Autumn wardrobe planning part 2

Following on from this post, here is part two.  I'm glad I've done this because it's made me realise that there really aren't any gaps in my wardrobe - probably because (i) I tend to hang on to things for years and years (and years) when I like them and (ii) if I like something rtw and it comes in more than one colour then I may buy more than one... 

Monochrome

Blues

Berry colours

Turquoise / teal

The rest, which didn't fit with above colour schemes (or was in the laundry basket or ironing pile when I took the photos)

(Most of) the rest of my handknits.  I haven't included the ones which I wouldn't really wear in autumn or winter because of the colour.

I can see I have quite enough of everything and probably need to do another knitwear cull... It is also a mixture of me-made, shop bought and clothes that I've been given - I don't think I'll ever have an entirely me-made wardrobe.

Nani Iro dress

Another dress from fabric I bought in 2014 - this time from Guthrie & Ghani at the first Sew Brum meet up (and I'm pleased to say I have now sewn up all the fabric I bought then).  I absolutely love this tealy - green colour, and I think one of the reasons I took so long to sew it up is because I didn't want to mess up.  Initially I thought I'd make an Emery dress from it, but I'm glad I didn't now, because I prefer longer length skirts (except perhaps in midsummer) and also low backs (easier to zip up).

I bought 2.5m of this and used all of it - I only just squeaked it with no length to spare because there was printing along one selvedge about an 1" in, which I had to avoid.  The bodice is a Sew Over It Betty, and the skirt is from New Look 6824, with pockets from Simplicity 2444.  I can get these styles of dress sewn up pretty quickly now because I don't need to make any fit adjustments - did all that last year - and don't need to follow written instructions.  Also, no princess seams or sleeves to ease in.  The cutting out can take a bit of time though if I have to pattern match, or haven't got much yardage to spare, like with this one.

The fabric is a cotton double gauze which feels lovely but wasn't great to sew - it moved about a bit and isn't as tightly woven and stable as quilting cotton, poplin or lawn, so I'm not sure I'd buy again.  I am glad I bought this though, because the colours in it are just fabulous - well I think so anyway!  And I know it'll get lots of wear.  I also have a cardigan which matches it perfectly.  I made it six and a half years ago, so it predates this blog, but has featured here, and here - that was quite a nostalgic trip down memory lane to find those posts, and to realise how many of those dresses I have now passed on to free up wardrobe space.

Olive Atomic dress

Yet another Sew over It Betty / Simplicity 3749 combo, and again, fabric from stash which I've had for at least five years.  I absolutely love this print and more recently bought it in its other colourway too.  That dress got made sooner than this one - I certainly don't sew fabric up in the order that I buy it!

When I came to cut it out I saw that there was some marking on part of the fabric, fortunately I had enough to cut round this.  Or at least I thought I had.  It was only when I had sewn the bodice and lining together and turned it right sides out to press that I noticed a dodgy bit near one of the shoulders.  I hummed and hah-ed for about 30 seconds whether to unpick, cut out another bodice front and resew and decided I couldn't be bothered.  It's not that noticeable and doesn't show at all if I wear a cardigan with it.  I am a bit miffed with myself that I missed it at the cutting out stage though...

When it goes in the wash I'll add a colour catcher sheet in the machine and hope for the best.  If that doesn't work I'll live with it.

Apart from that minor blip though, I'm very pleased with how this turned out.

Home Fires Project update

Well, a second book continuing the story has now been published so I thought this would be a good time for an update on my Home Fires knitting project.

So far I have knitted three tops and one cardigan.  One of the tops is a pretty faithful colour reproduction of the top worn in the show,

 

the other two I've done in different colours,

but all three, and the cardigan,

have used wool which I already had in stash.  Although the cardigan is 'inspired by' really, since I only did patterning on the front.

I'd like to knit another feather and fan top using a beige background colour like these four tops in the show did, I've got enough wool in stash to do this, I just need to decide on the contrast colours to use.

I've also decided to use a different pattern for this top

but haven't yet decided on a colour combination.

I'll adapt this pattern

There are also a few other tops I might get around to knitting at some point - I think I've got a pattern similar to this, but if not it wouldn't be too difficult to knit without one,

I think this is very pretty, but realistically I doubt I'll have the patience, or time, to embroider all the flowers

And I like this one too - this top also appears in the Joan Hickson version of Agatha Christie's 'A murder is announced', worn by Philippa Hames.

ETA - Which I think is this pattern

And also, ETA, I think I've found the pattern for this

It looks like it's this one

Which is a P&B pattern from this book - I haven't found it as an individual pattern yet though.

