More Giggle-worthy Finds

I shop at thrift stores a lot.  Really, a lot.  Clothes, books, decor items, cookware, raw materials for my shop; most of the goods I buy come from second hand shops.  This is partly because I am cheap and refuse to pay full price for new when perfectly serviceable things are available used.  Mostly, however, I shop at thrift stores because they can offer some hidden gems found nowhere else.

Sometimes these gems are beautiful and unique vintage clothing, or really high quality kitchenware for a bargain, and sometimes the value of a find is just because it made me laugh:

This was my Mom's find actually, and she only sent me the picture and not the actual shell critter thankfully :) I'm not sure what it is supposed to be, but the big eyes make me think owl. Speaking of owls...

 

My mom teases me that I have too many bric-a-brac owls in my house. I managed to walk past this impressive display without buying a single one. Though the brass trio on the upper left was very tempting.

A very different sort of bird...I'm not sure this one needs any explanation...;) If you can believe it, the inside is even better than the cover.

Too much? Nah, Never

One of the many things I dabble in is designing knitting patterns. Most often I do so because I conceived of a desire for a garment and couldn't find an existing pattern that was exactly what I wanted. So I try to make my own.

Ever since I first saw this pattern with the braided cables up the raglan seams, I knew I had to use that idea somewhere.

I really wasn't a fan of the big poncho-like shawl shape of the original pattern, though, so I had to find some other sweater to adorn with cabled raglan seams.

The next bit of inspiration was really what got the ball rolling for my pattern design.  I adore the sleeves on this dress from 1927.  I was a little intimidated by the complex colorwork at first, but I have yet to meet a knitting technique I can't muddle my way through.

As you can probably guess, that dress pattern uses a ridiculously small gauge and tiny needles.  I am a decent knitter, but I am not that patient. I knew if I was going to make colorful sleeves like that I would have to adapt them to a larger gauge.  Also I had no real intent to make my sweater a full tunic length.  The keyhole neckline wasn't really doing it for me either.

So now I had two design elements I really wanted to use, and still no full sweater to attach either to. Then it hit me; why not combine them? I liked the color contrast on black of the dress, why not add contrasting raglan cables as well? Would that be too much, too busy? I thought about it for all of a second or two. Nah, no such thing as too busy or bold with sleeves like that :)

I found some nice yarn at my local craft outlet in black, blue, and purple. It was meant to be. I picked out a nice textured stitch for the body, to give it a similar look to that first inspiration.  I worked the body and sleeves in the round with provisional cast on for nice smooth hems. The colorwork was challenging, but in the good way.  The color cables on the raglans looked fantastic. All was turning out lovely for my sweater, until I reached the neck and realized I had no idea how to finish it.  Oops, kinda forgot about that part.

Well, I found one more bit of inspiration that saved the day.

This lovely cabled jacket uses short rows and grafting to turn the cables around the corner and continue into the collar.  I just so happened to have a bunch of cables converging on the neckline, could I turn them using short rows and add a collar to my creation?

Yes, yes I could. I undid a couple of rows on the front so I could introduce a new cable in the center, and using that and the two from each front raglan I was able to make a collar of the three cables that looked so perfectly integrated into the rest you'd think I planned it from the start.

So there you have it, the haphazard mess that is my design process. I can't wait to see what elements I can throw together next time.

If you'd like to knit one of your own, you can find the pattern here or here :)

Knitting Tricks: Charting a Color Pattern

I am an avid and primarily self taught knitter. I learned most of the techniques I know by trial and error as I worked a pattern that was probably too advanced for me at the time. Collecting these tricks and techniques into one place is hopefully as helpful to others as it is to me.

There are a multitude of charted patterns for multicolor knitting available on the internet. Chances are you can find one already made for just about anything you want to knit up. But what do you do when you can't find just the motif you need?  Fortunately, making your own color chart from a printed design is pretty easy.

This is a page from a book filled with Japanese border designs. For this particular knitting project I chose the one in the middle.  I scanned the book page and used my tablet as a way to enlarge the design to the size I wanted and traced it onto graph paper. You can pretty easily just skip the tablet step and draw the design directly to the graph paper if it's a simple enough pattern. Or if you need it resized you can photograph or scan the book page and use a computer to enlarge and print it out.  Either way, the next step is to get the design drawn onto graph paper.

If you have a repeating pattern like this, all you need is one repeat. If you're having trouble figuring out just how much is one repeat, try using tracing paper to put sections of the motif next to each other to see how they line up.

