Friday, October 31, 2008

Twirly skirt tute

Some people love these skirts and are not sure how to make them. They are rather easy so I will give instructions on how to make one.




Measure around the hips of the child. Ellises hips are 50cm.
50 X 1.5 = 75cm (length of first piece of fabric)
75 X 1.5 = 112.50cm (length of 2nd liece of fabric)
112.50 X 1.5 = 168.75 (length of last piece of fabric)
the width of each piece depends on the height of your child. Ellise is only short so hers needs only to be 25cm. So the first piece needs to be the waist, so the widest.
(25/3) + 2 + 3 = 13.3333 (the 2 is the seam allowance and the 3 is the elastic casing)
I round this up to 15
The next 2 strips I round as well. 25/3 = 8.3333 + seam allowance of 2cm.
You sew down 3cm at the top of the top piece of fabric to make an elastic casing. Leaving open a 3cm hole to thread the elastic through.
Then on the second and third piece you sew 2 rows of stritching at the largest that your machine goes to, about 2cm from the top then another 1cm down.
Pull these 2 threads to gather up the fabric so that it fits the one above. Try and make the gathering as even as possible.
Make sure you hem the last piece too.
Then sew the pieces all together, using about a 1cm seam. And sew up the back seam and thread the elastic through.
And there you have it, your own skirt!


have been busy again/ Peasant top tutorial link

I really dont have time at the moment to up date you on our lives :( I really want to as its been busy here, and often people ask me how I cope, and I would love to give you some insite into my day and life of 'coping'. One thing can be quickly said, that being that I cope due to a wonderful husband who I love dearly and who helps me out, folding washing, getting kids to bed, when he comes home from work there is no 'me time' its straight into being a husband and a father! The other things that helps me cope is endulging in time for myself with my crafts. As a consequence often things are not as tidy as I would like them but hey, it will all get done in good time.

So here is the Mini Wonder Soaker that I knitted as a gift. I posted it today, and I hope that the new owner likes it. There are some knits where there are meant to be purls, and there are other errors that I wont point out. The kitchener stitch is a pain to do, so it too is not perfect. I cast on the top in larger needles so that it would stretch over a big bulky nappy. Its my first attempt at this pattern and I will be knitting it again really really soon :)


And then there is the sewing. I have been trying out a pattern that I found on a blog, and its rather simple and I must share it with you:



PEASANT TOP

And this is what it created:





Sunday, October 5, 2008

Ive been knitting!!

I have been getting my knitting inspiration back. Im not sure that im ready to start knitting massive projects again, but just thought that I would give it a go. I knitted a cardi for Ellise out of Treliske merino in natural brown, and am very happy with it. I just now need to find some buttons to match. Its Boheme that I found on Raverly. I used 8ply instead of yarn that it called for, and increased the needles to 5mm, and added more length. The lace I read from this adult pattern, and then added 4 stocking stitches at the end to define it more. I would make the adult one only now that I am knitting more of the quick projects I am wanting to do more.












I then went on to knit something for myself. Its called the Calorimetry. Its to be used instead of a beanie next winter,.I am very happy with how easy it was and how it turned out. The short rows need more direction of how to do them, and next time I will try a wrap method and see if it works better. I also made it 10 rows shorter. I used 8ply from Jolly Jumbuck.






So now onto the next project. I really need to get sewing, but at least with knitting when I get interupted I can pick it back up later, providing the kids dont get to it.

So I bought the Everlasting Wonder Soaker pattern. Im not telling my husband how much I paid for it, as I dont usually pay that much for patterns. But I am assurred that I wont regret the purchase.



This is for a very special baby that is yet to be born. Providing that i do a good job of it of course.