A Handknit Aesthetic

I have a tendency to choose darker colors for my Winter appropriate clothing (as most people do).

But it's always nice to have a few pastel knits in the collection.  And since I love just about any shade of purple, lavendar was an obvious choice for my next knitting project.

I was really not aware of it at the time, but I have been on a bit of a Victorian inspired clothing journey, along with a penchant for a good neck/shoulder ruffle.

This particular design is knit with circular needles.  I definitely prefer to piece my knits, mostly because it can start to get a bit cumbersome when the sweater really starts to come together.

But this one isn't too bulky since it sits just below the waist, and my chosen yarn was quite lightweight.

As with many of my hand knits, this project was put aside (although not for very long).  I just wasn't sure how to attack the ruffle portion.

But as with most contemporary knit patterns, it makes so much more sense to me once I have needles and yarn in hand.  I can picture how to put most sewing patterns together in my head, but a page full of knitting abbreviations doesn't do the same for me.

I am, once again, extremely behind in my blog posting.  And if this week's weather is anything to go, it's time to store the long sleeved wool knits away.

But I am trying to post things as I finish them and photograph them, so here we are.

As for this knit project, I will say that it was quite successful.  

I even managed to wear it a few times this Winter, which doesn't always happen with my knit projects.  Maybe I need to get over my disinclination to work with top-down sweaters that are worked in one piece!  

Sweater:  Made by me, Fabel Knitwear
Skirt:  Made by me, Vogue 2902
Shoes:  American Duchess "Ginger"

Ruffled Knits

My knitting has been fairly sporadic as of late.

But I did manage to finish this sweater for the Winter season!

The pattern is the Gibson Ruffle Blouse from Fabel Knits and it caught my eye as I have been drawn to more Victorian inspired designs as of late.  

The pattern suggests using a mohair silk blend for the ruffle.  I have a bunch of Rowan Kidsilk Haze stashed away, but it wasn't a color match for the wool I had chosen.  So I decided to hold two strands together for the entire sweater.  This creates a halo effect, which I think ended up looking great.

The knitting was fairly straight forward.

The ruffle didn't end up looking quite as ruffled as the designer's version.  I think I followed the instruction correctly, so not sure what happened there . . .

But maybe I prefer it that way?

I'm definitely pleased with how this particular knit turned out.  And that's the most important part!

1970s Does Victorian

The first thing to say about this dress is that my alteration from blouse to dress was 100% successful.

I am still baffled by the loosely fitted View A on this pattern.  It looks horrendous on the model, but the illustration is cute.  This version (View C), however, is great.  Would highly recommend.

The sleeves are slightly bulky, and the ribbon tie is cute, but perhaps not so practical.  It's also quite annoying to tie on one wrist depending on which of your hands is dominant.  (If you have your own personal dresser, this would not be an issue.)

I do think that adding a channel for elastic, or even gathering the lower edge down into a self-drafted cuff would be a cute alternative.  It's interesting to note that while the two Views have completely different bodice choices, there is only one sleeve.  It might have been nice to include an alternative sleeve.

As mentioned in my construction post, the shoulder ruffle isn't quite as ruffly as it could be due to my choice of fabric.

It also seems that the weight of the added hemline ruffle has pulled the skirt sides down slightly.  I suppose that I could unpick the sides and re-attach.  But knowing how much I dislike mending and/or "fixing" things after they are complete, I may just live with it for now.

As for the idea of making a blouse with a rayon print, I am definitely keeping it in mind.

That would also give me an opportunity to  try out a sleeve alternative.  

Then again, I may just get distracted by another shiny object and choose an entirely new to me pattern to try out next.

Dress:  Made by me, McCalls 8490
Shoes: American Duchess "Edith"
Earrings:  Antique

Victorian Themed

When I first saw this vintage reproduction, I was torn.  View A of McCalls 8490 is atrocious on the model, but looks decent in the illustration.  Is it just the use of a stiff cotton that is at issue, or could the drafting be to blame?  View C was definitely the safer choice since the blouse looks great on the same model.

The pattern would work with any one of the many rayons I have stashed away.  But it was the middle of Winter, and making a rayon blouse did not strike my fancy.  I did think that it would make a lovely dress, though, and I had a length of wool with a fair amount of yardage with no set project in mind.  It wasn't something that I had any major attachment to, so I figured that if it all went wrong, I was not sacrificing some irreplaceable wool.

Once I started, I thought that the yoke could use a bit more detail (those pin tucks get lost in the bouncy wool).  I was reminded of a bin of ribbon that I have stashed away.  

And I just happened to have a spool of black satin ribbon edged in silver.  That was too perfect to ignore.

I ended up hand basting the ribbon before edge stitching everything down to keep things in place.

The wool used for this dress is definitely on the thicker side for a blouse (or dress, in this case) but the only real issue was with the shoulder ruffle.  It does not drape as nicely as it could in a less bulky fabric, but it still works.

The center back zipper was hand stitched into place.

Somewhere along the way, I decided that the dress was just going to be a bit much, and lost interest in the project.  But since I had everything cut out and had put most of the dress together, it also seemed a waste not to forge ahead.

The dress was lined in a rayon bemberg because the wool fabric was going to be a little too scratchy without.

I also swapped out the collar lining with the rayon to cut down on bulk.

There are no images of cutting the skirt out of my wool, but it is probably easier to see on the rayon.  I just continued the line of the peplum as long as I wanted my skirt to be.  Because the peplum was properly shaped to fit the waistband, I didn't think any additional flare or increase in width was necessary.

The lining was hand stitched into place which is standard for me.

And now for the fun part - dealing with all of those ruffles.  

The ribbon was applied while the pieces were flat. 

Since I wasn't sure about the ruffle, I gave myself enough length in the skirt pieces so that the dress would be full length, with or without the ruffle.

Once I realized that I had enough fabric for the job, and that I wanted to add the ruffle detail, I decided that it would be silly to cut off four or more inches of hemline.  Instead, I just measured up from the hemline and marked where I wanted the ruffle to sit.

The ruffle was stitched into place on what was essentially a finished dress with a massive amount of yardage.  This was not the most enjoyable part of the project, but it was manageable.

The finished garment is perhaps a little more "homespun" than I would like, however, it is not unexpected with my fabric choice.

Now that I know that I like the look of the design, I will probably make myself a rayon blouse at some point in the future.  One might argue that I should have began with the blouse to make sure I liked the pattern before cutting into all of that yardage, but here we are.

Do I need another full length dress?  Probably not, but it has reminded me of a few old Folkwear patterns that are more Victorian themed that I would love to cut into for a future project.  And I am still not convinced how I feel about View A of this pattern, but my stubborn streak wants to try it just to see if it's as big of a mess as it seems to be.