Some End of the Year Sewing...

Two black tops - one very basic kimono sleeve t-shirt and another version of this top, both made in a viscose knit fabric.

Gloves

Very simple grey gloves made of sock yarn (Fröhlich Wolle Special Blauband). Now that I master the basics, fancier designs will (hopefully) follow.

Green-Blue-Orange

My first knee high socks, knitted toe-up. I didn´t follow a particular pattern but checked several tutorials and then figured out what to do while I was knitting the first sock. I used several new-to-me techniques like knitting the socks toe-up, knitting jogless stripes in the round, afterthought heels (I did these before, I just didn´t know what they were called) and Italian cast-off. At the top, I weaved in some orange elastic thread, so hopefully they will stay up!

Teal Top

Jacquard double knit kimono sleeve top. All facings (neck, sleeves, hem) are cut from red knit fabric. The jacquard knit fabric is from Stofftraum Basel.

Green Knit/Felt Sweater

I bought this green wool knit with felted leaves at Kleiderforum in Freiburg. The pattern is my kimono shirt pattern. I had just enough fabric for a cut on turtle neck.

Maija Isola Vintage Fabric Luck

I scored this beautiful fabric at my local thrift store yesterday! I loved the print and the quality of the fabric, a really soft cotton, not knowing at the time that Majia Isola was a pretty famous Finnish designer:-) It´s a pretty large piece (more than 2m, 130cm wide) and I am planning to make it into a dress. Unfortunately, I couldn´t find any information about this particular print (Maija Isola "rosmariini" Marikangas Maritextil), but I found an ebay listing for her most famous design from the 50ies for USD 150 for 98in. (I only payed CHF 8 for my piece;-)). Please leave a comment if you know anything about the release date or history of this print!

Update: the print is from 1962 - the folks at Marimekko were super kind and answered my email inquiry! Here´s a link to the rosmariini print in different colors and many more amazing designs: Marimekko Design Museum .

Yellow Tabi Socks

I came accross several Tabi socks patterns on ravelry just before I started the toe decreases in the first one of these yellow socks. Just in time to convert a boring pair of socks into something special:-) I followed more or less these instructions (with some minor modifications).

Hot Patterns Riviera Côte d’Azur Knit Dress

This is the dress version of this top- not as originally intended in a red but in a black knit and with longer sleeves for fall :-) I added about 12cm to the tunic version of the pattern to get a knee length dress.
The print on the left side of the mirror is by Jen Hewett.

Boiled Wool Men´s Jacket

Grey boiled wool (Loden), riri-zippers. The pattern is adapted from a Burda blazer pattern (burda 8135 view A, discontinued).

 Detail shots (collar and pockets):
 

Another Green Shirt

Wearable muslin, adopted from Hotpatterns cowl-necked top (which was a free download in 2009). I widened the front cowl-neck, shaped the side seams and added long kimono sleeves. With the wider cowl-neck, there was too much fabric in the bust area. I twisted the "too much" from inside and fixed it with a couple of stitches.

Black Sweater

 Black wool knit fabric. My basic kimono sleeve pattern. Back yolk with pleats.

Vintage Bicycle T-Shirt

When we visited Peter´s parents last winter, we found this awesome t-shirt (how cool were the 80ies?? - I especially love the white gloves) among Peter´s childhood stuff. It was huge and I therefore recut it into a more contemporary shape. For the V-neck, I reused the original neck ribbing with a small insert of t-shirt fabric in the back.

More T-Shirts

Kimono shirts have several advantages: they do not require a lot of fabric, they are quickly made, they look cool, and they allow air circulation which is crucial in summer;-). So, I made these two summer tops in almost no time with the same pattern that I used for the green shirt. The dark one has a wide turtle neck and bands at the sleeve hems and lower hem, the hems and neckline of the light one are just fold to the left side and topstitched with a twin needle.

Chanel by Pomme & Asperge

 

Chanel inspired crocheted cardigan (my own design and pattern). Made several years ago but recently rediscovered.

Turning Jeans Into A Skirt

Motivated by a recent refashioning project of my sister who owned the same jeans, I turned my long time favorite pair into a skirt. The front has the classic "turn jeans into skirt" insert but in the back, I added a pleated panel and topstitched it in place with red thread. The hem is left unfinished.

