Knitting a Blanket

Those of you who know me personally know that I am never without a craft of some sort to keep my hands busy.  Sometimes you only get to see little bits and pieces before the project gets too big for me to just carry around.  You should also know that when I go thrift shopping, I also have a tendency to pick up random items because they are pretty and I want to make something out of whatever it is I just put into the cart.

This is how I started the knitted blanket.  I thought the yarns were pretty together, I already had some in stock, but for the longest time I couldn't figure out exactly what should be made of it.  I had tried a sweater, a vest, a hat, a scarf; but each of these projects got ripped out time and again because it just wasn't right.  Finally it hit me! A blanket would be perfect.  So I experimented with some swatches, got the right set of knitting needles, and stopped.

I had no idea how to knit a blanket.  I had no pattern in my mind, just a vague idea of a finished project.  One night, while I was out with my boyfriend and his friends who were all playing Magic the Gathering, I started to just fiddle around with the yarn and some different techniques I had read of in some 1980's knitting magazines.  Eventually I made something I was pleased with and just kept going.  The alternating rows of yarn came later, and partly as a consequence of the center square.

Currently, the blanket is just shy of a four foot square.  I don't know what size it will be when I am done. My goal is to simply use up all of the yarn - that's when the blanket will be "done".

Until then, may your stitches be straight and may your thread never tangle.

A Year of Not Enough Crafting

This past year has been, relatively speaking, craft free. Sad to admit, but it's true. But let me tell you what I have managed to do this past year.

1. I graduated college with honors.
2. I wrote a thesis that I am proud of and am in the process of trying to get it published.
3. I moved into an apartment with a roommate and my boyfriend.
4. I worked with a historic collection and currated a show for select items that lasted for all of February.
5. I've also started a new blog.

I would say that these are fair excuses for not updating and crafting as much as I often do.  But that doesn't mean that crafting didn't catch up with me as soon as January rolled around.

Since the new year, I have been working on a  commission for a lovely 5 year old who wants clothes for her dolls: pink, purple, and "all kinds". Of course, having been 5 myself once, think back to my days of playing with dolls. A call to my mother produced all the scraps I needed, and some good laughter.

I've also taken up the habit of now making things for myself. Its rather pleasant. Currently, I'm knitting a blanket... What have I gotten myself into?

That, I think, will be the the next entry. An update on the commission and some pictures of the blanket.

Untill then, may your stitches be straight and may your thread never tangle

The Elizabethan Gown, as is.

This will need to be short, as I am also short on time, but here is the doll gown I have been working on and posting about. Please let it be noted that the entire gown is tied onto her. There is absolutely no snaps, buttons, zippers, or velcro.

What remains to be completed is the hem, the overskirt, the beaded over sleeves, the wig, and any accessories befitting a lady. Oh, and the shoes... wish me luck on that.

May your stitches be straight and may your thread never tangle.

Cleaning can lighten your load.

I have found that if you don't clean out your craft space frequently, there are so many projects that can be lost to the darkness. So this is a focus on the lightening of a craft space (really, just how I clean my own craft space) and a subsequent list of the projects I will be juggling (this will be a separate post, I think).  But first for some tips on what to do and not do while cleaning.

First: DO make a total mess. Unless you're the anxious type who could never manage such a thing. This shows you everything that you have, dump it all on the floor. I would strongly suggest that you wear close toed, hard soled shoes for this. Craft spaces can be fraught with pins and needles!

Next begin to sort. I like using grocery bags and piles. The variety of the piles and bags will depend on what types of crafts you favor. If you knit or crochet alot, you probably already have a designated yarn bag or box or bin. If you prefer quilting, the squares might already be grouped together somehow. So spread out and put these groups together.

Then look at your craft space, and I really do mean to give it an honest look. Is it small? Is it lacking some storage? Assess the space and keep the order of your crafts in mind while you think of how you're going to put everything back. What I mean by the order of your crafts is simply that you should make a time line.

You can organize your timeline in whatever way suits you the best. I have found that keeping "due dates" (birthdays, events, gift giving get togethers I'm making something for) in my daily planner to remind me of when a certain project needs to be done by is helpful. The order of everything else depends on how you craft. Do you want the large projects out of the way first? The small ones? Do you never have multiple going on at the same time? Make a list that helps you organize these priorities, and then stick to it.

