A Long-Suffering Beret and a Wild Hat

I had this silvery-green wool yarn from a local shop, so not cheap. I knitted a beret. The band was much too loose, so I carefully handsewed a little knit headband inside. I wore it last winter, as in, the winter of 21-22. Great color, not a great fit. I wanted it to be a classic shape, the band not too tight or too loose, and a simple decrease. 

 I decided to undo the whole beret and knit it again with a different pattern. I did. It was a eensy-weensy beret. I almost gave up and gave it to Phoebe, but no, I took the dumb thing apart again. Now the yarn was so crinkled that I soaked it in cool water as a skein and laid it out to dry. I used the original pattern with different needles. Still NOT RIGHT. Now I read patterns very carefully, furiously, and doubtfully and finally finally finally, after knitting and re-knitting this beret over the course of the winter, I made a lovely beret that I like! The wool yarn was resilient and wonderful through this laborious process - thank you sheep, shearer, and spinner. 

Photos of me by *Phoebe*!

In a much shorter process, Phoebe and I realized one cold morning just before her bus arrived that she did not have a beanie. I was delighted to solve this problem with my stash. I had seen and noted a local artisan who knitted hats from different weights and kinds of yarn. Like yarn patchwork! Using the little bits! Phoebe was game for a wild hat, and it was SO much fun. Some of the yarn in my stash comes from balls I let my children choose at the creative reuse store as a treat for coming along. That explains this weird pink chenille yarn that becomes excellent next to the other colors and wool. There's also one little strand of eyelash yarn in there, too, making a great texture. I am definitely making more wild hats. 

The Vegetable Dress

This dress turned out so differently from my vision. I'm still not sure I like it or will keep it. . . my vision was for a summer dress that was easy to wear, an everyday dress.

Yes, why did I pick fabric with a white background that needed a full lining? And. . . white? Why, Margo? The vegetables spoke to me, I guess? And the dress I made feels like a sweet, cute 1950s housewife dress - it doesn't feel like me! 

I thought by way of decoration that the skirt lining could peek out with a bit of eyelet lace, but I've gotten well-meaning shocked comments that my slip was sticking out.  Overall, I think the dress is just a bit too sweet for me. 

Funnily enough, I was at the optometrist one week, wearing the dress. The receptionist was so tickled to see there were vegetables on my dress. Then, when I brought Phoebe for her appointment next week, she remembered me (I was surprised - it's a big practice) for wearing the vegetable dress previously! 

Fortunately the side pockets I added are successful. And the blue and white is such a refreshing cool vision on the eyes in the deep sticky stink of a city in summer.

I found the bodice very tedious to fit. I needed to take in the top and let out the bottom, but since the dratted thing is lined and a multi-piece princess style, I had to rip out and the reconfigure twice the number of seams. 

All the photos on this post are by Phoebe! She did a fabulous job.

This dress caused me to think more carefully about my wishes for summer dresses. I did some research on pattern styles, and thought of the clothes I have that I like the most for comfort and personal style. Then, I purged my sewing patterns and carefully bought some different ones. Stay tuned - I fit in some successful sewing in my busy summer!

Raspberry Nightie

I cranked out a swishy yellow nightie for the growing girl.

The flowers are just so pretty on this vintage fabric from my stash. I used a size 5 pattern and just eyeballed some width and length. When I had her slip it over her head before I put the finishing sems in, we tore the armscye a bit. I'm afraid the vintage fabric might be a bit fragile. I topstitched a patch over the tear.

I did actually make the nightie too wide, so I put a pleat in the front neckline. Sewing over it with rick rack is a bit homemade-y looking, but I knew the fancier the trims, the more Phoebe would love it.

Well, it is pretty and she loves it! And raspberries. Keeping up with the bramble is a twice-a-day job right now, and the black raspberries are coming in, too. One of the fun parts of summer!

An Easy Calico Dress

 I made Genevieve a first-day-of-preschool green calico dress and then lengthened it as she grew taller and then saved it for the little sister who wore it to literal shreds.

Mending fabric that is shredding due to age or heavy wear is like bailing a leaky boat. I've become a savvy mender by inspecting items carefully to make sure I can truly extend their life with mending. Here the fabric was giving out at the bottom of each tuck and I had already mended a three-corner rip that had torn open again. 