Red Currant Tarte

This tarte features two layers: the crust (after this recipe minus the topping) and a coconut macaroon top with the red currants (after this Nourishing Traditions recipe - I only used two egg whites and adjusted the amounts of the other ingredients accordingly).

Green Stripes

Self drafted kimono sleeve shirt, stripes matched on each and every seam! The fabric is very soft and the jersey has almost no stretch recovery. I therefore stabilized the shoulder seams and neckline with Vlieseline tape and added banded hems (inspired by the Sewaholic Renfrew Top - I was afraid that machine stitched hems would stretch too much). The knit is an organic cotton from Siebenblau.

Instant Pancake

This is my favorite breakfast dish at the moment: pancake with banana, flax seeds and just a tiny bit of maple syrup. I even make it on weekdays because it doesn´t take longer to prepare than a scrambled egg!

Recipe: Preheat a small cast iron pan slowly to medium heat. In a bowl, mix together two large eggs, 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon almond meal (I use a fork for this - it doesn´t need to be perfect!). When the pan is warm, add gee and let it melt. Add the dough and cook for about 5 minutes - the pancake should be 2/3 cooked through before you flip it, little bubbles will form on the surface. Flip the pancake and cook for another 3-4 minutes. In the meantime, slice a banana (or any other fruit) and prepare your tea. Assemble pancake and banana on a plate, add one tablespoon flaxseeds and maple syrup to taste. Enjoy!

Greetings From Vienna

The label on this snack bag made me smile - the last line says: "too noisy for the opera"  :-)

Biker Style Cardigan

Remember this cardigan? I hardly ever wore it, maybe two or three times. I still like this style on others but it doesn´t work for me. I finally unraveled it, washed the yarn and knit it up anew (top down raglan style). I originally planned to close it with a huge safety pin and wear it like this grey cardigan, but then I started experimenting with the zipper and liked it better that way. I stabilized the right front edge with two rows of crochet stitches and sewed a cotton ribbon on the back of the left zipper. The zipper was sewed in entirely by machine.

Red Beet Chocolate Brownies

 

Flourless (glutenfree), very dense and moist and very very good!

I used a Bauman College recipe that is not published online, but I am sure you will get similar results using this recipe. Just add 200g melted dark chocolate (70%) and reduce the amount of sweetener to 1/4 cup. Yum!! 

Black Shirt: Burda 2004-5 (111)

This shirt was one reason why I bought this Burda issue in spring 2004, and still it took me eight years to sew it! It took me so long because, after a closer look, I found that the neckline was too high for my taste. Finally, in spring 2012, I traced the pattern and lowered the front seam 7cm (cut off 7 cm of the lower front bodice, added 7cm to the upper front bodice and draw a new neckline that is 7cm deeper, too). I made this wearable muslin from black knit remnants. The result is a simple v-neck shirt... I am a bit diappointed by the small size of the knot. But the knit I used is really thin, so hopefully, with a more substantial fabric this issue will be solved.

A Collection of Boxershorts

 

 

 

 

Shorts 1: Cotton remnants from this skirt and this cover
Shorts 2 and 3: Quilting cotton from Bolt Fabric in Portland
Shorts 4: IKEA bedsheet (thrifted)

Gray Socks

Guest post by Peter.

On the last few trips, I sometimes bought wool as souvenir. As my good ol' military socks (from 1993...) have more and more holes, I use the wool to knit socks. This is the first pair, with a second one to follow soon. They are an almost ideal pastime for my frequent train rides. The pattern is pretty standard, and I got a lot of help from Marlise and eliZZZa.

Keep Calm And Knit On

I have been collecting these colorful 70ies (?) plastic double pointed needle sets in thrift stores over the last few weeks. They make cool home dec but I will also use them for my next socks of course.

Another Little Black Dress

This dress gets so much wear that I thought it wouldn´t hurt if I had another one like this. The basic pattern of the new dress is the same (self drafted) but I cut the front about 15cm wider and added the cowl directly to the bodice. In the back, I left the selvedge of the fabric visible. The original dress has no darts, but in this version, I added a pleat in the back: I just tried the dress on and pinned the pleat. Then I draped the front, pinned it and stitched everything in place.