This list can then be used when putting things back into your space, with the projects that aren't going to be worked on in a while being put the furthest from reach. After this you can start placing the rest of your supplies in designated places. If you find that you need some extra bins or bags to place these sorted supplies into, DO NOT rush off to an expensive store.

Instead go to the dollar store. They often have a plastics isle of bins. A large variety of bins in different styles and colors. With this you can color code and if you would still like to label the bins you can go over to the school supply isle and look there.

Also, while you are cleaning and purging the craft space:
DO NOT start a new craft or let yourself be side tracked to working on one you havent seen in a while.
DO NOT give it all up for lost. You will get through this.
DO go slowly. You really need to think critically about these things. If you're anything like me, you need to ask yourself "Is this scrap too small to keep?" If you're not making a scrap quilt, and all its good for is a Barbie size cuff, the answer is yes.
DO take small breaks. Remember to not push yourself too hard.

So that is all for now. Some in's and out's of cleaning that should help you stay organized.

May your stitches be straight and may your thread  never tangle.

Little White Flowers

With the top stitching done, and a method of lacing being slightly elusive, one is left to wonder how this is all going to actually lace on? The answer is lots and lots of eyelets. Right bellow is all of the eyelets in their proper spots. But whats a bodice without decoration?  So after rummaging through the glory of my scrap drawrs, through generations of inherited items, I found a chain of small daisy lace and chose to attatch it with the steel blue beads. It ended up looking really delicate, but really lovely.

Since the last entry, i have deconstructed the outer skirt and thought out how to reassemble it. This has now come to include a new way of pleating and a lining. Thanks and praise be to the great thrift store, provider of the mcgyvered crafts! Technically I'm using an old nightgown thats only a little off white, but some bleach can fix it right up.

This is almost a completed project, so here is actually where things slow down a bit. For some reason, the prospect of completion is one that makes some crafters slow down. I'm not too sure why, but it happens. I think its a type of procraftination. But i do still need to design a bead pattern for two other aspects of the ensemble. First will be the bead and or embroidery pattern for the overskirt. It just wouldnt feel right if it were not just a bit more over the top. With some research this should be easy. The second item would be a set of beaded over sleeves. Remember in a prior post about the layers? This is just another one of those sleeve layers, and it is going to be nothing but bead netting. That will be difficult.

But this wont be impossible to get done. Soon it will be time for the overlock machine before rolling the hems and finishing the hand work.

So untill then, may your stitches be straight and may your thread never tangle.

Lavender and Blue

This gown that I have been working on has decided to become a bit more complex than I initially thought.

First, the images of the dress in progress do not do the colors justice so here I have two samples that come as close to the actual colors as I have been able to find.

The lavender is serving as the underskirt as well as the undershirt.  Since I plan on being able to use these simple items in multiple outfits, I want them to be as flexible as possible.  That means making them into two separate pieces. The fabric is a very light weight, poly-blend crepe.

The light steel blue is serving as everything else.  It is the bodice, the over-skirt, the over-sleeves, the hip ruffle, the stomacher, and the cuffs.  The over-sleeves, hip ruffle, and cuffs have been lined with white satin while the other items are either lined with another layer of the blue or, in the case of the over-skirt, left unlined.  This blue fabric is actually some weight of upholstery fabric/blue on blue brocade.  I'm not quite sure what this fabric can be classified as, since it was a remnant I was lucky enough to inherit.

Just as a note, the white satin and lavender crepe were also inherited remnants.  Women in my family on both sides have been sewing for generations, and any of the "left over" fabric simply gets handed down.  I consider myself fortunate.

These are the pieces for the bodice.  The cuffs are the small rectangles on either side, the two half circles are the shoulder straps, the one long piece is the bodice, and the shield-like piece is the stomacher.  This picture was taken before any of the lace, beads, or eyes could be attached.  Since I am trying to be as accurate as possible, the entire dress is assembled by tying it onto the doll - hence the eyes. (that's the loop part of a hook and eye, just to clarify)  The stomacher is entirely reversible, and at its center is a medium weight card board.  Since I needed this piece to hold it's shape to lend visual structure to the dress, it is very stiff and bends only slightly.