The top motif is the one I traced. I did a bit of cleaning of up of the design to make sure it was symmetrical and balanced.  Then I sketched in extra grid lines along the lines of the motif. You'll note since it is symmetrical I only needed to do one half.  The bottom is my draft chart. Using those extra sketched in grid lines, I filled in the graph squares whererever a line of the motif crossed the grid. There are visible marks from an eraser as I made adjustments.  You'll need to step back and look at your draft, make sure the lines look like curves where they are supposed to, and are straight where they need to be.  Double check that both haves of a symmetrical design are the same, that a repeating design matches itself on the edges.

Once you have a draft on paper, I find it very helpful to make a digital version. Using any spreadsheet program you can recreate your paper chart by filling in the cells with different colors.  This will help you count how many stitches and rows your chart is, and you can copy and paste the chart beside and below itself to check if it all lines up when you repeat it.  From here you can also print more copies if you need.

And that's pretty much it. Whatever project your chart is for, just knit it up following the chart and you should see your motif taking shape. I used a variegated yarn for my main color, so it has that stained glass look, but it works just as well with a solid color. 

If you'd like to make one of these neck warmers yourself you can find the pattern here or here :)

Vintage Craft Book Feature: Phyllis Fiarotta's Nostalgia Crafts Book (1974)

Another of my many needlework hobbies is the collection of vintage craft books. Found in dusty corners of second hand shops, in pride of place in used book stores, these old tomes often contain beautiful nuggets of crafting wisdom, and a heaping helping of vintage charm. Reviving the techniques, tips and retro projects is just one more way for us to bring back the wonders of the handmade.

Phyllis Fiarotta's Nostalgia Crafts Book- 1974

The cover of this book is not nearly as interesting as the introductory pages. The passage below speaks directly to my soul and convinced me to buy this book before I'd even turned another page.

With the heavy stuff out of the way, lets get into what goofy and great things fill this tome.  Much like other craft books of the 1970's (some of which I've featured here before) it is filled with how to's on various household crafts from home decor to dolls.  Each instructional guide is pretty thorough and has enough illustrations to be clear and easy to follow.

This guide for doing whimsical applique on an apron is a favorite of mine. I love how it looks like the rest of the vegetables are chasing the carrot, and the multiple eyes on the potato cracks me up every time.

The real value in this book for me, however, are the real vintage ads and articles scattered throughout. Besides giving a real nostalgia flavor to the book, they add a lot of historical context that I think is often lost when we see individual old items at thrift or antique stores. I especially like the article on making a dress from your husband or brother's old suit that they no longer fit into after returning from the war.  That one sentence dates the article perfectly, and even without further instructions, the text is clear enough to be used as a pattern by a relatively crafty sewer.

Simple(ly) Awesome Shirt to Sew

It's Free Pattern Friday time, just in time for the new year! Start 2022 off right with this quick sewing project that is very beginner friendly :)

This pattern was adapted from a version of a traditional Rumanian garment. The original was knee length with slightly narrower pleated sleeves and counted embroidery on the collar, front and sleeves.

For my version I was a bit limited by the fabric I chose, but also wanted a shorter shirt instead of a knee length tunic. I also took the taper out of the sleeves and gathered them at the cuff instead of pleating, to give a bit softer and fuller look. I took in the width of the body as well since the original size would have been enormous on me.

The fabric I chose was a thrift store tablecloth I found for 2$. It’s a lovely soft cotton in pale yellow, with beautiful hand embroidery and cutwork designs in grey. The tablecloth measured 46” by 62” with hand rolled edges.

The first step was to draft the full sized pattern pieces from my diagram. I used a 30” wide roll of white craft paper, but tissue will work fine as well. Since almost all of the pattern pieces are straight lines and rectangles, drafting them on the paper is easy. All you really need is a square ruler or yardstick. For the one curved line (the armhole) I traced the back piece from another blouse pattern. You could also use a curved ruler.

After drafting my pattern pieces on paper, I carefully laid them out on the tablecloth to ensure I had enough material and to see how best to arrange the pieces to make the most of the embroidery. As you can see from the picture of the pieces laid out, there is quite a bit of material left over. I arranged the pieces based on where I wanted the embroidery, not the most efficient use of fabric. This size tablecloth can make a larger shirt than mine easily if placement is done well.

Next came carefully cutting the pieces out. I aligned the shirt pieces so that I could use the rolled edge of the tablecloth and not have to hem up the bottom. I chose not to use interfacing in the collar and cuffs because I didn’t want it to show through the cutwork. I carefully cut the slits on the front and facing and marked the ends of the slits for the sleeves and side seams. 

