the forgotten sewing projects of 2017

When I started compiling my forgotten makes and bakes of 2017 at the beginning of the year I didn't think I had much sewing content left to share as I was sure I had blogged most of my projects..... nope! Haha.

First up, t-shirts! The first one was sewn early last year with a fun dinosaur print from MyFabrics, using a lengthened version of the Lady Skater Dress bodice. It's a medium weight jersey, but quite a thick feeling medium weight which makes it cosy and fairly opaque (yay, no awkward "hello there, bra" situation.)

I used the Lady Skater pattern as I liked the fit of it around my upper body as a dress, but somehow I feel it doesn't quite translate as a t-shirt. I'm wondering if it needs the weight of the skirt to pull the underarm seam into place? (If that makes sense?) Anyway, it's perfectly fine, more than fine really because DINOSAURS. It's a pretty cool t-shirt.

Next up is what was meant to be a Jennifer Lauren Gable top made with left over jersey from my green Lady Skater dress. Sadly, this pattern didn't work for me. As much as I admire the high, slash neckline on others I personally found it too strangle-y. The actual neck opening felt quite small too. Clearly I underestimated how much breathing space I like to give my collar bones... and the size of my head?!

Unimpressed, and wow my hair has grown so much since November.

I also didn't enjoy the pdf process as the pattern lines didn't want to match up well (there didn't appear to be a border on all edges to help align pages - unless I printed it wrong?) and I found the fit around the armholes quite tight. In order to rescue it I let out the seams around the armpit and side seams and replaced the slash neck with the front neckline of the Colette Patterns Moneta dress, which skims just under the collarbone. Turning under the neckline and topstitching was my only option as I didn't even have enough scrap fabric for a neckband.

I hadn't realised just how creased this t-shirt was down the middle when I photographed it last week, but surely nobody actually irons their t-shirts?

The resulting t-shirt isn't the best fit but it's perfectly practical and I love the colour. I really like the look of the box pleated skirt which came with the Gable expansion pack so I'll likely try that out sometime with a different bodice.

My final t-shirt was made with the left over fabric from my Marvel-ous Moneta dress. It was way too cool to waste.

There was *just* enough fabric to cut out the front panel then I used plain black jersey for the back, neckband and cap sleeves. The t-shirt pattern is Tilly and the Buttons Agnes top and having made it a few times now, making tweaks each time, I feel I'm close to a TNT (tried 'n' tested) t-shirt pattern. Needless to say, I flippin' love this t-shirt.

HULK LOVE T-SHIRT.

Last up in my garment sewing is my dark green, stretch velvet Lady Skater dress I made at Christmas. This was a trial run for another velvet outfit I had planned (and have since made.) The fabric came from Tia Knights Fabric and has four way stretch so it's similar to jerseys I've used previously. It was a bit of a pain to work with as the velvet liked sticking to itself every time I had to line up seams right sides together, but nothing I (or my machine's walking foot) couldn't handle.

After wearing the dress for a day I decided I wasn't happy with the fit so I went back and raised the waistline by 3/8 inch and graded the waist down a size. This massively improved the look and feel of the dress although I still wonder whether the sleeves need slimming down too. (Perhaps the shiny-ness of the fabric makes any wrinkles look worse than they actually are?) It was also at this point that I realised all my previous Lady Skater dresses are on the big side, but somehow it's less of an issue in casual cotton jersey, and I prefer the neater fit of my more recent Moneta dresses.

Although the dress is vastly improved I'm still not overly enamoured with it. I think part of the problem is the wide neckband and twin needle topstitching as it almost feels too casual a finish for the fabric. I feel tempted to unpick the band and draft a collar to relace it as I think the dress could do with some sort of detail, but further alterations (perhaps including the sleeves) will have to wait. I've faffed about with the dress enough for the time being.

In addition to my velvet dress in December I also managed to sew a few items for Christmas presents. What started as "I'll make a teacosy for this person" turned into a little production line for other friends and family. I've discovered tea cosies are a great way of using up cotton scraps and the perfect excuse to buy those cute cottons you love but know you won't wear. I made 5 in total and managed to make a photo collage on my phone as I sadly discovered PicMonkey is no longer freely available online. (Waaah! So gutted, anybody know of a similar free site?)

