Monday, September 12, 2011

Of sewing, secret knitting, splints and framing

The past couple of months have been quite busy with an annual stitching weekend away with friends, Knit Nation and just general life busyness.

Prior to Knit Nation, I had agreed to test knit some lovely new sparkle yarn from Old Maiden Aunt yarns, ready for it's launch at Knit Nation. The yarn is merino sparkle in the shade Dreich and the pattern is Undine.



Another thing that has been taking up my time of late is sewing. I grew up with a Mum who made a lot of my clothes. My mum spent many years working in clothing factories as a sewing machinist. I have sewn clothes in the past with her help but I decided recently that I'd like to try to sew on my own.

So far I finished a Wrap style blouse in some very basic black fabric. This was my testing garment to see if I could do it.



Last week, I moved on to a tunic top with a concealed zip. The pattern is Juliet tunic by Serendipity design studio. It was a little tricky as I had to adapt adjust the skirt part of the tunic to fit my hips and lengthen it. The having to lengthen the skirt section blew my mind as I'm really not tall, only 5ft tall. Usually I have the exact opposite problem. But it now fits really well.



My most recent finish was another wrap blouse from the same pattern. I've altered it somewhat at the arms and shoulders so it fits better.



I've also managed to frame up a recent cross stitch that I already had the frame for.



The only downside lately has been a further recurrence of my previous hand problem so my right hand has been strapped up in a splint for the past month or so and I'm currently having more physiotherapy to try and resolve it. Thankfully it seems to have improved over this weekend so I'm feeling a bit more hopeful about it that I was last week.

7 comments:

Sheila said...

Hope your hand improves with the physio.
Lots of lovely creativity...your tops looks great :)

Joyus said...

Gorgeous finishes. I'm in awe of your clothes making!

Hope the hand continues to get better.

Marion said...

Nice to see you back - you have been busy. I am so impressed with your clothes sewing. How lovely to be able to produce something to wear. Hope your hand gets better soon and won't hold up your handiwork for long.

Scully said...

Wow, those clothes are great Paula...I completely suck at dressmaking/sewing some I am really impressed with your finishes. Well done. I love what you've done with the Flip-its and Snippets, they look fab! The shawl is also very pretty. Hope your hand gets better soon. Take care ♥

Kitty Couture said...

Everything is fabulous and impressive! You are so talented.

Thank you for your happy comment on my blog regarding my baby news! :)

Karoline said...

Great sewing Paula, congratulations

MysteryKnitter said...

Looks awesome!