really enjoying it. I love a book that is responsive to the reader. Just when I was thinking, hmm, enough of this bit, part one ended. Perfectly timed.
With volume 6 of Golden Hands: the complete knitting, dressmaking and needlecraft guide I thought that I would focus on the dressmaking chapters, partly because some friends have expressed an interest in pattern drafting and garment construction recently, partly because I've neglected it so far.
The dressmaking chapters are very detailed with plenty of instructions on how to sew into the bias, make French seams, lay out pattern pieces, and notes about fitting.
I think that at some point in our teenage years as we've been working out just what our look is (oh ok, and in later years) making our own clothes seems like a great way to get just exactly what we want. I myself was put off by all the jargon on the sewing patterns, the ill-sized dimensions, the fact that the finish wouldn't be what I had come to expect from commercially produced fashion (raw edges, unh). I even did a pattern-making and a dressmaking course once, way back when, at CAE.
I really like the idea of Thread Den - a 'sewing lounge' - although I haven't made it for a visit yet (North Melbourne, tad inconvenient for this south-of-the-Yarra girl). The concept though is great - sewing machines available for hire, assistance on hand, classes available and apparently a full set of Golden Hands.
I've mentioned before that I rarely wear shirts or blouses because they invariably gape across the front - not a good look. It would be great to learn how to either draft or adjust a pattern so that doesn't happen. Oh yeah, maybe one day.
The current craft update: I have been really busy finishing things. This is partly because I have had too many projects on the go at once for too long and have had no satisfaction from seeing things come to fruition which is eventually quite discouraging. Jeremy has been blocked and seamed - just the collar to go, ends to weave and then some embroidery. I have actually been working on the baby ballerina sleeves - hooray. The felted jumper bag is going slowly.
And according to my complete-two-start-one formula, Tim's dad's socks + tomten = new project time. Subsequent posts will reveal that my maths is not very good (I'm up to sewing on the buttons already).
In introducing the Golden Hands: the complete knitting, dressmaking and needlecraft guide, I have done my best to pick out projects and photos that might appeal to the current crafting generation, things that I may possibly like to make or try in a different colourway, invaluable basic how-to lessons. I feel that I have misrepresented the series. In fact, a lot of stuff in there is really quite awful:
Somehow I just can't imagine being motivated to start on any of these projects, no matter how much yarn or colour substitution I might do. I do like the cover though, that sewing machine 
looks 
like it may have come off the Titanic. When I was little I thought that the woman on the cover looked enough like my mum to actually be my mum, even though I knew that she wasn't. Funny how you can do that when you're a kid - know one thing but choose to believe another. Anyway, the craft update - recycled tree jumper, no progress; secret present socks, no progress; Jeremy, no progress; baby ballerina, oh don't even ask. I have been really busy though, mostly with sewing using recycled materials. And next week I'm having a launch (of sorts). Yes, I will be launching myself out of the datasphere and into the real world at the Stitches and Craft show, courtesy of the Living Creatively people. I'll be there to talk about op shopping and crafting using recycled materials. I'll have a few creations there to show people, including the baby bobble jacket, and a whole heap of yarns and fabrics that represent my ever-expanding list of best intentions. I should update the sidebar over there but I'm a mite scared of what its final dimensions may be. I'll also be showing how to unpick and unravel an op shop-purchased jumper in order to make it into something new.
So, if you're in Melbourne next week(end) and feel like a fibre/fabric/paper/thread etc overload, I'll be there on Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday in the morning. I'm sure that it would be lovely to meet you.
Volume 4 of Golden Hands: the complete knitting, dressmaking and needlecraft guide introduces three more crafts - patchwork, fringing and toy making (softies 70s style). There's not an awful lot that inspires me in this volume although as per usual the Fashion Flair and Pattern Library pages are classics - check out the gay appliqué pot holders.
These Golden Hands posts are a good opportunity to report in on my crafting progress. I have finished knitting the latest pair of socks - hooray! Graft the toes, weave in the ends, give them a wash, take photos, package them up, post them off, wait a few days then reveal them to the world.
I love to write lists, have I ever mentioned that or has it just become obvious? Tucked in the front of my diary is the 'great universal list of things to do'. It's my consolidated list (as opposed to a list of everything to do in the universe which would take so long to compile that you'd never get around to doing anything). In my lists, I like to break tasks down into smaller components. The closer I am to getting around to something the further I break it down. That way the most immediate tasks are the smallest and are easily achieved which gives a great feeling of satisfaction. This approach also has a tendency to rapidly multiply the number of tasks but also gives a great illusion of productivity.