I also made a cool Doctor Who themed tote bag for a friend. The bag is gusseted so it has loads of space and I interfaced one side to give the bag some structure. I also used thick webbing tape for nice and sturdy straps. Best of all, the bag is reversible so my friend can decide which side she likes best. I was so pleased with how this turned out and it made me feel all nostalgic for bag-making (I was that teenager who recycled old jeans into funky bags!)

So that's all my sewing for 2017 wrapped up! 2017 was the year of jersey for me which genuinely revolutionised my sewing. I had spent the last couple of years convincing myself that I wanted to wear cute, woven cotton dresses, labouring over bodices which refused to fit me (which became really disheartening) when actually what I wear most and love wearing is jersey. I cannot even begin to express how much enjoyment I get from wearing all my jersey dresses and t-shirts. It truly is the best feeling wearing an incredibly comfortable item made by you, specifically for your shape, style and taste. Long live jersey!

Sewing plans for 2018.... yet more jersey? Hehe. I'd quite like to make a few more plain items considering how much I like wearing my plain Lady Skater dresses and just generally work through my fabric stash. I have plenty of lovely fabric sitting in my sewing cupboard so I just need to decide on a project.

the forgotten knitting projects of 2017

Hi folks, I'm back with my knitting round up. I managed to blog two knitting projects last year, my Blaster cardigan and first pair of socks, but here are the rest. Enjoy!

Steven Seagull

Haha, see what I did there? I knitted this little fella for my Mum's birthday last year for a bit of fun. He was a bit fiddly to make but worth the effort as he has loads of character. Mum has him "flying" from the ceiling on thread. He looks a bit lonely though, so perhaps I should knit another to keep him company!

Sweary mitts

This was my summer knitting project (what can I say, I was being prepared!) I initially followed the pattern for Drunk Girl Designs' "How Cold Is It?" mittens but ended up throwing it to the back of a drawer as the pattern didn't work for me. However I still loved the sweary concept so I created my own chart and followed the pattern for my first mitts as a rough template. In hindsight I wish I'd made them a bit bigger as I'm not convinced with how the lettering stretches across my hands, but I still love them. They're pretty yet subtlely offensive which I find highly entertaining. I'm aware that not everybody shares my enjoyment for foul language so I'm only sharing a photograph with the naughty word obscured.  If you want to see them in full sweary glory then feel free to check out my Ravelry project page.

Slouchy moss stitch hat and matching cowl

Ahhh, the slouchy moss stitch hat of dreams. It's so big and squishy! I can even fit my little pony tail inside this hat and that's impressive considering I have a sizeable head and a lot of hair. However this hat has almost grown too big since I made it in October (the perils of acrylic mix yarn I guess) as it keeps falling down my face unless I have my hair up in pony tail. I might run some elastic through the ribbing to give it a bit more grip if it really starts bothering me.

Oh the glorious cowl, I've worn this loads since I finished it! I've wanted a moss stitch cowl for ages so I'm happy I finally knitted one. It's so cosy and the perfect length for comfortably wrapping twice round my neck.  I also love the combination of the textured stitch with the flecked yarn. It's so pretty.

Subtle festive socks

My second pair of socks! I started off following the "favourite socks" pattern by Voolenvine but ended up abandoning the pattern after the heel turn in favour of a different one as I was struggling with the somewhat vague instructions. The pattern is likely fine to follow if you're familiar with sock knitting, but as a person with little sock knitting experience, having never knitted a heel flap before, it's not the clearest to follow. 

I really love the fit of these socks so I'm definitely a heel flap girl. They have been fantastic to wear over ordinary socks or tights for extra cosiness inside my winter boots.

Hand-dyed socks for Mum

My Mum took to sock knitting in a big way last year (it snowballed from my birthday socks) as she spent most of November and December knitting socks for family Christmas presents. However she never got around to knitting a pair for herself so I sneakily knit a pair for her Christmas.

I also used this as an opportunity to try my hand at dyeing wool after discovering the world of independent wool dyers through YouTube vlogs (Amy of Stranded Podcast being my favourite.) It's hard not to feel excited and inspired by all the beautiful colour blends and effects that can be achieved through hand dyeing.

After watching a *lot* of tutorials on YouTube, I settled on Jacquard Acid Dyes as it's easily available within the UK (thanks, Amazon!) and the stove top method for heat setting the dyes. Top tip for others interested in dyeing: raid the charity shops for equipment. I imagine a lot of people could be put off dyeing by the thought of having to buy new equipment (as you can't use pots/utensils you plan to cook with/eat from due to the dye pigments) but it doesn't have to be expensive. I picked up stainless steel pots for next to nothing!