To the right is the over-skirt.  I did mention before something about a lot of ruffles, didn't I?  It still needs to be hemmed and decorated, but it should give you an idea of the direction this is going.  The split will be centered in the front, putting the lavender underskirt on display.  It is possible that this piece will end up lined if any of the decoration needs the extra support.  On the left is the ruffle, lined, un-decorated, and not yet gathered.  The blue has a seem-line in it while the white satin does not.

The over-sleeve is a large and otherwise bulky item (honestly the skirt is more bulky, but that is to be expected).  The issue it presented was that while the blue could be cut as one large piece, the lining had to be cut as two.  I had no desire to have the seem-line show, so I had to pause the project and go looking for materials.  After a trip to Jo-Ann's I came home with yards of spooled ribbon and laces, as well as a number of other delicious remnants which can be made into yet another Elizabethan inspired gown!  The floral ribbon I ended up using to weave in and out of the lace is actually grey, not blue, but with the darker steel blue beads holding it all in place it's hard to tell.  Plus, it covers up that seem-line perfectly.

This is the last image of this entry.  It is of my doll in the lavender under-skirt and shirt.  Like the over-skirt, I still need to hem everything and add on the eyes to be able to properly tie it all onto her.  There are some points that I will end up fixing along the way, such as the collar - or lack thereof. I'm not going to be going for the large lace ruff, just a simple lavender on gold ribbon with beads.  The waist band will also be changed so it doesn't add as much bulk as it does now.  What this image does not show is the white satin underskirt to help with the shape and the bum roll that will help the under-skirt hold some proper form.

May your stitches be straight, and your thread never tangle.

A quick run-through of Elizabethan Fashion

Since I am making a gown based off of images of Elizabeth I (Good Queen Bess) I thought it would be a good idea to do a brief history lesson so those viewing the gown will not be completely lost.  Let us begin with some basics.

Elizabeth Tudor was born on September 7th, 1533 at Greenwich Palace to King Henry VIII and Ann Boleyn.  Her nicknames have come to include: Good Queen Bess, The Virgin Queen, and the childless Elizabeth.  She was also the last monarch of the Tudor dynasty. Aside from the fame these nicknames have given her over the centuries, and all that they imply, she is also very well known for her eccentric sense of fashion.

It's got to be something about being a monarch that makes people go for all those fancy clothes.  Something about the wealth goes straight to their heads. But I digress.

Thanks to her, the fashion of the 1500's changed.  Many of the undergarments remained as well as the general shape, but the other intricacies changed. Her early clothes were still very much in the Tudor style with a farthingale (early hoop-skirt) over a shift, followed by the kirtle - which was a form of an under-dress with supports built into it, so there was no need for a corset.  After that you had the gown, which is the main part of the dress, and it would tie up the back.

During a more transitional phase between a distinctly Tudor fashion and what would become common place in Elizabeth's time was the use of a bum roll. Some people would put it over the farthingale, or under it, or later under the wheel drum.  Some who were not as wealthy as other court ladies would wear just the bum roll to simply give the skirts a little extra lift.  All a bum roll is is a stuffed tube that ties around the waist and helps to hold up the heavy skirt layers.


 Elizabeth I would end up keeping the upper portion of the dress similar, but the skirts would be changed dramatically.  There was the introduction of the wheel drum, a type of hoop-skirt that allowed the skirts to project from the body and then drop dramatically.  At one point it was still fashionable to have the front of this skirt split open, allowing the rest of court to view a contrasting underskirt. However, this would slowly change from year to year depending on the queen's mood.

Later on the sleeves would change into a three-layered (in some cases more) effect.  While you would maintain your chemise sleeves, often showing their expensive and lacy cuffs, you would also have the sleeves of your gown and then an additional set of sleeves that would tie onto your bodice.  See, the over gown now came in two parts - a top and a bottom - and often had multiple, interchangeable sleeves.  You could tie on one set of "over-sleeves" that would drape nearly to the floor and then also have a set of shoulder cuffs aside from your other two, basic sleeves.  That is a total of four "sleeves"!

So there is a quick history lesson before I begin to post about the dress itself.

May your stitches be straight, and may your thread never tangle.