Friday, March 25, 2011

Month of Sewing: Blue Cotton Suit

This is the first suit for myself during this Month of Sewing. With the summer approaching and my growing size, I find myself out of clothes and must replenish my wardrobe. I tried out my newly drafted sloper for this kameez (shirt). It needed a few tweaks but turned out OK in the end. The kameez goes with a simple pair of elastic trousers and a gray Georgette dupatta (stole) trimmed with pale blue ribbon.
  I am already onto my second suit, but have to get some fabric for the trousers before it gets done.

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Month of Sewing: A Simple Baby Romper And A Baby Peasant Shirt

Two more baby outfits, which hopefully complete the list of baby outfits for the Month of Sewing. The first one is a simple baby romper in nice, green cotton fabric. Again, it has buttons on the shoulders and underside of legs for easy handling.

The second one is a front open peasant shirt I made from the fabric leftover from the baby bonnets. I love how cute it turned out.
Moving on, I have been working on my drafting skills over the weekend. I have drafted myself a sloper and hope to try it out by making a kameez (shirt) today, inshaAllah.

Friday, March 18, 2011

Month of Sewing: A Smocked Baby Dress and A Frillied Romper

Today's Month of Sewing post features two projects. The first one is a newborn smocked dress. My smocking skills are rudimentary, but still I had to try them on a little project. I made a pair of matching pants with the remaining cotton fabric.
The second one is a frilled romper set. I used my kids' older baby clothes for sizing the roper. This one has a front opening at the neck and at the crotch too, for easy diaper change. The bonnet is the made after the tutorial found here.

Thursday, March 17, 2011

Month Of Sewing: Baby Kimono Outfit

I had actually sewn this before the Month of Sewing except for the button. There are many baby kimono sewing tutorials out there on the net to get the idea of size etc. I used dotted ribbon for tie closure and there is a snap button on the underside of the top panel to further keep the two fronts closed. Then I sewed a matching pair of pants too. The fabric again is light, summer lawn.
 I still have a few more baby projects to blog about in the coming days, inshaAllah

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Month Of Sewing: Baby Bonnets

Before I start posting about my probable Month Of Sewing projects, I want to state that my sewing skills are at best, passable. I manage to get the things I want, done, but I don't expect perfection in the process. So please bear with me while I try to churn out a modest sewing month.
I start off with a couple of little baby bonnets. I used one of my daughter's old caps for the size and inspiration. These are in newborn size and made with light and airy lawn, just right for a summer baby.

Monday, March 14, 2011

Sassy Stripes Socks

A half completed sock had been languishing in my craft closet since December and I might have still been uninspired to work on these, had it not been for my friend, Shells' Month O'Socks (MOS). I had promised, I would try to knit at least a pair, so I got these out and finished them over the weekend. Just in time, MOS ends tomorrow.
   This pair is for my father. The pattern is a simple 3x1 rib and mindless to knit. These knit up quite fast. I love the look and feel of the yarn, which is Cascade Yarns Sassy Stripes.
   Next, I plan to have a MOS of my own, only in my case, it will be a Month O'Sewing. With summer and a new baby imminent, I find I have a lot of small project to do. I will try to blog about the interesting ones.

Thursday, March 10, 2011

Scrappy Doll

I stumbled across this cute pattern at ravelry and was tempted to knit it, as it seemed to be a quick, easy knit, I had just the right scrap wool for the project and I wanted to reacquaint myself with felting.
The pattern instructions were excellent, except for the head size which was quite large compared to the torso. So, I had to decapitate the doll and re-knit the head from the neck up, making the neck thinner (18sts instead of 24) and less increases for the head (48 sts instead of 60).
  The doll itself takes little time to knit (I did it in a day) but the felting, drying, stuffing and the making up took a lot longer. I stayed up well into the night, the second day to do the face and hair. Instead of the leggings I opted for shorts and changed color at feet to make shoes. Then I embroidered the shoes with white yarn to make Mary Janes and knit some frilly socks.

Next, the doll needed some clothes and by this time, I was pushing to get it done. Thus came into being this little blue dress with a crochet heart and edging.
 Here is the doll finally done and dressed.
  It was surprisingly well received by my daughter whose tastes in toys go after her elder borher and she can not be bothered with dolls as a rule. But she was enamored enough to take it to bed with her last night.Not so surprising, was the envious reaction of my son, who has supplied me with various sketches for the Lego superheroes for me to knit and has extracted a promise from me to see if I can knit those too. Sigh, a scrappy doll is not so simple a knit after all.

Sunday, March 6, 2011

Another Baby Set

 It took about a week to get done but it was such a pleasant knit. Smooth-sailing through out and turned out quite nice. The yarns again are our local acrylics, Bally DK and Parley.
The sweater is this Side to Side Jacket by DROPS. The pattern is pleasantly easy to follow and brilliant. 
The pant is yet another DROPS design, which also was quite simple and gave nice results. I plan to add a fabric casing for the elastic at the waistband.

Lastly, the hat is one of my favorites, the Aviatrix Baby Hat. It is the second time I've knit it, doing it in two colors this time.The flower embellishment is a simple I cord folded into a flower shape and sewed in place.