Back in the spring I visited Bunbury in Cheshire where the show was filmed and spotted some, although not all, the locations they used.

The church

The village hall

The Brinsleys' shop

The vicarage

The Campbells' house which is a rather nice pub in reality and where I had lunch

The Horse & Groom pub

The Simms' house

The Service Station

The Telephone Exchange

And a few other views

The site of the War Memorial

And now I'm going to get on with reading the book!

Frida la Catrina dress

Here is another dress sewn from my fabric stash, I'm not sure how long ago I bought the fabric - maybe four years ago?  I now have one remaining dress length of Frida Kahlo fabric to make up, and it's been in my stash longer than this one!  Maybe that will get sewn next year...

I bought 3.2m and used all of it.  Apart from the time it took to cut out, this was a quick sew - a lined Sew Over It Betty bodice and a vintage Simplicity 3749 skirt with pockets from Simplicity 2444, a combination I've made several times now.

Autumn wardrobe planning

Last Saturday was the annual Sew Brum event in Birmingham and I set off bright and early to get there.  The meet up started at John Lewis and then moved on to the rag market and fabric shops in Birmingham city centre.  After that there was a short bus ride to Guthrie & Ghani in Moseley where the first floor sewing room was set up with tables for the fabric and pattern swap, a table displaying all the raffle prizes and a very welcome section with tea and cake!

I completely failed to take any photos all day, but I was inspired by Guthrie & Ghani's window display (there are pictures on their Instagram account and their window displays are always lovely) and when I got home I decided to have a bit of a wardrobe sort out to see what I had in the gorgeous autumnal colour palette they had used.

Everything

I was pleased to find that actually I could do quite a bit of mixing and matching and come up with several outfits.  (Although both pairs of trousers need shortening before I can wear them - I must get on and do that.)  I don't normally have everything together like this - the knitwear and tops I keep in a chest of drawers so it was helpful to see it all in one place.

Jackets and tops

Knitwear

Skirts, trousers and dresses

After I'd done the wardrobe review I got out all my autumnal fabrics - more than I'm going to sew up this year that's for sure, and some will also work in winter and spring as well, but it did bring home to me that I really do need to continue only sewing from stash (although the bee-print corduroy I did buy this year... shhh).  I'd had a good sort out of fabric stash before going up to Birmingham and took quite a bit for the swap table and I'm very pleased my resolve to not bring any fabric home with me didn't desert me, even in the face of temptation.

While I was reviewing my autumn knits I sorted out some cardigans which I either don't wear at all, or hardly ever wear, and have added them to the charity clothes recyling bag - I only have finite space and I'd much rather pass things on for others to wear than have them languishing unworn for years in a chest of drawers.

So, these are for skirts

These are dress lengths

These are also for dresses except the mustard sweatshirt fabric which is for a Coco top and which I bought in Guthrie & Ghani during 2015's Sew Brum - eek!

Now I've done the wardrobe sort out with autumn colours, I think doing the same with the rest of my autumn / winter clothes will be a good idea.  There may be another blog post on this theme in a few days' / weeks' time...

Peplum cardi

Another cardigan I can cross off this year's to-do list.  I had originally intended to knit this wool using a different pattern, which didn't have a peplum (but I wanted one so would have worked out how to add it), and then I came across this - I'm not sure how, lost in the mists of time!

My inspiration was a cardigan worn by Summer Strallen (as Nancy Morell) in the first series of Land Girls, but unfortunately I don't have a clear screenshot.

My version of the pattern has some changes - I converted it to a v-neck, which also meant changing the front to be knitted entirely in the rib pattern - I thought the shaped stocking stitch yoke might look a bit odd with a v neckline.  I also changed the button band - in the pattern it's knitted as part of the fronts and is stocking stitch which is folded back on itself.  I've done a picked-up band in the same 1 x 2 rib pattern as the upper body.  The sleeves in the pattern are stocking stitch with a folded cuff and are knitted flat, seamed and sewn in.  I kept them as stocking stitch but knitted them down from the armholes with short row sleeve caps and did ribbed cuffs.

The buttons are from stash - I've no idea where they came from.

The wool I used is Malabrigo Arroyo, which is a sport / light DK weight and lovely to knit with.  I more or less got the same stitch tension as the pattern, but my row tension was very different.  Fortunately the pattern is written as "work for x inches, then decrease, rather than work for x rows, then decrease" so the fact that my tension was off didn't matter.

I'm pleased with how this has turned out, and it's going to look good with jeans just as much as with dresses or skirts, so good and versatile.

And now I must start planning Christmas knitting...