Knitting and sewing review of 2019

Knitting

Well, I managed to knit only from stash and not buy any wool at all this year apart from some Drops Baby Merino to knit a Christmas jumper for my grandson (and a couple of other colours to make the order up to value for free p&p), and I justified that because I didn't have the right colours in stash.

So this year's tally is
yarn bought = 2,275m
yarn knitted = 11,021m

Overall 8,746 metres less in my stash than at the beginning of the year - hooray!

I knitted quite a few things from my plan for the year which I'm pleased about - I got stuck in to my Home Fires knitting project, I blogged about the individual knits here, here, here, and here, and wrote a general update on patterns and my visit to Bunbury (where it was filmed) here.

I also knitted two jumpers and three cardigans from my 2019 plan and one other, a baby cardigan for my newest grandson

and a Christmas jumper for his older brother (I ran out of time before I could knit one for my granddaughter, so if she'd like one she can have one next year - the Rudolph jumper was specifically requested!).

The cardigan is from a vintage pattern that I've used before.

Although I didn't knit the dress (again), and two cardigans are carried forward to Spring 2020 - by the time I got around to thinking about knitting them autumn was well on its way and I knew I wouldn't wear them for months if I started them in September - I'm very pleased with the total output.

Sewing

This year's sewing has consisted entirely of sleeveless dresses all of which, apart from the navy daisies one, were sewn from fabric I already had.  And all except one (Anya) had a pleated skirt.

Bodice patterns used
Sew Over It Betty (10)
Butterick 5748 (3)
Simplicity 2444 (3)

Skirt patterns used
Simplicity 3749 (7)
Butterick 2248 (2)
New Look 6824 pleated version (6)
New Look 6824 straight version (1)

It turns out the most popular combo was Betty bodice and Simplicity 3749 skirt - I made five of these,

closely followed by Betty and New Look 6824 pleated - four.

These two both have Butterick 2248 skirts - only suitable for 56"+ width fabric (Betty bodice on the left, Butterick 5748 bodice on the right)

And here are the rest - the three dresses with Simplicity 2444 bodices (bottom left and the two on the right) and the other two with Butterick 5748 bodices.

I bought 5.5m of fabric this year - daisy print poplin which quickly became this dress, and some bee print corduroy which I have yet to sew up.  I also took quite a few metres of fabric to Sew Brum for the swap table, so much more out than in!

Overall I'm pleased with what I've sewn, having made good inroads in to my stash, although the output bears little resemblance to the original plan beyond the first paragraph!

Grey & yellow floral dress

This might be my last bit of sewing for the year, as I really need to get on with Christmas knitting.  I would have started sooner, but I cut one of my fingers last weekend - not badly, but enough to snag wool as I'm knitting whether or not I put a plaster on it - didn't affect sewing (or anything else) fortunately, but does mean I'm behind my own self imposed schedule...

Anyway... this dress.  I bought the fabric three years ago from Fabric Godmother and it's a viscose / linen mix, so has a lovely drape to it.  I think I was probably drawn to the faded-style colours, which is a departure for me as I'm usually drawn to either brighter, or more saturated colours, and it was another dress length which languished a bit while I hummed and ha-ed what to make with it.

I bought 2m, and, since it was 60" wide I was able to get a Betty bodice and New Look 6824 pleated skirt out of it, but it took every last inch of the length.  

There are some subtle blues and greens in there, along with the various shades of grey, so I have a few cardigans which will go with it, although I think this one looks best.

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.