So, the middle of the green dress went in the piece bag, the top was discarded, the buttons put back in the button tin, and Phoebe said sadly, now I don't have a calico dress.  

That is an easy fix!

I had a length of navy calico just barely enough for a Phoebe dress - I almost wrote "little girl" but Phoebe is just not very little anymore (and when you look at little Genevieve wearing the green dress - oh my heart! my little girls!). 

I planned to use the same dress pattern as the green calico, but apparently I had gotten rid of it at some point. I used a Style pattern a neighbor gave me when she cleaned out her sewing stuff. I added some rick rack and juicy red buttons and that is a very smart summer dress. 

Phoebe has been helping me set up garden beds and plantings all week long as she quarantines for COVID reasons. She has a pepper plant named Rosalind now. She gets to read books with her pasta and pesto and watercress lunch.  A good week to be at home wearing an easy breezy calico dress!

Mittens Yet

Last fall, I made Phoebe nice black felted wool mittens from an old sweater. I even placed the cuffs on the ribbing so that they hugged her wrists. She ignored the mittens all winter until I finally realized they were just too plain (and sophisticated and New Yorky) for her style. I offered to add hearts to them and then would she wear them? Oh yes, little pink hearts stitched on with blue perle cotton were just the ticket. 

I am still using the Purl Soho mitten pattern. It is so fast and uses just scraps of warm fabric! I can't justify knitting mittens again when these fleece ones are warm, fast, and economical. Plus, mittens are easy to lose, for anybody, not just kids, so I'm very pleased to have found easy, thrifty replacements. 

I even made myself a pair of leopard print fleece. I added a lining of grey knit cotton because I like very warm hands. 

We are having some spring-like days here and there - once I even put away the sleds and snowpants and stock tank heater from the rain barrel. That drew the attention of the snow gods and we got a not-little snowstorm, indeed we did. Spring, you really bring the drama! I have both my mittens and my barefoot sandals in rotation right now. I love it. 

A Calico Tunic for Phoebe

 Phoebe does really love her leggings, so I bought her a stripey pair as a Christmas stocking stuffer and found some blue calico in my stash to make her a tunic. In fact, all the materials for this tunic were on hand.

I have used this pattern before for Genevieve. 

As I sorted through notions for the tunic, I discovered the most astonishing matching flannel, a scrap I have had in my stash for years and enjoyed looking at.

Look! It matches like the calico and flannel came from the same fabric line in 1970! Different fabrics bought as scraps from different stores, marinating in my stash for years, joined in such happiness. I just love it. Phoebe does too!

Two Blue Dresses

In January, deep in covid-cautiousness, my sister got married. It was a delight to dress up again and celebrate!

Phoebe was the flower girl, although as soon as she said "flower fairy," the title stuck. My sister said we should choose whatever dress we wanted (I have the best sister and she was never, not even for one second, a bridezilla). I had a delicious deep dive on winter flower girl dresses, developing a vision that suited all parties: dressy but not out of regular church-wear, wintry but not black or white, flexible with whatever other colors appeared at the wedding. . . 

I used a simple Prussian blue cotton from my stash. I found a gorgeous net sequin fabric for the overskirt at JoAnn's as well as pink satin to line the bolero. For cold weather, she wears the bolero. For warm weather, it's a sundress! I wanted to give Phoebe as many chances as possible to enjoy wearing her dress, but wanted it to look appropriate in any season. At that time, I could not predict when we would be going out in nice clothes again and I did not want any more nice clothes hanging sadly in our closets, especially the handmade ones. 

 I thought I could just gather two rectangles of the net fabric into a black ribbon and tie the overskirt on at the sides, but it ended up being too heavy so I basted it onto the waistline for the wedding. 

Phoebe and I are both so pleased with this dress! She has indeed worn it in all its iterations since January.

The second blue dress is a school uniform dress. I added some light blue topstitching to liven things up.

It has a deep hem, so I'm planning to let it out as Phoebe gets taller. I love Peter Pan collars and here with the puffed sleeves, it's such a charming retro look. 

I had all the supplies in my stash! When my older kids were starting school, I laid in a supply of fabric that would work for uniforms. Our district currently does uniforms until 6th grade and I think that is just right: let the little kids scramble into a prescribed uniform, let the big kids define their own style as they fledge into adulthood.