My Chief Inspection Officer diligently holding down the corner of my fabric as I lay out my pattern pieces

All the pieces cut, from left to right: Front and Back, Neck Facing, Shoulders, Collar, Cuffs, and Sleeves at top right

So after the cutting was done, sewing was next:

1. Sew the facing to the front, turning a sharp V shape at the bottom of the slit. Clip a notch in the seam allowance at the center of that V, almost to the stitching. Turn the facing inside and press.

2. Sew the shoulder pieces to the front, press the seams open.

3. Sew the shoulder pieces to the back, press the seams open.

4. Sew the side seams, leaving a 4” slit open at the bottom. Press the seams open and topstitch around the slits.

5. Sew the two collar pieces together along the short edges and one long edge. Clip the seam allowance at the corners. Turn and press. Press under seam allowance on the inside edge of the open side.

6. Sew the collar onto the neck edge, careful to keep the facing and front together. Press the seam allowance up into the collar. Hand stitch the inside edge of the collar in place.

7. Sew the sleeve seams, leaving a 3” slit at the wrist. Press the seams open and topstitch around the slits.

8. Use a basting stitch to gather the wrist to the length of the cuff.

9. Fold each cuff in half and sew the short sides. Clip the seam allowance at the corners. Turn and press. Press under seam allowance on the inside edge of the open side.

10. Sew the cuff to the gathered wrist edge. Press the seam allowance up into the cuff. Hand stitch the inside edge of the cuff in place.

11. Sew the sleeve into the armhole, carefully matching the straight edge at the top of the sleeve cap with the shoulder pieces on the body. Sew another line just inside the seam allowance at the underarms to reinforce.

12. Add buttonholes and buttons to cuffs as desired.

Notes:

 I used a ⅜” seam allowance throughout. Mostly this was to make it easier to get the embroidery where I wanted on the garment, less of it was lost into the seams.

The pattern pieces in the diagram DO NOT have seam allowance included in their measurements. This is by design, so that you can add however much seam allowance you desire. Either add it in when drafting full size, or when cutting.

I made the buttonholes on the cuffs by hand, using the embroidery as a guide. I also didn’t add buttons as I wanted to use cufflinks. This is purely personal preference.

I resized the original garment to me by measuring myself. The widest part of my body is 40” around, so the body of the shirt had to be at least that. I measured across the back of a neckband on a shirt I like and got 6”, thus the width at the center neck of the shirt became 6”. This pattern is supposed to be loose, and the armholes and shoulders are boxy and generous. Still, it would not be hard to size those up or down by adjusting the shoulder pieces and depth of the armhole curve. If you have enough fabric and want the original knee length look, go for it! Just make the shirt pieces longer. Make the cuffs wider if you want, or the collar. These pattern pieces are pretty simple, so feel free to customize them into your perfect shirt.

It looks pretty great belted too!

Swatch it Up!

One of the many things I dabble in is designing knitting patterns. Most often I do so because I conceived of a desire for a garment and couldn't find an existing pattern that was exactly what I wanted. So I try to make my own.

Last year an off hand comment from my cousin about wanting to learn how to crochet lace so she could make a snood that fit her hair sent me on a spiral of pattern designing that still continues long past the original impetus.

                  

 

She got me thinking about lace, and about how I can't crochet very well.  But I can knit with some degree of skill and I knew knit lace was a thing, so why not knitted snoods?

Patterns searches got me to one lack luster knit lace snood, and from there the fire was lit. I could take that pattern base and come up with much better lace than that.


And so began the great swatch production. Every cool new lace pattern I could find or think of got worked up into a swatch.

I did eventually make my cousin her snoods, but along the way I made a few for myself, a lace tank top, a sweater with lace panels, several Barbie dresses, and most of a lacy beaded jacket. I'm still not sure I'm done with lace just yet, there are a few more plans percolating in my brain. A patchwork piece out of all my swatches is indeed one of them!

Nerds Shall Inherit the Earth

I shop at thrift stores a lot.  Really, a lot.  Clothes, books, decor items, cookware, raw materials for my shop; most of the goods I buy come from second hand shops.  This is partly because I am cheap and refuse to pay full price for new when perfectly serviceable things are available used.  Mostly, however, I shop at thrift stores because they can offer some hidden gems found nowhere else.

Sometimes these gems are beautiful and unique vintage clothing, or really high quality kitchenware for a bargain, and sometimes the value of a find is because it is incredibly nerdy:

R2-D2 thermos, Dr. Strange wall art, and Humphrey Bogart on a necktie; how much more cinema nerdy can you get?

Don't worry fantasy fans, I didn't forget you:

 


Medieval castle rubbings ready to hang in your dungeon/gaming cave, and yes that is a fully functioning water pitcher shaped like a dragon.