FO: Little Sister’s Dress (with hat and booties)
Thank you, thank you, thank you all for the encouragement for my sewing experiment, the tips about machines, books and classes, and the sewing stories and memories. I think I will resist the temptation of buying a machine and an entire fabric store just yet, and tinker around some classes and machines a bit before finalizing one. Watch this space!
Over the last couple of days, instead of sullenly packing and repacking my bags and bitching about having to go back, I completed this lighting-fast project. It has gone a long way in taking the edge of my irritation and despair, because its recipient, a newly-minted niece of mine, is going to show up at the airport to claim it and I cannot *wait* to set eyes on her:
It’s the Little Sister’s Dress, a delightful, clever and quick pattern (and free!). I made the three-month version, but with slightly thicker yarn, so it would run a little large. I love the way it takes the basic top-down seamless pattern and creatively fashions sleeves out of it even as it does away with them. All you do is cast off, and presto: sleeves. My mum knit the last couple of inches at the bottom, adding a small pattern and a slightly ruffled edge. So it’s not as A-lined a frock as it could have been, but it looks just like what we call a zhabla in Marathi.
Specs:
Yarn: Vardhman Little Angel, Shade 123, just over 4 skeins of 50 grams each (anyone know how many yards a skein of this is?)
Needles: size 4 DPNs
Gauge: Did not bother to check
My mum also knit her favourite booties pattern with the frock, and I knit a little helmet with an antenna. My allergy to baby projects is definitely weakening.
The hat was improvised – I cast on 70 stitches, knit 3 rounds and purled 3 rounds for a couple of inches, and then decreased every other round starting with k5, k2tog all around, then k4, k2tog, etc. When there were only 5 sts remaining, I took them all on one needle and made an I-cord antenna.
This shade of red is very difficult to photograph – worse than black, really, cause it bleeds so much, even in natural light. I realized as I was tinkering with the saturation that I haven’t knit anything non-red or non-crimson in nearly a year. My sampler shawl is also this color, and the BPT cardigan was a similar shade too. I think I need to look at some blues and greens now. Or even redecorate the blog a bit, if I can figure out how to change the header image without my title disappearing. Maybe a visit to Stash or Article Pract will cheer me up when I return, what?
So cute! Maybe it just takes working in vibrant colors to make you like baby stuff more.
Really cute! In my favorite color too!
Very cute baby outfit, and reds, brick, and cinnamon are such great colors!
I tried submitting a very long comment with sewing tips to your June 15 “Fitting” post, but somehow it didn’t submit.
I am an excellent seamstress and an expert but very slow knitter, but my strength is really in sewing and tailoring men’s suits and women’s gowns.
The down and dirty is that once you get back to the states, you should get your hands on a copy of the Vogue Sewing Book. It is by far the best tutorial about sewing that is available in print or online:
http://www.amazon.com/Sewing-Revised-Updated-Knitting-Magazine/dp/1933027002/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1248730556&sr=1-1
I also provided you with many patterns made by McCall’s that are superb substitutes for Salwar-kameez and can easily be modified for discerning fashionistas.
By all means, stay away from Simplicity patterns, whose name is deceptive. They have the WORST instructions, leaving most novices in tears rather than with usable/wearable finished items.
McCall’s, on the other hand, are THE BEST to learn from. The pieces always fit together well and easily without too many intricately pieced pieces like in the Vogue or sometimes Butterick patterns:
http://www.mccall.com/
Once you use McCall’s and become as adept with sewing basics as you are with knitting, you can then move into Butterick, which doesn’t always tend to fit true to size, and Vogue, and even into German and Japanese patterns.
I’m not sure what the US market has available for Indian-wear, but again, using McCall’s and looking for caftans/tunics, sleepwear, casual/sportswear, and uniforms (you’d be surprised how many medical “scrubs” tops make great kameez). You should even check maternity for some lovely, looser tops and dresses that can easily be used as kameez.
You should also invest in a good pair of shears like Gingher that you don’t use for anything else:
http://www.gingher.com/
And DO stick with the pinning, using LOTS of them!! Try to find glass head straight pins that are fairly longish and sharp, often found in the quilting departments where one has to rely on many small pieces of fabric to create a finished object. The large glass heads make the pins easier to deal with, especially when employed in a perpendicular position to the seam, and the longer length makes it less likely that the pins will get lost in the fabric and will make securing pieces together and pinning patterns much easier.
When you start out with a sewing machine, a basic $100 Singer, Brother, or Sears Kenmore (same insides as a Singer) is good enough.
But once you get going and decide to take sewing up as a true craft, a Pfaff is the best way to go. They are the only sewing machine that still has metal internal parts rather than the plastic internal parts like the equally nice Bernina line. Plastic parts wear out, especially when you need to oil them, as all sewing machines need. If you can avoid getting a computerized model, you would be better off, but I don’t know if they make non-computerized models anymore in the top line sewing machines. I THINK the Pfaff “Hobby” line is a non-computer chip machine, but I haven’t seen them in person. I started out on a Sears Kenmore in junior high, upgraded to a top of the line Singer when first married, then bought my Pfaff in the early 80s, paid $1,500 for it, but it is from the pre-computer era, so I will never trade this one in. A good machine will last YOUR lifetime, but it is also a fairly significant financial investment.
Good luck, have fun, and welcome to the new exciting world of sewing!!
love the dress. i made the same recently and loved the pattern too! i hope your newly-minted niece loves it!
What a lovely dress. The lucky recipient will be warmly thankful
Very Cute, If i want to purchase the same then where i will get it