For my wool I went with my favourite, Jamiesons of Shetland, in their bare wool called "natural white". I was aiming for a variegated effect of soft sea-green/ sand tones and although it didn't turn out exactly as I had envisioned it still looks effective. I've dyed more skeins since then and it is so much fun! I'm looking forward to knitting them up.

The only downside to my yarn choice is that 100% wool isn't the most durable for sock knitting. A little bit of nylon content would make a much harder wearing pair of socks. Although I've worn my wool socks loads and not worn through them, my Mum managed to wear a hole through one of her socks within a month. Looks like I need to learn how to darn!

And that's it! A cardigan, a seagull, a pair of sweary mitts, 3 pairs of socks and a matching hat and cowl. So far this year I've mostly been knitting presents (birthday and new baby) although I've just returned to working on a pair of socks for myself which I started at Christmas. I'm using a fun, speckled skein from Hedgehog Fibres (my first skein of indi dyed wool) which I bought as an early Christmas present to myself in Edinburgh in December. I also purchased a stunning variegated skein of Malabrigo yarn which is earmarked for a shawl/scarf. I'll likely start that after I finish the socks.

What are other fellow knitters working on at the moment?

the forgotten bakes of 2017

Hey folks! It's been a few months (other than my brief post a few weeks ago.) I'm surprised anybody still visits this space as it looks somewhat abandoned. However despite the tumble weed it appears people do visit as I've had new follower notifications on Bloglovin'. Wow... thanks and hello new people!

sit down and have a cupcake :)

I have to admit that despite best intentions I'm struggling to find the blogging enthusiasm I used to have. Blogging fell by the wayside last year as I was dealing with a lot of negative things. Usually my blog is my positivity life raft but it just didn't work last year, and now I feel out the habit.

I think I also feel a bit weird about the fact that I no longer identify this space as a baking blog. Admittedly I've always shared other creative bits and bobs alongside the baking, but there has been a definite shift in balance over the last couple of years. I'd hazzard a guess that I have a bigger following for my sewing now than my baking. Would it be worth renaming the blog to something which encompasses all my creative interests? I have zero inclination to start a completely new blog/address, but a new title might help push past the mental block.

Anyway, I digress. I still intend to finish sharing all my makes and bakes from 2017 despite it being the end of February. Today I'm presenting the baking.

Last year was not a great year on the baking front, sadly. There was a long period where everything I baked seemed disappointing: overbaked and dry, underbaked and sunken, the icing was the wrong consistency or it just didn't taste as good as I had hoped. There were, however, a few successes. Not everything got documented, but here's a selection of what I did photograph but didn't get around to posting:

Maple and pecan cupcakes

My (new!) sister in law and I baked the maple and pecan triple layer cake from the Hummingbird Bakery's "Cake Days" book for my brother's birthday and wow, what a tasty beast of a cake that was. The sponge was so creamy and fluffy and our addition of cream cheese to the maple syrup icing was utterly delicious. Did I remember to photograph it? Nope! But this is it as a cupcake. We had so much left over icing (Hummingbird Bakery, what is with your icing quantities?!) that I halved the sponge recipe and baked a tray of cupcakes. Perhaps not the most stunning cupcakes as there wasn't enough icing to pipe pretty swirls, but they were yummy.

Granny's kisses

When it felt like everything was going wrong, I went back to basics with my Granny's fool-proof recipes such as kisses and rock buns. I used to bake these a lot when I was at uni much to the delight of friends and flatmates. They're basically viennese whirls: shortbread sandwiched with butter icing, except you don't need to bother with the fancy piping. Granny always coloured the icing pink and I like to do the same as it looks pretty.

Raspberry Bakewell cake

This appears to be when I abandoned my camera in favour of my new phone, haha. This is a favourite recipe I return to every year. It's great with raspberries, blackberries, blueberries or a mixture of all three. If you're a fan of almond, fruity flavours then you need this recipe in your life.

Banana and carrot cake

Another favourite recipe as it's a great way of using up bananas without being an obvious banana cake. If you want to see a more photogenic version of this cake then check out my original blog post for it.