Phoebe is really the only child I sew for any more. I feel like I live with three other adults and a child! In fact, Genevieve turned 16 this week, oh my word. Such is the speed of life....

The Madras Skirt I Wanted to Wear On Vacation

In June, I was packing for a family trip to Niagara Falls and the Finger Lakes in New York when I realized I did not have a fun skirt I wanted to wear. (Related blog posts I have toyed with writing: Why Do We Get Tired of Our Clothes? And what can we do about it? Also, Why Do I Loathe Packing So Very Much? Really, why? Maybe I should find out why some people enjoy packing to shed some light on my loathing?)

It was late at night and I was not nearly done packing, but the ding-dong pandemic has ridded me of some pragmatism, so I went immediately to my fabric shelves to see what was "fun." Madras! And also unbelievably soft with the wonderful intersections of colors creating new colors. I googled "madras skirts" and spent some daydreamy moments in our trip designing the madras skirt I wanted. 

I found an image of a Ralph Lauren skirt that fired my imagination, so I modified a simple wrap skirt pattern I had to add the ruffle and make a tie closure instead of a button. I inserted some pretty little scraps in the ruffle and tie for the patchwork fizz I like, but then when I saw the ruffle in the mirror, I unpicked the biggest pieces and took them out. Just didn't like them - patchwork can be so surprising. I left the smaller pieces intact. 

I had enough madras left to squeak out a tank top (another Sorbetto tank). I love wearing the skirt and tank together for a dress look, or mixed with other shirts and skirts to hopefully avoid clothing boredom. 

The madras is a dream to touch. Truly the best thing float off sticky sweat in hot weather. However, it is really lightweight, almost delicate, and I did not add a pocket to the skirt because I was unsure it could handle the stress on the seams. I also could not quite figure out where to slap a pocket on a wrap skirt. Bummer. I really rely on pockets.

Back to packing: I have noticed that it does bring my clothing collection into focus when I pack for a trip. Suddenly I see that I have tons of navy, or that my tank tops are stretched out and sad, or that my favorite sandals need to be replaced soon. Or that I want a fun skirt! So that is a good thing I can focus on for future packing. . . 

Old Sheets, New Jammies, New Curtains

 I save sheets that have a stain somewhere, a rip, or whose partners were worn to shreds. I use sheets in sets, pretty much, so the orphan sheets go into my fabric stash. 

I made pajamas for myself with a sheet from a Tommy Hilfiger set I bought for Genevieve when she graduated to a big bed. So, that would be about 12 years old now, and that speaks to the quality of the namebrand in this instance. I had a pair of pajamas from Old Navy clearance a few years back that were so floaty and cool, I laid them down on the sheet and used them as a pattern. I also used a length of cotton eyelet to fancy them up a bit.

 

Then, the new bedroom needed some curtains.  I had a lot of fun treating myself to fabric from Spoonflower.

But here's a little word of caution: this was my first time ordering fabric from Spoonflower. I bought 8 yards of their petal cotton, giving myself 2" to spare with all the seam allowances included. I prefer this kind of no-waste sewing because, even though I adore patchwork, my piece bag overfloweth and there are only so many little piecey projects one house needs. 

But when the fabric came, there was a wide white selvage on the sides and both ends. I expected selvage on the sides, but not on the ends! Uneasy, I measured the whole dang yardage and discovered it was 6" shy of 8 yards. When I contacted Spoonflower help in a froth, she said that 1-4% shrinkage is within the range they stated on their website and also that the fabric is cut and measured before the dyeing/printing process and it shrinks after that in its mordant process. She indicated if the fabric was unusable that they would give some kind of refund/discount, but I did not feel right about doing that because I did indeed use the fabric and the shrinkage was what they stated. I did suggest to her that they clarify when the shrinkage happens - as part of the manufacturing process, even before the washing the buyer is going to do at home.  Never have I done measuring and math for shrinkage of commercial fabric I have purchased and washed, but any shrinkage always seemed negligible. Please note that I am not mad at Spoonflower, just newly aware of the differences in purchasing from smaller companies.  

On the plus side, I do not have one single shred of this fabric left over. 

I made the narrowest possible hems on the tops and bottoms, and cut the height as skinchy as possible. I think they turned out well! I used old white sheets as the lining fabric. I do find old sheets really useful. 

What do you do with old sheets?