Recent sewing

Well, I've been trying to get back into sewing more. Of course, the fact that my girls and myself are running low on clothing helps :)

First, my youngest has been asking for more flannel nightgowns for over a year. They are so easy, not sure why I put them off for so long. Now I want to keep making them but she has enough. I'll have to try it in knits over the summer. This is the Kwik Sew pattern. That shiny flannel backed satin was terrible to sew. That's why it's been in the bottom of my stash for at least 8 years!

     

Next up was a Girl Scout dress for my youngest. She always wants to wear a dress and the leader always says to wear a GS shirt... problem solved!

a super-girl (superhero) skirt for my older girl. She needed something quick for school and a fun circle skirt was perfect

and pillowcases to donate to my unit at work. I love making these and they are the perfect use for that fabric that no one loves in my house of growing up kids.

   

This is a beaded lace knit wrap that I was testing for a friend. I'm loving it!

    

back to sewing

I've had a creative lull the past two months. I have looked and patterns, styles and so many lovely photos of items I love... but just not sewing. Near the end of this week, I finally got my sewing groove back. Unfortunately, due to family visiting, my sewing room was being used as a bedroom and not very accessible for sewing.

Today things were back to normal. Yeah!

I was in the mood for baby sewing today. Luckily, I have a good friend who just had a sweet baby girl. I've not done any baby sewing a long time, so I had to some serious stash digging, but I found those baby fabrics. Flannels, chenilles, and sherpas.

Baby bibs:

Next up, since I had the flannel boxes open and realized I really need to get down to just one box of flannel, napkins. We've been using cloth napkins for about 8 years. About 75% of the napkins we are currently using are from the first year we made the switch... and they look like it. Time to retire some of them and make some new ones. One thing I have realized over the years is that I strongly prefer flannel. I have made napkins out almost every type of fabric and flannel is the best, in my opinion.




Two weeks ago I made her this little doggy dress. The skirt is from Sew Baby's Twirly Dress pattern. We've had the shirt for about 4 years. It was a hand-me-down to my first daughter from a friend. My girls weren't crazy about it for some reason, but they both think it looks great as a dress. (she really likes it, just not in the mood for a picture at this point because she was busy).




And to top off this creative summery - A wrap that I just finished knitting. A wonderful pattern that I was testing and really enjoyed making.

Easy Scrap Blanket Directions

My scraps of sock yarn were building up and I wanted to make something... really anything, but wasn't sure what to do. It had to be simple and not too much thinking. I wanted a mindless project.

Looking through some old knitting and crochet books from my husband's grandma, I found some basic square instructions and just ran with it.

I didn't invent this stitch - It's probably as old as knitting with a circular needle began. Almost anyone who knits and sees this blanket asks me how I did it. So, here are my directions.

I started with 5 dpns and when it got too big for that, I switched to a long circular. Eventually it was so big, I used 2 circulars. Part of the beauty of this project is that you can make it as big or little as you wish. You can use any yarn you like and any size needle.

This example is done with various sock yarns (all superwash, so I could wash it). I'd recommend making sure they are all like yarns, but it could be interesting if you used different weights. I used a size 6 needle for my project.

CO 12 and divide onto 4 dpns (just for the beginning and then I switched to a circ).

Join ends (done in the round)
1: Knit all
2: K1, yo, pm, k1, yo, k1 repeat to start of round
3: knit all
4: K to marker, yo, sm, k1, yo, k to end of needle repeat
-- then I just repeated 3 & 4 it was big enough. Then cast off.

edging: you could just leave it at this point but I wanted a little more. I did 1 round single crochet, 1 row of a loose loop (I think I did chain 4, skipping 1 sc).
Eventually, it’ll be too big for dpns and it was just easier to do on a circ. Once in the rhythm of the pattern, you’ll not need to know when the end of the needle is but you may want to use a different marker for the beg. of a row.
I just kept going with a color until I ran out and then switched. I liked the randomness of just going until I ran out but it would be cool to do it planned and organized too.

When the size you want, just bind off. I picked up a few extra rows on 2 sides to make this more rectangular, but really it probably is better just square (read as, I don't recommend this). I blocked mine when done and I liked the result. If I had made it from acrylic, I'm not sure if I'd block or not.

Happy knitting.

This picture is before blocking but you get the idea.