Striped Fingerless Gloves

I think it's about time I knit myself something, don't ya think? I've been making so many handknit goodies for this baby o' mine and the closer I get to his arrival I realize I should really starting making myself a few sweet little things for fall, because clearly I'm not going to have much time to do this in the coming months.  

I've been wanting to make fingerless gloves for quite some time now. I love the idea of a glove that is perfect for crisp fall days and I'm imagining that there'll be plenty of cool walks that will require free fingers to care for baby. My husband also made a good point that if my fingers do get cold I could probably slip then within the folds of a wrap as I wear baby around.

I used a pattern from Purl Bee (surprise! surprise!) and some merino that I originally bought for a baby blanket. I ended up altering the pattern and added some decreases to make it more of a fitted glove.

I was iffy about the length but they are actually the perfect length to meet the short sleeves of my favourite denim jacket. 

Reversible Baby Pants

My first (sewn) baby garment! This pair of cute little pants were made for a friends soon to be baby boy, but I'm already working on a few pairs for my own little one and am having way too much fun with all the print/colour combo options.

I made these using a pattern from "Handmade Beginnings" by Anna Maria Horner.

Simple Baby Cap

I've really been enjoying knitting these adorable little hats. They are so quick to make and quite adaptable. I think I'll do some more with stripes, stockinette stitch or maybe moss stitch.

Babies can never have too many hats right?

 The pattern came from "Vintage Knits for Modern Babies" by Hadley Fierlinger which has lots of cute patterns.

Baby Button Up Hoody

I finally finished my first baby sweater for a friend. It's just so darn cute because it's so tiny! Even my husband couldn't help but smile and giggle looking at the teensy tiny sleeves as I knit them up. 

I'm still rather new to knitting in pieces that are sewn together, and truthfully I think my next sweater will be knit in the round. It just feels so much easier. Also I totally didn't clue in that knitting a sweater like this in stripes might not make sense once it has to be sewn together with one colour of yarn. Oh well, on to the next one!

Recycled Stripes & Florals

Another round of recycled garments! I hope you are enjoying these transformations as much as I am. 

Loose Floral T-shirt

I've been dreaming of a shirt like this for a while. Actually in my dreams it's been a super light weight knit shirt, like the one I found in Fresh Fashion Knits.
But until it's cool enough to wear a knit t-shirt I think I might make a few variations on this cute little t-shirt thanks to this very 80's Vogue pattern.

Recycled Skirt and Dress

Another round of recycled clothes from a thrift store! And this time I actually remembered to take before shots so you can really see what changes were made. Below is the original dress, before I chopped off the sleeves and hem length.

Striped Elastic Waist Skirt

Aah, there's nothing like the sweet simplicity of pastel stripes. I've only been wearing this skirt for maybe 20 minutes but I already feel like I should be skipping down the street in the sunshine enjoying an ice cream cone. 

I don't know why it's taken me so long to make such a simple skirt. I added a second elastic band to try to make the waist band look a bit wider. I would love the look of a third, but feel silly using so much elastic for no purpose other than appearance.

High Waisted Button-up Skirt

The more summer clothes I pull out of storage, the more I realize I have a lot of short skirts and dresses that just don't feel appropriate in this warm-but-not-hot-yet weather of ours. I feel like the only way I can get away with showing that much leg is if it's 30 degrees out. So here I am with another longer, and more demure skirt. 

This was another sewing project that started off with very little thought put into it and just kind of designed itself. All I knew was that I didn't have any zippers short enough so it was going to have to have a button closure. The button placement is a bit wonky, but hey it was my first time making a button-up skirt so I'm okay with that.  

Knee Length Floral Dress

Finally I made a longer length summer dress that doesn't feel frumpy! I think it'll be the perfect dress to wear out to a summery dinner with my husband tonight.

Two Recycled Dresses

Recently I borrowed a cute little book called "Little Green Dresses" by Tina Sparkles from my local library. I've been having so much fun making my own dresses that I hadn't really thought much about finding old dresses in thrift stores that I could tweak to my liking until I discovered this book.

Buttony Cardigan

Hooray! Another sweater finished!

Blue Floral Babydoll Dress

I bought a simple black cotton babydoll dress many years ago from H&M that I loved to bits. The last year or so it just hasn't looked great and I sadly realized that it's days of being my favourite year round dress were over. Good thing I can just reproduce the dress myself.

Boat Neck Dress

This little dress has been my most time consuming and frustrating dress yet. However I definitely can say that I really learned a lot, especially about bodices and how I really don't know anything about them.

Striped Full Skirt

When plans get cancelled and my time suddenly becomes free, I practically race to my sewing machine. I've been dreaming of so many summer dresses and skirts and shorts lately, but just haven't had much time to start any thing new.
Well today was the day I've been waiting for and this striped cotton fabric I dyed (very poorly I might add) months ago was calling my name.

One Button Cardigan - take 2

Phew. Finally made a sweater I like enough to wear.
I sure am learning a lot about knitting patterns and construction. This time around I tried to make the sleeves and arm holes smaller, but the entire sweater still feels a little too loose for my tastes. I should have taken out more stitches throughout the back. Oh well, onto the next sweater....

One Button Cardigan

First attempt at a cardigan.
Not exactly smitten with the results, but that is completely my fault.

I chose a pattern based on how easy it looked, rather than how much I really liked the design, which was Mistake #1. Then I screwed up in various ways and didn't fix it, which was Mistake #2.
Good thing Mistake #2 doesn't matter due to Mistake #1.

Wool Skirt

Making this skirt sort of felt like cheating. 

It all started a few months ago when my dear mother brought me a huge box of yarn that she wanted to get rid of that probably hadn't been opened in a decade or so. Buried beneath the giant spools of yarn were bags of random bits of old sewing projects and fabric scraps. I sorted through it all and stashed any useable fabric in the shelves of my craft nook.

Of course I forgot about it and the scraps got lost under piles of fabric I was currently using. Finally last week I re-organized my craft nook and found the most pleasant little fabric scrap treasure: pieces of wool tweed that weren't scraps at all, it was a complete skirt that had just been taken apart!

I took a few inches off the length, added a zipper, sewed it all back together again (with much trying on, taking in, trying on, taking in), and now I have a cute new wintery skirt.

Pink Floral Dress

This dress was made using Wendy Mullin's pattern for her oktober dress from her book "Built by Wendy Dresses".
There are still a few errors here and there, but all in all I think my dress making skills are progressing.
And of course I made it using an old sheet that I dyed a sweet lil shade of dusty pink.

My husband has named this the "Betty Draper Dress". Which I'm okay with as long as I, the wearer, am not compared in anyway to the infamous Mrs. Draper.

Shift Dress

 

Using a pattern from "Built By Wendy Dresses" by Wendy Mullin, I made myself a super simple shift dress today.  I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in making your own clothes. You need to have a little bit of sewing experience (she pretty much just dives into construction), but she does offer lots of help to refresh your memory on certain steps in case you're a little rusty like myself.