Sour cream and pecan bundt disaster

Yeah... I had one of *those* situations. Stupid bundt tin. Or stupid me for running out of cake release spray and thinking the tin would be fine greased with butter. IT'S NEVER FINE, ALWAYS USE THE SPRAY!

I started baking this cake a few hours before I had to be at a friend's house for dinner so this was not a good time for a cake to fail me. Thankfully I just had enough time to bake a different cake and my family enjoyed the mangled crumbs of this cake with custard the following day.

Shortbread

Another Granny classic! I made a lot of shortbread at Christmas to give as presents to family. So much shortbread in fact that I deprived myself of the need to bake my annual batch of saucy gingerbread people. Don't worry though long term readers, I baked some in the new year. :D

Tablet 

Good old Scottish tablet, so sugary and sweet. I only allow myself to make this at Christmas and give the vast majority away as little presents because it is so dangerously more-ish.

Quick boiled fruit cake

Wow, that is a shockingly unattractive photograph, why did I even bother?! Hahaha. If you can get past the craggy appearance of this Mary Berry number,  this was actually a very tasty, sweet, fruit cake. It used condensed milk instead of sugar (hence the sweetness) which appealed to me. However if I was forced to choose between this cake and the mincemeat cake I made last month in a battle of the festive fruit cakes, I'd pick the latter. Sorry, Mary!

And that concludes my baking for 2017. Perhaps not the most exciting and definitely not the most beautifully documented, but there you go. Thanks for following and here's hoping 2018 will be more successful! I really want to get back into blogging, so hopefully it won't be too long before my next post..... the knitting round up!

mincemeat cake

Still got jars of mincemeat left over from Christmas and have no idea what to do with them? Bake this cake. It tastes like mincemeat pies but it's a cake, therefore even better!

It's so good that I baked it twice within a week yet only managed to take one measley photo of it. With my phone, not even a proper camera. It was that tasty.

Apologies for the brief post, I had a different first post planned for 2018 but thought I'd sneak this mini one in first. The cake was too good to delay sharing.

Mincemeat cake

Recipe from Tea Time Treats by the National Trust

150g (5oz) softened butter

150g (5oz) soft brown sugar (I did half dark, half light)

225g (8oz) self-raising flour
1 jar of mincemeat, roughly 450g (1lb) - mine was slightly less and it turned out fine
75g (3oz) sultanas
2 eggs, beaten

handful of flaked almonds, 25-50g (1-2oz)

Preheat the oven to Gas 3/160C/140C Fan. Grease and line a 20cm/ 8" deep round cake tin. Measure all the ingredients, excluding the flaked almonds, into a large bowl and mix with a mixer until well combined. Pour into the cake tin and scatter the flaked almonds on top. Bake for 1hr 45 mins until firm and a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean (it will still be a little sticky though as it contains fruit.) Leave to cool for 15 minutes before removing from the tin and transferring to a cooling rack.

roarsome moneta

Another Colette Patterns' Moneta dress. Sorry, not sorry. For my fourth incarnation I used a cute lion print jersey I purchased from Elephant In My Handbag, added a black peter pan collar and in seam pockets.

The collar, according to the instructions, was meant to slightly overlap in the middle but mine didn't want to. I thought it would be unwise to force the collar pieces to overlap so I let them meet edge to edge at the middle where they wanted to sit. In all honesty I prefer this look anyway. The only thing I hadn't considered is that it makes the seam allowance sitting under the collar ever so slightly visible. Luckily the main fabric has areas of plain black so it isn't obvious.

Now on to every dressmaker's favourite addition... pockets! I intended to add pockets to my last Moneta dress but completely forgot so I made sure to cut them out for this dress. Ever so handy for tissues or just my hands so I can feel smug and nonchalant.

SMUG PERSON.

My only change to fit this time was removing a wedge of fabric from the bicep area of the sleeve since I found them strangely baggy on my last dress. It has definitely improved the fit although I could probably pinch out even more if I was being annoyingly fussy.

So yeah, that's four moneta dresses now. Will I make more? Will I try out all the collar variations? Yes. And most likely, haha. I've just bought two delicious lengths of stretch velvet and one of them is definitely destined to become a collared Moneta dress. I'm thinking full length sleeves for winter cosiness. Mmmmm.

kitty feet - my first hand knitted socks

I think we all need to take a moment to admire my feet. Not a statement I make often, but look at the little kitty faces!