Welcome to volume 3 of Golden hands: the complete knitting, dressmaking and needlecraft guide. There's 'Fashion Flair: capes tunics and skirts' circa 1974, an introduction to the feather stitch family including double feather stitch, quill stitch open cretan stitch and threaded herringbone stitch, and an introduction to tatting. I love the visuals of that top photo on the embroidery page with the matryoshka dolls and the strong primary colours. Sure, the 1970s could be garish but they could also be beautiful.
So while volume 3 is only just introducing tatting it is up to part 13 on embroidery. Understandably, a greater part of the volumes are given to knitting, embroidery and dressmaking (and to a lesser degree crochet) with less common crafts appearing infrequently.
Tatting has never really appealed to me although, having said that, I do own a fabulous book called The Art of Tatting by Lady Katharin Hoare. And there you go - feel free to download it yourself from the University of Pennsylvania library. Lady Hoare's work has incredible intricacy, depth and texture and comments from the Queen (the Roumanian one, I think). I find the visuals quite inspirational.
In volume 2, Golden hands: the complete knitting, dressmaking and needlecraft guide introduces the gentle crafts of daisy work, hooked rugs and macramé - "versatile, unusual and fun to do". I'm surprised that it hasn't caught on further. I haven't made anything from this volume but the Knitting Know-how lessons in increasing and decreasing have certainly come in handy. And from the Basic Wardrobe I do like this bloomer suit for a little girl. Perhaps while baby bear still has no say in the matter?
I must admit that I am more than a little dismayed at the lack of finished items that I have to display (or not, as the case may be, or rather, is). I seem to have a severe case of finishitis or hyper-cast-onitis whereby nothing ever gets finished and I am constantly casting on for new projects. I'm almost embarrassed to mention the baby ballerina top (just how long has that been going on for now?) but now that I have, I'll update you. I started on a sleeve, knitting from the top down in order to not run out of yarn and got about 20 rows in when I decided that it was too wide and frogged it, to start again with a few less stitches. That's where that is at.
Jeremy, on the other hand, is completely knitted and just requires blocking and seaming. And some embroidery on the collar - I've bought the tapestry wool for that. Oh, I have no problem with gathering supplies, sometimes I feel as though I am drowning in them. I have also recently purchased the yarn for Lynda (Grignasco Bambi in #416 - so soft and a great range of colours) and assorted balls for another project which I will have to keep quiet about because it is to be a gift for someone.
And the tomten, the poor dear tomten which is probably the most interesting thing that I have knit lately is languishing, in want only of having the i-cord fastenings sewn on. Ah well, it'll wait another week. Indeed, i suspect that is part of the problem. Much of what I am knitting for baby bear is for her to grow into in the future so there is no great rush to finish, except for the displeasure of having all these unfinished projects laying around. So, even though it is not a new year's resolution, I have a knit resolution. Two finished items for every item cast on anew until I have a manageable number of projects on the go - say three.
And just to prove that I haven't been doing nothing recently, this was last night's dessert. You'll have to take my word for it that my version looked just as good for the evidence is long gone.
I learnt to cast on, to knit and to purl from volume one of Golden Hands: the complete knitting, dressmaking and needlecraft guide. The book that changed my life, really!
Volume one includes all of the introductory entries on the basics - knitting, crochet, embroidery, canvas work and dressmaking - plus some basic wardrobe knitting and crochet patterns for those who have already mastered the gentle arts. Interestingly, needle-made lace also gets a look in. 
Then there are the Collector's Piece entries, the Pattern Library and this lovely feature on the gentle arts. I once commenced an attempt to recreate the piece of lace on the bottom right in crochet with very fine thread. I never unravelled it so it must be tucked away in a plastic bag somewhere ....
By the end of this volume you can expect to be able to tailor yourself a skirt, work some slanted gobelin, crochet an afghan, twist your stocking stitch and plan an embroidery colour scheme. Lovely.
So, the legacy of volume one for me? Jeremy is going well. So far I have knit three sleeves, two left fronts, the right front and the collar and am half-way through the back. Three sleeves? Ah yes, one of them got frogged as it was the wrong size. Two left fronts? Hmmm, the first incarnation got frogged because I had increased a stitch too many way down in the ribbing and it just wasn't going to be right. That's enough for me I'm afraid - one stitch out, one mistake and I simply know that I will never be able to live with it. It's really quite an easy knit if you just read the pattern correctly.
I haven't actually got baby bear to try it on yet but am delighted to have finished it. Last quick note on the eyelets. Again, here is something that I was at first totally resistant to, did not believe that you could get a good professional-looking eyelet at home, and lo and behold - I'm a convert. This Dritz large eyelet kit is great. Don't be put off by the seeming simplicity of it - it gives terrific results. The black disk acts as an anvil, you place the eyelet halves into the fabric (through a little hole that you cut), position them over the anvil, insert the tool and give a good whack with a hammer. Highly recommended.