Earlier this year I decided it was time to learn how to knit socks. My Granny used to knit wooly socks for me pretty much every winter when I was growing up. I loved padding about the house in them before bedtime or wearing them over another pair of socks inside my welly boots for extra cosiness to play outdoors. Although I still own a couple of pairs, I stopped wearing them a few years ago for fear of wearing them out. I've come to the conclusion that this mentality is ridiculous as I'm now perfectly capable of making (or mending) handknitted socks.

However little did I know, until I started looking for sock patterns, that there are many ways to knit a pair of humble socks! They can be knit toe up or cuff down, on dpns or magic loop, not to mention the mind boggling variety of heel techniques:  heel flaps, fish lips kiss heel, short row heel, afterthought heel... SO MUCH CHOICE.

The pattern I used is "Yin Yang kitty socks" by Geena Garcia on Ravelry. Apart from the obvious appeal of being free and incredibly cute, I like that they are short, almost slipper-like, therefore quick to knit and the minimal stranded knitting and sewing of whiskers adds interest without being complicated. The socks are constructed toe up on dpns with a short row heel, which suited me fine as I'm used to dpns and familiar with knitting short rows after knitting Andi Satterlund cardigans.

The wool I used is Jamiesons of Shetland Spindrift in Natural White and JC Rennie Supersoft Lambswool in Silver/grey and a tiny scrap of pink for the kitty noses. I only used 41g of wool in total here so this project is a great stash buster.

Why yes, I did knit these socks specifically to match my grey kitty faces pyjamas :D

Casting on and knitting toe up felt weird but it was a fun experience. At one point my knitting looked like a little hat for my foot, or toe warmers, which amused me greatly.

It took a couple of attempts to cast on correctly with the first sock, but I got there in the end thanks to YouTube tutorials. I wonder if this technique is easier with magic loop method? It felt a bit cumbersome on dpns, but the second sock was definitely easier.

Although there is absolutely nothing wrong with these heels, I think I prefer the fit of a heel flap after comparing it to my mum and granny's handknitted socks. For my next pair I'd like to try a different heel and perhaps top down construction to see how that differs. Despite naturally being a person who shies away from new things I surprise myself by being a relatively fearless knitter. I enjoy new techniques and stretching my skills and I have a feeling sock knitting could be all kinds of fun!

(Not that I need more socks. At the beginning of the year I counted how many pairs I owned... 64!! And that didn't even include bed socks..... How is that even possible when I mostly wear tights?! I have since donated a few pairs to my Mum, haha.)

a marvel-lous moneta

Haha, see what I did there? This is the dress I made for my birthday at the beginning of the month. If you can't wear a dress emblazoned with superheroes on your birthday, then when can you?!

Anyone remember those online quizzes on Zimbio which were all the rage a few years ago? My family took the "Which Marvel Superhero Are You?" quiz and Mum and I both got the Hulk, Dad got Captain America and my brothers got Thor and Loki. Although it was a silly quiz, the results were weirdly apt for each person. Haha!

The dress is yet another Colette Patterns Moneta dress, but this time with a roll collar and longer length sleeves. As the Marvel fabric is quite "out there" I made the sleeves and collar in a plain, contrasting black. I really like the result and it gives the dress a totally different feel to my two previous Monetas.

Unlike my second Moneta dress, I actually followed the collar instructions which say to attach it with the seam allowance sitting underneath the collar on the "right" side. I was worried this would prevent the collar from sitting flat so I understitched the neckline to tack the seam allowance down. I also sewed a short, red zig zag stitch on the inside of the back neckline, hidden under the collar from the correct side, so I can easily tell the front from the back.

My only fitting adjustment with this dress was grading back down to a size medium for the width of the shoulders as I came to the conclusion that although my shoulders are broad, grading up really wasn't necessary on my previous Moneta dresses. The armholes definitely sit better across my upper chest on this dress.

My only (minor) gripe with this dress is that the sleeves are unusually baggy in the upper arm, which is weird considering my upper arms are anything but small. I guess it'll come in handy for when I burst into a Hulk rage and need expansion room for my ripped muscles, haha! It's not worth re sewing but I altered the sleeve pattern for the next Moneta. (Oh yes, there is already a fourth...)

And that's it really, not much else to say about my dress except it's comfy, elegantly shaped and makes me feel like a total bad ass. Perfect combination, really!

 HULK SMASH!